Grammar and Usage

John McWhorter
‘Little Women’ and the Art of Breaking Grammatical Rules
In an evolving language, it ain’t always clear — or important — what’s correct.
By John McWhorter
John McWhorter
The ‘Rule’ Against Ending Sentences With Prepositions Has Always Been Silly
Where does the ‘rule’ come from? Latin. Why do we do it anyway? Vikings.
By John McWhorter
What’s a ‘Girl Dinner’ Got to Do to Get Into the Dictionary These Days?
Why some words stick around long enough to get inducted — and what you can do to shoot your shot.
By Sam Corbin
John McWhorter
Where Did Our Strange Use of ‘Like’ Come From?
A novel way to take the temperature down during conversation.
By John McWhorter
Tortured Poets’ or Poets? Taylor Swift Meets the Apostrophe Police.
Grammarians wonder: Should there be an apostrophe in “The Tortured Poets Department”?
By Victor Mather
letters
Parenting: A ‘Wonderful and Challenging Adventure’
Readers discuss the negativity that pervades discussions about parenthood. Also: Aligning election calendars; natural gas exports; semicolons.
Frank Bruni
Our Semicolons, Ourselves
A.I. or no A.I., it pays to write — and to write well.
By Frank Bruni
john mcwhorter
Knowing When ‘They’ Means One
Saying “they wants” instead of “they want” could make our new usage of “they” easier to handle.
By John McWhorter
letters
Are Doctors Doing Risky, Unnecessary Procedures?
Readers discuss an article raising concerns about artery-clearing procedures. Also: Gender-neutral language; oral contraceptives; artificial intelligence.
John McWhorter
Forget Nouns. Verbs Are Where the Action Is.
When learning a language, people typically focus on nouns and adjectives first. But verbs are the real key.
By John McWhorter