The English language is a glorious thing, allowing us to express ourselves with passion or dispassion, with brevity or at great length. It can also be a minefield full of potential grammatical errors or confusion.
For example, when do you use '
that' in a sentence, and when do you use '
which'? Both words are pronouns used to introduce clauses in a sentence.
Let's have a look at when only 'that' will do:
He picked the toy that was broken.
Dogs that bark are too noisy.
'That' introduces a 'restrictive relative clause'. Before your eyes start glazing over, this means that without this clause the sentence doesn't make sense. Think about it. "He picked the toy." Which toy?
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I was in year 4 at school when the concept of quotation marks was introduced to our class. Because I was a smartypants I had been writing stories for years using quote marks to contain my characters' speech, and the initial lesson on quotation marks was a validation of what I'd already been doing. I had taught myself by reading novels and noticing how quote marks went outside commas and periods. It all seemed pretty logical. And it is.
So here's a quick lowdown on how to use quote marks. Read More
OK, hands up if you've heard of The Greengrocer's Apostrophe. This is an apostrophe incorrectly used with an 'S' after it to form a plural of a word. You'll see it not only in the greengrocer's shop but widely in the retail sector, online and in print advertising. Here are some samples:
