Grammar Devotional (1 of 28)

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COPYRIGHT
Grammar Devotional by Mignon Fogarty. Copyright 2009 by Mignon Fogarty, Inc.
All Rights Reserved. Sharing is permitted--forward to a friend!

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Grammar Devotional

Mignon Fogarty

Introduction

People are often moved and challenged by nuggets gleaned on a daily basis—whether from a spiritual devotional, a tip-a-day calendar, or a regularly e-mailed newsletter. But there are few groups who need constant encouragement more than writers—it is, after all, a mostly solitary practice. The Grammar Devotional, then, is here to help you: it has daily reminders of our basic tenets (who versus whom, anyone?); inspiring profiles of writers and grammarians who have helped English evolve to what it is today; and quizzes, word scrambles, and word searches to help solidify newly learned tips.

English is a messy language. Unlike French, we don’t have a council to decide how we should write or speak. We only have a multitude of competing college handbooks, dictionaries, and usage and style guides, such as The Chicago Manual of Style and The Associated Press Stylebook, which frequently disagree. Space is tight in this book, and I like to keep things simple, but wherever possible I point out when something is a style rather than a rule. Too many people go around believing the way they learned to do things is the only way to do things, when really it’s just one of the acceptable choices.

Throughout most of The Grammar Devotional, the tips go in cycles starting with punctuation, then Language Rock Stars, then quizzes, with cartoons coming last, although I occasionally deviate from this pattern to keep related entries together.

It may seem like a trivial endeavor, a tip each day, but the knowledge adds up. With each installment, as you learn why it is all right to split an infinitive or when to use a semicolon, these tips can imbue your writing with new confidence. Here’s to better e-mail messages, essays, marketing materials, articles, and novels.

Day 1

The Burger of Mcdonald’s: Making Possessive Names Possessive

Have you ever wondered how to make a possessive name such as McDonald’s, Carl’s, or St. Anthony’s possessive?

The short answer is don’t! Rewrite the sentence to avoid such a construction because, technically, you’re supposed to add another apostrophe or apostrophe and s on the end—which looks ridiculous.

McDonald’s’s earnings were super-sized last quarter. (technically correct)

McDonald’s’ earnings were super-sized last quarter. (technically correct)

McDonald’s reported super-sized earnings last quarter. (better)

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