I am never on the cutting edge of anything. I didn’t get an iPod until the fifth generation. I only watched “The Office” with Ricky Gervais after the American version premiered in 2005. I have never Skyped.
So even though it has been around for over three years, I feel like I discovered a secret treasure when I happened upon “Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing” while browsing iTunes. And I had to share it with all of you. I feel like it’s my civic duty as the resident English major in a web of…well, web developers.
Grammar Girl, aka Mignon Fogarty, hosts a weekly podcast to address questions of grammar, punctuation, and other hazards of the English language. Listeners can email, call in, or Twitter their grammar questions and Grammar Girl responds with a five or six minute podcast to clarify language rules and usage.
The podcasts are the perfect length to give you the necessary information to write a grammatically correct and euphonious sentence. Fogarty has a friendly, soothing voice and she manages to interject a bit of humor into her examples, so her lessons don’t make you feel like you’re back in ninth grade English class. You can find transcripts of the podcasts on her website as well.
I like to listen to episodes while I brush my teeth and get ready for bed, ensuring that I’ll have sweet dreams about sentence structure and proper word choice. I even referred to previous podcasts while writing this blog post, so I definitely recommend stopping by the site to do a quick search when you have a grammar question.
Visit Quick And Dirty Tips to find links to podcasts by Grammar Girl, as well as tips in other subjects like law, manners, and nutrition. Send your questions to feedback@quickanddirtytips.com or call (206) 338-GIRL to record a message. You can also follow @GrammarGirl on Twitter if you would like Fogarty to answer a brief question.
Here are a couple podcasts that I recommend to writers of all skills and abilities:
