Maeve Maddox on Language 2009 - American English Doctor

Links to Maeveâ€™s 2009 essays at DWT (Daily Writing Tips)

December 2009

31: Difference Between Barbarous and Barbaric?
30: Running Amok or Running Amuck?
29: Taking another Pass at Passed
28: Feel Strong or Feel Strongly?
25: Happy Yuletide!
24: Beware of the Irregular Past Participle Forms
23: What’s That Thingummy?
22: Tomayto or Tomahto?
21: Word Inflation, or Unnatural Syntax?
18: Mistletoe
17: Epiphany or Mere Realization?
16: Elision or tmesis?
15: A Cigarette Butt is One Thing
14: Quotation Marks and Apostrophe S
11: Jill Came Tumbling After
10: Hey You!
09: Difference Between inure and enure
08: Thou lily-liver’d boy!
07: Therefore and Therefor
04: Reign or Regime?
03: Verbification at Work
02: Ham and Eggs is or are?
01: Taser or Tazer? Tazing or Tasering?

November 2009

30: The Serial Comma is OK with Me
27: Owing to vs Due to
26: Are you a Writer or A Person Who Writes?
25: Hamstrings and Hamstringing
24: Cutting the Mustard
23: Curating the Web
20: What the Heck are Peeps?
19: Sobeit and So Be It
18: So Sorry to Hear That You Were Impacted!
17: Imply and Infer
17: In and On with Time Expressions
16: Literary Essays and School Essays
13: Hypercorrecting A Well-known Phrase
12: Bring and Take
12: Calloused or Callused?
11: Playing with Titles
10: Regarding Re:
09: Mystery Writing Contest for Unpublished Novelists
06: Parsons Chairs and Parsons
05: Appositives and Possessives
05: Leech and Leach
04: Allude and Elude
03: Can You Write Mifiction?
02: On the Use of Nemesis

October 2009

30: The Negative Prefix il-
29: Quoting Copyrighted Work
29: Catfights and Dogfights
28: Critical Analysis of Your Own Writing
28: The Demise of De Luxe
27: Clauses and Phrases
26: Here I thought Nimrod was a compliment!
23: Verbs in -ize and -ise
22: What’s the Difference Between Too and Also?
21: Who or That, That Is The Question
21: Words Often Misspelled Because of Double Letters
20: How to Use Dashes
20: Illegal Aliens and Illegal Immigrants
19: Meddling with Mettle
16: The Many Uses of Swipe
15: Anyway, Any Way, or Anyways?
15: The Curious Case of Whet
14: Ambiguity or Futility?
13: Finding Time to Write in High School
12: Writing, Art or Craft?
12: Soldiers or Troops?
09: Wardens and Guardians
08: Might, May, and Can
08: Compared to or Compared with?
07: Using the Question Mark
07: Other, Another and A Whole Nuther
06: Comma Before Too?
06: CamelCase
05: Words and Expressions Related to Palm
02: Strolling Down the [AV]
01: The Subjunctive Mood
01: Forget about the Dark Ages

September 2009

30: Avert eyes, Divert attention
29: Books About Writing
29: Foo Fighters and UFOs
28: Are You Sure You Mean Majority?
25: Ebook, eBook, ebook or e-book?
24: What’s the Difference Between Say and Tell?
23: Subject-Verb Agreement
23: Three Fairly New British Language References
22: Loath and Loathe
21: Doing Good
18: Time, Gentlemen, Please!
17: Choosing Between If and Whether
16: What do you call your Wordhord?
15: When Shortening Synchronize, Best Leave Off the h
14: For Our ESL Readers
11: Empathic or Empathetic?
10: So and Therefore Are Clumsy Companions
09: How to Describe Gibberish
08: Stifle, already!
07: Nothing Wrong with “went missing“
04: That Annoying New Verb “disrespect“
03: The irrealis “were” can say hello to the Dodo
02: It’s Greeking to Me
01: Sentence Flow

August 2009

31: Online Style Guides
28: Female or Woman?
27: Stunned, Astounded and Astonished
26: Critiquing is not Editing
25: Short clauses can take commas
24: Needing to do A Few Things
21: The Post Office is Kitty-corner to the Court House
20: Ah, Those -ah words in English!
19: Nothing to do with Raspberries, Exactly
18: Fount of Wisdom
17: Brainstorms, Turning to Showers
14: “Only” Murder
13: Uses of “Dispose“
12: The Devil, Part Two
11: The Basic English Grammar eBook
11: Period Goes Inside Quotation Marks
10: Into the Breach!
07: Can’t we just “raise” the question?
06: Television and the Present Perfect Tense
05: Persian is a Lovely Word
04: Let’s Just Prosecute to the FULL extent of the Law.
03: First Steps in Plotting a Novel

July 2009

31: Anorexia, Meet Orthorexia
30: How Do You Pronounce “Mozart”?
29: Making a Mountain Out of a Molehill
28: Juridical and Juridicial
27: An Exercise in Ambiguity
24: Sideways and Clockwise
23: Confusing Passed with Past
22: A Night in the MVSEVM
21: Charles’s Pen and Jesus’ Name
20: That Dark Type is Called Boldface
17: The Four Sounds of the Spelling OU
16: Hopefully Caring Less About Shibboleths
15: 10 Tips for Taking Notes
14: Verbing Nouns
13: A Girl Like I
10: One Space or Two At the End of a Sentence?
09: Running Errands and Doing Chores
08: Coming Down the Pike
07: When to Form a Plural with an Apostrophe
06: What’s Wrong with Ain’t?
03: Emailing a Literary Agent
02: Could it Be, Just Possibly, All a Ruse?
01: Why Bother About Correctness?

