Los Angeles Times

A Word, Please: When it comes to phrasal verbs, you can look them up, but you can’t look up them

Can you back your hard drive up? Or must you back up your hard drive? Can you calm yourself down? Or must you calm down yourself? Can you blow balloons up? Or must you blow up balloons? Can you hang ...
The New York Times

Forget Nouns. Verbs Are Where the Action Is.

As a linguist, I’ve lost count of how many times I have been asked what I think of the various language-learning apps. The truth is that I don’t use them. But of late I have been watching my daughter, ...
Los Angeles Times

A Word, Please: Adverbs don’t modify all verbs and other lessons for the New York Times

“Many older adults said they feel positively about their lives,” the New York Times reported recently. That sentence probably sounds as acceptable to you as it did to the Times editors. But what if ...