Impersonal Verbs

 https://www.grammarly.com/blog/impersonal-verbs/

Have you ever used an impersonal verb? Of course you have, you just didn’t know it.

Impersonal verbs are verbs that do not use a specific subject, but instead use the generic subject it. They’re often called “weather verbs” or “meteorological verbs” because they’re commonly used to describe the weather, like in the impersonal verb examples “it’s raining” or “it’s snowing.” 

Although they’re fairly straightforward, impersonal verbs can be confusing if you don’t know how they work. Below we explain what they are and how to use them, plus we provide an impersonal verbs list so you can learn to recognize them. 

Unlike other verbs, impersonal verbs don’t use what’s called a “determinate subject,” which is a subject that describes something specific, like the person or thing doing an action. Instead, they mostly use the impersonal pronoun it, which does not represent anything in particular. In other words, impersonal pronouns don’t specify who or what does the action, the action just happens on its own. 

Impersonal verbs usually refer to the weather or other general conditions, like light and dark, but they can also be used with certain idioms or common phrases, which we will explain later. 

In other languages, stating the subject of a verb is sometimes optional, but English requires the subject be stated for all sentences except imperatives (commands), which use the “understood” second-person subject. So while in Spanish you can say that it’s raining by shouting “llueve!” in English it’s incorrect to shout only “is raining!” because that’s not a complete sentence. You need to add the impersonal pronoun it as the subject. 

With impersonal verbs, the subject it doesn’t actually mean anything; it’s more like a placeholder because the sentence needs a subject. When we say things like “it’s storming” or “it occurred to me,” the subject it doesn’t represent anything in particular. For this reason, the subject of an impersonal verb is sometimes called a “dummy subject.” 

Some verbs are always impersonal, but sometimes normal verbs can act like impersonal verbs depending on how they’re used. For example, the verbs be and happen can act as impersonal verbs when used to talk about the weather or certain general conditions. 

Why is it so hot today?

It’s darker in here than it is outside. 

It happened to rain during our camping trip. 

The majority of impersonal verbs relate to the weather, but not all. Certain idioms and phrases use otherwise normal verbs as impersonal verbs. 

So it’s come to this. 

Let’s hope it doesn’t come to war. 

Likewise, the verb phrase looks like can act as an impersonal verb when used in a generic sense or when used to talk about the weather. 

It looks like a win for San Lorenzo. 

It looks like a storm is coming. 

The verb occur has one particular meaning that causes it to act as an impersonal noun: when something comes to mind. 

It occurred to them too late that the whole thing was a scam. 

Be careful not to confuse impersonal verbs with their noun forms. For example, the impersonal verb snow can also be used as a noun, in this case the mass noun snow. Although spelled the same, the verb snow functions very differently than the noun snow, so you’ll have to consider the context to tell the difference.  

Why are they called weather verbs?

Impersonal verbs are often called “weather verbs” or “meteorological verbs” because, simply, we use them to talk about the weather. Most impersonal verbs are directly linked to weather, such as rain, storm, snow, and thunder. 

Some weather verbs are not always impersonal and have other meanings unrelated to the weather. For example, pour can be used to talk about moving liquids, and in this case it is not impersonal and requires a standard subject. 

The scientist poured the acid into a safe container. 

However, when the meaning of pour is “to rain heavily,” pour becomes an impersonal verb. 

It’s pouring outside, so I’m taking an umbrella. 

What is valency?

In grammar, the valency or valence of a verb refers to how many elements in a sentence depend on that verb. Let’s look at transitive and intransitive verbs as an example. With an intransitive verb like sleep, only the subject is connected to the verb, so the verb has a valency of one. With a transitive verb like give, both the subject and the direct object are connected to the verb, so the verb has a valency of two, and when there’s also an indirect object, it has a valency of three. 

Impersonal verbs, however, have a valency of zero. That’s what makes them special. The only reason they take a subject at all is because English grammar rules require it.

