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Grammar and Usage

This part of my site is for people who think proper use of English is worthwhile. Curmudgeons and mavens and old fogies from around the world are welcome here, to help me build a living list of phrases and common errors we'd like to see excised from the English language.

Some battles have been lost in recent years. I'm not going to fight any more about hopefully, at this point in time and in terms of. I'm not far from giving up on at the end of the day and going forward. In this vein, consider Lake Superior State University's annual list of words that should be banished.

The battles I am still fighting are documented in the collection, which you can wade through via the box at right.

I am pleased to pay tribute to brevity with a few admirable examples.

I also summarize a few feeble excuses for bad English, and how to refute them.

Your turn

I don't invite nominations any more. But I'm always glad to discuss or argue. Just send mail to -- I especially welcome suggestions on how to communicate these ideas to the people who don't place as high a priority on good writing as we do.

Wall of Shame

Housekeeping

Acknowledgements: This site owes a debt to William Safire, Strunk & White, Richard Lederer, and many more. I was also inspired years ago by the Unicorn Hunters at Lake Superior State College in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.

Other places:

Visit Jim Wegryn's "A Barrel Full of Words" here

Just for fun: If you are looking for my wordplay pages - puns, taglines, anagrams, mangled movie titles, fun with Latin and more, that's here.

MORE FUN:
definitions ... Latin ... movies ... Murphy's Law
music ... Rules of business life ... Swifties ... taglines
thoughts about business life ... Grammar Hall of Shame