Some Finer Points of English Grammar
1. "While" and "since" and "as" are temporal, that is, they are
used in ONLY a time context. Use "because" for causation, never
"since" or "as."
2. Abbreviations "i.e." and "e.g." and "etc." may be used ONLY
inside parentheses, and the first two are ALWAYS followed by a comma.
3. "Very" is not used in scientific writing.
4. A compound adjective is hyphenated when it precedes the noun it
qualifies. For example, "open-source object-oriented software
engineering" but "this technique is for open source" or "this
technique is object oriented."
5. A comma or period precedes close quotes, a semicolon or colon
follows close quotes. For example:
He shouted, "Stop"; and added softly, "Right now."
6. "Which" is nonrestrictive (unessential); "that" is restrictive
(essential). Example:
"The book, which is on the chair, is well written"
(Incidentally, the book happens to be on the chair)
The book that is on the chair is well written.
(As opposed to the book on the table)
Remark: "Which" is ALWAYS preceded by a comma
7. The adverb "only" modifies the next word. If "only" is the last
word, it modifies the previous word.
Consider the following examples:
"Only today the birds are heard in the trees"
(We did not hear them yesterday)
"Today only the birds are heard in the trees"
(We cannot hear the cicadas)
"Today the only birds are heard in the trees"
(Those birds that are around today are all heard in the trees)
"Today the birds are only heard in the trees"
(We cannot see them today)
"Today the birds are heard only in the trees"
(We cannot hear the birds on the trees or under the trees)
"Today the birds are heard in the trees only"
(We cannot hear them in the bushes)
8. "Thus" means "in this way" and NOT "consequently."
9. If a complete sentence follows a colon, capitalize the first
word after the colon.
10. The possessive of a proper name is formed by adding 's, even
when the name in question ends in "s." Example: "Brooks's Law."
Exceptions include: Jesus, Moses, and names of more than one
syllable with an unaccented ending pronouned "eez." Example:
Euripides', not Euripides's.
11. "Less" is used with an uncountable number (e.g., "less milk")
and "fewer" with a countable number (e.g., "fewer bottles of milk").
Grammarians boycott supermarkets with checkouts marked "10 items or
less" and buy their food at Publix instead.
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