English word formation processes.

An act of parliament 

     For centuries the words they and their were allowed to refer to both singular and plural words. Such usage meant that the writer or speaker didn't have to make a gender choice because their didn't refer soecifically men or women.

     But the fact that their could be both singular and plural bothered grammarian John Kirby, who
declared in 1746 that the male gender was more universal than the female gender. Kirby made
up a new rule saying that male terms should always be understood to include the female. (In other words, when you want to talk about some one in a mixed-gender group, he and hiss are the words you need)

    Enter Parliament the chief  law-making body of mighty british empire. in 1850 the parliament  passed a law stating that masculine terms were always to be read as including females. Parliament actually enacted an official grammar rule! (If they had time for grammar, I wonder what they were neglecting.) Now if I could just  get the misuse of whom declared a felony....

Pairing Pronouns With Nouns 

     To get started on everything you need to know about pronouns, take a close look at how pronouns are paired with nouns. A pronoun's meaning can vary from sentence to sentence. Think of pronouns as the ultimate substitute teachers. One day they're solving quadratic equations, and the next they're
doing push-ups in the gym. Such versatility comes from the fact that pronouns don't have identities of their own; instead, they stand in for nouns. In a few very weird situations, pronouns stand in for other pronouns.
     To choose the appropriate pronoun, you must consider the word that the pronoun is replacing. The word that the pronoun replaces is called the pronoun's antecedent. Identifying the pronoun-antecedent pair is really a matter of reading comprehension. I f the sentence (or in some cases, the paragraph) doesn't make the pronoun-antecedent connection clear, the writing is faulty. Time to edit! But in most cases the meaning of the pronoun leaps off the page.
Take a look at some examples:

• Hasenfeff stated his goals clearly: He wanted to take over the world. (The pronouns his and he refer to the noun Hasenfeff?) 
• The lion with a thorn in her paw decided to wear sneakers the next time she went for a walk in the jungle. (The pronouns her and she in this sentence refer to the noun lion.} 
• Our cause is just! Down with sugarless gum! We demand that all bubble gum be loaded with sugar! (The pronouns our and we refer to the speakers, who aren't named.) 
• Tattered books will not be accepted because they are impossible to resell. (The pronoun they refers to the noun books?) 
• Ludwig, who types five or six words a minute, is writing a new encyclopedia. (The pronoun who refers to Ludwig.} 
• Ameba and / demand that the microscope be cleaned before we begin the exam. (The pronoun / refers to the speaker. The pronoun we refers to Ameba and I.) 

Dynamic Verbs vs. Stative Verbs

When do you use a capital letter?

• Use a capital letter for the first letter in a sentence :
• The dog is barking.
• Come here!
• Always use a capital letter for the word    :
• I  am eight years old.
• Tom and   are good friends.
• Use a capital letter for the names of people:  
• Alice, Tom, James, Kim, Snow White
• Use a capital letter for the names of places:
•  National Museum, Bronx Zoo, London, Sacramento
• Use a capital letter for festivals, holidays, days of the week, months of the year:
• New Year’s Day, Christmas, Labor Day, Mother’s Day,     Sunday, Monday, Friday, January, May, July, October

What Are Interjections and How to Use Them?

Linking Verbs: The Giant Equal Sign 

     Linking verbs are also called being verbs because they express states of being what is, will be, or was. Here's where algebra intersects with English. You can think of linking verbs as giant equal signs plopped into the middle of your sentence. For example, you can think of the sentence
Legghorn's uncle is a cannibal with a taste for finger food,
as
Legghorn's uncle = a cannibal with a taste for finger food.
Or, in shortened form,
Legghorn's uncle = a cannibal
Just as in an algebra equation, the word is links two ideas and says that they are the same. Thus, is is a inking verb. Here are more linking verbs:
Lulu will be angry when she hears about the missing bronze tooth.
Lulu = angry (will be is a linking verb)
Lochness was the last surfer to leave the water when the tidal wave
approached.
Lochness = last surfer (was is a linking verb)
Even in the dark, Lucrezia's red hair and orange eyes were completely
visible.
hair and eyes = visible (were is a linking verb)
Ludwig has been depressed ever since the fall of the House of Usher.
Ludwig = depressed (has been is a linking verb)
Earwigs are a constant problem for that pink elephant.
Earwigs = problem (are is a linking verb)

