Grammar

I Am So Here For This Bachelor In Paradise Twitter Drama

What's that famous Tolstoy quote? Ah, yes — happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. The Bachelor Nation family, like all grouchy fams, is unhappy in a unique way: They love to correct each other on Twitter. In doing so, they throw shade.<p>Like so: During last …

What Are the Parts of a Prepositional Phrase?

Like adjectives and adverbs, prepositional phrases add meaning to the nouns and verbs in our sentences. Take a look at the two prepositional phrases …

All Your Questions About Gender-Neutral Pronouns Answered

From grammar to what to do if you mess it up.<p>People say the darnedest things about the singular “they.” When I tell someone that my [preferred](http://www.teenvogue.com/gallery/how-non-binary-people-want-to-be-seen) pronouns are they/them/their, I never know what to expect. Sometimes people say …

How to Arrange (and Rearrange) Prepositional Phrases

<i>Prepositional phrases</i> act like adjectives and adverbs to add meaning to nouns and verbs. They can also be arranged to be more effective, or condensed …

Become an Expert In Using Prepositions and Prepositional Phrases

Prepositions are words (such as <i>in</i> and <i>out</i>, <i>above</i> and <i>below</i>, <i>to</i> and <i>from</i>) that show the relationship between other words and phrases in a sentence. …

Can You Correct The Grammar In These 10 Facts About The Solar Eclipse?

Like a fill-in-the-blanks exercise, but with added celestial awe.

Why It's Not Wrong to End a Sentence With a Preposition

Is it grammatically incorrect to end a sentence with a preposition? Quite simply, <i>no</i>. A preposition is <i>not</i> a bad word to end a sentence with. Even in …

Bogus Writing Rules: "Never Begin a Sentence With These Words..."

<i>Any fool can make a rule<br>And every fool will mind it.</i><br>(Henry David Thoreau)<p>At the start of every semester, I invite my first-year students to recall …

6 Ways to Reduce "-ly" Adverb Abuse: A Word List for Writers

<b>Are you excited by your writing?</b><p>Mark Twain once said “I am dead to adverbs; they cannot excite me.” If your writing shouts <i>lackluster,</i> an …

An American Dialect Dictionary Is Dying Out. Here Are Some Of Its Best Words.

From twistification to storm caves to slushburgers, the U.S. has quite the history of local language quirks.<p>Bizmaroon, doodinkus and splo.<p>For over 50 years, a group of intrepid lexicographers have been documenting words like these ― regional terms and phrases that were once popular in states like …

We're Down With You Being—or Your Being?—a Square

Are you afraid that your love of grammar makes you a square? Don't worry, but do pick one:<p>A. Your love of grammar has nothing to do with your being a …

He lapsed into the passive voice

Mark Landler recently published an article in the <i>New York Times</i> under the headline "Where Predecessors Set Moral Standard, Trump Steps Back." Unlike …

Learn German With These Tips For German For Beginners

Most German verbs follow a predictable pattern in the present tense. Once you learn the pattern for one German verb, you know how most German verbs …

The 30 Hardest-to-Pronounce Words in the English Language

How to say the names of the 35 most commonly mispronounced fashion labels

With Primark having finally set the pronunciation record straight - it's 'pry-mark', not 'pree-mark' - words with confusing phonological values are causing conflict all over the UK.<p>Is it 'S-con' or 'Sc-oh-n', 'Ga-rij' or 'Ga-raaj'? 'Ee-thur' or 'Eye-thur', 'Sked-jool' or 'Shed-jool'?<p>And if regular …

Can You Beat This Infuriatingly Difficult Harry Potter A-Z Quiz?

If you don't pass, you'll be sent to A-Zkaban.

Don’t let those ‘sticky words’ confuse your thesis examiner

<i> This blog post is one of a series I am writing that are developing ideas for the new book I am writing with Shaun Lehmann and Katherine Firth of the</i> …

How To Figure Out Word Order in German

German Verb Review 3<p>In this third part of our three-part "Verb Review" we discuss the German <b>Perfekt</b> (present perfect).<p>Here are some sample German …

10 Wrong Words That Are Actually Right

Some of these words might make you beet red. But are the people who use them always misinformed, or is there more to the story? Whether we like it or …

Making Grammar Great Again

Just after the US election in November 2016, copy editor Meredith Forrester tweeted back to one of President Trump’s tweets with corrections to his …

Let’s Just Agree to Agree? Part 2—Pronouns and Antecedents—Ack!! with Nan Reinhardt

<i>Bless Nan Reinhardt and her mad English skills. I’m so glad someone knows the rules of pronouns and antecedents! Read through and you will too!</i> <br>Last …

The 13 most common résumé mistakes

Having an error-free résumé is pretty crucial.<p>Typos, however minor, could signal to potential employers that you're sloppy or you don't care enough to proofread your work, and they can really hurt your chances during the six seconds hiring managers typically take to make their initial "fit/no fit" …

Embarrassing Charles Dickens apostrophe blunder costs taxpayers

An embarrassing Charles Dickens apostrophe blunder has cost Northern Ireland taxpayers more than £1,000.<p>The grammatical error appeared on giant billboard posters and leaflets advertising a performance of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations, the BBC reports.<p>It cost Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon …

Rogue Charles Dickens apostrophe costs council

<b>A Northern Ireland council has made an apostrophe gaffe costing the taxpayer more than £1,000.</b><p>Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council's grammatical error appeared on an advert for a performance of Charles Dickens' Great Expectations in July..<p>The council chose to reprint its promotional …

The 12 most cringe-worthy business phrases

<i>This article first ran on Ragan in 2012.</i> <br>Listening to most business people makes me cringe. They purposely sprinkle their language with fancy …

8 Latin Phrases That Mean Something Different in English : Alter Ego

<b>Latin meaning:</b> "what now?"<p><b>English meaning:</b> a person who seeks to know all the latest news or gossip : busybody<p><b>Example:</b><p>What's more is that the …

27 words that can trip up even expert spellers

Writers and editors with long and varied experience, it’s safe to say that we are all exceptionally strong spellers.<p>We can recite English spelling …

Rachel Dratch's Parenting Tweets Are Hilarious

"Parenting tip: maybe don't leave Hungry Hungry Hippos on the floor of a dark room."<p>Rachel Dratch is a seriously funny mom.<p>The comedian and “Saturday Night Live” alum has a 6-year-old son named Eli. And based on her tweets, he’s quite a dynamic kid.<p>Dratch often shares her experiences and hilarious …

23 Words That Every Book Lover Should Integrate Into Their Daily Vocabulary

Would your friends and family describe you as a bibliobibuli or just an everyday bibliophagist? Do you consider yourself a librocubicultarist whose …

A Three-Hundred-Year-Old Dilemma

Recently <i>The Economist</i>’s “Johnson” column (named not for its author, but for the dictionary pioneer Samuel Johnson, who lived three centuries ago) …