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Merry Christmas from Language Lady and Character Ink Press! It is the time of good cheer, festivities, magical moments with children, celebrating the Nativity–AND grammar errors galore! Usage errors are to be expected since many of the things we are writing this time of year are things we only write once a year. It’s hard to remember grammar and usage protocols that we use daily, much less ones that we only use yearly. I hope this post will clear many of your Christmas grammar issues up!

(Want to learn more grammar and usage from Language Lady? Check out these links:

• My new Tricky Tricks to Help It Stick Page
• All of our amazing Punctuation Puzzles
• The Write Right Quick Kit
• Preposition Practice Pack
• Think Fast Grammar Quiz)

This time of year we see a plethora of spelling, capitalization, grammar, and usage errors–on signs, catalogs, greeting cards, and more:

1. merry Christmas on a greeting card (which technically isn’t wrong, but just doesn’t look right either!)

2. “This line is for eight items or less”–even though it should be “eight items or fewer”

3. Xmas–even though the Associated Press itself says to never use this abbreviation!

4. Seasons’ Greetings (which indicates that you are offering someone greetings for more than one season–the plural noun seasons)

5. Happy capitalization guy or girl–Christmas Tree, Christmas Decorations, Christmas Ham, etc.

Many holiday greetings and terms are subjective (shocking, huh?); however, here is a list to help you see the most common ways that greetings and holiday words are expressed this time of year:

1. You can write any of the following:

a. Seasons Greetings (no possession shown at all–more of a noun describing another noun)

b. seasons greetings (same as a., but no capitalization–not recommended for greeting cards and headers)

c. Season’s Greetings (the most common way, showing that the season {one season} possesses the greeting; note the capping here)

d. season’s greetings (like c but not capped)

2. Of course, people also write Merry Christmas in different combinations (with and without the M capitalized; however, Christmas should always be capitalized because it is a proper noun by itself:

a. merry Christmas

b. Merry Christmas

3. To cap or not to cap greetings? This is a stylistic preference, but if it is in a header or greeting card, you definitely want to capitalize:

a. Season’s Greetings or season’s greetings

b. Merry Christmas or merry Christmas

c. Happy Holidays or happy holidays

d. Happy New Year or happy New Year

e. Happy Christmas or happy Christmas

f. Happy Christmastime (all one word) or happy Christmastime (again, all one word)

4. Words that are already proper nouns should remain proper nouns in every context and should retain their capitalization:

a. Santa Claus

b. Poinsettia–This is traditionally capitalized because the flower is named after a botanist and physician who was also the first US Ambassador to Mexico, Joel Roberts Poinsett. In 1828, he introduced the plant to the country.

c. The actual holidays

i. Christmas or Christmas Day
ii. Christmas Eve
iii. New Year’s Eve (one year–singular YEAR…..hmm….”that doesn’t end in an s, so I need to put apostrophe s”)
iv. New Year’s Day

d. North Pole (Remember–you capitalize directions when they are part of a proper noun already–but not when giving directions. No “Turn West at the corner”!)

e. Jesus, Jesus Christ, Messiah–most Christian publications capitalize names for or references to God and Jesus

f. All locations associated with Christ’s birth and life as they are proper nouns already–Bethlehem, Nazareth, etc., and, of course, King Herod, Joseph, and Mary (but not shepherds or wise men)

g. When describing decorations, only capitalize the original proper noun:

i. Christmas tree
ii. Christmas wreath
iii. New Year’s Day dinner
iv. Christmas Eve party

h. Nativity is capitalized when it stands alone or when it is combined with non-proper noun elements

i. Nativity scene
ii. Nativity pieces
iii. Nativity story

i. Advent is capitalized in all contexts

Merry Christmas from the Language Lady!

The post Fix Those Christmas Grammar and Usage Errors! appeared first on Character Ink.

Did you know that there is a group of pronouns called reflexive pronouns? I know, right? Not mentioned that often. I hardly remember studying them in school at all. And yet, we use them all the time—and even eloquent people use them wrong quite often. (How many interviews or speeches have you heard someone say, “Then my friend and myself….” or “He began talking to my friend and myself…” WRONG!

So here is the scoop…that I am giving to you by MYSELF…actually my technical assistant will put this all together HERSELF and make it look amazing, so I can’t really say that I am doing it all by MYSELF. Sorry…..I couldn’t help it…

First of all, myself, yourself, and ourselves are pronouns known as reflexive pronouns. That is, they reflect back to the antecedent (a noun or pronoun earlier in the sentence).

When we say that Donna is the antecedent to herself in the sentence “Donna gave herself a pat on the back,” we are saying that herself is a pronoun and Donna is the antecedent (the word that herself refers back to).

