WORD COURT ARCHIVES

May 27th, 2009: Invented languages

May 20th, 2009: Less and fewer / him receiving

May 13th, 2009: Should have went / feet? foots?

May 6th, 2009: Silly eggcorns / Broadway Street / alright or all right?

April 29th, 2009: Triannual, biannual, biennial / on accident

April 22nd, 2009: Fellow colleague / curry favor

April 15th, 2009: Be to class? / emigrate and immigrate / in vs. on behalf of

April 8th, 2009: Wishing the Elements of Style a happy 50th

April 1st, 2009: Adjective plus of / lie and lay

March 25th, 2009: Proofreading quiz answer key

March 24th, 2009: About that proofreading quiz

March 18th, 2009: Apostrophes with plurals / loose and lose

March 11th, 2009: Proofreading quiz

March 4th, 2009: Possessive acronyms and initialisms / All-America City?

February 25th, 2009: Getting quotes exactly right / spelling woes

February 18th, 2009: Spelling on eBay / M. and Mr.

February 11th, 2009: Capitalizing Realtor / to shutter / leadership was assessed as having mastered ...?

February 4th, 2009: Pronunciations on the Internet / more on Ayn Rand

January 28th, 2009: Execute ... faithfully vs. faithfully execute / cursive writing / specs

January 21st, 2009: Ayn Rand's concepts / express purpose / plural of process

January 14th, 2009: Raised or risen? / squashed and quashed

January 7th, 2009: Known for 25 years / two years' probation or two years? / one-off vs. one-of

December 31st, 2008: Will be no or will not be any? / plural adjectives, plural verbs

December 17th, 2008: Cut in half or halves? / rein and reign / origins of surnames

December 10th, 2008: Word books of the year

December 4th, 2008: Gentleman criminals / I and me

November 26th, 2008: To vet / less and fewer / the couple were or was?

November 19th, 2008: Heart-rendering? / myself abuse

November 12th, 2008: Beg the question / [B]affling brackets / types of computer? computers?

November 5th, 2008: Home in vs. hone in / finished vs. done

October 29th, 2008: Premier and premiere / capitalizing sir / ordinal numbers in dates

October 22nd, 2008: Impactful / more on amn't

October 15th, 2008: Happy 80th, OED!

October 8th, 2008: Functionality / due to the fact / how come?

October 4th, 2008: Prepositions quiz explained

October 1st, 2008: Amn't I? / prepositions quiz winners

September 24th, 2008: Penultimate / podium / albeit

September 17th, 2008: Prepositions quiz

September 5th, 2008: The with job descriptions / atheists' god

September 3rd, 2008: Obama and Osama / more on margin of error

August 27th, 2008: Margin of error / second most favorite / eBay at the beginning of a sentence

August 20th, 2008: Double-barreled names / the third half

August 13th, 2008: Tooken / actually

August 6th, 2008: I approve this message / amount of apples is or are?

July 30th, 2008: Speak to / singular or plural couple / beggar understanding

July 23rd, 2008: Pronouncing Beijing / having said that

July 16th, 2008: Got and gotten / more on cupsful / issues and problems

July 9th, 2008: Unique on the Internet / past tense of weed eat / cupsful or cupfuls

July 2nd, 2008: To be pet or petted / humanitarian disasters / inexact quotes

June 29th, 2008: "Singular versus plural" quiz explained

June 25th, 2008: Quiz wrap-up / that said / master's or masters degree?

June 18th, 2008: Non-possessive possessives / neither or / a long way or ways?

June 11th, 2008: "Singular versus plural" quiz

June 4th, 2008: Does good English matter in the real world?

May 28th, 2008: So fun / sit and set

May 21st, 2008: The National Spelling Bee

May 16th, 2008: Apostrophe quiz answered and explained

May 14th, 2008: Latin plurals and the apostrophe quiz winner

May 7th, 2008: Had drank? / lie and lay

April 30th, 2008: Apostrophe quiz

April 23rd, 2008: Due vs. owing / happy medium or median? / buy or bide time?

