Category Archives: grammar

Don’t Torture Me: Tortuous, Torturous

Sometimes, learning grammar rules can be torturous. Or is it tortuous? Be careful with these two words; the second -r makes all the difference. Torturous has torture as its root, and it means that something is very painful, that is, … Continue reading

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Going Nucular

Richard Nixon once said, “…when the President does it, that means that it is not illegal.” Well, that might be true of wire-tapping without court-approved warrants, but I’m almost certain that it does not hold true for grammar, punctuation, and … Continue reading

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Why Language Changes

We at languageandgrammar.com don’t throw around the term “great” loosely, but Forbes.com has a great article on the evolution of words.  Actually, we’re just having a little bit of fun. It wouldn’t be fair for us to comment on the … Continue reading

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We’re Not the Only Ones with Pet Peeves!

This is another installment of your pet peeves, taken straight from the comment section of the Your Pet Peeves page. We’re doing this because we ran out of topics–I mean because we want to highlight your pet peeves. Seriously, one … Continue reading

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Spring Greening?

Spring is that special time of year. Flowers bloom, little woodland creatures awaken from their long winter’s nap, and the grass and trees start to green up. Wait a minute. Everything starts to green up? What does that mean? Maybe … Continue reading

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Only 70 Curses Today–Below Average

I was shocked by a recent article that claims that teenagers use curse words 80 to 90 times per day on average (Curse words trendy language among teenagers). I was shocked because I thought it would be more like a … Continue reading

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Pre-Prepare to Not Like This Word

I recently heard the word pre-prepared, and not being a word historian, I don’t know whether this is an old word that’s being used again or a new word needed to meet the demands of our fast-paced society. (Please note … Continue reading

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What Annoys You…

It’s time for more of your pet peeves, taken straight from comments left on the Your Pet Peeves Page. We’re grateful for all of the comments that we’ve gotten so far, so wanted to highlight them. I’m listing them in … Continue reading

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The People Have Spoken

Now that we’ve received over 100 comments in our Pet Peeves page, I thought that it might be a good time to highlight what annoys readers of the blog–about 20 per post. This will be the first installment. I’m doing … Continue reading

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Orient or Orientate: Don’t Get Disorientated Over This One

Last week, a reader asked that I talk about the words orient and orientate and their, ummmm, evolution, so here we go. According to Webster’s dictionary, orient first appeared in 1727 and meant to cause to face and turn to … Continue reading

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