From New Zealand 2007年7月，ニュージーランドへ移住してきました。ニュージーランドでの日常生活についてつづります。

Keeping Up with the Joneses: How Names Multiplyより
 

In my daughter’s preschool class, there two Larries [ouch!], three Jennifer’s [oof!], and two Sanchez’ [yipes!].  It’s Larrys, Jennifers, and Sanchezes.

Suggestive Languageより

   Use be instead of was or were after someone suggests, demands, asks, requests, requires, or insists that something be done:

I demanded that I be excused. . . .

If be sounds unnatural to your ear, just imagine an unspoken should in front of it:

I demanded that I (should) be excused. . . .

By the way, the form of the verb used here － be instead of was or were － is similar to the one used for a command: Be good! Be quiet! Be there or be square!

 

Infinitively Speaking (コラム)より
 

Are you anxious to go, or are you anxious about going? If you picked anxious to go, you should be anxious about your grammar.

 

That’s Thatより

When a time element comes after the verb: Junior said on Friday he would pay up. This could mean either: Junior said that on Friday he would pay up, or Junior said on Friday that he would pay up. So why not add a that and make yourself clear?

 

The Incredible Shrinking Words: Contractions / Out Of Boundsより
 
ain’t. It’s not OK and it never will be OK. Get used to it. If you’re tempted to use it to show that you have the common touch, make clear that you know better: Now, ain’t that a shame!

 

Mixed Doublesより
 

beside / besides. Pip was seated beside Miss Havisham is an uncomfortable chair. He had a fly in his soup besides.

 

You’re Getting Warmer: Spelling and Saying It Rightより
 

advertise / advertisement / advertising. Here in the United States, each of these has an s (the preference in Britain is to use a z). When Jack got his job at the advertising agency, he didn't advertise the fact that he's never written an advertisement.

 

The Living End: The Period (.)より
 

補足：最後のbeのあとのドット４つは，１つめがピリオド。→beとピリの間にスペースなし。そのあと省略符（ドット３つ）おく。
この文ではrecalled an old saying「古い言い習わしを思い起こした」がポイント。
Neither a borrower nor a lender be. というのは有名なハムレットのセリフである。
よって，「引用」なのでこのセンテンスにはピリオドが必要，続く省略符（ドット３つ）はその後の文章の省略という意味である。
 

 

Huh? The Question Mark (?)より
 
 . . . Or for emphasis, you can put a question mark after each item (you don’t need capital letters for each item, since it’s still one sentence):
Would Tina have to buy a new hair dryer? toothbrush? swimsuit?

 

Betwixt and Between: The Hyphen (-)より
 

Enough said: Quotation Marks (“ ”) / Sometimes In, Sometimes Outより
 

Question mark. In most case, a question mark should be inside the quotation marks: “Who goes there?” said the sentry.  But the question mark must be outside if it’s not part of the actual quotation: Who starred in “Dynasty”?

 

Apostrophe.   . . . for example, the title of a poem, “The Raven” － you would have to put the apostrophe outside: “The Raven”’s first stanza is the best. Pretty awful-looking, isn’t it? It’s so awful that many publications even cheat to avoid it, and write “The Raven’s” － definitely incorrect, although much prettier. My advice is to avoid this problem entirely. Instead of writing “The Raven”’s author was Poe, rearrange it: Poe was the author of “The Raven.”

（以上，Patricia T. O'conner著　「Woe Is I」より抜粋）