There is no such thing as "emails"!
Do you go to the mailbox to see how many "mails" you have? No! Mail is a collective noun, which means that the plural of mail is "mail".
The same applies to the word "email".
If you want to say you have a lot of email, you can say:
Never ever say "emails". It marks you as illiterate, ignorant, and probably an AOL user.
It is so simple:
· Your = Belonging to you
o This is your life
o Your slip is showing
· You're =You Are
o You're very angry
o Now that you have had that lobotomy, You're much nicer
This is another easy one:
· Their = Belonging to them
o This is their life
o Their slip is showing
· They're =They Are
o They're very angry
o Now that they have had that lobotomy, They're much nicer
· There = not here
o There is the bus
o Look at that thing over there
Then has to do with time, Than is used to compare things:
· Then = when something takes place
o I'll floss the cat then get a transfusion
o ...then he tells me my slip is showing
· Than = used to compare
o I am smarter than you
o He would rather die than perform an unnatural act.
How to use these three words:
· To is used with a verb to express motion or some other condition
o We are going to the races
o To make mistakes is normal
o I've had it up to here
· Too has two meanings: Also and excessive
o I have one, and you have one too [also]
o This is too much [excessive]
· Two = is the number 2
o Two heads are better than three
o I won this race twice, so I have two trophies
Those little single-quote marks [ ' ] are called Apostrophes.
When they come in front of an S, they usually show something belongs to someone or something.
Leave out the apostrophe, and the word becomes a plural (meaning there are more than one).
· Apostrophe showing belonging:
o This is Howeird's grammar page
o The car's tires need to be rotated
· No Apostrope, showing a plural:
o The Howeird who owns this page is not Howard Stern. There are two Howeirds.
o All those cars need their tires rotated
There is one exception to this rule:
· Its = belonging to it
o The cow has its horns pointed right at you
o Its finger is in its nose
· It's = It is
o It's half past seven
o I love to watch the sun when it's setting
There is no such word as "administrate". What administrators do is administer.
This word is commonly incorrectly pronounced "mis-cheev-ee-us" especially in the US West and South. That's one more -ee- than the word contains.
The correct pronounciation is mis-cheev-us. .
Another non-word commonly heard in the US West and South is heighth.. The correct spelling is height and the correct pronounciation is "hite". No doubt the error comes from its close association with the word width, which does have a "th" ending. .
Another easy one:
· Lose
o The opposite of "win" We are going to lose this game
o The verb for "lost" How could you lose my pen?
· Loose
o The opposite of "tight" He has a screw loose.
o To set something free If you open the cage door, the bird will get loose.
This is all over the message boards these days - a disconnect between spelling and pronounciation:
· Yay
o Rhymes with "way", "pay" and "clay" You say this when you are very happy "Yay for the home team" It's related to "hooray"
· Yeah
o Rhymes with "there", "pair" and "chair", if you leave out the final "r" Use this to agree with something: "Yeah, i'll do it"
o It's also what you might yell when you're happy, fist in the air, "Yeah!" This usage has only been around for about 20 years, though.
· Yea
o Rhymes with "way", "pay" and "clay" Two meanings: 1. Yes (the opposite of "Nay") 2. A King James era particle of speech for emphasis ("Yea, verily, I say unto you")
Chalk this up to a lack of attention to detail:
· Dominate
o It's a verb! Use this to say what the person on top does. "I like a woman to dominate me."
· Dominant
o This is the adjective - it describes a type of person,place or thing. "He is in search of a domanant woman"
So please don't advertise for "a dominate" on Craig's List. You want "a dominant". Or maybe I do.
This is so common sense it hurts: People are "who" things are "that"
· Who
o Use this to talk about people: "There is this guy who peeps in my window all the time."
· That
o Don't use this word on people! "There is this car that keeps passing by the house."
You want to get into the habit of using "who" when you mean a person. You should also get out of the habit of using "that".