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  1. Word Count

     The End of The Affair: Last Lines of Novels and What They Tell Us
    Wed Jun 18 00:00:00 EDT 2014
    Last month I examined the first lines of novels and how authors use different strategies to capture the reader. This month I will be looking at last lines, the different kinds of messages they send, and how they can leave the reader feeling about the novel as a whole.

  2. Candlepower

     A Very Enterprising Suffix
    Mon Jun 16 00:00:00 EDT 2014

    "What was your latest preneur?"

    It's one of the most quoted lines in the 2010 movie The Social Network. The line is proof that -preneur has bid adieu to its entre- associate and become a word part with independent staying power.

  3. Word Count

     Why Our Writing Improves As We Age
    Fri Jun 13 00:00:00 EDT 2014
    At age 56, I'm not yet a senior. But I'm starting to become constantly surprised by how young other people are — doctors, CEOs, even heads of government (the president of Kosovo is only 38, the president of Finland is 42 and even Barack Obama, at 52, is younger than me.)

  4. Word Count

     "Dos and Don'ts" or "Do's and Don'ts"?
    Wed Jun 11 14:00:00 EDT 2014
    We're happy to introduce the first in a series of tips on usage and style from the inimitable Grammar Girl, a.k.a. Mignon Fogarty. First up: how do you punctuate do and don't when the words are pluralized?

  5. Dog Eared

     No Apology Needed for "Sorry About That"
    Wed Jun 11 00:00:00 EDT 2014
    If you have any interest in apologies, language as performance, or politics, you'll enjoy Edwin L. Battistella's Sorry About That: The Language of Public Apologies. This is a terrific book, full of compelling examples and expert analysis. Reading this book will not only help you become better at making a mea culpa: you'll become a sharper observer of other people's apologies too.

  6. Word Count

     On Writing a Column
    Mon Jun 09 00:00:00 EDT 2014
    What makes a good column? Like any piece of writing, a column needs a beginning, middle, and end — here starts the middle of this one. Beginning with a joke, as I did above, an intriguing question, or an outlandish statement may hook readers, but once you've got 'em hooked, you need to give 'em ideas worth listening to, or they'll quickly yawn and turn the page.

  7. Behind the Dictionary

     Days of Future Past, Past of Future Days
    Fri Jun 06 00:00:00 EDT 2014
    Days of Future Past: It's not just the subtitle of the new X-Men movie that recently opened; it's an invitation to explore some of the lesser-traveled corridors in the English verb tense system.

  8. Evasive Maneuvers

     Context Collapse at the Shoe Hospital
    Wed Jun 04 00:00:00 EDT 2014
    Context collapse is cited by researchers as a reason friendships fall apart online, with only the Borg mind of Mark Zuckerberg to connect them. That certainly makes sense. If the only context we share is that we were in the same fourth-grade English class, and the teacher tossed the same erasers at us for talking in class, and we didn't even like each other much then, our context is thinner than a supermodel.

  9. Word Routes

     Why "Maleficent" is a Magnificent Villain Name
    Tue Jun 03 00:00:00 EDT 2014
    In reimagining the 1959 film Sleeping Beauty, Disney had a great tool in their arsenal: the classic villain name "Maleficent," now elevated to title character.

  10. Language Lounge

     A More Perfect Document
    Mon Jun 02 00:00:00 EDT 2014
    Retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens has recently written a book, Six Amendments, in which he proposes changes to the United States Constitution. I was curious to examine the language of Justice Stevens' book to get a better handle on what he perceives as the faulty connection between the Constitution's words and today's reality that may have arisen from the way we have interpreted those words.
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