Tag Archive - grammar tips

Pass the Collocations

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Collocations. Isn’t that a neat word? It refers to regular pairings of words, and boy, there are many I use incorrectly and have to look up. Problem is, we get so lazy and weird in our speech that we’ve accepted many pairings that are just plain wrong, so I’m going to give you a list of the correct pairings for certain phrases we regularly use. There are myriad, but I’m going to pick the ones I like:

  • Abide with: I abide with my husband.
  • Absolve by: I was absolved by the judge.
  • Absolve from: And he absolved me from the penalties.
  • Accord with: I’m in accord with the new policies at work.
  • Account to: You will have to account to the principal for what you did.
  • Account for: He must account for his actions.
  • Advise of: She advised me of the rules.
  • Advise about: You need to advise me about the issue soon. (And be careful not to mix up advise and advice, which many do!)
  • Agreeable to: He’s agreeable to my plan.
  • Agreeable with: Your idea is agreeable with mine.
  • Answer to: You must answer to your parents.
  • Answer for: I have to answer for my crimes.
  • Averse to: He is averse to seeing scary movies.

As you probably noticed, I only covered the letter A—which should give you a clue about next week’s post . . .

Such Is the Way of Pronouns

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I discussed last week how we tend to default to “their” when following singular pronouns, which is bad, bad, bad. Or so many say. As mentioned, some pronouns are singular, and so the verbs following them must be singular, as in “Nobody knows what trouble I’ve seen.” Seems intuitive—until you get to those sentences like “Everybody grabbed their backpacks [did they each grab one or more than one?] and headed for the door.”

Since I’ve already loaded you down with that lesson, just be aware there are some pronouns that can be either singular or plural depending on the intent. Here are some examples:

  • Such is the way of the fool
  • Such are the ways of the world
  • None is as stupid as I am
  • None are expected to make it down that mountain alive.
  • Any is fine with me
  • Any of these foods are healthy
  • Some of that pudding has turned green; don’t eat it
  • Some are really dumb to eat green pudding
  • All of that pie looks good to me
  • All are waiting eagerly for you to cut the cake

Hmm, maybe you can tell I’m writing this around dinnertime; I’m thinking of food examples. But I hope you get the point. Just use your pronouns carefully! (And really—avoid that green pudding!)

Each Writer Should Correct Their Own Grammar

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Dreading to deal with the ubiquitous “their,” let’s just get it over with. It’s become so common for us to say things like “Do you know someone who lives alone and worries for their life?” or “Everyone in the audience blew their nose.” How about “No one knew what their assignment was.” And so on.

We have gotten into the habit of using “their” as a catch-all word in sentences that really call for a singular pronoun. And often, the best way around these glaring pitfalls is to rewrite.

It is clunky to always say “his” or “her”: “Each person in the room scratched his or her head.” But although it’s easier to defer to “Each person scratched their head,” why not rewrite into a stronger sentence? Or if it the information is not necessary, just take it out. Do you really need to tell the reader that everyone scratched their head? Just what are you trying to say? Continue Reading…

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