Than or Then? Surprisingly these two words are very easy to distinguish between, yet many writers get them mixed up. So when should than be used and when should then be used? Let’s look at some examples below. Than is used to make a comparison between things, usually after a comparative adjective or adverb, to introduce a second clause or element that is not equal. Examples: • John is shorter ...

That or Which? The usage of that or which can confuse the best of writers, and often leaves the grammarians scratching their heads. Below we will look at both words and try to find a solution. That can be used as a demonstrative pronoun, an adjective, a conjunction and sometimes as an adverb. But the most confused use of that occurs when the writer is not sure if they should use that or which. ...

Homophones: Two, Too & To Why do these three little words cause so much confusion for writers? Most likely because they sound the same, and so writers think that these words are interchangeable. Unfortunately that is not the case as these words have their own distinct meanings. When words sound the same but have different meanings they are called homophones. These three words all sound the s...

Controlling Your Commas Confused about when to use commas? Here are 5 tips that you may find helpful when trying to control your commas. 1. Use commas between the clauses in compound sentences. This is where you join two sentences together with a conjunction – a word like and, but, so. Example: The cat leapt, but the mouse escaped. The two clauses could form two separate, simple sentences. 2....

Varying Your Sentence Lengths New writers often make the mistake of assuming the best pieces of writing are filled with long, complex, jumbled sentences. Not true. If you want to keep your readers’ attention, try varying your sentence lengths. Otherwise you could bore or even intimidate your readers. Effective writers understand the importance of varying between shorter and longer sentences. Lik...

A Quick Start to Grammar Basics Grammar is a part of writing that can intimidate many people, but becoming familiar with a few simple grammar rules can help tremendously as you learn to become a better writer.  Here is a quick start to a few grammar basics. Who, Which and That Usually, the word who is used for mentioning people (or animals, if they have names.)  The words that and which are no...

Writing Quotes and Speech When it comes to writing quotes and speech many writers get confused about the use of quotation marks and the placement of closing punctuation. What makes things even more confusing is that these same elements are used differently in different countries. Quotation marks are mostly used to show direct speech and to quote the work of other writers. They are also used fo...

Lay or Lie? Since the 14th century people have been getting confused when using lay and lie. Just what is the difference between these two words and why do we always get them mixed up? To lay or to lie, that is the question (as Shakespeare might say, or ask). One of the main reasons we get these wrong is because we get them confused with their past tense versions. The past tense of lay is laid...

There, Their or They’re? There is a place or location (whether real or theoretical). Their is the possessive form of them/they. They’re is a contraction of they are. See how easy that was, yet so many people still get these words mixed up. And these three little words sound exactly the same, which is part of the problem. Now let’s look at them in some sentences so we can see why they are dif...