When used as an interrogative to form a question, “what” refers to an (essentially) unlimited set of options, while “which” refers to a narrower or limited set. For example:
The choice of “what” or “which” often depends on the context of the sentence.
Good transition words and phrases to start a paragraph depend on the purpose of the paragraph and how it relates to the previous one.
| Function of paragraph | Transition word examples |
|---|---|
| Introducing a point | to begin with, first of all, first (or second or third) |
| Building on a previous point | furthermore, to illustrate, considering x, on the subject of x, similarly, consequently, returning to x |
| Contrasting with a previous point | however, in contrast, on the other hand |
QuillBot’s Paraphrasing Tool can help you integrate transition words into your writing.
Simple and compound sentences differ in their number of independent clauses (i.e., a group of words with a subject and verb that can stand on its own as a sentence).
Note that simple sentences can have compound subjects (e.g., “Jack and Lucy went shopping”) or compound predicates (e.g., “Jack went shopping and cooked dinner”) or both (e.g., “‘Jack and Lucy went shopping and cooked dinner”).
A compound sentence, in contrast, is formed when two full simple sentences are connected.
Use QuillBot’s Grammar Checker to make sure your sentences are structured correctly.
A compound sentence is made by combining two simple sentences (or independent clauses) with a comma and coordinating conjunction or a semicolon.
Complete the assignment for homework, but skip the last question.
The team blew an early lead; it was a tough loss.
QuillBot’s Grammar Checker can help ensure your compound sentences are structured correctly.
An example of a compound sentence is “Rakesh likes baseball, but Simone prefers basketball.”
This sentence, like all compound sentences, has two independent clauses (“Rakesh likes baseball” and “Simone prefers basketball”). The two independent clauses are joined by a comma and a coordinating conjunction (“but”).
Other coordinating conjunctions (e.g., “and,” “so”) can also be used to form a compound sentence. Alternatively, a semicolon can be used (e.g., “Rakesh likes baseball; Simone prefers basketball”).
QuillBot’s Grammar Checker can help ensure your compound sentences are free of errors.
The relative pronouns “which,” “who,” “whom,” and “whose” can all be used to signal a nonrestrictive clause in a complex sentence.
These pronouns often introduce an adjective clause (or relative clause), which is a type of dependent clause. When that dependent clause is connected to an independent clause, it forms a complex sentence.
Adjective clauses can be either restrictive or nonrestrictive. Nonrestrictive clauses are set off with commas.
My best friend, who is named Ana, is coming to visit me.
The CEO, whom most people assumed was going to retire, took a job at another company.
Emilio, whose apartment I am renting, has decided to move back to town.
Note that the relative pronoun “that” is only used in restrictive clauses.
QuillBot’s Grammar Checker can help you ensure your writing is free of errors.
An example of a complex sentence is “Desmond likes to stretch before he runs.” It is made up of one independent clause (“Desmond likes to stretch”) and a dependent clause (“before he runs”).
QuillBot’s Grammar Checker can help ensure you’re using complex sentences correctly.
Complex sentences are made up of one independent clause and at least one dependent clause.
Compound sentences are made up of two or more independent clauses connected with a coordinating conjunction or a semicolon.
| Complex sentence | Compound sentence |
|---|---|
| If it stops raining, I will go to the park. | It stopped raining, so I went to the park. |
| Kya was sleeping while the teacher was talking. | The teacher was talking, and Kya was sleeping. |
QuillBot’s Paraphraser can help you vary your sentence structure to improve your writing.
Good transition words and phrases for the first body paragraph in an essay include:
There are many good transition words and phrases for essays; the choice often depends on what the purpose of the transition is. The table below shows a variety of options.
| Function | Transition words |
|---|---|
| Introducing an idea | first (of all), initially, to begin with, in the first place |
| Concluding | finally, in conclusion, lastly, at last, in summary, to sum up, overall |
| Giving examples | for example, for instance, such as, in particular |
Good transition words and phrases to show contrast include:
The transition you choose will depend on the level of formality of your text and your sentence structure.
QuillBot’s Paraphraser can help you vary your word choice.
An example of a compound-complex sentence is “I want to go to London, but Carrie wants to go to New York because it is closer.”
