Arlene Miller's Blog, page 31

All’s Well That Ends Well!

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Yes, the title may sound like an end-of-the-year post (maybe next week), but it isn’t . . .

All’s well that ends well
A method to his madness
The long and short of it
It’s Greek to me
Heart of gold
Kill with kindness
Wild goose chase
A foregone conclusion
All that glitters is not gold
A rose by any other name would smell as sweet  
In one fell swoop
I have not slept a wink
The be all and the end all
Make an ass of yourself

These are all idioms, and every one of them (and there are tons more) were first said by Shakespeare in his plays. An idiom is a group of words that means something other than what the words literally say. No one is really chasing a goose (most likely) in a wild goose chase. No one really has a heart made out of gold or turns into an ass (the animal kind). 

Do you know the meanings of those idioms? I taught 7th grade, and I used to have the students read a shortened version of Julius Caesar – shortened, but the original Shakespearean language was used. That play contains the idiom It’s Greek to me. So I would have a worksheet with many other Shakespeare idioms and have them work in pairs to figure out the meanings. I was surprised when they claimed they had not heard of most of these idioms. But then they were 12 or 13 years old, and I guess they just aren’t as popular as they once were.

Here are the meanings of the above idioms :

All’s well that ends well – If it ends well, it was all worth it.
A method to his madness – What he or she is doing might look crazy, but there is actually a plan behind it.
The long and short of it – The whole story.
It’s Greek to me – I do not understand what you are saying; you may as well be speaking Greek.
Heart of gold – A really kind, generous heart.
Kill with kindness – To be so kind as to be annoying.
Wild goose chase – Chasing after something or looking for something that will be hard to find. 
A foregone conclusion – An ending to something that can be predicted at the beginning.
All that glitters is not gold – Just because something looks good doesn’t mean it IS good.
A rose by any other name would smell as sweet – What something or someone is named doesn’t affect what it is like.
In one fell swoop – All at once.
I have not slept a wink – I haven’t slept at all.
The be all and the end all – The best possible. (She thought her party was the be all and end all.)
Make an ass of yourself – Make yourself  look foolish.

There was one Shakespeare idiom that they students really had trouble with. Can you guess what it was? It isn’t once of the ones above.

No, the one they couldn’t figure out is “salad days.” Salad days means the good old days, apparently meaning when we were green and innocent.

But not all idioms are from Shakespeare of course. Our good friends at ProofreadingServices.com have an infographic with many common idioms and their meanings. Just click here to see it.

Have a Save and Happy New Year (and that’s no idiom)
Next week: A New Year’s Post

 

 

A Little Holiday Humor!

Happy Holidays to You and Yours….Here is a little Holiday Humor for you!

A Jewish guy’s mother gives him two sweaters for Hanukkah. The next time he visits her, he makes sure to wear one. As he walks into the house, his mother frowns and asks, “What – you didn’t like the other one?”

 

I once bought my kid a set of batteries for Christmas with a note on it saying “Toys not included.”  Bernard Manning

 

For Christmas, I gave my kid a BB gun. He gave me a sweater with a bull’s-eye on the back.

 
Holiday Riddles: (answers below)

1. What kind of Christmas music do elves like?

2. What do you call a snowman with a six pack?

3. Why do Dasher and Dancer love coffee?

4. What does the Gingerbread Man use to make his bed?

5. How is the alphabet different on Christmas from every other day?

6. What do you get if you cross a Christmas tree with an iPad?

7. What do you call Santa’s helpers?

8. What do you call a kid who doesn’t believe in Santa?

9. Why does Santa go down the chimney?

10. Which hand is best to light the menorah with?

11.What’s the best Hanukkah gift for the person who has everything?

 

scroll down for the answers….

