Help explain why my writing partner constantly uses a word in a way I find weird and incorrect. A question that anyone can answer. [more inside]
posted by Doctor Suarez on Aug 18, 2009 - 54 answers

What are some easy, relatively quick ways to learn to write better, think clearer, and express myself better? [more inside]
posted by Bageena on Jan 28, 2009 - 24 answers

When I was in high school, we had a writing lab with some type of mainframe-ish type terminals setup, where there was writing software available which would list frequently repeated words, point out large paragraphs, spelling errors, document complexity, punctuation errors, etc. This was awhile ago, is this type of thing freely available anywhere these days? [more inside]
posted by ceberon on Nov 26, 2008 - 5 answers

Is this good use of punctuation? The adept poster: one of nobility, wisdom and wit, is the superior MeFite. [more inside]
posted by l33tpolicywonk on Sep 2, 2008 - 17 answers

English Grammar: "There is" vs. "There are". There is a banana. There are two oranges. There (is / are) a banana and an orange? [more inside]
posted by syzygy on Feb 25, 2008 - 28 answers

You capitalize "The Civil War", right? And you capitalize "The Civil Rights Movement", right? Do you capitalize "The Women's Movement"? Do you capitalize "The Anti-Globalization Movement"? What about the "Spay and Neuter 'Movement'"? Is every specific movement or event in history considered a proper noun – and if not, why not? Do I get to just arbitrarily decide what to capitalize in these sorts of examples, or is there some 'rule' that only applies to historic events that hold a certain level of significance – and who decides what is significant enough? [more inside]
posted by serazin on Oct 22, 2007 - 43 answers

What do you call a group of ninjas? [more inside]
posted by qbxk on Oct 10, 2006 - 52 answers

Grammer emergency. "I am unavailable to answer your call." Stop the madness. [more inside]
posted by ewkpates on Oct 6, 2006 - 46 answers

Why is it that we say that we "play football", "play baseball", "play hockey", etc... But we "go bowling", or "go biking"?
posted by keep it tight on Sep 27, 2005 - 17 answers

What words do people use that consistently make you cringe and wonder if they understand what they are saying? [more inside]
posted by Invoke on Sep 11, 2005 - 241 answers

FortuneCookieFilter - I recently ate at a Chinese buffet and my fortune cookie following the meal was slightly confusing grammatically. "If winter comes, can spring be far behind?" I know what they are trying to say, but is this technically the correct way to say it?
posted by bakerwc1369 on Dec 18, 2004 - 18 answers