Every year in this column, I give tips for how to avoid the most common writing mistakes in holiday greetings and invitations. And every year, I’m reminded of just how influential I’m not as people ...
Apostrophes are the curly floating commas in sentences that usually indicate possession or a contraction. There are a few set phrases and holidays, however, that also use apostrophes. In fact, ...
Mark Twain’s encounter with a particular foreign tongue inspired an essay called “The Awful German Language.” Welcome to a new feature of this column. We won’t call it “The Awful English Language.” ...
He walks softly and carries a big stick. He uses it to make marks that look like little sticks. He prowls the streets at night, terrorizing shopkeepers and sign makers alike. But I’m betting regular ...
After VERIFYING how to spell canceled (with one l or two), a viewer asked us to VERIFY another grammar inquiry you might have been breaking for years. Beth Miller from Guilford County asked, "Why ...
The apostrophe can be used to show who things belong to. If an item belongs to something, the apostrophe shows us who, by sitting at the end of the noun. If that noun doesn't end in s, the apostrophe ...
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... Apostrophes are flooding the market – and mostly in all the wrong places. Old time teachers of English grammar must be turning over in their graves. Even ...