GRAMMAR

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

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

6 Weird Ways the English Language Is Redundant

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.

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

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.

8 Helpful Tips for Solving Crossword Puzzles

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.

13 Little-Known Punctuation Marks We Should Be Using

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.

How Many Words Are There in the English Language?

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

Spoilers for this article without context.

15 Fascinating Linguistics Terms You Didn’t Learn in School

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

Crash Blossoms: 17 Funny News Headlines That Make No Sense

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

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

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.

6 Strange “Alien” Languages Created by Linguists

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.

Eldest vs. Oldest: What’s 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.

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

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.

5 Ways the English Language Breaks 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

11 Nouns That Only Have a Plural Form

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

7 Sentences That Sound Bizarre But Are Still Grammatical

These sentences are sure to make you scratch your head.

If you frequently misspell these words, you’re not alone.

100 of the Most Commonly Misspelled Words in the English Language

Don’t get embarrassed if you can’t spell ‘embarrass.’ It’s apparently—not ‘apparantly’—a pretty common error.

Fewer vs. Less: When to Use Each

‘Less’ versus ‘fewer’ is pretty straightforward. ‘Less than’ vs. ‘fewer than’ is slightly less so. Here’s how to get it right every time.

Here's how to figure it out once and for all.

A Simple Trick for Remembering When To Use ‘Who’ vs. ‘Whom’

All you need for this easy grammar check is a couple of pronouns you already know how to use correctly.

Here’s how to nail the pluralization of your name—even if there’s a possessive involved.

To Apostrophe or Not to Apostrophe: How to Pluralize Your Last Name

Pluralizing a last name can seem confusing—and it gets even more confusing when you want to make a name both plural and possessive. Here’s how to correctly do both.

She's happy because she finally understands that she's lying down—not laying down.

Lay vs. Lie: When to Use Each

The ‘laying vs. lying’ situation is tricky—but direct objects can help.

Jive vs. Jibe vs. Gibe: What’s the Difference?

This information might not jibe with what you’ve heard before.

What Does "The" Mean?

It’s the most frequent word in the English language, accounting for around 4 percent of all the words we write or speak. But what the word 'the' means is surprisingly complicated.

These words are tripping up Google users.

‘Congradulations’: The Most Commonly Misspelled Words in the U.S.

Belive it or not, spelling errors are a fact of life.

You just know which one Goldilocks is going for.

Em Dash vs. En Dash vs. Hyphen: What’s the Difference?

Deciding when to use an em dash instead of some other punctuation mark is largely up to you—except in situations that call for an en dash or hyphen.