A subreddit for questions and discussions about grammar, language, style, conventions, and punctuation. You can also use me as the human grammar and spellchecker. Also, fogarty is okay with using their as a singular pronoun instead of his or her. In and within are the prepositions in english which indicate time and place. Using direct words makes a strong, clear statement. In and of itself communicates the information that the subject, acting alone, could not have produced the observed result. Assure versus ensure versus insure english words, latin words. A magazine writer, technical writer, and entrepreneur, she has served as a senior editor an. To the delight of word nerds everywhere, grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing came out yesterday. As a teacher i see children want to put an apostrophe before every s in a word. Mignon fogarty, grammar girl, wrote a nyt bestseller, grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing.
To insure something or someone is to cover it with an insurance policy. The three words, assure, ensure, and insure, are often confused. Emphasized in all grades, this learning environment asks students to refine their grammar and language. Written with the wit, warmth, and accessibility that the podcasts are known for, grammar girl s quick and dirty tips for better writing covers the grammar rules and wordchoice guidelines that can confound even the best writers. Grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing impressed me because its a book that you can read and enjoy. Mignon fogarty, grammar girl, wrote a nyt bestseller, grammar girl s quick and dirty tips for better writing. Im certain, though, that you sometimes commit a ghastly grammar goof when the subject is far from the verb. Jan 19, 2007 in and of itself communicates the information that the subject, acting alone, could not have produced the observed result. Also derived from securus are the english words sure, assure, secure, and security. Mignon fogarty is the creator of grammar girl and the founder and managing director of quick and dirty tips. Grammar girl presents the ultimate writing guide for students. If a contract stipulates that the individual must insure something the contract is stipulating that the individual must purchase insurance to safeguard that asset. She is also the founder of the quick and dirty tips podcasting network. The grammar girl podcast has also won best education podcast multiple times in the podcast awards, and mignon is an inductee in the podcasting hall of fame.
Grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing by. Grammarly can save you from misspellings, grammatical and punctuation mistakes. Some sources note that people use assure, ensure, and insure interchangeably. All three verbs have something to do with making sure and are therefore similar. Get grammar girls take on assure versus ensure versus insure. It always grates on me when i see insure used where ensure would be a better fit. How to speak and write correctly is not a manual of the styles to use in speaking and writing, nor is it a manual for grammar.
Aug 28, 2018 grammar girl provides short, useful tips on grammar that are easy to remember and easy to put into practice. The chicago manual of style notices this difference. This may be attributed to how all three words can be associated with the sureness of an outcome. More than that childhood teddy you refuse to throw away even though its going a little mouldy. Within in english grammar difference between in and within in english grammar in and within are the prepositions in english which indicate time and place. Each word pair entry contains a straightforward explanation complete with examples to ensure or is it insure. Books by mignon fogarty author of grammar girls quick. The that is sometimes optional, sometimes obligatory, sometimes it is. It sounds like an oldfashioned way of saying by itself. Grammarly is an incredible editing software, however, it has its limitations and isnt for everyone. Users can view posts by date or topic grammar, punctuation, word choice, style, or general tip or view all entries. It should also sound like you and represent you with style.
The words assure, ensure, and insure are among the common terms that are often misused and interchanged. It is a simple, useful book for helping ordinary people in effective communication. Books by mignon fogarty author of grammar girls quick and. Written with the wit, warmth, and accessibility that the podcasts are known for, grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing covers the grammar rules and wordchoice guidelines that can confound even the best writers. Quiz whether youre the friend that everyone calls when they have a grammar question or youre just a big english language geek, you. Without a voice your viral articles are going to bomb. Founder of the quick and dirty tips podcasting network. However, you can easily avoid confusion by remembering their distinct uses.
And so, dear reader, i present to you 11 more incorrectly used words that make you look bad you can. Grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing is an educational podcast produced by mignon fogarty that was launched in july 2006 and the title of a print book by fogarty that was released in july 2008. Mar 19, 2015 your subjectverb agreement is most likely fine when the subject is close to the verb, as it is here. Grammar girl presents the ultimate writing guide for. Stream tracks and playlists from grammar girl on your desktop or mobile device. Grammar girl is similarly a pseudonym for mignon fogarty, a former magazine and technical writer whos also the sites founder, and she offers writing and usage tips in blog posts, podcasts, and newsletters. To ensure is to do or have what is necessary for success. March 2, 2017 why grammar matters in your content marketing if youre trying to market your brand or sell a product, a grammatical mistake or typo can hold you back from success. Insure is another verb that means to arrange for compensation in the event of damage to or loss of property, or injury to or the death of someone, in exchange for regular payments to a company or to the state. I found this tip on grammar girls website in a post called assure versus ensure versus insure. This was 30 years ago, in the united states, so its not a matter of being trendy or trying to sound british. However, rather than using these words interchangeably, id like to point out the unique aspects of each word so that you can use them to communicate your intention clearly.
The following examples have no punctuation, to emphasize grammar. Dont use past and future tense out of context, when making a statement. Mignon fogarty born 1967 is a former faculty member in journalism at the university of nevada, reno, and a former science writer who produces an educational podcast about english grammar and usage titled grammar girl s quick and dirty tips for better writing, which was named one of the best podcasts of 2007 by itunes. When you send out a message, you want it to connect with those who care about what you do and have to say. Mignon fogarty is the host of grammar girl and founder of quick and dirty tips. Both sentences tell you not to blame the weather for the delays, but the first sentence acknowledges the weathers involvement while the second merely. The grammar tip of the day involves the use of apostrophes. Grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing book. Your subjectverb agreement is most likely fine when the subject is close to the verb, as it is here. Insure makes the distinction that the definition of ensure is to make sure something will or wont happen, whereas insure means to issue an insurance policy. Strictly speaking, it is incorrect to use insure and ensure interchangeably. The use of that in your examples is that of a marker of clausal subordination more specifically, in your examples, it is the marker of a declarative content clause. Grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing.
