We Americans are fond of creating verbs from nouns. We speak of how the war “impacts” the president’s popularity, how… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Grammar Quiz
Brio!
At least one reader asked a colleague about the word brio in this headline Coble brings brio to county. The… Read more »
Homonym troubles
A reader wrote to point out a mistake in this sentence: Most locals might know the 54-year-old Italian artist as… Read more »
How to possess the day
A conscientious writer asks about punctuating this expression: Three nights’ accommodations or Three nights accommodations It might seem odd to… Read more »
Fetch me a thesaurus
A reader called today (somehow she ended up with me) to object to our writers’ use of the word fetch…. Read more »
Dis the season
Writers and editors have a love-hate relationship with holiday cliches. We rail against them and rely on them. They come… Read more »
Watch your keystrokes
On my way to something else, I ran across this posting about 10 flagrant grammar mistakes that make you look… 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 »