English Rules

None - Singular or Plural

September 1, 2005

The Question Which is correct? None of us does None of us do The Answer In replying to this question, I can do no better than to quote from the excellent book by Martha Kolln, Rhetorical Grammar: One special problem occurs with the word none, which has its origin in the phrase not one. Because of that original meaning, many … Read more.

Subjects and Verbs and Sentence Order

August 16, 2005

Selline Odeny asked, "Please tell me about the subject-first and non-subject-first sentence patterns." Thanks for the request, Selline. I'd love to tell you about these sentence patterns. While it's true that sentences can begin with a dependent clause in which the beginning word is typically an adverb, I'll be focusing on the main part of the sentence, the independent clause. … Read more.

The Absolute Phrase

March 28, 2005

Sudhir Khare recently asked the English Master, What is the 'absolute construction' in English grammar. Please explain to me in a clear and lucid manner. Okay, Sudhir, I'll do my best. The absolute phrase is a sentence modifier, adding particular description. It's like a close-up shot in a movie that follows an establishing shot. It's also one of my favorite … Read more.

Which versus That

March 28, 2005

Two recent visitors have asked what the difference is between which and that and when to use each. People usually struggle with the distinction when they are used as relative pronouns beginning a relative clause, which acts as an adjective in a sentence. Restrictive and Nonrestrictive Clauses The pronoun which begins a nonrestrictive relative clause, which means that the clause … Read more.

A versus An: The Indefinite Article

March 22, 2005

A visitor wrote in to ask when to use "a" and when to use "an." In particular, she wanted to know which of the following is correct: Citibank is a MNC Bank Citibank is an MNC Bank The correct sentence is number 2. The Rule Use "a" when the following word begins with a consonant sound; use "an" when the … Read more.

Double Negatives

March 17, 2005

Ask a grammar geek about the double negative, and you'll invariably hear about its long and noble heritage in the English language, from Chaucer to Shakespeare, up to the 18th century, when it all but died at the hands of overly zealous, systematizing Enlightenment linguists. Whatever its history, however, the current view of most pragmatic writers is that the double … Read more.

Active and Passive Voice

March 17, 2005

Manju submitted a request for information on "how to write passive sentences & cosutive [sic] sentences." I'll focus here on passive (voice) sentences, and how to distinguish them from sentences using active voice. Active Voice A sentence is written in the active voice if the subject—the main person, place, thing, or idea—performs the action. Examples: Jonathan threw the ball across … Read more.

Grammatical Sentence Types

March 3, 2005

Sentences can be classified in a number of ways—grammatically, rhetorically, functionally, and so on. One visitor to this site asks about grammatical sentence types: How [do I] tell the difference between Compound, Simple, Complex, Compound-Complex sentences? Before we can identify these sentence types, we need to understand the following terms: Phrase: A group of words that may have a subject … Read more.

I versus Me

February 26, 2005

I just received an excellent question about proper first-person pronoun usage. The issue is tough to resolve because sometimes grammatical correctness takes a back seat to common usage, and rightly so. Now, on to the question: I am a teacher in South Africa and recently found a worksheet with the heading "Me and My Environment". Is this heading grammatically correct … Read more.

Possessive Form of Singular Nouns Ending with S

February 17, 2005

Many people struggle with the possessive case of singular nouns when the words already end with s. The general rule is this: Form the possessive singular of nouns with 's. Here are some examples: James's cat Mrs. Jones's attorney Dr. Suess's book Exceptions Of course, we're talking about the English language, so we're going to have some exceptions to the … Read more.

Me Myself or I

February 16, 2005

Time for the English Master to settle another contentious grammar issue, before someone gets hurt. Pat asks: My friend and I were having a dispute about when to use "me" correctly in a sentence that's referring to two people. If I were to say something along the lines as, "Is that meat okay for Bob and I/me to eat?" would … Read more.

Subject Verb Agreement with (N)either (N)or

February 14, 2005

A student asks the English Master to settle a dispute: Please answer this grammar question for me: Neither my brother nor my sister ______ ever visited the White House. a. have b. has c. is d. are If you answer it, please explain why. There is a battle on our school grounds as to what the correct answer is. Thanks … Read more.

Showdown - Conjunctive Adverbs versus Coordinating Conjunctions

February 13, 2005

Kevin writes: Your semicolon discussions inspired this inquiry. Many of my students use "however" as a conjunction when they are really using it as a signal adverb to begin an independent clause. Example: My professor is a kind soul at heart, however he is a nasty grader. I insist that the comma should be a semicolon or period, but I'm … Read more.

Verb Tense with Since

February 10, 2005

Marc wrote in with a question for the English Master: English is not my mother tongue; but I am very interested in improving my English. One of my problems is "Since." What tense should I use after since? Example: I haven't seen you, since... "Since" is typically used to suggest a passage of time—from then until now, or between then … Read more.

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