So, reflexive pronouns reflect or refer back to another word. They cannot be used alone (i.e. myself can not be used without a noun or pronoun earlier in the sentence as its antecedent).
1.       I bought myself some candy. (Myself refers back to/is reflexive of I.)
2.       Donna bought herself some candy. (Herself refers back to/is reflexive of Donna.)
3.       He looked at himself in the mirror. (Himself refers back to/is reflexive of He.)

The key to understanding and using reflexive pronouns is to not use THEM by THEMSELVES!

Thus, you wouldn’t say the following:
1.       Ray and myself went to town. (There is no noun for myself to refer back to. You need the subjective I in this sentence…Ray and I.)
2.       They gave it to him and myself. (Same thing—no noun or pronoun for myself to refer back to.)

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The post Reflexive Pronouns: Myself, Himself, Herself, Ourselves, and Themselves (Never Theirselves…Let’s Get That Straight in the Title of This Post!) appeared first on Character Ink.

Welcome to another Punctuation Puzzle! Yep… a puzzle that you solve by putting in the correct punctuation and words/usage fixes—along with explanations and answers about each error!

Perfect for students and teachers alike!

Today’s Puzzle is about Led verses Lead and Alot verses A Lot … and it uses an interesting sentence from one of our Write-for-a-Month/Write On books.

Read More….

Save

Save

The post Punctuation Puzzle: Led vs. Lead & Alot vs. A lot appeared first on Character Ink.

The capitalization of this holiday isn’t the grammar/writing issue. It’s the spelling!

Of course, like any other holiday, both words are capitalized:

Independence Day

Or if written with the informal name: July 4th.

Spelling independence is a little more of an issue.

You may find long lists of rules for ent/ence vs ant/ance if you begin a study on this–many of which are so confusing and detailed (emphasis on the fourth syllable from the right, use ent!! okay..that’s stretching it…) that an average person cannot decipher them much less memorize them.

When rules are too detailed and confusing, a writer is better off memorizing spellings or using spell check.

I will leave you with two simple rules for ent/ence that I think are actually helpful:

1. Use ent/ence (not ant/ance) if the root you are adding it to ends with c or g:
    diligence, innocent

    This rule actually makes sense because if you used ant/ance, the c would then say kuh (innocant–innokant) and the g would then say juh  (diligant–dili-gant).

2. Use ent/ence if the root you are adding it to ends with d:
    independent

Hope this helps–and hope you have a happy July 4th!

The post Spelling Lesson: Independence Day appeared first on Character Ink.

Have you been studying your Wacky Words “there, their, and they’re”? Are you ready for a pop quiz?

Fill in each blank provided with the correct Wacky Word—there, their, or they’re.

Cami was thrilled with _____________ involvement.
We will take you _______________ to see your friend.
__________________ going to be arriving late.
I don’t think _________________ coming.
Is that _____________________ house?
____________________ is the king.
Are _______________ others coming too?

Answer Key:

Cami was thrilled with their involvement.
We will take you there to see your friend.
They’re going to be arriving late.
I don’t think they’re coming.
Is that their house?
There is the king.
Are there others coming too?

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There are many grammar problems that people (even professionals, speakers/pastors, and writers) can get by with today without sounding like fingernails on a chalkboard. (Is that analogy too old school to use nowadays?) 🙂

I listen to talking books as I drive, clean, cook, and edit—and even million dollar best sellers somehow get away with things like “she had less smiles for him today than before” and “contest between the two of us–who works the most; who works the hardest; who is the most tired” (ouch!). However, when it comes to past participles, finger nails on the chalkboard do not even describe the sound of a couple of those from the pulpit or webinar!

Irregular verbs are just that—irregular. And irregularity, but its very nature, can be, um…..uncomfortable. (Sorry!)

The most common errors with irregular verbs occur with the past participle form.The “past participle” is the form of the verb that is used with the being or helping verbs has, have, and had.

There are two errors made with past participles:

(1) Saying the past participle form (like run from the meme above) when you need the past (ran): I run all over town today.

(2) Saying the past tense (ran, again from the meme) when you need the past participle (run): I had ran through the campground.

Here is the scoop on forming past participles in terms of regular vs irregular:

(1) Most English verbs form the past tense and the past participle by adding ed—want/wanted, help/helped, etc.

(2) About 150 common English verbs do not form them with ed only—have/had, find/found

(3) Over half of the irregular verbs that do not use ed are easy because their past is the same as their past participle form:

Today I find

Yesterday I found

Before that I HAVE found

(4) That leaves about seventy irregular verbs with different past participles than past tense—and this is where the Five Past Participle Verb Mistakes That Make a Person Sound, um, Uneducated comes in:

Today I go; yesterday I went; before that I have gone

Today I run; yesterday I ran; before that I have run

Many people do not notice if someone uses the wrong swim/swam/swum or even run/ran/run, but there are a handful that sound so wrong that they truly can make a speaker sound at least undereducated (from what he might be!)—and can truly detract from your message.

