|
PARTS OF SPEECH
|
| Transitive and Intransitive Verbs (p. 8) |
|
AUDIO: "Sit" Versus "Set"
|
| Linking Verbs and Action Verbs (p. 9) |
|
AUDIO: "Bad" Versus "Badly"
AUDIO: "Good" Versus "Well"
AUDIO: "It Is I"
|
| Progressive Tense (p. 12) |
|
AUDIO: "I'm Loving It"
QUIZ: Progressive Tense
|
| Present Perfect Tense (p. 12) |
|
AUDIO: Mixing Tenses
|
| Irregular Verbs (p. 14) |
|
AUDIO: "Dreamed" Versus "Dreamt"
|
| Subjunctive Verbs (p. 15) |
|
AUDIO: "Was" Versus "Were"
|
| Gerunds (p. 16) |
|
AUDIO: What Is a Gerund?
|
| Participles (p. 17) |
|
AUDIO: "Commas with Participial Phrases"
AUDIO: "Dangling Participles"
QUIZ: Find the Participle
|
| Infinitives (p. 17) |
|
AUDIO: "Splitting Infinitives"
|
| Subject and Object Pronouns (p. 19) |
|
AUDIO: "I" Versus "Me"
AUDIO: Pronouns and Antecedents
QUIZ: Pronouns
|
| Person (p. 21) |
|
AUDIO: First, Second, and Third Person
|
| Gerunds and Possessive Pronouns (p. 24) |
|
AUDIO: Gerunds and Possessives
|
| Indefinite Pronouns (p. 25) |
|
AUDIO: "Everybody": Singular or Plural?
|
| Reciprocal Pronouns (p. 26) |
|
AUDIO: "Each Other" Versus "One Another"
|
| "Between You and Me" (p. 27) |
|
AUDIO: "Between You and Me"
|
| Reflexive Pronouns (p. 29) |
|
AUDIO: "Myself"
AUDIO: How to Use "Myself"
(two podcast versions of the same topic)
|
| Can "They" Be Singular? (p. 30) |
|
AUDIO: Can "They" Be Singular?
AUDIO: "Yo" as a Pronoun
|
| "It Is I" Versus "It Is Me" (p. 31) |
|
AUDIO: "It Is I" Versus "It Is Me"
|
| Relative and Interrogative Pronouns (p. 33) |
|
AUDIO: "Who" Versus "That"
|
| Adjectives & Adverbs (p. 34) |
|
AUDIO: Adverbs
AUDIO: Is "Drive Slow" Wrong?
AUDIO: Is "Funnest" a Word?
|
| "Good" Versus "Well" (p. 37) |
|
AUDIO: "Good" Versus "Well"
|
| Comparatives and Superlatives (p. 38) |
|
AUDIO: "Better" Versus "Best"
AUDIO: "More Tricky" Versus "Trickier"
AUDIO: Wordiness (has a long section about why you shouldn't modify absolutes)
|
| Articles (p. 43) |
|
AUDIO: "A" Versus "An"
AUDIO: When to Use Articles Before Nouns
AUDIO: Double "'The"
|
| Ending a Sentence with a Preposition (p. 45) |
|
AUDIO: Is It OK to End a Sentence with a Preposition?
|
| Prepositions and Phrasal Verbs (p. 48) |
|
AUDIO: Phrasal Verbs
ARTICLE: Making Phrasal Verbs Past Tense
|
| Coordinating Conjunctions (p. 50) |
|
AUDIO: What Are Run-On Sentences?
AUDIO: Comma Splice
AUDIO: How to use Semicolons
AUDIO: Using "For" to Mean "Because"
(These podcasts aren't specifically about coordinating conjunctions, but they do relate to how to use coordinating conjunctions.)
|
| Correlative Conjunctions (p. 52) |
|
AUDIO: "Neither" ... "Nor"
|
| Subordinating Conjunctions (p. 53) |
|
AUDIO: Sentence Fragments
AUDIO: Complex-Compound Sentences
|
| Subjects (p. 56) |
|
AUDIO: "Who" Versus "Whom" (begins with an explanation of subjects and objects)
AUDIO: Double Subjects (explains something people do when speaking informally)
AUDIO: Sentence Fragments
|
| Direct Objects & Indirect Objects (p. 58) |
|
AUDIO: "Lay' Versus "Lie"
AUDIO: "Addictive" Versus "Addicting" (the first half includes a discussion of when "addicting" can take a direct object)
|
| Phrases & Clauses (p. 59) |
|
AUDIO: Modifying Phrases at the Beginning of a Sentence
AUDIO: Commas with Participial Phrases
|
| Types of Sentences, Part II (p. 62) |
|
AUDIO: Complex-Compound Sentences
|
| Subject-Verb Agreement (p. 65) |
|
AUDIO: Subject-Verb Agreement
AUDIO: "Everybody": Singular or Plural?