Writing with impersonal verbs

Aside from their subject, impersonal verbs work like every other verb. You can still use impersonal verbs in different tenses, like the present perfect or future continuous, and you can use them with modal verbs, like can or might. Just look at these impersonal verbs examples below: 

It snows all the time here. 

It has snowed every day this week.

It will be snowing all month. 

It can snow as long as the temperature stays cold.  

As you can see from these examples, impersonal verbs use the third-person singular conjugation to match the subject it, no matter the tense, even when used with the contraction it’s. 

It’s snowing outside. (It is snowing outside.) 

There is only one exception to this rule, which we will address below. 

As mentioned above, some normal verbs can act impersonal depending on their usage. These include some irregular verbs or expressions that use irregular verbs, such as the idiom go without saying or the verb get when used to describe the weather or general conditions. Even when acting as impersonal verbs, irregular verbs still use their same unique conjugations. 

It goes without saying that smoking is dangerous. 

I thought it went without saying, but I guess not. 

In summer it gets dark in the late evening. 

Why has it gotten dark already?

While nearly all impersonal verbs use the impersonal pronoun it as their subject, there’s one common impersonal verb phrase that doesn’t. The impersonal verb phrase they say uses the impersonal pronoun they instead of it. This phrase refers to common knowledge or popular adages, so in this case, they doesn’t actually refer to anyone or any group in particular. 

They say all that glitters is not gold. 

They say spring is a time of new beginnings. 

Note that with the impersonal pronoun they, the verb takes the third-person plural conjugation rather than the third-person singular conjugation that all other impersonal verbs take.

Impersonal verbs examples

Luckily, there aren’t many impersonal verbs, so you shouldn’t have too much trouble using them. Here’s an impersonal verbs list, featuring the most common ones in English. Words and phrases with asterisks mean that they are not always impersonal, depending on the meaning. 

• be*
• blizzard
• come to*
• darken*
• drizzle*
• get*
• go without saying*
• hail*
• happen*
• look like*
• occur*
• pour*
• rain
• say*
• sleet
• snow
• storm
• thunder

Impersonal verbs FAQs 

What are impersonal verbs?

Impersonal verbs are verbs that do not use a specific subject, but instead use the impersonal pronoun it as a generic subject. 

How do impersonal verbs work in English vs. other languages?

Because English sentences almost always require a subject, impersonal verbs must use a generic subject, like the impersonal pronoun it. In some other languages, subjects are optional, so this rule does not apply. 

Why are they sometimes called weather verbs? 

Impersonal verbs are often called “weather verbs” or “meteorological verbs” because they are used to describe the weather, such as the verbs rain, snow, storm, and thunder. Even other verbs can temporarily act as impersonal verbs when discussing the weather, such as the verb be, as in, “It is cold today.”

 

12 Signs and Symbols You Should Know

What is the origin of various symbols used in English, and when is the use of each appropriate? Here’s a guide to twelve common signs, including how they developed and in which contexts they are used or avoided.

1. & (Ampersand)

The ampersand was, at least until well into the nineteenth century, treated as the twenty-seventh letter of the alphabet, but its star has fallen, so that now it is used only informally except in registered names of businesses (“Ay, Bee & See Inc.”), which should be written as rendered; a comma preceding it is extraneous.

The symbol comes from the cursive formation of the Latin word et (“and”), and the name is a slurring contraction of “and per se and,” which used to terminate schoolroom recitals of the alphabet: The phrase means “and by itself and”; instead of reciting, “. . . W, X, Y, Z, and,” children said, “. . . W, X, Y, Z, and per se and” to clarify that “and” referred to a list item rather than serving as a conjunction for an item that was left unuttered. The symbol is also seen in &c. (“et cetera”), an alternate form of etc.

American Psychological Association (APA) style allows the ampersand to link author names in an in-text citation (“Laurel & Hardy, 1921”), but other style guides call for using the word and.

