This is a little plug for Grammar Girl, a website created by Mignon Fogarty and part of the Quick and Dirty Tips network, which also gives advice on all kinds of things like Health & Fitness, House & Home, Parenting, Pets, Money & Finance, and a whole bunch of other areas. A good website to take a look at for a lot of different angles on life.
This particular segment is about her specialty – grammar, of course. It’s helpful to refresh your skills a little from time to time whether you’re a writer, or want to come across as a bit less dumb in random conversation (one of my primary struggles in life), or even just to have more ammo to help you argue with people who deserve it (it’s another struggle trying to not do this, but sometimes ya gotta).
So here is just a taste of her top 10 grammar myths…the rest of the article is on her website and is much prettier and thorough. Take a look around her site if you have a few minutes, ‘cause you never know what cool stuff you might come across.
Top Ten Grammar Myths
By
Mignon Fogarty,
Grammar Girl
March 2, 2018
Grammar Girl’s Top 10 Language Myths
10. A run-on sentence is a really long sentence.Wrong! They can actually be quite short. In a run-on sentence, independent clauses are squished together without the help of punctuation or a conjunction. If you write “I am short he is tall,” as one sentence without a semicolon, colon, or dash between the two independent clauses, it’s a run-on sentence even though it has only six words. (See episode 237 for more details.)
9. You shouldn’t start a sentence with the word “however.”Wrong! It’s fine to start a sentence with “however” so long as you use a comma after it when it means “nevertheless.” (See episode 354 for more details.)
8. “Irregardless” is not a word.Wrong! “Irregardless” is a bad word and a word you shouldn’t use, but it is a word. “Floogetyflop” isn’t a word—I just made it up and you have no idea what it means. “Irregardless,” on the other hand, is in almost every dictionary labeled as nonstandard. You shouldn’t use it if you want to be taken seriously, but it has gained wide enough use to qualify as a word. (See episode 94 for more details.)
In A Tale-Spin 