Story Archives of 'Grammar'

The American tongue is chock full of inconsistencies and exceptions, like why d-o-u-g-h, r-o-u-g-h and b-o-u-g-h all look the same but sound so different. The author of a new book tells the story of American spelling and those who have tried to reform it, from Noah Webster to Theodore Roosevelt to today’s cyber world.

Guest

• David Wolman, author of Righting the Mother Tongue: From Olde English to Email, the Tangled Story of English Spelling

Short and practical, this book- the first of its kind for creative writers- shows authors the benefits that can be reaped from mastering punctuation: the art of style, sentence length, meaning, and economy of words. With full-length chapters devoted to each of the major punctuation marks, this is a great book for anyone looking to make punctuation their friend instead of their mysterious foe. Laura's guest is Noah Lukeman, best-selling author whose latest book is "A Dash of Style: The Art and Mastery of Punctuation".

Some critics say Americans just don't care about the English language anymore, and they point to studies that show college students unable to write a solid essay or the loosening grammatical standards that we see in blogging and "texting". At the same time, many grammar books are creating quite a buzz including the recently released fifty year old classic Strunk and White's The Elements of Style. Today on The Exchange, we'll ask two English teachers how well we're doing, how they teach grammar and writing, and the challenges we face in keeping up with our constantly evolving language. Laura is joined by Selma Naccach-Hoff, English Department Coordinator and Teacher at Central High School in Manchester and Gary Bouchard, English Professor at St. Anselm College.

For a $120 credit card contribution during this hour of The Exchange, you'll receive the recently released illustrated edition of Strunk and White's classic, The Elements of Style. To see examples of the illustrations, visit artist Maira Kalman's website.

Yes, email and instant messaging may have changed the way we communicate, but that doesn't mean good English should go out the window. Our guest, Patricia T. O'Conner, will guide us through the do's and don'ts of internet correspondence. Patricia is the author of several books on grammar and writing, the latest of which is "You Send Me: Getting it Right When You Write Online" www.harcourtbooks.com.

Originally broadcast: 8/13/2002

Who or whom? That or which? It?s time once again to test your grammatical knowledge. Laura?s guest is grammarian Patricia O?Connor. She?s a former New York Times Book Review editor and has most recently written, ?Words Fail Me?. Her forthcoming book, co-authored with her husband Stewart Kellerman, is ?You Send Me?, about the evolution of writing on the Internet.