Sally Koslow's latest novel, With Friends Like These, is a sharp, perceptive portrait of four friends and former roommates as they grow into their 30s and 40s. Familiar scenery, and brings up a familiar question: Is it "like" or "such as" in these situations? Read more...

If you are good at math, you are not good at English, right? And Math + English = undatable nerd, right?. Wrong! says Danica McKellar (the actress who played Winnie Cooper on "The Wonder Years"), whose three books on math prove those equations and "if, then" conditionals to be less than congruent with reality. Read more...

Mockingjay, the upcoming title that concludes Suzanne Collins's fantastic Hunger Games trilogy, is a "portmanteau" word, combining "mockingbird" and "bluejay." Unusual, but not off-putting. "Onpassing" is a newish word that's been popping up in emails in place of the usual "forwarding." Which word puts your back up? Or upputs your back? Let's look at what's going on with our language when words mesh and meld. Read more...

I just read Chuck Pahlaniuk's latest novel, Tell-All, and I couldn't get through a sentence without seeing a bold-face name. Other writers love (parenthetical) remarks or even {brace themselves}. Some writers and readers like typographic tricks; some hate them. What are the baseline usage standards for such things in published prose? Read more...

Kathryn Stockett's fabulous novel "The Help" is about several women. But if The Help is plural, why do we use 'is"? . . . What is/are going on? I recently noted that Friskies is Doritos for cats. Or, Friskies are Doritos for cats? A pal wrote back that for cats, Friskies is crack. Or Friskies are crack? This whole discussion is like crack for grammar fans. Let's get some help. Read more...

Lucky enough to see She & Him, a popular indie band, play the incomparable Governors Island in NYC on July 4, I confess that during the show I was intermittently beset by thoughts of case grammar. What IS case, really, and what does what we say about she and him say about how we see the world? Read more...

Tony Hsieh's Zappos.com has made a lot of shoe buyers happy; his new book will make business readers happy; his company's success makes investors happy; he succeeded, he says, because his employees are happy. I'm just happy to talk about gerunds, participles, and the principal parts of a verb! Read more...

Anthony Bourdain is a man of strong opinions, strongly expressed. Love his style, both what he says and how he says it. I need to read his new book. But to my surprise, my "need to" evoked some strong opinions among my editorial friends: Many outright hate that phrase! What's so unpleasant about neediness? Read more...

The unusual cable TV series "Breaking Bad," about some rather criminal behavior, is quite good; I just got Seasons 1 & 2 on DVD. I feel good about that. But should I feel well instead? Do I feel bad or feel badly about the whole thing? Let's look at likely -ly suspects for grammar misdeeds in the adverb/adjective arena. Read more...

Author of the widely acclaimed memoir Whip Smart and an NYC writing teacher, Melissa Febos tells all—about her relationship with grammar, whose syntax thrills, and what we all can do with with grammar. You'll be surprised! Read more...