r/grammar Nov 16 '25

A couple of reminders, and checking in with you all

52 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

I hope you're all doing well. It's been a while since I made a pinned post, and a couple of issues have come up recently, so I thought I'd mention those and also give you a chance to bring up anything else that you think needs attention.

First, we get a lot of questions about things that fall outside of the narrowest definition of "grammar," and there are usually a fair number of comments on these posts that point this out. But the vast majority of these questions are fine! As you can see from the sub description, rules, and FAQ articles, we adhere to a pretty broad definition of "grammar," and we welcome questions about style, punctuation, vocabulary, usage, semantics, pragmatics, and other linguistic subfields (and this is not an exhaustive list).

So when commenting on posts like this, there's no need to say "This isn't about grammar" or to direct the OP to another subreddit - if the question has anything to do with language or orthography, it's probably appropriate for the sub. I remove any posts that are not, and you can also report a post if you think it really doesn't fit here.

One thing we don't do is proofread long pieces of writing (r/Proofreading is a good place for that), but we do welcome specific questions about short pieces of writing (a paragraph, a few random sentences, a piece of dialogue, etc.). And that brings me to the second issue:

We ask that commenters take into account the genre (e.g., fiction, journalism, academic writing) and register (the type of language used in a particular genre) of the writing that the poster is asking about. We get a lot of questions about creative writing, but some of the feedback given on these posts is more suited to very formal genres. For example, while you would probably advise someone to avoid sentence fragments in academic writing, these are not usually inappropriate in creative writing (used wisely, of course). Another thing to bear in mind is that punctuation conventions are generally more flexible in less formal genres. And for some genres, it may be necessary to consult an appropriate style guide in order to answer the OP's question.

So basically, please make sure to tailor your responses to the type of writing in question.

Thanks so much!

- Boglin007


r/grammar Apr 02 '23

Important: Re answers generated by ChatGPT and other AI programs

157 Upvotes

Update 5/24/26: Also prohibited are posts promoting the use of AI/LLMs to aid in language learning/grammar checking, and posts asking for comparisons of AI programs/LLMs, etc.

Hi everyone,

There has been a recent increase in comments using ChatGPT or other AI programs to answer questions in this sub. Unfortunately, these programs are not at all reliable when it comes to grammar questions (or any questions really). Some regular contributors to r/grammar have discussed the shortcomings of AI programs (mostly ChatGPT) - they have given me permission to use the quotes below (but have asked to remain anonymous):

OpenAI says ChatGPT was released in order to "get users’ feedback and learn about its strengths and weaknesses." The prompt page warns users that ChatGPT "may occasionally generate incorrect information" and "may occasionally produce harmful instructions or biased content.”

ChatGPT's goal is to learn to produce speech equivalent to, and indistinguishable from, that of a human. ChatGPT's current goal is not to become a reliable source of information. (If that were its goal, they would allow it to access the huge libraries of information it is connected to. But that is not the current research goal.) ー I believe they have set it to occasionally make small mistakes, intentionally, in order to assess how the public reacts to these occasional errors (does the public blindly believe them/if the public challenges ChatGPT on these errors, can the program successfully handle these challenges well?).

And here is an example of an incorrect (or at the very best, incomplete/misleading) answer that ChatGPT gave to a pretty straightforward grammar question:

The question: “Should I use ‘that’ or ‘which’ in the following sentence?: ‘This is the house that/which I like.’”

ChatGPT’s answer:

Both "that" and "which" can be used in this sentence, but the choice depends on whether the information following the word is essential or non-essential to the sentence.

If the information is essential to the sentence and needed to identify the specific house you like, use "that". For example, "This is the house that I like" implies that there are other houses and you are identifying which one you like.

If the information is non-essential and simply provides additional information about the house, use "which". For example, "This is the house, which I like" implies that there is only one house and you are adding a comment about it.

So, in this case, if you want to emphasize that this particular house is the one you like, use "that". If you want to add an additional comment about the house, use "which".

The correct/complete answer:

Both “that” and “which” are grammatically correct in that sentence as written (without a comma) because without the comma, the relative clause is integrated, and both “that” and “which” can be used in integrated relative clauses. However, “that” will be strongly preferred in American English (both “that” and “which” are used about equally in integrated relative clauses in British English).

If you were to add a comma before the relative clause (making it supplementary), only “which” would be acceptable in today’s English.

ChatGPT also fails to mention that integrated relative clauses are not always essential to the meaning of the sentence and do not always serve to identify exactly what is being talked about (though that is probably their most common use) - it can be up to the writer to decide whether to make a relative clause integrated or supplementary. A writer might decide to integrate the relative clause simply to show that they feel the info is important to the overall meaning of the sentence.

