Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing
Latest Episodes
What we get wrong about 'um' and 'uh,' with Valerie Fridland
924. What if I told you that you actually should use "uh" and "um" when you're giving a talk? And what if I told you "dude" was originally an anti-masculine word? Those are just some of the surprising
5 things every writer wants to learn, with Roy Peter Clark
923. America's writing coach, Roy Peter Clark, shares his wisdom about the five things every writer he's ever taught wants to learn.
Killer bunnies in medieval manuscripts. The strange rules of 'dozen.'
922. "A dozen of eggs" sounds weird, but why? Rabbits performing violent acts are a common scene in medieval marginalia. But why are they there? Turns outMonty Python was on to something!
The Rosetta Stone and taxes. Is your sufficiency suffonsified?
921. Taxes, and the words for them, go back all the way to ancient Egypt. Plus, I have much more to tell you about the phrase "I am sufficiently suffoncified"! It's an especially fun week on the Gramm
Why we have both 'a' and 'an.' What does it mean to be lonely? Sufficiency.
920. Once you start thinking about it, it's weird that we have both "a" and "an." It gets even weirder from there! Plus, modern loneliness, and its solutions, are quite different from what they were w
How 'napron' became 'apron' (and what that has to do with newts). 'Ahold' or 'a hold'?
919. Rebracketing is a fascinating process that gives us more words than you might imagine, even words from French and Spanish! Also, I find a surprising answer to the question of which is correct: "a
Why do people 'drop' a new single? How to pronounce 'often.'
918. Since "drop" can mean both "to release" and "to cancel," it can get confusing. We look at how this confusion came to be (and how to avoid it). Plus, we wade into the debate about whether there'
How to actually improve your grammar. Why parallelism is important (and how to use it). Keycoos.
917. For National Grammar Day, we answer one of the most common questions I get: How can I improve my grammar? Plus, I explain why parallelism is important, especially in resume writing.
How writing very short stories can improve all your writing (with Grant Faulkner)
916. Grant Faulkner, author of "The Art of Brevity" and executive director of NaNoWriMo talks with us about how writing very short stories can improve all your writing.
Language Reveals Universal Truths About Love. 'Wool Sweater' or 'Woolen Sweater'?
915. Love is much more than romance, and different languages reveal universal truths about the different kinds of love. Plus, we look at whether you should write about wool sweaters or woolen sweaters