Topic : Grammar

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Language Lounge

A Monthly Column for Word Lovers

How Do Phrasal Verbs "Pencil Out"?
Tue Dec 01 00:00:00 EST 2015
By Orin Hargraves

I heard an interview on the radio the other day with Dan Price, CEO of Seattle-based credit card processing firm Gravity Payments. He's been in the news because of his decision to set the minimum salary for his employees at $70,000. What interested me in the interview was his use of pencil out, a phrasal verb that was new to me. Lexicographers are to words like birders are to birds: when we spot one that's not on our life list we get very excited, even as others' eyes may glaze over.  Continue reading...
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Candlepower

Ad and marketing creatives

Branding Weirds Language
Mon Sep 21 00:00:00 EDT 2015
By Nancy Friedman

"Verbing weirds language." Ad copywriters have made the weirding of language – and especially the verbing of nouns – a signal feature of the current brandscape. They're only the most visible of the language-weirders who are making the culture more expressive... or more vexing, depending on your point of view.  Continue reading...
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Language Lounge

A Monthly Column for Word Lovers

Minds, Bodies, and Verbs
Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 2015
By Orin Hargraves

Many verbs that entail some advanced cognitive capacity are commonly used in predicates for subjects that are not human. All speakers are comfortable with sentences like "Verizon revamps mobile plans and ends 2-year contracts & subsidies." Most speakers, however, reject sentences like "Microsoft is vividly imagining a purple square."  Continue reading...
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Word Count

Writers Talk About Writing

Come to Papa with the Hemingway App
Thu Jul 23 00:00:00 EDT 2015
By Daphne Gray-Grant

Many writers today strive to avoid the passive voice. Do you know what I mean by passive? Don't be too quick to say yes!  Continue reading...
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Behind the Dictionary

Lexicographers Talk About Language

A Real Go-Setter
Thu Jul 16 00:00:00 EDT 2015
By Neal Whitman

This week's publication of Go Set a Watchman, Harper Lee's long-dormant sequel of sorts to To Kill a Mockingbird, has gotten a tune running through my head: "Go Tell Aunt Rhody." Two titles, same number of syllables, and the same syntactic structure, right down to the use of go plus another verb right next to it. But how do both those verbs fit into the place where just one verb should go?  Continue reading...
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Word Count

Writers Talk About Writing

Do This, Then Do That: Coordinating "Then" Usage
Wed Mar 25 00:00:00 EDT 2015
By Erin Brenner

Recently in an online forum for editors, someone balked at then being used as a coordinating conjunction, as in: "I went to high school, then I went to college." Coordinating conjunctions, you'll recall, join two items of equal status: two words of the same parts of speech, two phrases of the same type, or two clauses.  Continue reading...
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Blog Excerpts

For Grammar Day, Write a Haiku!
Mon Mar 02 11:00:00 EST 2015

Grammar lovers, it's your time to shine! Write a haiku for National Grammar Day, March 4th ("march forth") and tweet it to #grammarday. Or just enjoy these winning haiku from last year.  Continue reading...
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