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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 …

American English includes many details concerning items of style. One such item is the abbreviation of professional titles and academic degrees. By becoming more familiar with this usage, you will become more precise in your daily formal writing. This precision can then also potentially conserve more space for other words you're expressing. Abbreviating Professional Titles …

Another year of exploring the vast terrain of American English comes to a close. Once again, our routes of study with you have been rich with thought and discovery. We are thankful that you, our dedicated readers, joined us in the pursuit of greater precision and eloquence for self-expression. Each year, we wrap up the …

Idioms are a big part of language—as well as a common source of confusion, particularly for non-native speakers. Because idioms are used so often in communications from emails to text messages to daily conversations, understanding them is important to mastering American English. In today's post we'll explain what idioms are and how they work, as …

The last couple of years have seen a greater emphasis on how we refer to and write about cultural identity in a wonderfully diverse country such as the U.S. In this discussion, we'll share some current style guidance you can consider. When we seek reinforcement for certain style items at GrammarBook.com, we most often refer …

Negation provides us the means of expressing the opposite of a word, thought, or idea. It can include words such as: no nothing not neither none nowhere no one never nobody Let's look at a few examples: I agree with what she said. I do not agree with what she said. Everyone loves paying taxes. …

A main way writing differs from speech is that it often has less-immediate versatility in stressing intentions and feelings behind the words being used. Unlike writing, speech offers instantly recognizable aspects such as verbal pacing, nonverbal cues, gesticulation, and inflection. To achieve desired emphasis, writers must become adept with their available tools. Italic, bold, and …

You are probably familiar with the words alternate and alternative. You may have even used them interchangeably. Many native speakers of American English think the words mean the same thing, but they have slightly separate definitions and uses. Which word do you need in a particular sentence? In this article we'll give you the answers …

The basic building blocks of an English sentence are the subject and the predicate. Together, the subject and the predicate form a clause. A Quick Review The complete subject is the main part of the sentence that contains at least one noun (or noun equivalent) and all of its modifiers. The complete predicate contains at …

Americans share a common language, but as in other countries, not all people speak it the same way. The U.S. has its own family of dialects that differ by region within its 3.8 million square miles. People establish a dialect when they live together within set social or geographical boundaries over time. As they use …