November 19, 2024
My husband’s name is Braden. That’s what it says on his birth certificate, but everyone calls him Brady and has done so basically since he was born. One time, he asked his mom why they didn’t just name him Brady Read more…
November 18, 2024
Abbreviations are all over the place. We use them in text messages, emails, work meetings, and even normal, everyday conversations! They make our lives just a little bit easier and help us avoid unnecessary repetition. But sometimes we use abbreviations Read more…
November 12, 2024
Which is correct: “It happened like I said it would” or “It happened as I said it would”? What about these: “It tasted like garbage” or “It tasted as garbage”? If you picked the sentence with like in it both Read more…
Then and than are just one letter away from being the exact same word, but that one tiny letter makes a world of difference! Despite the words’ similarity in spelling, they have completely different definitions and are absolutely NOT interchangeable. Read more…
If you went to the grocery store with your roommate, would you say “He and I went” or “He and me went”? And if your friend graciously offered to drive you both, would you say “They drove him and I” Read more…
November 5, 2024
It might seem like English is a pretty well-established language, but new words are being made up all the time! If a new kind of technology is invented, its name needs to go in the dictionary. When new slang words Read more…
October 29, 2024
Doesn’t that just title sum up English grammar? “Here’s a rule, but it’s not quite always true…” It’s an unfortunate reality that the rules of English grammar are very much like swiss cheese: full of holes (and possibly a little Read more…
The capitalization question strikes again. We’ve talked about how the “f” in french fries should be lowercase (even though French is usually capitalized in other contexts), but what about words like “mom” and “dad”? What about professional titles like “president”? Read more…
October 28, 2024
You probably know that you’re supposed to capitalize proper nouns, including the names of people, places, and organizations. So it goes without saying that the name of the country France should be capitalized. But what are the rules of capitalization Read more…
October 22, 2024
I’m not the only person who has favorite and least-favorite grammatical rules, right? For example, the Oxford comma is definitely up there as one of my favorites. Unfortunately, the rule we’re talking about right now—the suspended hyphen—is one of my Read more…