The works of William Shakespeare provide the first recorded use of some 1,700 words in the English language. In some cases, these were preexisting words that Shakespeare was simply the first to write down, but many others were invented or introduced by the Bard himself. He also coined a wide range of expressions that we still use today, such as “in a pickle,” “with bated breath,” and “wild goose chase.” And then there were the insults. Shakespeare was a master of barbs and j

There’s a name for this particular grammatical overreach: hypercorrection. In other words, we’re so afraid of getting it wrong that we use a word we think sounds more correct — and end up getting it wrong anyway. “Me” vs. “myself” is a particularly good example. There’s nothing inherently wrong with “myself.” It’s a perfectly useful word when it’s doing what a reflexive pronoun is supposed to do, which is refer back to the subject of the sentence. You can say, “I hurt myself,

Shakespeare once wrote, “Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore, so do our minutes hasten to their end.” This line highlights a common confusion: the distinction between “toward” and “towards.” While Shakespeare used the latter preposition in his sonnet, I’ll stick with “toward.” The right choice depends on whether you’re using American English, which prefers “toward,” or British English, which favors “towards.” Both terms are prepositions meaning “in the direction

His Approach... Rather than constructing an elaborate outline, King has often described beginning with an interesting situation and then asking what would realistically happen to the characters. He has compared stories to fossils that writers uncover rather than machines that writers assemble. For example, instead of deciding every plot development beforehand, he might begin with something like: What happens when a family becomes isolated in a haunted hotel? Then he puts beli

James Patterson — Outline First, Write Second Patterson is one of the most prolific authors in publishing history, but his productivity begins before the actual prose is written. He is an obsessive outliner. Before beginning a novel, Patterson may develop an outline of 50–80 pages, breaking the story into individual chapters and scenes. He wants to know what happens, where the suspense builds, and where the reader will be compelled to turn the page. His novels are famous for

He has described a routine in which he starts a new book around January 1, writes in the mornings, and aims for roughly 1,000 words a day. He has said that if he maintains that pace, he can produce a first draft of approximately 100,000 words in about 100 writing days. He then spends additional time revising and editing. Grisham has also talked about having the story substantially worked out before he begins writing. He typically creates a fairly detailed outline, which allow

Run The winner of the polysemy contest is “run.” The Oxford English Dictionary lists almost 650 distinct but related uses of that word — just as a verb, not for multiple parts of speech. A sampling: run for office, run on electricity, a contract with a year to run, these colors won’t run, my nose is running, the boundary runs west, chills run up my spine, she runs the bases well, don’t run a red light, run the wires through the wall, run your car off the road, don’t run the

The word “dear,” from the eighth-century Old English “deoare,” originally meant something was precious or costly, but evolved into calling out something/someone as special. (That first usage still exists, but it’s less common.) “Dear” was used, starting around the 14th century, as a salutation for only the most intimate letters: “Dearest sister,” “To my dear friend,” etc. The phrase “dearly beloved” was introduced in a 1662 Bible translation called the “Book of Common Prayer,

Scholastic reports that the seven-book Harry Potter series has sold more than 600 million copies worldwide, making it the best-selling book series of all time. It has also been published in about 85 languages. If you mean specifically a three-book trilogy, the answer is more complicated. The Lord of the Rings is generally cited at 150+ million copies worldwide. Although we commonly call it a trilogy because it was published in three volumes—The Fellowship of the Ring, The Tw

William Shakespeare didn’t leave behind clear financial records the way a modern author might, so there’s no exact lifetime earnings figure. But historians have pieced together a pretty solid estimate—and the answer is: he did very well for his time. 💰 Estimated Lifetime Earnings Scholars estimate Shakespeare earned roughly £10,000–£20,000 over his lifetime (late 1500s–early 1600s). Adjusted for today, that’s roughly $2 million to $5+ million USD in modern buying power (depe

Hollywood star by day, researcher by night, Austrian-American actress Hedy Lamarr was not only a beauty icon of the 1940s but also responsible for developing a secure communications system called "frequency hopping." Lamarr patented her invention in 1942, but unfortunately, at the time she was not given any credit due to the widespread belief that women could not be scientists or inventors, and the fact that she was an actress. It wasn't until many years later that her work

The Em Dash Is Back Technology has made writing shorter, faster, and more conversational than ever before, and punctuation is adapting accordingly. One mark that is rising to the occasion is the em dash (—). Used to denote emphasis or an interruption, it can replace commas, parentheses, or colons. The em dash is more informal than other forms of midsentence punctuation. It creates a colloquial tone that is hard to replicate with other types of punctuation, such as the semico

What Are Indefinite Articles? The English language has two types of articles: definite and indefinite. They identify whether a noun is specific or generic. “The” is a definite article — the only definite article in English, in fact — and it indicates that we are referring to a particular noun. For example, “John bought the car” refers to one very specific car. “A” and “an” are indefinite articles, and they can refer to any person, place, or thing. For example, if “Tom will b

The Death of Yogi Bear in the Associated Press Famous New York Yankees catcher Yogi Berra is known for Hollywood-level quippy one-liners, such as “it’s deja vu all over again.” Some of Berra’s quips were malapropisms, or “Yogi-isms.” But the biggest mix-up came courtesy of the Associated Press after Berra died. In a 2015 press release announcing the beloved catcher’s passing, the outlet announced, “New York Yankees Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Bear has died. He was 90.” To give

Anglicizing Foreign Words Shakespeare masterfully integrated foreign influences into his work by anglicizing words. For instance, in Henry VI, he introduced an early version of the term “bandit,” derived from the Italian bandito, to describe criminals or outlaws — a usage that has since become standard. The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) lists this as the earliest record of the term, though Shakespeare spelled it “bandeto.” Similarly, he adapted the Latin term frūgālis into

When George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four was published in June 1949, it was received remarkably well—both critically and commercially. What is especially interesting is that reviewers immediately understood that it was more than a conventional novel. They saw it as a frightening political warning, although they disagreed about exactly what Orwell was warning against. The critics: overwhelmingly positive The British edition appeared on June 8, 1949, followed by the American e

The word “hello” is the most common way to answer the phone, but that wasn’t always the case. Its modern popularity can be credited to a 19th-century American icon. by Bennett Kleinman When you pick up the phone, you probably say “hello.” But have you ever stopped to ask yourself, “Why this word?” The greeting is a relatively recent phenomenon, having been coined less than 200 years ago. It gained popularity in the latter half of the 19th century, and its rise can be tied to

The Old Man and the Sea won the 1953 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and when Hemingway received the 1954 Nobel Prize in Literature, the Nobel committee specifically mentioned the novella in describing his mastery of narrative. One of the most memorable lines also captures what Hemingway seems to have been saying about Santiago—and perhaps about himself: “A man can be destroyed but not defeated.” So there is a wonderful story-behind-the-story angle here: The Old Man and the Sea w

“Un-” — the most prolific prefix in the English language — was passed down from Old English and ultimately derived from Proto-Germanic. Meaning “not” or “the opposite of,” it typically attaches to Germanic roots, which are common in everyday English. Notably, “un-” is not used with nouns. Consider the example of “unlucky” vs. “unluck” — the former is an acceptable adjective, but when “un-” is attached to a noun, it doesn’t work. There are sophisticated rules of morpheme struc

The opening of The Hobbit apparently came to him unexpectedly. While marking examination papers, Tolkien encountered a blank page and wrote the now-famous sentence: "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit." He later said he didn't initially know why he'd written it—or even exactly what a hobbit was. He originally wrote The Hobbit largely for his children. The story circulated privately before reaching a publisher and becoming a major success in 1937. His publisher wante