We remember, of course, the basic rule of grammar that a verb agrees in number with its subject: a client is, but clients are. Standard English word order requires that the verb follow the subject in declarative sentences, and that is what we have all come to expect: The client is in the conference room. …
Author Archives: rultimo
Actions, Not Things
Writing manuals will often talk about something called nominalization, the habit we have of too often preferring nouns to verbs as we construct sentences. It’s a prevalent phenomenon in modern writing, and why we do it has fascinating philosophical implications, because it points to the idea that we seem to perceive ourselves more and more …
Possessing the Apostrophe
A doubt that seems to bedevil the confidence of many writers is where, if anywhere, to put the apostrophe. Is it my dog’s collar or my dogs’ collar? It’s or its? The problem lies in the many duties we ask the apostrophe to perform, and sorting out two of the more common may begin to …
However, the Conjunction
As a part of speech, the conjunction is said to join elements of a sentence, but we should remember that join means here to bring into some kind of relationship, whether that is to connect (as in, birds and squirrels) or to separate (as in, not in the tree but on the grass). Connecting and …
An Intricate Introduction
Here’s an example of an imaginative way to open a serious discussion. This is the first paragraph of the chapter entitled “The Age of Show Business” in Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death, an intelligent and thoughtful commentary on modern culture, published originally in 1985 and still in print—because it’s still relevant—today. A dedicated graduate …