Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

Using Stick Figures to Understand First, Second, and Third Person

Many people have been taught that it's wrong to start a sentence with a conjunction, but nearly all major style guides say doing so is fine. Neal Whitman investigates why there seems to be such a difference between what teachers say and what style guides say.

The authors of "The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation" help us understand parallel structure.

How to Kick Your Annoying Preposition Habit

Commas are like people on the subway: You think you know them, but they're awfully complex. This week, we'll dig deeper and get to know some of their jobs: separating items in a series (the Oxford comma), delineating appositives, and surrounding nonrestrictive phrases.

Sometimes companies leave apostrophes out of their names when it seems as if the name would need an apostrophe. Why do they do it, and is it wrong?

In honor of Shakespeare's 450th birthday, we'll look at Shakespeare's words, phrases, insults, and false friends. I bet you don't know them all.

Neal Whitman addresses some annoying phrases you hear in stores and restaurants, such as "Can I help who's next?" and "Did you want cream in your coffee?" Find out why people say such things.

Addictive Versus Addicting

It's tricky to pick apart the grammar of a sentence such as "Just because you’re correct doesn’t mean you’re not annoying." Guest writer Neal Whitman explains why such sentences work and what they really mean.

Editors from the Associated Press just announced that the AP Stylebook is changing its stance on using "over" to mean "more than." Plenty of people are shocked. Find out why they shouldn't be.

Some words have strong forms, weak forms, and even weaker forms.

Gretchen McCulloch from the All Things Linguistic explains why Canadians don't say "aboot" and why most Americans think they do.

Language is changing but that doesn't mean you have to go with the flow.

Is Cash Money a Regional Expression?