Guide to Good
English
1. PARTS OF SPEECH
In this section the traditional names are used for
parts of speech (noun, verb, adjective, adverb, pro-
noun, conjunction, and preposition). Two other
terms are sometimes used in describing grammar.
One is modifier, which means any word that
modifies the meaning of another word (usually a
noun). It is broader in scope than ‘adjective’ and
includes, for example, table in table lamp as well as
bright in a bright lamp or the lamp was bright. The
other is determiner, which means any word such
as a, the, this, those, and every which you put
before a noun to show how you are using the noun
(as in a fire, the fire, this fire, those fires, and every
fire).
Nouns
A noun is a word that names something: a person
(woman, boy, Frances), a thing (building, tree), or
an idea (birth, happiness). A common noun names
things generally, whereas a proper noun names a
particular person, place, or thing. Collective
nouns, such as audience, family, generation, gov-
ernment, team, are nouns which refer to groups of
people or things. They can be treated as singular
or plural: see agreement below.
Proper nouns
Proper nouns are normally spelled with a capital
initial letter and refer to persons or things of
which there is only one example (Asia, Ark Royal,
Dickens). The term is sometimes understood more
broadly to include geographical and ethnic desig-
nations such as American and Ashanti, which
behave like common nouns, for example in allow-
ing the forms an American and the Ashanti. Some
genuinely proper names can also behave like com-
mon nouns in certain uses, for example a fine
Picasso (= a painting by Picasso), another Callas
(= a singer comparable to Callas). In these uses it
is usual to retain the capital initial letter.
Verbal nouns
A verbal noun (also called a gerund) is a form of a
verb ending with -ing that acts as a noun, for
example smoking in the phrase no smoking and in
the sentence Smoking annoys people. It should be
distinguished from smoking used as an adjective
(a smoking fire) and as the present participle of
the verb (The man was smoking).
Because a verbal noun is a part of a verb as well
as being a noun, it keeps some of the characteris-
tics of verbs in its grammatical behaviour; for
example the forms They objected to me swearing
(non-possessive) and They objected to my swear-
ing (possessive) are both established in ordinary
usage, although the second, in which swearing is
treated as a full noun, is often preferred in more
formal writing.
Verbs
A verb is a word that describes an action (go, sit,
put) or state (be, live) and is normally an essential
element in a clause or sentence. A verb is
classified as transitive when the action affects a
person or thing called the object (We lit a fire), and
as intransitive when there is no object (She
smiled).
Using the correct tense
Tense is the location in time of the state or action
expressed by a verb. English verbs properly have
only two tenses, the present (I am) and the past (I
was). The future is formed with shall or will,
other forms of the past are formed with auxiliary
verbs (I have been / I was being), and the past per-
fect is formed with the past tense of have (I had
been).
The tense used mostly corresponds to actual
time, apart from conventional uses such as the so-
called ‘historic present’, used for dramatic effect
in narratives (as in George gets up and walks over
to the window), and the future used in polite
requests (as in Will that be all for now?).
However, choice of tense (called ‘sequence of
tenses’) becomes more complex in reported
speech. If a simple statement such as I’m afraid I
haven’t finished is put into indirect speech by
means of a reporting verb such as said, thought,
etc., the tense of the reported action changes in
accordance with the time perspective of the
speaker: He said he was afraid he hadn’t finished.
The tense of the reported verb can stay the same
if the time relative to the speaker is the same as
that relative to the person reported: She likes
beans can be converted either to She said she liked
beans or to She said she likes beans, and I won’t be
here tomorrow can be converted either to I said I
wouldn’t be here tomorrow or to I said I won’t be
here tomorrow.
shall and will
With I and we, shall should be used to form the
simple future tense (expressing a prediction of a
future action), while will is used to express an
intention to do something:
t I shall be late for work.
t We will not tolerate this rudeness.
With you, he, she, it, and they, the situation is
reversed; simple future action is expressed with
will, while shall expresses an intention or com-
mand:
t He will be late for work.
t You shall join us or die!
In speech, these distinctions are often not
observed.
should and would
The situation is similar with should and would.
Strictly speaking, should is used with I and we,
while would is used with you, he, she, it, and they:
t I should be grateful if you would let me know.
t You didn’t say you would be late.
In practice, however, it is normal to use would
instead of should in reported speech and condi-
tional clauses, such as I said I would be late.