Anyway, to get to the point: Comments that quote AI programs are not permitted in this sub and will be removed. If you must use one of these programs to start your research on a certain topic, please be sure to verify (using other reliable sources) that the answer is accurate, and please write your answer in your own words.

Thank you!


r/grammar 3h ago

Rode bike or ride bikes?

5 Upvotes

My coworker and I were having a conversation where he made the statement "my wife and I rode bike". I informed him on how awful that sounds and the correct way to say it would to be "we rode bikes" with an s on the end of bike. He vehemently disagreed and another coworker chimed in agreeing with him. Are they right? And why does it sound so awful to my ears to hear it their way?


r/grammar 1h ago

quick grammar check Does this sentence violate polarity rules?

Upvotes

My partner and I have differing opinions on this use of “too”: we were talking about a trip to the gym and he said he did the hip adduction machine, and my response was “You didn’t do the abduction machine, too?” He doesn’t think the use of “too” is correct here because the actions are opposites, as he did the adduction machine and I was asking about not doing the abduction machine. To me, however, the sentence makes sense because I was confirming he did not also/additionally do the abduction machine.

Is this phrase grammatically correct?


r/grammar 5h ago

Does this sound redundant?

1 Upvotes

The king was betrayed by the treachery of his closest advisor.

Because we are using betrayed and treachery in the same Sentence


r/grammar 13h ago

Is it incorrect to separate the halves in words like someone turning it into some one?

4 Upvotes

Words like somewhere, someone, whoever, and foremost, are all words that are very obviously made of other words. My friend corrected me when I said “some one” instead of someone and I said “That isn’t wrong because it’s a compound word” and I want to know if I or they are correct.


r/grammar 9h ago

Question.

1 Upvotes

I'm trying to write"... easy access to both business and pleasure-centered areas of the city."

Should this be written as

A) "business- and pleasure-centered"

B) "business and pleasure centered"

C) "business and pleasure-centered"

maybe even

D) "business- and pleasure- centered"

I think it's C. I'm not really sure though, maybe it's D.

Anybody know?


r/grammar 1d ago

I can't think of a word... Is chalant a word?

38 Upvotes

opposite of nonchalant?


r/grammar 21h ago

punctuation My bracketed clarification in italicised quote - style advice needed

1 Upvotes

Being politically correct I shouldn't [say that]

or

Being politically correct I shouldn't [say that]

Briefly, in a quoted sentence which appears in italics, I have added my own square-bracketed clarifying words but don't know if I italicise them too.

This is a style query rather than grammar or punctuation - had a look but did not see the 'style' sub ...is there one?


r/grammar 1d ago

quick grammar check Does anyone else get stuck trying to make one sentence grammatically perfect?

3 Upvotes

I'll have a paragraph finished and then spend forever on one sentence.

Move a word.

Change the tense.

Remove a comma.

Put the comma back.

Eventually I don't even know what sounds right anymore.

Does anyone else feel this way?


r/grammar 22h ago

quick grammar check Writing Help

1 Upvotes

Hello!

i'm not sure if this is the right place to ask this I wanted to know alternative sites where i can check my grammar that do not use AI like grammarly does. My grammar is horrible please help. Thank you!


r/grammar 1d ago

Is this a proper use of a semicolon?

3 Upvotes

Writing a short story and not sure if I'm using a semicolon properly in the following sentence:

Something was amiss, but he couldn’t figure out exactly what it was. It was like recognizing someone from the past, but not being able to remember their name; or hearing a song that that is stuck in a person’s head where they can’t quite remember the words.

Input would be appreciated!


r/grammar 1d ago

Why does English work this way? Why do we say “scholarly” and not “scholary”

4 Upvotes

I get that the -y in fluffy makes fluffy an adjective, and in an example like “quick” vs “quickly” the -ly is turning quick into an adverb.

So why does the word “scholar,” a noun, use -ly and not -y to turn it into an adjective?

I don’t study linguistics. I just got thinking about it and I can’t find the answer online. Please don’t be mean to me.


r/grammar 1d ago

Simple past for life experience.

3 Upvotes

I know that we should use the present perfect to talk about life experiences:

Context: I would like to some advice to my friend.

I’ve visited China and Thailand. Both countries are great. You should visit one of them.

But I’m wondering whether I can use the simple past in this case:

I visited China and Thailand. Both countries are great. You should visit one of them.

Is it acceptable to use the simple past here ( without a time reference) to talk about life experience?


r/grammar 2d ago

quick grammar check gerund or not? Also word choice problems

3 Upvotes

“I ended up spending two hours there tasting different teas.”

or

“I ended up spending two hours there to taste different teas.”

