Mini Grammar Lesson of the Day: Noun/Pronoun agreement

This is a really hard lesson for me to keep short, as it is a bit complicated. Here is a link to a succinct explanation as to how to make your nouns agree with their pronouns: http://aliscot.com/bigdog/agreement_pa.htm. I would like to emphasize that in noun/pronoun agreement, you want to minimize the confusion of your audience. Please do not use "they" or "their" to refer to a singular noun (as in, "Each student should revise their paper"). The usual way to fix this is to either know the gender of the student: "Each student at the girls' school should revise her paper," or if you don't know the gender, use "his or her" or "his/her": "Each student should revise his or her paper." This can get very annoying and cumbersome. Another easy way to fix this is to re-write your sentence in the plural: "All students should revise their papers." Sometimes you just can't do this, and in those cases, choose your words very carefully and limit the number of times you use "his or her." Try to avoid using "one" like the plague; your sentences will end up sounding comical: "One should always strive to do one's best in everything one finds to do." Yuck. You can either change into 2nd person: "You should always strive to do your best..." or pick a group to speak to: "Students should always strive to do their best," or "People should always strive to do their best." On a side note, in formal writing it is usually best to avoid using 2nd person, but in informal writing (like this blog), please feel free to do so.

Mini Grammar Lesson of the Day: Two, To, and Too

I chose an easy lesson today: learning the correct use of the words two, to, and too.

Two is a number. It's that simple. Two = 2.

To is a preposition: "I am going to the store." It also makes the infinitive form of verbs: to swim, to eat, etc. You probably know you are never supposed to split infinitives, right? But what does that look like? "She likes to quickly swim" vs. "She likes to swim quickly." Do not put a word between the "to" and the verb when you write or speak.

Too is an adverb: "This coat is too warm to wear in March." Or "I'm too hot; I'm going to go inside." It also means the same thing as "also": "I'm going to go inside, too." "Me too!" See?

Now I expect you all to be able to choose the correct word in your sentences so that I don't have to read: "I really like to read to." That makes me ask the question, "To whom do you like to read?" Also, please don't say "I am going too the store two get a drink, to." LOL.

Mini Grammar Lesson of the Day: Colons vs. Semicolons

These two little punctuation marks can cause quite a bit of confusion; it's hard to know which one to choose sometimes. That first sentence demonstrates the proper use of a semicolon: to join two complete thoughts that are closely related to one another without using a conjunction. The semicolon is my favorite punctuation mark; I use it often to encourage my writing to flow more smoothly. If you take out the semicolon and replace it with a period, the two sentences would still make sense, but they would sound a little choppy. This is a good test to check the appropriateness of using a semicolon: would the two phrases make complete sense on their own but have a closely related idea? Use a semicolon. For an entertaining cartoon explaining how to use a semicolon, click here.

You have probably noticed a couple of colons in the paragraph above, as well. Colons are used to set off a list or example of the sentence preceding the colon, or the part preceding the colon is an introductory phrase for what follows. Notice that the phrase before the colon must be a complete thought, but the part coming after the colon does not have to be. You could say, "Grandma only uses three ingredients in her sweet tea: water, tea, and sugar." But, you would not want to say, "The only three ingredients in Grandma's sweet tea are: water, tea, and sugar." Here the colon is unnecessary; the sentence makes complete grammatical sense without it. Remember: the phrase before the colon needs to be a complete sentence. Colons are often used to introduce quotes, as well. (Grandma told me her recipe for sweet tea: "Boil the water, steep the tea, add sugar, then place the pitcher in the fridge to cool.") Here is a longer, more precise explanation of colon usage.

Mini Grammar Lesson of the Day

How to use apostrophes

Do you ever wonder how to correctly use apostrophes? Wonder no more. Here is a brief lesson to help you.

Apostrophes are mainly used to show possession or to create contractions. You use apostrophes to show possession in sentences such as "Tom's car needs maintenance," and "We are going to my parents' house." (Because "parents" is plural and ends in an "s," the apostrophe comes at the end of the word.) To create contractions, use an apostrophe to take the place of missing letters as in "can't" (for can not), "we're" (for we are), and "haven't" (for have not).

Never use apostrophes to create a plural. The plural of "tree" is "trees," not "tree's." Also, if you would like to talk to the Wharys (Ryan and I), you do not spell it "Whary's," but you might want to go see us at "the Wharys' house."

Special possessives: Pronouns do not require apostrophes to show possession; there are already special pronouns that serve that purpose such as her, his, your, its, my, and their and hers, his, yours, mine, and theirs. Pronouns need apostrophes to make contractions: you're (you are), they're (they are), and it's (it is) are three of the most commonly misused words I see on facebook.

Review: Rabbit is Rich

Rabbit Is Rich by John Updike


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This book was a really heavy read. It was fast-moving and quick, but the themes dealt with were really weighty. I probably would have given it a higher rating if I were better able to relate to the characters. The writing was well-done, and as much as I didn't like them, the characters were at least real and seemed true to life. If you can handle reading about a lot of sex and drug use, this novel will make you think about family relationships and how couples work through problems in their marriages. From a twenty-first century perspective it is quite interesting to see that people in the 70s were going through the same things we have gone through or are facing now: rising gas prices, inflation, and people trying to be environmentally friendly and eating organic/vegetarian are just a few of the hot topics in this book that are still hot topics today. Besides these, the characters face trying to make a living, coping with relatives, and working out religion for themselves. It's definitely a stirring book that will make you think.

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Oh the things life throws at us!

I'm having a really hard time caring about exercise with everything that's been going on in my life the last two weeks. First, we found a new apartment that we get to move into in April! That was really exciting. We bought a washer and dryer to go in the new apartment and we are going to be able to paint it before moving in as well. I can't wait. We'll have more square feet, an extra bedroom, and no cigarette smoke smell to deal with! The kitchen is bigger, too, which is a great bonus!

Unfortunately, just about the time when we were getting things settled with the new apartment, Alfred got sick. Then we had to deal with cleaning up after him, taking him to the vet, and wondering if he was curable. After a frustrating time of testing and having discussions with the vet, we weren't sure what to do. So, we took him to another vet for a second opinion, and it turns out he should be treatable with prescription food. Sure it's a little pricey, but if it will keep him healthy and happy, I'm all for it!

On top of all this, I of course have tons of homework to do. So, I'm not sure when I'll get to go exercise again. Hopefully next Monday I can go for a jog/walk, but who knows? I just have way too much studying to get done this weekend (and all before Sunday night at 6:00). Plus, Sunday is my birthday, so after I turn in my homework Sunday evening, Ryan and I are heading to the Melting Pot for a lovely romantic dinner. I am so glad about that. Hopefully after that everything will be semi-normal for a while. Of course I'll be juggling homework for the rest of the semester, but that's okay.

Keepin' on keepin' on

So, I didn't get out and exercise on Sunday like I wanted because of all my homework and other things that needed to get done, but I did go jogging (walk/run) again yesterday. My average pace was a 13 min mile! I was excited; even though that's not very fast for most people, it was fast for me. I went 2.6 miles in 35 minutes, including warm up/cool down time. Not too bad for running only in intervals (I can't keep up a 5 mph pace for very long; right now my intervals are 2 min walk/3 min run). Today is Aerobics and Yoga again. I can't say I'm excited about aerobics, but I love yoga! Hopefully sometime this week I can weigh myself to check my progress. I hope I've lost a pound or two!