A Supplement to The Amazing Lecture on Grammar

Because Some Things I Thought Were Too Obvious

To Mention Are Apparently Not.
The items in this supplement are things that you should
definitely already know, even if you don’t know the exact name
of the rule. As such, this is really just a refresher to help
clarify things. If any of this is new information, you should be
Very, Very Ashamed. Also, since the following should already be
common knowledge, they automatically fall under Section I of the
previous handout and are inexcusable errors. Burn it to your
head.

“They’re/There/Their” and “Your/You’re” – I haven’t seen

very many people confuse these in their prose, but some people
that I speak to online at times seem to fail utterly in
distinguishing these words.

“They’re” is the contraction for “they are.”

“There” is a location, as opposed to “here.”
“Their” is an androgynous, plural possessive.

Example: They’re bringing their guns over there to shoot some

people.

“It’s/Its” – This is a slightly more understandable but

still inexcusable mistake that people sometimes make.

“It’s” is a contraction for “it is.” It is NOT the possessive.

“Its” is the possessive pronoun.

Example: It’s moving its young to the other side of the burrow.

“Accept/Except” – This makes me facepalm. Please don’t make

me facepalm because that may be followed by the shooting of you
in the face.

“Accept” is to consider or to hold something as true or to

willingly receive something that is being offered.

“Except” is a preposition meaning to exclude.

Example: You may accept everything offered except the nine beers.

“Then/Than” – This is another facepalm-worthy offense.

Please don’t do it.
“Then” is used to indicate time.
“Than” is used to compare things.

Example: He ate some pie, and then he ate more than me.

“They/Their” – People often use “they” and “their” to refer

to singular, androgynous nouns. This is not correct because the
two words are plural. For example, the following is wrong:

The club member checked their grammar.

Subject is singular. Possessive is plural. Problem. Understand?

Unfortunately, this is becoming so widespread that it’ll
probably be accepted as kosher eventually (oh, sigh and shudder)
because English doesn’t provide us with a unisex singular
possessive (“it/its” is not unisex, but rather, sexless). If the
gender of the subject is known, even if it isn’t explicitly
stated with the words chosen (so if you know who the club member
is, even if you don’t say exactly who in that sentence), use the
corresponding pronoun.

Traditionally, completely unknown subjects should default to

male pronouns, so it would be “The club member checked his
grammar,” but feminists revolted and demanded “he or she” and
“his or her” be used instead, so “The club member checked his or
her grammar.” Either is fine, though there’s also the option of
rewriting the sentence completely to eliminate the need to use
“his or her,” thus the sentence may read “The club member
checked the grammar used.”

It’s also semi-accepted to use “s/he,” but come on. Isn’t that
just ugly in prose?

“That/Which” – This is something most people play by ear,

but here are the precise rules for you.

“That” can be used to refer to people, animals, or things,

especially when clarifying one member from a larger class of
subjects.
“Which” can be used to refer to animals and things, but never to
people. It should be used when no general class is being limited
or defined in some way.

Example #1: The person that drank the last soda shall pay.
Example #2: He made a salad, which didn’t taste quite right.
Example #3: He made a salad that didn’t taste quite right.
 “Lay/Lie” – So many people are confused by this usage that
I might consider it to be something to put in Section III, but
won’t you just feel oh so smart to know which to use?

To lay is to place or set down and always takes a direct object.

To lie is to recline and does not take a direct object.

Example #1: She laid the book down on the counter.

Example #2: They spread out on the floor and lie there
contentedly.

--

And now I am tired of typing stuff out again. I have other stuff
to do, you know. There are undoubtedly other common mistakes I
could clarify for you, but it isn’t like it’s hard for you to do
research on your own if you’re confused. I forgot to mention
this on the previous handout, but some lovely references sites
include:

DrGrammar.Org (especially the FAQs)

Wikipedia.Org (just search for the name of the comma rule)
Dictionary.com (see the Grammar & Style section)