12 Nouns That Are Always Plural
If you’re deep in the world of fashion influencers on Instagram, or have ever caught an episode of a fashion reality show, then you might have heard phrases like "My go-to evening look is a smoky eye...
View ArticleDo All Adverbs End in '-Ly'?
Today we’re going to see if we are allowed to “drive slow” instead of “slowly.” May we “jump high” or “sit up straight”? What about the advertising slogan “Eat fresh”? Yes, today is adverb day, with a...
View ArticleHow 'Green' Became Green
The original Earth Day Proclamation in 1970 refers to “our beautiful blue planet,” and the first Earth Day flag consisted of a NASA photo of the earth on a dark blue background. But the color of fields...
View ArticleIs 'Funnest' a Word?
Researching the word “funnest” and its close relation “funner” turned out to be a lot less fun than I had hoped — or at least more complicated.First, the easy part. Everyone agrees that “fun” was...
View ArticleYou Know. Doppelganger. Trademarks. Funnily.
It’s time for our quarterly listener question extravaganza podcast! Discourse Markers"Hello, Mignon. My name is Hal in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I'm calling to suggest a segment on the expression ‘you...
View ArticleAre We Truthful or Just ‘Truthfully Misleading’?
Philosophers as far back as Greek and Roman antiquity debated the meaning of truth. While what constitutes truth has always been controversial, these days it seems like the line between what’s true and...
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How to Write Percents
First let's get our terminology right. In some cases "percent" and "percentage" can be interchangeable, but the easiest way to choose the right word for the right situation is to use "percent" with a...
View ArticleHow Aphasia Causes Difficulty Speaking
Language impairment is often caused by tragic conditions like aphasia, a type of brain damage. This condition can teach us a lot about how language works. To begin to understand such a complex,...
View ArticleNouns: Concrete, Abstract, Collective, and Compound
A student named Caley sent me this message:“My writing teacher loves your book and uses it a lot. I would like for you to explain concrete, compound, abstract, and collective nouns.”Thanks, Caley!I...
View ArticleWhy Do People Talk About Being 'Out of Spoons'?
A few months ago, I started to notice people talking about spoons in a weird way.First, my amazing fiction writing and podcasting friend Mur Lafferty tweeted, “I have no spoons for making decisions...
View ArticleAbbreviations, Acronyms & Initialisms
Today's topic is the difference between abbreviations, acronyms, and initialisms.Many people use the word acronym to describe any abbreviation made from the first letters of a string of words, but...
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Barracking, Sheilas and Shouts: How the Irish Influenced Australian English
The Warrnambool potato harvest of 1881. State Library of VictoriaAustralian English decidedly finds its origins in British English. But when it comes to chasing down Irish influence, there are – to...
View ArticleGrammar Quirks: Edward Ashton on Yeeting What Needs to be Yote
Grammar Girl: What’s your favorite word and why?Edward Ashton: You’re gonna need to define “favorite” here. If you mean “most overused,” then it’s probably “really.” I had to delete about 500 examples...
View ArticleGrammar Quirks: Alex Finlay on 'And'
Grammar Girl: What’s your favorite word and why?Alex Finlay: “And.” It gets me so many places. And you can start a sentence with it, contrary to what too many were taught in grade school.GG: What’s a...
View ArticleCan You Start a Sentence with 'And'?
I always see some shocked faces when I tell a classroom of college students that there is nothing wrong with beginning a sentence with the word “and” (or for that matter, the words “but,” “because,” or...
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Serial Comma
The Oxford comma is the comma that goes before the final “and” in a series. For example, if I write “snorts, howls, and guffaws,” if I put a comma after “howls” and before the word “and,” that’s an...
View ArticleHeads or Tails? Is the Order of Word Pairs the Same Across Languages?
This listener had a great question about last week’s segment on binomials:"Hi, Grammar Girl. I have a question about binomials. I was just wondering if the common ‘salt and pepper,’ ‘ham and eggs,’...
View ArticleIs 'Materiel' the Same as 'Material'?
Doug wrote,"With the recent invasion of Ukraine, I have heard several news, military, and political commentators say 'materiel' with regard to (what I have gathered through context clues) is supplies,...
View ArticleFrozen Binomials: Why Do We Cringe at 'Pepper and Salt'?
Can you put the pepper and salt on the table? Will you stop walking forth and back; you’re going to wear out the carpet. I just have to tie up a few ends and odds before I quit for the day.How many...
View ArticleWhy Does ‘Square’ Mean ‘Uncool’?
Daniel had a good question about the "square meal" segment from last week’s show:[VOICEMAIL] "Hi, Mignon. This is Daniel from Kansas City, Missouri. I just got done listening to your latest podcast...
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