21st Century Grammar Handbook

visible See pronoun.
Some body, somebody. Somebody is a singular indefinite pronoun that means one person or another. Somebody is a compound word that refers to some physical presence or other The zookeeper saw somebody beneath the feeding lions but couldn’t tell what the prey had been See pronoun.
Somebody. See somebody.
Some one, someone. Someone is a singular indefinite pronoun. Someone is a compound adjective that intensi es meaning Select someone career, and then get on with it See intensifier and pronoun.
Someone. See some one.
Some thing, something. Something is a singular indefinite pronoun. The
compound word something means one thing or another. See pronoun.
Something. See some thing.
Some time, sometime, sometimes. Sometime is an indefinite adverb that means atone time or another (Ill call you sometime. Sometime is a compound word
meaning an indistinct amount of time (I spent sometime in Paris. Sometimes is another inde nite adverb, this time meaning at various times Sometimes I feel so blue.”
Sometime. See some time.
Sometimes. See some time.
Sort, sort of. A singular noun, sort should agree with singular adjectives and
pronouns, though in bad usage it often doesn’t. WRONG These sort of books are boring BETTER This sort of book is boring The second example is only “better”
and not right because sort like “kind,” is a abby word that is best avoided.
RIGHT: Ind this book boring or Books like this are boring Sort of as an

adverb is even more imprecise and should not be used It is sort of boring Either it is boring, very boring, or not very boring—say what you mean and don’t hedge.
Sort of. See sort.
So that. See so.
Sound. See linking verb.
Spanish. When using Spanish words in writing or when referring to Spanish-named people, places, or things, take care to include all relevant accents: “Señor Rodriguez.”
Speak, spoke, spoken. An irregular verb in its main, past tense, and past participle
forms.
Spelling. English is not an easy language to spell. There are many words that soundalike but are spelled di erently, many combinations of letters that can be pronounced di erent ways (“ough” in through bough slough etc, and many other oddities that cannot be summarized in simple lists or rules.
The only way to be sure of correct spelling is to check a dictionary, whether a book or contained in a computer program. In either case, be wary of words that are spelled correctly but altogether incorrectly used “They’re are in miss take on thus sun tints,
butt eye canned ned id All these words are in the dictionary and won’t be caught by a computer spellchecker, but there is indeed an error or two in the sentence.
Spend, spent, spent. An irregular verb in its main, past tense, and past

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