January 21, 2025
Acronyms are words formed from the first letter or letters of each word in a compound term. Technically, an acronym must be pronounced as a single word; when you say each letter individually, it’s an initialism. For the purposes of Read more…
Is redundonym a made-up word? The spell-check feature on my computer certainly seems to think so. But it’s a perfectly good word to describe redundant acronyms, plus it’s just super fun to say out loud (it bounces down your tongue Read more…
Is it “a LED display” or “an LED display”? And would you say “a URL” or “an URL”? Choosing between a or an is one of those grammatical things that native English speakers might have an instinct for, but it’s Read more…
January 6, 2025
You know, I really wish there were just one hard-and-fast set of grammar rules that everyone agreed on and followed all the time. That’d make things much easier for writers, editors, students, and anyone learning English as a second language. Read more…
December 23, 2024
Spaghetto, paparazzo, and confetto may sound unnatural and strange to our ears, but they’re real singular words! The same goes for die, magum, and a bunch of other uncommon singular forms of plural words that we use all the time. Read more…
December 16, 2024
Hey kids, spelling is fun! Songwriters are poets, and Taylor Swift is arguably one of the best. No one can tell me that “You kept me like a secret, but I kept you like an oath” isn’t some of the Read more…
December 10, 2024
Don’t panic! It’s true that words such as “FBI” and “TBA” are actually NOT acronyms at all, so you might be thinking that everything you’ve ever known is a lie (at least I did when I started learning about this). Read more…
December 9, 2024
Did you know that “snafu” is an acronym? What about “care package”? I bet there are at least a few words on this list that you never knew were acronyms! Quick Disclaimer: Acronyms vs. Initialisms Acronyms are words that are Read more…
December 5, 2024
I’m back to disprove yet another grammar myth. We’ve talked about avoiding contractions, putting two spaces after a period, ending a sentence with a preposition, and splitting infinitives. Now it’s time to tackle yet another “rule” that is actually complete Read more…
Has a teacher ever told you that you should never use contractions in formal or professional writing? Maybe you got an essay back with all the don’ts and I’ms scribbled out and replaced with do nots and I ams. I’ve Read more…