Handling Negatives – Neither . . . Nor . . .
Consider these two sentences: X. Keep straight on, swerving neither left or right. X. An assistant commissioner said they could…
Category: English Editing
Handling Negatives – Not . . .Because . . .
In writing especially, not . . . because can give rise to serious ambiguities. Consider these sentences: I didn’t go…
Adjectives Ending in -LY – ONLY.
In the use of only, natural idiom is often at odds with logical word order. It is quite natural to…
Dangling Participles and Lack of Symmetry – Non-Parallel Constructions.
If elements in a sentence are proposed as parallel in kind, they should be presented as parallel in structure. The…
Origins – Plenty Of Rooms At The Top
The top of a mountain is called, as you know, the summit, a word derived from Latin summus, highest, which…
Origins – Well-Known
‘Widely but unfavourably known’ is the common definition for notorious. Just as a notorious liar is well-known for unreliable statements,…
Verbs – Dare.
This verb behaves like an ordinary verb in sentences such as these: She dares/dared to contradict her teacher. Does/did she…
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…