Grammar

When it comes to writing in present perfect vs. past simple, it often depends on which side of the Atlantic you live. The simple past tense is more common in US English, while the present perfect is used more in British English. Of all the tenses in English, these are the two verb tenses that…

The past perfect tense is very useful in writing. We use it to show that an action occurred before another action in the past. It is a tense that concisely creates order without using time clause expressions like, and then or afterward. Although it is a perfect tense because it uses the auxiliary, had, it…

What are the best Grammarly alternatives? Grammarly is unquestionably a fantastic grammar, punctuation, and spelling checker. There is no doubt that it is one of the best grammar-checking tools on the market today. However, it is quite expensive at around $140.00 for an annual subscription. For new writers, this can be a considerable investment. So…

Do you capitalize mom and dad or the names of other family members like granddad or grandma? Yes, when the word is a proper noun. No, if it comes after a possessive pronoun such as your, my, his, or her. No, if the word is after an article, a, an, or the. When is Mom…

Almost every style guide will tell you should avoid the split infinitive. But is this generalized rule always valid? We all know the famous Star Trek example of breaking the rule: to boldly go where no man has gone before. It would sound awkward if I applied good English grammar. My grammar checker correction says…

When do you use and how do you choose between a colon and a semicolon? Getting these two punctuation marks grammatically correct in your writing can be a little challenging at first. But it is not that difficult. They are closely linked to the comma, signaling a relationship between separate clauses in a complete sentence.…

How do you write reported speech dialogue? When you start to learn to write dialogue, it seems simple. All you need to do is add a reporting verb or dialogue tag. You probably learned this at high school. When a character speaks lines of dialogue, you put a double quotation mark at the beginning and end.…

Inversion in writing is when you place the verb before the subject. We use this type of inversion in question forms using the verb to be, modal and auxiliary verbs. Inversion in English means changing the word order from the subject and then the verb to the opposite. You use inversion in English for questions…

It’s not easy at first to identify a gerund phrase vs. participle phrase. Both use the present participle, which is the ing form of a verb. For many writers, the difference between participle and gerund can be a little confusing at times. It is because words and verbs ending in ing can create different parts…

If you are trying to find a reliable free passive voice checker, it’s not easy. Many of the free online tools you might find through a search are usually extremely limited or little more than an ad to buy a premium subscription app. But a few free tools are listed below that can help you…