by Jamie Chavez | Jul 30, 2016 | Words & Language
We’ve talked a lot about how language—words and grammar—changes over time (here’s one of my posts with links to many of the rest: “The Language Metamorphosis”), but this article takes a really long view: What will the English language be like in 100 years? The global...
by Jamie Chavez | Jul 21, 2016 | Books You Might Like, Words & Language
In Britain, … [a] more common complaint is that British English is generally being tainted by Americanisms. As I have suggested, outrage at American influence was common among Victorian defenders of British English, and its volume increased as first American silent...
by Jamie Chavez | Jun 9, 2016 | Your Editor Says …
“Reading other people’s raw copy is like looking at your grandmother naked.” When veteran reporter Rafael Alvarez was temporarily assigned to the metro desk, this was his verdict after his first week’s experience, and from this observation several conclusions can be...
by Jamie Chavez | May 14, 2016 | Your Editor Says …
A comma splice is only a little error, easily fixed. If you gave me a manuscript full of run-on sentences caused by them, it would be an easy edit. But—the “world’s top* grammarian,” this short article from Business Insider tells us, “fears that this punctuation error...
by Jamie Chavez | Apr 18, 2016 | Words & Language, Your Editor Says …
I’ve noticed a lot of people of a certain age tend to use the indefinite article an before the word historic (or historical): The radio announcer said, “It was an historic event.” This is actually incorrect usage, y’all, though I think I may have been taught this in...
