When I saw “men’s’ clothing” with two apostrophes, I figured it must be a typo. I was editing a professional writer who’s been on the job for years, and I know from experience that writers make typos, ...

Have you ever corrected someone mid-conversation because what he said just didn't sound right? What I'm talking about is words that sound like plurals and possessives but shouldn't be and vice versa.

Everyone knows that the holidays are a great time to show your good will to man. But they’re also a great time to show your backside. From spiked eggnog to shameless re-gifting to caroling “the Lord ...

In my career as a journalist and scholar I have written about sex – a lot. I have written about religion and politics. I have written about the millennium and the Holocaust. I wrote a 29-part series ...

Let's talk about the plurals of compound nouns. I submit to you: passers-by, hangers-on, attorneys general, brothers-in-law, and culs-de-sac. What about "month end" how would that be pluralized?

Sign up for the daily CJR newsletter. Last week we dealt with some possessive questions when there were plural possessors. Now we’ll deal with other possessives ...

It's about time for our possessives to do a reverse Pluto. Pluto, you know, used to be a planet. Then it got demoted. This is like a word being turned into a prefix or suffix. Well, my ...