This example has the necessary components of a compound-complex sentence:
QuillBot’s Paraphraser can help you vary your sentence structure in your writing.
Good transition words and phrases for conclusions include:
The transition you choose will depend on the level of formality of your text and the argument you have made.
Using QuillBot’s Paraphrasing Tool can help you vary your word choice.
They may be spelled the same, but they don’t have to be. Words that have the same sound and same spelling are homonyms and may also be homophones or homographs.
Their shows possession. There shows where something is or that it exists. And they’re is a contraction of they are.
There are over 100 prepositions (e.g., “in,” “on,” “with”) that can be combined with nouns and modifiers to form an almost countless number of prepositional phrases. They can act as adjectives, adverbs, and nouns and have many uses. For example, they can tell us when, where, how, or why something is done.
Here are some examples of prepositional phrases:
“On” is a preposition that can be combined with nouns and modifiers to form prepositional phrases. It has a range of meanings, including the following:
“With” is a preposition that can be combined with nouns and modifiers to form prepositional phrases. It has a few meanings, including the following:
“Of” is a preposition that can be combined with nouns and modifiers to form prepositional phrases. It can express a range of meanings, including the following:
There are three types of dependent clauses: adverbial clauses, adjective clauses, and noun clauses. Dependent clauses are categorized into these types based on the role they play in a sentence.
In the active voice, the subject of the sentence is the “doer” of the action (e.g., “He cooked the food”), but in the passive voice the subject is the “recipient” of this action (e.g., “The food was cooked by him”).
You can use QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker to identify uses of the passive voice in your writing.
Neither is, not neither are, is grammatically correct because “neither” is a singular indefinite pronoun (e.g., “Neither (option) is okay”).
However, in informal English, we sometimes say “neither of X are” (e.g., “I think neither of those options are acceptable,” “I think neither of them are acceptable”) and “neither X nor Y are” (e.g., “Neither David nor Elise are here today”).
Deciding if is or are is grammatically correct with indefinite pronouns can be tricky. You can use QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker to help you check your sentences for correct subject-verb agreement.
Either is (not either are) is grammatically correct because “either” is a singular indefinite pronoun (e.g., “Either (option) is fine”).
However, in informal English, we sometimes say “either of X are” (e.g., “I don’t think either of those options are acceptable,” “I don’t think either of them are acceptable”) and “either X or Y are” (e.g., “Either Paula or Sasha are going to do it”).
Deciding if is or are is the correct choice with indefinite pronouns can be difficult. Why not use QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker to help you check the subject-verb agreement in your sentences?
It is always information is (not information are) because it is an uncountable noun (e.g., “The information is on the website”). But you can say “pieces of information are” (e.g., “A few pieces of information are missing”).
Deciding if is or are is the right choice can be tricky. Why not use QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker to help ensure that the subject-verb agreement in your sentences is correct?
It is always everybody is (not everybody are)—e.g., “Everybody is meeting there at 5 p.m.”).
Knowing whether to use is or are with indefinite pronouns can be tricky because some are treated as plural, some as singular (like everybody), and some can be either.
QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker will help you to check the subject-verb agreement in your sentences.
We typically say and write family is (not family are) in American English, treating it as singular, like other collective nouns.
In British English, it is very common to use are with collective nouns (even in formal contexts) if the writer or speaker is thinking of the group as individuals rather than a single entity, (e.g., The family are all very health conscious). This use is not common in American English, but it is acceptable.
Knowing whether is or are is correct can be tricky. You can use QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker to check that the subject-verb agreement in your sentences is correct.
A contronym is a word that can also act as it’s own own antonym. Examples of contronyms include:
QuillBot’s Grammar Checker can help ensure you’re using contonyms correctly.
The subject is “what the sentence is about.”
If the sentence is in the active voice, then the subject of the sentence is the “doer” of the action described by the main verb.
For instance, in the sentence “Kate has to write her aunt a thank-you letter,” “Kate” is the subject (she is “doing” the writing).
If the sentence is in the passive voice, the subject is not the doer, it is the “recipient” of the action (or occasionally the thing being “transferred”).
For instance, if the information from the example above is expressed in the passive voice as “Kate’s aunt has to be written a thank-you letter,” the subject is “Kate’s aunt” (the recipient).
