by Donna | Apr 14, 2011
Moving on from National Poetry Month–though if someone would like to send poetry, I will still publish it until the end of April.
With Easter so close, I thought we would look at a tricky Wacky Word pair–rise and raise (followed by sit and set and lie and lay since you really should learn them together, if possible).
First, an overview:
Rise and sit have I’s–and lie does too.
“Coz these are things that I, all by myself, can do.
Raise, set, and lay are words that you choose
When each one has an object after it to use.
What does that mean? It means that I and rIse, I can sIt, and I can lIe without any object.
But I raise something; I set something; and I lay something….
More tomorrow…then one at a time. These are confusing ones, but with LL’s tips and tricks, you will be raising your head high, sitting with grammarians with confidence, laying your dictionary aside, rising up to the occasion, setting the stage for future success, and lying down at night, knowing that you understand lie, rise, and sit! 🙂
by Donna | Mar 7, 2011
What “language mishaps” have driven you crazy lately? Mine is how everybody puts up signs that say “Sorry for the inconvenience” without checking how inconvenience is spelled! Agghh…..surely it isn’t that much of an “inconvenience” to look it up! 🙂
Others? Signs that have the following errors are recent ones:
1. It’s when the person means its
2. “There going fast” instead of They’re (say it uncontracted—they are…and you will know if you have the correct one!)
3. No mark between phrases to show that a phrase ended and another one started—
Great Sale on
Tires Get Your
Oil Changed Today
Even this is better:
Great Sale on
Tires—Get Your
Oil Changed Today
Enough complaining for tonight! Have a happily-correct grammar week!
by Donna | Feb 22, 2011
With the introduction of Presidents’ Day last night, I decided that I couldn’t pass up this opportunity to discuss when to capitalize president, I mean President.
Generally speaking (as with all grammar rules, of course!), the word president is capitalized when referring to a specific president but not when it is referring to the office in general.
Capitalize:
1. The President will be in town next week.
2. President Lincoln spoke first.
Do not capitalize:
1. A president must be thirty-five years of age.
2. The presidents reside in the White House.
The “capitalize when referring to a specific president” guideline is true of the highest official of any land–King, President, Queen, etc. It is not, however, true for other offices, such as senator, mayor, etc.
by Donna | Jan 26, 2011
Today I will give you a preposition list. Many grammar and language arts programs have students memorize prepositions in alphabetical order, assuming this is the most advantageous way to learn them. I am not opposed to that entirely; however, whenever possible, I prefer memorization techniques in grammar that will help the student also know the purpose for the word or part of speech. (This isn’t always possible, I know. But with prepositions there are some simple memory tricks that can help students not only learn prepositions but also learn the reason for them/how to use them. Those will follow in the coming days.)
Today I will give you an incomplete preposition list (since there is no such thing as a complete preposition list!). In days to come, these will be divided to aid in retention.
Aboard
About
Above
Across
Across from
After
Against
Ahead
Ahead of
Along
Alongside
Alongside of
Along with
Amid
Amidst
Among
Amongst
Anti
Around
As
Aside
Aside of
Aside from
Astride
At
Atop
Atop of
Away
Away from
Barring
Before
Behind
Below
Beneath
Beside
Beside of
Besides
Between
Betwixt
Beyond
By
By means of
Circa
Concerning
Considering
Despite
Down
During
Except
Except for
Excepting
Excluding
Following
For
From
In
Inside of
In between
In spite of
In regards to
In case of
In place of
In front of
In addition to
In back of
In accordance with
Into
Like
Minus
Near
Next to
Notwithstanding
Of
Off
Off of
Off the top of
On
Onto
On top
On top of
Opposite
Opposite of
Out
Out of
Outside
Outside of
Over
Past
Per
Plus
Regarding
Round
Save
Since
Than
Through
Throughout
Till
To
Towards
Under
Underneath
Unlike
Until
Unto
Up
Up to
Upon
Versus
Via
With
With regards to
Within
Without
See the last two days of posts to learn more about why someone should learn prepositions!
