What is the difference between "who" and "whom"? The answer is more straightforward than you think: "Who" refers to a subject while "whom" refers to an object. An easy trick you can use is, "he" or "she" replaces "who" while "him" or "her" replaces "whom":

     Who put this on my desk? (He/she put this on my desk.)

     Whom do I give this to? (I give this to him/her.)

This same rule applies for "whoever" and "whomever":

     Whoever wins the competition gets $1000. (He/she wins the competition and gets $1000.)

     I will give this to whomever needs it. (I will give this to him/her.)

In spoken English, many people do tend to misuse "who" for "whom", but in written English, it is important to remember the distinction between the two:

     Who do I contact if I have any questions? (incorrect)

     Whom do I contact if I have any questions? (correct)

Now that you have a clearer idea how to use "who" and "whom", see if you can figure out the meaning this joke:

     A: Knock, knock!

     B: Who's there?

     A: To.

     B: To who?

     A: To whom.

Whenever using quotations, here are the rules that apply.

Whenever the speaker of a quotation is identified before a quotation, there must be a comma before the quoted statement:

     After receiving his acceptance letter, Jimmy exclaimed, "It's official! I'm entering the army!" 

Also notice that it's is capitalized because it is the beginning word of the quotation.

If the speaker is identified after the quotation, the quotation needs to have a comma before the closing quotation marks:

     "I don't understand this problem," said Karen.

Notice that said, the first word following the quotation, is not capitalized.

However, if the quoted statement ends in a question or exclamation mark, then no comma is needed:

     "Did anybody see my phone lying around?" asked Ivan.

     "You did it! That was a well-deserved win!" said Mike to Jenny.

Again, the first word after the quoted statement is not in capitals (of course, unless it is a proper noun).

Whenever writing quotations spoken by different people in a conversation, always remember to start a new paragraph every time there is a change in speaker. Here is a sample dialogue between Mrs. Jackson and Kenny:

     "Hi Kenny, how are you today?" asked Mrs. Jackson.

     "I'm doing very well. Thank you. How about yourself?" replied Kenny.

     "I'm fine, thank you. Did you do anything special over the weekend?"

     "Yes I did! I went on a trip to Seattle and got to visit my cousin. I hadn't seen him in years!"

Even if the speaker only says one word, it needs to be in a paragraph by itself.

"10-minute" vs "10 minutes" are both the same amount of time, so what's the difference between them? The simple answer? The former is an adjective and the latter is a noun. Look at the examples below:

     It takes 10 minutes to walk from home to school. (10 minutes is an amount of time)

     I have a 10-minute walk from home to school. (10-minute describes the amount of time)

Notice that "minute" takes the plural form as a noun, but not as an adjective. The same applies for any measurement of time:

     The Detroit Red Wings ended their 42-year championship drought when they won the Stanley Cup in 1997.

     After 42 years without a championship, the Detroit Red Wings won the Stanley Cup in 1997.

     Our flight experienced a two-hour delay due to poor weather conditions.

     Our flight delayed for two hours due to poor weather conditions.