Rules From The Topical Guide.

For this week’s blog post, I would like to focus on several rules I learned in the topical guide. The very first rule in the topical guide teaches us the different between the suffixes -able and -ible. The guide says, “It may help to remember that –able endings are more common and that in most cases the –able suffix is attached to a complete root work.” A great example word for this is acceptable. If you take out the –able you are still left with the word accept. When in doubt of spelling, always look for a root word.

Something else I learned is that I use the word badly … badly. Badly is an adverb; therefore, it should only be used when describing a verb. When describing a subject, just simply use the word bad.

My mom feels bad for what she said. (Talking about my mom)

I threw the football badly. (Talking about how I threw the ball)

The final rule I want to discuss is collective nouns. The guide explains that collective nouns are words that “look singular but obviously imply plurality.” Understanding this rule is important because it helps us understand what verb form to use. When the collective noun is used as a whole, just simply use a singular verb form:

The team is ready to play the game. (Since we are talking about the team as one, we use the singular verb is.)

Two members of the team are ready to play. (We are now discussing specific individuals of the team, we must use the plural verb are.)

An editing mistake I encountered this week was while I was at work. I found my manager had put up this sign:

My manager should have used they’re instead of there.