Comma Before Too: When Do You Use It?

You’ve likely read sentences in which there was a comma before too, but is this correct usage? Well, it depends on the intention of the writer. When using the word too, you only need to use a comma before it for emphasis. According to The Chicago Manual of Style, a comma before too should be used only to note an abrupt shift in thought. When the too comes in the middle of a sentence, emphasis is almost always intended since it interrupts the natural flow of the sentence. Consider the example below:

I, too, like bananas.

I too like bananas.

When a too comes at the end of a sentence, however, a comma is almost never needed:

I like bananas too.

Since it really depends on the writer’s intent, there is no hard-and-fast rule when it comes to using a comma before too. Remember that commas often denote a pause, especially when emphasis is intended, so reading the sentence aloud and listening for a pause may be helpful.

English Grammar Rule Basics

A house needs a good foundation. Likewise, to speak a language, you need a firm understanding of grammar. Here are some basic rules you will need to know if you want to speak and write English well.

Nouns

Nouns denote animate and inanimate things, ideas, places, or people. They compose about half of the English language. There are many types of nouns, and each type has its own usage rules. However, here are two rules that are relatively universal for nouns:

Pluralization

To make regular nouns plural, add an -s to the end of the word. Of course, there are exceptions. If a word ends with the letter y, you change the y to i, and add -es.

Regular nouns

house➝houses tool➝tools

Nouns that end in Y

balcony➝balconies

Remember, however, that even exceptions have exceptions! For a more detailed explanation, check the Grammarly Handbook.

Capitalization

Capitalize nouns if they are at the beginning of a sentence, or if they are proper nouns. Proper nouns refer to specific people or places.

George obtained his degree from McGill University.

Note that some nouns can be proper nouns or common nouns.

Will Dad allow me to go to the park? My dad allowed me to go to the park.

Pronouns

After mentioning a noun once, it’s tedious to repeat it again and again. Pronouns replace nouns. There are also different types of pronouns. Pronouns must agree in number and gender with the noun they replace.

The nails (plural) are too flimsy for the job.➝They are too flimsy for the job. Yolanda (feminine, singular) finished her drink.➝She finished her drink. Bobby (masculine, singular) doesn’t like coconut.➝He doesn’t like coconut.

Articles

The three articles a, an, and the distinguish between specific and nonspecific nouns. A and an are indefinite articles, whereas the is a definite article. If you want to refer to a specific thing, use the. If not, use a before a noun beginning with a consonant and an before a noun beginning with a vowel or a voiceless H.

A book is on the table. (a nonspecific book) An almanac is on the table. (a nonspecific almanac) An hourglass is on the table. (a nonspecific hourglass) The book is on the table. (a particular book)

Adjectives

Adjectives describe nouns. In most cases, adjectives appear before the noun they modify. If more than one adjective modifies the same noun, separate the adjectives with a comma if they are coordinate; that is, if they modify the noun equally. Don’t add a comma if one of the adjectives forms a unit of meaning with the noun (as is often the case with words describing color).

The mail carrier wore a bright blue bowtie with his uniform. The mail carrier fed the dogs some pungent, crumbly biscuits.

Adverbs

While adjectives describe nouns, adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. Most of them end in -ly, but you can also identify them by asking the questions how, where, or when. For instance: How did Sally sing? Sally sang well. Because it answers the question how, well is an adverb.

The Rule: Never place an adverb between the verb it modifies and the direct object of the verb.

The car turned quickly the corner.

The correct word order is “The car turned the corner quickly.” Or “The car quickly turned the corner.”

Verbs

Verbs make it possible to describe an action, state, or occurrence. In other words, verbs let us know what’s happening. Hundreds of rules govern the use of verbs. The standout rule has to do with consistency. In a sentence, you have to pay attention to the tenses of the verbs. Let’s look at an example.

Betsy arrived home from school, eats a snack, and watched her favorite cartoon.

In the example, “eats a snack” is in the present tense, but the other verbs are in the past tense. This is a no-no. You can’t describe the same period in two different tenses in the same sentence. To achieve verb tense consistency, you must maintain the same tense throughout the sentence. And if you want to refer to multiple time periods, you will want to separate them into a new clause or start a new sentence.

