Grammar Girl: For Writers and Language Lovers.

Sometimes companies leave apostrophes out of their names when it seems as if the name would need an apostrophe. Why do they do it, and is it wrong? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In honor of Shakespeare's 450th birthday, we'll look at Shakespeare's words, phrases, insults, and false friends. I bet you don't know them all. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Neal Whitman addresses some annoying phrases you hear in stores and restaurants, such as "Can I help who's next?" and "Did you want cream in your coffee?" Find out why people say such things. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Addictive Versus Addicting Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's tricky to pick apart the grammar of a sentence such as "Just because you’re correct doesn’t mean you’re not annoying." Guest writer Neal Whitman explains why such sentences work and what they really mean. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Some words have strong forms, weak forms, and even weaker forms. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gretchen McCulloch from the All Things Linguistic explains why Canadians don't say "aboot" and why most Americans think they do. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Language is changing but that doesn't mean you have to go with the flow. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is Cash Money a Regional Expression? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why it’s hard to talk about substituting one thing for another without confusing people. Guest Writer: Neal Whitman Sponsor: AudiblePodcast.com/GG Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today, we’re going to talk about two cases in which English has two words that mean the same thing and whether one choice is better than the other. Preventative and preventive, and orient and orientate. Sponsor: Grammar Girl’s Peeve Wars. Visits FundAnything.com/peevewars to learn more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Hoax Behind Little Bunny Foo Foo Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Great tales of English word evolution: From pantaloons to pants, caravan to van, and much more. Guest Writer: Bonnie Trenga Sponsor: http://FundAnything.com/peevewars Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When you read about a character, in some ways your brain acts as though it thinks you ARE the character. It's amazing. Grammar Girl and the Savvy Psychologist explain how. Subscribe to the Savvy Psychologist's show at iTunes. Get the card game Peeve Wars at http://FundAnything.com/peevewars Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How Literature Changes Your Brain for the Better. If you liked this podcast, check out our new show, The Savvy Psychologist. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Units Of Measure: Feet, Ft., Lb., Degrees, and Percents Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why can we say "the Jefferson Airplane" but not "the Led Zeppelin"? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A new study uncovered things that successful novels have in common. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What could this week’s topic be? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Do I Hate Your Singing or You Singing? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How to mix quotation marks with other punctuation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Did Kanye West Coin the Term "Hashtag Rap"? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why we sing "fra la la" instead of "fa spla spla" Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why do we call people redheads instead of orangeheads? Guest writer Gretchen McCulloch has the amazing answer. Grammar Pop Winterfest is a new wintery edition of the original Grammar Pop iOS game. It has new winter art and all new sentences, and it's on sale for only 99 cents until December 15. Get it today! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What Is a Gerund? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A fun romp through some quirky words you may see when you're playing Scrabble.Remember to check out my new game, Grammar Pop, for your iPhone or iPad. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Avoid one of the biggest passive voice mistakes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Your subconscious controls how you speak. We show why you already know how to make imaginary words such as "wugs" and "blicks" plural.Try the new iPad and iPhone grammar game, Grammar Pop. It's in the App Store. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Don't make the mistake of treating your style sheet like a style guide.The new grammar game, Grammar Pop, is now available for the iPhone. Look for it in the App Store and try it today! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What's up with sentences such as I didn't do my homework because Skyrim?Try Grammar Girl's new iPad and iPhone game: Grammar Pop. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to Night Vale: Where even “not” isn’t what it seems. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why "biweekly" can have multiple legitimate meanings. Check out the new word game Grammar Pop in the App Store: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/grammar-pop-hd/id666851934?mt=8&uo=4&at=11l7m5 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

More than five different types of irony? No wonder it's confusing! Guest writer Keith Houston, author of "Shady Characters: The Secret Life of Punctuation, Symbols, and other Typographical Marks" helps us figure out irony. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Which English homophones came from polysemy and which came from spelling variation? Try our new iPad game, Grammar Pop. If you like the Grammar Girl podcast, you'll love the game. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

An excerpt from Bill Walsh's book "Yes, I Could Care Less." Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Find out which of these words is a preposition and which is a conjunction. Try Grammar Girl's new iPad game called Grammar Pop. You match words with their part of speech to pop clouds. You can also find Grammar Girl's books at http://j.mp/allGGbooks Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The fascinating history of English prepositions (yes, really). If you are trying to learn about prepositions, try Grammar Girl's new iPad game called Grammar Pop. You match words with their part of speech, including prepositions. You can also find Grammar Girl's books at http://j.mp/allGGbooks Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Prove you know your parts of speech with the new iPad game Grammar Pop. You don't have to know the difference between participles and gerunds to play, but if you're up to the challenge, it's there waiting for you! Look for Grammar Pop in the App Store. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Who started it and why? Get Grammar Girl's books at http://j.mp/allGGbooks Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Learn how to use apostrophes by pondering a Victoria's Secret ad. Buy Grammar Girl's books: http://j.mp/allGGbooks Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In honor of the new royal baby, more formally known as Prince George Alexander Louis, we're pondering a pompous pronoun choice known as the "royal we." Buy Grammar Girl's books at http://j.mp/allGGbooks. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How English evolved to give us two indefinite articles (a and an), and the odd mix of possessive pronouns that don't quite match. Buy Grammar Girl's books: http://j.mp/allGGbooks Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Spoonerisms, Mondegreens, Malapropisms, and Eggcorns. Like the podcast? See Grammar Girl's books: http://j.mp/allGGbooks Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How to Make Weird Product Names Plural Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Retronyms: Scourge of the Language or Helpful Tool? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How to Avoid a Common Comma Error: The Comma Splice Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why Aren't We Gruntled When We're Happy? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"I" is singular, so why do we say "I go" instead of "I goes"? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How to Use Hyphens. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

John E. McIntyre, a veteran editor at The Baltimore Sun, shares pithy editing maxims from his new book. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.