A Way with Words

Gung Ho

Posted by Grant Barrett on March 5, 2018 · 1 Comment

Cute as a Button

Posted by Grant Barrett on August 2, 2014 · Add Comment

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Capitalizing I

Posted by Grant Barrett on February 2, 2013 · Add Comment

Does capitalizing the pronoun I feel like aggrandizing your own self-importance? Timna, an English Composition professor at an Illinois community college, reports that a student refused to capitalize this first person pronoun, arguing that to do so was egotistical. But it’s a standard convention of written English going back to the 13th century, and to [...]
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Third Person Singular, Unknown Gender

Posted by Grant Barrett on December 18, 2012 · Add Comment

What’s the rule on using they and their in place of his and hers? Grammarians a couple of centuries ago may have misapplied some Latin rules of grammar to the unruly English language, but the issue is clear today: the word they functions perfectly well as an epicene pronoun as does their for its possessive [...]
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Pie in the Sky

Posted by Grant Barrett on December 17, 2012 · 2 Comments

Looking for a book to read with the kids, or maybe a guide to becoming a better writer? Why are leg cramps called charley horses? And where’d we get a phrase like pie in the sky? If you happen to be tall, you’ve no doubt heard plenty of clueless comments from strangers. A listener who’s [...]
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Why We Capitalize the Pronoun “I”

Posted by Grant Barrett on July 7, 2012 · Add Comment

If you’re wondering why we capitalize the letter “I” when we don’t capitalize the first letters of other pronouns, the answer’s simple. It’s easier to read. Martha recommends a book offering a detailed history of every letter of the alphabet. It’s Language Visible: Unraveling the Mystery of the Alphabet from A to Z, by David [...]
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