Betsy arrives home from school, eats a snack, and watches her favorite cartoon. (All present tense) Betsy arrived home from school, ate a snack, and watched her favorite cartoon. (All past tense) Betsy arrived home from school and watched her favorite cartoon. Now, she is eating a snack. (The tense changes in the new sentence)

Prepositions

Prepositions situate nouns in time or place. You have probably heard one “rule” of preposition use: never end a sentence with a preposition! In reality, this advice only applies to very formal writing, and even there it is somewhat dated. In casual speech and writing, dangling prepositions are generally acceptable.

Here is a bag you can keep your things in. (casual) Here is a bag in which you can keep our things. (formal)

Conjunctions

Conjunctions link ideas, clauses, and parts of sentences. Notice how the coordinating conjunction and can be used to combine two related sentences.

Hugh loves coffee. Hugh has always wanted to own a cafe. Hugh loves coffee and has always wanted to own a cafe.

When you use conjunctions, be sure that the two components have parallel structure. To illustrate, consider the verbs in these two linked phrases:

To lose weight, Jack diets, ran marathons, and drinks lots of water.

Here, two verbs are in the present tense, and one verb is in the past tense. Remember your verb rule! You can’t mix the tenses. With conjunctions, make sure that all the elements in a list match. If you are listing nouns, for example, you cannot insert a verb into the same list.

Interjections

Interjections are words we use to express extreme emotions or to emphasize a point. They are often followed by an exclamation point if they stand alone. In a sentence, they are often set off by commas.

The Rule: Don’t use interjections without context.

Holy smokes!

The above interjection doesn’t give away any information. The reader would not be able to discern what is happening from the interjection alone. When you write, describe the context that merits the interjection.

Holy smokes! I have never seen a pumpkin that color!

Nouns, verbs, and the other parts of speech you examined today are the building blocks of the English language. By mastering a few rules for each part of speech, you are laying a firm foundation for writing and communication. There are hundreds more rules to consider, but don’t be overwhelmed. Bricks used to build a house are laid one at a time.

Technology That Can Help You Write Better

Writing is a creative and magical process. There’s no telling when inspiration will strike—or what unique conditions will help us access our creativity.

Over the centuries, writers have discovered what worked best for them—no matter how unusual. Agatha Christie penned her murder mysteries in the bathtub while eating apples and drinking tea. Gertrude Stein was known for writing on the go, sitting in her Model T with a pencil and notepad while her wife drove her around running errands.

As writers we’re always hunting for better ways to bust through writer’s block and channel our inner muse. So today we’re highlighting some of the wonderful ways modern technology can make your unique writing process quicker, easier, and more productive.

Capturing Ideas

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Do your best ideas come to you far from your computer—like in the shower, walking the dog, or driving to work? With a voice dictation app on your smartphone you’ll have an easy, hands-free way to record your ideas no matter where you get them. Simply speak into your phone and watch your words instantly appear as text. Check out Dragon Dictation for iPhone or Android.

Dictating your words, instead of typing them, can also be a great way to speed up your writing process and turn off your inner critic. Writing through dictation allows you to keep flowing with an idea and not overthink or fixate on specific words. If you’re ready to finally make it through your first draft, check out Dragon Naturally Speaking or the accurate (and free!) Google Docs Voice Recognition.

Conquering the Blank Page

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Still waiting for your next brilliant idea? Staring down a blank page can induce terror and despair in the heart of any writer. Sometimes you need a little kickstart to get your words and inspiration flowing again.

Through the miracle of technology, you can now spark your creativity with writing prompts delivered straight to your smartphone or browser. Download Writing Prompts (Android) or Prompts – Beat Writers Block (iPhone) and get unstuck from the mire of the blank page!

And if you’re a creative writer feeling stuck in your short story or novel? Check out The Brainstormer—an interactive wheel for generating themes and plot lines. You’ll have your heroine back on her journey in no time. (Click here for Android or iPhone).

Staying Focused

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Once you finally sit down to write, why is it so difficult to stay writing? Distractions abound, especially when your writing device is also connected to the Internet.

The struggle is real. Lucky for you there’s a whole arsenal of distraction-fighting apps right at your fingertips.