In the sentence “A thank-you letter has to be written to Kate’s aunt,” which is also in the passive voice, the subject is “a thank-you letter” (the thing being transferred).
Have you tried QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker? You can use it to check that the verbs in your sentences “agree with” the subjects.
To change a sentence from the passive voice into the active voice, identify the “doer” of the action and then make it the subject of the sentence.
For instance, in this passive sentence, “The play was written by Shakespeare,” the verb is “write” and the “doer” is Shakespeare. So, the sentence with Shakespeare as the subject will begin “Shakespeare wrote…” If we add the rest of the information, the full sentence in the active voice is “Shakespeare wrote the play.”
You can use QuillBot’s free Paraphraser to rephrase sentences that are in the passive voice.
Dependent clauses typically begin with a word called a dependent marker. This dependent marker can be either a subordinating conjunction (e.g., “because,” “before,” “unless”) or a relative pronoun (e.g., “that,” “which,” “who”).
An object complement can be a noun, noun phrase, adjective, or adjective phrase (or, in rare cases, a pronoun).
Object complements follow a direct object and describe or rename it.
| Part of speech | Object complement example |
|---|---|
| Noun | They appointed me president. |
| Noun phrase | I consider her the perfect teacher. |
| Adjective | The chlorine turned my hair green. |
| Adjective phrase | The critic found the book trite and predictable. |
QuillBot’s Grammar Checker can help you ensure you’re using object complements correctly.
Both object complements and subject complements rename or describe a noun or pronoun.
| Object complement examples | Subject complement examples |
|---|---|
| That makes me sad. | I am sad. |
| Let’s paint our nails blue. | Our nails are blue. |
| The state elected her governor. | She is the governor. |
QuillBot’s Grammar Checker can help you use subject and object complements correctly.
Either … or is a correlative conjunction that can be used in a variety of ways in sentences. Some examples are:
The QuillBot Grammar Checker can help ensure you’re using either … or correctly.
The correct form of the correlative conjunction is neither … nor (e.g., “We have neither the capital nor the name recognition to expand into a new market”). “Or” is never used with “neither.”
A QuillBot Grammar Check can help ensure you’re using correlative conjunctions like “neither … nor” correctly.
Some examples of sentences using neither … nor (a correlative conjunction) are:
Neither … nor is also used in some well-known expressions, such as:
The QuillBot Grammar Checker can help ensure you’re using “neither … nor” correctly.
The choice between the correlative conjunctions either … or and neither … nor depends on your intended meaning.
When there is already a negative (e.g., “not,” “never “) in your sentence, use “or” to avoid a double negative (e.g., “We did not eat or sleep on the flight”).
The QuillBot Grammar Checker can help ensure you’re using correlative conjunctions correctly.
Since not only … but also is a correlative conjunction, there is no exact synonym. However, instead of using not only … but also, you could rewrite the sentence to use a conjunctive adverb such as “moreover” or “furthermore” instead.
He won the election; moreover, he won by a landslide.
He won the election; furthermore, he won by a landslide.
The QuillBot Paraphraser can help you rewrite sentences and find alternative ways to express your meaning.
You can write a compound-complex sentence in many different ways, but it must have the following components:
These components can be arranged in essentially any order.
I will call the client to apologize if the presentation goes poorly, but I don’t think we need to worry.
The presentation went poorly; I called the client, whom I’ve known for years, to apologize.
I don’t think we need to worry, but, if the presentation goes poorly, I will call the client to apologize.
QuillBot’s Grammar Checker can help you use compound-complex sentences correctly.
Indirect questions are questions that are embedded in a statement (e.g., “I wonder who will win this year;” “She asked Max where he was”).
Indirect questions often begin with an interrogative word (e.g., “where,” “when”), but they can also begin with “if” or “whether” (e.g., “My mom asked whether you want to stay for dinner”).
An indirect question is a special type of noun clause, often referred to as an interrogative clause. It is typically embedded within a declarative sentence, so it is not followed by a question mark. Additionally, the word order is the same as a declarative sentence (i.e., subject followed by verb).
In most cases, a sentence contains at least a subject and a verb and expresses a complete thought.
