What tools does a grammarian need? A brain helps, and so does a computer, but surely one of our most essential tools is some kind of diagramming system. How can we think about a sentence’s structure, ...

We start our discussion of syntax and how we morph words into questions and stories. Grammar sometimes gets a bad reputation, but we're actually doing grammar all the time! And we're pretty good at it ...

Writers can create tension in both of these ways using something as simple as varying their sentence lengths. Fiction writers can grab and hold their reader’s attention by creating tension. This can ...