Scribe's Realm

Hmm, is it dreamt or dreamed ? This is once again one of those cases where people can't help but get confused. My spellchecker for one, tells me that dreamt is a spelling mistake. Yet, many of you have heard of both these forms. Both are after all the past tense of dream.  Of Dreams I Dreamt Dreamt  is just as acceptable as dreamed . Merriam Webster has both these forms under dream.  This can be considered as a little strange, as few words have two past tenses. But, even when it is acceptable, dreamt isn't used as much as dreamed . Dreamt  is used about 7 times less in American English than dreamed , whereas dreamt  in British English is used only 2.5 times less than dreamed . See it  here  and  here  on an ngram graph. Still, the point stands that dreamt  drew the short end of the straw. It is clear that it is used more in British English than in American English. Does this make dreamt the British version? I Dreamed...

Hmm, is it awhile  or a while ? I can't remember now. Even the best language heroes get a little confused every once in a while. If you get stuck like that sometimes, this might help you remember which word to use in which situation. Is There Such a Thing as Awhile ? Awhile  is considered as old English. More often than not people write awhile  as a while , as is the more modern practice. Some people, who are comfortable with the correct usage of awhile , will use it as it should be. Using either awhile  or a while  is acceptable in certain situations, but it's not recommended.  Awhile is an adverb and therefore needs to take that role (and that role only) in a sentence. While , however, can take different forms. While on Its Own When while  stands alone, it can have a different meaning than when it stands in a cluster of words. Think about these two sentences: I will stand in the rain for a while . I will stand in the rain while I wait ...

Since last week's post was on believe or belief , I decided to ask whether it's believe in , believe on  or believe that . All of these are correct and do get used. The questions are when, where, why and how. Here it is in what I hope is the simplest way to explain it and the easiest way to remember it. Believe In and Believe That Correlation A certain professor, H. H. Price , came to the conclusion that there is a difference between believe in  and believe that . To him, it came down to this, “Surely belief-in is an attitude to a person, whether human or divine, while belief-that is just an attitude to a proposition?” This makes perfect sense considering the words in and that . Personally, in  sounds a lot more involved and personal, whereas that  seems distant. Get that  away from me. Come on in . That might just be me though. However, this view might make things easier. What if this thinking was indeed the correct manner? To believe in someone is ...

Should I use believe  or belief ? This question can keep you from writing that last sentence for the day. It can be so irritating when you're tired and almost done with your work, but that one word is making your head spin. From now on, you should never need to wonder whether you should use believe or belief ever again. To Believe I believe that at the end of this post, you will have a better understanding of the word believe . Look at the next sentence: I believe in aliens. If you believe in something, you are doing an action. When a word takes on the role of describing an action, that word is a verb . This means that believe  is a verb. Change believe in  in the above sentence to a different verb, such as chase. I chase aliens. All you need to do is substitute a verb in a sentence with believe  or belief. If the sentence sounds strange to you, you probably used the wrong one. For example: I belief in aliens. That hardly makes any sense, right...

Today's grammar-focused question is: Should I use further or farther ? As writers, we want people to enjoy our books. Even though readers would not necessarily care whether you use further  or farther , it might affect readability if used incorrectly. This is why I thought it is best to help you decide on which one to use. Does "further" or "farther" tell you about distance? There has been plenty of discussions about these two words. They are often regarded as equals, which can be used interchangeably. Yet there are a few posts I have come across in my research who can easily say how they differ. As always, it is best we know much before we come to a decision. Further and Farther in UK English It's well-known that US and UK English differs. There is no exception with the use of further  and farther . The Oxford Dictionary has this to say: Both words share the same roots. [T]here is no difference in meaning, and both are equally correct. Furth...

Should I use pled or pleaded as the past tense of plea? Neither of these two are necessarily wrong, which can make the decision harder to make. Here are a few technical aspects to help you make your decision. Pled, is it a Mistake? Every writing tool I have used since researching and writing this post told me that pled  is nothing but a spelling mistake. Even though this post would have been a lot shorter if I could just say "Don't use 'pled', as it's a spelling mistake", it's not necessarily true. Pled  is mentioned as a colloquial past tense form in the AP Stylebook, and in other modern books, pleaded is considered the better choice. Pled  is also used in some text, such as in the U.S Supreme court (you can read about the study here ). However, the amount it is used is considerably less than pleaded's usage. So, Should I Use Pled or Pleaded? Although certain parts of the world accepts  pled  with open arms, it is used in the minorit...

When to use who or whom can be either complicated or simplistic. It is always best to know the rules and thus the complicated version before you go for the easy, cheat version. This way, you will know you are right, every time. When to Use Who or Whom: Know your Grammar The complicated version calls for our memories of English grammar classes; those classes we slept through. To know who and whom , you need to know their place in the English language. Welcome back to your English class. Study hard! Who and Whoever: The Subjective Pronouns "Subjective pronouns" sounds more dramatic than it needs to. In a less wordy manner, who and whoever are subjects in a sentence. When I was in school, I was taught that the subject is the one doing the action. The verb of the sentence is this "action". Here are some examples: Who knows the answer? Who will go to class? The purple is the subject, as it is the one doing the action. The action (verb) is in gold. Sadly...