Category Archives: usage features

Into or in to, really?

Posted on March 20, 2015 by Ingrid Tieken

As I wrote earlier on this blog, I’m reading Heffer’s Strictly English (2010). In chapter 4, called Bad Grammar, he discusses the difference between into and in to. I never knew there was such a distinction in English! Is there … Continue reading →

Posted in polls and surveys, usage features | Tagged | 7 Comments

Final Mittins survey!

Posted on March 13, 2015 by BtU Admin

Here is the last set of the Mittins questions on which we welcome your feedback. This time the questions will be a little different, in that Mittins et al. asked their informants only to indicate the sentences’ acceptability for two … Continue reading →

More Galleries | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Hopefully over?

Posted on March 9, 2015 by Ingrid Tieken

Harry Ritchie, in English Grammar for the Natives (2013), writes that hopefully is “by far the most controversial adverbs of recent times” (p. 191). Usage of the adverb, he says, “has been met with fierce resistance”, and he quotes from Kingsley … Continue reading →

Posted in polls and surveys, usage features | 3 Comments

On Microsoft’s Grammar Checker again

Posted on March 6, 2015 by Ingrid Tieken

A few years ago, Robin Straaijer wrote a blog post about Microsoft’s Grammar Checker. He had been inspired to write the post after hearing Anne Curzan speak on the topic during the ICEHL-17 conference at Zürich in 2012. Reading Anne Curzan’s … Continue reading →

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

What kind of grammar nerd are you?

Posted on March 4, 2015 by Carmen Ebner

Today is National Grammar Day in the US and to celebrate this joyful occasion, Grammarly, a company providing a spell checker and grammar checker with the same title, has published a quiz: What kind of grammar nerd are you? It contains questions on … Continue reading →

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

Grammar pedants online

Posted on February 28, 2015 by Ingrid Tieken

In the Bridging the Unbridgeable project we’ve been trying to find out what people’s pet hates are. So far, we’ve done so directly by asking them in attitudes surveys, both online and face-to face, but another great source is to … Continue reading →

Posted in usage features | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

No it didn’t: heighth as a usage problem

Posted on February 25, 2015 by Ingrid Tieken

Last week, the book Transatlantic Perspectives on Late Modern English came out, edited by Marina Dossena. It includes two papers that are of interest to this project, one by Ulrich Busse, which deals with the usage guides by Alford (1864) and White … Continue reading →

Posted in announcement, usage features | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

New in English Today: A Fuss about the Octopus

Posted on February 18, 2015 by Inge Otto

The March issue of English Today includes the latest feature article from our project in which I discuss the options English has to refer to more than one ‘octopus’ as well as a usage rhyme written on this specific topic. Four … Continue reading →

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

Halting language change: Wikipedia Grammar Vigilante

Posted on February 16, 2015 by Morana Lukač

Grammar vigilantes are not a novelty. Perhaps one of the best-publicized grammar crusades was the Great Typo Hunt, a nationwide mission by two young Americans who corrected hundreds of public typos during a three-month road trip and were imprisoned as … Continue reading →

Posted in technology, usage features | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Practicing with the HUGE database

Posted on February 10, 2015 by Robin Straaijer

Last week we ran a workshop with a group of language professionals in which they explored the HUGE database with some practice searches. Those practice search questions are now also available on the database page so you can do the same. … Continue reading →

Posted in usage features | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment