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Grammar Tips

Yours sincerely vs Yours faithfully

Use ‘Yours sincerely’ when the addressee is named ie, Dear Mr Jones. Use ‘Yours faithfully’ when the addressee’s name is unknown ie, when using Dear Sir or Dear Madam. (The ‘s’ of sincerely and ‘f’ of faithfully should always be in lower case.)


Composed of vs Comprises

The words ‘comprises’ and ‘comprising’ should never be followed by the word ‘of’. Either: “water comprises hydrogen and oxygen” or: “water is composed of hydrogen and oxygen”. The following sentence is therefore wrong: “The company has expanded rapidly and now comprises of four strategic business units.” It should either be written as: “...and is now composed of four strategic...” or “...and now comprises four strategic...”.


What are nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs?

A noun is an object eg, book

An adjective is a describing word eg, good, exciting

A verb is a doing word eg, to sit, to read

An adverb describes the verb eg, sit quietly, eat slowly

This amazing dictionary is my ‘work’ best friend - it’s used over and over again and is constantly to hand. I can wholeheartedly recommend it as a truly worthwhile investment. It doesn’t just explain the meaning of words in its 2000+ pages, but also gives several examples of usage and grammar advice. This is the one reference book everyone should own.

Apostrophes

If you would like to learn some easy rules for using apostrophes, click on The Elusive Apostrophe.


Frequently misspelt words

Accommodation           Correspondence    

Liaise/liaison                Embarrass/embarrassment

Manoeuvre                  Disseminate

Fulfil/fulfilment            Definitely


Dependent vs Dependant

Dependent - the outing is dependent on the weather

Dependant - someone who depends on someone else


Effect vs Affect

Will this have the desired effect?

How will this affect you?

(Take care: ‘to effect’ something means to bring about eg, to effect change)


Practice vs Practise

What time is the practice? (noun)

Are you going to practise? (verb)

How long have you been practising law? (verb)


Licence vs License

Where’s my driving licence? (noun)

You will need to license this vehicle (verb)

Who is the licensing authority? (adjective)


Stationary vs Stationery

The car is stationary (tip - remember the two ‘a’s)

We’re running out of stationery


Complimentary vs Complementary

Complimentary is free/no charge

Complementary means enhancing, related

(A promotional email dated 10 June 2011 bore the title “Complementary copy of The Week magazine” and went on to describe “How to claim your FREE issue”. It should of course have been spelt ‘Complimentary’; such a mistake only served to embarrass The Week magazine.)