2. * (Asterisk)

The asterisk is used to call out a footnote or to refer to an annotation of special terms or conditions, to substitute for letters in profanity (“Oh, s***!”) or a name rendered anonymous (“the subject, M***”), to serve as a low-tech alternative to a typographical bullet, or provide emphasis in place of boldface (“Do *not* go there -- the food is awful.”). It also has many specialized technical usages. Its name is derived from the Greek term asteriskos, meaning “little star,” and it was originally applied to distinguish date of birth from other references to years.

3. @ (At Sign)

Until the age of e-mail, the at sign was restricted mostly to commercial use, in purchase orders and the like, to mean “at the rate of” (“Order 1K widgets @ $2.50 per.”). It’s also used in displays of schedules for competitive sports to identify the event venue. Now it’s ubiquitous in email addresses and in social-networking usage, as well as computer protocols, but outside of those contexts, it is considered inappropriate for all but the most informal writing.

4. ¢ (Cent)

This symbol for cent (from the Latin word centum, meaning “hundred”), unlike its cousin the dollar sign -- it’s also used in many monetary systems other than that of US currency -- is rare except in informal usage or for price tags. When it does appear, unlike the dollar sign, it follows rather than precedes the numeral, though as in the case of the dollar sign, no space intervenes. The equivalent usage in a context where dollar signs are employed is to treat the amount as a decimal portion of a dollar (“$0.99”); for clarity, a zero should always be inserted between the dollar sign and the decimal point.

The sign probably originated to distinguish an ordinary c from one denoting a monetary amount.

5. ° (Degree Sign)

The sign for degrees of arc or degrees of temperature, which started out as a superscripted zero, was chosen for consistency with use of the minute (′) and second marks (″) employed in geometry and geography; those symbols originally stood for the Latin numerals I and II. The degree sign appears in technical contexts, but in general-interest publications, the word degree is generally used.

In references to temperature, the symbol (and the designation of the temperature scale) immediately follows the associated numerical figure (“45°C”). This style is true of many publishing companies, though the US Government and the International Bureau of Weights and Measures prescribe a space between the number and the symbol (“45 °C”), while other publications omit the first letter space but insert another between the symbol and the abbreviation (“45° C”).

6. " (Ditto Sign)

The ditto sign, first attested three thousand years ago, signals that text shown above is to be repeated, as in a list in which the same quantity of various materials is intended to be expressed:

apples 24
bananas "
oranges "

The word ditto, meaning “said,” derives from the Tuscan language, the immediate ancestor of Italian, but was borrowed into English hundreds of years ago. The word, its abbreviation (do.), and the symbol are considered inappropriate for most writing, though the term has often been used in informal spoken and written language to mean “(the same as) what he/she said.” Although the symbol has a distinct character code for online writing, straight or curly close quotation marks are usually employed to produce it.

7. $ (Dollar Sign)

This symbol for the American dollar and many other currencies was first used to refer to the peso, which inspired the American currency system. Various origin stories for the symbol come in and out of fashion, but it’s most likely that it developed from an abbreviation of pesos in which the initial p preceded a superscript s; the tail of the initial was often superimposed on the s. A dollar sign with two vertical lines is a less common variant.

Most books and other formal publications tend to spell out dollars in association with a (spelled-out or numerical) figure, but periodicals usually use the symbol, as do specialized books about finance or business or others with frequent references to money. In international publications, when the symbol is used, for clarity, it is combined with the abbreviation US (“US$1.5 million” or “US $1.5 million”).

The dollar sign is also used as an abbreviated reference to various functions in computer programming and similar contexts.