Active and passive
Verbs can be either active, in which the subject is
the person or thing performing the action (as in
France beat Brazil in the final), or passive, in which
the subject undergoes the action (Brazil were beat-
en by France). In the passive voice verbs are usual-
ly formed with be, and the subject is expressed as
an agent introduced by the preposition by.
The passive is also used for impersonal con-
structions with it:
It is believed that no action should be taken.
It is felt that your complaint arises from a
misunderstanding.
Other verbs besides be can be used to form so-
called ‘semi-passives’ (as in He got changed, They
seem bothered). Here changed and bothered are
behaving almost more like adjectives.
Subjunctive
The subjunctive is a special form (or mood) of a
verb expressing a wish or possibility instead of
fact. It has a limited role in English:
It was suggested he wait till the next morning.
Fundamentalist Islam decrees that men and
women be strictly segregated.
In these sentences, the verbs wait (in the first)
and be (in the second) are in the subjunctive; the
ordinary forms (called the indicative) would be
waits and are.
There are other typical uses of the subjunctive:
2 after if (or as if, as though, unless) in hypotheti-
cal conditions:
Each was required to undertake that if it were
chosen it would place work here.
2 be or were at the beginning of a clause with the
subject following:
Were I to get drunk, it would help me in the
fight.
All books, be they fiction or non-fiction, should
provide entertainment in some form or other.
2 in certain fixed expressions and phrases, e.g. be
that as it may, come what may, perish the
thought, so be it, and others.
Participles
There are two kinds of participle in English: the
present participle ending with -ing as in We are
going, and the past participle ending with -d or -ed
for many verbs and with -t or -en or some other
form for others, as in Have you decided?, New
houses are being built, and It’s not broken.
Participles are often used to introduce subordi-
nate clauses that are attached to other words in a
sentence, e.g.
Her mother, opening the door quietly, came into
the room.
A stylistic error occurs with so-called ‘unattached’,
‘misrelated’, or ‘dangling’ participles, when the
participle does not refer to the noun to which it is
attached, normally the subject of the sentence:
p Recently converted into apartments, I passed
by the house where I grew up.
Certain participles, such as considering, assuming,
excepting, given, provided, seeing, speaking (of),
etc., have virtually become prepositions or con-
junctions in their own right, and their use in a
grammatically free role is now standard:
t Speaking of money, do you mind my asking
what you did with yours?
Adjectives and adverbs
An adjective is a word used to describe a noun,
such as sweet, red, or technical. An adverb is typi-
cally a word used to modify a verb, adjective, or
other adverb, such as gently, lazily, or very.
Position
Most adjectives can be used in two positions:
either before the noun they describe, where they
are called ‘attributive’, as in a black cat and a
gloomy outlook, or after a verb such as be, become,
grow, look, or seem, where they are called ‘predica-
tive’, as in the cat was black and the prospect looks
gloomy.
Some adjectives are nearly always used in the
predicative position and cannot stand before a
noun (e.g. afraid), while others are only found in
the attributive position (e.g. main).
Adjectives following a noun
In many fixed standard expressions, adjectives
denoting status are placed immediately after the
nouns they describe, e.g. in court martial, heir
apparent, poet laureate, president elect, situations
vacant, and the village proper. In other cases, an
adjective follows a noun as a matter of sentence
structure rather than peculiarity of expression:
The waiter picked up our dirty glasses in his
fingertips, his eyes impassive.
Position of adverbs
Adverbs normally come between the subject and
its verb, or between an auxiliary verb and a main
verb:
She dutifully observes all its quaint rules.
Roosevelt’s financial policy was roundly
criticized in 1933.
But for emphasis, or when the adverb belongs
closely to what follows the main verb, it comes
after the verb and before a following adverbial
phrase:
There is little chance that the student will
function effectively after he returns home.
Sentence adverbs
Some adverbs (such as clearly, happily, hopefully,
thankfully, unhappily) refer to a whole statement,
and form a comment associated more closely with
the speaker or writer than with what is said. In
this role they are called ‘sentence adverbs’.
Sentence adverbs often stand at the beginning of
the sentence:
Clearly, we will have to think again.
Sentence adverbs are well established in English,
although the use of thankfully and (in particular)
hopefully can arouse controversy:
s Hopefully the road should be finished.
Although objection to such use is artificial, be
aware that some people may take exception to
these words, especially in written or formal con-
texts.