The mnemonics r aven or aven ue can help you remember. For this specific lesson the teacher will be focusing on the difference between the homophones ensure and insure. As she does in previous volumesgrammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing 2008 and the grammar devotional 2009fogarty affects an earnest and upbeat tone to dissuade those who think a grammar book has to be annoying, boring, and confusing and takes on the role of grammar guide, intent on demystifying grammar. Writing services the blue book of grammar and punctuation. How to write horror and other disturbing short stories writers craft book 6. New york times bestselling author mignon fogarty shares her weekly grammar girl podcast and video tips about english, grammar, and writing. Both spellings of the word can be traced all the way. Sep 05, 2019 the grammar tip of the day involves the use of apostrophes. A book on improving eloquence, proficiency and grammar in everyday communication. How effective is grammarly in proofreading english. Insure means to safeguard against loss or damage, typically through the purchase of insurance to do so. Covering the grammar rules and word choice guidelines that can confound even the best writers, grammar girl makes complex grammar questions simple with memory tricks to. Want to go farther and insure a series is continuous.
The rolling gurney is about to crash into the unwary sign writer. Jan 01, 2008 to the delight of word nerds everywhere, grammar girl s quick and dirty tips for better writing came out yesterday. Proofreading, editing and ghostwriting services available at affordable prices. What you ensure results from your personal efforts. There are many good tools out there to help you check english grammar mistakes, and then there are some that seem to cause more hassle than help. Mignon fogartys most popular book is grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing. Mar 31, 2017 quiz whether youre the friend that everyone calls when they have a grammar question or youre just a big english language geek, you. In describes the relation of a noun in locative case. The singular subject gurney pairs up with the singular verb is.
Covering the grammar rules and word choice guidelines that can confound even the best writers, grammar girl makes complex grammar questions simple with memory tricks to help you recall and apply those troublesome grammar rules. Grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing is a very modern book, discussing rules for email and twitter, how to punctuate urls, and the proper way cite websites in news articles or papers. She learned to read at an early age and quickly fell in love with the english language and the power of the written word. Grammar girls expertise is also available in a fulllength book, which is available in paperback and e book. But, according to mignon fogarty grammar girl, none can be singular as in none of the. Mignon fogarty born 1967 is a former faculty member in journalism at the university of nevada, reno, and a former science writer who produces an educational podcast about english grammar and usage titled grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing, which was named one of the best podcasts of 2007 by itunes.
Aug 19, 2016 the words assure, ensure, and insure are among the common terms that are often misused and interchanged. Mar 19, 2018 grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing is a very modern book, discussing rules for email and twitter, how to punctuate urls, and the proper way cite websites in news articles or papers. The ap stylebook recommends using the shorter spelling. As the artworks gained value over the years, however, so has the cost of insuring them. As one who has studied grammar checkers for more than 30 years and codeveloped a textchecker far more powerful than grammarly, i can add a few comments to the sensible ones by barnett and cuzillo in this thread. In other englishspeaking countries, such as the united kingdom and australia, towards is the more common spelling. Claudia khan is the pen behind grammarus communications.
Toward is the preferred spelling in the united states and canada. What role does the that play what part of speech is it in this context. Her tips are available in audio format as a podcast, in text format on her blog, and as a fulllength, comprehensive book that is informative and fun to read. Grammarly helps every writer of every skill level to write better. Aug 26, 2008 reader christine wrote in with a request. Any grammar check that does an english syntax check is a winner. You can have a poor command of english, yet grammarly effortlessly helps you create beautifully written pieces. Securing the payment of an amount in compensation in this way is also called insuring it.
The thing is currently im reading one american book where, of course, a narration style dominates. Assure, ensure, and insure are three words people sometimes confuse. Each of these words has some meanings which are peculiar to it, some which are not entirely discrete from the others, and some which overlap almost entirely. Mignon fogarty is the founder of the quick and dirty tips network and creator of grammar girl, which has been named one of writers digests 101 best websites for writers multiple times.
On its path from latin through french and into english, securus became simplified and took on a variety of prefixes, thus leading to the confusingly similar english verbs assure, ensure, and insure. Grammar girl provides short, friendly tips to improve your writing. Therefore, ensure the tradition of excellence is a better choice. Nov 26, 2007 the three words, assure, ensure, and insure, are often confused. All three words share an element of making an outcome sure. A published author with more than 30 years experience, claudia is a selfconfessed word nerd. Ensure means to make sure or to guarantee and insure refers to the financial service of insurance. Mignon fogarty has 14 books on goodreads with 12538 ratings. September 12, 2015 september 12, 2015 ask grammar girl leave a comment a common misconception with grammar and there are a lot, because english grammar is a messy ass casserole of the grammar of other languages is that its always correct when referring to yourself and another person to say, you and i. However, rather than using these words interchangeably, id like to point out the unique aspects of each word so that you can use them to.
Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. Learn the definitions of insure, assure, and ensure, and when to use them. It looks to me like most people lean toward american grammar, and i have to admit im a little biased toward it myselfi have noticed that and which used interchangeably in print publications particularly in a novel im reading right now, which inspired this post, and i always wonder if the writer or editor might be british. To ensure something is to make sure it happensto guarantee it. Grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing quick.
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