There is a ball on the playground. Is it one kid’s ball, or does it belong to everyone on the playground? The placement of the apostrophe is key, but which is correct: “kid’s” or “kids’”? The difference between kid’s and kids’ is that when you are describing something that belongs to one “kid,” you will …
Dr. Patrick Capriola
One of the best parts of investing time in a television or book series is the joy of discussing it with others — that is, until you realize that grammar Nazis are waiting to poke holes in your ideas by picking on your grammar. So when you’re talking about your favorite show, is it “this …
We’ve all heard that nothing is certain except death and taxes. Yet, despite death being inevitable, talking about it is still tricky, especially when you’re conversing with someone in mourning. When such a moment arises, is it correct to say, “Accept my condolences”? “Accept my condolences” is a common expression of sympathy. The phrase does …
There is a certain casual comfort that comes with a conversational exchange. English idioms like, “You got it, man!” show a common understanding between you and someone else while also expressing affirmative feelings. “You got it” is an idiom that many use to answer a person’s statement or question in agreement. While grammarians consider the …
Pronouns are a valuable part of speech to assign ownership and convey additional information in a sentence. There are the obvious, gender-specific pronouns like “his” and “hers,” but referencing things in the third person can get a little confusing. For example, when should “its” or “their” be used? “Its” is a singular third-person pronoun that …
Whether you have great intentions to complete a task or successfully convey your thoughts, the level of effort that you put into that task often directly affects the end result. We often use stock phrases like “in an effort to” as a way to describe that effort, but what does “in an effort to” mean? …