 

 

 

 

1. “Wrap” music

2. An abdominal snowman

3. Because they’re Santa’s star bucks!

4. Cookie sheets!

5. There’s Noel!

6. A pineapple!

7.  Subordinate Clauses (Ha! A grammar riddle!)

8. A rebel without a Claus

9. Because it soots him!

10. Neither, it’s best to light it with a candle.

11. A burglar alarm

 

A Christmas Quiz

What’s the name of the period leading up to Christmas?
How many Wise Men brought gifts to Jesus?
How does Good King Wenceslas like his pizzas?
What was the name of John the Baptist’s Mother?
Who brings presents to children in The Netherlands on the 5th/6th December?
How many letters are in the angelic alphabet?
In what town was Jesus born?
How many presents were given in total in the 12 Days of Christmas?
In what decade was the first Christmas Card sent in the UK?
What country did the family escape to?
How many of Rudolph’s eight companions names start with ‘D’?
What country did Christmas Trees originate from?
Who was the ‘King of the Jews’ who ordered the babies to be killed?
What’s the second line of “I’m dreaming of a white christmas”?
What was Joseph’s job?
Who started the custom of Wassailing?
Who were first people to visit the baby Jesus?
What’s lucky to find in your Christmas Pudding?
What Angel visited Mary?
Where did the baby Jesus sleep

scroll down for the answers…

 

 

 

 

Advent
More than one, the Bible doesn’t say how many!
Deep pan, crisp and even!
Elizabeth
St. Nicholas
25; ‘no el’!!!
Bethlehem
364
1840s – 1843 by Sir Henry Cole
Egypt
Three – Dasher, Dancer and Donner
Germany – it was Latvia but it was part of German then!
King Herod
Just like the ones I used to know
Carpenter
The Anglo Saxons – it means ‘good health’
Shepherds
A six pence
Gabriel
In a manger

 

Thank you to the following websites for the funnies and the quiz:

Reader’s Digest Christmas Jokes

Why Christmas!

Greatest Chanukah Jokes

 

Making a List — And Checking It Twice

Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay

We all know what a list is: to-do lists, grocery lists, Christmas gift lists . . .

And usually we think of lists as being vertical like this:

1.

2.

3.

But lists can also be horizontal.

Horizontal Lists

A horizontal list needs a colon if it has an introductory phrase, but it doesn’t need a colon when the list reads as a sentence. These two lists are both correct:

I need these these items at the grocery store: bread, sugar, olive oil, apples, and milk.

The groceries I need are bread, sugar, olive oil, apples, and milk.

Of course that comma before the and is optional, but I prefer to use it. 

 

Vertical Lists

Much of the time, a vertical list has a colon at the end of the introduction. However, much like in horizontal lists, if each list item completes the sentence started by the introduction, no comma is needed. In fact, there shouldn’t be a comma there. These lists are all correct:

Please bring these items on the first day of school:

pencils
pens
a small stapler
a three ring binder

On the first day of school, please bring

pencils,
pens,
small stapler, and
three-ring binder.

On the first day of school, please bring

pencils
pens
small stapler
three-ring binder

Here are some more suggestions for writing lists:

*You do not need to capitalize your list items unless they are complete sentences.

*Do not put a period after list items unless they are complete sentences.

*If one of your list items is a complete sentence, they all should be complete sentences.

*You can use bullets, you can simply indent, or you can number your list items. Usually you number if the order of the items is important (such as steps) or if you are emphasizing the fact that there are a certain number of items in the list. For example,

There are three reasons why you should stay home and do your homework:

1.

2.

3.

*Make sure your list items are parallel, that is, all structured the same way grammatically. Here is a list that is not parallel:

We need to discuss the  following items:

Running the meetings
Hiring the speakers
How long will each meeting last?
Assigning tasks for each member


Please read this list.

I am looking for these things:

Guest writers who would like to write a post for this blog – something readers like you are interested in

Your grammar horror stories or pet peeves, so I can write a blog post about them

Ideas for future blog posts

Thank you!

NEXT WEEK: A HOLIDAY POST

 

RIP, Dead Words!

Image by Paul Brennan from Pixabay

Dead words. What are dead words? The first time I ever heard about dead words was when my daughter came home from Ms. Settle’s seventh grade English class and gave me the list. I don’t remember the project they were assigned  to get rid of such words, but I know that a lot, pretty, good, and nice were on the list. A lot appears to be dead even if you use it correctly — as two words.

A dead word is one that is used so often it adds nothing to writing or conversation. Dead words are often also hazy, fuzzy and not very descriptive.  What is good, anyway? Well, it does happen to be the most commonly used adjective in the English language. 

The pizza is good.
You look nice.
I have a lot of homework. 

How about

The pizza is spicy and delicious.
You sparkle in that dress.
My homework will take me two or three hours to finish!

