The curse of the announcer seems to be everywhere! Part of sports talk. Part of our inner conversations. Everywhere! I love watching sports — even some sports that some sports fans don’t think are actually sports. I love watching pro…
Please Stop Calling Us “Elderly”!
Please stop calling us elderly. We’re Boomers. We’re alive. We’re thriving. We’re not dead yet. We. Are. NOT. Elderly. Recently, I have become aware of newscasters talking about those in accidents / house fires / holdups being labeled “elderly.” At…
Commas or Parentheses?
Why would anyone even ask about commas or parentheses? It was Sunday, and there I was, sitting quietly reading the Boston Sunday Globe newspaper, when I read a simple sentence that sparked an idea. Has that ever happened to you…
Active and Passive Voice
A reader wrote and asked if I would explain active and passive voice, because she has been using an electronic grammar checker and it keeps saying she should use MORE passive sentences. Um. No. Please don’t. She wasn’t completely sure…
Limits of Language
Did you realize there are actually limits of language? Ann, a friend of mine, related this story to me recently: She was playing cards, and she remarked she needed a 7 or 2. Her partner threw her a 2. Ann…
Morning — Musth
It’s been a few months since my last Tuesday Tricksters post, and I’m not sure why I stopped posting this series. Because each post shows my readers words in English that are easy to misuse (no matter whether English is…
Bugging Me, Bugging You
Bugging me, bugging you: Is there something we can do? Yes, there are things that “bug” me, some so-called “cosmic questions” that simply make me nuts, and I thought I’d see if anyone has answers, has thought of these things…
My Happy Place
A short list to describe my happy place. I just read a marvelous post by Mandy Chew on Medium that got my full attention. Both the writing and the ideas were excellent, and I enjoyed it a lot. She hit my head (great…
OK, You Asked for it — a Lie / Lay Quiz!
This past Monday I published an American Grammar Checkup post on three difficult punctuation marks so many writers misuse, and I asked if there was anything else I could write about that would help my readers. David B. Grinberg said he’d love to…
OK, You Asked for it — a Lie / Lay Quiz!
For those who regularly find and read my posts, the picture above might look familiar — I used it at the end of yesterday’s post on words that can make us angry when we use them. Laughter, indeed, is a wondrous thing;…
Can Words Really Hurt Us?
Years ago, I realized that words can really hurt us. Like many, I had grown up hearing the old adage: “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me!” Then I realized how untrue that saying…
A Short Quiz on Using Colons, Commas, and Quotation Marks
There are three punctuation marks that make many writers crazy: commas, colons, and quotation marks, and this post is intended to help a little with each. Please remember that it’s American grammar rules I’m writing about, not necessarily any other…
Jordan Spieth: Happy 24th Birthday!
Have you heard of Jordan Spieth? Do you admire grit? Determination? Do you celebrate excellence? I found myself thinking those thoughts again as I watched almost-24-year-old Jordan Spieth seemingly rise from the ashes — Phoenix-like — to a thrilling win…
Ease Up on the Jargonese, Please!
Years ago, one of my daughters got a job in an industry she wasn’t familiar with. After a couple of weeks of learning the ropes, she showed me her paper notebook (this was in the late ’90s, I think, before…
“They Never Intended to Kill Anyone”
I am sitting at my computer, watching the news, and again, I’m struck with horror at the killing of an American student named Bakari Henderson in Greece by an angry mob a few days ago. It appears that the student…
3 Ways to Almost Guarantee Your Writing Will Make a Bad First Impression
I’m a copyeditor, meaning I read and edit others’ words to help them look and sound as smart as they are. Over the last 25 years, I have seen many ways of succeeding and, sadly, a few things that almost…
More Cross Words from a Cruciverbalist*
Yup, it’s back — the Wednesday Words compilation of words in crossword puzzles that I had to look up once I figured out the answers. There’s nothing quite so humbling as realizing that I can put the correct letters…
Fireside Chats — Online Presence
Many years ago, I ran across this piece of advice from Harvey Mackay, and it’s always been in the back of my mind ever since. Dig Your Well Before You’re Thirsty. It was written as a book title in 1999,…
Traps for the Unwary, Part 4: Pronouns
This is the fourth in a short series of highlighting common errors that are easy to make and miss when we’re writing. Everyone who has seen my posts over the last three years knows I’m a nut about using language…
Traps for the Unwary, Part 3: Using Apostrophes
This is the third in a series highlighting common grammar and usage errors (in the American system, anyway) that can trap even the best writers if they’re (they are) not watching what they’re (they are) writing carefully. Last week we…
Traps for the Unwary, Part 2: Apostrophes do not Create Plurals!
Last week I started a series on common errors that can trap even the best writers when we’re not thinking clearly or reading what we’ve written. Today we’re looking at one of the smaller punctuation marks — the apostrophe —…
Traps for the Unwary, Part 1: When is a Question not a Question?
When is a question not a question? When it’s a statement. Although many writers use English well, some are falling into some common traps that they may not be aware of. And sometimes I think it’s because the word order…
Wednesday Words & Woes: One Real (But Not Accepted) and Two Not Even Real
Questions arise constantly about words — which to use, which to never use, and why. In my Brush Up on Your American Grammar workshops, I refer to some words as not accepted or not standard, meaning they are in dictionaries…
Tuesday Tricksters, Missal — Mode
You thought I’d abandoned these, right? Nope. Not a prayer. Just got very busy the last couple of weeks. But I’m baaaaaaack! Using the correct words, to me, is the hallmark of good writing — knowing the difference between you’re…
A Time for Kindness
On Friday, March 17, 2017, Marcia Turesky Rooks died. She had lived a wonderful life, and she died just six weeks past her 100th birthday. She was my mother. And while her death was a blessing, as she’d gone rapidly…
Bloggers of the World: Untie!
