Grammar Tips

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

 

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.)

 

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

Apostrophes

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

 

Frequently misspelled 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)

What time does our practise session start? (adjective)

Wha