Author Archives: Ingrid Tieken

Pedant – to pedant

Posted on May 30, 2017

Can pedant be a verb? So it seems. Read more about pedants and pedantry in today’s Guardian online edition. With many thanks to Joan Beal for the link. One question to our readers though: does anyone object to nouns being turned … Continue reading →

Posted in news | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Just out (surprise)

Posted on May 19, 2017

Today, we found out that our article “Prescriptive attitudes to English” is published, that it has been out for two months already. Thanks, Carmen, for tweeting about it, or I wouldn’t have known. Still, I’m really pleased, and expect Carmen … Continue reading →

Posted in news, usage features, usage guide | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Grammar Badgers

Posted on May 11, 2017

A few weeks ago, I gave a guest lecture through Skype for students at the University of Wisconsin. Interesting experience, and fantastic students they were. Their teacher, Anja Wanner, told me they were busy preparing an outreach project (obligatory at … Continue reading →

Posted in announcement, polls and surveys, usage features | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Microsoft Word, or: what is wrong with prescriptivism?

Posted on May 9, 2017

I’m reading through Carmen Ebner’s PhD thesis one more time (defense coming up soon!), and it strikes me in my own writings, too, every time – the red squiggles under prescriptivism, as in the header to this post. It makes … Continue reading →

Posted in usage features | Tagged | 2 Comments

How many d’s in Grand(d)ad? No riddle

Posted on May 1, 2017

This post is dedicated to Clive Upton, who was surprised that I spelled Granddad with two d’s in the middle. I’m no native speaker, and just told myself: surely it must be grand + dad. Since then I looked it … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments

TIME Magazine – a style guide?

Posted on March 17, 2017

I’d like to know if TIME Magazine employs a style guide. The answer is of course “yes”, but do they have style guide of their own? And is it publicly available? In particular, I’d like to be able to see … Continue reading →

Posted in usage features | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Congratulations, Paul Brians!

Posted on February 28, 2017

This year, it has been twenty years since Paul Brians first published his website Common Errors in English Usage online. The late 1990s were early days for internet usage advice, so congratulations, Paul! It seemed a good idea to publish … Continue reading →

Posted in news, usage guide | Tagged | 2 Comments