Comma Queen
Mary Norris on language in all its facets.
Season Two
Culture
Move over, Charles Dickens! Before we close up shop, here’s a special lesson for a well-edited holiday season.
Culture
Figures of speech are often introduced by “like” or “as.” What is the difference, and why do we care?
Culture
Which will take you farther? (Or is it further?) Authorities make a distinction, but sometimes the boundaries bleed.
Books
“Affect” is a verb, and “effect” is a noun—except when it’s the other way around.
Culture
Mary Norris, the Comma Queen, explains the order of operations for punctuation marks in asides and afterthoughts.
Culture
Some people are bothered by the use of “that” instead of “who” when the relative pronoun refers to a person, not a thing. Is there grammar for cats?
Culture
Comma Queen washes ashore, proclaims “none” has undergone a sea change.
Culture
Danglers come in many forms. What are they dangling from? And how do you tuck them into place?
Culture
Which is which? What is that? Sorting out the relative pronouns.
Culture
Prescriptivists dislike the use of “impact” as a verb, preferring a wordier alternative.
Culture
Developed from the Latin et (“and”), the ampersand, formerly the twenty-seventh letter of the alphabet, is a character with a cult following among students of typography.
Culture
As a singular gender-neutral pronoun, how might “they” work out?
Culture
Many ACES stalwarts—copy editors, journalists, grammarians, lexicographers, and linguists—stand ready to embrace the singular “their.” But not us. We avoid it whenever we can.
Culture
Purists have been trying to hold the line on “massive” for close to a century, with a remarkable—one might even say massive—lack of success.
Culture
The serial comma, also known as the Oxford comma, is the one before “and” in a series of three or more.