 When to use who or whom has always been a question I hear often. To be honest, I think most people simply dismiss it, using who no matter what because it feels more natural. But in writing, especially business writing, it's important to use the correct one. So how do you know for sure when to use who or whom?
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 Comma usage may not necessarily be a matter of life or death, but it is important to understand proper usage. It really will make all the difference in your writing.
We could cover correct comma usage for days. I'll spare you a lengthy post, or multiple posts, and just cover some of the more common instances.  Like most people, I'm sure you learned the rule that you put a before words that start with consonants and an before words that start with vowels. Unfortunately, I'm here today to tell you it's a bit more complicated than that. Sorry.
 www.shulmansays.com This little dot-and-tail punctuation mark is pretty powerful and one of the most misused. For a little background on the apostrophe, I turned to Grammar Girl where she states that apostrophes have two main uses in the English language; they stand in for something that's missing, and they can be used to make a word possessive.
The first use of an apostrophe was in the 1500s, used to indicate omissions. Think can't for can not, that's for that is, it's for it is, etc.  That is a good question. And one that is often asked. Hyphens are confusing and the rules for use aren't very clear.
I find that most people run in to hyphenation issues when it comes to compound adjectives, so let's take a look at that.  The English language is tricky. There are a lot of words out there that trip people up and are misused on a regular basis. Even I have struggled in the past to remember which word I'm supposed to use. While some may shrug this off as no big deal, it really is and using the wrong words can have a negative effect (or is it affect?).
 I love grammar. I really do. There's just something about words and punctuation being used properly that makes me happy. :)
Now, even though I've devoted my life to the proper use of grammar I still have questions. It seems like the rules are always changing. Things that I once thought were set in stone, never to change, have now changed. Like the use of more than and over. But more on that later. |
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