Need a writing interface that’s free of distractions? Calmly gives you a blank canvas to pour out your thoughts.

Want to stay on task with the Pomodoro Technique? Check out Tomato Timer, a simple Pomodoro timer you can pause and reset, with preset timers for your “short” and “long” breaks.

For those of us who need more extreme motivation, there’s the writing interface Write or Die, whose infamous “Consequence Mode” triggers spine-chilling noises and a blood red screen whenever you stop typing. (You’ll get back to work just to make it stop!)

And if you need to escape the plague of app and Internet notifications . . . there’s an app for that too. Sign up for Freedom and block the Internet while you work.

Staying Ergonomic

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Maybe your best work happens while sitting in a chair, or perhaps it’s while you’re standing (like Virginia Woolf), or lying down (like Truman Capote).

Whatever your peak position is, it’s important to make sure you’re comfortable. (If your chair is causing you crazy back pain, you won’t be writing for very long!) Fortunately, with the rise of office workers there’s been much advancement in ergonomic technology.

Ready to hop on the standing desk bandwagon? Here’s a roundup from inexpensive to fancy, or you can always DIY it with a stack of books or the latest IKEA hack.

For writing in bed or on your chaise lounge, stop trying to balance your laptop or notebook on a pillow and just get a lap desk.

And for those who love to sit: you can browse options for (affordable) ergonomic chairs here.

Organizing Your Writing

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J.K. Rowling mapped out the plots of the Harry Potter books with elaborate diagrams. William Faulkner outlined the plot of The Fable directly on his office walls (don’t try this at home, kids).

Whether you’re weaving together the plot lines of your new novel, or sorting through ideas for your next blog post, your writing could probably benefit from some organization.

Organize your writing (and possibly your life) with Evernote, the ultimate app for organizing, well, everything. Or if you want templates and proven formulas for your next Facebook post or sales page, be sure to check out Airstory.

Getting Your Grammar in Tip-Top Shape

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Okay, real talk: how could we write about tech to improve your writing and not mention Grammarly?!

With Grammarly as your editor, you can go with the flow of your creativity and let your inner muse run free. Let go of the paranoia that your writing will be littered with errors. Grammarly catches the errors and makes great suggestions for improving your writing.

And have you upgraded to Grammarly Premium yet? It includes vocabulary enhancement suggestions, genre-specific writing style checks, even more grammar and spelling checks, and a plagiarism detector that checks more than 8 billion web pages. Click here to supercharge your writing process.

We want to know: what are your favorite tech gadgets that make the writing process easier? Share in the comments section below!

Emigrate vs. Immigrate–What’s the Difference?

• Emigrate means to leave one location, such as one’s native country or region, to live in another.
• Immigrate means to move into a non-native country or region to live.
• Associate the I of immigrate with “in” to remember that the word means moving into a new country.

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Is emigrate an alternative spelling of immigrate? If not, what’s the difference between immigrate and emigrate?

The Meaning of Emigrate

Emigrate is not an alternative spelling of immigrate. Emigrate means to leave a place, such as a country of origin, to settle in another location. Here are some examples. To best understand them, remember that Arnold Schwarzenegger was born in Austria.

Arnold Schwarzenegger emigrated from Austria to the United States.

The Meaning of Immigrate

To immigrate is to settle in a country where you were not born. Here is an example of the verb immigrate using actress Natalie Portman, who was born in Israel.

Natalie Portman immigrated to the United States at a young age.

How to Remember the Difference Between Immigrate and Emigrate

Immigrate begins with the letter I. If you associate I with “in,” you can easily remember that immigrate means to move into a different country. Emigrate begins with an E, so if you associate it with exit, you’ll remember that it means to leave your home country.

Examples

“Canadians who marry someone from abroad shouldn’t have to wait for years to have them immigrate or be left with uncertainty in terms of their ability to stay,” says John McCallum, minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship.

Canadian Immigrant

Former Deal or No Deal star, Noel Edmonds is planning to leave Bristol and emigrate, according to reports.

Bristol Post

Nine Novellas Dancing Onto Your Reading List

On the ninth day of LitMas . . .

