Month: September 2015

In Writing Ellipsis (plural, ellipses) is a technique in grammar, also called elliptical construction, that is used to avoid unnecessary repetition or to avoid stating information that the reader already knows. Just as a pronoun aids when referring to a known subject, the ellipsis omits known information that would make writing and conversation long-winded and…

Words that introduce a noun are called determiners. There are various types which perform various tasks, including articles, quantifiers, demonstratives and possessives. Articles Definite article: the Indefinite articles: a, an. “A” is used before a consonant; “an” is used before a vowel. “The ducks flew away.” “If I had a hammer, I probably wouldn’t hammer…

A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in speech that can be used to make one word different from another, such as -p, -d, -m or -v. Phonemes are divided into two major categories: consonants and vowels. Bid, bit; vat, van; tap, nap; hit, hip; ton, tan; vat, vet A digraph is a type…

A relative clause is a group of related words that defines or adds information about the noun immediately in front of it. These clauses come in two types: restrictive and non-restrictive. The clause begins with a relative pronoun; the “relative” pronoun “relates” to the noun it is speaking about and ties the relative clause to…