You can check your grammar here!!

You can check you grammar here if you have any doubt or queries about GRAMMAR

This is the link: http://www.grammarly.com/?q=esl&gclid=CMXJ5-r20K0CFUZ66wod8VNnmA#

Warning: bad grammar may cause increased levels of honesty

*UNCATEGORIZED*

Words are important. Words are powerful. Choose the wrong words and although you are trying to convey one particular meaning, you may inadvertently convey another.

This is especially true and damaging when considering a sales pitch. With a sales pitch you are trying to persuade people to part with money in exchange for something you are offering.
This doesn’t just happen, the process guides the potential customer through a series of consecutive impulses from first contact through to sale. If you screw up when trying to engender any of these impulses through inaccuracy or stupidity, it’s hard to get back on track.

The most important step (along with the close) is the first contact. Which brings me to my point, I found a very good example of why one should check website copy very carefully.

Website solutions should always be custom made for a client. Here at ICBusiness we listen to your requirements BEFORE trying to sell you something you do not need.

How very honest. They’ll listen to you – and then try to sell you something you don’t need.
Can’t fault them for trying.

Common English Grammar Mistake

Homophones and Homonyms

Homophones are words that sound like another when spoken but have different meanings and use, different spelling and origin.

Homonyms are words that are spelled like another but of a different meaning.
(e.g., bank= a place where you keep money,
bank= the edge of a river.

Words from the first group are the most common misused words in the English language when writing.

Most of the mistakes that we can see in writing on websites and blogs are words that are used quite often in the English language. Most of them fall into the homophones category. I see a lot of blogs that contain these common mistakes. Needless to say after a while I quit reading the blogs. So this is a reminder to all bloggers READ or RE-READ what you post and look for these common mistakes. I'm sure your readers will be very thankful.

A little language humor:

Adverbs Ending in -ly

Rumack: Can you fly this plane, and land it?

Ted Striker: Surely you can't be serious.

Rumack: I am serious... and don't call me Shirley.

That exchange from the movie “Airplane!” is presented—gratuitousLY—to spotlight adverbs ending in –ly, our topic for this week.

Refresher on Adjectives and Adverbs

Before we get into adverbs' more nuanced applications, let’s have a quick refresher on adjectives and adverbs and the differences between them.

An adjective modifies a noun or a pronoun:

o    the red apple

o    the warm sun

o    silly me

An adverb can modify a verb, an adjective, another adverb, or a whole sentence:

o    Aardvark smiled slyly. (“Slyly” modifies the verb “smiled.”)

o    They engaged in a hotly contested campaign. (“Hotly” modifies the adjective “contested.”)

o    Squiggly danced very badly. (“Very” modifies the adverb “badly.”)

o    Fortunately, nobody noticed. (“Fortunately” modifies the whole sentence.)

You may have noticed that three of the four adverbs had –ly endings, and that’s not unusual. Many adverbs are just adjectives with the -ly suffix: “accidental” becomes “accidentally,” “perfect becomes “perfectly,” “loving” becomes “lovingly,” “foolish” becomes “foolishly,” and so on. I’d list them all, but we’d be here indefinitely.

Exceptions

Some words that end with –ly aren't adverbs, of course: “family” and “elderly,” among others. “Family” is a noun that can be used as an adjective: a familyouting. “Elderly” is most commonly an adjective--the elderly daredevil--but it can be used as a collective noun as in this phrase: caring for the elderly.

In the case of the word “bodily,” the –ly suffix turns a noun (“body”) into an adjective, “bodily,” as in “bodily functions”; but “bodily can also be used as an adverb, as in “Cindy removed Bruno bodily.”

On the other hand, if you tack an –ly onto the noun “ear,” you get “early,” which can be an adjective and adverb, but has nothing to do with hearing – unless your parole hearing is early, I suppose.

You can see from these variations and similarities how confusion can arise—easiLY.

Transitions

Writers often clutter their text by tossing in a superfluous –ly, often because common parlance has superseded proper usage. That is, people’s speech—which by nature is more casual—takes hold in even the most formal writing.

Say you’re writing a letter, memo, or article with several elements, and you want to offer them in serial form. Begin the paragraphs (or sentences, for shorter elements) with “first,” “second,” and “last”—NOT “firstly,” “secondly,” and “lastly.”

Let’s let the word “first” set the standard for the rest; the usages are the same. First can be an adjective—the first man on the moon—or an adverb—phone first if you’re coming to visit.

You might write or say: “First, the goal of this project is to increase sales of our sardine cookies.” (And good luck with that.)

Here, “first” is basically shorthand for “the first point is.” What follows is a noun; in this case it’s a big noun, a nominative clause—the goal of the project—but it still behaves like a noun, so its modifier is an adjective: first.

