English grammar explained in plain language simple enough to be understood.
The word advice is a noun. We use advice when we talk about the information we get from someone. My mom always gives me good advice.The advice from the doctor was to stay off my foot for 24 hours. The… Read more433. Advice and Advise
Section A: Decide if the sentence needs a contraction or a pronoun for each blank. Choose the correct word from the two options.1. I hope ____ coming to the game tonight. (you’re, your)2. Jim and Sue said _______ planning to… Read more370. Practice With Confusing Contractions and Pronouns
The word you’re is a contraction. A contraction is formed by bumping two words together to make one word. A contraction always has an apostrophe (‘) to show where letters have been taken out. The contraction you’re is formed by… Read more367. You’re vs. Your
Section A: Choose the correct verb for each sentence.1. Last night, I ____ on the couch to watch television. (lie, lay, laid)2. My dog _____ on the rug every day while I eat breakfast. (lies, lays, laid)3. The workers ______… Read more430. Practice with Confusing Verbs
In our English language, several words are very similar and are often confused. One often-confused pair of words is they’re and their. It helps to remember that they’re is a contraction. They’re is made up of two words: they and… Read more366. Common Error: They’re vs. Their
Section A: Find the compound word in each sentence below.1. He turned the doorknob and opened the door.2. I used a thumbtack to hang up the poster.3. Be sure to pick up the dry-cleaning today.4. Dad will stop at the… Read more270. Practice with Compound Words
We’ve talked all week about compound nouns. Yesterday we studied hyphenated compound nouns. It’s important to know that some hyphenated compound words are not compound nouns. These hyphenated compound words are used as adjectives to modify a noun: two-week vacationten-minute… Read more269. Other Hyphenated Compound Words
Sometimes a compound noun is two words connected with a hyphen. (-)A hyphenated compound noun looks like this: self-esteem The two nouns, self and esteem, joined with a hyphen make a new word.This new compound word has a meaning all… Read more268. Hyphenated Compound Nouns
A compound noun is two nouns pushed together to make one word. Usually the two words become one word without a space between. When we leave a space in a compound word, we call that an open compound noun. The… Read more267. Open Compound Nouns
These two words sound exactly alike, but their meanings are very different. The word past can be a noun, a preposition, or an adverb. When using the word as a noun, we talk about the past. The past becomes a… Read more434. Passed and Past