A sentence fragment is usually missing a subject, a verb, or both (e.g., “Wondering what to cook for dinner”).
In some cases, a clause might have both a subject and a verb, but also a subordinating conjunction. This makes it a dependent clause on its own, which is a sentence fragment (e.g., “After the second Act”).
A simple question to ask yourself to test if you have a sentence fragment is whether the clause contains a complete thought. If it does, then there is probably no problem.
Sometimes it might take some rewriting to make a sentence fragment better. Rearranging the clauses makes sure that there is no sentence fragment:
In some cases, you may need to add a missing subject:
In other cases, you might need to add a subject and a verb:
Yes, a statement might have a subject and a verb but still be a sentence fragment. This is especially the case with dependent clauses. When a dependent clause is not connected to an independent clause, it is a sentence fragment:
To help you decide, you need to ask yourself if the clause expresses a complete thought (e.g., “When Alex had a birthday party, I was able to help with the arrangements”) or if there is information missing (e.g., “When Alex had a birthday party”).
At its simplest, a sentence contains a subject and a verb (e.g., “Sarah woke up”). If there is no verb, or no subject, then it’s usually a sentence fragment.
Another way of testing whether you’re dealing with a sentence fragment is to ask yourself if it expresses a complete thought. If it doesn’t, then it is a sentence fragment (e.g., “No luck today”).
Look for clauses that leave you needing more information to fully understand them (e.g., “Yesterday at the hospital”).
Like all correlative conjunctions, “not only … but also” does not typically require a comma (e.g., “The weather forecast calls for not only rain but also hail”).
The one exception to this is when it is used to join two independent clauses, which each have a subject and a verb (e.g., “Ava not only speaks Spanish, but she also is learning French”). This sentence could also be rephrased to not require a comma (e.g., “Ava not only speaks Spanish but also is learning French”).
A QuillBot grammar check can help ensure you’re using correlative conjunctions correctly.
Coordinating conjunctions are single words that are used to link grammatically equal elements (e.g., “cheese and crackers”). There are seven coordinating conjunctions in English: “for,” “and,” “nor,” “but,” “or,” “yet,” and “so.”
Subordinating conjunctions are words or phrases that are used at the beginning of a dependent clause (e.g., “until,” “if,” “even though”). They show the relationship between a dependent clause and an independent clause.
Correlative conjunctions are pairs of words that show the relationship between two grammatically equal elements (e.g., “either pizza or pasta”). The most common correlative conjunctions are “either … or,” “neither … nor,” “both … and,” and “not only … but also.”
A QuillBot grammar check can ensure you’re using the different types of conjunctions correctly.
The interrogative adverbs are “when,” “where,” “why,” and “how.” They are used to ask questions about time, location, reason, or manner (e.g., “Where do you want to go for dinner?”).
These words are known as interrogative adverbs because the answers they prompt are adverbs, adverb phrases, or adverb clauses.
Interrogative adverbs are part of a larger group of words referred to as “interrogatives.” These words (typically starting with “wh-”) are used to form questions.
“Whose” is an interrogative word that is used to indicate possession. It can be used in questions as an interrogative pronoun (e.g., “Whose is this?”) or interrogative determiner (e.g., “Whose phone has a blue case?”).
It is also used as a relative pronoun in adjective clauses (e.g., “My neighbors, whose dog is always escaping, are building a fence”).
Sometimes, people get confused about the difference between “whose” and “who’s.” The words sound the same but have different meanings. “Who’s” is the contraction of “who is” or “who has” (e.g., “Who’s your favorite singer?”).
Yes, a compound subject can be used in a simple sentence – a sentence that has only one subject-verb pair (e.g., “Terrence and I like to hike).
Compound subjects can be used in all sentence types (i.e., simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex).
Interrogative adjectives (also called interrogative determiners) are words that modify a noun or pronoun to form a question (e.g., “Which shirt do you like?”). The three interrogative adjectives are “which,” “what,” and “whose.”
Interrogative adjectives belong to a larger class of words, sometimes referred to as “interrogatives.” When “which,” “what,” and “whose” are used to stand in for a noun, rather than modifying it (e.g., “Which do you like?”), they are known as interrogative pronouns.