8. # (Number or Pound Sign, or Hash)

This symbol evolved from the abbreviation for pound, lb. (a literal abbreviation for the Roman word libra, meaning “balance”), in which horizontal lines were superimposed on the vertical lines of the letters, producing something like the tic-tac-toe pattern used today. One of many other names for the sign, octotherp (also spelled octothorp or otherwise), was a jocular coinage by telecommunications engineers in the mid-twentieth century. The symbol is seldom used outside informal or highly technical or otherwise specialized contexts.

9. % (Percent)

The sign for indicating percentage developed in the Middle Ages over the course of hundreds of years, beginning as an abbreviation of percent (from the Latin phrase per centum, meaning “out of a hundred”). Its use is recommended only in technical contexts or in tabular material, where space it at a premium. (Some standards authorities call for a space between a number and this symbol, but most publications and publishers omit the space.)

10. ~ (Tilde)

The tilde is used as a diacritical mark over various letters to indicate a variety of sounds in different languages, but it also appears midline, like a dash (and is sometimes called a swung dash), to denote “approximately (“Last night’s attendance: ~100”). It has technical connotations as well and is even used as a notation for recording sequences of action in juggling. The name, borrowed into English through Portuguese and Spanish from Latin, means “title.”

11. / (Slash, Solidus, Stroke, or Virgule)

During the Middle Ages, this sign of many names, including those listed above, served as a comma; a pair denoted a dash. The double slash was eventually tipped horizontally to become an equal sign and later a dash or hyphen. (The equal sign is still used as a proofreader’s mark to indicate insertion of a hyphen.) The slash -- also called the forward slash to distinguish it from the backslash, which is used only in technical contexts -- is an informal substitute for or.

12. _ (Underscore or Understrike)

This artifact from the era of the typewriter was used on such devices to underline words to indicate emphasis in lieu of italics. As a survival of that function, words are sometimes bracketed by a pair of single underscores in email and other computer contexts to mark a word for emphasis (“That band totally _rocked_ the place.”). Indeed, as I typed this post in Microsoft Word, the program automatically converted rocked to italics. The symbol also appears frequently in email and website addresses and other technical contexts.

 From: Daily Writing Tips

Parentheses

 

Parentheses serve several specific functions, but their general purpose is to set a grammatical unit of content off from the surrounding text. The parenthesized material can range from a single letter, numeral, or other symbol to an entire sentence. (Because enclosing more than one complete sentence in parentheses overextends the digression, it is not recommended.) Here is a summary of ways to deploy parentheses.

First, a definition of terms: Parenthesis denotes a single parenthetical mark, but it can also refer to a digression, interlude, or interval enclosed in parentheses or other pairs of punctuation marks, such as commas, dashes, or brackets. The first of two parenthetical marks is an open parenthesis, and the second is a close parenthesis. The pair together are called parentheses.

A parenthesis of an entire sentence can be inserted within another sentence, but omit a period after the parenthesized sentence (However, an exclamation point or question mark is acceptable!) to avoid confusion. (A complete sentence may also follow the terminal punctuation of the preceding sentence; in that case, include a period—or another terminal punctuation mark—immediately before the close parenthesis.) An incomplete sentence within parentheses is not punctuated with a period, but, again, an exclamation point or question mark is allowed.

When providing an explanation or an example, the additional information can be enclosed in parentheses. Note in the following sentence how a parenthesis of a parenthesis should be formatted. (The abbreviations e.g. [“for example”] and i.e. [that is”] generally precede such information in formal and scholarly prose; in more casual contexts, the phrases are employed.) This is general American English style; British English style (and legal style and style for some other contexts) is parentheses within parentheses.

Parentheses enclose the abbreviation of an acronym or initialism after the spelled-out name of an agency, company, or organization to inform the reader about how the entity will be identified on subsequent references: “The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded in 1909.” (Note that the article the is not repeated in the parenthesis, but it should precede the initialism when it appears again.)

Parentheses are used to enclose a note when a reader is directed to a cross-reference or when a writer glosses (presents a brief definition of) a term, provides a citation for a quotation or a fact or figure, points out that he or she has used italics to emphasize part of a quoted passage, or otherwise annotates a quotation.

