Like a lot of languages (but not all), English is set up to indicate the time of an action—past, present, or future—by changing the way its verbs are spelled and arranged. We all (at least we all in the modern world) seem to have a sense that things happen in a sequence, that one thing …
Author Archives: rultimo
Upcoming Seminars
and a Short Course
Simple and Compound Subjects Tuesday, November 3 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. Every sentence we write addresses a subject we want to say something about, and it’s not uncommon for our sentences to involve two or more subjects at the same time. Simple sentences make a statement about only one thing; compound sentences say something about …
There’s Been a Mistake Made
Let’s return to the subject of the passive voice, one of the menacing bugbears of English grammar, and see how its dark shadow lengthens when it combines with a common way we begin sentences. Some time ago, long before our present exile, I was at a restaurant and overheard the person next to me say …
Writing Smartly’s Teaching Grammar Seminar
Offered Again at a New Time
Writing Smartly’s first seminar, Teaching Grammar, will be offered again on Saturday morning, October 31, from 10:00 to 11:00. I am hoping this new time will prove convenient for a number of people who have expressed an interest in this and other seminars but have been unable to attend the regular Tuesday evening section. Tuition …
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Offered Again at a New Time”
Diction
Observing the language around us can teach us more than just the rules of grammar. Putting words together inevitably involves what is called diction, the choice and arrangement of words that determines our relationship to our readers. The vocabulary and phrasing we organize can establish a pleasant geniality or a distant authority, each with its …