1. Correct speling is a Must.
2. “Just between you and I” is a Mustn’t. It’s as much of a Mustn’t as “They
telephoned she.”
3. Be sure to never split an infinitive.
4. Don’t dangle with participles: “Running for the bus, a taxi hit my uncle.”
5. The difference between “teach” and “learn” should learn you to pay attention.
Teachers don’t have to pay attention, so they don’t learn; they just teach.
6. When studying grammar, a spiral notebook of well-lined pages are useful.
(This shows that subjects and verbs are enemies.)
7. Don’t never use no double negative. Triple negative are even worst.
8. Always make a pronoun agree with their referent.
9. Beware of the “them-those” trap. For instance, don’t write, “Them apples are
rotten” if they are not.
10. Many people love to use commas, which are not necessary. For instance, “She
ate, the fool” is a comment. “She ate the fool” is correct, if she is a
cannibal.
11. One of the trickiest points in punctuation is to use apostrophe’s correctly.
They are as sensitive as measle’s.
12. Never use “real” when you mean “very.” Therefore: “She is real stupid” shows
that you are very stupid. (This point is real important.)
13. Adjectives are not adverbs. Write careful. (I know that’s hardly.)
14. Question marks can be dynamite. Use them carefully. “You sure are pretty?”
means you are not sure I am pretty. That is an insult.
15. Many a student is undone by “who” and “whom.”
a. “’Whom are you?’ she asked, for she had gone to night school.”
b. If you write “Who’s hand is stroking my thigh?” you’ll never know who’s
pulling whose leg. Such information can be valuable.
16. Avoid the excessive use of exclamation points!!!! It is silly to write,
“Yesterday, I woke up!!!” because that suggests that today you did not, which is
probably true.
17. When you want to say something that indicates anyone, or all of us, the
pronoun “one” is better than “he” or “she.” “One never knows, do one?”
18. Observe the difference between “don’t” and “doesn’t.” It’s shocking to hear
so many high school graduates say “He don’t care.” What they mean, of course, is
“I don’t care.” Their grades proved it.
19. Never write, “heighth” or “weighth.” They just are not righth.
20. Avoid confusion. “How the hippopotamus are you?”
21. “Irregardless” is not in the dictionary. “Hopefully” is – and I hope to God
you never use it.
22. Don’t use “neither” when you mean “either.” Either use “neither” correctly
or don’t use it at all. And don’t use “either” if you mean “ether” neither.
23. Guard against absurd and unnecessary repetitions. This here rule is
especially important for new beginners.
24. A real booby trap to avoid is “when” – especially when a sentence like “I do
not deny I wasn’t afraid” occurs when you mean “I won’t deny I was afraid.” Most
writers are, so they master syntax, which is the only tax that doesn’t cost
money.
25. Don’t forget the crucial difference between “lie” and “lay.”
a. the former takes no object (“I lie in bed”) but the latter must (“Lay that
pistol down, mother”);
b. “To lie” means to express something not true: “to lay” means expressing
something more urgent.
Got it? Now, memorize these laws, plus one more: Be sure to reread anything you
write to make sure you don’t accidentally any words out.
The eyes have one language everywhere. - George Herbert
I am disappointment in you're grammar. - Unknown
A proverb is to speech what salt is to food. - Arabic Proverb
Discretion in speech is more than eloquence. - Sir Francis Bacon
Tears at times have all the weight of speech. - Ovid
A story is told as much by silence as by speech. - Susan Griffin
Speech was given to man to disguise his thoughts. - Charles de Talleyrand
I have often regretted my speech, never my silence. - Xenocrates
Well-timed silence hath more eloquence than speech. - Martin Fraquhar Tupper
Drawing on my fine command of language, I said nothing. - Robert Benchley
There is no language like the Irish for soothing and quieting. - John Millington Synge
Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people. - William Butler Yeats
England and America are two countries separated by a common language. - George Bernard Shaw
Grammar is a piano I play by ear. All I know about grammar is its power. - Joan Didion
It usually takes more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech. - Mark Twain
Symptoms are the body's mother tongue; signs are in a foreign language. - John Brown
Music is the only language in which you cannot say a mean or sarcastic thing. - John Erskine
If we are a country committed to free speech, then why do we have phone bills? - Steven Wright
Three problems we have: lack of boundaries, insufficient language, incompletions. - Thomas Leonard
I personally think we developed language because of our deep inner need to complain. - Jane Wagner
The language of the law must not be foreign to the ears of those who are to obey it. - Learned hand
Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree. - Ezra Pound
Never make fun of someone who speaks broken English. It means they know another language. - H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
At no time is freedom of speech more precious than when a man hits his thumb with a hammer. - Marshall Lumsden
I never made a mistake in grammar but once in my life, and as soon as I done it. I seen it. - Carl Sandburg
The first man to use abusive language instead of his fists was the founder of civilization. - Sigmund Freud
Language is our meeting place, the sea we live in…it is the common ground of our humanity. - Toby Wolfe
Grammar, which knows how to lord it over kings, and with high hands makes them obey its laws. - Moliere
It's a strange world of language in which skating on thin ice can get you into hot water. - Franklin P. Jones
The trouble with her is that she lacks the power of conversation but not the power of speech. - George Bernard Shaw
Every St. Patrick's Day every Irishman goes out to find another Irishman to make a speech to. - Unknown
Fashion is free speech, and one of the privileges, if not always one of the pleasures, of a free world. - Alison Lurie
The longest word in the English language is the one following the phrase, "And now a word from our sponsor." - Hal Eaton
Morals are an acquirement - like music, like a foreign language, like piety, poker, paralysis - no man is born with them. - Mark Twain
Two may talk together under the same roof for many years, yet never really meet; and two others at first speech are old friends. - Mary Catherwood
The nine most terrifying words in the English language are,
"I'm from the government and I'm here to help." - Ronald Reagan
If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart. - Nelson Mandela
"I am" is reportedly the shortest sentence in the English language. Could it be that "I do" is the longest sentence? - George Carlin
Mathematicians are like Frenchmen: whatever you say to them they translate into their own language and forthwith it is something entirely different. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
see also Language Section
Books Never Written
Commas Save Lives
Cyberbulbs
Does A Double Positive Equal A Negative?
Double Negative Education
First Impressions
Fluent Sarcasm
I Like Cooking
Little Johnny’s Beautiful Examples
One Thousand Words
Practice Safe Text
Punctuation Matters
 Golf Prayer |  Warmest Wishes for a Perfect Sunday |  Walking The Dog |  Bobslide Event |  Holy Bagel |
 Happy Down Under Day |  In Deep Water |  2020 Hooters Owl and Birds of Prey Calendars (3) |  Lean Beer |  Cow Skiing |
 Trail Closed |  Toothpaste Holder |  Sun Top Roof With Sun Substitute |  Tiger Dog |  No More Arguing |
 Multi-Pour Coffee Pot |  Things Bottled Up |  Cake Message |  SnowCut |  Depressing Situation |
26-Jan-2020 |