play video drive safe ly
Usage Notes

Drive Safe: In Praise of Flat Adverbs

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


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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 video schwa
The Schwa

 

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

play woman and dog illustration
'Nip it in the butt' or 'Nip it in the bud'?

 

We're gonna stop you right there

play further vs farther video
Further vs. Farther

 

They started as same word, but their meanings have drifted apart over time.

play video soup vs soop
An Abbreviated History of American English Spelling

 

Soop, wimmen, and headake did not make the cut

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.

play video cynic
The History of 'Cynic'

 

How an ancient philosophical movement devoted to the pursuit of virtue came to describe eye-rolling criticism.