. . . you get nine wonderful novellas!

Novellas tend to fly under the radar. Readers know what to expect from short stories, and they know what they’re getting into with novels, but novellas fall into an ill-defined space somewhere between short story and novel. Some people think of them simply as very short novels—others have more specific criteria. Either way, here are nine novellas, novelettes, or long short stories for you to sink into when the weather won’t let you go outside.

1 A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

’Tis the season, after all! A Christmas Carol became an instant classic when it was first published in 1843. You probably know the outline of the story even if you’ve never read it, but it’s still worth reading. Who knows? Maybe you’ll find yourself feeling sorry for old Ebenezer Scrooge.

2 Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote

Truman Capote, perhaps best known as the author of the true crime story In Cold Blood, also wrote Breakfast at Tiffany’s. If you’ve only seen the movie, (or even if you’ve never seen it!) check out the original story of Holly Golightly and her mysterious, captivating, and sometimes melancholy life.

3 Three Blind Mice by Agatha Christie

Snowed in? Settle in with Three Blind Mice, a classic mystery by Agatha Christie. The guests at Monkswell Manor have been trapped by a ferocious blizzard, and unfortunately for everyone it seems that one of them is a murderer. If you can solve the mystery before the end, give yourself a pat on the back.

4 The Call of the Wild by Jack London

As Buck, the canine protagonist of The Call of the Wild discovers, life in the wild is cold, hard, and brutal. Read this one for dazzling descriptions of frozen wilderness and for the classic hero-adventure tale of Buck ultimately answering the call of the wild.

5 The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is the story of six teenage girls and their teacher, Miss Brodie, who is a person overflowing with passion. Miss Brodie teaches her girls much about life and love, but as one of the novella’s many flash-forwards reveals, she will be betrayed by one of her beloved students.

6 Binti by Nnedi Okorafor

Don’t miss Binti, winner of the 2015 Nebula and Hugo awards for best novella. Binti is the first of her people to be offered the chance to study at the galaxy’s most elite university, but the journey will be long and dangerous. Spoiling too much of this beautiful and thoughtful story would be a shame, so give it a chance, even if you don’t normally gravitate toward science fiction.

7 The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa

If you’re in the mood for a sweet story about living in the present, The Housekeeper and the Professor might be the gem you’re looking for. Set in Japan, this is the story of a unique friendship that blossoms between the brilliant Professor (whose long-term memory has been obliterated by an injury) and his Housekeeper, who has been hired to care for him and must reintroduce herself every morning.

8 True Grit by Charles Portis

True Grit is the right title for this story. Set in the American West of the 1870s, the story’s central character, fourteen-year-old Mattie Ross sets out to avenge her father’s death. Mattie, however, is no ordinary fourteen-year-old. Through grit and sheer force of will, she allies herself with the one-eyed U.S. Marshall Rooster Cogburn to see the mission through. Though the story is at times dark and frightening, it’s also full of unexpected humor as well as an oddly affecting friendship.

9 The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

This coming-of-age novella is the story of Esperanza Cordero, a young Latina girl growing up in Chicago. Esperanza is determined to escape the poverty of her childhood, but is equally determined to return and help the people she has left behind. Beautifully lyrical yet widely accessible, The House on Mango Street is a must-read.

Grammar is Only a Piece of the Pie

This Thanksgiving, Grammarly embarked on a quest to find the most delicious pumpkin pie recipe on the web. We discovered some complicated concoctions from celebrity chefs, some simple secrets from popular brands like Libby’s and Bisquick, and some interesting instructions from online recipe sites.

It was too difficult for us to decide on the “best” pumpkin pie recipe, but we did notice a few trends that we wanted to share with you in preparation for the season of holiday sweets and festive treats.

Individual chefs make cooking “easy as pie.” Celebrity chefs like Bobby Flay and Rachael Ray make the fewest spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors (3.9 errors per 100 words) in their pumpkin pie recipes than recipes from brands or recipe sites. Brands make an average of 5.4 errors per 100 words in their pumpkin pie recipes, while recipe sites such as Cook’s Illustrated and Epicurious seem to eat “humble pie” with an average of 8.6 errors per 100 words.

