The Baltimore Sun's chief copy editor John McIntyre publishes an excellent blog on language and usage called You Don't Say. He recently posted a list of "other people who are writing intelligently and practically about language." Check out:

Style and Substance

Common Sense Journalism

Verbal Energy

The Editor's Desk

Dallas Morning News copy editor Nicole Stockdale writes a terrific blog on grammar and writing called A Capital Idea. In a recent entry she recaps a presentation on usage that covers quotes, danglers, the "who vs. whom" conundrum, and parses variations of the sentence, "only I hit him in the eye yesterday." Hit this link to check it out.

Know your who from your whom? Try your hand at these online copy editing tests and grammar quizzes to check if you really paid attention during your 8th grade sentence diagramming lesson...

The John Bremner editing test

American Copy Editors Society quiz (scroll down)

Proofreading Test

Triangle Grammar Blog quizzes (scroll and look for question mark symbols)

Language columnist Barbara Wallraff, who we interview in this week's "Behind the Dictionary" feature, recommends these books on usage:

Garner's Modern American Usage, by Bryan A. Garner. "The best single book on the niceties of contemporary American usage."

Modern English Usage, by H.W. Fowler. "The 1st or 2nd edition (not the 3rd edition, Burchfield's Fowler's, which is an entirely different animal). A classic, and a pleasure to read."

The Careful Writer, by Theodore M. Bernstein, "among other usage books by Bernstein. Also classics."

Lapsing Into a Comma and The Elephants of Style, by Bill Walsh, "the Washington Post's very smart, no-nonsense copy chief."

The Language Instinct, by Steven Pinker. "Fascinating information about how language 'works.'"

Barbara Wallraff, the language expert featured in this week's "Behind the Dictionary," suggests:

Google News. "As discussed in the interview."

The OED Online. "Expensive, but I'd be lost without it."

The Linguist List, "for when you want a scientific perspective on language."

World Wide Words, "for accurate, intelligent word lore."

... and other nifty PowerPoint presentations on English usage are available for free from a website called the Guide to Grammar and Writing. If you or your students are interested in learning about "The English House of Commas" or "The Mighty Apostrophe" please click here.

Wait! If you do care if "I could care less" is a phrase misused -- or not -- then check out the Grammarphobia Blog. The site is run by a couple of authors who were once newspaper editors and who now weigh in on "hang" verses "hung," "one fell swoop," another grammatical conundrums. Care to check it out? Please click here.