Know these words. Use them properly. That way, your smart friends will embrace you and your less-than-smart friends will look up to you and ask you things. And who doesn't like to be asked things?
Posted by Phil Jamieson May 14, 2014 8:30:43 AM
Know these words. Use them properly. That way, your smart friends will embrace you and your less-than-smart friends will look up to you and ask you things. And who doesn't like to be asked things?
Topics: word usage
Posted by Phil Jamieson May 22, 2013 5:30:00 AM
On, upon, up on. Do you know someone who is bookish? You might be considered bookish if you misuse upon when you could simply use on instead.
Topics: word usage
Posted by Julie DeSilva May 8, 2012 6:30:00 AM
In America, the political season is fast descending on our daily routine. The news programs are replete with candidates posturing, posing, and preening. Listed below are some of the vacant phrases we may hear in the coming months. Here's hoping that some of those running for office would heed Mark Twain's advice about keeping quiet instead of speaking.
Topics: misused words, word usage
Posted by Phil Jamieson Apr 19, 2011 5:30:00 AM
Always be sure you're using the right word. If you're not sure, don't use it! Here's a great list from Woe Is I.
Topics: misused words, word usage, word meaning
Posted by Phil Jamieson Dec 7, 2010 5:30:00 AM
Thanks for reading our GrammarPhile blog.
Topics: misspelled words, misspellings, misused words, word usage
Posted by Kimberly Largent Nov 16, 2010 4:30:00 AM
Everyone remembers that childhood game, right? The one where you couldn’t take a step forward unless you asked the game leader, “Mother, May I?” Funny how we were grammatical as children, but we lost that ability as we aged.
Topics: misused words, word usage, grammar
Posted by Gregory Stepanich Dec 15, 2009 4:00:00 AM
Up until at least the 1993 edition, the Associated Press Stylebook called for the word teenager to be spelled teen-ager -- with a hyphen. I'm sure this was one of the most ignored rules in AP history, but it's interesting to note that some authorities were still hanging onto this compound as a two-word structure long past the 1950s, when teen culture made its first big impact and made both the hyphen and Beethoven roll over.
Topics: hyphenation, compound words, two-word structure, word usage