Published on
April 15, 2025
by
Nicole Routh, M.Ed
Revised on
November 11, 2025
The dative case is the grammatical case for an indirect object—a noun or pronoun that receives a direct object. For example, in “Sally baked us a cake,” the indirect object “us” receives the direct object “cake.”
The term “dative case” isn’t a common grammar term in English because the three cases in English are nominative, genitive, and objective. The objective case in English includes the accusative caseanddative case, which are different in some languages (e.g., Latin and German), but not English.
Learning about the objective case helps you use pronouns correctly. When a pronoun is an indirect object (dative case), a direct object (accusative case), or the object of a preposition, it must be one of the objective case pronouns (e.g., “them” or “themselves”). Nominative case pronouns (e.g., “they”) are not correct in the objective case.
Dative case examplesPedro wrote Summer a note.
The realtor showed us three houses.
The bank loaned themmoney for a car.
Kamal’s parents threw him a huge party on his birthday.
Published on
April 11, 2025
by
Nicole Routh, M.Ed
Revised on
November 27, 2025
Nominative case (aka subjective case) is one of the three cases for English nouns and pronouns, and it’s used for a subject or a predicate nominative. The nominative case pronouns (aka subject pronouns) are “I,” “we,” “she,” “he,” “it,” “they,” “you,” and “who.”
Nominative case examples
Nominative case nouns
Nominative case pronouns
Subject
Miley bought herself flowers.
She painted her nails bright red.
Predicate nominative
The student with the highest grade is Ben.
The best singers at karaoke last night were you and I.
Learning about nominative case helps you use the correct version of English nouns and pronouns (e.g., “I” or “me”). For example, when a pronoun is an object rather than a subject, it needs to be in the objective case (e.g., “me”). The following tips and examples show when the nominative case is necessary and how to use it correctly.
Published on
April 2, 2025
by
Nicole Routh, M.Ed
Revised on
December 2, 2025
A teacher cover letter describes how well your teaching skills and strengths align with the needs of a specific school and its students. It’s a 1-page business letter that you send along with your teaching resume to provide school and district leaders with evidence of how well you’ll motivate students and improve academic outcomes.
Teacher cover letters include details about your previous classroom successes—such as innovative lesson plans, classroom technologies you leveraged especially well, or ways in which you personalized instruction for different learners. Each cover letter you send should look a little different because the teaching skills and examples should be tailored to each job posting.
The guidelines, examples, and template below will help you create a dynamic and engaging cover letter for a teaching position that you can adapt for different schools. You can also use QuillBot’s free AI cover letter generator to explore ideas for a teacher cover letter.
Published on
April 2, 2025
by
Nicole Routh, M.Ed
Revised on
November 18, 2025
An internship cover letter is a 1–page business letter that describes the reasons you’re uniquely qualified for an internship position. When you’re applying for internships, sending a cover letter along with your resume shows initiative and sets you apart—as long as your cover letter has the right information.
The purpose of a cover letter for an internship is to show employers that you’ve already demonstrated the required skills through a variety of academic experiences. Internship cover letters include details about course projects, extracurricular activities, volunteer work and academic awards in addition to or instead of work experience.
The step-by-step guide, examples, and template below will show you how to write a cover letter for an internship that gets results. Additionally, use QuillBot’s free AI cover letter generator to synthesize your skills and abilities into a perfectly polished cover letter.
Published on
April 2, 2025
by
Nicole Routh, M.Ed
Revised on
November 18, 2025
A resume summary is an overview of your main qualifications and professional characteristics. It’s the first section of the standard resume format and summarizes your background and experience level as well as your most relevant qualities, skills, and/or accomplishments in 2–4 lines.
For each job application, your resume summary should look a little different because the purpose of a resume is to quickly show employers how well your background aligns with the job requirements.
The tips and examples below will help you customize your resume summary for different employers and job applications.
Published on
March 26, 2025
by
Nicole Routh, M.Ed
Revised on
October 23, 2025
Sentence starters are transition words or phrases that begin different types of sentences. They show readers what type of information to expect in the rest of a sentence. For example after the sentence starter “however,” readers expect an exception or contradiction to the previous sentence.
The best sentence starters for essaysdepend on a few factors:
The genre of writing (e.g., the various academic essay types)
The type of information the sentence will include
The sentence’s relationship to the previous sentence (e.g., a contradiction, explanation, or additional piece of evidence)
Sentence starters like the examples in this article are also helpful for overcoming writer’s block and getting your ideas flowing.
Published on
March 26, 2025
by
Nicole Routh, M.Ed
Revised on
November 27, 2025
A preposition of place (e.g., “in,” “on,” or “at”) begins a prepositional phrase that describes a location (e.g., “under the sofa”). The prepositional phrase shows where a noun or action from another part of the sentence is located in relation to the object of the preposition (e.g., “The sock was under the sofa”).
The location can be physical (e.g., “in Paris” or “on the table”) or abstract (e.g., “on the radio” or “in the TikTok video”).
The English language has at least 22 prepositions of place and detailed rules about which preposition to use with different types of locations.
The examples and practice exercises below will help you choose the right preposition of place in conversation and writing.
Prepositional phrases of place examples Maria left her wallet at home, so she couldn’t buy food at the store.
I read about the eclipse in the New York Times and on the internet.
Published on
March 19, 2025
by
Nicole Routh, M.Ed
Revised on
November 27, 2025
A main clause (also known as an independent clause) is a group of words in a larger sentence that could stand alone as a complete simple sentence. It contains a subject and a verb. In most cases, a main clause expresses a complete idea.
The term “main clause” usually refers to the independent clause in a complex sentence, which also contains at least one subordinate clause (also called a dependent clause). All clauses include a subject and a verb, but not all clauses are independent.
For example, a subordinate clause doesn’t communicate a complete idea because it begins with a dependent marker (e.g., “if” or “which”). A subordinate clause needs a main clause in order to make complete sense.
Main clause examples If Moira can’t babysit, Jocelyn will miss the movie.
Alexis started a businessafter she finished high school.
The hotel got a great reviewbecause the staff was so friendly.
Published on
March 13, 2025
by
Nicole Routh, M.Ed
Revised on
November 18, 2025
If you’re wondering “Is a cover letter necessary?” you’re not alone! This question is widely debated among recruiting experts. The best approach is to find out if the job posting or application site mentions a cover letter. If the employer doesn’t specify, submit a cover letter to be on the safe side.
Until recently, a cover letter and a resume were standard protocol for professional job applications. Now, employers don’t always expect or require cover letters, but they usually can’t hurt, even when they’re not required.
The tips and insights below will help you decide when a cover letter is necessary so that the job applications you submit in today’s market have the best possible impact.
When you need a cover letter, use QuillBot’s free cover letter generator to instantly draft a letter that will stand out to prospective employers.
Published on
March 7, 2025
by
Nicole Routh, M.Ed
Revised on
November 27, 2025
A double negative is a sentence that uses two negatives—such as “not” and “nobody.”
In formal English grammar, double negatives are incorrect because the two negative words cancel each other’s meaning. For example, “I didn’t talk to nobody” technically means “I talked to at least one person rather than zero people.”
Although you should avoid double negatives in formal situations (e.g., essays, cover letters, or job interviews), double negatives are perfectly fine in creative writing and casual conversation. Double negatives are also common in movies, TV shows, pop songs, poetry, and fiction.
Avoiding double negative mistakes is a two-step process:
Know which English words are negatives.
Use only one negative in each clause or sentence.
Double negative example
The Fall Guyisn’thardly the best movie, but I did enjoy it.
The Fall Guy is hardly the best movie, but I did enjoy it.
