Beyond marking direct speech, quotation marks serve a variety of functions. They can signal skepticism, provisional terminology, nonstandard usage, or emphasis when italics aren’t available. There’s no reason to mock hand-lettered signs for their...
Sam in St. Charles, Illinois, says that when he mentioned a big old water tower nearby, his mother corrected him, saying the water tower wasn’t old, it was new. Can’t you use big old or big ol’ in that way? Of course you can! The...
If you reeeeeeeeeally want to emphasize something in writing, you can engage in what linguists call expressive lengthening, or making a word longer by repeating letters. It’s an example of paralinguistic restitution, rendering in text cues such as...
Ben in Richmond, Virginia, is puzzled by the expression Believe you me. It sounds odd because it mixes up the usual subject-verb-object order in English. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Believe You Me” Hello, you have...
If you want to be a better writer, try skipping today’s bestsellers, and read one from the 1930’s instead. Or read something besides fiction in order to find your own metaphors and perspective. Plus, just because a city’s name...
A man in Del Mar, California, wonders about the expression must needs meaning “must by necessity.” Is it a regionalism, pretentious, or perhaps used just for emphasis? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Must...