April 16th, 2008: Dr. Seuss'? Bridget Jones's? / tolerancy / myself

April 9th, 2008: America's writing "report card"

April 2nd, 2008: Does whether need or not? / choosing between I or me

March 26th, 2008: Neither is or are? / more on Oriental

March 19th, 2008: Is Oriental offensive? / cliche or cliched? / Woe is me explained

March 12th, 2008: Phonetic spelling / communication vs. communications

March 5th, 2008: How correct is too correct? / more on I and me

February 27th, 2008: As big and tough as me or I? / artisan and artisanal

February 20th, 2008: Accuracy vs. grammar / excess thats / peruse

February 13th, 2008: Democrat or Democratic Party? / more on gender-neutral pronouns / tarmac

February 6th, 2008: Obama and Osama / first annual

January 30th, 2008: If not / not available in all or available in not all / ex-Indonesian dictator

January 23rd, 2008: A new but unhelpful gender-neutral pronoun

January 16th, 2008: Isn't that right? / are two men taking wives or a wife?

January 9th, 2008: Words of the year

January 2nd, 2008: If I was and if I were /

December 26th, 2007: A New Year's resolution

December 19th, 2007: Do in let's do / reticent / first-generation

December 12th, 2007: Belgium as an adjective / when ever and where ever vs. whenever and wherever

December 5th, 2007: Gourmet / spades is or are? / more about the DiMaggios

November 28th, 2007: Complimentary vs. complementary / abbreviating titles / forte

November 21st, 2007: Deja vu all over again / persuade and convince / the with organizations' names

November 14th, 2007: Materialism vs. consumerism / the DiMaggios, the Hemingways

November 7th, 2007: The evolution of verbs

October 31st, 2007: Truth to power / antique or antiques sale?

October 24th, 2007: Disgruntled explained / DEfense and INsurance

October 17th, 2007: Passive verbs / More on write like me or I

October 10th, 2007: To not smoke or not to smoke? / switch out, swap out, change out

October 3rd, 2007: Broadcasters who mispronounce words

September 26th, 2007: And in numbers / like me or like I? / behead

September 19th, 2007: Flied out? / try and / a whole nother

September 12th, 2007: Tragedy / more ban-worthy words and phrases

September 5th, 2007: Alright vs. all right / premise vs. premises / police is vs. the police are

August 29th, 2007: Fewer vs. less / attendee instead of attender

August 22nd, 2007: Banned words and phrases

August 15th, 2007: Entitled / memoir vs. autobiography / bathroom, restroom, washroom, toilet

August 8th, 2007: Utilize / what's an ingredient?

August 1st, 2007: Can e-mail state or read? / taken back

July 25th, 2007: Bring and take / plurals of family names ending in s

July 18th, 2007: Capitalizing bird names / a plural vs. singular puzzle / informational meeting

July 11th, 2007: The grammar of it's just us

July 4th, 2007: Even more on restaurant language

June 27th, 2007: American / no rest for the weary or the wicked?

June 20th, 2007: More on restaurant language

June 13th, 2007: Lovely men / x percent of all ... / lit and lighted

June 6th, 2007: Restaurant language / men's and women's staff?

May 30th, 2007: Pangs or pains? / writing 1 or one, etc.

May 23rd, 2007: Into and in to / capitalizing mother / pronouncing coupon

May 16th, 2007: Learning about English by learning Italian

May 9th, 2007: Punctuating Mother's Day / on behalf of me and my spouse? / aggravate

May 2nd, 2007: A or an historical? / co-conspirator / splatter and spatter

April 25th, 2007: More on .99 cents / momently

April 18th, 2007: On learning a new language

April 11th, 2007: The spelling of sherbet

April 4th, 2007: Each / youth or youths?

March 28th, 2007: Word inflation / all set / at this point in time

March 21st, 2007: .99 cents / more on pairs / ideals and ideas

March 14th, 2007: All of a sudden or all of the sudden? / irregardless / more on left to play

March 7th, 2007: Anymore / goals vs. objectives / must a pair match?

February 28th, 2007: Left to play / mortified and reticent / further vs. farther

February 21st, 2007: Pronunciation of o / us people or we people?

