Grammarphobic?

When it comes to commonly misunderstood rules of spelling or grammar (like whether to use “discreet” or “discrete”, “fewer” or “less”, or “as if it was” over “as if it were”), I’ve often found that a writer who is uncertain about the correct usage will alternate back and forth. It may be completely unintentional, but it sometimes comes across as trying to cover all your bases: “If I do this both ways, I’ll be right half the time!”

The most daunting part of researching all these nitpicky rules is knowing where to look. Thick, old reference books may be outdated, and often the words involved are too common to produce any useful search results—or the answers may be too contested for the results to be trustworthy.

The blog at grammarphobia.com is a great resource for editors and writers alike. You’ll find the answers to many of these sorts of issues, reliably researched and well cited. A convenient search bar helps you sort through the archives, and a contact link allows you to ask your question if it hasn’t already been covered.

Tagged as: Resources