The word bad is an adjective used to modify nouns and pronouns. Example: She was in a bad accident. Adverbs often end in ly. The word badly is an adverb that answers how about the verb. Example: She was hurt badly in the accident. The confusion comes with four of the sense verbs: taste, look, smell, …

Homonyms often cause confusion. Here are a few tricky ones, mostly all vs. al- words, clarified for you. Allot vs. A Lot  The word allot means "to parcel out." Example: The company will allot each of us a cell phone. The expression a lot means "many" or "much." Examples: We had a lot of fun. A lot …

Last week we began our review of using pronouns that help guide rather than trip our written eloquence. We started with pronouns as clause subjects, for objects, before assertive or attributive expressions, and after than or as.  Today we’ll look at pronouns before a gerund, for an infinitive, and for complements of forms of the …

Many of us have been there before: We're writing or speaking with confidence in our content. For a secret second, we might even feel, well, educated. Then, unbeknownst to us, improper pronouns leak in and sabotage the impression we were making. Worse yet, we may not know how or why our eloquence tripped. Using the …

Fewer refers to things that are countable. Examples: We had fewer people at the fundraiser than we had hoped. Fewer tornadoes occurred this year than last year. Generally, less refers to things that are not countable. Examples: Sue has less concern for her dog's safety now that the backyard fence is completed. Less talking would …