February 14th, 2007: Either or both? / starting sentences with and or but

February 7th, 2007: More on co- / among other vs. among several

January 31st, 2007: Toadstranglers / whether vs. whether or not

January 24th, 2007: Like and such as / postal vs. traditional abbreviations for state names

January 17th, 2007: Supposedly and supposably / more than one favorite / co-join

January 10th, 2007: Prepositions and similar words at the ends of phrases

January 3rd, 2007: Going meta / alumni/-ae

December 27th, 2006: I want to meaning I am / figurative choreography / and in series

December 20th, 2006: "Which" vs. "that"

December 13th, 2006: Another think or another thing coming? / all aren't vs. not all are / addressing women plural

December 6th, 2006: Text message as a verb / Guardsman vs. Guard

November 29th, 2006: Myriad / incidences vs. incidents

November 22nd, 2006: Emitting a smell, and researching word questions on the Internet

November 15th, 2006: Correcting a future son-in-law's grammar / well hyphen? educated

November 8th, 2006: I best / Mrs. Jane Doe / a quote or a quotation?

November 1st, 2006: Well, maybe I can be snarky / pronouncing hundred and often / more than any (other)

October 25th, 2006: Present tense for the past / I'm not snarky!

October 18th, 2006: Mrs. vs. Mss. / then and than / more about octopus's plural

October 11th, 2006: We apologize for any inconvenience / am I snarky?

October 4th, 2006: Juried / the plural of octopus

September 27th, 2006: Quiz answers explained

September 20th, 2006: Preplanned / pretexting

September 13th, 2006: Bring and take / rapist vs. raper

September 6th, 2006: Word Court's third-anniversary quiz

August 30th, 2006: Where it's at / overtake vs. take over / exorcised or exercised?

August 23rd, 2006: Woman as an adjective / I personally, I myself

August 16th, 2006: Responsibility / these kind / more

August 9th, 2006: Recap: went missing / there is or there are a number of / sank and shrank

August 2nd, 2006: Recap: have given I / healthy and healthful / past presidents

July 26th, 2006: Suppose to or supposed to? / on your person

July 19th, 2006: One as a pronoun / and/or

July 12th, 2006: Conversate / commentate and orientate / mobulate

July 5th, 2006: Pomp and what? / more on he/she and its ilk

June 28th, 2006: This year and this decade / had had

June 21st, 2006: Meanings of inform / shoo in, brooch, broach, breach and breech

June 14th, 2006: If you will / play sports

June 7th, 2006: He, he/she, or they? / different with from or than / snuck

May 31st, 2006: Toe the line / nearby the building / possessives of pseudo-plurals

May 24th, 2006: A group of students was or were / kids in the 1800s / X-year anniversary

May 17th, 2006: Medevacked or madevaced? / more correct

May 10th, 2006: Had drank / off of / very unique

May 3rd, 2006: Double that / wildlife is or are

April 26th, 2006: Hey for hi / how fun is that / object or subject?

April 19th, 2006: To guilt or not to guilt / negative information

April 12th, 2006: A or an (acronym) / stupider?

April 5th, 2006: You or your filling me in / puddings and proofs

March 29th, 2006: Me and him or him and me / goof ups? / more on times fainter

March 22nd, 2006: A collective name for newspaper readers

March 15th, 2006: Going forward / 50 times fainter / a direct vs. indirect object

March 8th, 2006: One choice or two? / first vs. firstly

March 1st, 2006: Collective names, and a contest / like for?

February 22nd, 2006: Forbidden to or from / pronouncing Iranian / droll / one of the few who haven't

February 15th, 2006: Torino or Turin? / healthy vs. healthful / ethics is or are?

February 8th, 2006: Needs done / unconventional likes

February 1st, 2006: The message of misspellings

January 25th, 2006: Disk vs. disc / words ending in 'shion'

January 18th, 2006: For good / two me versus I puzzles

January 11th, 2006: Words of the year

January 4th, 2006: Possession is nine what? / all and all of

December 28th, 2005: Whatever or what ever / single and double quotation marks

December 21st, 2005: -Or and -er endings / a holiday-card goof?

