The Sentence Sleuth

Want to learn about some strange English words such as higgledy-piggledy? Check out this recent episode written by yours truly!

This episode is about international phrases with animals!

Curious about the origins of the words we use for the twelve months of the year? Check out my new episode for Grammar Girl!

As a mother, I am always sad when I hear of a child dying. Likewise, as a grammarian, I am always aware of errors. From today's newspa...

Here's the link to my latest episode!

The Phoenix area is home to a serial shooter, who has killed seven people. I hope they catch him pronto! This criminal sentence comes from a...

Happy Friday! I was looking at descriptions of new movies and came across this gem on the IMDb app about the film "How to Be Yours...

Here's a link to my latest guest-written episode, which my teenage son helped research: http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/gra...

Hello. I know it's been a while. The first sentence in an important newspaper story lured me from the kitchen table to the home office. ...

Happy Holidays, everyone. Here is my last GG episode of the year. Hope you enjoy!

Here's my latest !

Here is a fun episode about phrases that contain the word blue!

A chuckle-inducing sentence from an online blog: "Don't stray from the dairy isle." Don't worry. I won't jump on a...

A quote from someone in yesterday's newspaper, in an article about workers trying to stabilize a giant rock that is poised to fall: ...

Here's my latest episode: http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/diminutives

From today's newspaper: "Apple is one of--if not the--largest holding by many individual investors, says SigFig." In this ...

http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/prefixes-and-suffixes

This is all about last names (though I made a bonehead error, saying that last names are sometimes called Christian names). Despite that bo...

Last night, the kids and I enjoyed a nice dinner at a Chinese restaurant. I am glad I ate the "pork dumping"--er, I mean pork du...

From today's newspaper, in a column explaining the jet stream: "They are created by temperature contrasts which create pressure d...

Here's my latest exciting episode for Grammar Girl!

Learn about Japanese words in English and foreign words in Japanese! http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/japanese-words-in-...

From a book I'm reading: "Monday Joe will make the judge see that." ("that" refers to "my [the narrator's] ...

Happy Valentine's Day! Happy Ungrammatical Day! From today's paper, in an article about how adult stores are going mainstream: ...

From an online article: "If Richard Linklater’s  Boyhood  doesn’t live up to the Oscar hype surrounding it, at least the writer and d...

A cool song from Weird Al .

This should technically be Criminal Sentence 666 but I know that this number bothers some people. So I'm making it 665B. Before I get to...

From the paper: "As governor, Arizonans will know where I stand." As governor, I will not write misplaced modifiers!!" I supp...

I was sitting in a movie theater and saw this message on the screen: "Please turn off and refrain from cell phone use." I am s...

Sorry the notice is late. This came out a couple weeks ago: http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/how-clipping-makes-new-words

Today's Dear Abby concerns a woman who is having boyfriend intimacy problems and Abby is advising the woman to be careful before she con...

http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/scrabble-words

It's been a while but here is my latest guest-written Grammar Girl episode, about style sheets: http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/educa...

A dumb typo from a Website: "Nearly 20% of Americans expect they will never beable to afford to retire, according to a survey by HSB...

A big goof by the Vatican! It misspelled "Jesus": http://www.examiner.com/article/jesus-misspelled-papal-medals-say-jesus-lesus-...

I was disappointed to read this awful sentence in the Wall Street Journal , in an article about how skateboarders are now free to ride aroun...

A sentence from something I'm editing: "... a large corkboard with notes from clients pinned to it." I had to chuckle at t...

From an article about medicines used to combat stress: "Unfortunately the side-affects of these drugs are often dangerous ..." ...

This problem sentence is from the sports section of today's newspaper. Background: the two men's semifinals of the U.S. open were pl...

A strange typo !

Uh-oh!

From an online article (about a girl with cancer): "Tinoco, like so many others, got the opportunity to partner with the Make-A-Wish...

A sentence from a newspaper blurb about the high cost of student loans (it's a quote from someone at a financial company): "It...

From a newspaper article about Plan B: "The involvement of parents and medical professionals act as a safeguard for these young girl...

A typical sentence from something I'm editing: Ok, the Doctor say's, I'm going to prescribe this anti-inflammatory, this shoul...

As I was on the freeway today, I had the privilege of driving next to a truck with the following business name painted on the side: "Th...

From something I'm editing (about how to create an effective review site): "Reading actual comments from past customers, good and...

From a book about space travel: "...the Mojave Dessert facility..." This sounds awesome! Chocolate at Mojave? Oops! I guess ...

Let's all move to New Zealand so we can see this exciting street sign! http://news.yahoo.com/video/city-makes-embarrassing-typo-street...

From today's business section: "Buffet joins Twitter: Billionaire Warren Buffett..." Will this Twitter feed provide all-you-...

From a financial institution: "The expense ratio on several of the funds you hold in this account have changed." Yeah! Two exp...

From a financial document I am editing: "Within that landscape, we isolate singular investment opportunities for exploitation and cap...

From a book I'm reading: "Memories came flooding back of school days long ago." Does this sentence sound odd to you? It do...

From an article about changing the water filters in your home: "If not regularly maintained, bacteria can grow in the canisters....

A headline about Pope Francis: New pope revives question: What is a "Latino?" Perhaps it's true that someone of Italian...

From today's paper: The Republic | azcentral.com Sat Mar 23, 2013 10:43 PM H ow do you spell that? ....

From a book about fruit flies: "Like flies, our memories are initially short-lived..." This sentence states that our memories ...

According to my DVR, tomorrow's "Project Runway" has the contestants making clothes for a "male review." I found t...

From something I am editing (space related): "...the demanding requirements of lunching humans into orbit..." This was part of...

From something I'm editing (an analysis of the Challenger explosion): "Even so, in trials by fire experts voiced concerns and cre...

From the book I'm editing:   "The Simulation Supervisor and his evil team of training personnel would pour over all the procedure...

This morning, I found another reason to dislike paying bills. This instruction is on the outside of an envelope: "Enclose the remitta...

From something I am editing (about the Space Shuttle): "It took 20 months before the engine was capable of a 5-second burp at 100 per...

The link doesn't work so well ( http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/life/ct-tribu-words-work-that-20130220,0,4792270.story ), so here...

From a weird story about using TP as a fashion accessory: "Not your grandmother's broach: One model sports an antique pin with...

From an article about a man who finally started saving for retirement : "My wife is thrifty and our combined incomes were well over $...

A headline in today's paper: "Less New Year fireworks in badly polluted Beijing" That would need to be "Fewer ... fir...

From something I edited today: "Our monthly column let's you dress like a star, for a fraction of the cost." Oh, dear. L...