Grammar Blog

Written words afford us the means to express ourselves with precision of thought and intent. When we are writing, we can dedicate greater attention to the words we are choosing, as well as the structure and flow in which we arrange them. At the same time, written words do not always give us what spoken …

Language is the system we use to speak, write, and sign (manually) to express ourselves within our social groups. Distinctive to our species, it gives us a powerful means to inform, play, imagine, persuade, and release (e.g., our feelings). While a specific number can vary, many estimates suggest that English includes more than one million …

We use nouns in American English to identify persons, places, things, states of being, and qualities. Our noun references might also be specific or nonspecific. Examples I saw the car. (specific) I saw the BMW four-door sedan. (specific) I saw a car. (nonspecific) In the first sentence, we explain we saw a particular car. It …

Language is the means by which we communicate through words with structure and meaning. Starting at an early age, we become increasingly aware of how words join with other words to form larger units such as phrases, clauses, and sentences, which can then together make paragraphs. In an opposite way, words also can be divided …

Communication is as much about sounds we make and interpret with meaning as it is words that are written with thought. Approximations of dates of origin of human speech have varied from 200,000 years ago to 50,000 years ago. Some recent research suggests our first speech sounds were made around 70,000 years ago. Unlike nonhuman …

Most of us are likely aware of the give and take of spoken and written language. We give extra license for looseness when speaking; we take that license back to ensure and protect proper form when writing (or at least that should be our aim). Like a thriving rooftop cocktail party at sunset, American English …

(This discussion revisits the subject of On to vs. Onto first posted in January 2010.) English is a rich, descriptive language with a versatile vocabulary. It also is one that can keep even well-studied native writers on their toes with its many nuances, such as those we'll find among homophones. Another English subtlety lies in …

Grammar mistakes remain common in daily communication. While those of us who spend time at GrammarBook.com can reduce such solecisms, even the most observant can still potentially be duped by the occasional sneaky error. Because grammar mistakes in American English have always been and likely always will be, we thought it'd be fun and informative …

The art of language embraces sound just as it does precision and eloquence of written expression. For example, along the way we've discussed alliteration, which is the repetition of two or more neighboring sounds of words, often initial letters, to create a phonetic device: simple story accept and excel The repeating alliterative sounds occur either …

Language evolves as we do. Over time, we become agents of change in shaping words to suit our sense of comfort, ease, and desired sound. This agency appears when we add a sound to a word that is already established without it. For instance, perhaps we have said or heard "athlete" pronounced as "ath-uh-lete" or …