December 14th, 2005: Timeouts or times out? / vice versa / my bad, part 3

December 7th, 2005: Holiday books

November 30th, 2005: Semicolons and colons / building service / my bad, part 2

November 23rd, 2005: My bad / attribute as a verb / past presidents

November 16th, 2005: If you'd like to see your name in Word Court

November 9th, 2005: Destinating / deja vu all over again

November 2nd, 2005: My political party / is everybody plural?

October 26th, 2005: The number is but a number are / more about Veterans Day

October 19th, 2005: Pandemic vs. epidemic / Mark Twain is or was?

October 12th, 2005: Veterans Day or Veterans' Day? / a memory aid for affect and effect

October 5th, 2005: Up to $1000 or more / in praise of sank and shrank

September 28th, 2005: Are companies it or they? / what about bands?

September 21st, 2005: Affected and effected / commas with state names / plurals from Greek

September 14th, 2005: Foot or feet? / immanitous / for free

September 7th, 2005: English vs. other languages

August 31st, 2005: The reason is because / nauseous and nauseated

August 24th, 2005: Data is or data are / pronouncing colonel / more about the vowel W

August 17th, 2005: Let the cat out or let out the cat / W as a vowel

August 10th, 2005: An unaccepted apology / comprise and compose

August 3rd, 2005: Awful “prepackaged” sentences

July 27th, 2005: The origins of urban myth / went missing

July 20th, 2005: Buckles and huckleberries / someone's else?

July 13th, 2005: Where does the apostrophe go? / practice / Walshs, Walsh's or Walshes?

July 6th, 2005: Matchy-matchy and a “prepackaged sentence” contest / pronouncing etc.

June 29th, 2005: The dictionary makers respond

June 22nd, 2005: What you asked me to tell dictionary makers

June 15th, 2005: Could or couldn't care less / ambiguous questions / substitute with

June 8th, 2005: Not to mention / have done or am done?

June 1st, 2005: A terrible thing to waste? / enthuse

May 25th, 2005: Radical conservatives / e-mails or e-mail?

May 18th, 2005: In regards to / ice tea

May 11th, 2005: More about why good English matters

May 4th, 2005: Dictionary recommendations

April 27th, 2005: The April 6 contest winners

April 20th, 2005: A couple days or a couple of days? / its and it's

April 13th, 2005: Whose or of which? / Portia and Julian / underneath vs. under

April 6th, 2005: A contest / what's with its? / as long as vs. so long as

March 30th, 2005: Two years experience or two years' experience? / the use of whom

March 23rd, 2005: Periods with quotation marks / an or a ubiquitous?

March 16th, 2005: Times larger and times smaller

March 9th, 2005: Me and Dad or Dad and me? / wonk / spanking new

March 2nd, 2005: Dumbing down? / comma after a city name / healthy and healthful

February 23rd, 2005: Commas and too / what's with the Rev.? / she is the cat's mother

February 16th, 2005: Feel strong or feel strongly? / good vs. well / the grammar of if you were me

February 9th, 2005: The Honorable / am I not? / pronouncing often

February 2nd, 2005: The Roman numeral IIII / are they actresses or actors?

January 26th, 2005: Alternate or alternative? / sophists and the sophisticated / if you were I -- or me?

January 19th, 2005: A troop? / More about caps after colons

January 12th, 2005: Your family words

January 5th, 2005: Less vs. fewer / feel bad or feel badly?

December 29th, 2004: If I were or if I was? / a savings

December 22nd, 2004: Holiday Open House in the judge's chambers

December 15th, 2004: Pronouncing forte / more on capitalizing city and state / metanoic?

December 8th, 2004: Salutations on greeting cards / fulsome/ a misspelling

December 1st, 2004: Underway or under way / capitals after colons

November 24th, 2004: Shakespearean English / amongst

November 17th, 2004: A how-many-pound gorilla? / could of

November 10th, 2004: When not to say please / city and state or City and State?

November 3rd, 2004: Mortal coil / hone vs. home

October 27th, 2004: Split infinitives / the both of you

October 20th, 2004: The new black / more about buses

October 13th, 2004: Awoken or awakened? / arguably

October 6th, 2004: Formally vs. formerly / not a vs. no / more quickly vs. quicker

September 27th, 2004: Buses or busses? / fused participles

September 22nd, 2004: Alot / also is vs. is also / check with who(m)ever designed it

September 15th, 2004: Same-oh same-oh / two things is or are one? / a couple times

September 8th, 2004: He when it means she / proven vs. proved

September 1st, 2004: Detroit Tigers fan or Tiger fan? / what is a fact?

