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 | Feb 21, 2011
Tomorrow is Presidents’ Day. Or is that Presidents Day? Or President’s Day?
Well….it depends on which expert you ask! Here is the run down:
1. It is NOT President’s Day
a. President’s denotes one President…and this holiday honors Washington and Lincoln both…as well as all presidents
b. President’s Day says that it is the day that belongs to one President (singular)
c. It follows the rule of writing the noun first (President) then if the word does NOT end in s, put apostrophe s (President’s Day)
2. Some say it is Presidents’ Day
a. The Gregg Reference Manual (my favorite handbook) cites it as such
b. This denotes many presidents all owning one day (or at least Lincoln and Washington)
c. It follows the rule of writing the noun first (Presidents) then if the word ends in s, put an apostrophe on the outside of the s
d. This is the correct way to show possession of one thing to more than one “owner”
3. Some say it is Presidents Day
a. The Associated Press Stylebook cites is as such
b. This method does not denote possession, but rather uses the word President as an adjective (actually a “proper adjective” in that it is an adjective made from a proper noun–some of the time–we will not even get into whether it is (President) or isn’t (president) in this post!)
c. This is like saying that, that is a Grisham book (as opposed to a book that Grisham owns–Grisham’s book), and it is certainly not incorrect
So there you have it! More subjectivity in our English language. Happy Presidents’ Day! And Happy Presidents Day!
by Donna | Feb 18, 2011
The main subject is the word or words in the sentence that the entire
sentence is about.
Two facts about the main subject for today:
a. It is often found at the beginning of the sentence.
1) He turned his head.
2) The boy had heard something.
b. It is the person or thing that the whole sentence is
about.
1) The girl ran. Who ran? girl
2) The father prayed. Who prayed? Father
Tomorrow–compound subjects!
by Donna | Feb 17, 2011
If you learn that a sentence contains five things—and you learn to recognize these things easily, you will learn to evaluate whether every sentence you write is a “real” sentence or not more easily.
Remember, CAVES is the acronym we will use to examine a sentence.
C apital
A ll makes sense
V erb
E nd mark
S ubject
The last letter of CAVES—subject—is what we will examine today. Each “simple sentence”—that is, each “real” sentence must contain a subject. We will call this the sentence’s main subject—because a sentence may contain other subjects in other parts, but a sentence must only contain one subject (the main subject) to be a real sentence.
Tomorrow we will learn the details of a sentence’s main subject—the S of CAVES—subject–each sentence must have a subject.
by Donna | Feb 14, 2011
Read the phrases below. Put an S beside the phrases that are
complete sentences and an N beside those that are not.
1. A raccoon is an intelligent animal. Sentence
2. He does not avoid danger. Sentence
3. That he will go right into it. Not a sentence
4. When a raccoon studies sounds, smells, and sights that are new to
him. Not a sentence
5. Like tin cans and mirrors. Not a sentence
6. One trap a trapper likes to set is called a mirror trap. Sentence
7. When he puts a trap in shallow water and ties a mirror to it. Not a sentence
8. When the light hits the mirror. Not a sentence
9. When the raccoon sees the light. Not a sentence
10. When he does, the raccoon’s paw becomes caught in the trap. Sentence
by Donna | Feb 12, 2011
Read the phrases below. Put an S beside the phrases that are
complete sentences and an N beside those that are not.
1. A raccoon is an intelligent animal.
2. He does not avoid danger.
3. That he will go right into it.
4. When a raccoon studies sounds, smells, and sights that are new to
him.
5. Like tin cans and mirrors.
6. One trap a trapper likes to set is called a mirror trap.
7. When he puts a trap in shallow water and ties a mirror to it.
8. When the light hits the mirror.
9. When the raccoon sees the light.
10. When he does, the raccoon’s paw becomes caught in the trap.
Answers tomorrow! Smile…