Well, you know what I mean.

Here is a (not complete) list of dead words. There is obviously no final and approved list of such words.

nice
good
a lot
stuff
things
awesome
okay
really
very
quite
bad
like
basically
pretty
etc.

Here are some overused, fuzzy, or redundant phrases. Best to stay away from these too.

I think
and also (redundant)
being that
considered to be
due to the fact that (how about just because?)
each and every
on account of
point in time
the reason why is (how about just because)
sort of
kind of
suppose to (if you must, it is supposed to)
use to (if you must, it is used to)

If you are writing, a thesaurus can always help you find a living word to use!

Check out this infographic from our friends at Proof Reading Services    for suggestions on how to avoid using the word bad — 730 suggestions. Of course, bad has many degrees, so the words are not all what you could call synonyms of bad. But next time you start to use a dead word, just think of all the living words you could use instead!

NEXT WEEK: Lists – Formatting and punctuating them
CALLING ALL OF YOU READING THIS!!!! I have been writing this weekly blog since January of 2013. For all you mathematicians out there, that is seven years. That equals 300-350 posts. Obviously, I am running out of things to say. So….I need some help:


If you want to write a post, please e-mail me. Posts need to be accepted and edited by the management (me).


If you know someone who might want to write a post, let me know.


If you have anything you want me to write about, please let me know!

 

Some Real Turkeys for Thanksgiving: Best of the Grammar Diva

Post Originally Published 11-22-13

I thought for turkey week, I would write a blog with some real grammar turkeys! Hope you get a chuckle or two…

Image by GraphicMama-team from Pixabay
Some of My Favorite Goofs

Ambiguous modifier: Visiting relatives can be boring.

Misplaced modifier: For sale: Beautiful oak desk perfect for student with large drawers

Shouldn’t there be a comma somewhere?  I just love to bake children.

Misplaced modifier: While still in diapers, my mother remarried.

Ambiguous modifier: He heard about the wedding in the men’s room.

Misplaced modifier: Wanted: A room by two gentlemen 30 feet long and 20 feet wide.

 

 Some Real Newspaper Headlines

4-H Girls Win Prizes for Fat Calves

Big Ugly Woman Wins Beauty Pageant (Newspaper in town of Big Ugly, WV)

Body Search Reveals $4,000 in Crack (from the Jackson Citizen-Patriot, Michigan)

Chef Throws His Heart into Helping Feed Needy (from the Louisville Courier Journal)

Drunk Gets Nine Months in Violin Case 

Eye Drops off Shelf 

Hospitals are Sued by 7 Foot Doctors 

Include your Children When Baking Cookies

 
A Little More Humor…

Butcher’s sign: Try our sausages. None like them.

A tailor’s guarantee: If the smallest hole appears after six months’ wear, we will make another absolutely free.

Lost: A small pony belonging to a young lady with a silver mane and tail.

Barber’s sign: Hair cut while you wait.

Lost: Wallet belonging to a young man made of calf skin

 
How About These?

It takes many ingredients to make Burger King great, but the secret ingredient is our people. (Yuck)

Slow Children Crossing

Automatic washing machines. Please remove all your clothes when the light goes out.

“Elephants Please Stay In Your Car.”  (Warning at a safari park).

 
And Some Easy-to-Understand Jargon! 


These guidelines are written in a matter-of-fact style that eschews jargon, the obscure and the insular. They are intended for use by the novice and the experienced alike. [From the United Kingdom Evaluation Society ‘Guidelines for good practice in evaluation’]


This is a genuine ground floor opportunity to shape a front line field force operating in a matrix structure. [As stated on the ‘Take a Fresh Look at Wales’ website]


The cause of the fire was due to a malicious ignition incident that was fortunately contained to the function and meeting room area of the hotel. [News statement about a fire at a hotel]


Its clear lines and minimalist design provide it with an unmistakable look. It is daring, and different. So that your writing instrument not only carries your message, but lives it. [Promotional literature for … pens]


Where the policy is divided into a number of distinct arrangements (‘Arrangements’) where benefits are capable of being taken from on Arrangement or group of Arrangements separately from other Arrangements, then this policy amendment will not apply to any Arrangements in respect of which the relevant policy proceeds have already been applied to provide benefits. The policy amendment will apply to all other Arrangements under the policy. [Policy amendment, Norwich Union]

And here is one that truly appeared in the newspaper; it was intended as a brief description of a Peter Ustinov documentary:

“Highlights of his global tour include encounters with Nelson Mandela, an 800-year-old demigod and a dildo collector”. (This quote is obviously British, since the period is after the quotations! And look what can happen if you leave out the Oxford comma!)

