Grammar Girl here. I know I promised that the next episode would be about apostrophes, but Zach wrote in with a grammar emergency tied to the execution of Saddam Hussein. I'm sure we all realize there are more important aspects to this story than rep...
Grammar Girl here. Today's topic is well versus good. It's such a simple little question: How are you? But I've heard from people who feel a twinge of trepidation or even full-blown frustration every time they have to decide whether to say they're go...
Grammar Girl here. Today's topic is words that can get you into trouble. Guest-writer Bonnie Trenga writes: Once upon a time, some mistaken citizens stood up for American principals, p-r-i-n-c-i-p-a-l-s. Across the Atlantic, a nutty queen sat on her...
Grammar Girl here. I get a lot of questions about things that are too short to make up a whole podcast, so today I'm going to answer a few of those short questions. So here's our first listener question. Dreamed Versus Dreamt Hi Grammar Girl. D. Chap...
Grammar Girl here. Today well be talking about indefinite pronouns such as everyone and somebody. Now, guest-writer Bonnie Trenga writes, Everyone Versus Everybody Lately, listeners have asked a lot of questions about indefinite pronouns, such as eve...
Grammar Girl here. Today's topic is dragged versus drug. I've been renovating a condo, and last week I posted a message on Twitter that started out with the sentence I drug myself over to the condo. I was sharing this bit of information to get to the...
Grammar Girl here. Today's topic is nixing the horrid of. Almost everyone has a few bad writing habits. They're often the kind of thing experts or even your friends can point to and say Yup, I know who wrote that. One of my bad habits is that I tend...
Grammar Girl here. Todays topic is cement versus concrete. Guest writer Sal Glynn writes: Accuracy is important. You might think concrete and cement are interchangeable, but you'll quickly find that you're mistaken when some guy at Home Depot rolls h...
Grammar Girl here. Your hostess with the mostest, guest-writer Bonnie Trenga, is back for more on comparisons. In a previous show, we talked about when to use more and most or the suffixes -er and -est to make comparisons using adjectives and adverbs...
Grammar Girl here. Today guest-writer Bonnie Trenga will help us talk about which clauses and whether its OK to start a sentence with oneor a new paragraph. Incomplete Sentences Sentences that are missing something, such as a subject or a predicate,...
Grammar Girl here. Today's topic is can versus may. A listener named Donna says that after familiarizing herself with the definitions and usages of can and may, she still isn't sure which word to use in this sentence: May we expect you tomorrow? or C...
Grammar Girl here. Today's topic is bring versus take. Many listeners have asked me to talk about today's topic. Here's a caller: Hi Grammar Girl. It's Clint in Chester, VA. I have two children reaching high school age and they still don't know the d...
Grammar Girl here. In honor of the increased show production schedule, today's topic is biweekly versus semiweekly. How to Remember the Definitions of Bi- and Semi- The prefixes bi- and semi- are different. Bi- means two and semi- means half. You can...
Grammar Girl here. Guest-writer Bonnie Trenga will be your hostess with the mostest today, because were looking at how to make comparisons using adjectives and adverbs. Bonnie writes, When you want to modify a noun, is it OK to stick a more or a most...
Grammar Girl here. Today I'm going to beg the question. Ellen at Swarthmore said she would appreciate it if I talk about the misuse of the phrase begs the question. I keep seeing it as a way to say The question begs to be asked or The question that s...