Pronouns
A pronoun is a word such as I, we, they, me, you,
them, etc., and other forms such as the possessive
hers and theirs and the reflexive myself and them-
selves. They are used to refer to (and take the
place of) a noun or noun phrase that has already
been mentioned or is known, especially in order to
avoid repetition, as in the sentence When she saw
her husband again, she wanted to hit him.
Reflexive pronouns
Reflexive pronouns are the type formed with -self,
e.g. myself, herself, and ourselves, used in sen-
tences in which the subject of the verb and the
object are the same person or thing, as in We
enjoyed ourselves and Make yourself at home.
Conjunctions
A conjunction is a word such as and, because, but,
for, if, or, and when, used to connect words, phras-
es, clauses, and sentences. On the use of and and
but at the beginning of a sentence, see SENTENCES
below.
Prepositions
A preposition is a word such as after, in, to, and
with, which usually stands before a noun or pro-
noun and establishes the way it relates to what
has gone before (The man on the platform, They
came after dinner, and What did you do it for?).
It is sometimes stated that a preposition should
always precede the word it governs and should not
end a sentence. However, there are cases when it
is either impossible or not natural to organize the
sentence in a way that avoids a final preposition:
2 in relative clauses and questions featuring
verbs with linked adverbs or prepositions:
What did Marion think she was up to?
They must be convinced of the commitment
they are taking on.
2 in passive constructions:
The dress had not even been paid for.
2 in short sentences including an infinitive with
to or a verbal noun:
It was my dancing he objected to.
2. INFLECTION
Inflection is the process by which words (princi-
pally nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs)
change their form, especially their ending, in
accordance with their grammatical role in a sen-
tence.
Verbs
Verbs normally add -s or -es to form third-person
present-tense forms (changes, wants), -ed to form
past tenses and past participles (changed, wanted),
and -ing to form present participles (changing,
wanting). However, some verbs form tenses by
changing their stem (throw, threw, thrown), and
others are completely irregular (have, had, had;
go, went, gone).
Verbs drop a final silent -e when the suffix
begins with a vowel (as in shave, shaving). But a
final -e is usually retained to preserve the soft
sound of the g in twingeing and whingeing. It is
also retained where it is needed to avoid confu-
sion with similar words, for example in dyeing
(from dye) as distinct from dying (from die).
Nouns
English nouns normally form their plurals by
adding -s, or -es if the singular form ends in -s, -x, -
z, -sh, or soft -ch (as in church but not loch).
 Nouns ending in -y form plurals with -ies (policy,
policies), unless the ending is -ey, in which case the
plural form is normally -eys (valley, valleys).
Nouns ending in -f and -fe
Nouns ending in -f and -fe form plurals sometimes
with -fs (handkerchief, handkerchiefs; oaf, oafs;
proof, proofs; roof, roofs), sometimes -ves (calf,
calves; half, halves; knife, knives; shelf, shelves) and
occasionally both -fes and -ves (dwarf, dwarfs or
dwarves; hoof, hoofs or hooves).
Nouns ending in -o
Plurals of nouns ending in -o cause difficulty in
English because there are few convenient rules
for choosing between -os (as in ratios) and -oes (as
in heroes).
As a guideline, the following typically form plu-
rals with -os:
2 words in which a vowel (usually i or e ) pre-
cedes the final -o (trios, videos).
2 words that are shortenings of other words
(demos, hippos).
2 words introduced from foreign languages
(boleros, placebos).
Names of animals and plants normally form plu-
rals with -oes (buffaloes, tomatoes).
Adjectives and adverbs:
comparatives and superlatives
Adjectives
An adjective has three forms: a positive (hot,
splendid), a comparative (hotter, more splendid),
and a superlative (hottest, most splendid).
Adjectives that form comparatives and superla-
tives using -er and -est in preference to (or as well
as) more and most are:
2 words of one syllable (e.g. fast, hard, rich, wise).
2 words of two syllables ending in -y and -ly (e.g.
angry, early, happy, holy, likely, lively) and corre-
sponding un- forms when these exist (e.g.
unhappy, unlikely). Words ending in -y change
the y to i (e.g. angrier, earliest).
2 words of two syllables ending in -le (e.g. able,
humble, noble, simple), -ow (e.g. mellow, narrow,
shallow), and some ending in -er (e.g. clever,
tender).
2 some words of two syllables pronounced with
the stress on the second syllable (e.g. polite,
profound, but not antique, bizarre, and others).