Brands like to keep it simple in the kitchen. From Pillsbury to Splenda, Libby’s to Eagle Brand, brand recipes call for 61 percent fewer ingredients than pumpkin pie recipes from chefs (who average nearly 13 ingredients in their complicated pumpkin pie concoctions). Pillsbury calls for only six ingredients in its pumpkin pie recipe; Eagle Brand calls for seven ingredients; and Libby’s calls for eight ingredients. On the other end of the spectrum, celebrity chef Bobby Flay has a whopping 21 ingredients in his pumpkin pie recipe.

Brands can “stand the heat” in the kitchen. On average, brand recipes call for pumpkin pie to be cooked at 400 degrees. Chefs, on the other hand, “play it cool” by cooking their pumpkin pie at an average temperature of 365 degrees.

Check out our infographic here:

Best Pumpkin Pie Recipes of All-Time:

Chefs

Bobby Flay: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/bobby-flays-pumpkin-pie-with-cinnamon-crunch-and-bourbon-maple-whipped-cream-recipe/index.html?oc=linkback

Giada de Laurentiis: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/persimmon-pumpkin-pie-recipe/index.html

Martha Stewart: http://www.marthastewart.com/317045/classic-pumpkin-pie

Paula Deen: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/pumpkin-pie-recipe/index.html

Rachael Ray: http://www.rachaelray.com/recipe.php?recipe_id=3075

Brands

Bisquick/Betty Crocker: http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/impossibly-easy-pumpkin-pie/c0eab3d9-06a3-4829-9125-7581f1d96315

Eagle Brand: http://www.eaglebrand.com/recipes/details/?RecipeId=3929

Libby’s: http://www.verybestbaking.com/recipes/18470/libbys-famous-pumpkin-pie/detail.aspx

Pillsbury: http://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/easy-pumpkin-pie/5793eb83-dca1-45e0-96e1-7f73af9e282f

Splenda: http://recipes.splenda.com/recipes/1397029-The-Great-Pumpkin-Pumpkin-Pie

Recipe Sites

AllRecipes.com: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/homemade-fresh-pumpkin-pie/

Cook’s Illustrated: http://www.thedeliciouslife.com/pumpkin-pie-recipe-cooks-illustrated/

Epicurious: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/The-Ultimate-Pumpkin-Pie-826#ixzz2jigFtwqS

Food.com: http://www.food.com/recipe/best-ever-pumpkin-pie-28758

SimplyRecipes: http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/suzannes_old_fashioned_pumpkin_pie/

Spelling counts: make sure you use these words correctly

Do you know the answer? Read on to find out which one is correct!

There are many (perhaps countless) homophones in the English language. These are words and phrases that sound the same but are spelled differently and have different meanings. Here are three commonly confused homophones worth knowing:

1. A while vs. awhile A while refers to a period of time. In this construction, ‘while’ acts as a noun. “I haven’t read any good books in a while.”

Awhile is an adverb and means for a period of time. “I’m going to think about this awhile.”

In many cases, you can replace ‘awhile’ with the prepositional phrase ‘for a while.’ If you have a hard time remembering the difference between the two, you might want to adopt the prepositional phrase strategy.

2. Stationary vs. stationery Stationary means not moving. “Today I’ll ride the stationary bike in my living room instead of going for a ride outside.”

Stationery is writing materials, envelopes, office materials. “I bought some nice stationery to use for thank you notes.”

Discreet vs. discrete Discreet means respectful of privacy or secrecy; quiet; diplomatic; inconspicuous. “I don’t want anyone to know about my secret, so please be discreet.” “The cabin was nestled in a discreet corner of the forest.”

Discrete means individually separate and distinct and is often use in mathematical contexts. “The syllabus was broken down into three discrete sections.”

The correct answer is discreet. Did you answer correctly? What other words do you hate to see confused?

Stop Making Contraction Mistakes Now. Here’s How.

 

Contractions. Everyone has messed up a contraction at one time or another. Sometimes these errors happen because a writer misunderstands the purpose of contractions, but most of the time they’re simply typos. Whatever the reason for your mistakes, we’ve got you covered.

If you don’t quite know the rules for contractions, you can brush up with our handbook.

