play video title attorney generals
Commonly Confused

Is It 'Attorney Generals' Or 'Attorneys General'?

'Poets laureate'? 'Court-martials'? The curious history of postpositive adjectives in English.


'Poets laureate'? 'Court-martials'? The curious history of postpositive adjectives in English.

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play video title attorney generals
Is It 'Attorney Generals' Or 'Attorneys General'?

 

'Poets laureate'? 'Court-martials'? The curious history of postpositive adjectives in English.

play woman and dog illustration
'Nip it in the butt' or 'Nip it in the bud'?

 

We're gonna stop you right there

play fun funner funnest
Fun, Funner, Funnest

 

Why does it sound strange to say 'funner' or 'funnest?'

play calendar that says day today
Is It 'Day today' or 'Day-to-day'?

 

What about Day Tomorrow?

play video schwa
The Schwa

 

The most common vowel sound in English causes many spelling problems.

play video how a word gets into the dicionary
How a Word Gets into the Dictionary

 

What our editors are looking for when they enter words in Merriam-Webster.

play video ending a sentence with a preposition
Ending a Sentence with a Preposition

 

An old-fashioned rule we can no longer put up with.