The Editor’s Manual
Free learning resource on English grammar, punctuation, usage, and style.
The building blocks of the language.
Use “which” to introduce a description. As a relative pronoun, “which” connects a relative clause to the noun it describes. Differences exist between American and British usage.
Use “that” as a relative pronoun in restrictive or defining clauses, which present information essential to meaning. Don’t use a comma before “that.”
Use “both” to refer to two people or things. “Both” and “both of” can sometimes be used interchangeably, but not always. Use parallel structure with “both–and.” No commas are needed around “both.”
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 the correct form of the verb with singular and plural subjects. To ensure subject-verb agreement, identify the subject and check whether it is singular or plural. Some subjects may appear plural but be singular.
A compound subject is made up of two or more subjects that share the same predicate (“The dog and the cat sat on the rug”). Use pronouns and verbs correctly with compound subjects.
In a cleft sentence, a single thought is split into two parts to emphasize a specific element by moving it from its normal position into a position of focus (e.g., “It was in 2002 I graduated”).
“There” acts as a functional subject in a sentence to introduce a new topic, speak of quantity and number, or describe a situation (“There is an elephant in the garden”).
Anticipatory reference occurs when a pronoun appears before its antecedent, or the person or thing it refers to, in a sentence (“When she can, Rita runs marathons”).