Note that the location of the parenthesis in the following sentence is awkward: “Consider whether a ‘risk expert’ should serve on the committee (i.e., someone with a background in risk management or oversight relevant to the nature of the organization’s operations).” Parenthesized annotation, just like additional information enclosed in a pair of commas or dashes, should immediately follow the relevant word or phrase, as here: “Consider whether a ‘risk expert’ (i.e., someone with a background in risk management or oversight relevant to the nature of the organization’s operations) should serve on the committee.”

Back-to-back parenthesis is acceptable, but this can be avoided by combining two pieces of information into one parenthesis divided by a semicolon or by reorganizing the framing text to separate the two parenthetical comments.

When the items in a run-in list (a list appearing within a sentence rather than formatted vertically) are numbered, they should be enclosed in a pair of parentheses (not with a close parenthesis only)—as in “The three types of rocks are (1) igneous, (2) metamorphic, and (3) sedimentary”—but numbering is seldom necessary.

Use parentheses in moderation; excessive deployment of the symbols can give text a cluttered appearance (note their ubiquity in this post) and result in an obstacle-ridden narrative flow. Often, a pair of commas will suffice in their place, and dashes are appropriate when abruptly interjecting additional information, especially when the writer wants to give an impression of sudden interruption rather than unassuming interpolation.

From: Daily Writing Tips

15 Reduplicative Doublets

Re-duplicative doublets are a small class of idioms in which a word is repeated after the conjunction and; such repetition is intended to provide an emphatic boost to a statement. Here are fifteen such constructions with definitions and sample sentences.

1. Again and again: repeatedly (“I practiced the maneuver again and again so that I didn’t have to think about what I was doing”)

2. By and by (or by-and-by): later, or eventually (“I think he’ll come around to our way of thinking by and by”)

3. Done and done: done thoroughly and satisfactorily (“The team avenged its loss with a decisive victory -- done and done”)

4. Ever and ever: always, or seemingly so (“I had to wait for ever and ever for my car to get fixed”)

5. Half and half: in equal parts; also, a food or drink made of two often equal ingredients, or a mixture of cream and milk, or a person of dual nationality or mixed ethnicity (“She likes half and half in her coffee”)

6. Hot-and-hot: multiple courses of food served individually as soon as cooked (“The catered meal was served hot-and-hot”)

7. Less and less: increasingly less, progressively decreasing, or decreasingly true or prevalent (“I’m less and less confident of success as the days pass”)

8. More and more: increasingly more, progressively increasing, or increasingly true or prevalent (“It’s getting more and more difficult to find in stores”)

9. Neck and neck: very close in a contest or race, suggesting two horses whose necks are side by side (“The candidates are polling neck and neck lately”)

10. On and on: continuously (“The speaker droned on and on beyond her allotted time”)

11. Out-and-out: complete or utter (“That’s an out-and-out lie!”)

12. Over and over: repeatedly (“He said it over and over, to make sure I understood”)

13. So-and-so (or so and so): a placeholder name for a person (often initial-capped), a placeholder word for one or more things, or a euphemism for an offensive epithet (“I talked to So-and-so -- that guy over there”)

14. Such-and-such: a placeholder for a thing or action (“If you were to go to such-and-such a place, you’d find the building”)

