Grammar Articles
It's like this: I am no grammarian. My grammar is not that good, and I spend a lot of time looking up words and reading grammar books. Probably because I am not good at grammar, it fascinates me. From time to time, I find issues many people struggle with, but which have not been written about—at least not as well as I would like. Thus, the following articles. You will also notice my push to always simplify the language if it is at all possible. My grammar articles are among my most popular.
- Illiterate Filmmakers: Italian Edition
- A grammar problem Crow T. Robot missed in Warrior of the Lost World.
- Illiterate Filmmakers: Last Man Standing Edition
- For a long time, opening movies credits have been bugging me. You see, they do not follow the rule of parallel structure. Most people never notice this problem, but once it is pointed out, it is aggravating in the extreme. (Actually, I'm guessing; as far as I know, I am the first person to notice this; however, since notice it a few years ago, it has aggravated me in the extreme.
- Amongst Us, Among Them
- Clean, Well-Lighted Sentences
- Practicable Practical
- Palindrone
- Enunciating my Thoughts About Annunciate
- Our Mutual Friend
- Um...
- All about verbal stumbles.
- Totebagger
- A useful word.
- Then and Than
- Major publishers are mixing up "then" and "than."
- The Down and Down on the Up and Up
- What does "up and up" mean to you?
- Full Sentences Inside Parenthetical Enclosures
- How to put full sentences in parentheses.
- Word Processing
- A delightful poem about the problem with spell checkers.
- The Sentence as Will and Idea
- A review, of sorts, of Stanley Fish's book. More a discussion of sentences themselves.
- Quelle Surprise!
- Foreign phrases should be italicized!
- Clarity, Convenience, and the Serial Comma
- The serial comma is important.
- Anthony Weiner Pronounces Name Wrong
- Information about how to pronounce Weiner and Boehner.
- Fowler V. Strunk&White
- Why I like Fowler more than Strunk&White.
- Writing is Not Grammatical Analysis
- Writing needs to be interesting, not necessarily right.
- Illiterate Filmmakers: Italian Edition
- Illiteracy in Warrior of the Lost World.
- Illiterate Filmmakers: Last Man Standing Edition
- Inconsistencies in titles drive me crazy.
- Amongst Us, Among Them
- When to use "among" and when to use "amongst."
- Clean, Well-Lighted Sentences
- Review of this excellent grammar book.
- Practicable Practical
- What is the difference between these two words?
- Enunciating my Thoughts About Annunciate
- The difference between "annunciate" and "enunciate."
- Our Mutual Friend
- The weird grammar rules for the word "mutual." And why we shouldn't care.
