English grammar explained in plain language simple enough to be understood.
Today is Veterans Day, a day of remembrance. We pause today to honor, acknowledge, and thank all the people in the armed forces of the United States – those presently serving our country, and those who have served in the… Read more214. Highlight on Writing – Veterans Day
Italics are most often used for titles and names. However, we sometimes use italics when we want to emphasize certain words in our writing. Italicizing the words makes them stand out to the reader. Here is an example of using… Read more189. Use Italics to Emphasize Words
The days of the week are names, so they must be capitalized. Every time you write a day of the week, be sure it begins with a capital letter. SundayMondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFridaySaturday Last Friday, we went out for dinner.I have swim practice… Read more361. Capitalize Days of the Week
Section A: Find the word or words in each sentence that should be capitalized.1. We celebrated memorial day last month.2. The kids like to dress up in costumes on halloween.3. We like to eat turkey and stuffing on thanksgiving day…. Read more360. Practice With Capitalization
The prepositional phrase can be an important part of your writing. Use the prepositional phrase to add information and interest to your sentences. Because a preposition tells the position of something or someone, prepositions can help your writing to be… Read more354. Highlight on Writing – The Prepositional Phrase
Parallel lines are two lines always the same distance apart, like railroad tracks. Parallel structure in writing is a little different. We use parallel structure in a sentence when we list three phrases or three clauses evenly. If we wanted… Read more239. Highlight on Writing: Parallel Structure
We’ve been practicing writing complex sentences, and we’ve talked about beginning complex sentences two different ways: with a subordinate clause or with an independent clause. It’s helpful to learn how to write sentences in different ways so that our writing… Read more229. Highlight on Writing: Using Varied Sentence Structure
Anytime you write the title of a book, a magazine, or a newspaper, you must either underline or italicize the title. If you are writing by hand, you should underline the title. When typing on a computer, you will italicize… Read more421. Use Italics for Book, Magazine, and Newspaper Titles
We always write the names of plays, movies, and television shows in italics if we are typing. Look at these examples: Plays:King Lear by William ShakespeareDeath of a Salesman by Arthur Miller Movies:Forest GumpField of Dreams Television Shows:The Brady BunchWheel… Read more422. Italicize the Titles of Plays, Movies, and Television Shows
We always italicize the names of ocean-going ships. TitanicUSS Arizona We italicize the names of works of visual art. Starry Night by Van GoghThe Thinker by Rodin We also italicize major musical compositions.The William Tell Overture by RossiniEroica by Beethoven… Read more423. Italicize Names of Ships, Works of Art, and Musical Compositions