15. Through and through: see out-and-out (“He’s a loser through and through”)

 From: Daily Writing Tips

Abstruse vs. Obtuse

Some writers seem to be confusing obtuse with the word abstruse, as in these incorrect examples on the web:
Believe it or not, the American public wasn't always in love with Alfred Hitchcock. Because his movies were often too intelligent or obtuse, he had more fans in the film elite than he did in the general public.
Grizz tends to make Shakespeare-esque, outsider-looking-in type observations about the situations at hand, while Dot Com spouts highly intelligent, yet obtuse references that send you (or maybe just me) to Google.
Having finally struggled through Ulysses, and yes it was a struggle, I had no patience at all for FINNEGANS WAKE, which is even more obtuse. Has anyone actually read it? All of it?
I chide Brad DeLong all the time for making excuses for Greenspan’s thick, obtuse, obscurant speech.
In each of these examples, the context calls for a word that means "difficult to understand." That word is abstruse:
The mistake of using abstruse where obtuse is intended seems to be less common, but it happens:
It is really abstruse to find Avatar not grabbing anything from the Oscars. It was altogether a new theme with a lot of innovations
This movie fan seems to be reaching for obtuse, a word that means "lacking in perception, stupid."
Bottom line: Barely comprehensible language is abstruse. Stupid people are obtuse.
Note: Obtuse derives from Latin obtusus, "blunted, dull." An obtuse angle is "blunt," as opposed to being "sharp."

From: Daily Writing Tips

Mood vs. Tense

Mood vs. Tense

By: Maeve Maddox

From: Daily Writing Tips

Many people are not quite clear as to the difference between the grammatical terms mood and tense. For example, I’ve seen such expressions as “subjunctive tense” and “progressive mood.”

Because both tense and mood have to do with verbs, the confused terminology is understandable. Tense, however, refers to time, whereas mood refers to manner of expression.

Tense
The three possible divisions of time are past, present, and future. For each, there is a corresponding verb tense:

Present: He walks now.
Past: Yesterday he walked.
Future: Tomorrow he will walk.

Each of these tenses has a corresponding complete tense: perfect, past perfect (pluperfect), and future perfect:

Perfect: He has walked every morning since Monday.
Past Perfect: He had walked a mile by the time we joined him.
Future Perfect: By tomorrow, he will have walked twenty miles.

Each of these tenses has a continuous or progressive form:

Present Continuous: I am still walking.
Past Continuous: I was still walking when you phoned.
Future Continuous: I shall/will be walking when you reach town.
Perfect Continuous: I have been walking since early morning.
Past Perfect Continuous: I had been walking for an hour when you phoned.
Future Perfect Continuous: When you see me, I shall have been walking for six hours.

Mood
Mood is the form of the verb that shows the mode or manner in which a thought is expressed. Mood distinguishes between an assertion, a wish, or a command. The corresponding moods are: Indicative (assertion), Subjunctive (wish), and Imperative (command).

Note: Unlike some languages, English does not have an “Interrogative Mood”; questions are formed by changing word order and not by altering the verb.

The word indicative derives from Latin indicare, “to declare or state.” Indicative Mood expresses an assertion, denial, or question about something:

Assertion: I liked him very much before he did that.
Denial: He is not going to remain on my list of friends.
Question: Will you continue to see him?

The word imperative derives from Latin imperare, “to command.” Imperative Mood expresses command, prohibition, entreaty, or advice:

Command: Go thou and do likewise.
Prohibition: Stay out of Mr. MacGregor’s garden!
Entreaty: Remember us in your prayers.
Advice: Beware of the dog.

The “true subjunctive” equivalent to the Latin Optative Mood (opare, “to wish”) is rare in modern English. Examples of the “true” subjunctive: “If I were king,” “God save the Queen!”

In most contexts dealing with unreal situations, speakers used a mixed subjunctive. The use of the auxiliaries may, might, should, and would creates a mixed subjunctive in which one verb is in subjunctive and another in indicative mood:

If I should see him, I will tell him.
He came that they might have life.

According to the Penguin Dictionary of English Grammar,

the distinctive subjunctive forms are now confined to the verb be and to the third-singular forms of other verbs; they are still common in American English, while in British English they are confined to very formal styles.

In American English, the subjunctive often occurs with the following verbs:

suggest: I suggest that she refuse his offer.
demand: They are demanding that he go to London for an interview.
propose: The father proposed that his son be locked up to teach him a lesson.
insist: We all insisted that he accept treatment.

