The Past Tense of “Lead” Is Spelled “Led”
The past tense of the verb to lead (pronounced /leed/) gives some English-speakers as much trouble as the past tenses […]
A Drabble, a Dribble—Short Fiction by Any Name
Not too long ago, in the Before Times, when I still dared attend large gatherings like writers’ conferences, I experienced […]
Connotation of “Ram” vs “Cram”
While browsing the web in search of royalty-free graphics, I came across a source described this way: This site does […]
Misology and Other Words In the News
As an avid reader for more years than I care to mention, I have a reasonably large reading vocabulary, if […]
Wether, Weather, Whether
Wether is a prime example of a word that will slip past the spell check. It is easily confused with […]
Musings on Five Collocations
Speech and writing are made up of single words, but most words we use are grouped as phrases. Many of […]
Something Odd Happening with Irregular Verbs
In Old English—the principal language spoken in England from the mid-fifth century until the Norman Conquest in 1066—English verbs were […]
Gyre, A Word for Our Times
The noun gyre means, “a turning round, revolution, whirl; a circular or spiral turn.” Birds often fly in gyres as […]
On Behalf Of vs. In Behalf Of
The noun behalf (from Middle English, from by and half, meaning “side”) is an unusual word in a couple of […]
Publicly vs. Publically
Is publically a word? Yes, if by “a word” you mean “a term that is found as an entry in […]
Too Many Shades of Disheveled?
A word’s original meaning often expands over time. For example, take decimate, from Latin “to take a tenth.” The element […]
10 Terms About the Coronavirus You Should Know
One by-product of the COVID-19 pandemic is the introduction of a vocabulary pertaining to the disease. Here are ten terms […]