The word choice in this lead from Sunday’s paper drew a call from one reader to our public editor: The… Read more »
Posts By: Pam Nelson
Picture it
I have trouble with “peak” and “peek.” I don’t know why. I type those two words wrong all the time…. Read more »
Sneaky “snuck”
I have decided that it bears repeating: “Snuck” is still considered nonstandard usage. The past tense of “sneak” is “sneaked.”… Read more »
Making comparatives
Writers, it seems to me, have forgotten how to make the comparative forms of adjectives. Here is a sentence from… Read more »
Creating new words
“Mutancy” shows up in Craig D. Lindsey’s review today of “X-Men: The Last Stand.” A colleague wondered if we should… Read more »
Are you a native?
In a graphic today comparing Buffalo/Niagara Falls and the Triangle (something about a hockey match, I think), The N&O called… Read more »
Sexism and language
A reader questions a caption that used “man” as a verb, wondering if the term excludes women. Here is the… Read more »
Punctuation lives
Two sentences in my Saturday morning online reading remind me that some writers (or perhaps their editors) know how to… Read more »
Tender is the word
I saw a memo the other day that said an employee had “rendered” her resignation. I thought the memo writer… Read more »
Whose life is it anyway?
A teacher asks about whose as a possessive for an inanimate object, as in this partial sentence: “…the education system… Read more »