Susan 🐝 Rooks, The Grammar Goddess Blog

I often buy frozen “dinners” because it’s easier than cooking for just one person. They keep well in the freezer, there are seemingly hundreds of choices, and many of them are actually not too bad for us in terms of nutrition. · How do I choose which to buy? · Well, usually based ...

The Internet is a wondrous place, especially for those of us who grew up long before it was even thought of, let alone something that rules so much of our lives. · We can “talk” for free to someone on the other side of the world. Of course, we can also ignore someone right in fro ...

Do you remember being a kid and wanting to grow up and know everything about everything, the way so many adults appeared to do? · Did you think or grow up to believe that once you crossed some magic threshold of age, all those mysteries about how to live, how to get a job, how to ...

I am certain every language has its own ways that might not make absolute sense in terms of spelling, usage, or punctuation. Heaven knows American English does! · So, for your edification (how’s that for a big word?), here are a few punctuation rules that make no particular sense ...

Are you familiar with this term? We're seeing evidence of them everywhere on social media, which is a shame. · As a verb, troll can mean “to post inflammatory or irrelevant material on an electronic forum to provoke responses; as a noun, it can mean “a person who posts such mater ...

Where do you get your ideas for articles? Do you see something, hear something, or react to something that stops you in your tracks? Something you could teach to others? · If you’re a musical artist, you probably occasionally hear riffs / chords / segues that the rest of us don’t ...

Yes, of course I made the word up!  · But it occurred to me over the past week that we really need to be grateful for what we have more than one day a year (Thanksgiving in the U.S.). And I'm sure each reader's culture has at least one holiday that focuses on gratitude, so I hope ...

I just got a new subscription to Time magazine, something I hadn't had in years. Thanks to a friend who gave me a couple of copies over late summer, I decided to get my own again. · So, this past week's double edition (Nov. 26-Dec. 3) is excellent -- but not just for the stories. ...

Have you ever realized how little you know about so many things? I learned something today about my car -- and communication.  · The picture below shows the little orange icon that popped up on my car's dashboard halfway through a 50-minute drive this morning on the highway. It ...

It's been quite a while since I last offered you a quiz, so ... · I hope you knock this one off in a couple of minutes (there are only 5 questions) and know why you chose your answer. It's such a simple concept, but sometimes writers move too fast or maybe they're just confused; ...

I think we all saw the amazing result of the FanDuel Sportsbook's error in posting the odds on a bet a few weeks ago -- and then having several bettors actually jump on it and place bets that paid off HUGE! Not immediately, but in the end, because FanDuel did the right thing, the ...

Aha, and you thought I wouldn’t keep up my end of the bargain to return to the Tuesday Tricksters for real, even though I told you last week I’d start putting these out again each week. · Well, here we are, once again realizing how terribly easy it is to write one word when we me ...

Brand Message Expert Daisy McCarty asked me recently about whether to use a comma or and in a sentence for one of her clients: · The company focuses on creating elegant, sensible solutions that allow our clients to do more...  · The company focuses on creating elegant and sensibl ...

In my last post, I wrote about recently giving a refresher program on manners to some men in a long-term drug rehab. While we talked about a wide range of ways to use good manners, but this particular one – the subject of this blog – never got mentioned at all. Of course, I only ...

I’m not the first, and I’m sure I won’t be the last here on LI (or any other professional platform) to notice the variety of headshots that we use to represent ourselves. · While each of us is unique and our business might not require a suit-and-tie approach, there are still a fe ...

Do you love dogs? Like them? I have loved having them in my life since my first neighbor’s dog let me pat her when I was about 5. I was severely allergic to dogs, so I couldn’t have them in my house until I became an adult and largely outgrew the allergies. After that, I never st ...

Using apostrophes in contractions · In English, anyway, we create contractions when we join two words and then leave one or more letters out of the final word, right? · For instance, have not = haven't, did not = didn't, could have = could've, I will = I'll, he is = he's, it is = ...

Sometimes I create a Funday with a theme; other times the theme comes begging to be recognized! And apparently I need more words again to allow this post to be shown. · Thanks to Martin Wright, today's theme shows us some seriously wacky signs that I laughed at -- I sure hope you ...

Isn't it fascinating and aggravating to realize how many words are written in English as you see in the headline? Why do we need a "ph" to take the place of the letter "f"? I mean, really. Isn't the letter "f" enough"? Who on earth decided so many years ago that "ph" could and sh ...

Good morning, friends and colleagues! Yes, it's finally Friday again, and I hope as you're heading into the weekend, you're planning a fun couple of days. · Let's see if today's collection of memes and pictures helps you on your way! · A thought you can't unthink ... · English is ...