Tombstone, Gravestone, or Headstone? What’s the Difference?
When autumn begins in the northern hemisphere, people often decorate their businesses and homes to get ready for Halloween. In 2021, the National Retail Federation said Americans would spend a whopping...
View ArticleWhen You Should Use (and Avoid) Contractions
Some years ago I wrote a book called “The Sound on the Page: Style and Voice in Writing.” In it I tried to get at some of the elements — other than content — that make strong writers’ prose distinctive...
View ArticleHow to Write a Strong Topic Sentence for Clear, Organized Writing
As we recently discussed in our tight writing segment in episode 940, it is important to have a strong BLUF (bottom line up front) in your writing and to support it with clarifying details. Let the...
View ArticleNow Then, What’s a Namesake?
This is a story about how a city got its curious name and what it means to be a namesake. The story begins in the late 1890s and takes place in rural Minnesota. James Hare had become the new postmaster...
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Should We Accept ‘Commentate’ as a Verb?
If you’re into sports, entertainment, politics, the news — you encounter commentators all the time. Heck, even the spelling bee has commentators. And that word, “commentator,” has been around since the...
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Why the Bully Pulpit Isn’t What You Think
A few weeks ago we talked about words that have changed meaning over time, like “nice” and “silly.” Another one of those words was “bully,” which in its early days, was a friendly way of addressing...
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Famous Females in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics You...
When you think of famous figures who have contributed to the study of science, the first names that tend to come to mind are Albert Einstein, Alexander Fleming, Isaac Newton, and, more recently,...
View Article6 Myths That Are Costing You Money on Gas
Looking to save money on gas? We’re all pinching pennies where we can, and gas is a big expense. The following are all myths you’ve probably heard regarding saving money on your gas and car...
View Article‘Catawampus,’ ‘Kitty-Corner,’ and more
If you watched the recent “Curb your Enthusiasm” finale on HBO, you may have been delighted to see the old Americanism “catawampus” playing a central role in the plot. ‘Catawampus’ on ‘Curb Your...
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‘Anyway’ or ‘Anyways’?
Anabell asked, “Is it correct or incorrect to say ‘anyways’ to someone? As in ‘Anyways, call me later!’ ‘Anyways’ sounds like nails on a chalkboard to me.” Thanks, Anabell! The standard word is...
View ArticleHow to Cite AI Chatbots
ChatGPT and other chatbots like Claude and Gemini have seen stunningly rapid adoption in the last year or so. You probably remember all the AI-related words in our word-of-the-year episode a few months...
View ArticleNoun Strings and How to Fix Them
Noun strings are groups of nouns or adjectives mashed together to create a single term. Every word in the string adds to the meaning of the final noun. Some noun strings are straightforward. For...
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Why Do Old Documents Have S’s That Look like F’s?
If you studied the U.S. Bill of Rights as a kid — or traveled to the National Archives in Washington, DC, to see it in person — you might have noticed something curious. The very first line describes...
View ArticleDashes, Parentheses, and Commas
Today I’ll explain the difference between dashes, commas, and parentheses. Have you ever been sitting at your computer writing, and suddenly you aren’t sure whether you should use parentheses, commas,...
View Article‘Which’ Versus ‘That’
which vs that To understand the difference between “which” and “that,” first you need to understand the difference between a restrictive element and a non-restrictive element, because the simple rule...
View ArticleAdjective Order and Commas
Have you heard about the required order of adjectives in English? A few years ago, a paragraph from Mark Forsyth’s book “The Elements of Eloquence” that described this regular order of adjectives went...
View Article5 Tips to Help Your Child Overcome Math Anxiety
Math occupies every aspect of our lives, from succeeding in school to paying bills or buying vegetables. The subject is so tightly woven into our day-to-day activities that some people don’t even...
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