Oh no! This is terrible! Awful! I can’t believe this! Someone else ate the last doughnut! Before we panic, we need to calm down and take a second look at the punctuation used in these sentences. Punctuation is the system of marks and characters we use in writing. The sentences we use to express our fear, terror, and shock during a doughnut crisis all use …
Verbs are tricky words, so there is no time like the present to learn about them! We are going to teach you how to use verbs to describe actions happening right now. Don’t worry. You are smart. We believe in you. All of the verbs in the past few sentences have something in common: they are all in the simple present tense. Let’s live for …
You probably don’t need us to tell you that English can often be a tricky language to use. English has a lot of rules and seemingly even more exceptions to those rules. It can be a lot to keep straight, and that can make it hard to keep your grammar perfect every time. Fortunately, at Thesaurus.com we have tons of grammar information to help you …
Teamwork is a beautiful thing. This is as true in grammar as it is in real life. Often, conjunctions take on the job of connecting parts of speech, and they do this all by themselves. However, some conjunctions love to team up and work together to form connections. These conjunctions are called correlative conjunctions. A pair of correlative conjunctions acts as a dynamic duo that …
William is a very smart guy. He has studied Newtonian physics. He knows everything there is to know about Gothic architecture. He is well versed in European, Asian, and African history. However, William doesn’t know his grammar and can never use adjectives correctly. You don’t want to be like William. You want to be the grammar expert who tells him that adjectives are words we …
The words is and are are forms of the verb be, the most commonly used verb in English. Because they’re used so frequently, it’s important to know the grammatical and functional difference. In this article, we’ll explain the difference between is and are, show how to use them properly in sentences, and point out some tricky situations that may lead to confusion about which word …
Sometimes, looks can be deceiving. Jumping to conclusions about things can land you in trouble. This is certainly the case when it comes to words we use in English. Take gerunds for example: they look a lot like verbs but they don’t act like them at all. In fact, they prefer to act like nouns. What gives? Gerunds come from verbs, after all, so why …
Persons, people, and peoples: we know what they mean, but the relationship between them can be confusing. What’s the correct plural of person—persons or people? Why does people have its own plural? Some of these questions have easy answers. But there are a number of nuanced aspects to their use, including those related to legal language, personal identity, and decisions about whether to emphasize individuals …
We’re all going to Disneyland! Yay! First, we need to line up some tickets. Then, we will need to pack up all of our stuff. Everybody will pile into the airplane, which will quickly take off. After we touch down, we’ll make for the amusement park and get up to all kinds of wacky hijinks! Before we leave, though, we need to stop and take …
Nothing strikes fear and terror into the hearts of writers quite like the comma. Proper punctuation is important in writing as it makes our sentences clear and easier to read. Of all of the punctuation marks we use, the comma is especially versatile and has many different possible uses, sometimes within one sentence. This widespread usage comes at a significant price. There are many rules …
In English, we love to make new words by adding all sorts of bits to the front and back of existing terms. These are called affixes, and they are added to the base or stem of a word. What is an affix? An affix is officially defined as “a bound inflectional or derivational element, as a prefix, infix, or suffix, added to a base or …
The words worse and worst are extremely useful. They are the main and often best way we can indicate that something is, well, more bad or most bad. But because they look and sound so similar, it can be easy to mix them up, especially in certain expressions. In this article, we’ll break down the difference between worse and worst, explain how they relate to …