Author: Mignon Fogarty
Today, we’re going to start with rules but go heavy on history at the end because what I thought would be an easy question to answer took me down an interesting rabbit hole and finally to an interview. It all started with this voicemail message. “Hi, Grammar Girl. I actually work for the Federal Government, and I have a good enough command of writing and grammar that I am humorously referred to as the Grammar Guru. Recently we were writing a report and something came up. Some of the people on the committee thought we should capitalize ‘ZIP Code’ .…
Many parts of the world are moving from standard time to daylight saving time (also called summer time) this week, so I thought it would be a good time to talk about the phrase “daylight saving time” and time in general. I still have to think of the mnemonic “spring forward, fall back” every time we do this to figure out what to do with my clocks. Since it’s spring, I’ll be moving my clocks ahead Saturday night before I go to bed. Technically, the time changes at 2:00 a.m. on Sunday, but it’s not like I’m going to…
My family loves basketball, and from my name, you may have guessed that I have some Irish heritage, so I grew up hearing about Boston’s team, the Celtics. That’s spelled with a C, but I also know many academics refer to the language as “Keltic” (which can be spelled with a C or a K, but is pronounced like a K). So I started wondering: What’s the deal? What’s right? Is it “Seltic” or “Keltic”? Modern dictionaries say both pronunciations are acceptable. All the dictionaries I checked put the “Keltic” pronunciation first, but contrary to what you may have…
All the little details of writing are difficult, and even published authors can struggle to get everything right. Thankfully, these writers have editors who clean up the writing to make authors look their best. Macmillan Publishers’ editors ranked the most common errors they see, and shared some of their advice for writers. Here’s a colorful infographic to help you edit. You’ll find more information and links to related Grammar Girl articles and episodes below. 1. Misplaced commas Commas are one of the most commonly used punctuation marks, and there are a baffling number of ways to use them. To further…
If you want to try something fun this Valentine’s Day, type “XOXO” into a Facebook comment. It’s shorthand for “hugs and kisses,” and the text becomes highlighted, and if you click on it, little animated hearts float up on the screen. But how did “XOXO” come to mean “hugs and kisses”? Well, the truth is that nobody is absolutely sure. Let’s talk about the X first. Why is an X a kiss? The earliest citation for X as a kiss in the Oxford English Dictionary is from 1763, and the highly quotable Winston Churchill used it in 1894, but…
You want the referee of your game to be disinterested. You don’t want the referee to have a bet on the game. As another example, if you’re on trial, you want a disinterested judge. Generally, unless you’re a lawyer, the word you’re looking for is “uninterested,” but a quick news search shows that “disinterested” also frequently appears. Here’s how to use these words according to the traditional rules: Squiggly was uninterested in the Super Bowl. Instead, he was looking forward to the Puppy Bowl. The ex-wife can hardly be considered a disinterested party in the estate sale. Bryan Garner, author of Garner’s…
Although the website for the American Kennel Club and dog-specific publications such as Bark magazine and Dogster seem to capitalize all the words in breed names, the Associated Press’s rule for dog (and cat) breeds is to capitalize the part of the name derived from a proper noun and lowercase the part of the name derived from a common noun. Consider these names: English mastiff Yorkshire terrier Norwegian elkhound Bernese mountain dog In those examples, according to AP style, “English,” “Yorkshire,” “Norwegian,” and “Bernese” are all capitalized because they are derived from proper nouns—the names of places. On the other hand, “mastiff” is derived from the Latin “mansuétus”…
High odds mean that if you’ve placed a bet, you’ll win a high payout; and low odds mean that if you’ve placed a bet, you’ll win a lower payout. What are low odds? Low odds are something like 2-to-1 against. These odds mean something is somewhat likely to happen. The odds are low that Squiggly will ask for a chocolate dessert. Squiggly loves chocolate. The odds are low that there will be an earthquake in California in the next decade. If you had made a 2-to-1 bet for $1 that Squiggly would ask for a chocolate dessert, and he did,…
When people tell me their pet peeves, they often mention the phrase “could care less.” They claim it should be “couldn’t care less.” “It’s illogical. If you could care less, you still care. Don’t people get it?” they say. Celebrities have even jumped on the cranky bandwagon. Both David Mitchell and John Cleese have made popular YouTube videos ranting about the illogical phrase “could care less.” Interestingly, both men are British comedians, and they’re both complaining, in particular, about Americans who use the phrase. Do Americans Say ‘Could Care Less’? Are Americans really more likely to say they could…
Grammar Pop is a mobile game originally developed for iOS devices. Now, for the first time, you can play it right in your browser on a tablet, laptop, or desktop! For tips and the answers to more questions, visit the main Grammar Pop FAQ page. In the meantime, you may have some questions about how we categorize parts of speech in the game. Articles Articles are short words that come before nouns. There are two types of articles, but we just call them all articles in Grammar Pop. The indirect articles are a and an. A comes before words that start with a consonant sound, and an comes…