2 other words of two syllables that do not belong
to any classifiable group (e.g. common, cruel,
pleasant, quiet).
Words of one syllable ending in a single conso-
nant double the consonant when it is preceded by
a single vowel (glad, gladder, gladdest; hot, hotter,
hottest) but not when it is preceded by more than
one vowel (clean, cleaner, cleanest; loud, louder,
loudest). Words of two syllables ending in -l dou-
ble the l (e.g. cruel, crueller, cruellest).
Adjectives of three or more syllables use forms
with more and most (more beautiful, most interest-
ing, etc.).
Adverbs
Adverbs that take -er and -est in preference to (or
as well as) more and most are:
2 adverbs that are not formed with -ly but are
identical in form to corresponding adjectives
(e.g. runs faster, hits hardest, hold it tighter).
2 some independent adverbs (e.g. often and
soon).
Adverbs ending in -ly formed from adjectives (e.g.
richly, softly, wisely) generally do not have -er and
-est forms but appear as more softly, most wisely,
etc.
3. SENTENCES
A sentence is a group of words that makes com-
plete sense, contains a main verb, and begins with
a capital letter and ends with a full stop (or the
equivalent such as a question mark or an exclama-
tion mark).
There are three basic kinds of sentence:
2 a simple sentence normally contains one state-
ment: the train should be here soon.
2 a compound sentence contains more than one
statement, normally joined by a conjunction
such as and or but: I have looked at the evidence
and I have to say it is not sufficient.
2 a complex sentence contains a main clause and
one or more subordinate clauses, such as a con-
ditional clause beginning with if or a relative
clause introduced by which or who: The story
would make headlines if it ever became public.
Relative clauses: using words
like who and when
A relative clause is one connected to a main clause
by a relative pronoun or adjective such as who or
whom, which, whose, or that, or by a relative
adverb such as when and where. (These words,
apart from that, are collectively called wh- words,
and a wh- word means any of these.) Most prob-
lems with this kind of clause are to do with the
choice between that and a wh- word, principally
which, who, or whom. For much of the time that is
interchangeable with any of these words, and it is
the more usual choice in everyday writing and
conversation.
There are two types of relative clause, called
‘restrictive’ and ‘non-restrictive’. A restrictive
clause gives essential information about a noun or
noun phrase that comes before (She held out the
hand that was hurt). A non-restrictive clause gives
extra information that could be left out without
affecting the structure or meaning of the sentence
(She held out her hand, which I clasped in both of
mine). A restrictive clause can be introduced by
that, which, who, or whose and is not normally pre-
ceded by a comma, whereas a non-restrictive
clause is normally introduced by which, who, or
whose (and not usually that), and is preceded by a
comma.
Sometimes that is more idiomatic than which,
for example when the construction is based on an
impersonal it or an indefinite pronoun such as
anything:
There is something that I forgot to mention.
Is there anything that you want?
That is also more usual when which already occurs
earlier in the sentence in another role, for exam-
ple as an interrogative word:
Which is the one that you want?
Beginning sentences with and
and but
It is not wrong to begin a sentence with a con-
junction such as and or but. The practice is com-
mon in literature and can be effective. It is also
used for other rhetorical purposes, especially to
denote surprise (And are you really going?) and
sometimes just to introduce an improvised after-
thought (I’m going to swim. And don’t you dare
watch).
Negatives and double negatives
A repeated negative of the type He never did no
harm to no one is incorrect. However, a double
negative is acceptable when it is used with inten-
tional cancelling effect as a figure of speech, as in
It has not gone unnoticed.
Double negatives also occur, especially in
speech, in uses of the type You can’t not go (= you
cannot consider not going, i.e. you have to go), in
which not go is effectively a single idea expressed
in a verb phrase.
4. AGREEMENT
Agreement is the process of making words fit the
context of sentences, for example ensuring that
the singular form of a verb accompanies a singular
subject. For most of the time we apply the rules of
agreement instinctively, but problems can arise in
sentences involving certain phrases and combina-
tions.
Agreement within phrases
Awkward phrases
Some expressions can cause uncertainty because
they are grammatically ambiguous or combine
seemingly contradictory roles, for example phras-
es such as more than one and either or both:
More than one dealer has shown an interest in
the painting.
The meaning is clearly plural, but the grammar
remains singular because one is closer to the verb
as well as being the dominant word in its phrase
(we could not say More than one dealer have
shown an interest in the painting).
s The purchaser gets a licence to use either or
both products.
