Fun Blogging

Here are a few words: Accordingly Also Henceforth Indeed In fact As a result However Therefore Hence Moreover Meanwhile Certainly Nonetheless Otherwise Finally Incidentally Likewise Meanwhile All of these are adverbs, which can function also as conjunctions. Hence, they are called conjunctive adverbs. An adverb is any term that modifies a verb, adjective, or another adverb, and a conjunction is a term that connects two clauses. When using conjunctive adverbs, you should follow punctuation rules carefully. When a conjunctive adverb connects two independent clauses, it is actually like two different sentences. But the second sentence is made to factually depend on the first with the conjunctive adverb. Therefore, the first sentence should end in a semicolon or a period, and the conjunctive adverb should be followed by a comma. Here are examples: Alan is only a chiropractor; naturally, he has never had the respect of an actual doctor. James is no longer with the club. Therefore, he didn...

These two constructions always make me confused. Could you just explain them to me, please? – James Vaughn James is not the only person that has this doubt. These two are complex constructions, and are frowned upon by many native and foreign speakers of English. So, let's have a look at them today. Both 'No Sooner…Than' and 'Hardly…When' are used to mean exactly the same. It is when something has happened just before something else. The first of the actions, expressed with 'no sooner' or 'hardly', has happened right before the part after 'than' or 'when'. One thing to remember with these constructions is never to use 'when' with 'no sooner' or 'than' with 'hardly'. No sooner is clearly a comparative construction and has to be followed by 'than' as in any comparative form. You can replace 'hardly' with 'scarcely'. Examples: Here are a few examples for you to understand them better...

Earlier, you may remember we published a list of confusable words . Here we are again, with such a list of words. Abjure/Adjure: Abjure means "to formally renounce (give up) something" such as a position. Adjure on the other hand means 'to appeal to' or 'solemnly order'. The governor decided to abjure his position due to political pressure. Normally, adjuring to the subordinates doesn't give many results. Amount/Number: Use amount when you have uncountable subject. Use number when it is countable. The amount of love one gets depends on the number of friends one has. Appraise/Apprise: Appraise is the word applied to quantitative evaluation of something. Apprise means 'communicate' or 'inform'. Appraising diamonds is the work of an expert. Joe apprised me of the schedule of events. Attorney/Lawyer/Solicitor: These terms are highly misinterpreted and confused by many people. Let me clarify. In the US, an attorney is any member of legal pro...

Look at these sentences: The members of the parliament and their wives were present at the party, and most of them were visibly under the influence. In order to improve their prowess, amateur actors were cast alongside professionals, and they looked slightly offended. Tom and his brother are in the same company, and he is doing better. All these sentences have at least two main nouns and one pronoun, which arouses confusion as to which it is referring to. This article will help you think more of your readers in order to avoid confusion in sentences involving pronouns. Pronoun Agreement Every pronoun refers to one noun, which may have been referenced in the same sentence or anyone preceding it. The pronoun should always agree with the noun. Pronouns like anyone, every, each, none, etc., are singular, while they, these, all, etc., are always plural. Check out these sentences: Jenny's friends were home, and they were excited (clearly, they refers to Jenny's friends). Jenny's f...

Writing a good article requires you to connect well with the readers. In case of blogs, this is especially true since they represent more or less colloquial use of language. It is hence very important to connect your thoughts and sentences well without overlapping or interleaving thoughts which go someplace else. When you write a paragraph, there are often ideas that have relationships with the ones that precede them. Such ideas have to be interconnected with transitional tags. Here are the various connectives you can use for various requirements. Adding ideas Use: and, also, in addition, again, and then, besides, further, furthermore, in the first place, moreover, still, too Comparison Use: also, likewise, in the same way, similarly, exactly Contrast Use: although, however, nevertheless, notwithstanding, yet, at the same time, in spite of that, despite, even so, even though, for all that, in contrast, instead, on the contrary, on the other hand, otherwise, regardless, still, though E...

Here we make a comeback to the grammar topic for bloggers, writers, and webmasters. Let's look at a popular topic: difference between adjectives and adverbs. I have received two or three mails from readers asking to post difference between them. An adjective is any term that modifies a particular noun, such as those italicized in the following sentences; the part in bold are the modified nouns. Studious John finds it easy to complete his lessons. Tom, who is fast and furious, finds it difficult to make friends. I am happy to learn that you weren't hurt. On the other hand, an adverb modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. Examples are below. Joe finished her lessons quickly to move out earlier. The happily married couple has two pet dogs. Eerily disturbing, the night passed much slowly. John creates troubles very easily. Above, the part 'eerily disturbing' is itself a compound adjective that modifies 'the night'; so is 'happily married'. The las...

Here are a few examples: My cat seems in need for milk. My friends and I were walking by the park when we saw Jim sitting in. Joe as well as her friends is very playful. Either Sally or her cousins are afraid of dogs. Neither Sally's cousins nor she is afraid of cats. In all of these sentences, we have used appropriate verb forms. The subject verb agreement rules that the singular subject needs a singular verb and plural subject, plural verb. This rule is pretty obvious in simple sentences like the first two above, but the others seem to need some more clarification. 1. As Well As When combining any two subjects with as well as, always agree the verb with the first subject. Examples: Jim as well as his friends is a good swimmer. Jim's friends as well as Jim are good swimmers. Emmerich's films as well as Spielberg's are interesting to me. 2. Either (Neither) Or When combining subjects with 'or', always agree with the subject nearest to the verb. Either Bill or hi...

We haven't been touching the grammar topics lately. Therefore, here is a comeback. We are dealing with absolute constructions here. An absolute construction consists of a noun and an associated modifier, which together forms an introduction to the whole sentence. The other part of the sentence is itself a standalone sentence. Examples are below: The gun fully loaded, we found it easy to pass the forest. Fog all over the place , they found it difficult to see anything. She found her pet dog in the middle of the yard, its feet wounded . All things considered , we found it acceptable to invest more this year. The italicized parts are absolute constructions. Absolute constructions are applied to the entire sentence, rather than only the subject or the object as a dangling modifier or participial phrase would be. This construction can also be used to conjoin two sentences. Example: Millions of copies of the novels by Salman Rushdie have been sold out. He is regarded to be one of the mos...