All Verbal Energy

There’s a way to claim something as a ‘fact’ when it’s not, and linguists have a word for it.

English is full of troublesome pairs of words – if they look alike and sound alike, and share a common thread of meaning, no wonder we confuse them.

A little understanding of what linguists call parse trees can help writers put sentences together better.

The Australian premier’s tough talk against Putin has snagged a ‘word of the year’ designation, but what was Tony Abbott really trying to say?

This problem is common enough that linguists have their own special nickname for it.

Has the trickling down to the larger public of technical terms such as ‘circular argument’ or ‘cost-benefit analysis’ helped people think better?

Has ‘around’ started elbowing ‘about’ out of the conversation?

Vocabulary lessons from a visit to an ancient church in Rome.

Tracking down a quote ascribed to Thomas Edison provides an object lesson in online fact-checking.

A new guide from Oxford University Press helps occasional writers build their vocabularies.

The idea that poor children are starved for words.

Steven Pinker’s new style guide draws on what cognitive scientists know about how human minds process language.

The Monitor’s language columnist has made peace with ‘mentor’ as a verb; ‘mentee’ as the term for the one being mentored, not so much.

How did our words for east, west, north, and south come to refer to places and not just direction?

The Obama administration has reached back to an earlier era for its preferred designation for the latest major terrorist threat.

It’s not all Greek: Merriam-Webster’s list of top 10 words on campus includes some Latin, too.

What do we call these building elements meant to keep certain kinds of people out?

A single space after a period, or two? Inquiring minds want to know, but the single space has been established typographical convention.

Does memory of an old advertising jingle keep people from using a perfectly good preposition?

A rule we thought would be gone by now, the one about avoiding like in favor of as, proves more durable than expected