Here there is a problem of agreement with the fol-
lowing noun, because either calls for the singular
form product whereas both calls for the plural
form products; both wins out because it is closer to
the noun. Usually a better solution is to rephrase
the sentence to avoid the problem altogether:
t The purchaser gets a licence to use either or
both of the products.
Compound subjects
Two nouns joined by and are normally treated as
plural:
Speed and accuracy are top of the list.
But when the two nouns form a phrase that can be
regarded as a single unit, they are sometimes
treated as singular, even when one of them is plur-
al:
Fish and chips is my favourite meal
When a singular noun forming the subject of a
sentence is followed by an additional element
tagged on by means of a phrase such as as well as,
accompanied by, or together with, the following
verb should be singular and not plural, since the
singular noun is by itself the true subject:
The little girl, together with her friend Kerry, was
busy filling her bucket with sand.
Singular and plural nouns
Singular nouns treated as plural
Some nouns are singular in form but are used with
a verb that can be either singular or plural, or in
some cases only plural. The commonest of these
are the collective nouns which stand for a group or
collection of people or things, such as audience,
committee, crew, family, generation, government,
group, jury, team, and many others.
The general rule with words like these is to treat
them as singular when the emphasis is on the
group as a whole and as plural when the emphasis
is on the individuals that form the group:
A group of four young men in overalls was
standing close to him. (singular)
The jury retired at the end of the day to consider
their verdict. (plural)
Some collective nouns are fully plural:
By and large the police do a good job.
Plural nouns treated as singular
Other nouns are plural in form but are treated as
singular, either always or in some meanings. Chief
among these are the names of branches of knowl-
edge or science, such as acoustics and mathemat-
ics, activities such as billiards and gymnastics, and
diseases such as measles:
Acoustics is taught as part of the extended
course.
The figures show that measles is on the increase.
Other plural nouns, such as data, media, and agen-
da, are now commonly treated as singular.
Depending on their meaning, they are either
countable nouns, which can be used with a or an
and have plural forms, e.g. agendas, or mass
nouns, which do not have a plural form but are
used in the singular with words such as this and
much:
The media has lost interest in the subject.
This data is in a form that can be used by other
institutions.
Some plural words adopted unchanged from other
languages, such as spaghetti and graffiti, develop
singular meanings:
The furniture had been damaged and graffiti
was daubed on the walls.
Subjects and objects
When the subject of the verb be is singular but the
part that follows is plural, the verb should gener-
ally agree with its subject, regardless of what fol-
lows:
The only traffic is ox carts and bicycles.
When the subject is a singular collective noun, the
verb may be in the plural, following the usual pat-
tern with such nouns:
Its prey are other small animals.
Indefinite pronouns
Pronouns such as each, either, neither, and none
are called indefinite pronouns. When used on
their own like a noun, they can vary between sin-
gular and plural. They are treated as singular
when the emphasis is on the individuals:
Neither the chairman nor the chief executive is
planning any dramatic gestures.
None of them has had enough practical experi-
ence to run the company.
and as plural when the emphasis is on the collec-
tion or group as a whole:
Neither his mother nor his father earn much
money now.
None of the staff were aware of the ransom
demand.
Plural pronouns used in the singular
There is often uncertainty about what possessive
word (his, her, etc.) to use when referring to a
subject whose gender is not specified. The safest
option is to put his or her:
Every student should hand in his or her assign-
ment by Tuesday.
But this can be awkward, especially when the sen-
tence continues for some time with repeated ref-
erences back to the original subject. In cases like
this it is now acceptable to use a plural form of
pronoun:
Every student should hand in their assignment
by Tuesday.
Either … or … and neither … nor …
A problem arises when one of the alternatives in
an either ... or ... or neither ... nor ... construction is
singular and the other plural. Here, the normal
choice is to make the verb agree with the one clos-
er to it:
t Either the twins or their mother is responsible
for this.
But often a better solution is to recast the sen-
tence to avoid the problem:
t Either the twins are responsible for this or
their mother is.
Personal pronouns
I, we, he, she, and they are subjective pronouns,
which act as the subjects of verbs, while me, us,
him, her, and them are objective, acting as the
objects of verbs and prepositions:
It’s a tiny bit boring, between you and me.
The boys are coming with Gavin and me.