British usage tends to use should in such constructions: I suggest that she should refuse his offer.

Conjunctive Adverbs

Conjunctions are words that link words, phrases, and clauses and provide a smooth transition between ideas.
Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. Some adverbs can also join or show connections between ideas. When they do this, they are called conjunctive adverbs.
Conjunctive adverbs show comparison, contrast, sequence, cause-effect, or other relationships between ideas.
The most common conjunctive adverbs are:
accordingly
also
besides
consequently
conversely
finally
furthermore
hence
however
indeed
instead
likewise
meanwhile
moreover
nevertheless
next
nonetheless
otherwise
similarly
still
subsequently
then
therefore
thus
Conjunctive adverbs function in three ways.
1. They indicate a connection between two independent clauses in one sentence:

The primary meaning of the term ḥeḥ was "million" or "millions"; subsequently, a personification of Ḥeḥ was adopted as the Egyptian god of infinity.

In this explanation of why a particular word was personified the way it was, subsequently joins the ideas and conveys sequence at the same time. The word heh means millions; it follows that the personification derived from heh would be a god of infinity.
2. They link ideas in two or more sentences.

Democracy has empowered thousands upon thousands of the “selfish, ignorant, timid, stubborn, or foolish,” who come from a mix of different nationalities. All hope is not lost, however, since there are “hundreds who are wise.”

In this quotation from a speech by Woodrow Wilson, the however connects and contrasts “thousands of foolish citizens” in the first sentence with “hundreds who are wise” in the second sentence.
3. They show relationships between ideas within an independent clause.

We are determined to do whatever must be done in the interest of this country and, indeed, in the interest of all to protect the dollar as a convertible currency at its current fixed rate.

In this quotation from a speech by John F. Kennedy, indeed connects ideas within the sentence: the idea of doing something on a national level and on an international level as well.
Punctuation note: A conjunctive adverb within a sentence is set off by commas. A conjunctive adverb that begins or ends a sentence is set off by one comma:

Therefore, let us reconsider this legislation that marginalizes a large proportion of employees.
You were late for the fifth time today; you are dismissed, therefore.

From:  Daily Writing Tips

Watch out for the following deadly usages.

