The Many Meanings of “Groom” and “Grooming”
A formerly useful and innocuous set of words–groom, groomed, and grooming—has become a trope used primarily to stir anxiety and […]
“Meaningless Buzzwords”?
I read that a political commentator, whom I will not name, asserts that five particular terms are “meaningless buzzwords.” Labeling […]
Mustn’t Have Done and Couldn’t Have Done
A reader has asked for a post on the difference between “mustn’t have + past participle” and “couldn’t have + […]
To Be a Writer
There’s a saying that “everyone has a book in him.” Since self-publishing has become so easy, quite a few people […]
GPT-3 Writing Assistant: What is It?
Artificial intelligence is increasingly present in our lives, gaining new applications every day, including in the realm of writing! Generative […]
4 Perennially Misused Words
Some word pairs will probably always continue to be confused. Here are five such, all of which have been mentioned […]
List of Free and Paid AI Writing Generators
Producing articles and other types of texts seems to be getting easier and easier with the arrival of AI writing […]
Beginning an Email with Dear?
A recent request for linguistic advice ends with a plea that makes me feel like Obi Wan Kenobi: O Maeve, […]
Converting Direct Speech into Reported Speech
This post is in response to a recent reader request: I would be grateful if you could write about these […]
A Plumb Interesting Set of Words
When I saw the following passage on the Simon Schuster site, I was plumb surprised: When twelve-year-old Jamie Dexter’s brother […]
Urgency, Exigency, and Moonshots
A reader asks: Can you explain clearly the difference between urgency and exigency? Thank you. Also, any thoughts on the […]
Pronunciation Guides
A reader, wondering about the pronunciation of caricature, asks if I would consider including the phonetic pronunciation of words I […]