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The Tongue Untied

A Guide to Grammar, Punctuation and Style

  • Parts of Speech
    • Adjectives
      • Descriptive
      • Limiting
      • Predicate Adjective
      • Participles
    • Adverbs
    • Conjunctions
      • Coordinating Conjunctions
      • Subordinating Conjunctions
      • Correlative Conjunctions
      • Conjunctive Adverbs
      • Conjunctions vs Prepositions
    • Nouns
      • Subjects
      • Objects
        • Direct Object
        • Indirect Object
        • Obj. of the Preposition
        • Obj. of the Verbal
      • Predicate Nominative
      • Gerunds
    • Prepositions
    • Pronouns
      • Personal
      • Relative
      • Indefinite
      • Demonstrative
      • Interrogative
      • Reflexive
    • Verbs
      • Verb Parts
        • Lexical
        • Auxilliary
      • Verb Types
        • Transitive
        • Intransitive
        • Linking
    • Verbals
      • Gerunds
      • Participles
      • Infinitives
  • The Sentence
    • Clauses
      • Clauses, Independent
      • Clauses, Dependent
    • Phrases
      • Prepositional
      • Participial
      • Gerund Phrase
      • Appositives
  • Case
    • Nominative-Subjective
    • Objective
    • Possessive
    • Possessive Nouns
  • Agreement
    • Always Plural
    • Always Singular
    • Singular or Plural — It Depends
    • Antecedents
  • Punctuation
    • Apostrophe
    • Commas
    • Colon
    • Dash
    • Hyphens
    • semicolon
    • Quotation Mark
  • Writing/Editing
    • Accuracy
    • Clarity
    • Conciseness
    • Misplaced Modifiers
    • Small Things That Matter
    • Spelling/Word Choice
  • Practice

Adjectives: The basics

April 2, 2014 by TheTongueUntied Leave a Comment

Adjectives are one of the eight parts of speech. Just as a reminder, the others are the verb, the noun, the pronoun, the adverb, the preposition, the conjunction, and the interjection. The primary purpose of an adjective is to modify a noun. They … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Adjectives, Parts of Speech Tagged With: adjectives, Parts of Speech, Schoolhouse Rock

Adjectives: Limiting

April 1, 2014 by TheTongueUntied 4 Comments

These types of adjectives specify or limit the noun. An adjective that limits a noun; they include definite articles, indefinite articles, possessive adjectives, demonstrative adjectives, indefinite adjectives, interrogative adjectives, cardinal … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Adjectives, Limiting, Parts of Speech Tagged With: adjectives, Parts of Speech

Adjectives: Predicate Adjective

March 28, 2014 by TheTongueUntied 5 Comments

This is a special type of adjective that follows a linking verb and modifies (directly refers to) the subject of the sentence. [In the following examples, the predicate adjective is bold and the subject/noun is underlined.] People are interested … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Adjectives, Parts of Speech, Predicate Adjective Tagged With: adjectives, Parts of Speech

Parts of Speech: Adverbs

June 2, 2009 by TheTongueUntied Leave a Comment

An adverb modifies--changes, enhances, limits, describes, intensifies, muffles -- a verb, an adjective or another adverb. AN ADVERB ANSWERS THE QUESTION HOW? [In the following examples, the adverb is bold and the word it modifies is … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Adverbs, Parts of Speech Tagged With: Adverbs, Parts of Speech, Schoolhouse Rock

Oh, Adverb

February 10, 2009 by TheTongueUntied Leave a Comment

**** If you are looking for the 10 most commonly confused words go here [Sung to the tune of Barry Manilow's "Mandy] I remember all my life hearing how words modify An adverb tells us “how” The “why” to a question Telling us degree The … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grammar Time Tagged With: Parts of Speech, Poetry

Small Things That Matter #1: “If” vs. “Whether”

December 5, 2008 by TheTongueUntied 12 Comments

I have decided to begin a new series of posts entirely dedicated to the little BUT IMPORTANT elements of English writing that seemed to have disappeared from the K-12 system I am starting with “if” and “whether” not because I think it is the most … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Clarity, Small Things That Matter, Spelling/Word Choice, Subordinating Conjunctions Tagged With: Parts of Speech, Word Choice

Gerunds and the Possessives that Love Them

September 26, 2008 by TheTongueUntied 4 Comments

If there isn’t enough to worry about in creating a decent piece of writing, the twisted gods of grammar give us gerunds and possessives to deal with. Wait! I know you probably have no idea what a gerund is. You are not alone. But don’t give up. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Parts of Speech Tagged With: Gerunds, Parts of Speech, Possessives

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