So—don’t say these!
(1) Ran for run….I have RUN.

(2) Gave for given…I have GIVEN.

(3) Went for gone…I have GONE. (very common…very bad!)

(4) Wrote for written….I have WRITTEN.

(5) Did for done…I have DONE.

Other common past participle errors:

swim         swam               had swum

dive          dived/dove      had dived

ring           rang                 had rung

spit           spit/spat          had spat

lie              lay                   had  lain        (to lie down yourself …not to place)

lay             laid                  had laid      (to place something…lay it down)

hang         hung                had hung    (to hang a picture….not to kill)

hang        hanged            had hanged     (to hang someone/execute)

The post Five Past Participle Verb Mistakes That Make a Person Sound, um, Uneducated appeared first on Character Ink.

I can remember learning about affect and effect in school–and being completely confused all of the time. Is that how you feel? Well, get ready to be relieved of your affect/effect phobia!

Generally speaking, you can count on Affect being a Verb and Effect being a Noun. So how does this help you?

That will not AFFECT the outcome–Verb meaning influence or alter

Her job did not AFFECT her college studies—Verb meaning influence or alter

What is the EFFECT of her test scores?–Noun meaning result

This will have no EFFECT on my performance—Noun meaning result

So…just remember RAVEN–and you will always use the proper AFFECT/EFFECT! Remember Affect is a VERB and Effect is a Noun.

Remember
Affect
Verb
Effect
Noun

Note: For you non-nemonic lovers, there is also another way to remember that effect is the noun. If you can remember that an, a, & the are noun markers, that is they mark the noun, telling you that a noun is coming soon. Some programs call these articles. Anyway, if you can remember that that thE is a noun marker then you can probably remember that thE ends with an E and Effect begins with an E: thE Effect.

Teacher Tip: Students often think that the word and, which is a coordinating conjunction, is a noun marker (or article parentheses). Therefore, I like to word the three neon markers in a different way so that the AN is not up against the coordinating conjunction AND. So try teaching the three noun markers with these two things in mind:

1. Order them in this way: and, a, and the. This will keep the AN and AND from being against each other, which makes students think that AND is the noun marker.

2. Also, if you write them on the board, or you are making your own worksheets (or in my case, writing my own English books), do not use the word AND at all in writing. Instead use the symbol: an, a, & the.

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We tell our students all the time that you know more than you think you know! And that if you take what you already know and apply it to what you do not know, you will soon know even more!

Take the word homophone, for instance.

Homo—means same
Phone—means hear

Thus, homophones sound the same what you hear them.

Homophones are words like their, they’re, and there and to, too, and two—words that sound the same when they are spoken but only look different when written.

I use tricks, mnemonics, rhymes, jingles, songs….anything I can think of…in my books and with my students. I want learning to be as easy as it can possibly be for kids—you could say it is one of my missions in life!

Like I always tell them: “Take something you already know. Apply it to something you don’t know! Now you know more!”  🙂

Sight and site are confusing words. I think they have gotten even more confusing with SITE being used as a “place on the internet.” It seems that I see SIGHT used for physical places more and more nowadays, and I can’t help wonder if it is because students now think of SITE as being online, and SIGHT being for every thing else.

You probably already know how to spell KITE and SIGHT….so use what you already know to learn even more!

The post Tricky Trick to Help it Stick: Spelling Site & Sight appeared first on Character Ink.

1. People lie; things get laid down—sort of works, but it’s not just people who lie—the sun lies on the horizon; the city lies asleep in the early morning hours; the animal lies in the middle of the road….you get the idea
2. People lie; things get laid down—but it still didn’t help with the sit/set and rise/raise dilemma
3. The past tense of lie (as in yesterday I lay down to take a nap…don’t I wish!) is the same as the current tense of lay (as in I am going to lay the book on the table)—poor kids!
4. And so many more!

1. Consider a rhyme or mnemonic like the one above to reinforce the I’s in sit, rise, and lie—when we remind students that I do those things—and they have I’s in them, we are helping them remember that these do not have objects following them.
2. Do NOT start with lie. It is by far the most confusing of the trio—and I try to do that one after rise and sit (with fewer exceptions, etc.) are established in students’ minds.
3. DO start with sit. Set has the same tense for all—present; past; and past participle. Today I set the table; yesterday I set the table; before that I have set the table.
4. If you are teaching from a Christian standpoint, Jesus and God are prime examples of rise/rose/has risen and raise/raised/has raised:
1. Jesus will rise from the grave. God will raise Jesus.
2. Jesus rose from the grave. God raised Jesus.
3. Jesus has risen from the grave. God has raised Jesus.

5. Suggested order: sit/set; rise/raise; and lie/lay.

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