Sheer and Shear May Confuse You!
A simple tip today: don’t get these two homophones confused. Sheer is an adjective used to describe something that is nearly transparent (like sheer stockings) or that is smooth (like a sheer cliff). It is rarely used as a verb meaning “to move abruptly in a different direction,” as in The plane sheered away from […]
Subject-Verb Agreement With Intervening Prepositional Phrases
A fancy title for a simple concept. Another blogger asked the Grammar Guru, “Will you please teach people about proper subject-verb agreement — especially in cases where the subject may seem to be plural, but really isn’t . . . as in a flock of seagulls? I am getting quite sick of seeing things such […]
If You Meet a Murderer, Will You Mete Out Justice?
Watch these tricky little sound-alikes, because misusing them can really make you look bad. Both are verbs (well, most commonly used as verbs). Meet means to come face to face with, to come together with. (Example: We will meet in the conference room.) Mete means to dispense or hand out. (Example: The food pantry will […]