If typos are your problem, try our free browser extension for help catching those keyboard slips (plus many other  types of writing errors). Add Grammarly to your browser.

What Is Verbing?

• To verb a noun means to use an ordinary noun as a verb in a sentence.
• English is flexible about the grammatical function of individual words. If you use a noun in the verb slot of a sentence, most people will understand what you mean.
• Be careful about verbing in very formal contexts, especially when there is already a common verb that would convey your meaning. Some people find verbing annoying.

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Have you ever friended someone on Facebook? Friend is a noun. Adding an -ed to the end to turn it into a verb is called verbing. Some nouns that people convert into verbs already have verb forms. For example, the verb befriend means to make friends with someone. However, social media made friending popular. Now, the dictionary defines the new verb as “to add a person to one’s list of social media contacts.” What else is there to know about verbing?

How to Verb

There are lots of ways to express the idea of turning a noun into a verb. The noun form of the act is verbification. Besides “to verb,” you might see “to verbify.”

Did you know that noun-to-verb conversions are abundant in English? People have been doing it for centuries. In fact, “verbify” is itself an example of the phenomenon. Nouns from all aspects of life are verbified:

Let’s table the proposal until we get more information.

I plated the asparagus next to the sweet potatoes to highlight the contrasting colors.

The flight has not yet deplaned.

The computer program is taking forever to download.

Modern-day speakers often verbify brand names.

Before the first day of class, she googled her professor.

I had to xerox a hundred copies of my résumé.

When is the last time you skyped your relatives?

Some verbs, like to google and to xerox, become so common that they are included in lowercase form in dictionaries.

How do you feel about new verbs? Some are fads, but others might stand the test of time. If you’d like to try making some verbs yourself, social media is a great place to test your creations. If someone objects, you can always unfriend them!

What Are Personal Pronouns?

A personal pronoun is a short word we use as a simple substitute for the proper name of a person. Each of the English personal pronouns shows us the grammatical person, gender, number, and case of the noun it replaces. I, you, he, she, it, we they, me, him, her, us, and them are all personal pronouns.

Personal pronouns are the stunt doubles of grammar; they stand in for the people (and perhaps animals) who star in our sentences. They allow us to speak and write with economy because they enable us to avoid repeating cumbersome proper nouns all the live-long day.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu was born in 1931 in South Africa and Bishop Desmond Tutu rose to international fame in the 1980s as an opponent of apartheid. The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Bishop Desmond Tutu in 1984. Bishop Desmond Tutu has written seven books and has cowritten or contributed to many others.

With personal pronouns, this paragraph becomes much easier, and much less annoying, to read.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu was born in 1931 in South Africa and he rose to international fame in the 1980s as an opponent of apartheid. The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to him in 1984. He has written seven books and has cowritten or contributed to many others.

First-, Second-, and Third-Person Pronouns

A personal pronoun can be in one of three “persons.” A first-person pronoun refers to the speaker, a second-person pronoun refers to the person being spoken to, and a third-person pronoun refers to the person being spoken of. For each of these three grammatical persons, there is a plural as well.

Subject and Object Pronouns

Personal pronouns can be either subjects or objects in a sentence. Subject pronouns are said to be in the nominative case, whereas object pronouns are said to be in the objective case.

Person	Nominative	Objective
First singular	I	me
Second singular	you	you
Third singular	he, she, it	him, her, it
First plural	we	us
Second plural	you	you
Third plural	they	them

The interrogative pronouns for all three persons are the same: who (nominative) and whom (objective). Many people get confused about when to use the interrogative objective pronoun whom, but it is quite easy to learn.

Mrs. Khan asked that the package be delivered to her at the office. (her = third person singular objective)

To whom should I address my letter? (whom = interrogative objective; I = first person singular nominative)

We would like to invite Stacy to join us for dinner. (we = first person plural nominative; us = first person plural objective)

Y’all Got a Problem? Second Person Singular vs. Plural

One pitfall of English is that it uses the same word, you, for both the second person singular and plural. Many other languages do not have this problem, because they use distinct words for each. But in English, we need a context to determine whether you is singular or plural.

Would you like to come over for dinner?

