Grammar & Usage

The Truth About 'Y': It's Mostly a Vowel

A consonant that acts more like a vowel.

Using Bullet Points ( • )

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

How to pick the right one

Popular

Words You Always Have to Look Up

The dictionary is here to help

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

Be dashing—and do it well

Words in Disguise: Do these seem familiar?

Some words resemble other words enough to make you think you know them. You might not.

Democracy or Republic: What's the difference?

A case can be made for either

'Lose' or 'loose'?

Keep this somewhere you won't forget it

Hypercorrections: Are you making these 6 common mistakes?

When your 'correction' is incorrect

Forming Compound Words | Guide to Compound Types

Everything you need to know

'A' and 'An' and the Patterns of Their Use

Which gets used where?

Commonly Confused

Commonly Confused

Is it 'home in' or 'hone in'?

Both are used, but 'home in' does a better job of hitting the mark.

Usage Notes

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Plural and Possessive Names: A Guide

A guide to plural and possessive names

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'

8 Grammar Terms You Used to Know, But Forgot

Plus yodeling

Is it 'graduated' or 'was graduated from'?

No, this will not be on the test
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Spelling & Pronunciation

Spelling & Pronunciation

Every Letter Is Silent, Sometimes

When each letter can be seen but not heard

Punctuation

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A Guide to Using Colons

We'll get to semicolons later.

The Other Kind of 'Apostrophe'

It's when we speak to you and it's like you're not here.

On Contractions of Multiple Words

You all would not have guessed some of these

The History of 'Ampersand'

How the '&' got its name

To Use or Not Use the "?" in Requests

"Would you read this, please."
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