Verbs – Dare.
This verb behaves like an ordinary verb in sentences such as these: She dares/dared to contradict her teacher. Does/did she…
Category: English Editing
Trouble With Tenses – Learned Or Learnt?
Many irregular verbs, like regular ones, have the same form for the past tense and past participle – often ending…
Trouble With Tenses – Unnecessary Perfects.
Perfect infinitives – (to) have done – are sometimes used unnecessarily after a past tense: ? I expected to have…
Trouble With Tenses- Sequence of Tenses.
Which should you say? Margaret said I owe her 100 dollars. Margaret said I owed her 100 dollars. Traditional grammar,…
Problems With Verbs – Lay, Lie.
Do you lie in on Saturday mornings, or lay in? Do you lay the rug on the floor, or lie…
Pronouns and Case – Ambiguity- Whose is His?
Consider this sentence: ? A supermarket supervisor has been charged with the attempted murder of his boss at a New…
Origins – Swing and Sway.
Vacillate – note the single c, double l – derives from Latin vacillo, swing back and forth. People who swing…
Pronouns and Case – Just Like Me.
Traditionally, like is a preposition not a conjunction: My son looks just like me; ?? My son walks just like…