August 25th, 2004: Pleaded vs. pled / bling-bling / a gender-neutral pronoun

August 18th, 2004: Who'da thunk / a or an SST? / horrific

August 11th, 2004: Decimate / computer mouses or mice?

August 4th, 2004: Be rest assured? / skosh / kids and moms vs. children and mothers

July 28th, 2004: Mechutonim vs. consuegros / Burns' or Burns's?

July 21st, 2004: Terror vs. terrorism / everyday and every day

July 14th, 2004: Letting go of pet peeves: someone else's / proactive / re and or but

July 7th, 2004: Top seeded or top ceded? / daughter's mother-in-law / near miss

June 30th, 2004: Efforting? / kerfuffle

June 23rd, 2004: Statin / cachet vs. cache

June 16th, 2004: Live / founder vs. flounder / to vet

June 9th, 2004: You all / reasons why

June 2nd, 2004: Who vs. that / quoting oneself / gender-neutral salutations

May 26th, 2004: Report on a find-the-mistake contest

May 19th, 2004: Bob or I? / rhymes with orange / free gift

May 12th, 2004: Three feet vs. three-foot / if ... were vs. if ... was / like I or like me?

May 5th, 2004: Eats, Shoots & Leaves / business letters to Gentlemen

April 28th, 2004: The buck stops here / bring and take / house vs. home

April 21st, 2004: Difficult vs. hard / him going or his going? / heighth??

April 14th, 2004: Shouldn't come rhyme with home? / mass exodus / leaser or leasee

April 7th, 2004: Out of pocket / the plural of Jones

March 31st, 2004: Where only goes / Your Own Words

March 24th, 2004: Making or taking decisions / to you and me or to you and I?

March 17th, 2004: The Hi, Comma! / use vs. utilize / lie and lei

March 10th, 2004: The Rudys or the Rudy's? / jury-rigged or jerry-rigged?

March 3rd, 2004: Rules of thumb / farther and further

February 25th, 2004: Prank calls or crank calls / irregardless / i before e?

February 18th, 2004: Correcting friends' language / capital vs. capitol / a historic or an historic?

February 11th, 2004: Pronouncing February / hopefully

February 4th, 2004: This is she / gawp / pronouncing jewelry

January 28th, 2004: Seen and saw / to golf or to play golf?

January 21st, 2004: 24/7 / who vs. that / commas with introductory elements

January 14th, 2004: Corker / poets laureate or poet laureates? / pronouncing diaper

January 7th, 2004: We're pregnant? / iterate and reiterate / absolutely

December 31st, 2003: I got vs. I have / arguably, unarguably, and inarguably

December 24th, 2003: Pronouncing poinsettia / gone missing / alright isn't all right

December 17th, 2003: A parts-of-speech rhyme / more about whereabouts

December 10th, 2003: Twilight vs. dusk / transition as a verb

December 3rd, 2003: Thrill to / deep-seated or deep-seeded? / one of the only

November 26th, 2003: Calling one person they / whereabouts is or are?

November 19th, 2003: Pronouncing puerile / Oriental vs. Asian / graduated or graduated from?

November 12th, 2003: Preventative or preventive / walkers but standees / diva

November 5th, 2003: Gourmands and gourmets / reaim and other re- words

October 29th, 2003: Die or pass away / a whole 'nother / enamored of or enamored by

October 22nd, 2003: Over or more than / classical or classic / issues or problems

October 15th, 2003: Two pair or two pairs / adjectives after nouns / entitle or title

October 8th, 2003: Whence bulldozers? / alot and alright

October 1st, 2003: Different than or different from / dilatate? / plural e-mails

September 24th, 2003: What to call married men / sights or sites

September 17th, 2003: RSVP / comma before Inc. / sneaked or snuck / unlike no other

September 10th, 2003: Lay and lie / rest bit?

September 3rd, 2003: For Pete’s sake / a or an MPA / myself