“Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character.” - Albert Einstein

Modal auxiliaries - Verbs that express the degree of certainty of the action in the sentence, or the attitude or opinion of the writer concerning the action.

Modal - Noting or pertaining to mood.

Auxiliary - Additional; supplementary; reserve.

Modal auxiliaries express ideas and feelings. They do not change form for different subjects. Continue reading “Modal Auxiliaries”

“Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.” - Hindu Prince Gautama Siddharta, Founder of Buddhism

Main verbs are either past tense or present tense. Continue reading “Present and Past Tense”

“For the ordinary man is passive. Within a narrow circle (home life, and perhaps the trade unions or local politics) he feels himself master of his fate, but against major events he is as helpless as against the elements. So far from endeavoring to influence the future, he simply lies down and lets things happen to him.” - George Orwell

The passive voice is to be used as little as possible. Microsoft Word will calculate passive sentences with the word count function. The active voice gives a sense of immediacy to the sentence. Continue reading “Passive Voice”

“All cognitive concepts have a transitive meaning: they go beyond descriptive reference to particular facts” - Herbert Marcuse

Verbs are classified as transitive or intransitive: Continue reading “Transitive and Intransitive Verbs”

Time cools, time clarifies; no mood can be maintained quite unaltered through the course of hours. - Mark Twain

Verbs can indicate intention by being placed in the indicative, imperative or subjunctive mood. Continue reading “Mood”