 

Interjections!

Image by rawpixel from Pixabay

Wow! Finally! We are at the last installment of the series about the parts of speech. Yup! And this post is about interjections. 

Wow! Finally! Yup! These are all interjections, the eighth part of speech we will discuss.

What is an interjection? An interjection is a word that expresses emotion. Here are some things to know about interjections:

Interjections have no grammatical role in a sentence and are simply words that express strong emotion. Nouns are subjects or objects. Verbs provide the action in the sentence. Pronouns take the place of nouns. Adjectives describe nouns. Adverbs modify verbs. Prepositions appear in phrases to tell where or what kind (and modify nouns or verbs in the sentence). Conjunctions connect words, phrases, or clauses. But interjections have no role like any of these. They simply stand there alone to express emotion.
Interjections can be made up: Yowma! That’s a great car!
Interjections can be more than one word long: Hell’s bells! or Oh, my!
Interjections can be followed by a comma rather than an exclamation mark: Well, I hope so.
Interjections don’t necessarily have to be at the beginning of a sentence, but they generally are:  That is some dog, huh?
Interjections are generally used in informal English or dialogue. They are not usually used in formal writing or speaking.
Interjections probably shouldn’t be overused.
Interjections, like anything else, should not be followed by multiple exclamation points!

That is just about it for interjections. Pretty simple. Short blog post. 

I could tell you about my new home: Florida!

I have now been in Florida over two months, although I am currently in California to see my son, my friends, have Thanksgiving with friends here, and ready my house for sale, which is imminent. It just has not closed yet. 

I am staying at my son-in-law and daughter’s house, but they are gone for work and won’t be back until May. I have looked around for someplace to live there, but mostly online so far.  I will start looking more seriously after the new year, but probably will stay housesitting for them until they return.

I have attempted to get into the writing world there. I have joined FAPA, which is Florida Authors and Publishers Association. It is a sister organization to BAIPA (Bay Area Independent Publishers Association), which I was active in in California. However, unlike BAIPA, FAPA does not have regular meetings, probably because it covers the entire state. They do have events, but I have seen nothing so far. I have received no e-mails from them, have lost all the information I put in my profile on their website, and frankly am disappointed so far.

I have also joined FWA, Florida Writers Association. It is similar to California Writers. However, once you join you can go to any meetings anywhere you want in Florida. The problem is that most of the meetings I have read about are critique groups. I am used to meetings with speakers. I don’t really need a critique group right now. 

However, I have met a couple of book people online. I met one on Next Door in some kind of book thread. She has written some books, as has her husband. She writes about business networking. She and her husband did an author event for local authors at one of the branches of the library in Tampa, so I went to that.  Then, I met someone in an IBPA (Independent Book Publishers Association) webinar. IBPA is the umbrella association for both BAIPA and FAPA. They asked people to write where they were from in the webinar question-and-answer-space, and someone wrote from Tampa, so I wrote I had just moved near Tampa. I saw she belonged to FAPA too, so she messaged me and we finally met — at Barnes and Noble, of course! She is a publisher with an education background. She publishes other people’s books.

Finally, I went to a big author event in St. Petersburg, sponsored by the Tampa Times. They had some big-time authors there, including Dave Barry, Meg Cabot and R. L. Stine. Then, there were also lesser known authors I (like me), who were vendors. I met a poet who was a vendor. He told me about a author event in Venice (Florida, not Italy) in March, so I signed up to do that. So I need to get all my marketing stuff in order — meaning getting new stuff. Venice is about an hour south of me right now.

Workwise, I have been keeping up with the blog posts, as you notice….I am updating my big workbook, procrastinating on revising the dating memoir, and planning to write the business writing book next year (which is soon!)

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Conjunctions: Part 2 – Subordinating

When we think about conjunctions (and who even does that!), we think about connecting words such as the FANBOYS conjunctions (for, and, nor, but, or, yet,  so) that we talked about last week.  However, there is another category of conjunctions: subordinating.