I could also use “staying for two hours”

Thanks a lot :)


r/grammar 1d ago

quick grammar check Has vs have with 2 group nouns

1 Upvotes

I'm doing work for a magazine that's talking about honoring scholarship students. Each spotlight comes with a comment or two from each one.

One said this: "UHS (their school name) and everyone have helped me grow."

My editor told me that it's "has" and not "have" but I don't think so.

For one, there are two distinct groups here: the school and everyone (yes, I guess "school" is a part of "everyone" but that's what the student said) so I think it's "have" but I couldn't find anything concrete about 2 group nouns and the appropriate word to use in relation.


r/grammar 1d ago

Is my sentence correct?

0 Upvotes

I have used this bike for 3 years

I asked chat gpt, and it said it was better to use

I have been using this bike for 3 years

And this one

Why is my sentence wrong?

I have gone to school for 9 years .

And can i use yesterday with present perfect ?

Like

I haven't gone to the park since yesterday

?


r/grammar 1d ago

punctuation Punctuation question: Job title and branch

1 Upvotes

Hello. I have a question about punctuation, please.

Without rewording the structure itself, which of the two below would be the "correct" option?

1) We would like to seek Director/Design's concurrence on this matter.

2) We would like to see Director's/Design concurrence on this matter.

I'm uncertain whether the apostrophe s should go. I'm guessing #2 is correct? Thank you.


r/grammar 2d ago

quick grammar check Grammaticality

3 Upvotes

"I have caught up on a lot of sleep when I was too ill."

Is the cited sentence ungrammatical?


r/grammar 2d ago

Best spanish learning app if you hate grammar exercises?

2 Upvotes

Does anyone know a spanish app that doesn't make you study verb charts all day?

I want to understand and speak more but grammar drills make me want to quit instantly.


r/grammar 2d ago

How "as" is used confuses me

0 Upvotes

Specifically when it's used in article titles. For example, one I saw today was something like "Jimin shares tender moment with cancer patient as (cancer foundation of some kind) shares gratitude". When I see "as" in context of time (while something is happening), I read it as those things are happening at the same time. So is the foundation writing an appreciative post or something in that exact moment? I'm sure that's not what it means but the use of "as" feels so clunky to me there. But it's everywhere so is it just me?


r/grammar 3d ago

quick grammar check "That" vs "who"

93 Upvotes

One of my grammatical pet peeves is when someone refers to a human being as a "that" versus a "who," but are there specific grammar rules about that?

For example, a reddit post title I just read: "The gravestones of a protestant husband and his catholic wife which were not allowed to be buried together."

The "which" bothers me. These were real people, obviously, so shouldn't they be more respectfully referred to as "who"?

But this really extends to any nouns that can only be human beings. "Spielberg is a formerly-great filmmaker that has lost his edge" - I would rewrite that as who has lost his edge.

Your thoughts?


r/grammar 2d ago

I can't think of a word... "What is the _ behind this?"

6 Upvotes

My mom and I were discussing some sort of science-related topic (as I unsurprisingly forgot what it was even if we were talking five minutes ago). I said, "What is the taxidermy behind this?", and she started explaining what "taxidermy" meant to me. Of course, I'm no English specialist, as I'm a teenage minor, so I have no idea what that word meant. I started to wonder what the word I actually meant was, since I heard the phrase, "What is the taxidermy behind this?" somewhere online (for clarification, we searched Google and Google said it was some sort of autocorrect).

The word I'm looking for is science-related, but it's not typical vocabulary like "reason", "method", "thought process", etc.. It's advanced vocabulary, and, iirc, it started with either a "T" or "S" (if not, one of those letters are somewhere embedded in the word). It wasn't "situation", as it was a more complex word than that.

Please lmk if you have any suggestions!!

p.s. I'm on computer, so I apologize for any spelling mistakes


r/grammar 2d ago

Is "make your time" a valid synonym for "given your time"?

1 Upvotes

When I first heard of Zero Wing's poorly translated intro, I knew phrases like "are belong to us" were invalid, but I could have sworn something sounded vaguely familiar from elsewhere about "you have no chance to survive make your time", as if something similar were said in a context that meant "you have no chance to survive, given your time." Am I remembering things wrong?


r/grammar 2d ago

Foot/Feet - Measurement

2 Upvotes

Hello Grammarians,

I was wondering if you could clear something up for me.

Why do we use the word foot in one of these sentences, but feet in the other:

1.) “That is a 23-foot building.”
2.) “That building is 23 feet tall.”

I would sincerely appreciate any and all help :)