AUDIO: "There Is" or "There Are"
AUDIO: Can "They" Be Singular?
AUDIO: "Yo" as a Pronoun
AUDIO: Verbs Sandwiched Between Singular and Plural Nouns
|
| Subject-Verb Agreement and Collective Nouns (p. 68) |
|
AUDIO: Collective Nouns
AUDIO: Is a Troop One Person or a Group?
|
| Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement (p. 73) |
|
AUDIO: Pronouns and Antecedents
|
| Starting a Sentence with "Because" (p. 77) |
|
AUDIO: Can You Start a Sentence with "Because"?
|
| Sentence Adverbs (p. 79) |
|
AUDIO: Starting a Sentence with "Hopefully"
|
| Misplaced Modifiers (p. 81) |
|
AUDIO: Misplaced Modifiers
|
| Misplaced Prepositional Phrases (p. 85) |
|
AUDIO: Misplaced Prepositional Phrases
|
| Dangling Modifiers (p. 86) |
|
AUDIO: Dangling Participles
AUDIO: Misplaced Modifiers
QUIZ: Find the Participle
|
| Squinting Modifiers (p. 87) |
|
AUDIO: Misplaced Modifiers
|
| Parenthetical Expressions (p. 88) |
|
AUDIO: Dashes, Parentheses, and Commas
AUDIO: Parentheses, Brackets, and Braces
|
| Appositives (p. 88) |
|
AUDIO: Appositives"
AUDIO: Dashes, Parentheses, and Commas
|
| Essential and Nonessential Elements (p. 89) |
|
AUDIO: "Which" Versus "That"
|
|
PUNCTUATION
|
| Period (p. 92) |
|
AUDIO: How Many Spaces After a Period?
AUDIO: Should You Ever Put a Space Before a Period?
How Many Periods Do You Need if a Sentence Ends with an Abbreviation?" Audio Podcast
|
| Abbreviations (p. 93) |
|
AUDIO: Abbreviations, Acronyms, and Initialisms
AUDIO: Units of Measure (the last third covers abbreviations for units of measure)
AUDIO: Making Family Names Plural (the last third covers abbreviations such as "Mr.")
AUDIO: Making Plurals and Abbreviations Possessive
|
| Question Mark (p. 94) |
|
AUDIO: Punctuating Questions
AUDIO: Do Rhetorical Questions Need a Question Mark?
AUDIO: Parentheses, Brackets, and Braces (has a short section near the beginning about combining question marks with these symbols)
ARTICLE: Question Marks with Ellipses
|
| Exclamation Point (p. 97) |
|
ARTICLE: Exclamation Points with Ellipses
|
| Serial Comma (p. 98) |
|
AUDIO: Serial Comma
|
| Commas & Adjectives (p. 100) |
|
AUDIO: Commas with Adjectives
|
| Comma Splice (p. 104) |
|
AUDIO: Comma Splice
QUIZ: Comma Splice
|
| Run-On Sentences (p. 105) |
|
AUDIO: What Are Run-On Sentences?
|
| Commas & Nonessential Elements (p. 108) |
|
AUDIO: "Which" Versus "That"
|
| Commas & Dates (p. 110) |
|
AUDIO: Writing Dates (contains a paragraph about commas in dates)
|
| Commas, Other (p. 111) |
|
ARTICLE: Commas and Ellipses
|
| Semicolons (p. 114) |
|
AUDIO: How to Use a Semicolon
ARTICLE: Semicolons and Ellipses
|
| Colons (p. 117) |
|
AUDIO: How to Use Colons
AUDIO: Dashes Versus Colons
|
| Dashes (p. 123) |
|
AUDIO: Dashes Versus Colons
AUDIO: Dashes, Parentheses, and Commas
ARTICLE: Should You Put Spaces Around a Dash?
|
| Hyphens (p. 124) |
|
AUDIO: Hyphens
ARTICLE: Does "E-book" Need a Hyphen?
ARTICLE: Does "Thanks-You" Need a Hyphen?
