July 7, 2025

'Less' and 'Fewer'

A lot of people think that, in formal English, "less" is for mass nouns, like "music," and "fewer" is for count nouns, like songs. But it's more accurate to say "less" is for singular nouns and "fewer" for plural. So, when you want to be proper, you say the express lane is for 10 items or fewer because "items" is plural, but if you take one item out of your cart you have one less item, not one fewer item.

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June 30, 2025

Firstly and Secondly

People who hate "firstly" and "secondly" have a hard time explaining why they should be replaced with "first" and "second." That's because there's no grammatical reason for shunning these two adverbs.

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June 23, 2025

The Peculiar Power of 'Every'

"Every" has the power to render plural subjects singular, kinda. Compare "The member and guest enjoy the facilities," in which the verb "enjoy" suggests a plural subject, with "Every member and guest enjoys the facilities," in which the verb "enjoy" suggests a singular subject. Conclusion: "Every" has extraordinary powers.

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June 16, 2025

'Home In On' or 'Hone In On'

If you want to use the original expression, think of a homing pigeon: you home in on something. But that doesn't mean "hone in" is wrong, exactly.

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June 9, 2025

Aggravate and Irritate

"I was so aggravated by the neighbor's loud music." A lot of people believe that "aggravate" means only to make worse and that, if you're talking about being annoyed, you must use "irritate." That's not true, but if you want to play it safe you can stick to those meanings.

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June 2, 2025

The Many Kinds of Pronouns

Personal pronouns — I, you, he, we, they, etc. — are just one type of pronoun. Possessive pronouns like "my," reflexive pronouns like "myself," relative pronouns like "which" and indefinite pronouns like "anyone" are just a few examples of the different types of pronouns. Here's the full rundown.

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May 26, 2025

Every Day vs. Everyday

"Everyday" is an adjective that usually comes before a noun: everyday values. "Every day" is a noun phrase: every day is a new beginning.

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May 19, 2025

I Could Care Less?

When people say that they couldn't care less, they mean that they care so little it would be impossible to care any less than they do. Logically, then, "could care less" would mean the opposite. However, it's been gaining acceptability for decades.

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May 12, 2025

Could've vs. Could of

Could've is pronounced just like could of. But don't confuse them. You always want the contraction of could and have. Never use of.

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May 5, 2025

Unclear Antecedents

Brad crashed his car into the donut shop and totally destroyed it.

Did Brad destroy the donut shop or his car? The pronoun "it" could refer to either. Here's how to avoid the problem of unclear antecedents.

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