Don’t leave me hanging on

Participles are verb forms ending in -ing or -ed and used adjectivally are called participles. Writers need to use them with care, or there is a risk that unintended comedy may result as a result of what is often called a ‘hanging participle’ or ‘dangling participle’.

Do the –ise or the –ize have it?

The basic rule is that the verb ending –ize is an indicator of American English while the form –ise is British. However, it isn’t quite as simple as that.

2-4-6-8 hypenate?

With many points of grammar and style in English, it’s fairly easy to detect a trend if you read enough texts by educated native speakers with good writing skills. This isn’t the case, however, with the hyphen, so I thought I’d offer a few comments in case people are confused.