grammar news stories on Newser

Comma Drama Ends: Oxford Rule Stands

Sarah Whitmire — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 13:13:19 CDT

Grammar fiends took a ride on an emotional roller coaster this week on news, erroneous as it turned out, that Oxford University was ditching its famous comma rule. (It requires a comma before the word "and" in a series: Not "a, b and c" but "a, b, and c.")...

Dear Writers: 'Leave the Damn Em Dash Alone'

Luke Kelly-Clyne — Sat, 28 May 2011 15:36:13 CDT

Might one overused punctuation threaten the integrity of modern prose? Noreen Malone thinks so, and she points to the em dash as culprit. But wait, "doesn't a dash—if done right—let the writer maintain an elegant, sinewy flow to her sentences?" she asks in her anti-em-dash essay at Slate...

High School English: A Waste of Time?

Evann Gastaldo — Sun, 15 May 2011 15:14:05 CDT

Sometimes, while Kim Brooks is grading essays by her college composition students, she cries. "Not real tears, exactly—more a spontaneous, guttural sob, often loud and unpleasant enough to startle my husband or children," she writes in Salon . Why? Because many of these students "simply ... cannot write." They don't have...

Please Stop Putting Two Spaces After a Period

Matt Cantor — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 13:00:00 CST

Despite what countless people seem to think, it’s “totally, completely, utterly, and inarguably wrong” to use two spaces after a period, writes Farhad Manjoo in Slate . It’s been the case since the early 20th century, but you wouldn't know it based on his readers ("In editing letters for my occasional...

Many English Speakers Don't Understand English

Kevin Spak — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 08:43:42 CDT

Loads of native English speakers lack even a basic understanding of the language, according to a surprising new study from Northumbria University. The researchers gathered a group of adults, some of whom were postgraduates students, and some who had dropped out of school at age 16, and tested them on...

Let's Rethink How We Teach English

John Johnson — Wed, 19 May 2010 13:54:07 CDT

Take it from a first-year college instructor: The writing skills of young adults are a joke. "They have either forgotten the rules of writing, or they never learned them in the first place," writes Kara Miller of Babson College. And while the media focuses on the need for better science...

'Fake AP Stylebook' Well Worth a Peek

Jen Paton — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 12:51:14 CST

It's not the likeliest of Internet sensations, but the Fake AP Stylebook on Twitter is well worth the buzz it's getting, writes Mark Peters. Anyone who's been tormented by such rulebooks on language, or by sanctimonious grammarians, will rejoice. And laugh. Typical rule: "When referring to someone with a Ph....

Times Columnist William Safire Dead at 79

M. Morris — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 13:54:42 CDT

Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist William Safire died today outside Washington, the paper reports. He was 79 and suffered from cancer. A onetime speechwriter for Richard Nixon, Safire, a self-described "libertarian conservative," used his background as a reporter and love for English usage to punch up his op-ed column,...

You're 'Me,' Not 'Myself,' and Other Grammar Peeves

Harry Kimball — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 16:16:02 CDT

Some common grammar mistakes are also inexcusable, Johnny Truant writes for Copyblogger. Too many of the following, and your readers may decide "that you’re actually a chimpanzee—and not one of the smart ones, either." It's "me," not "myself:" People often "think that complicating the language needlessly will make them...