Explore my explanations of commonly confused words, the parts of speech and punctuation in categories by using the drop-down menu on the ‘Blog Index’ tab in the menu at the top of the page, or click on a specific link in the more detailed Index below. Indexing is one of the services I offer; if you would like to talk to me about an indexing project, just contact me!
Index to blog topics
abbreviations: full stops with
acronyms: full stops with
adjectives: hyphens in
agreement: collective nouns
and: and/or; at start of sentence; comma before
ancient names: use of apostrophes with
antecedents: of pronouns; of reflexive pronouns
apostrophes: and ancient names; for contractions; in place names; season’s greetings; use of; when needed; with plurals
appostion: commas and
auxiliaries: do as auxiliary; to form tense and aspect
but: at start of sentence
capital letters: in dot-point lists; with proper nouns
clauses: defining and non-defining, use of relative pronouns with; restrictive and non-restrictive, use of relative pronouns with
commas: after introductory phrase; costly mistake in usage; for apposition; parenthetical; serial; vocative; where not to use; with direct speech
compound words: hyphens in
contractions: apostrophes with; it’s; see also abbreviations
direct speech: commas and; full stop or question mark with
dot-point list: punctuation of and capital letters in
evolution of language: pronouns
full stops: versus question mark; with abbreviations; with acronyms and measurements
gender-neutral language: pronouns
good writing: avoiding abstract nouns; avoiding contractions; nouns as verbs; pronouns and antecedents; that or which; use of colons; use of semicolons; verbs as nouns; who or whom
grammar checker (Microsoft Word tool): asks whether to use that or which; does not recognise when to use who or that; highlights reflexive pronoun use
he or she: gender-neutral third-person singular pronoun
its or it’s: explained
lists: punctuation of and capital letters in
measurements: abbreviated units, full stops with
Microsoft Word (grammar checker): asks whether to use that or which; does not recognise when to use who or that; highlights reflexive pronoun use
MS Word, see Microsoft Word
modal verbs: contractions using
negatives: contractions; use of do to form
nouns: agreement with verb; as verbs; collective; common; count; introduction; mass; proper; unit
objects (grammatical): whom
participles: gerunds; to form tense and aspect
parts of speech: introduction
parenthetical commas: costly mistake with; explained; further examples
people: singular gender-neutral pronoun issue; pronoun to use for (that or who)
personal pronouns: gender-neutral third-person singular problem; introduction; order of
place names: apostrophes in; full stops with abbreviated forms
politeness, shown in writing: through order of pronouns
possessive pronouns: introduction; its
pronouns: apostrophes with; and their antecdents; contractions of; gender-neutral third-person singular; he or she; introduction; its or it’s; order (of personal pronouns); reflexive pronouns;relative pronouns (that or which); relative pronouns (who or whom); rules about usage (antecedents); rules about usage (that or which); rules about usage (whom)
question marks: or full stop for direct speech
questions: do to form; interrogative pronouns to form; question mark or full stop with
relative pronouns: that or which; that or who; who or whom
respect, shown in writing: through order of pronouns
‘rules’ of grammar: and or but at start of sentence; pronouns and antecedents; split infinitives; that or which; that or who; who or whom
Shakespeare, William: gender-neutral pronoun use
subjects (grammatical): reflexive pronouns and; who as
that or which: which one to use
they: use as gender-neutral singular pronoun
titles: as part of proper noun; commas with
verbs: as nouns; chains of; do; infinitives; introduction; modals; quasimodals; tense
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