One could argue that by “first” you mean “in the first place,” so it would be an adverb. Fair enough, but either way you don’t need “firstly”; “first” will be just fine.

Is “firstly” a word? Well, sure, it’s in the dictionary. But if “first” can be used as an adverb, why the heck would you need or want to slap an –ly suffix on it? Spare your fingers the extra keystrokes, your mouth the extra syllable, and your audience the clunkiness of “firstLY.

An ‘Important’ Point

Now let’s think about the phrase “most important,” which leads into a number of sentences and paragraphs. People often write and say, “most importantly.”

Dictionary.com, citing Random House, offers this: “Today, more importantly is the more common, even though some object to its use on the grounds that more important is an elliptical form of ‘What is more important’ and that the adverb ‘importantly’ could not occur in such a construction.”

Importantly is an adverb. It could be used in a sentence as a synonym for pompously or pretentiously (alternative definitions, by the way): Aardvark strutted around his new office importantly. Yes, I’ll bet he did.

So, let’s go with “more (or most) important” as a lead-in—and use it judiciously. It's shorter and less contested. Often what the writer feels is most important may not be a priority for the reader. Then, the author could be writing “importantly”—in that pompously pretentious meaning of the word.

The Tip

If what you have to say next is an important thing to convey and receive, drop the –ly:

For example, “Most important, put a lid on the pot before the popcorn kernels start to pop.”

One Last Thing

One last word about –ly adverbs, and it comes with guidance from theAssociated Press Stylebook. When using a compound modifier, do not use a hyphen to link any adverb ending in –ly with the word it’s modifying: a recently hired executive, freshly baked bread, a newly minted coin, and so on.

Surely that’s easy to remember. Yes, yes—don’t call you Shirley.


Hope this benefited you and I hope you pay attention and also understand in order to answer this queations. Thank you. Till we meet for the next post..(^___^)

Complete the following pairs of sentences with a suitable adverb/adjective from the list below, adding –ly as necessary.

                                             first – hard – direct – high – late – short

1. Does this flight go -------------- to Miami?
2. I’ve nearly finished – I shall be with you ---------------- .
3. We’ve had a lot of extra work on ----------------- .
4. I’m going to have to work ------------------- this evening.
5. He drove ----------------- and reached the town by nightfall.
6. When he arrived, he was so tired he could ----------------- keep his eyes open.
7. We’ll have to leave ------------------ if we don’t want to miss the train.
8. The rocket landed some 100 metres ------------------- of its target.
9. She has come ------------------ in her last three races.
10. ------------------ I’d like to congratulate you all on your performance.
11. Her latest play has been -------------------- commended by the critics.
12. The clouds drifted --------------------- above our heads.

Modifiers : Comparative Form

Comparative Form:

Comparative Adjectives:

Use the comparative form of the adjective to compare one thing or person with another thing or group.  The comparative is formed in two ways:

Adjectives are able to express degrees of modification, or comparison:   

(Zsa Zsa is pretty, but Elizabeth is prettier, and Angelique is theprettiest of all.)  

These degrees of comparison are:  1) the positive, 2) the comparative, and 3) the superlative.  The comparative is used for comparing two things and the superlative is used for comparing more than two things.  *Notice that the word than frequently accompanies the comparative and the word the  precedes the superlative.  You are always correct in using more or most if you are unsure about words with two or more syllables.

Here’s how to form comparative adjectives (those that compare two things) 

Short adjectives
one-syllable adjectives—add “er”		smart = smarter, cold = colder
EXCEPTION:  If the adjective ends in “e”, just add “r”		large = larger
EXCEPTION:  If the adjective ends in consonant, vowel, consonant, double the last consonant		hot = hotter
EXCEPTION:  If the adjective ends in “y”, change the “y” to “i” and add “er”.		crazy = crazier; fluffy = fluffier
Long adjectives
two (or more)-syllable adjectives not ending in “y”—use “more”	gifted = more gifted; stubborn = more stubborn
all adjectives of three or more syllables—use “more”	glorious = more glorious; persistent = more persistent

*Note:  With some longer adjectives, you have the choice of using the er form or the word more.  DO NOT USE BOTH TOGETHER!  clever = cleverer/more clever (NOT more cleverer), pleasant = pleasanter/more pleasant (NOT more pleasanter), simple, narrow, and quiet are some more adjective that you can use both ways.  There is no rule as to which adjectives can be used both ways in the comparative form, and no reference that I know of that lists them.  If you are unsure, please look at a dictionary.

Some adjectives and adverbs do not follow the rules.  They have irregular forms of the comparative.

good = better	bad = worse	little = less
much, may, some = more	far = farther, further

Comparative Adverbs:

Comparative adverbs are formed the same way as comparative adjectives, that is by adding er or whatever the spelling rule is for the word (See Comparative Adjectives).  Some adverbs have irregular forms.  These must just be learned.

