Singers and songwriters never need to worry about grammar. In fact, they actually benefit from flouting grammar rules. It simply wouldn’t be the same if the Rolling Stones sang “Whom Do You Love” or ...

Stephanie was here. I wish Stephanie were here. Tim picks up the dry cleaning. It’s imperative that Tim pick up the dry cleaning. You are on time. It’s crucial you be on time. Have you ever noticed ...

Have we decided yet? Is this "Lent, Again?" Or is it "Lent, Still?" The past year has demonstrated a strange elastic quality about time. Time drags but it also passes in a heartbeat. In the odd ...

READING a story on the fate of European newspapers, your columnist was drowning in bad news—newsrooms decimated, advertisers fleeing—but then a strange sentence appeared: Even Rupert Murdoch, who ...

One of the most fascinating things about language is that we can use it so well, so expertly, without understanding how we do it. The following two sentences are perfect examples. If the burglar was ...

It is often bemoaned in Britain that English is going to pieces—and Americans are generally to blame. Whether you call it decline or not, the moaners are on to something: America has indeed produced ...

After a full-dress review of the subjunctive in the preceding chapters, this form of the English language should no longer hold any terrors for us. With a clearer understanding of its uses and ...