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Est. 1828

Grammar & Usage

A Spiel on 'Sale' and 'Sell'

Act now for 100% savings

'Buck Naked' or 'Butt Naked'?

It's a natural question

How to Pronounce the Trickiest Menu Items

No more order anxiety!
  • Commonly Confused
  • Usage Notes
  • Spelling & Pronunciation
  • Punctuation

Popular

31 Useful Rhetorical Devices

Beyond 'simile' and 'metaphor'

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

How to pick the right one

The Difference Between 'i.e.' and 'e.g.'

For example, the different ways to use them

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

A learned explanation that is not wicked hard

What’s the difference between ‘cemetery’ and ‘graveyard’?

Graveyards are sometimes smaller, but not always.

Democracy or Republic: What's the difference?

And which is the United States?

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)

Be dashing—and do it well

'Lose' or 'loose'?

Keep this somewhere you won't forget it

Commonly Confused

Commonly Confused

  • Is it 'forty' or 'fourty'?

    This is usage
  • Is it 'home in' or 'hone in'?

    Both are used, but 'home in' does a better job of hitting the mark.
  • The Difference between 'Race' and 'Ethnicity'

    How they differ and overlap
  • Homophones, Homographs, and Homonyms

    The same, but different
  • See All

'Awhile' vs. 'A While'

There are rules, but who's listening?

Usage Notes

See More

Can you end a sentence with a preposition?

Yes, a preposition is something you can end with.

Plural and Possessive Names: A Guide

A guide to plural and possessive names

Is 'data' singular or plural?

Information is power

Singular Nonbinary ‘They’: Is it ‘they are’ or ‘they is’?

Notes on a conjugation

Is singular 'they' a better choice?

The awkward case of 'his or her'
See More

Spelling & Pronunciation

Spelling & Pronunciation

  • The Many Plurals of 'Octopus'

    But which is correct?
  • How to Remember the Spelling of 'Definitely'

    A definitive answer.
  • 'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

    'A historic' night or 'An historic' night?
  • Absent Letters That Are Heard Anyway

    They aren't seen but they are heard
  • See All

10 Words You See But Don't Hear

How to pronounce 10 words with unpredictable stress and vowel sounds

Punctuation

See More

Why do we use apostrophes to show possession?

The shifting role of the apostrophe

A Guide to Using Colons

We'll get to semicolons later.

To Use or Not Use the "?" in Requests

"Would you read this, please."

All About Ellipses ...

How to use them … and talk about them

The History of 'Ampersand'

How the '&' got its name
See More
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