How many of you are bloggers? How many of you can’t believe the title of this post? How many of you saw the goof right away? How would you feel if it were yours? A couple of years ago, I…
Three Women Who …
The three women who helped me become me will always be in my heart and memory. Without their efforts, I wouldn’t be who I am today. Each of us probably has / had a few people in our life who…
Tuesday Tricksters, Mil–Minks
It was a lazy, hazy, snowy morning here at the Grammar Goddess abode; the dogs were sleeping, and I was lazily gazing out through the snow-covered windows to the snow-covered trees, when suddenly I realized it’s TUESDAY! Yikes. I hadn’t…
Networkers No “Premature Solicitation”
Networkers: “No premature solicitation!” should be tattooed on your forehead! For about 30 years, networking has been the word “du jour” or “d’année.” Everyone who is anyone in business networks. And while social media is huge these days, many still…
Tuesday Tricksters, Mews–Might
It’s (its) another Tuesday, and time (thyme) to (too, two) (re)learn five more (moore) pairs (pears) of tricky words that can make even the best writers look not so smart. They’re (their, there) known as homophones, words that sound the…
One Word or Two?
English is a weird language. I can’t speak for any other one, but we often have words with the same letters in them, but sometimes the words are really two separate words and sometimes they’re just one solid word. As…
Tuesday Tricksters, Medal — Mewl
So here it is: the last day of February. How did this come on so quickly? It’s also a Tuesday, which means I have another chance to remind writers about an important fact: Spellcheck, for all its wonderfulness, does only…
Here’s an American Grammar Quiz for You!
Here’s an American grammar quiz for you! I first published it in 2015, but because I have added so many connections since then, I thought it would make sense to rerun it. The quiz shown below is the first page…
Fireside Chats: Milestones
What milestones have you seen and celebrated? Did you know that February is Spunky Old Broads month? I hadn’t until two years ago when a friend — Claire LeSage — told me about it. I wrote a post on it…
A Productivity Killer
Are you familiar with the term “productivity killer”? Funny. When we were kids, most of us heard and maybe said, “Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” You remember that, right? Then we grew…
Tuesday Tricksters, Me — Meatier
So today is the day of love — around the world. It’s St. Valentine’s Day, at least here in the U.S. Love is in the air. Cupid is shooting his arrows, sometimes hitting the wrong people. Those who are not…
A for Effort!
Do you give yourself an A for effort for what you do right? Frequent readers of my blogs know that each Tuesday I publish a “Tuesday Tricksters” list of miserable words – known as homophones (words that sound the same,…
Tuesday Tricksters, Marten — Maw
Who hasn’t written the wrong word, thinking one (won) that sounded like it was the right (rite) one? Learning English, with its (it’s) homophones (words that sound alike or nearly so) can be (bee) really tough. This Tuesday Tricksters series…
Perception is Everything
Do you realize that perception is everything? How do others see you? How do you want to them to see you? What are you doing about it — now? I’m bringing this up because a friend and colleague, John White, recently wrote…
The Gift of Enough
The gift of enough is probably the best one I was ever given. I saw this picture on Loribeth Pierson‘s final post of her excellent series called 12 Days of LinkedIn Tips — and I was struck by how it…
Yiddish for Everyone!
Yiddish for everyone! As I was researching some sites for fun stuff for Christmas and Hanukkah (also spelled Chanukah), I saw a list of Yiddish words and just had to use it. This is a list — I doubt it’s…
Contronyms
Thanks to Deb Helfrich for suggesting this post about contronyms! For all who think words don’t matter — that’s not YOU, right? — I offer some proof that they do using a few words taken from an article I recently…
Homophones Licker – Limn
It’s Tuesday again! Time for more difficult words — homophones — that we all need to pay attention to! They’re the ones that sound the same (or nearly so), but are spelled differently and have different meanings. Licker (n.): one…
What Are YOU Missing
What are YOU missing by moving too quickly all the time? Before you read this article, please watch the short video below. A fast-moving montage or a moment-by-moment experience: Which is more powerful? There is clearly energy in the…
Palter? Really? Yes, really.
Palter? Really? Yes, really. Lauren McDonald shared a post here on LI yesterday — the one seen below, which is very worth reading — and for a minute I thought the headline had a typo in it. The headline read…
Lesser — Liken
More homophones: lesser and liken. Homophones: tough words (aka homophones) in English that sound the same (or nearly so, anyway), but mean something different and are spelled differently. And it doesn’t matter how much English we know; these words bedevil…
Commonly Confused Words, #1
Hi everyone — it’s Wednesday, and it’s time for a quiz to make sure everyone reading this is comfortable with some of the most confusing words in English. I’m keeping the quiz short, so that you can concentrate on the…
Leave — Lesson
It’s (Its) time (thyme) again for Tuesday Tricksters! It’s a quick peek (peak/pique) at some (sum) words that sound the same but (butt/butte) are not (knot/naught) the same! They have different meanings and different spellings. Smart writers remember that spellcheck…
Tricksters Leak — Leased
It’s Tuesday, so here’s another edition of Tricksters, those words that sound alike (or nearly so, anyway) and can make us writers look bad when we misuse them. Spellcheck will never help here; the words are spelled correctly, but used…