ARTICLE: Does "Grown-Up" Need a Hyphen?
|
| Ellipses (p. 131) |
|
AUDIO: Ellipses
AUDIO: "Ellipses Spurned" (funny essay about overusing ellipses)
|
| Asterisks (p. 134) |
|
AUDIO: Asterisks
|
| Quotation Marks (p. 135) |
|
AUDIO: Ellipses (includes information about using ellipses in quotations)
AUDIO: Double Quotation Marks Versus Single Quotation Marks
|
| Quotation Marks with Commas and Periods (p. 137) |
|
VIDEO: Grammar Girl YouTube Video
|
| Quotation Marks with Question Marks and Exclamation Points (p. 137) |
|
AUDIO: Punctuating Questions (includes a section about questions and exclamations in quotations)
|
| Single Quotation Marks (p. 141) |
|
VIDEO: Grammar Girl YouTube Video
|
| Parentheses (p. 142) |
|
AUDIO: Dashes, Parentheses, and Commas
AUDIO: Parentheses, Brackets, and Braces
ARTICLE: Periods and Parentheses
|
| Brackets (p. 144) |
|
AUDIO: Parentheses, Brackets, and Braces
|
| Italics (p. 145) |
|
AUDIO: How to Use Italics
|
| Apostrophes (p. 146) |
|
AUDIO: Apostrophe Basics
AUDIO: Making Plurals and Abbreviations Possessive
AUDIO: Why Doesn't "Veterans Day" Have an Apostrophe?
ARTICLE: How to Make Names with Apostrophes (McDonald's) Possessive
|
| Compound Possession (p. 148) |
|
AUDIO: Compound Possession ("Oprah and Gail's big adventure")
|
| Double Possessives (p. 151) |
|
AUDIO: Double Possessives ("a friend of Cathy's")
|
|
USAGE
|
| "A" Versus "An" (p. 158) |
|
AUDIO: "A" Versus "An"
ARTICLE: "A Historic" Versus "An Historic"
|
| "On Accident" Versus "By Accident" (p. 196) |
|
AUDIO: "By Accident" Versus "On Accident"
AUDIO: "Talk To" Versus "Talk With" (includes a discussion about preposition use)
|
| "Affect" Versus "Effect" (p. 158) |
|
AUDIO: "Affect" Versus "Effect"
|
| "Alright" Versus "All Right" (p. 161) |
|
AUDIO: "Alright" Versus "All Right"
|
| "As" Versus "Like" (p. 162) |
|
AUDIO: "As" Versus "Like"
AUDIO: "Like" Versus "Such As"
|
| "Assure," "Ensure," and "Insure" (p. 163) |
|
AUDIO: "Assure," "Ensure," and "Insure"
|
| "Bad" Versus "Badly" (p. 164) |
|
AUDIO: "Bad" Versus "Badly"
|
| "Because" Versus "Due To" Versus "Since" (p. 165) |
|
AUDIO: "Because," Due To," and "Since"
EXAMPLES: Extra Example Sentences
|
| "Between" Versus "Among" (p. 166) |
|
AUDIO: "Between" Versus "Among"
QUIZ: "Between" Versus "Among"
|
| "Biannual" Versus "Semiannual" (p. 167) |
|
AUDIO: "Biweekly" Versus "Semiweekly"
|
| "Bring" Versus "Take" (p. 167) |
|
AUDIO: "Bring" Versus "Take"
|
| "Can" Versus "May" (p. 169) |
|
AUDIO: "Can" Versus "May"
|
| "Dragged" Versus "Drug" (p. 173) |
|
AUDIO: "Dragged" Versus "Drug"
|
| "E.G." Versus "I.E." (p. 174) |
|
AUDIO: "Exempli Gratia" Versus " "Id Est"
|
| "Farther" Versus "Further" (p. 174) |
|
AUDIO: "Farther" Versus "Further"
|
| "Female" Versus "Woman" (p. 175) |
|
VIDEO: Grammar Girl YouTube Video
AUDIO: "Female" Versus "Woman"
|
| "Fewer" Versus "Less" (p. 176) |
|
AUDIO: "Fewer" Versus "Less"
|
| "Flammable" Versus "Inflammable" (p. 169) |
|
AUDIO: "Flammable" Versus "Inflammable" (second half of the podcast)
|
| "Good" Versus "Well" (p. 178) |
|
AUDIO: "Good" Versus "Well"
|
| "Graduated" Versus "Graduated From" (p. 179) |
|
AUDIO: Is "Graduated College" Wrong?