Subordinating conjunctions begin subordinate clauses. Here are some examples of subordinate clauses. The subordinating conjunction is in italics:

although I am going on vacation
because I am working late
until the cows come home
whenever I hear that song
before the play starts
since he moved away
after I get home

You know that these are clauses (not phrases) because there is a subject and a verb in the words that follow each of these conjunctions. When you put one of these clauses (which cannot stand on their own) with an independent clause (sentence), you have a complex sentence:

Although I am going on vacation, I will be working through Wednesday.
I will miss dinner because I am working late.
I will be practicing the same piano piece until the cows come home!
Whenever I hear that song, I think about my brother.
I am getting some food before the play starts.
Since he moved away, the neighborhood is very quiet.
We can watch television after I get home. 

Because they are connecting words, coordinating conjunctions are generally between words, phrases, or sentences:

Ted and Sally
to the movies and to the park
I am reading my book, and I am eating dinner.

Coordinating conjunctions don’t begin sentences (well, we said sometimes you can start a sentence with one, but in that case they are generally connecting your sentence with the sentence before it.).

As you see by the examples, subordinating conjunctions can begin sentences, or they can be in the middle. When they appear in the middle of a sentence, they look as if they are connecting two clauses, but they aren’t. They belong to one of the clauses:

I will miss dinner because I am working late.

You can tell that because is not connecting two sentences because if you flip them around, the meaning changes:

I am working late because I will miss dinner.

Because clearly belongs to I am working late.

However, you can always flip the clauses around and the sentence still makes sense. And the subordinating conjunction always stays with its clause. Here are the examples above switched around.

I will be working through Wednesday, although I am going on vacation.
Because I am working late, I will miss dinner.
Until the cows come home, I will be practicing the same piano piece. 
I think about my brother whenever I hear that song.
Before the play starts, I am getting some food.
The neighborhood is very quiet since he moved away.
After I get home, we can watch television.

Now, look at the punctuation. Whenever the subordinate conjunction begins the sentence (like this one), there is a comma after the clause (because it is introductory material). However, when the subordinate clause comes at the end of the sentence, there is usually no comma because the clause is necessary to these sentences. The exception is although, which usually introduces added information (as in the first example, where I would say the comma is optional).

Sometimes these conjunctions are not conjunctions at all, but prepositions. Do you care? Probably not. However, you can tell by what comes after them. If just an article and a noun follow, the word is being used as a preposition. If a subject and verb follow, it is a subordinating conjunction beginning a clause.

after the game (preposition)/ after the game is over (subordinating conjunction)
until dinner/ until I finish dinner
before bedtime/ before I go to bed

Teachers many times tell young students (incorrectly, but for their own good at the time) not to begin sentences with because.  Why? Many times students write the subordinate clause without adding the independent clause, and they wind up with a sentence fragment: Because I stayed home. Obviously, it is fine to begin a sentence with because or any other subordinating conjunction —  as long as you finish the sentence.

Next week we finish the series of the parts of speech with INTERJECTIONS.

Conjunctions: Part 1 – Coordinating

Moving on to the next in the series of the parts of speech: conjunctions.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Say the word conjunction, and most people will respond with and.

And is the most common conjunction. Conjunctions are connecting words. There are actually two kinds of conjunctions, coordinating and subordinating. This week we will talk about coordinating conjunctions. Coordinating conjunctions connect words, phrases, clauses, and sentences. There are seven of them, and the initial letters make the “word” FANBOYS. So I call them the FANBOYS conjunctions: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so.

Here are some examples of how conjunctions connect words, phrases, clauses, and sentences:

bacon and eggs (connecting two words)
to the movies or to the beach (connecting two phrases)
after I eat dinner but before I go to bed (connecting clauses)
I finished my chores, so I can go to the mall. (connecting sentences)

Connecting Sentences

Two or more sentences that are connected make a compound sentence. You can use a conjunction or you can use a semicolon to connect related sentences to make a compound sentence:

The meeting is at eight o’clock; we should get our coffee now.

The meeting is at eight o’clock, so we should get our coffee now.

When you use a semicolon, don’t use the conjunction.

What About Then?

