Compound adjectives constructed from a noun plus the past participle of a verb are used frequently in English. Consider, for example, the sentence The skiers raced down the snow-covered slopes. Here, “snow-covered” is a compound adjective constructed from the noun “snow” and the past participle of the verb “to cover.” The compound describes the slopes; [...]
The placement of adverbs—which modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs—can substantially change the meaning of a sentence. You’ve probably run across example sentences illustrating the importance of correctly placing the adverb “only”: Only I drive red cars; no one else drives them. I only drive red cars; I do not park them. I drive only [...]
In addition to being an editor, I’m also a knitter, and I occasionally teach knitting and write knitting patterns. When I first started writing patterns, I was surprised by the ways that my students could misinterpret instructions that seemed perfectly clear to me, and I quickly learned to word my instructions as clearly and precisely [...]
