Thursday January 15, 2009
Biography Profile
Each January we celebrate the life, work, and lessons of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. His life and words stand out in history as great inspiration to all Americans. Find a biography profile of Dr. King, take a quiz, and find other links to help you write a great biography. Next, join our teen forum and take a survey. I'd love for you to share your thoughts on the impact of Dr. King's work on your own life.
Monday January 12, 2009
You can't do any job well if you don't have the right tools on hand. My toolkit contains all the items you'll need to keep yourself on track.
Some of the items you already have on hand. For instance, have you tried putting your cell phone to use as a time management tool? It will wake you up and let you know if you have an assignment due!
Grammar Goofs That Really Hurt
Saturday January 10, 2009
Sometimes it's really easy to commit an embarrassing goof when we type out an important paper, email, or other document. Somehow the reader spots them much more easily that the writer, and that can be costly if the reader is grading you!
These word mistakes are quite common, but they are quite damaging to your reputation and your grade if you get them wrong:
One thing that these word groups have in common is that one word in each group is a contraction. It's a good idea, when proofreading, to stop on every word that contains an apostrophe to see if the word--whether it's a contraction or it's a possessive word--is used correctly.
Bendable Grammar Rules
Wednesday January 7, 2009
You might be surprised to learn how much language changes over time. One of my favorite shows is The Adventure of English. It’s a series that presents the history of English much like a biography. It is fascinating to see how the rules of English grammar changed over time. There’s a lot of drama in this journey, believe it or not!
Then again, some old habits die hard, and some grammar teachers cling to rules they learned in their grammar school days. Recently, I read a newly-published grammar book with a very catchy title. I thought it would be pretty up-to-date in its views, but I was wrong. I was surprised to see the old grammar myth:
“Never end a sentence with a preposition.”
The author went on to name all the prepositions with which one should never end a sentence. With was one. I sure hope your English teachers aren’t actually subtracting points for this.
Another stubborn rule is the split infinitive principle. Sure, your writing would be pretty ugly and awkward if you started to brazenly split infinitives on a regular basis. But an occasional infraction can be quite lovely. Just look at the examples provided by the Guide to Grammar.
But that’s not all. The Grammar Guide also advises that the old rule about starting a sentence with and or but is perfectly bendable. “Don’t start scratching your buts on my account,” he insists.
And I certainly couldn’t say it any better.