grammar

Learn what the idiom means, where it started, when to use it, and how to tell if your ducks are in a row.

We’re giving you permission to disobey your stodgy old high school English teacher.

He would never mix up the below phrases.

Is it bald faced lie, or bold faced lie? Coming down the pike? Or pipe? Coleslaw, or cold slaw?

The rule has a little something to do with word order.

You know this rule, even if you don’t know you know it.

You might be familiar with a few of these.

Lots of languages have distinct plural forms for ‘you.’ Wouldn’t it be useful if English had one too? Spoiler alert: It does. Several, in fact.

Some of these mistakes were pretty costly.

From the NASA mistake that made an interplanetary rocket explode to the bible with a very naughty misprint, these typos are an ode to proofreaders.

This stickler doesn’t like how people are using the word ‘phenomenal.’

Not even the strictest sticklers seem to care about how we use words like ‘abhorrent’ and ‘sodden’ anymore.

These mistakes show that little kids know a lot more about the rules than we think.

Throw the grammar rulebook out the window.

We’re taking Strunk and White and grammarians everywhere to task in the latest episode of The List Show.

Is your bread presliced, your oven preheated, and your car pre-owned?

The prefix ‘pre-’ often seems redundant—but it’s actually working hard to serve its purpose.

Plus, a simple trick that will help you identify most true cases of the passive voice. (Hint: It involves zombies.)

From phrasal verbs to loanwords, here's how English speakers repeat themselves without realizing it.

These things are pretty weird when you think about them.

From polite offers to emphatic exclamations, English speakers have cleverly twisted negative expressions to mean something rather different.

Take your crossword puzzle skills to the next level with these tips.

If you want to raise your crossword game to the next level, grab a pencil (not a pen!) and follow these tips for success.

Just a few punctuation marks that don’t get nearly enough usage.

Because sometimes, periods, commas, colons, semi-colons, dashes, hyphens, apostrophes, question marks, exclamation points, quotation marks, brackets, parentheses, braces, and ellipses won't do.

Break out the dictionary and start counting.

It’s complicated—and there are more questions than answers.

Spoilers for this article without context.

This list of linguistics terms will teach you how to tell your spoonerisms from your mondegreens.

From “Milk Drinkers Turn to Powder” to “Indian Ocean Talks,” these funny news headlines will make you say, “Wait, what?”

The apostrophe in Presidents Day—or President's Day or Presidents's Day—is all over the place ... or nowhere to be found at all.

Exolangs are constructed languages that imagine how the languages of extraterrestrial beings might look and sound—and linguists have come up with some pretty mind-bending options.

Even a pair of siblings might not really know the difference.

We often use ‘eldest’ and ‘oldest’ interchangeably, but the words shouldn’t be swapped out so easily. Here's how to use each.

The literal meaning of ‘sic’ is ‘so’ or ‘thus.’ But the way writers use it is a little more nuanced.

English doesn’t always abide by its own rules.

English, the language of Shakespeare and the internet, is often touted for its flexibility and adaptability. But with great flexibility comes great inconsistenc

Some nouns only have a plural form, regardless of how we think of them. They are known as ‘pluralia tantum,’ Latin for “plural only.”

The Literal Meaning of "Ducks in a Row," Explained

6 Grammar Rules You Can Totally Break

15 Phrases True Grammar Nerds Would Never Confuse

The Odd Grammar Rule Most English Speakers Know But Are Rarely Taught

From Y’all To Youse: 8 English Ways to Make ‘You’ Plural

11 of the Most Expensive Typos in History

9 Linguistic ‘Ignorantisms’ Even Sticklers Got Used To

10 Language Mistakes Kids Make That Are Actually Pretty Smart

6 Grammar Rules You Can Break

To Pre or Not to Pre: The Reason We Add ‘Pre’ Before So Many Words

The Great Passive Voice Panic: Why Everyone (Even Grammar Experts) Gets It Wrong

6 Weird Ways the English Language Is Redundant

Positively Negative: 5 Surprising Ways We Say “No” Without Really Meaning It

8 Helpful Tips for Solving Crossword Puzzles

13 Little-Known Punctuation Marks We Should Be Using

How Many Words Are There in the English Language?

15 Fascinating Linguistics Terms You Didn’t Learn in School

Crash Blossoms: 17 Funny News Headlines That Make No Sense

Presidents Day vs. President’s Day vs. Presidents’ Day: Which One Is It?

6 Strange “Alien” Languages Created by Linguists

Eldest vs. Oldest: What’s the Difference?

What ‘Sic’ Means—And How To Use It Correctly

5 Ways the English Language Breaks Its Own Rules

11 Nouns That Only Have a Plural Form