Beyonce Knowles says she feels badly about her behavior during a duet performance with Prince at the 2004 Grammy Awards. She explains that the reason she did not share the microphone with her singing partner is because her diva alter ego, who she refers to as “Sasha,” took over her body and stole the show.
These [...]
Britney Spears gives her baby ice cream before he lays down to sleep.
This sentence contains an error in diction: the improper use of a form of the verb “to lay.”
“To lay” is a transitive verb that means “to place something on a surface” and requires an object. You lay something down.
“To lie” is an intransitive [...]
The words “its” and “it’s” are homophones: they sound alike, but they have different meanings. Keep the different definitions in mind when you spell these words.
“Its” is a personal possessive pronoun that means “belonging to it.”
“It’s” is a contraction of “it is” or “it has.”
The word “because” is a conjunction that means “for the reason that.”
The reason I am hungry is because I did not eat lunch.
While this sort of diction is common in informal speech, it contains a redundancy according to the rules of standard American English. It is not necessary to have two words that the [...]
Sally can run faster than any girl in the class.
This sentence compares “Sally” to “any girl in the class.” Such a comparison implies that Sally is not a girl. Since “Sally” is part of the group defined by “girl in the class,” it is necessary to use the term “any other” instead of “any.”
Sally can [...]
The proper usage of “former” and “latter” depends upon an understanding of the definitions of these words.
former - (adjective) first-mentioned of two
latter - (adjective) last-mentioned of two
Notice that these definitions contain the words “of two.” This means that “former” and “latter” can only be used in reference to two people or things. [...]
The verb “infer” means “to draw a conclusion based on given information.”
The verb “imply” means “to indicate without making a direct statement.”
Although she never states that she does not like her brother, the author implies in her book that they did not have a good relationship.
The reader can infer that the relationship between the author [...]
Yesterday I [hanged/hung] a picture on the wall.
In the United States, criminals are no longer [hanged/hung] as punishment for their crimes.
The verb “hang” means “to suspend” and it has two forms of the past tense: “hanged” and “hung.” The use of these words depends on their meaning. “Hanged” is used to mean “suspended with the [...]
The adjective “everyday” means “happening every day” and, perhaps because a routine can be perceived as relatively uninteresting, “ordinary.” Remember that “everyday” is one word: it is an adjective used to describe a noun and answer the question “How is it?” It is “ordinary”; it is “commonplace”; it is “everyday.”
The adverb phrase “every day” means [...]
The words “their,” “there,” and “they’re” are homophones: they sound alike, but they have different meanings. Keep the different definitions in mind when you spell these words.
“Their” is a personal possessive adjective that means “belonging to them.”
My friends brought their dog with them. [The dog belongs to them.]
“There” is a word that takes several parts [...]
