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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.

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How a Word Gets into the Dictionary

 

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

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The Schwa

 

The most common vowel sound in English causes many spelling problems.

play serenity carr next to an illustration of a refrigerator with the letter d in it
Why is there a 'd' in 'fridge' but not in 'refrigerator'?

 

Thawing one of the mysteries of English

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What Is 'Semantic Bleaching'?

 

How 'literally' can mean "figuratively"

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Why Do People Pronounce It "Nucular"?

 

A linguistic analysis of a notorious pronunciation