“Only” is a rather useful word, but it can be easy to misuse in writing. It can be confusing to determine where to put it in a sentence.
Articles Categorized Grammar & Usage
Grammar Bite: Who’s That?
If you’re writing for a client and are told to allow “that” to represent a person, breathe a sigh of relief: doing so doesn’t break any rules.
Grammar Bite: Adjective Basics
Adjectives can be a writer’s greatest friend, creating rich images and clear meaning. They can also be a writer’s worst enemy.
Grammar Bite: Active vs. Passive Voice
You want to keep your readers engaged with your writing to the end. One way to do this is to use more active voice and less passive voice in your writing.
Grammar Bite: Don’t Dangle Your Participle
What’s a participle and how on earth would you know it’s dangling? A quick grammar lesson to help you fix danglers and say what you mean.
Grammar Bite: Misplaced Modifiers
A modifier is a word or phrase that qualifies a noun or verb. Modifiers should be placed next to the words or phrases they modify. Simple, right? Not quite.
That Which Has a Tail
“That” and “which” may seem interchangeable, but there’s a difference between the two words, and it’s more important than you might think.
Who vs. Whom and Other Writing Bugaboos
Every writer has them: little points of grammar they can never remember. Is it who or whom? When is effect the right word? Is it i.e. or e.g., and what do they stand for anyway?
Grammar Bite: Correlative Conjunctions
Want a subtle way to improve your writing? Make sure you’re matching the right correlative conjunctions in your sentences!
A Most Important(ly) Lesson
I have a confession to make: I made a reflexive edit in a manuscript based on personal preference. Worse, I then boasted about it online.
