Less or fewer?
Less or fewer? “Less” and “fewer” are used in different ways from each other but many people – especially native speakers of English – get them mixed up. Both words are comparative adjectives and...
Graham's Grammar Posts
The proof is in the pudding
“The proof is in the pudding” is an English idiom. At first sight it doesn’t make much sense. When a pudding has jam in it, it’s a jam pudding. When a pudding has steak...
Me and My Shadow
“Me and My Shadow” is a popular song, written nearly a hundred years ago and recorded countless times since then. It is about being lonely – the only company the singer has is his...
“Approve” or “approve of”?
“Approve” can mean something different from “approve of”. “Approve” changes its meaning depending on whether or not we follow it with “of”. We use approve without “of” to show that someone agrees to –...
Out of order
When we say that something is out of order, we might mean that it isn’t working properly and can therefore not be used. Some examples: Similar expressions include: We also use “out of order”...
Don’t Count Your Chickens
“Don’t count your chickens” is a shortened version of “Don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched”. It is an English proverb that has been used for over 500 years. In fact, though, its first...
Superlative adverbs
Superlative adverbs. Let’s think first about adverbs that form their comparative form with _er and their superlative with _est. Such adverbs include loud, louder, loudest or quick, quicker, quickest. For such adverbs: We don’t...
You can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs
When we say that you can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs we mean that it’s impossible to do something good without damaging something else. It’s an idiom that we often use – sometimes...
The Subjunctive Mood
Let’s start with a warning: the subjective mood isn’t something that most people need to be concerned with. It’s difficult to learn and, anyway, isn’t often used in everyday speech. You only really need...
Adverbs
Adverbs are words that modify a verb. They explain how, when, where or why something is done. Adverbs of manner Adverbs of manner explain the manner in which (how) an action is carried out....