Monday Morning Grammar: Nouns Part VI—Forming New Nouns

In anticipation of the English language’s millionth word, Forbes recently put together a special report on neologisms—i.e., new words that have entered the lexicon. As you peruse the articles, you’ll notice that several of these coinages, such as carpocalypse and momager, are nouns created by smashing two existing words together to create a new one [...]

Monday Morning Grammar: Nouns Part V—Agent and Recipient Nouns

Mots Justes learned something new during this Monday Morning Grammar series on nouns: attendee isn’t technically the correct form of a noun to describe a person who attends an event. I used attendee all the time when I worked as a trade journalist covering industry conventions to refer to those in attendance. What I should [...]

Monday Morning Grammar: Nouns Part IV—When Nouns Aren’t Nouns

The noun is perhaps the first part of speech one learns in elementary school grammar. In Mots Justes’ previous post on the basics, we were reminded that nouns name people, places, and things. Sometimes, though, a noun doesn’t function like one.
Appositives
A noun that immediately follows another noun is called an appositive. It functions similarly to [...]

Monday Morning Grammar: Nouns Part III—Properties

Although a bit later than expected, Mots Justes is picking up today on a continuing series on the noun. In previous posts, we established the basics and discussed pluralization. Today we’ll look at the four properties of nouns:
1. Case alludes to how a noun relates to other words in a sentence. Only nouns and pronouns [...]

Monday Morning Grammar: Nouns Part I—The Basics

Starting today, Mots Justes will return to its regular publishing schedule. Check back each Monday for posts on grammar, Tuesday for punctuation, Wednesday for writing exercises, and alternating weeks for Usage Thursdays and Friday Book Reviews. MJ looks forward to getting back into routine and hope you do, too.
So, without further ado, let’s talk about [...]