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When your most important or interesting information is in a subordinate clause instead of the main clause, it can dampen the effect. Here's how to spot and fix upside-down subordination.

“How are you doing?”

“I’m good, thanks.”

Does this answer make you cringe? If so, you’ll be disappointed to hear who says it, often, in grocery store checkout lines, when greeting friends and when meeting new people: your local grammar columnist.

I say “I’m good” all the time, knowing that a lot of language buffs see that as an error. To them, “I...

When is a noun not a noun? When it's acting like an adjective, like "chicken" in "chicken soup" and "air" in "air travel." Here's everything you need to know about attributive nouns.

Terms like “couple’s massage,” “couples’ retreat,” “shopper’s paradise,” “chocolate lover’s package,” “teachers college,” and “farmers market” are anything but straightforward. In fact, when I surveyed working copy editors to include their opinions in my punctuation book, they split on how to handle a lot of these. So not only are the rules unclear, but they’re open to the fu...

Both are correct, but "flush out" and "flesh out" have different meanings.