We know that a noun in English is a person, place, or thing that functions as a subject or an object in a sentence. A noun also can operate as a subject or object complement or as an appositive. Nouns can further be grouped into types of nouns: common nouns (concrete, abstract, collective) proper nouns …

Patience is a virtue, but it can also be a grammatical snag. That's because even though we know the importance of waiting for the best things in life, we might at times be unsure of how to express that practice. Specifically, a writer might wonder when or whether to use the phrases have patience or …

As February 14 approaches, some people may wonder how to write the name of the holiday that honors Saint Valentine. Do You Use an Apostrophe When Spelling Valentine's Day? The day was first recognized as “The Feast of St. Valentine” in A.D. 269. Both The Chicago Manual of Style and The Associated Press Stylebook identify …

The English language uses tense to communicate the timing of an action. If we want to write that an action took place in the past, we use the simple past tense: He washed the dishes. She went to the skating rink.  If we wish to identify an action that occurred prior to another completed action, …

Suppose you’re writing an email or a letter. Should you use a comma after the word Hello, or is another treatment more fitting? We’ll help you arrive at the answer. Why or Why Not to Use a Comma After Hello Confusion can surround this matter of style, and guiding answers might not always be clear. …

Many of us have seen a run-on sentence or what we thought might be one. Even if we couldn't explain technically why it was a run-on, we intuited that such a sentence included elements that were either improperly joined or insufficiently separated. In this discussion, we'll further review run-on sentences as well as different ways …

Sometimes two words that have similar spellings and the same pronunciation can cause confusion in our writing. You may have experienced such confusion if you have read the expressions bear with me and bare with me. When the phrase is spoken aloud, the spelling doesn't matter, and you typically understand what's being said. In writing, …

Among the many style items involved in American English, references to academic degrees remain a common source of uncertainty. Do we write doctoral degree or doctorate degree? What is the difference between a Ph.D. and an M.D., and when should the credentials appear in our writing? We'll address such questions to provide direction you can …

If you write, speak, and read English, you've likely come across the word suffix before. If you know what a suffix is and how it functions, you have a useful feather in your grammatical cap. If you are unsure of what a suffix is or don't recall its applications from what you learned in school, …

Another year of exploring the vast terrain of American English comes to a close. Once again, our routes of study with you have been rich with thought and discovery. We are thankful that you, our dedicated readers, joined us in the pursuit of greater precision and eloquence for self-expression. Each year, we wrap up the …