A reader wonders if the verbs rung, sung, hung, stunk and “their ilk” can ever be used without a helping verb. For example, is it possible to say “He sung tenor with the choir”? It’s possible, but speakers who do so may find themselves the target of such comments as these: Yes, there are still … Read more
A paradox of our times is that, although schools no longer insist that students master standard writing conventions in order to graduate, more people are writing for publication than at any previous time in human history. According to one estimate, more than 152 million blogs populate the Internet, with more joining them every day. And … Read more
As you probably know, last year we launched the DWT Pro subscription. As a Pro subscriber you receive our daily articles via email, with additional perks: 1. A daily English exercise. You may opt to receive the exercise in text format included with your daily email, or you may visit the subscribers’ area to go … Read more
The word OK has found its way into just about every language on earth. Although it’s usually written in all capitals and pronounced as separate letters, OK is a word and not an acronym, although it began as one. The most likely origin of OK is as an acronym for “Oll Korrect,” a deliberate misspelling … Read more
Over the past month we have been rolling out a new design on Daily Writing Tips. The goal was to make the layout cleaner and to optimize the visualization on mobile devices. Now you can visit our website with any smartphone, tablet or computer, and the layout will adapt itself automatically to your screen size … Read more
A reader asks to know the difference between “reclusion and seclusion, reclusive and seclusive.” Although synonyms for one another, these words are not interchangeable in every context. Of the nouns, seclusion is used more frequently than reclusion to refer to a state of being apart from society. One of its meanings is “a desirable separation … Read more
It is a source of satisfaction to me that the articles on the Daily Writing Tips site are often cited in bibliographies. Because the articles are accessed long after their original publication dates, I’m extremely grateful when readers browsing past articles call my attention to typos in any of the archived posts, so they may … Read more
Paul Krugman, in his capacity of Op-Ed columnist for the New York Times, recently felt the need to remind his readers to stay on topic when commenting on his posts. The admonition to stay on topic is found in every article on the subject of web comment etiquette. etiquette: the customary code of polite behavior … Read more
When we launched the DailyWritingTips Pro subscription six months ago, our main goal was to create a resource our readers could use to improve their English and writing skills. The feedback we received far exceeded our expectations, so it seems we are on the right track. The main part of the Pro subscription are the … Read more
Most countries have an “official” language. Several have more than one. Government business and schools are conducted in the official language. Official documents are printed in the official language. Knowledge of the country’s official language is usually one of the stated requirements for citizenship. For example, here are some language requirements I found in naturalization … Read more
I’ve just discovered an online time suck that is not only addictive to the language lover, but a source of writerly ideas. It’s the Google N-gram Viewer. N-grams are drawn from a text or speech corpus that shows how the frequency of a word or phrase changes over time. The corpus for the Google N-gram … Read more
Since we launched Daily Writing Tips Pro, we received many emails from readers who wanted to know more about the exercises. That’s why we decided to release a couple of samples. Below you’ll find one: In each of the following pairs of sentences, choose the one that uses the correct form of personal pronoun. 1. … Read more