There’s a fair chance that at some point you’ve been told that you’re using hopefully wrong: Purists insist that it can only mean “in a hopeful manner” and not “it is to be hoped that.” But who are ...

If you’re a writer or editor you likely already regard Garner’s Modern English Usage as an indispensable guide. First published in 1998, the work (famously celebrated by David Foster Wallace) covers ...

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... A friend who teaches middle school English starts the school year with a lesson on how to e-mail properly. You’d think kids born in the same year as Facebook ...

In 1940, St. Clair McKelway typed a memo to William Shawn, The New Yorker’s managing editor for fact. McKelway was writing a six-part Profile of Walter Winchell for the magazine, and he was unhappy ...

Wicked. Evil. Foul. Bad. Those words mean essentially the same thing, but we don't talk about "wicked weather," "foul witches" or the "forces of bad." Understanding such subtle differences in usage ...