From this sentence alone, we can’t determine whether one person, or two, or five hundred people are being invited to share a meal. This is why in some parts of the world, we hear additions to you when a plural is indicated, like you lot in the UK or you all (or y’all) in America. It probably goes without saying that you should keep this out of your formal writing.

The Latest in Grammatical Debates: The Singular “They”

While the second person has a number issue, the third person has a gender issue that is hotly debated by editors around the globe. The problem occurs in cases when the gender of the third-person singular pronoun is indeterminate.

Using he or she and him or her is preferred by most style guides, but informally, a singular they is often used.

If a customer wants to speak to a manger, they can phone after 10 o’clock.

While your English teacher might lose his or her mind over this sentence, the singular they was recently deemed acceptable usage by the Associated Press. That said, until it becomes more widely accepted, you should avoid it in formal writing.

Grammar Basics: What Are Nondefining Clauses?

There are two types of relative clauses—defining and nondefining. To review, relative clauses can contain a subject, verb, and a relative pronoun, though not all are needed. The relative pronouns are who, whose, when, where, which, and that. Relative clauses are sometimes called adjective or adjectival clauses because they describe nouns like adjectives do. Defining clauses give essential information about the main noun. Often, they answer the question: “Which one?” If you haven’t already guessed, nondefining clauses do not define nouns. But what do they do?

Nondefining relative clauses provide supplementary information. However, the information is not key to the meaning of the sentence. In fact, the sentence would still make sense if you removed the nondefining clause. Look at these example sentences with and without nondefining clauses.

The country of Costa Rica has extensive measures in place to protect endangered rainforest animals. (This sentence does not have a relative clause.)

The country of Costa Rica, where extinct species such as the golden toad once thrived, has extensive measures in place to protect endangered rainforest animals. (The nondefining clause “where extinct species such as the golden toad once thrived” tells us more about Costa Rica, but nothing that is essential to understanding of the sentence.)

Besides the type of information added (essential vs. nonessential), the use of commas is different between the two types of clauses. Commas set off nondefining clauses from the rest of the sentence. Defining clauses do not need commas.

Was your guess correct? Celebrate by adding some nondefining clauses to your writing. They add supplementary information. They are not essential, but they can be quite interesting.

Which Writing Style Actually Makes You Open an Email?

What are your writing resolutions?

This poll is part of a series that Grammarly is running aimed at better understanding how the public feels about writing, language learning, and grammar.

Please take the poll and share your thoughts in the comments. We can’t wait to hear from you!

If you are interested in more, check out last week’s poll.

When Should I Use Inquire vs. Enquire?

• Traditionally, enquire simply meant “ask,” while inquire was used for formal investigations.
• In the UK, the two words are used interchangeably, although inquire is still the more commonly used word for formal or official investigations.
• In the United States, inquire is the strongly preferred spelling in all uses.

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For the most part, you can use either enquire or inquire and not make a mistake. These two words, however, have traditionally been used in a slightly different way, at least in the UK, which kind of makes them a pair of commonly confused words.

When to Use Inquire?

Inquire is what you’ll usually see in American English. It means “to ask” or “to investigate”:

We went to the mall to inquire about a job.

In British English, inquire has traditionally been used for formal or official investigations and queries:

We asked Lord Roundbottom to inquire into the matter of the new football stadium.

Today, the word inquire is also used in British English in the way it’s used in American English, to denote a general query.

When to Use Enquire?

Enquire is mostly used in British English for the general meaning “to ask” or “to investigate”:

I’ll go to Phil and enquire about the chances of getting a raise.

While inquire is also often used in the same sense as enquire in British English, it doesn’t usually go the other way around—enquire is rarely used for an official investigation or query.

Examples

This one will throw you for a loop: The Nationals have inquired with the Blue Jays about outfielder Jose Bautista’s availability, according to The Post’s Barry Svrluga.

CBS DC

However, he defended the regulator’s right to inquire whenever it felt that circumstances required it and suggested more use might be made of the BHA’s review function.

The Guardian

Go and check it out before you book – talk to management and staff, look at the dogs’ quarters, enquire about feeding and exercise routines and see how the people there interact with your dog.

Stuff