Last week I picked this book up in a waiting room and read it to my two year old. UGH!!! I can’t believe that someone went the expense to actually PRINT this book!! Clearly, this book company needs to hire a new editor. Can YOU find the error? Are you smarter than the editor of [...]

Curious about the proper way to spell NOWADAYS? There are so many possibilities: NOWADAYS, NOW A DAYS, NOW DAYS. I’m always amused by the mistakes that crop up in my college composition students’ formal papers. One batch of papers will show three different students making an error I never really thought about, and in three [...]

So I was in Walmart the other day and saw this sign. It almost made me puke… After I recovered, though, I whipped out my phone and took a picture. I love my iPhone!! So, the question is, when should you use an apostrophe to make a word plural?! And the answer… Drumroll….please….. NEVER EVER [...]

Not sure whether to use AD or ADD? {I admit…I have to think about this one sometimes.} But it’s really quite simple. Use ADD if you mean the mathematical operation of addition, like you want to ADD two plus three. Or ADD another blog to your favorite blog list…or ADD another ingredient to your recipe. [...]

A friend recently asked for a recap of the grammar rules for A and An. That reminded me that I’m overdue for a weekly grammar lesson! So here, goes. Generally, use  “an” for words that begin with vowels: An apple An orange An orangutan An island An elephant An ice-cream cone And “a” for words [...]

Wondering whether a lot is one word or two? Think no more. It’s TWO words! It’s never okay to write alot – simply wrong, wrong, wrong. When in doubt, look for the little red squiggly line under alot {the little line that I miss a lot…} which indicates a problem that needs to be fixed. [...]

Confused by DESERT and DESSERT?  They don’t sound that much alike, but the spelling is quite similar, isn’t it? Remembering the difference is really quite easy. I still remember my 5th grade teacher telling us that we almost always wanted seconds on our DESSERT – hence the two Ss. YUM – chocolate, ice cream, berries, [...]

They sound similar. They look similar. But they’re not at all alike. Do you know when to use THEN and when to use THAN? The difference is really quite simple. If you are comparing two things, use THAN. Anna is taller THAN Ben. The big house costs more THAN the little house. Clothes from the [...]

It’s time for a 5 Minute Grammar lesson! Most of my posts focus on mistakes in writing, but this is a mistake I’ve been hearing a lot lately. I don’t know if I never paid attention to it before, but just lately I’ve heard my kids say it, my husband say it, and perfect strangers [...]

Inspiration for this week’s 5 Minute Grammar Lesson comes from none other than…ME! I made this mistake on my blog a couple of weeks ago and a friend was kind enough to point it out. Thanks, Chantal! In a post I wrote about what to eat when the pantry is empty, I made a remark [...]