|
| "Hanged" Versus "Hung" (p. 180) |
|
AUDIO: "Hanged" Versus "Hung"
|
| "Historic" Versus "Historical" (p. 180) |
|
ARTICLE: "A Historic" Versus "An Historic"
|
| Starting a Sentence with "However" (p. 181) |
|
AUDIO: Starting a Sentence with "However"
EXAMPLES: Extra Example Sentences
|
| "If" Versus "Whether" (p. 184) |
|
AUDIO: "If" Versus "Whether"
ARTICLE: "Weather" Versus "Whether"
|
| "Lay" Versus "Lie" (p. 188) |
|
AUDIO: "Lay" Versus "Lie"
|
| "Lend" Versus "Loan" (p. 191) |
|
AUDIO: "Lend" Versus "Loan"
|
| "May" Versus "Might" (p. 194) |
|
AUDIO: "May" Versus "Might"
|
| "More Than" Versus "Over" (p. 194) |
|
AUDIO: "More Than" Versus "Over"
|
| "Nauseous" Versus "Nauseated" (p. 184) |
|
AUDIO: "Nauseous" Versus "Nauseated" (middle section of the podcast)
|
| "One" Versus "You" (p. 196) |
|
AUDIO: "One" Versus "You"
|
| English Is a Crazy Language (p. 196) |
|
AUDIO: "Talk To" Versus "Talk With"
AUDIO: "On Accident" Versus "By Accident"
AUDIO: Regionalisms ("in line" versus "on line")
|
| "Principal" Versus "Principle" (p. 197) |
|
AUDIO: "Principal" Versus "Principle"
|
| "Set" Versus "Sit" (p. 198) |
|
AUDIO: "Set" Versus "Sit"
|
| "That" Versus "Which" (p. 200) |
|
AUDIO: "Which" Versus "That"
|
| "That" Versus "Who" (p. 202) |
|
AUDIO: "That" Versus "Who"
|
| "Who" Versus "Whom" (p. 206) |
|
AUDIO: Basic
AUDIO: Advanced
AUDIO: "Whoever" Versus "Whomever"
|
|
YOUR RIGHT TO WRITE
|
| Wordiness (p. 211) |
|
AUDIO: Wordiness and Idioms
|
| Overusing "Of" (p. 214) |
|
AUDIO: Overusing "Of"
|
| Redundancy (p. 215) |
|
AUDIO: Avoiding Redundancy
|
| Overusing "So" and "Very" (p. 221) |
|
AUDIO: Overusing "So" and "Very"
|
| When to Use "That" (p. 222) |
|
AUDIO: When to Leave Out "That"
|
| Active Voice Versus Passive Voice (p. 225) |
|
AUDIO: Active Voice Versus Passive Voice
|
| Parallel Construction (p. 227) |
|
AUDIO: How to Use Parallel Construction Correctly
AUDIO: Write a Better Resume (includes a section on parallel construction)
|
| Metaphors and Similes (p. 228) |
|
AUDIO: Metaphors and Similes
AUDIO: Mixed Metaphors
|
| Cliches (p. 231) |
|
AUDIO: How to Avoid Cliches
|
| Double Negatives (p. 234) |
|
AUDIO: "Irregardless" Versus "Regardless"
ARTICLE: What Is A Double Negative?
|
| Show, Don't Tell (p. 237) |
|
AUDIO: Show, Don't Tell
|
| Sentence Length (p. 238) |
|
AUDIO: Sentence Length
|
| Writer's Block (p. 241) |
|
AUDIO: Generating Story Ideas and Overcoming Writer's Block
AUDIO: Should Writers Keep a Journal?
|
| Proofreading (p. 242) |
|
AUDIO: Proofreading Tips
AUDIO: Funny Typo Stories
|
| Text Messaging (p. 247) |
|
AUDIO: Writing Versus Text Messaging
|
|
APPENDIX
|
| Capitalization (p. 257) |
|
AUDIO: Capitalizing Titles
AUDIO: Capitalizing Proper Nouns
AUDIO: When Should You Capitalize Words?
AUDIO: Should You Capitalize"God"?
AUDIO: When Should You Capitalize Food and Cocktail Names?
ARTICLE: Should You Capitalize "Cohen Brothers"?
ARTICLE: Are Region Names Capitalized?
ARTICLE: Should You Capitalize "Google" When It's a Verb?
ARTICLE: Should You Capitalize Award Names?
|
| Formatting Vertical Lists (p. 269) |
|
AUDIO: Formatting Vertical Lists
|
| Citing a Website (p. 273) |
|
AUDIO: Citing Podcasts and Websites
|
| "Should Have" Versus "Should Of" (p. 275) |
|
VIDEO: Grammar Girl YouTube Video
|
