Grammar Girl Quick And Dirty Tips For Better Writing

Last week, ESPN fired Curt Schilling because of offensive remarks he made on social media, and in his follow-up statement, Schilling referred to the brouhaha, but he misspelled the word as brew ha ha, like the name of a beerfest in my hometown. (Follow along on the website: http://j.mp/brouhaha-origin) Merriam-Webster added "athleisure" to the unabridged dictionary, but the editors had been watching the word for a while before they decided to add it. In a "Words We’re Watching” blog post in July of 2015, they wrote “'Athleisure' refers to casual clothing — like yoga pants, sweat pants, and hoodies — that are designed to be worn both for exercising and for doing (almost) everything else.” (Follow along on the website: http://j.mp/2016NewWords) Most people know that if you do something in one fell swoop, you do it all at once--as in, “I sat down last night and made my website in one fell swoop.” But what does "fell" mean? And who is swooping? (Follow along on the website: http://j.mp/o

Carrie from New Orleans asked me to help her understand whether she should say "I wish I were more perceptive" or "I wish I was more perceptive." It's a great question because it's something that a lot of people don't know. (Follow along on the website: http://j.mp/subjunctive-verbs) A listener named Cyndi works in the auto claims department at an insurance company and asked how to use directional words--for example, when should she use "north" and when should she use "northbound"? (Follow along on the website: http://j.mp/north-or-northbound) PODCAST AWARDS Nominate Grammar Girl for Best Education Podcast at http://PodcastAwards.com (They'll ask for the show URL. Use this: http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-girl) SPONSOR http://MeetEarnest.com/grammargirl AMAZON AFFILIATE CODE http://quickanddirtytips.com/amazon E-BOOK: GRAMMAR GIRL'S QUICK AND DIRTY TIPS FOR BETTER WRITING On sale for $2.99 through April: Kindle: http://amzn.to/1RRJDAe Nook: http://bit.ly/1qmUsB

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FOLLOW ALONG ON THE WEBSITE National Grammar Day Haiku Winners: http://j.mp/1Uk71t5 14 Tips for Coming Up with Freelance Story Ideas You Can Sell: http://j.mp/1Uk7746 "The Essential Guide to Freelance Writing" by Zachary Petit WINNERS INFO https://twitter.com/SnoozeInBrief https://twitter.com/monicasharman https://twitter.com/sesquiotic https://twitter.com/larry_kunz SPONSORS http://verbling.com Promo code: grammargirl http://lifelock.com Promo code: grammar FOLLOW GRAMMAR GIRL Twitter: http://twitter.com/grammargirl Facebook: http://facebook.com/grammargirl Snapchat: http://snapchat.com/add/thatgrammargirl Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/realgrammargirl Instagram: http://instagram.com/thegrammargirl LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/grammar-girl

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“Subordinate clause” is the name you’re more likely to have learned in school, but the other name, “dependent clause,” may help you better understand what they do because adding that subordinating conjunction to the head of the clause makes it dependent on a main clause. Today, I have an explanation, plus examples with zombies! Also, featured listeners and National Grammar Day news. Sponsor: http://audible.com/gg Amazon Affiliate Link: http://quickanddirtytips.com/amazon Grammar Girl Books: http://j.mp/allGGBooks

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Should You Capitalize 'the Force' from Star Wars?

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