GrammarPhile Blog

December 4 was National Cookie Day. Did you miss it? Well, even if you did, let's celebrate anyway. We love a party, especially when sweets are included. How well do you know your cookies? Many of these are traditional Christmas treats. Take our quiz and test your knowledge. 

On this day in 1976, Jimmy Carter was elected 39^th president of the United States. In 1947, Howard Hughes’ Spruce Goose flew for the first … and last … time. In 1929, Richard Taylor, Nobel Prize-winning physicist who proved the existence of quarks, was born. In 1889, North Dakota was made the 39^th state, and South Dakota was made the 40^th state. And in 1570, a tidal wave in the North Sea destroyed the sea walls from Holland to Jutland. More than 1,000 people were killed. Do you have what it takes to rise to fame and fortune on your intellect alone? Or are you strictly a flatlander unable to rise to any level of importance in this age of ineloquence? Take our test and find out!

On this day in 1962, the Four Seasons earned their first No. 1 hit with “Sherry.” Frankie Valli had been hard at work trying to become a star for the better part of a decade before the Four Seasons achieved their breakthrough. They had come together as a group in several stages over the previous four years, changing their name in 1961 from the Four Lovers after failing an audition at a New Jersey bowling alley called The Four Seasons. It was keyboard player Bob Gaudio who wrote the song that would launch the group’s career.

 Are you guilty of using "everyday" as a noun? Don't do it. The one-word form is only an adjective, as in "an everyday occurrence." Never write, "I exercise my brain everyday." Now, see how you do with the rest of these adjectives.

November was the ninth month in the ancient Roman calendar. Nine is the atomic number of fluorine. We're obsessed with nine today. Can you tell?

Most word lovers love Scrabble™, the classic word game developed originally by Depression-era architect Alfred Butts, who sold the rights to James Brunot, who sold the rights to Selchow & Righter, which sold out completely to Coleco, which shortly thereafter went bankrupt, the assets of which were bought up by modern-day Hasbro. Here are some words for your next conquest. (Each word's basic score is in parentheses.) Memorize them and win all the challenges!