One of the great things about the Internet is that it can spread information far and wide. But one of the problems is that it can also spread things like misinformation, ungrammatical regionalisms, and hideous made-up slang words (I’m looking at you, “bae” and “fleek”). One weird thing that seems to be popping up more and more online lately is something that’s being called the “needs washed” construction: a present-tense verb (often “needs” or “likes” or “wants”) plus Read more [...]

It’s bad enough when you go back over a piece of writing and cringe at an awful mistake you’ve found. But it’s much worse when you go on making the same grammatical errors or spelling mistakes and don’t even know you’re doing anything wrong. They might say that ignorance is bliss, but it’s not so great when you discover that people who have read your work came away thinking that you’re an idiot. Want to keep this from happening to you? Check out this list of common writing mistakes Read more [...]

It’s amazing how much influence Latin has over the language we speak and write in every day. It’s at the root of many, many languages, and some terms have also survived intact from this centuries-old language and made it into English. But their foreign origins can make them even harder to use correctly, so quite often, people who try to use Latin in an effort to make themselves sound smarter end up doing just the opposite. I.e, E.g., LMNOP? The most confusing Latin terms that we still use, Read more [...]

With election season upon us, we’re all hearing plenty of arguments from people trying to convince us of one thing or another, throwing out all sorts of statements (from facts to half-truths to, well, flat-out lies) in an effort to get us to vote for them or their chosen candidate. I’m certainly not going to wade into politics here, but I am a big fan of truth and logic, and both of those things can be powerful weapons when you’re trying to make an argument, whether it’s in a speech at a Read more [...]

When you sit down to create any new piece of prose, one of the things you’ll need to consider before you start typing or scribbling is what point of view you’ll use. What perspective should you tell this story from, and which pronouns will you then be using throughout the piece? Your decision will have a major impact on the reader’s experience with your writing. First, let’s consider the options. It’s All About Me: First-Person Point of View When something is written in the first-person Read more [...]