I could get a job of work, or I could step into a saloon I’d been running Red, my big sorrel gelding, for I don’t know how long, glancing over my shoulder every minute, expecting to see somebody. I glanced again and didn’t see nobody. So, I slowed Red to…

An old baker looks at his life and tries to find some value in it Theophilus Jones leaned forward, peered into an oven in his bakery, and saw a loaf of bread. “A minute more,” he said. He closed the oven and straightened, then grimaced and grabbed his back. He…

Why does anyone speak and write in terms of something else? — In Modern American Usage, Wilson Follett says that the construction “in terms of” has become extremely popular: “The rage for expressing everything in terms of something else is a disease traceable to college-catalogue English. From 1900 on a college course was hardly respectable if it did not offer to present…

Another way of revealing character — From Narrative Technique, by Thomas H. …

Who are these people? — Narrative Technique, written by Thomas H. Uzzell and published in 1923 by Harcourt, Brace and Company, was the first book about writing I ever read. My father gave it to me along with this advice: “If you want to be a writer, write. But read books about writing, too. …

My mother’s wise words — When I was sixteen, I failed my driver’s test the first time I took it. I was devastated, but I took it again and passed. I was overjoyed. Now, I was a grownup, and I let everyone know that I was — especially my younger brother. During one of my…

An observation — Anyone who’s interested in language responds to certain words and constructions. One of my friends cringes whenever he hears “Between you and I.” Another nearly vomits whenever she hears sucks in constructions like “He sucks,” “She sucks,” “Your term paper sucks.” I sigh whenever I hear “If . . …

Or “than I”? — In the sentence “She is smarter than me,” the construction “than me” is unconventional. In “She is smarter than I,” the construction “than I” is conventional — but stilted. Which construction should we choose? First, we need to understand how than works with pronouns. Than and Pronouns Than is a…

Or a historian? — It depends. Back Then In the 1930s, when George O. Curme’s Grammar of the English Language was first published, it contained this passage: “There is fluctuation of usage before an initial h where the syllable is unaccented. In the literary language of England it has long been usual to place…