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Commonly Confused

Is It 'Attorney Generals' Or 'Attorneys General'?

'Poets laureate'? 'Court-martials'? The curious history of postpositive adjectives in English.


'Poets laureate'? 'Court-martials'? The curious history of postpositive adjectives in English.

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play video title attorney generals
Is It 'Attorney Generals' Or 'Attorneys General'?

 

'Poets laureate'? 'Court-martials'? The curious history of postpositive adjectives in English.

play video drive safe ly
Drive Safe: In Praise of Flat Adverbs

 

You don't have to end all your adverbs in -ly to talk right.

play contractions
On Contractions of Multiple Words

 

You all would not have guessed some of these

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How to Use a Dictionary

 

The best way to find information in the dictionary

play mrs malaprop
What is a malaprop?

 

We'll tell you all the perpendiculars

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Why is there a 'd' in 'fridge' but not in 'refrigerator'?

 

Thawing one of the mysteries of English

play video how a word gets into the dicionary
How a Word Gets into the Dictionary

 

What our editors are looking for when they enter words in Merriam-Webster.