There is usually more than one way to organize a complex subject, and this is as true for English grammar as for any other challenging study. Verbs especially have many moving parts, and without a consistent terminology, this particular department of English grammar can become unnecessarily confusing, especially when we are trying to understand verb …
Author Archives: rultimo
Being Critical
Let’s imagine that someone has asked you for a paragraph about yourself. Perhaps you’re applying to a program of some sort, and the application requires you to introduce yourself in a few sentences before you list your schooling or employment or accomplishments. This self-description is a notoriously difficult project, and a first attempt can often …
If, Then What?
Let’s look again at conditional sentences because they can confound even the most aspiring of writers. A student of mine wants to know whether the verb in the following sentence should be receive, not received: If he received my email, tell him to reply. How can we use the past tense, he argues, when we …
A or The?
Foreign and native speakers alike often struggle over using the words a and the in certain sentences. Why, for example, would we say, the skyscraper typifies modern architecture instead of a skyscraper typifies modern architecture? And could we use the plural instead and write, skyscrapers typify modern architecture? Let’s try to sort out this knotty …
Wrote or Was Writing?
What is the difference between these two sentences: He was writing a letter when someone knocked on the door and He wrote a letter when someone knocked on the door. Something’s just not quite right about the second sentence, but what exactly and why? Here’s where we can demonstrate the practical application of a little …