Notice that there is no T in FANBOYS. Sometimes people try to connect sentences with the word then, but then is not a conjunction and cannot be used to connect sentences. 

I finished reading my book, then I returned it to the library. Not correct.

I finished reading my book, and then I returned it to the library. Correct.

I finished reading my books; then I returned it to the library. Correct.

Oxford Comma

The argument continues about whether or not to use a comma before the and in a series:

My favorite colors are blue, purple, pink and yellow. OR

My favorite colors are blue, purple, pink, and yellow.

Either one is fine. That comma is called the Oxford comma and is optional. I use it, and I advise everyone to use it. Sometimes it avoids confusion in a series. But it is up to you. One piece of advice: Use it or don’t use it, but be consistent in one piece of writing. Don’t use it in some places and not in others — unless you are not using it and then come across one instance where you think you need it for clarity.

Can I Start a Sentence with a Conjunction?

The old rule was that you could not start a sentence with a conjunction. The new rule is that you can. Most of the time, you start a sentence with a conjunction for effect or emphasis. I do it in my grammar books — and of course novelists do it in dialogue. But (I did it right there) beginning a sentence with a conjunction is fine in narrative too. You don’t want to start every sentence with a conjunction, you want to use an appropriate conjunction, and you want to have a reason for using a conjunction, which, remember, is still a connecting word…so it need to connect with something you previously wrote.

Informal writing like promotional writing and advertisements certainly use conjunctions to begin sentences — when they even use complete sentences! However, for a business letter, a query letter, a job cover letter, a college entrance letter, I would stick to formal English and not begin sentences with conjunctions.

Other Parts of Speech

Weeks ago, we talked about words belonging to more than one part of speech. Some of the FANBOYS conjunctions can be other parts of speech:

FOR can also be a preposition:

I cannot go out, for I have too much to do. (conjunction)
I made a cake for you. (preposition)

YET can also be an adverb:

She is small, yet very strong. (conjunction)
Are we there yet? (adverb)

SO can also be an adverb:

I did my job really well, so I got a promotion. (conjunction)
This burrito is so big, I cannot finish it. (adverb)

NEXT WEEK: subordinating conjunctions

 

 

 

A Little Post About Little Words: Prepositions (More of the Parts of Speech Series)

If you go back far enough, you will find the beginning of this series about the parts of speech: nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. Yikes! Did I skip

In, Out, Up, Down

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

verbs? Was I waiting for later because verbs have so many aspects? I don’t remember, but I don’t see the verb post.  In any case, today we will talk about prepositions.

What Are Prepositions?

Usually, I see  prepositions defined as follows: a word governing, and usually preceding, a noun or pronoun and expressing a relation to another word or element in the clause. Please let me know if you can figure out what that means! 

Here is what I say: A preposition is usually a little word. It always appears in a phrase, and the phrase tells where or how or what kind. Remember that a phrase is a small (usually) group of words that does not have both a noun and a verb. Prepositional phrases have nouns or pronouns, and they never have verbs. The structure of a prepositional phrase is always pretty much the same. The phrase always begins with the preposition. Then comes an article (a, an, the) most of the time, but not always. Then comes the noun or pronoun (and any adjectives that might describe the noun or pronoun). Here are examples or prepositional phrases. 

in the house (tells where)
at school (tells where; this one has no article)
by that famous author (what kind)
after the party (when)
before school (when) 
with stripes (what kind)
below the clouds (where)

There are lots of prepositions. Here are some others: beneath, beside, along, out, up, down, within, without, past, until, since. There are even some multi-word prepositions: along with, because of, according to, and more. But the prepositional phrase always follows the same format. Preposition/article/noun, with the variations described above.

What Do They Do?

Prepositional phrases act as adverbs or adjectives, further described as adverbial or adjectival phrases.  If they tell where or when, they are modifying verbs and acting as adverbs. If they tell what kind, they are describing nouns or pronouns and are functioning as adjectives. 

I like the dress with the blue trim. (with the blue trim tells what kind and describes dress – adjectival)

Please come over after the dance. (after he dance tells when and describes come over – adverb)

Sometimes They are Adverbs and Not Prepositions 

Sometimes you will see a preposition without a phrase, maybe hanging out at the end of the sentence: I am going outside. Outside tells where, but it isn’t in a prepositional phrase. So it is not a preposition here. It is an adverb.  Here are a few more examples.