After the verb be it is more natural and usual to
use me, us, him, her, or they (the objective pro-
nouns), although what follows be is not an object
but a complement:
I said it was only me.
That’s us sitting on the bench.
The subjective forms (I, we, he, she, or they) are
not wrong but often sound stilted, especially the
first-person forms I and we:
s I said it was only I.
It is, however, usual to use the subjective forms
when a relative clause (introduced by who or that)
follows:
t It was I who did it.
5. PUNCTUATION
The purpose of punctuation is to make writing
clear, by clarifying the structure of continuous
writing and indicating how words relate to each
other.

Full stop
The principal use of the full stop is to mark the
end of a sentence that is a statement:
Bernard went over to the bookcase and took
down an atlas.
This applies to sentences when they are not com-
plete statements or contain ellipsis:
London. Implacable November weather.
If an abbreviation with a full stop comes at the
end of a sentence, another full stop is not added:
Bring your own pens, pencils, rulers, etc.
Comma
The role of the comma is to give detail to the
structure of sentences and to make their meaning
clear by marking off words that either do or do not
belong together. It usually represents the natural
breaks and pauses that you make in speech, and
operates at phrase level and word level:
At phrase level
You should use a comma to mark off parts of a sen-
tence that are separated by conjunctions (and, but,
yet, etc.). This is especially important when there
is a change or repetition of the subject, or when
the sentence is a long one:
Mokosh could foretell the future, and she could
change herself into any form she pleased.
Readings are taken at points on a grid marked
out on the ground, and the results are usually
plotted in the form of computer-drawn diagrams.
It is not normally correct to join the clauses of a
compound sentence without a conjunction:
p His was the last house, the road ended with
him.
Nor is it correct to separate a subject from its verb
with a single comma:
p Those with the lowest incomes and no other
means, should get the most support.
A comma also separates parts of a sentence that
balance or complement each other, and can intro-
duce direct speech, especially in continuation of
dialogue:
He was getting better, but not as fast as his
doctor wished.
Then Laura said, ‘Do you mean that?’
An important function of the comma is to prevent
ambiguity or momentary misunderstanding:
Mr Hogg said that he had shot, himself, as a small
boy.
Commas are used in pairs to separate elements in
a sentence that are asides or not part of the main
statement:
All history, of course, is the history of wars.
Commas are also used to separate a relative clause
that is non-restrictive (see relative clauses
above):
The money, which totals more than half a million,
comes from three anonymous donors.
A single comma sometimes follows adverbs,
phrases, and subordinate clauses that come at the
beginning of a sentence:
Moreover, they had lied about where they had
been.
When the sun began to sink, she could take the
riverside walk to the hotel.
A comma is always needed with however when it
means ‘by contrast’ or ‘on the other hand’:
However, a good deal of discretion is left in the
hands of area managers.
At word level
A comma is used to separate adjectives having the
same range of reference coming before a noun:
a cold, damp, badly heated room
The comma is omitted when the adjectives have a
different range of reference (for example, size and
colour) or when the last adjective has a closer rela-
tion to the noun:
his baggy green jacket
a distinguished foreign politician
Commas are used to separate items in a list or
sequence:
The visitors were given tea, scones, and cake.
(The final comma before and is regarded by many
people as unnecessary and left out; this dictionary
always includes one.)
Leave out the comma between nouns that occur
together in the same grammatical role in a sen-
tence (called apposition):
My friend Judge Peters was not at home.
But use one when the noun is a piece of extra
information that could be removed from the
sentence without any noticeable effect on the
meaning:
His father, Humphrey V. Roe, was not so
fortunate.
Semicolon
The main role of the semicolon is to mark a gram-
matical separation that is stronger in effect than a
comma but less strong than a full stop. Normally
the two parts of a sentence divided by a semicolon
balance each other, rather than leading from one
to the other:
The sky grew bright with sunset; the earth
glowed.
Honey looked up and glared; the man scurried
away.
You can also use a semicolon as a stronger division
in a sentence that already contains commas:
What has crippled me? Was it my grandmother,
frowning on my childish affection and turning it
to formality and cold courtesy; or my timid,
 fearful mother, in awe of everyone including,
finally, me; or was it my wife’s infidelities, or my
own?
Colon
Whereas a semicolon links two balanced state-
ments, a colon leads from the first statement to
the second. Typically it links a general or intro-
ductory statement to an example, a cause to an
effect, or a premise to a conclusion.
