Sign up for the daily CJR newsletter. The “rules” under which hyphens are used to connect multiple modifiers, like “well(-)known man,” are varied and ...

If you're at all familiar with Strunk and White, you know that excessive use of adverbs - words that end in -ly - isn't a sign of strong writing. All of us writers struggle with sentence-weakening ...

There are many different adverbs. There is no particular form that identifies a word as an adverb. Some adjectives can be turned in to adverbs by adding –ly. When adverbs are used to modify a verb, ...

Our discussion of flat adverbs continues today as we, firstly, add more examples. I hope you remember what flat adverbs are: those that do not carry -ly. Rather, they have the same forms as adjectives ...

Have you ever wondered why some writing feels vivid and engaging while other texts seem flat and lifeless? The secret often lies in the strategic use of descriptive words, specifically, knowing when ...

“I’ll dress warm,” I wrote to friends recently in a group email about a get-together on the patio of a local café. What happened next will sound familiar to every careful user of the English language: ...