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+4 +1
Why Grammar Nerds Keep Getting So Furious With the Associated Press
And why they’re wrong.
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+17 +1
Meet the Guardian of Grammar Who Wants to Help You Be a Better Writer
Benjamin Dreyer sees language the way an epicure sees food. And he finds sloppiness everywhere he looks.
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+15 +1
One Russian Teacher's Online Crusade To Get Proper Russian Back On TV
A language teacher ruffles feathers among leading TV personalities with a popular YouTube channel relentlessly nitpicking at grammatical blunders.
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+19 +1
A lack of an Oxford comma cost dairy $5 million
A group of Maine dairy delivery drivers will receive $5 million in a proposed settlement for unpaid overtime, according to court records filed on Thursday.
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+10 +1
10 Unusual But Critical Edit Checks Before You Hit Publish
A good story is more than good structure, grammar and spelling. Does it keep your reader interested? Do they feel compelled to continue to the end? It’s difficult for us to judge ourselves. We’re too close to it. I come from a background in copywriting. The goal of the copywriter is to sell. To do that, you must keep your reader interested until the end.
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+16 +1
Don’t work overtime: The final word on the Oxford comma
Much ink has been spilled recently about how the lack of a comma could cost a local dairy millions of dollars in overtime pay. Among language aficionados, much of the coverage was gloating, as in “Nyah, nyah! We TOLD you the Oxford comma should rule!”
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+10 +1
5 weak words to whack from your writing
There are 5 words that weaken your writing. Whack them when you see them and increase the power of your prose.
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+26 +1
Things you were taught at school about grammar that are wrong
Were your teachers right about when to use commas, and about not starting sentences with 'and'?
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+9 +1
How the Rhymes of Dr. Seuss Helped Teach Us Language
Kaptain Kristian’s latest explainer video is a fun one: he explains how the anapestic tetrameter rhyming style of Dr. Seuss helped us better understand language as kids, all while rhyming in the video himself. It’s stupid catchy (obviously, because it’s done in the style of Dr. Seuss) and so easy to listen to, which is the point because that catchiness and fun is basically a trick Dr. Seuss books used to make us all want to read on our own.
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+20 +1
Why Is There An ‘R’ in Mrs.?
There are a couple of odd things about the title Mrs. First, the word it stands for, missus, looks strange written out that way in full. In fact, except in the jokey context of “the missus,” meaning the wife, you almost never see it written out. “Missus Claus” looks far more awkward than “Mister Rogers.” Second, the abbreviation has an ‘r’ in it, and the word doesn’t. Why is there an ‘r’ in Mrs.?
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+21 +1
Facepalm Pilot: Where Technology Meets Stupidity: An Interactive Guide to Ambiguous Grammar.
Depending on whom you ask, the use of the active voice over the passive is arguably the most fundamental writer’s maxim, thought to lend weight, truth, and power to declarative statements. This absolutist view is flawed, however, because language is an art of nuance.
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+16 +2
Missing comma gets Ohio woman out of parking ticket
An appeals court has agreed with an Ohio woman who said her parking citation should be tossed because the village law was missing a comma. Andrea Cammelleri says she shouldn't have been issued a citation in 2014 based on the wording of the law enacted by the village of West Jefferson. The law lists several types of vehicles that can't be parked longer than 24 hours, including a "motor vehicle camper," with the comma missing between "vehicle" and "camper."
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+19 +2
One Man’s Quest to Rid Wikipedia of Exactly One Grammatical Mistake
On a Friday in July 2012, two employees of the Wikimedia Foundation gave a talk at Wikimania, their organization’s annual conference. Maryana Pinchuk and Steven Walling addressed a packed room as they answered a question that has likely popped into the minds of even the most casual users of Wikipedia: who the hell edits the site, and why do they do it? Pinchuk and Walling conducted hundreds of interviews to find out. They learned that many serious contributors have an independent streak and...
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+16 +1
English Is Crazy!
Seriously...the English language is insane.
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+13 +1
Xbox One Has The Best Error Messages
If you swear in a private Skype call on the Xbox One you get this half-sentence
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