He was being made to feel more part of the
family: the children kissed him goodnight, like a
third parent.
You also use a colon to introduce a list:
The price includes the following: travel to
London, flight to Venice, hotel accommodation,
and excursions.
Apostrophe
The principal role of the apostrophe is to indicate
a possessive, as in Tessa’s house and the town’s
mayor.
Singular nouns form the possessive by adding ’s
(the dog’s bark = one dog), and plural nouns end-
ing in -s add an apostrophe after the -s (the dogs’
barks = more than one dog). When a plural noun
ends in a letter other than s, the possessive is
formed by adding ’s : the children’s games, the
oxen’s hoofs, etc.
Beware of an apostrophe wrongly applied to an
ordinary plural, particularly in words ending in -o
but also in quite harmless words such as apples
and pears (e.g. p pear’s 30p a pound).
Beware also of confusing the possessive whose
with who’s, which is a contraction of who is (e.g.
p Who’s turn is it?).
For names ending in -s, the best course is to add
’s when you would pronounce the resulting form
with an extra s in speech (e.g. Charles’s, Dickens’s,
Thomas’s, The Times’s); and omit ’s otherwise (e.g.
Bridges’, Connors’, Herodotus’). With French
names ending in (silent) -s or -x, add ’s (e.g.
Dumas’s, le Roux’s) and pronounce the modified
word with a final -z.
An apostrophe should not be used in the pro-
nouns hers, its, ours, yours, and theirs.
Be careful to distinguish its from it’s. Its (no
apostrophe) is a possessive meaning ‘belonging to
it’, whereas it’s (with an apostrophe) is a contrac-
tion meaning ‘it is’ or ‘it has’:
Give the cat its dinner.
It’s hard to know where to start.
An apostrophe is not normally used in the plural
of abbreviated forms (e.g. several MPs were stand-
ing around), although it is used in the possessive
(e.g. the BBC’s decision to go ahead with the broad-
cast).
Another important use of the apostrophe is to
mark contractions such as I’ll, they’ve, couldn’t,
and she’s.
Hyphens
In print a hyphen is half the length of a dash, but
in writing there is often little noticeable differ-
ence. While the dash has the purpose of separat-
ing words and groups of words, the hyphen is
meant to link words and parts of words. The use of
hyphens is very variable in English, but the fol-
lowing guidelines reflect generally agreed princi-
ples.
The hyphen is used to join two or more words so
as to form a single word (often called a compound
word), e.g. free-for-all, multi-ethnic, right-handed,
and punch-drunk. Straightforward noun com-
pounds are now much more often spelled either as
two words (boiling point, credit card, focus group)
or as one, even when this involves a collision of
consonants, which used to be a reason for putting
in the hyphen (database, earring, breaststroke). In
American English compound nouns generally
written as two words in British English are often
written as one word.
There are two cases in which a compound
spelled as two words is made into a hyphened
form or a one-word form:
2 when a verb phrase such as hold up or back up is
made into a noun (hold-up, backup);
2 when a noun compound is made into a verb
(e.g. a date stamp but to date-stamp). Note that
a normal phrasal verb should not be hyphenat-
ed: write continue to build up your pension not
continue to build-up your pension.
A hyphen is often used:
2 to join a prefix ending in a vowel (such as co-
and neo-) to another word (e.g. co-opt, neo-
Impressionism), although one-word forms are
becoming more usual (cooperate, neoclassical).
2 to avoid ambiguity by separating a prefix from
the main word, e.g. to distinguish re-cover (=
provide with a new cover) from recover and re-
sign (= sign again) from resign.
2 to join a prefix to a name or designation, e.g.
anti-Christian, ex-husband.
2 to stand for a common second element in all but
the last word of a list, e.g. two-, three-, or four-
fold.
2 to clarify meanings in groups of words which
might otherwise be unclear or ambiguous (e.g.
twenty-odd people came to the meeting).
You should also use a hyphen to clarify the mean-
ing of a compound that is normally spelled as sep-
arate words, when it is used before a noun: an up-
to-date record but the record is up to date.
There is no need to insert a hyphen between an
adverb ending in -ly and an adjective qualified by
it, even when they come before the noun: a highly
competitive market, recently published material.
When the adverb does not end in -ly, however, a
hyphen is normally required to make the meaning
clear when the adverb precedes the noun: a well-
known woman (but the woman is well known).