June 2009

30: Judgement or Judgment?
29: MLA Gets With the Times
26: Why Can’t Style Manuals Just Agree?
25: Pomp and Ceremony or Pomp and Circumstance?
24: Is Number Singular or Plural?
23: Hippo Words
22: First Come, First Served
19: Wracking or Racking Your Brain?
18: Does Web Usage Matter?
17: Writing the Century
16: Trouble with Vigorously and Vicariously
15: Words for Saintly Golden Light
12: Oligarchy + Monopoly ? Oligopoly
11: Free Rein or Free Reign?
10: Worshiping and Kidnapping
09: Rule of Thumb
08: Intact is One Word
05: The First Five Pages
04: Cinderella Didn’t Wear Cotton to the Ball
03: Subject Lines, Subscriptions and Submissions
02: Fly, Flew, (has) Flown-Flied?
01: Bouncebackability

May 2009

29: The Humble Foot
28: Italicizing Foreign Words
27: Airplane Ears
26: One L or Two?
25: Wake Up, Little Suzy!
22: Words Ending in -gue
21: Without Cease
20: In Search of a 4-Dot Ellipsis
19: Cannot or Can Not?
18: Good to Be Back!
15: Let’s Party!
14: Laurels and What One Does With Them
13: When is a Door Not a Door?
12: Verbs Like Know
11: The Cat’s Pajamas
08: You Too Can Sponsor A Word!
07: What’s a Miscreant and How Is It Pronounced?
06: Masters Degree or Master’s Degree?
05: Principal Parts of the Verb TO FIT
04: Speak of the Devil!
01: When is a Mistake Not a Mistake?

April 2009

30: Hurrah for the Lowly BUG
29: It’s Me vs It is I
28: How Can a War Be Civil?
27: Aesthetic or Aesthetical?
24: The Difference Between Phonics and Phonetics
23: Does Mr Take a Period?
22: Practice or Practise?
21: From Our Readers. Sneak/Snuck and WH
20: Taking Another Look at Strunk and White
17: Not Good or No Good?
16: Eating Humble Pie
15: Words beginning with homo-
14: A Harrowing Use of Harry
13: Civil Liberties and Civic Duties
10: Chopping Off Syllables
09: No Sooner Than (Not When)
08: Chocolate Covered or Chocolate-Covered?
07: Is There a Difference Between Assume and Presume?
06: Not Winning a Contest Doesn’t Mean Your Writing is No Good
03: Tracking the Fangle in Newfangled
02: Hurrah for the Index Card!
01: Addressing Envelopes

March 2009

30: Sneaking up on Snuck
27: Pronouncing Words that Begin with WH
26: How Drunk Are You? Let Me Count the Ways!
25: Character Tags in Fiction
24: The Many Faces of Run
23: That Elusive Will o the Wisp
20: Mmmm, You Dirty Rat!
19: Deep POV
18: Modernizing Liturgical English
17: Running Toward the House, or Towards the House?
16: In the Long Tail
13: How Fancy Should Your Manuscript Be?
12: Participles Fused and Otherwise
11: Pangrams and Lipograms
10: Can Enclosure go at the top of a letter?
09: More Than One Meaning for Poke
06: Yours faithfully or Yours sincerely?
05: An Unexpected Question About You
04: Sample Query Letters
03: This Charette is Not A Tumbril
02: 30 Words Inspired by 29 People and An Elephant
02: The Changing Faces of Present and Presentation

February 2009

27: Flautist or Flutist?
26: 3 Reasons to Ditch Your Novel’s Prologue
25: O Captain, My Captain!
24: The Difference Between While and Whilst
23: 4 Exasperating Malapropisms
20: I wish I were
19: Tastes Good Like/As ?
18: Not All Epithets are Insults
17: When -OT is [?t]
16: What’s a Retronym?
13: Satire, Parody, and other Forms of Ridicule
12: Trouble with Did and Had
11: Why So Much Anger Over Usage?
10: Don’t Overdo Do
09: Love Song to a Dictionary
06: What Do Writers Read?
05: Tracking a Quotation
04: The Word is Succumbed
03: How Many Sentences in a Paragraph?
02: What Is A Pundit or Punditry?

January 2009

30: Writing a Pitch
29: Before and Ago
28: How Long Should a Synopsis Be?
27: What’s the Difference Between a Speech and an Address?
26: What’s Your Style?
23: The Chief Justice’s Prepositional Slip
22: Making Sense of Since
21: Body Parts as Tools of Measurement
20: Reflections on Versus
19: Dealing With A Character’s Internal Thoughts
16: Swiss Army Knife for Writers
15: Time to Re-Read Orwell?
14: Are You Guilty of Genericide?
13: Words Formed from the Initial Letters of Other Words
12: Is Your Novel Ready to Go?
09: When Most is Enough
08: Pass the Chile
07: Hey Clyde, Who’s That Harvey?
06: Be Sure to Dot Your is!
05: Banished Words of 2009
02: Beginning Your Mystery Novel
01: The Plural of Calf is Calves, or is it?

NOTE:Â Electronic rights to the articles linked from this page belong to Daniel Scocco. All other rights (print, translation, etc.) belong to Maeve Maddox, a.k.a. Margaret Joan Maddox, Ph.D.