Yes, a sentence can end with “for” (e.g., “I don’t know what this tool is for”). In the past, writers were encouraged not to end a sentence with a preposition (e.g., “for,” “to,” “about”), but this guidance is outdated.
Sentences and clauses frequently end with a preposition when the object of the preposition is a relative pronoun (e.g., “whom,” “what”).
Yes, a sentence can end with “with” (e.g., “What can I pair this wine with?”). In the past, writers were encouraged not to end a sentence with a preposition (e.g., “with,” “for,” “to”), but this guidance is outdated.
Sentences and clauses frequently end with a preposition when the object of the preposition is a relative pronoun (e.g., “whom,” “what”).
Yes, a sentence can end with “to” (e.g., “Whom are you talking to?”). In the past, writers were encouraged not to end a sentence with a preposition (e.g., “to,” “for,” “about”), but this guidance is outdated.
Sentences and clauses frequently end with a preposition when the object of the preposition is a relative pronoun (e.g., “whom,” “what”).
Yes, an object of a preposition is considered compound if it consists of two or more nouns or pronouns (e.g., “I’m going hiking with Vera and Jonas”).
Yes, since it functions as a noun, a gerund (e.g., “reading,” “thinking”) can be the object of a preposition in a sentence (e.g., “I’ve thought about leaving”).
In a compound predicate, two (or more) verbs share one subject (e.g., “Tan sings and dances very well”).
A compound sentence has two (or more) separate subjects that act on two (or more) separate verbs (e.g., “Tan sings, and Lina dances”).
A compound predicate with only two verbs does not use a comma (e.g., “I made my bed and took a shower”).
For a compound predicate with more than two verbs, a comma is used to separate the verbs or verb phrases, and the coordinating conjunction (e.g., “and”) is placed before the last verb.
“Non-defining relative clause” is another name for a nonrestrictive clause, which is a type of relative clause (or adjective clause) that gives extra, nonessential information about the noun or pronoun it modifies (e.g., “I am going to visit Lake Superior, which is the world’s largest freshwater lake”).
Nonrestrictive clauses can be removed from a sentence without changing its meaning.
Semicolons are a useful way of joining together two independent clauses that are closely related (e.g., “Please take your shoes off; I’ve just mopped the floor”).
You can also use conjunctive adverbs to express the relationship between the clauses, which give insight into how your ideas are connected (e.g., “The experiment yielded unexpected results; moreover, it led to a reevaluation of our hypothesis”).
Semicolons add nuance and sophistication to your writing, but they should not be overused as this can make them less effective in helping information stand out.
Independent clauses can be joined together using a semicolon (e.g., “I love my puppy Coco; she is so much fun”) or a comma and coordinating conjunction, like “and,” “but,” or “so” (e.g., “I wish I could play with Coco all day, but I have to work”).
Independent clauses can also be joined with dependent clauses to form complex and compound-complex sentences.
An independent clause has a subject and a verb and can stand on its own as a complete sentence (e.g., “Puppies are playful”).
A dependent clause must be joined with an independent clause because it does not express a complete thought (e.g., “Puppies are playful because they have a lot of energy”).
Dependent clauses are marked by the use of subordinating conjunctions (e.g., “because,” “although,” “while”).
Indirect objects are always optional in English. When they do appear, they always appear alongside a direct object, so they are only used with transitive verbs. Transitive verbs that frequently use an indirect object are called ditransitive verbs (e.g., “sell,” “bring,” “take,” “send, “show”).
In sentences, indirect objects receive the direct object and answer the question “for whom?” or “to whom.” For example, in the sentence “I gave the teacher my homework,” “the teacher” is the indirect object. It answers the question “To whom did I give my homework?”
Direct objects are nouns that receive the action of a verb and answer the question “what?” or “whom?” (e.g., “I bought some flowers”).
Indirect objects are nouns that receive the direct object and answer the question “to whom?” or “for whom?” (e.g., “I bought Morgan some flowers”).
Both direct objects and indirect objects are used with transitive verbs. Direct objects are required after transitive verbs, and indirect objects are optional
Root words form the basis of word families, or groups of all the words derived from a given root.
Word families include all the inflections and derivations of a given root word. However, because language evolves over time, some words in a word family might have very different meanings, even if they share the same etymological root.
