DailyWritingTips

Using “May” in a Question

Stephen Buck wants to explain to a non-native English speaker why the following question is not possible in standard English: May you do this for me?” The modal verb may has many uses. The OED entry gives 26 numbered definitions with numerous sub-sections. One of the definitions is this one: may: Expressing permission or sanction: … Read more

Albatross and Alcatraz Island

Even speakers who have had the misfortune of never studying Coleridge’s long poem Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798) are acquainted with the figurative meaning of the word albatross: “A source or mark of misfortune, guilt, etc., from which one cannot (easily) be free; a burden or encumbrance.” Is Sarah Palin becoming an albatross around … Read more

The Discount Is Back: Buy Our Book Today for $9.99

As you probably remember, a couple of weeks ago we launched our first book (in digital format). The title is: “100 Writing Mistakes to Avoid: A practical guide to 100 common mistakes of spelling, usage, grammar, and punctuation.” It came out with a promotional price of $9.99, and after one week it went up to … Read more

Participles and Perfect Verb Tenses

Some comments I received on the post about the forms of the irregular verb “drink” indicate that not everyone is clear as to how participles are used to form verb tenses that use the helping verbs “has, have” and “had.” Here’s a review. Participles are verb forms, but they are incomplete. In order to function … Read more

Writing Clinic #3: The Trip

Welcome to another edition of the Writing Clinic. This time we have an essay about a trip that one of our readers sent us. If you want to submit a piece for this column, please email it to [email protected]. Before This trip was anticipated but when it really happened it seemed more sudden then planned. … Read more

Do You Write Like Stephen King?

You may have already been to the site that offers to analyze your writing and tell you whose style it resembles. Created by 27-year-old Russian blogger and software developer Dmitry Chestnykh, the site operates with an algorithm similar to a spam detector. The current version is based on the English texts of 50 authors including … Read more

Repudiate, Refute, and Reject

How can I resist jumping into the fray over Sarah Palin’s use of the word “refudiate”? Here’s the notorious tweet as it originally appeared: Ground Zero Mosque supporters, doesn’t it stab you in the heart as it does our throughout the heartland? Peaceful Muslims, please refudiate.” Here is the tweet with which it was replaced: … Read more

Ingenious vs. Ingenuous

Be careful with ingenious and ingenuous. Sometimes a single letter can make a great deal of difference to the meaning of a word. Take, for example, the two words ingenious and ingenuous. Ingenious means clever, original or inventive. It derives ultimately from the Latin word ingenium, which means a natural capacity or talent. It’s the … Read more

“Sleazy” and “slazy”

“Sleezy” is given in both the OED and Merriam-Webster as an alternate spelling of sleazy, but the only standard pronunciation of sleazy is /slē’zē/, with a long e. NOTE: the pronunciation [slā’zē] can be found in dialect. It can also be documented in the works of American writers of the 19th and early 20th centuries. … Read more

“Fun, Funner, Funnest”?

Several readers have asked for a post about the use of fun as an adjective. Many English speakers cringe at usage like this: One of my funnest rides I’ve owned was a chevy S-10 Knitting is funner than cleaning So we had this really fun week… What’s the most funnest online game? The fourth example … Read more

Overwhelm and Underwhelm

If you can overwhelm and underwhelm, can you also “whelm”? Both overwhelm and underwhelm are common enough words, but they appear to imply the existence of a root word “whelm”. Does such a word exist and, if so, what does it mean? The Oxford definition of overwhelm is as follows : verb 1. submerge beneath … Read more

Spasmodic

The adjective spasmodic means “of the nature of a spasm; characterized by spasms or convulsive twitches; marked by jerkiness or suddenness of muscular movement.”  In medical terms, a spasm is a “sudden and violent muscular contraction of a convulsive or painful character.” Both words are used figuratively. For example, inconsistent or occasional efforts at political … Read more