Grammar

According to a new study, people with Tourette Syndrome may have better mental grammar skills than normal people. This is terrible news. Not for them. For me. How am I, a dyed-in-the-wool smart aleck, supposed to report this important grammar-related news without stooping to making cheap Tourette jokes? Clearly I can't. So my only hope is to quickly explain the highlights of the researchers' findings then move on to a related grammar lesson. The study, conducted by the Georgetown University Medical Center and the Kennedy Krieger Institute, starts off by pointing out that, contrary to what I once learned from an episode of "L.A.

I’m not a marriage counselor. But I play one in cyberspace. I’m thrust into the role whenever I receive an e-mail like the one I got recently from a wife in distress. Let’s call her Mrs. K. “My husband says that saying ‘it was she’ or ‘it is he’ is stilted,” Mrs. K wrote. “I was taught that because ‘it’ and ‘she’ are interchangeable, it is correct to use the subject form. What say you?” See what I mean?

Darleene Barrientos For the class of 2006, a lucky guess won't cut it -- students preparing for their Scholastic Aptitude Tests will have to concentrate on spelling and grammar, too. The new version of the SAT requires students to write essays. At the Sylvan Learning Center in Glendale, students have already signed up for the SAT seminar beginning in February, Director Katherine Felipe said. More students are enrolling in the center's writing courses, too. Many students in general don't concentrate on grammar and composition the way they used to, Felipe said.

Dear google: Congrat- ulations on your recent admission to the exclusive club of verbs that used to be just nouns. With Merriam-Webster's recent decision to include you in its collegiate dictionary, you join the ranks of more recently minted verbs like "gift," "shelf," "trash," "leverage," "pepper" and "party." The quick turnaround time for your application ? just five years ? indeed reflects the high esteem in which English speakers hold you, not to mention your potential as a lasting force in and influence on the language.