*Note:  An ellipsis may be used when you are making a comparison using adverbs. An ellipsis is when you either drop the main verb in the second part of the comparison and only use the auxiliary verb, or when you omit the entire verb in the second part.  The verb is implied or 'understood'.  The verb that can be left out of the second part of the comparison is in brackets.

• Steve can jump as high as Rob can [jump].      
•  Barb's hair feels as soft as a kitten's [feels].    
• The brass buttons on his coat sparkled more brightly than gold [sparkles].
•  She runs as fast as a deer [runs].

Using than in comparisons:

The most common form of making comparisons using adverbs is to use the comparative form of the adverb followed by than.  You can use an ellipsis as shown above.

• Norman can tap dance faster than Bert [can tap dance].
• Marcy waltzes better than Norman [waltzes], however.

You can use than with single adverbs or with adverb phrases and clauses:

• Murielle reads faster when she is alone than she does when she is in front of other people. (adverb clauses)
• Peter writes more neatly for his boss than he does for his mother.  (Adverb phrases.  Note the ellipsis.  The auxiliary verb does is used instead of repeating reads or writes.)

Try rewriting these sentences to show comparison.  You may use ellipses if you want.  There are no answers, but here's a hint: THAN!

Example:   The river flows fast.  (the brook)  becomes "The river flows faster than the brook."

1. At sunset, the clouds start getting dark.  (at sunrise)
2. His father played hard.  (his brother)
3. Melvin sings loud.  (Leroy)
4. Dylan retired early.  (Henry did)
5. The hurricane hit close.  (we thought)

Using more and more in comparisons:

• She shopped for clothes more and more determinedly.  
• Carl left work late more and more often.

These sentences may also be phrased as : 

• She shopped for clothes increasingly determinedly.  (This sentence is awkward, so you can see the more and more construction is a better choice.)   
• Carl left work late increasingly often.

Using less and less in comparisons:

 less and less means the opposite of more and more.

• She shopped for clothes less and less determinedly.  
• Carl left work late less and less often.

These sentences may also be phrased as : 

• She shopped for clothes decreasingly determinedly.  (This sentence is awkward, so you can see the less and less construction is a better choice.)   
• Carl left work late decreasingly often.

Try rewriting these sentences substituting "more and more" or "less and less" as appropriate.

1. As the Queen watched interestedly, the team played increasingly intensely.

2. The sirens wailed increasingly shrilly.

3. The class answered decreasingly correctly.

4. As we waited increasingly impatiently, the food grew cold.

5. His new car ran increasingly badly.

6. The stars twinkled decreasingly brightly.

7. As Miss Snodgrass teaches longer, she speaks increasingly hoarsely.

Using The . . .the in comparisons:

You can show a type of comparison by joining two clauses, each beginning with the also.  Each clause has a comparative adjective or adverb, and together they show a cause and effect between two different things.

• The slower he walked, the more impatiently she scolded him.            
• The more Aunt Tilly complained, the grumpier Uncle Fester acted.
• The more viciously the dog barked, the more quickly the thief ran.
• The better beaten the batter, the better baked the brioche.

  Remember that this type of sentence always needs a comma separating the two clauses!

I hope these exercises can test your knowledge about comparative form:

Exercise 1:

1. Everyone should know that reading a book is  (good) than watching television.
2. My grandfather always says that a good health is  (important) than anything else.
3. Jessica is  (bad) than Cristin at mathematics.
4. Going to Boston by car is  (long) than going by train.
5. Tunisia is  (beautiful) in summer than in winter.
6. Jack thought that the second part of that film is  (interesting) than the first part.
7. I think that Turkish language is  (hard) than French language.
8. New York is  (big) than Dover. 

Exercise 2:

1. Murphy talks  __________________of anyone I have heard.  (fast) 

2. She screamed as _________________as she was able.  (loud) 

3. Beginning weight lifters finish their sets _______ _______ than experienced weight lifters.  (slow)  

4. Ryan  exercises ________________ devotedly.  (decreasingly)  

5. The ___________ you eat, the thinner you will get.  (much) 

6. Horses run ___________ than chickens do.  (swift)  

7. Robert shaves __________ of all his brothers.  (less)  

8. Men wait __________while women shop.  (impatient)  

9. His new Rolls rode ____________of any car he had owned before. (smooth)  

10. The ______________ she ages, the smarter she becomes. (much)

11. A spider spins  ____________ than a caterpillar.  (complex) 

12. Dr. Quack examined the patient __________________ than Dr. Fee did. (thoroughly)