Word Order is Important

English is relatively uninflected, so where the words are in a sentence makes a big difference. One rule is to put the verb as close as you can to the subject. Here’s and example of not doing this:

What??? The murder goes to auction?

You need two sentences here:

Rare ‘Ides of March’ dagger coin goes to auction. The coin was minted by Brutus after Julius Caesar’s murder. Make sure your writing is not easily misunderstood.

Here’s a picture of the coin:

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For Example:

You don’t even need to put it between quotes.

Can you think of a noun that you can’t use as a verb?

Here’s the comic. Panel 1:

Using adjectives to modify verbs is common, so I didn’t notice this until a commenter pointed it out. She should have said “…heal more slowly.” After all, she teaches English.

Um, same mistake in panel 3.

I don’t recall mentioning this grade-school point of grammar before. The difference between “well” and “good.”

• Well—an adverb. Goes with verbs. Well done!
• Good—an adjective. Goes with nouns. Good lesson!
• Yes, both words can be nouns, but that’s a lesson for another day.

Okay, class, here’s a test. Did he get it correct or not? Last panel.

The problem with the rule is that nouns can so often be turned into verbs…

…so when you’re a verb, this is okay. But you know that, right?