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Case in English grammar involves the forms that nouns and pronouns take to indicate their function. The three cases in English are subjective, objective, and possessive. In this discussion, we'll review the subjective case. What Is the Subjective Case? The subjective case is the case we use for a noun or a pronoun that is …

There's a chance that at some point in your communication in English, you've read or written a word that sounds like the right one when spoken but is misspelled in print. One such example is the use of "you're" when the context means "your" (or vice versa). This common tendency is the result of what …

Mood in English grammar is the verb form that tells us the way we should regard or understand the context of an action. For example, is the action part of a statement or question, or does it involve a command or a preference? English uses the indicative, imperative, and subjunctive moods to establish these contexts. …

The concept of case in English involves the relationship of a noun, a pronoun, or an adjective (also referred to as a determiner) with other parts of a sentence. The possessive case often conveys possession or ownership, such as Joseph's book or my opinion. It is the only case in which nouns alter their form …

If you want to say how you ordered letters to form a word, would you express that you spelt the word or spelled it? For many of us, both versions might feel as if they are the same, so how can you choose the right one? We'll address that for you here. Should You Write …

Part of being a precise and eloquent communicator is conveying the right point of view. Person is used in grammar to distinguish who is speaking, who is being addressed, and who is not speaking or being addressed. Grammatical person includes first person, second person, and third person. In this post we will help you understand …

Imagine you are reading the police-report section of your community newspaper. Someone has been committing a rash of local burglaries. The description in the report says, "The man is identified as being age 20 to 25 and approximately 5'9" to 6' tall with shoulder-length blond hair weighing 160 to 170 pounds." You furrow your brow …

An infinitive is the root form of a verb before it is conjugated. It contains the main verb and the word "to": to write, to study, to wish, to walk. An infinitive is split when something separates the main verb from its "to." Few grammatical items have received a rougher rap. As with starting a …

English verbs are simple to work with when they are regular—i.e., they follow an obvious pattern for conjugating their past tense and past participle. Verb Infinitive Present Tense Past Tense Past Participle to breathe breathe, breathes breathed breathed to dine dine, dines dined dined to jump jump, jumps jumped jumped The pattern is basic and …

Those who enjoy and study grammar often do so because they are inspired by the clear and eloquent expression of thoughts. They understand that when we open our mouths, put pen to paper, or begin to type, our minds are on parade. Precision in writing and speech involves the steady acquisition of grammatical details, or …