from Daily Writing Tips:
Tried-and-true words and phrases are convenient, but they are also truly trying -- as with clichés, when a writer relies too heavily on stock usage, the resulting prose is tired and uninspired. Watch out for the following deadly usages.
1. After having: “After looking around, I chose a seat” is fine, and so is “Having looked around, I chose a seat,” but “After having looked around, I chose a seat” is redundant. “Having” means that the action has already been performed, so the context is clear that the writer is writing after the fact.
2. Aged: Identifying the age or age range of a person or a group with this word puts the subject(s) in a category with cheese or wine. Write “50 years old,” for example, instead of “aged 50 years,” or “ages 21–34” rather than “aged 21–34.”
3. Aggravate: To aggravate is to make something worse, not to bother, annoy, or irritate.
4. And also: And and also are redundant; use one or the other.
5. Anticipate: To anticipate is to foresee (and perhaps act on that foresight), not to expect.
6. Anxious: To be anxious is to feel distressed or worried, not eager.
7. Approximately: How about using about instead? Save three syllables. For scientific or technical references, approximately is fine, but it’s a bit much in most other contexts.
8. As to whether: “As to” is extraneous; use whether only.
9. At this point in time: Omit this meaningless filler.
10. Basically, essentially, totally: Basically, these words are essentially nonessential, and you can totally dispense with them.
11. Being as/being that: Replace these phrases with because.
12. Considered to be: “To be” is extraneous; write considered only, or consider deleting it as well.
13. Could care less: No, you couldn’t. You want to convey that it’s not possible for you to care
less, so you couldn’t care less.
14. Due to the fact that: Replace this phrase with because.
15. Each and every: Write “Each item is unique,” or “Every item is unique,” but not “Each and every item is unique.”
16. Equally as: As is superfluous; write equally only.
17. Was a factor, is a factor, will be a factor: If your writing includes one of these phrases, its presence is a sign that you’re not done revising yet; rewrite “The vehicle’s condition is a factor in performance,” for example, to “The vehicle’s condition affects its performance.”
18. Had ought: Had is redundant; use ought only.
19. Have got: Got is suitable for informal writing only; if you’re referring to necessity, consider must rather than “have got,” and if the reference is to simple possession, delete got from the phrase “have got.”
20. In many cases/it has often been the case: Reduce the word count in statements containing these verbose phrases by replacing “in many cases” with often, for example.
21. In the process of: This extraneous phrasing is acceptable in extemporaneous speaking but unnecessarily verbose in prepared oration and in writing.
22. Is a . . . which/who: If you find yourself writing a phrase like this, step back and determine how to write it more succinctly; “Smith is a man who knows how to haggle,” for example, can be abbreviated to “Smith knows how to haggle.”
23. Kind of/sort of: In formal writing, if you must qualify a statement, use a more stately qualifier such as rather, slightly, or somewhat.
24. Lots/lots of: In formal writing, employ many or much in place of one of these colloquialisms.
25. Of a . . . character: If you use character as a synonym for quality, make the reference concise. “The wine has a musty character” is better rendered “The wine tasted musty, and “He was a man with a refined character” can be revised to the more concise statement “The man was refined,” but better yet, describe how the man is refined.
26. Of a . . . nature: Just as with character, when you use nature as a synonym for quality, pare the phrasing down: Reduce “She had a philosophical nature,” for example, to “She was philosophical.”
27. Oftentimes: An outdated, unnecessary complication of often.
28. On account of: Replace this awkward phrase with because.
29. Renown: Renown is the noun (as well as a rarely used verb); renowned is the adjective. Avoid the like of “the renown statesman.”
30. Thankfully: In formal usage, this word is not considered a synonym for fortunately.

Indefinite articles

Many English speakers who probably use the indefinite article an in front of a vowel when speaking seem to encounter a mental disconnect when it comes to writing.

The following examples were found on major news sites or on sites offering professional services or advice:
Pieces of the bag recovered have been sent to a FBI lab for forensic testing.
The 404 or Not Found error message is a HTTP standard response code.
Step-by-step tutorial on how to add a LED to a USB thumb drive.
Applying to a MBA program can help you advance in your career or switch careers entirely.
A NBC executive indicated that the independent formatted Nonstop channels were doing well but needed separate 24/7 programming.
There are several benefits to being a RSVP Volunteer.
Did you setup and assign a STMP server for this account?
The problem lies in an incomplete understanding of the rule for the use of a and an.
Many speakers retain the rule as “Use an before words that begin with a vowel and a before words that begin with a consonant.”

The complete rule is “Use an before words that begin with a vowel sound and a before words that begin with a consonant sound.”
The 26 letters of the alphabet are sound symbols, but the symbols have names. And several of the consonant letters have names that begin with vowel sounds:
F [ef]
H [aitch]
L [el]
M [em]
N [en]
S [es]
R [ar]

Here’s the correct way to write the words and initialisms given in boldface above:
Pieces of the bag recovered have been sent to an FBI lab for forensic testing.
The 404 or Not Found error message is an HTTP standard response code.
Step-by-step tutorial on how to add an LED to a USB thumb drive.
Applying to an MBA program can help you advance in your career or switch careers entirely.
An NBC executive indicated that the independent formatted Nonstop channels were doing well but needed separate 24/7 programming.
There are several benefits to being an RSVP Volunteer.
Did you setup and assign an STMP server for this account?

In deciding whether to write a or an in front of an initialism, say the name of the first letter. If the letter name begins with a vowel sound, use an.

From: Daily Writing Tips