I am going in.
Did you go out?
I will see you around.

Sometimes They Are Conjunctions

Sometimes you will see what you think is a preposition followed by a noun and a verb (so it is a clause, not a phrase). In this case, the word is a subordinating conjunction, beginning an adverb clause. Look at the differences here:

Let’s go to the mall after the game. (prepositional phrase)
After the game is over, let’s go to the mall. (adverbial clause beginning with a subordinating conjunction)
I won’t leave until you come home. (adverbial clause)
I cannot leave until five o-clock. (prepositional phrase)

Can I End a Sentence with a Preposition?

Yes, you can. Sometimes. You will see that the rest of the prepositional phrase is actually there, but it is before the preposition:

Whom are you going with? (with whom is the prepositional phrase)
Whom is that book by? (by whom is the prepositional phrase)

Note that we are using whom, not who. That is because it is the object of a preposition, and whom is the objective case.

Where are you at? Nope. This one is wrong. There is no phrase, and you don’t need the preposition at all. Where are you? is enough.

Placement

It doesn’t matter if you know an adverbial phrase from an adjectival. Or whether you know if your word is being used as a preposition or an adverb. But it does matter where you put your prepositional phrase in the sentence. You don’t want to misplace it (like in these examples): 

I heard about the meeting in the men’s room.
I am selling an antique desk suitable for a student with thick legs and large drawers.
These mixing bowls are sure to please any cook with round bottoms for efficient beating.
Did you see the medals that I won in the attic?
That boy will feed our dogs in the Metallica tee shirt.

Next Week: Conjunctions! Bet you can’t wait. We will find something interesting about them, I am sure!

 

Boo! Halloween Trivia Quiz

Image by nancy sticke from Pixabay

It’s that time of year again. 

 If you live in a cold climate, it is getting cooler.
We are turning the clocks back soon (except for those of you in Arizona).
We are beginning to eat all the Halloween candy we bought to give out (oh, maybe that is just me!).
The leaves have fallen to the ground (or they will soon).

Some people live for Halloween. For others it is just another day. Some will turn off their porch lights so no one will come looking for candy; maybe they know only a few kids will come anyway, so why bother. Others will give out gobs of candy because they live in a neighborhood so Halloween-desirable that parents drive their kids over to Trick or Trick.

Whatever your feelings about autumn and Halloween might be, you will want to know these facts about Halloween! Scroll down for the answers. And before I forget, thank you to the following websites:

Halloween Trivia

Halloween Facts

Laffgaff Halloween Trivia

Halloween Trivia Quiz

1. What do the two Halloween colors, orange and black, represent?

2. According to legend, what does it mean if you see a spider on Halloween?

3. What is the fear of Halloween called?

4. Where did bobbing for apples originate?

5. Name the person who made the first jack-o-lantern. What country was he or she from?

6. Each year, how many pounds of candy corn are produced?

7. What materials were the first Halloween costumes made of?

8. Which American city holds the record for the most jack-o-lanterns lit at once?

9. The movie Halloween was made in how many days?

10. What is the most popular candy for Halloween?

11. What is the original name for candy corn?

12. Who began the black cat superstition?

13. What were the first jack-o-lanterns made from?

14. When did trick or treating begin, and what was it called?

15. Women, in the 18th century, used to throw apple peels over their shoulders on Halloween, hoping to see what?

16. How much do Americans spend on Halloween, on average?

17. Which state produces more than five times the number of pumpkins as any other state?

18. Where do the Vampire cats live?

19. What was the first individually wrapped candy?

20. The movie Hocus Pocus had a different name before that name. What was it?

Scroll down for the answers:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Answers:

Orange represents the Fall harvest, and black represents death.
That a loved one is watching over you.
Samhainophobia
 Ancient Rome
Jack – from Ireland
 35 million
Animal heads and skin
Boston, or Keene, New Hampshire. Sources differ.
 21
Chocolate
Buttercream candies
The Pilgrims
Turnips
In Medieval times. Back then, it was known as guising in Scotland and Ireland. 
Their future husband’s initials.
About $90
Illinois
Central and South America
Tootsie Rolls
Halloween House