Grammar tips

I was watching some of the Iraq Inquiry last week. And it got me thinking: when do we use inquiry and when do we use enquiry? A quick search online reveals that some institutions use both (yes, I’m talking about you Evening Standard). However, it’s generally considered that enquire is the British spelling and inquire the US spelling. But as we...

When to use which and when to use that is pretty darn confusing for most people. Many of us use the ‘does it sound right?’ rule. Or we use that when we’re being informal and which when we’re being formal. Or sometimes we don’t give a hoot and use that or which interchangeably. It’s pretty subtle but the rule is as...

Yes, there is a difference. And, no, they’re not interchangeable. E.g. is short for exempli gratia. Yes, it’s Latin and it means for example. So how is it used? Try and visit some galleries when you’re in Paris e.g. (or for example) the Musee d’Orsay or the Louvre. Use easy to read fonts on your website e.g. (or for example) Verdana Remember: what follows...

Depressing news in The Independent this week: Overseas students are better at English than British students. According to Professor Bernard Lamb, who carried out the research, British undergraduates are nearly three times more likely to make errors in written English than those from overseas. Depressing? Yes. Surprising? No. After spending a year studying the written work of his students, Lamb was appalled by...

Editor's note: This is a guest post by grammar guru Ivy Wigmore.  Myself abuse is rampant online and nowhere more so than in business communications. My fond hope is that the following rant might shine a little light into the dark corners of the Internet and, perhaps, stop one person from saying myself when the right word is I or me. As Dr. Grammar...

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

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...