Grammar & Usage

Spelling & Pronunciation (page 2)

Every Letter Is Silent, Sometimes

When each letter can be seen but not heard

How Do You Pronounce 'Groceries'?

Is there one standard way?

Noah Webster's Spelling Wins and Fails

Some of his biggest successes and defeats

Unearthing the Spelling of 'Cemetery' (as 'Sematary')

Sometimes sounding it out isn't better

How the Greeks Influenced Our Alphabet

An excerpt from 'Greek to Me'

Just what does that 'ae' say?

Pronunciation can be hard.

How do you pluralize 'cyclops'?

Just add an 'E.'

How do you pronounce 'the'?

How to say English's most common word

Which Is The Correct Plural Spelling? (It's a Trick Question)

Multiple spellings for "multiple" words.

9 Words with Unnecessary Syllables

'Argumentative', 'interpretate', and more

The Height of Mispronunciation—Or Not

Why doesn't 'height' end in 'th'?

What's the Correct Pronunciation of 'Clinton'?

And what's a 'glottal stop'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

'A historic' night or 'An historic' night?

I Before E Except After C

The famous rhyme is wrong

How to Read a French Menu

How to 'amuse-bouche' without begging pardon for your French

Why "I Before E" Won't Always Help You

Unfortunately, the Rule Is Incomplete

Uranus, Quinoa, and Other Tricky Pronunciations

10 words that you're not sure how to say

Is It 'Attorney Generals' Or 'Attorneys General'?

'Poets laureate'? 'Court-martials'? The curious history of postpositive adjectives in English.

The Schwa

The most common vowel sound in English causes many spelling problems.

'Mispronunciations' That May Be Fine

'Mischievous,' 'nuclear,' and other words to pronounce with caution.

Winning Words and the Champs Who Spelled Them

Top 10 Spelling Bee Winning Words

An Abbreviated History of American English Spelling

Soop, wimmen, and headake did not make the cut
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