September 12, 2024
Why does “the brick old house” sound weird but “the old brick house” is fine? So many grammar rules are difficult to remember and even trickier to perfect, but this one is pretty much automatic for most native English speakers. Read more…
Anyone who says they don’t use the singular “they” is likely kidding themselves. After all, you probably read that sentence with no trouble or misunderstanding at all, and it has not one but TWO singular “they”s! So why is the Read more…
Have you ever been told that you can’t end a sentence with a preposition? Maybe you don’t know what that really means, which makes the rule all the more frightening. Well, breathe a deep sigh of relief because it turns Read more…
September 6, 2024
Star Trek is an iconic media franchise, bringing audiences legendary characters, exciting storylines, and seemingly endless spin-off shows and movies. But the franchise’s impact goes beyond the entertainment realm: Grammarians have Star Trek to thank for one of the most Read more…
You’ve probably figured out by now that commas have a LOT of different jobs. You might call them the jack-of-all-trades of the punctuation world. They separate items in a list, set off nonrestrictive clauses, follow introductory phrases, and so much Read more…
September 4, 2024
If I had to use just one word to describe the most common mistake that writers make with commas, I’d say “overuse.” Sins of omission with commas are rare; sins of commission are plentiful. Part of the trouble is that Read more…
September 3, 2024
I can’t leave that question in the title hanging—it’s stressing me out too much to pretend that “which” could be correct in that phrase. The correct title is “The Grammar Faux Pas That Annoys Me the Most,” and there’s one Read more…
August 30, 2024
If there’s one thing that separates a pretty decent writer from a really good writer, it’s knowing how to AVOID dangling or misplacing modifiers. Although it’s a common mistake, dangling your modifiers in public is absolutely frowned upon (and can Read more…
August 27, 2024
“Fewer” and “less” both mean “a smaller amount than,” so lots of people use them interchangeably. However, these words are actually different! There are specific times when you need “fewer” and other times when “less” is more appropriate. The rule Read more…
August 23, 2024
One of my favorite books about grammar is Eats, Shoots & Leaves. In one chapter, the author (Lynne Truss) enumerates the many different roles of a comma and, after all that, reveals “the big final rule for the comma”: She Read more…