The Editor’s Manual
Free learning resource on English grammar, punctuation, usage, and style.
“Some” and “any” both indicate quantity and are used in questions, statements, and conditionals, where they convey different points of view, assumptions, and expectations.
Use “you and I” as the subject and “you and me” as the object in a sentence. Avoid hypercorrection. “You and me” is used more often after the “be” verb and in comparisons.
“It’s” (with the apostrophe) is a contraction of “it is” or “it has.” “Its” (without the apostrophe) is the possessive form of “it.”
A simple subject is the primary word of the noun phrase that acts as the subject. A complete subject is the simple subject and any words that modify or describe it.
Various grammatical forms can function as the subject in a sentence. The subject can be a noun phrase, a noun clause, or a prepositional phrase.
Use commas before and after the year in the American date format (May 1, 2021) but not in British (1 May 2021). No comma is needed when only the month and year are specified (May 2021).
American date format is month-day-year (May 1, 2021); British is day-month-year (1 May 2021). Use commas between day and year in American English; no commas are needed in dates in British English.
To show the exact date, spell out the month, and write the day and year in numerals (May 1, 2021, or 1 May 2021). Don’t place a comma between month and year (May 2021). Spell out the day when it stands alone.
Write years in numerals. Say the year in two parts: the first two and then the second two digits. In words, write the year as it would be pronounced.
BCE and CE are religiously neutral alternatives to BC and AD. While BC, BCE, and CE appear after the date (223 BC), AD appears before (AD 1776). Periods are optional and generally omitted.