To break down a word and identify the root, it is helpful to first identify any affixes attached to the word. Prefixes and suffixes often modify root words, so removing these can reveal the root word and help you unlock the word’s meaning.
For example, “predated” has the prefix “pre-” (“before”) and the suffix “-ed,” which is used here to indicate the past tense. Removing the prefix and the suffix gives us the root word “datus,” or the past participle of “dare,” “to give,” in Latin.
A compound subject refers to the group of nouns or pronouns that perform the action of the verb or are described by the verb (e.g., “Elle and Miriam are going to the store,” “She and Miriam are tall”).
A compound predicate occurs when two or more verbs share the same subject (e.g., “Beck walks and runs daily”).
Compound subjects and compound predicates can be used together (e.g., “The fans and the team cheered and shouted to celebrate the win”), or a compound subject can be used with a simple predicate and vice versa.
“Defining relative clause” is another name for a restrictive clause, which is a type of relative clause (or adjective clause) that gives essential identifying information about the noun or pronoun it modifies (e.g., “The girl who is holding a teddy bear is my daughter”).
Restrictive clauses cannot be removed from a sentence without changing its meaning or making it unclear.
Both restrictive clauses and nonrestrictive clauses are types of relative clauses (or adjective clauses), which act as adjectives in sentences to describe nouns or pronouns.
Nonrestrictive clauses are set off from the rest of the sentence by commas. Restrictive clauses do not require commas.
Nonrestrictive clauses are used to give extra, nonessential information about a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase (e.g., “The summer Olympics, which take place every 4 years, will be in Paris”).
Unlike restrictive clauses, which are used to identify people or things, nonrestrictive clauses are typically used to give additional information about particular people or things. So, they are frequently used with specific nouns (e.g., “my mom,” “the new teacher,” “your house”) rather than general nouns (e.g., “kids,” “the man,” “books”).
When a relative clause is used to describe a proper noun (e.g., “David,” “Prospect Park”), a nonrestrictive clause is almost always used.
Nonrestrictive clauses, like all relative clauses (or adjective clauses), begin with a relative pronoun, typically “which,” “who,” “whom,” or “whose” (e.g., “I want to vacation in Majorca, which is part of Spain”).
The relative pronoun “that” is only used with restrictive clauses, never with nonrestrictive clauses.
Nonrestrictive clauses are set off from the rest of the sentence by commas.
To identify a misplaced modifier, it is important to understand which word(s) in a sentence a modifier is describing. If the modifier is far away from those words, it likely needs to be moved closer.
Example:
“Running away with its tail between his legs, the child laughed after frightening the dog.”
In this sentence, the subject of the modifying clause “Running away with his tail between his legs” clearly refers to the dog, but another subject, “the child” is squeezed between the clause and what it describes.
Better phrasings would be as follows:
A squinting modifier, also known as an ambiguous modifier, is a modifier that could possibly modify two different parts of the sentence.
The following sentence has a squinting modifier:
“Paolo works in a restaurant serving shrimp.”
In this sentence, it is unclear if Paolo’s specific job is serving shrimp in a restaurant or if the restaurant is dedicated specifically to shrimp.
This can be clarified as either of the following two sentences:
A dangling modifier is a modifier that does not have a subject within the sentence. In contrast, a misplaced modifier does have a subject, but the modifier and the subject being modified are separated.
The following sentence has a dangling modifier:
“Eager to leave the room, the presentation ended early.”
In this sentence, there is no subject indicating who was eager to leave the room.
In contrast, this sentence has a misplaced modifier:
“The frazzled woman’s hair was difficult to comb.”
The placement of the modifier “frazzled” makes it unclear if it is the woman who was frazzled or her hair.
A clearer structure would be the following:
“The woman’s frazzled hair was difficult to comb.”
Subject-verb agreement for compound subjects can seem complex, but there are two basic rules to keep in mind.
For compound subjects connected with “and,” a plural verb is almost always used (e.g., “Carlos and Elise go to the same school”).
For compound subjects connected with “or” or “nor,” the verb agrees with whichever noun is closest to it (e.g., “Either my parents or my sister picks me up from school” or “Either my sister or my parents pick me up from school”).