Category Archives: usage features

Adding the Mx: Gender-neutral titles and pronouns

Posted on November 6, 2015 by Morana Lukač

In the Q&A section of the Chicago Manual of Style Online, a question was posed about editing out they as a personal pronoun in reference to a transgender person. Here is the disputed sentence:  “During Harry’s senior year, they were … Continue reading →

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Nucular a British usage problem too

Posted on October 16, 2015 by Ingrid Tieken

I always thought nucular (for nuclear: hard to pronounce!) was an American usage problem. Though I must admit I had never heard of it until 2009, when I was at a conference on prescriptivism in Toronto, organised by Carol Percy, … Continue reading →

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Linguistic Girl Power

Posted on August 11, 2015 by Carmen Ebner

We have dealt with numerous language issues such as the oddly misplaced apostrophe, the dangling participle and the new “like” on our blog, but what interests me in particular are the social factors that may or may not pull the strings behind the scene. … Continue reading →

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Muphry’s Law and other mistakes prescriptivists make

Posted on July 28, 2015 by Morana Lukač

Linguists often debunk language prescriptions on the basis of their inaccuracy and their authors’ misunderstandings of linguistic concepts (see our comments on Heffer’s Strictly English). One of the most commonly confused and wrongly exemplified prescriptions is the one against passive constructions, … Continue reading →

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Have went: just out

Posted on July 27, 2015 by Ingrid Tieken

For Joan Beal, to commemorate her retirement, and to celebrate her wonderful research over the years! Tieken-Boon van Ostade, Ingrid and Viktorija Kostadinova (2015), Have went – an American usage problem. English Language & Linguistics 19/2, 293-312. And lots of … Continue reading →

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#Fundilymundily the language of the UK general election 2015

Posted on May 11, 2015 by Morana Lukač

With the UK general election just behind us, the talk of the language used in the debates still lies ahead. Last night, on the grammar phone-in of the BBC Radio 5’s Up All Night, the presenter Dotun Adebayo discussed the … Continue reading →

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A matter of etiquette as well

Posted on May 8, 2015 by Ingrid Tieken

If you thought that usage problems only occur in usage guides, you’re in for a big surprise: they are also discussed in a different genre altogether – etiquette books. This discovery was made by Paul Nance, one of the readers of … Continue reading →

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23 April: Correct-your-English Language Day

Posted on April 9, 2015 by Ingrid Tieken

This blog features a Language Calendar, and it includes 23 April – English Language Day (UN). Why was 23 April chosen for this, and why have an English Language Day to begin with? As a World Language, English is important enough as it is. So … Continue reading →

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Thumbs up for IKEA!

Posted on April 7, 2015 by Ingrid Tieken

One of Simon Heffer‘s pet hates is the use of singular they: “Being a pedant,” he writes, “I regard [its use] unacceptable” (2010:110). Unacceptable or not, singular they, as Mittins et al. point out in Attitudes to English Usage (1970!), has been … Continue reading →

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A Dutch letter-to-the-editor: at last!

Posted on March 24, 2015 by Ingrid Tieken

I have been watching NRC Handelsblad (a quality Dutch daily newspaper) ever since the start of the Bridging the Unbridgeable project for letters to the editor that deal with usage problems, but without any luck. Until last night! And interestingly, … Continue reading →

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