Verbs: The Heart of the Sentence 

     Think about a sentence this way: A sentence is a flatbed truck. You pile all of your ideas on the truck, and the truck takes the meaning to your audience (your reader or your listener). The verb of the sentence is a set of tires for the truck. Without the verb, you may get your point across, but you're going to have a bumpy ride.
     In other words, every sentence needs a verb. The verb is what the sentence rests on and what gives the sentence movement. Verbs are the heart of the sentence because you start with the verb when you want to do anything to your sentence — including correct it. And as the old song goes, "you gotta have heart."
Verbs come in all shapes and sizes: linking and action; helping verb and main verb, regular and irregular; singular and plural; and present, past, and future.

Using the Right English at the Riqht lime 

     Which type of English do you speak? Friend speak, conversational English, or formal English? Probably all of them.If you're like most people, you switch from one to another without thinking, dozens of times each day. Chances are, the third type of English formal English  is the one that gives you the most trouble. In fact, it's probably why you bought this book. Okay, there is one more possibility that I haven't mentioned yet. Maybe your nerdy uncle, the one with ink stains on his nose, gave English Grammar For Dummies to you for Arbor Day and you're stuck with it. But you're not playing a heavy-metal CD at high volume and surfing the Internet, so you must be reading the book. Therefore, you've at least acknowledged that you have something to think about, and I'm betting that it's formal English

     In the Middle Ages, grammar meant the study of Latin, because Latin was the language ofchoice for educated people. In fact, grammar was so closely associated with Latin that the word was also used to refer to any kind of learning. (You may have heard people from earlier generations your grandparents, perhaps
talk about their grammar school, not their elementary school. The term grammar school is a leftover from the old days. The very old days.)

    However, these day grammar is a study of  language, specifically, how words are put together to create meaning. Because of all of those obsessive English teachers and their rules, grammar also means a set of standard that you have to follow in order to speak and called usage, as in standard and non-standard  usage. Standard usage is the one that earns an A grade. It is the commonly accepted, correct patterns of speech and writing that mark an  educated person in our society, You'l l find standard usage in government documents, in newspapers and magazines, and in textbooks. Non-standard usage draws red ink from a teacher's pen faster than bullet cuts through butter. It includes slang, dialect, and just plain bad grammar.

Deciding Which Grammar to Learn 

     I can hear the groan already. Which grammar? You mean there's more than one? Yes, there are actually several different types of grammar, including historical (how language has changed through the centuries) and comparative (comparing languages).

      Descriptive grammar gives names to things  the parts of speech and parts of a sentence. When you learn descriptive grammar, you understand what every word is (its part of speech) and what every word does (its function in the sentence). I f you're not careful, descriptive grammar can go overboard fast, and you end up saying things like "balloon" is the object of the gerund, in a gerund phrase that is acting as the predicate nominative of the linking verb "appear. " Never fear: I wouldn't dream of inflicting that level of terminology on you. However, there is one important reason to learn some grammar terms  to understand why a particular word or phrase is correct or incorrect.

     One that fits what you're trying to say  by insuring that the sentence is put together correctly. When you're agonizing over whether to say / or me, you're actually solving a problem of functional grammar.

Living better with better grammar 



     Does this sound like you? Do your words turn into pretzels, twisting around themselves until you don't know why you ever thought to open your mouth (or your computer word processing program)? I f so, you have lots of company. Nearly everyone in your class or office (or squadron or terrorist cell or whatever) has the same worries.

     Stuck in English class, you probably thought that grammar was invented just to give teachers something to test. But in fact grammar — or to be more precise, formal grammar lessons — exists to help you express yourself clearly. Without a thorough knowledge of grammar, a little thread of doubt will weave its way across your speech and writing. Part of your mind will string words together, and another part will ask, Is that correct? Inevitably, the doubts will show.

     You should also learn grammar because, rightly or wrongly, your audience or readers will judge you by the words you use and the way you put them together. Ten minutes at the movies will show you the truth of this statement. Listen to the speech of the people on the screen. An uneducated character sounds different from someone with five diplomas on the wall. The dialogue reflects reality: Educated people follow certain rules when they speak and write. I f you want to present yourself as an educated person, you have to
follow those rules also.