Author: Mignon Fogarty

Today’s topic is how to use the word however in a sentence. It’s probably more complicated than you think it is. Can You Start a Sentence with the Word ‘However’? The question I get asked most frequently about however is whether it is OK to use however at the beginning of a sentence, and the answer is yes: it is fine to start a sentence with however. You just need to know when to use a comma and when to use a semicolon. ‘However’ Without a Comma: Modifier The comma is important because however is a conjunctive adverb that can be…

When I jotted some ideas down on a napkin in a coffee shop called The Kind Grind on the beach in Santa Cruz, California, I never thought I’d be doing it this long or even that Grammar Girl would become my full-time job. I am so grateful to all of you because the fact that you listen makes everything I do possible. To celebrate, I’m going to take you on a quick tour of some of my favorite stories from over the years and some of the best tips—the ones I use myself in real-life when I’m writing. Harbinger One…

The noun “fish” has two different, completely acceptable plurals—”fish” and “fishes”—but “fish” is by far the most common plural. It’s what you usually use to refer to a group or collection of fish. For example, if Squiggly brought home a big bag of goldfish from the pet store, Aardvark might ask, “Do you have a bowl for those fish? Do you have food for those fish? What were you thinking buying all those fish?” “Fishes” tends to be used in more specialized areas and in some well-known sayings. Scientists use ‘fishes’ For example, scientists who study fish (they’re called “ichthyologists”)—…

Today’s topic is whether—not rain or snow, but whether w-h-e-t-h-e-r, as in whether you like it or not, it’s the topic. First, let’s figure out when to use whether and when to use if. If  Versus Whether Although in informal writing and speech the two words are often used interchangeably, in formal writing, such as in technical writing at work, it’s a good idea to make a distinction between them because the meaning can sometimes be different depending on which word you use. The formal rule is to use if when you have a conditional sentence and whether when…

Because it’s graduation season, my inbox is filling up again with complaints about people who say things such as “We’re so proud of Jimmy; he graduated high school this year.” For example, Bill T. wrote, “Do you graduate high school, or do you graduate FROM high school?  I don’t think one can actually graduate a high school.  Some trick to do that! This has really bugged me — please advise.” I covered the topic a few years ago, but I have had a bit of of a change of heart since then. First, if you held a gun to my…

Dawn wants to know how to write that someone was awarded a degree. Is it “bachelor’s degree,” “bachelors degree,” or “bachelor degree”? A bachelor is not just a guy who eats out a lot, but also a person of either sex who has earned a type of degree from a university or college. Think of the degree as the property of the bachelor, with the apostrophe-s indicating possession: It is a bachelor’s degree. The same is true for a master: He or she earns a master’s degree. You don’t use capital letters, unless you’re writing the formal name of a particular degree: Aardvark…

It sounds like a joke, but it’s actually a legitimate question: How do you spell “blond”? ‘Blond’ Versus ‘Blonde’ The word originally came into English from Old French, where it has masculine and feminine forms. As an English noun, it kept those two forms; thus, a blond is a fair-haired male, and a blonde is a fair-haired female. When you’re using the word as an adjective, “blond” is the more common spelling and can be used for men or women, especially in the United States; however, “blonde” can also be used to describe a woman with fair hair, as in…

Nowadays, “people” is almost always the right choice when you are talking about more than one person. Some dictionaries don’t even include “persons” as the plural of “person” anymore, and the few dictionaries that do include “persons” note that it is uncommon, archaic, or going out of style. Traditionally, “people” was proper when referring to a mass of people (e.g., Squiggly couldn’t believe how many people were at the wrestling match), and “persons” was proper when referring to a distinct number of individuals (e.g., Squiggly noted that eight persons showed up for the book club meeting). Get more tips…

Believe it or not, in the 1800s and early 1900s, many people objected to the use of “people” as I just used it. You weren’t supposed to write about “many people,” or “100 people” or so on. “Many persons” and “100 persons” was the right way to say it. Or at least there was a big debate at the time, with many people (persons?) arguing that “persons” was better, even though people had been using “people” all the way back in Chaucer’s time. Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage doesn’t record any reason for the debate; people just argued and debated…

I always get a lot of questions about hyphens when I do my AP style webinars, and it’s not surprising because hyphens can be confusing. When does ‘thank-you’ need a hyphen? When “thank” is a verb, you don’t need a hyphen We thank you for inviting us to your holiday Zoom party. Thank you for the gift. But when “thank you” is a modifier or a noun, then it takes a hyphen. I wrote a thank-you note. For example, in “I still need to write a thank-you note,” you use a hyphen in “thank-you” because it’s modifying the noun “note.”…