Check Grammar - Regardless or Irregardless?

Today’s English Grammar rule discusses the words REGARDLESS and IRREGARDLESS.

REGARDLESS mean NOT to regard or consider something, the meaning given by the suffix LESS, so this term is considered a negative. The prefix IR also causes a word to become a negative, so when combined with the suffix LESS, one creates a double negative in one word. In other words, IRREGARDLESS makes no sense and is improper. Do not use the term IRREGARDLESS; instead, use REGARDLESS.

Check Grammar - Assure, Ensure, Insure

Today's English Grammar Rule discusses the three similar words assure, ensure, and insure.

ASSURE means to give confidence; ENSURE means to confirm something; and INSURE means to obtain an insurance policy. See the sentences below that exemplify the proper usage of each word.


ASSURE: The student assured me that he would not be late for his tutoring session.

ENSURE: I called to ensure that the caterers would arrive by noon.

INSURE: Both automobiles are insured for liability only.

Check Grammar - Sneaked or Snuck?

Today's English grammar check is SNEAKED OR SNUCK.

SNUCK is NOT the past tense for SNEAK, although I hear it and I read it in students' papers. If you have an occassion for using the past tense of SNEAK, it's safer to use SNEAKED, rather than SNUCK.

Tune in tomorrow for another English grammar check.

Check Grammar - Who's vs Whose

Today's English Grammar Rule reviews when to use WHO'S and WHOSE.

WHO’S and WHOSE is very similar to IT’S and ITS. Just like IT’S always means IT IS, WHO’S always means WHO IS. And just like ITS shows possession without an apostrophe, so does WHOSE. Below are examples that illustrate the correct usage of both:

WHO’S – Who’s (who is) going to host Thanksgiving this year?
WHOSE – Whose essay won the Chancellor prize?

Check Grammar - Is Composed Of - or - Comprise?

The most common misuse of COMPRISE is that people substitute it for IS COMPOSED OF, which is incorrect. COMPRISE means CONSITUTES. The key to using COMPRISE correctly is to test the sentence by substituting the word CONSTITUES for COMPRISE. If that word sound correct, then you've used COMPRISE correctly. Typically, a sentence that uses IS COMPOSED OF will be the reverse of a sentence that uses COMPRISE. Below are sentences to illustrate correct usage for each word.

COMPRISE: Research, MLA guidelines, and structure comprise first-year college writing.
COMPOSE: First-year college writing is composed of research, MLA guidelines, and structure.

Check Grammar - Cut the Muster or Mustard?

The saying (idiom) goes like this: Cut the Muster, not Cut the Mustard. The modern sense of the idiom is to succeed; to have the ability to do something; to come up to expectations.

This etymology seems plausible at first. Its proponents often trace it to the American Civil War. We do have the analogous expression “to pass muster,” which probably first suggested this alternative; but although the origins of “cut the mustard” are somewhat obscure, the latter is definitely the form used in all sorts of writing throughout the twentieth century. Common sense would suggest that a person cutting a muster is not someone being selected as fit, but someone eliminating the unfit.


(Washington State University)

Anecdote or Antidote?

Anecdote is a stort story, often humorous or relating events.
Antidote is a medicine, often counteracting poison.

Examples:
Anecdote - The mothers all told similar anecdotes about their children's reaction to liver.
Antidote - Doctor Morrison immediately prescribed an antidote for snake bite.

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Check Grammar - Pronunciation of the state of Illinois

The final S in the state of Illinois is silent. The ending sound should rhyme with boy, toy, soy. The state’s final syllable should NOT rhyme with noise. And for those trivia buffs out there: Illinois was a tribe of Native American Indians. They were known as Illinois or Illiniwek Indians who occupied a large portion of the Mississippi River valley. They were indispensable allies of French fur traders and colonists who came to live in the area now known as the Midwestern United States.

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