What is up with “thy,” “thou,” “thee,” and “thine”?

(Source: theyuniversity, via theyuniversity)

(But she doesn’t give a f*** about an Oxford comma!)

(Source: poisonwas-thecure, via comicallyvintage)

What’s up with “a” and “an”?

Part 1 of the answer is simple: almost every word that begins with a consonant (e.g., cat, dog, monkey, giraffe, hamburgers) requires the indefinite article “a.”

The exception to this rule is a word like “honest,” in which the consonant “h” is silent. In that case, it requires “an”: an honest man, an hour from now, etc. (However, for other “h” words in which the “h” is not silent, we use “a”: a hungry hippo, a hot potato, a hero, etc.)

Part 2 of the answer details with vowels:

Therefore, jackerbie, the correct answer to your question would be “a university.”

(Source: theyuniversity, via theyuniversity)

Looks like a grammar error.

(via the-absolute-best-gifs)

What’s up with the semicolon?

That basically answers what a semicolon does. If you are studying for the SAT exam, you definitely need to master the semicolon; it appears frequently. (See what we did there?)

The comma, on the other hand, is much more complicated. Luckily, an excellent piece from the New York Times delves into the misunderstood punctuation that is the comma.

If you have additional questions, feel free to tweet us @The_YUNiversity. Cheers.

(Source: theyuniversity, via theyuniversity)

What’s up with “in a moment” and “momentarily”?

The short answer is that momentarily can mean either “lasting for a moment” or “in a moment.”

Momentarily originally meant “lasting for a moment,” as in “He paused momentarily before answering the question.” But since the 1920s, it has also been used to mean “in a moment,” e.g., “Jane told us that she will be arriving momentarily.”

Here are some more examples:

This post will end momentarily.

I said, “Cap,” not “cat”!

Source: imgur

What’s up with “sing,” “sang,” “sung,” and “singed”?

For the sake of thoroughness, let’s cover all the different verb tenses of sing.

Sung is the past participle form of “sing.” It usually follows “have,” “has,” or “had.”

However, sung by itself can follow “is,” “was,” and “were”:

“No Surprises” was sung by Radiohead.
The chorus was sung in front of a live studio audience.
“God Bless America” is sometimes sung instead of “The Star-Spangled Banner” at sporting events.

(NOTE: Those three examples are all in the passive voice.)

There you have it. We hope this makes sing, sang, sung, and even singed clearer than when you began reading this post five minutes ago.

(Source: theyuniversity)