Mr. Smith
Grammar Gut Grabber Rules

Grammar Gut Grabber Rules

Week 1 - You may not use a plural pronoun for an unknown singular. e.g. One should bring his or her pencil to class. {Remember "everyone" and "everybody" refer to each person in a singular manner!"

Week 1 - If she is on the phone, answer the phone:  "This is she."

Week 2 - When trying to decide whether to use "I" or "me," use the same with the plural as you would use with the singular.

Week 3 - "Lay" and "Lie" - Because this is a particularly hard rule for students to master, I have provided an extensive review of the rule for your review.

Is it correct to say "lay down that pistol", why can't we with equal justification say "lay down for a nap"?
These two verbs are a particularly common and troublesome problem in English grammar.  The key to the entire problem lies in your understanding of the difference between transitive, intransitive, and passive verbs.
A verb is passive if its subject receives its action, i.e. the thieves were put in jail
An active verb is transitive if it has an object, i.e. the thief stole a necklace
Here are the two keys that will unlock the secrets of lay and lie:
1. Lie is exclusively an intransitive verb. If an intransitive verb is required (because there is no object) use some form of lie.  
2. Lay, on the other hand, is a transitive verb. If a transitive verb is required (because there is an object), use some form of lay.
For example:
Lie - intransitive
• The hope of democracy lies in the economic security of the common man.
• Lie down for an hour before dinner
• Why do you lie in bed all morning when there is so much work to be done?
• Whenever she lies down, the phone rings.
• His interests lie in the fields of science and technology
Lay - transitive
• The hen lays an egg
• Please lay the baby on its back
• They will lay the body to rest in the cemetery
But the trouble really starts with the past tense. The past tense of lay is laid, so far so good. But the past tense of lie is lay!
Before you become too confused to be of any further use to society, let us make a table:
Verb Present Past Past participle
lay(intransitive) lay laid laid
lie(intransitive) lie lay lain
For example:
Lay
Today I lay the baby in the crib
Yesterday I laid the baby in the crib
We have laid rugs in all the rooms
Lie
Today I lie down
Yesterday I lay down
Have you lain awake all night?
The Rule
Lie is intransitive, lay is transitive. Lie only has an active voice. Lay may be either active or passive. Once you have mastered these principles, the rest is a matter of forming good habits, so that they become reflexive.
Here is a Gut Grabber Rule/Rhyme to help you remember the difference:

Lay the pay…  Or
Lie and Die…
Unless you lay down last week.

Or perhaps it is easier to just ask yourself what you are going to lay down.  If you didn’t lay anything down, you must have been lying down, unless you lay down last week.

Week 4 Gut Grabber - Who or Whom?
When in doubt, use the substitution method.  Substitute him for whom and he for who and see which one sounds best!  If he sounds better use who if him works better use whom!

Remember which word to substitute by remembering that him and whom both end in “m,” so use him for whom and he for who!

Week 5 Gut Grabber - Between you and me.
It's right to say 'between you and me', and wrong to say 'between you and I'. This is because a preposition such as 'between' should be followed by an object pronoun such as 'me', 'him', 'her', and 'us' rather than a subject pronoun such as 'I', 'he', 'she', and 'we.'

Memory Tip: Between you and me not between U & I.  There are two ways that I’ve remembered whether to use “I” or “me” in this situation.
1) U&I used to be a beet sugar in Moses Lake, and there’s no way to beat you and me!  Therefore use the word “ME.”
2) Between you and me is the midway point that starts with “M” and “ME” starts with “M” so use Me not I when saying “between you and me.”

English Crimson – Gut Grabber Rule Week 6

An Agreeable Subject – The subject must agree with the verb!!

Technically, the question is whether you are dealing with the subject or the subject complement.  I.e. in the sentence: 
“All she ever wears is dresses.” All is the subject and “dresses” is the subject compliment.  
In the sentence: 
“Dresses are all she ever wears.”  The subject is “dresses.”

Gut Grabber:   Just sing the song, “All I want for Christmas IS my two
front teeth.”  If that doesn’t work, then ask yourself what you are focused on. Remember that if your focus/subject is “ALL” or “WHAT,” you are dealing with ONE entity.

English Crimson – Gut Grabber Rule Week 7
Use between when there are two people or things; use among when there are more than two involved.

Exception to the rule:  when you are talking about differences, always use between.

"All right" is comprised of two words.  There is no such word as "alright."

Gut Grabbers – Red Week 8

ACCEPT/EXCEPT
 
If you offer me Godiva chocolates I will gladly accept them—except for the candied violet ones. Just remember that the “X” in “except” excludes things—they tend to stand out, be different. In contrast, just look at those two cozy “C’s” snuggling up together. Very accepting. And be careful; when typing “except” it often comes out “expect.”

Gut Grabbers – Red Week 9

Affect/Effect

If it’s a noun you need, always choose effect unless you’re talking about emotions.

If it’s a verb you need, affect is the right choice 90% of the time. 

To be sure, substitute the words cause and influence, and see which is better.

Affect = Influence

Effect = Cause.

Gut Grabbers Week 10

Sequence of Tenses
English verbs have three basic tenses - past, present, and future.  To each tense designation can be added the term “perfect” to designate that the action has been completed (i.e. “perfected”) – often with an auxiliary word such as have (e.g. have run).    A “perfect” tense signifies that an action has been completed (present perfect), had been completed before the present time (past perfect), or will have been completed after some specific time in the future (future perfect). 

KEY:  Stop to THINK about the action of each verb and determine WHEN THE ACTION OCCURRED or WHEN WILL THE ACTION OCCUR!!

Gut Grabbers Week 11a

Aggravate means “to make worse” not “to annoy” despite the fact that many people use it to mean “annoy.”  Please also make sure that you don’t confuse aggravate with the word “aggregate” which means “to bring together; to collect into a sum; united; combined; total e.g. the aggregate amount of charges.”

Wrong – The success of the privateers aggravated their enemies.

Correct – Their success aggravated the strained relationship.

Stupid – The success of the privateers aggregated their enemies.

Gut Grabber Week 11 b
Good vs. Well

Good is an adjective (a word that describes nouns). Well is usually an adverb (a word used to describe verbs).
• Neil, who is notorious for his good behavior, has never shoplifted.

• Brian hides his anger well.

People often use good when they should use well, especially in speech. Remember:
Do not use good to describe verbs.
• Shandon did well on that pop quiz.

Note: You can use well as an adjective
when you’re describing how healthy someone feels or looks.
• Despite her pasty appearance, Jane insisted that she felt well.

Gut Grabber Week 11 c

Bad vs. badly Often confused. Use bad as an adjective to describe a noun: The truck looked bad after the accident. The driver felt bad about what happened. Use badly as an adverb to modify a verb--to describe an action: The equipment ran badly until the mechanic repaired the control board. Bad is usually the correct choice with verbs like feel, smell, taste and look. If you write feel badly, you're saying someone's sense of touch isn't working right. See good, well.