The Turner Ink blog contains rants, bloopers, observations and opinions. It also has handy tips on grammar and punctuation such as colons: semicolons; and full stops. As well as some very useful ‘how tos’. Feel free to leave comments. Be nice though.

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Archive for the 'Grammar tips' category

Would I lie to you? When to use lay and when to use lie

12th
Jun
by Sarah Turner

To lay and to lie are two verbs which are so often interchanged that no-one actually knows which is the right one to use. (Full disclosure: I often get it wrong and have to look it up. It happens to the best of us.)   

So what’s the difference between lay and lie?

To lay is a transitive verb (a verb which needs an object) and means to place or to put.

Let’s see that in action.  

Present tense: Today I lay the book on the desk.
Past tense: Yesterday I laid the book on the desk.
Present perfect tense: I have laid the book on the desk.
Present continuous tense: I am laying the book on the desk.

 
Now the verb to lie is an intransitive verb (a verb which doesn’t need an object) and means to recline or to rest horizontally.

So let’s see how that works.

Present tense: Today I lie on the bed.
Past tense: Yesterday I lay on the bed.
Present perfect tense: I have lain on the bed all day.
Present continuous tense: I am lying on the bed.

Aha. Now we can see where the confusion is. The present tense of to lay: ‘today I lay the book on the table’ is the same as the past tense of to lie: ‘Yesterday I lay on the bed’. No wonder we all get in a muddle.   

So what’s the easiest way to remember? Print this page out and stick it on your notice board.

How do you remember? Any tips? Leave them in the comments.


Tags: verbs
Posted in Grammar tips | comments icon No comments yet »

Shout it out: Why you should use an active voice

26th
May
by Sarah Turner

One of the easiest ways to make your writing zippity zip zip, is to use an active voice rather than a passive one.

So how does it work?

Ok, sentences have three basic elements: a subject, a verb and an object. With an active voice you have a person that performs an action, and something that is affected by that action:

David’s dad fixed his bike.

The subject is David’s dad. The verb is to fix. And the object is the bike.

Now with a passive voice, the bike has now become the subject of the sentence, to the point that David’s dad can be removed and it will still make sense:

The bike was fixed by David’s dad.
The bike was fixed.

Take a look at some more examples.  

With the active voice the subject does the action and the object receives the action.  

The teachers (subject) taught (verb) the children (object) in 3B hockey and football.
The shop assistant (subject) was helping (verb) the old man (object).
You (subject) should tell (verb) him (object).

With a passive voice the subject does nothing; it is now acted upon. 

The children (subject) in 3B were taught (verb) hockey and football (by the teachers – the original subject and now the object).
The old man was helped (by the shop assistant).
He should be told (by you).

Be careful of starting a sentence with an active voice and then shifting to a passive voice. 

We found the error in the accounts and the customer was notified immediately.

Should be:

We found the error in the accounts and notified the customer immediately.

So when it comes to websites; sales letters; reports; emails; presentations; and any type of business writing – always use the active voice.

It makes your writing shorter, more direct, and whizzes your reader through the sentence


Tags: active voice, passive voice
Posted in Business writing, Grammar tips | comments icon No comments yet »

Is it less or fewer?

14th
May
by Sarah Turner

Take this sign at my local ASDA grocery store. Is it right?  

image011

 

Well, no it’s not. But it’s not the only supermarket that’s been having less/fewer issues.  

A couple of years back Tesco changed the wording on their fast-track checkouts to avoid any – as they called it – linguistic disputes. They replaced the ’10 items or less’ signs with ‘up to 10 items’ signs. (So is that 10 items or 9 items? Hmmm…)

So back to the ASDA sign. What should it be? It should be fewer. As fewer means not as many. And less means not as much. If something is countable, use fewer. If not, use less. 

My bath uses fewer gallons (countable) of water than a shower
My bath uses less water (not countable) than a shower

Or an easy way to remember:

There’s less traffic on the roads and fewer cars.


Tags: fewer, less
Posted in Grammar tips | comments icon No comments yet »

Me, myself or I?

12th
May
by Sarah Turner

People often use I because they want to come across as being polite. Or a bit posh. Wrong! So when do you use me, myself or I?

The absolutely easiest way to remember is to simply take the other person out of the sentence.

Jack and I/me went to the cinema.
I went to the cinema.

The letter had to be signed by Sharon and I/me.
The letter had to be signed by me.

So, when do you use myself? Only use myself when you have used I earlier in the same sentence.

I am not particularly fond of goat cheese myself.
I kept all the chocolates to myself.

Never write I, myself. Unless you’re a politician. Or you want to look like an eeejitt.


Tags: I, me, myself
Posted in Grammar tips | comments icon 1 Comment »

Apple think different. Or should that be differently?

22nd
Apr
by Sarah Turner

Have you noticed that people on TV and radio have a real aversion to adverbs? Politicians, weather girls and football managers seem to be the biggest culprits.

So what is an adverb and why should I care about it, I hear you cry. Ok, here’s a quick recap.  An adverb is used to describe a verb, an adjective or another adverb. And, quite simply, it shows how, when, and where something was done.

Sue ran slowly. Ran is the verb and slowly describes how Sue ran.

He was rather attractive. Attractive is the adjective and rather describes how attractive he was.

She’ll be arriving quite soon. Soon is the adverb. And quite describes how soon she will arrive.

Many (but not all) adverbs are formed by adding -ly to the end of an adjective. And this is where our telly people fall down. Because they insist on keeping the word as an adjective.

He moves quick for a footballer. Should be quickly.

Remember to wrap up warm. Should be warmly.

They were acting crazy. Should be crazily.

Got any good examples? Let Turner Ink know.


Tags: adverbs
Posted in Grammar tips | comments icon 1 Comment »

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