Grammar

The expression aren’t I is often used in place of am I not, particularly in conversational speech.

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Drug is often used as the past tense of drag, as in the following example:

Example: I drug myself out of bed this morning.

The past tense of drag is actually dragged, not drug. This error is particularly common in speech. Even Bill Clinton once made this blunder on national television, returning to bad habits he developed as a youth growing up in Arkansas.

Remember that the word drug should never be associated with any kind of pulling action. It should only be used when referring to some type of medicinal substance.

When asked, “How are you doing?” many people will immediately answer, “I am doing good.” Unless they’re talking about the good they’re doing for their community, they should have answered instead with “I am doing well.” (more…)

There are approximately 200 irregular verbs in the English language. These verbs form the past and past participle (have + verb) tenses differently from the present. These irregularities can be a nagging source of
confusion for many writers and speakers of English. (more…)

Less and fewer have essentially the same meaning, but they are used differently according to what they modify. Less is used with mass nouns, while Fewer is used with count nouns. (more…)

Lie and lay are two words that seem to cause some of the greatest confusion, even among those versed in English grammar. Lie means to recline; lay, on the other hand, means to put or place something. (more…)

The word like should never be used before a clause.

Example 1 (incorrect usage): It looks like it will rain.

Like should only be used before a noun, as in the following example:

Example 2 (correct usage): The girl looks like her mother.

Take a close look at the two sentences above. Do you see the difference in how they are used? In the first sentence, like is followed by the clause it will rain. In the second sentence, like is followed by her mother. Whenever a subject and verb follow, remember to substitute like with either as though or as if, as illustrated in the final example below.

Example 3 (correct): It looks as if it will rain.

The adverb only should be placed as close as possible to the word it modifies in a sentence. Consider the following two sentences: (more…)

Real is often used in place of really, most often in conversational English. (more…)

The phrase wait on should be used only when referring to serving someone or something.

Example 1 (correct usage): The server waited on the customers in the restaurant.

This phrase should never mistakenly be used in place of wait for.

Example 2 (incorrect usage): We waited on our guests to arrive.

Example 3 (correct usage): We waited for our guests to arrive.