Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing


Latest Episodes

What we get wrong about 'um' and 'uh,' with Valerie Fridland
April 18, 2023

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
April 11, 2023

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.'
April 04, 2023

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?
March 28, 2023

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.
March 21, 2023

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'?
March 14, 2023

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.'
March 07, 2023

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.
February 28, 2023

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)
February 21, 2023

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'?
February 14, 2023

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