When I spoke to Jane Smiley, author of Some Luck, she suggested that novelists’ ideas—their political, philosophical, experiential concerns—frequently motivate the writing of great books. But then a ...

A dependent clause cannot stand alone, though they often contain both a subject and a verb. Where independent clauses express complete thoughts, dependent clauses do not, and left on their own, ...

I never met David Bartholomae, the longtime University of Pittsburgh professor of English who passed away on April 4 at the age of 75, but he changed the trajectory of my life. Bartholomae is a ...

Speaker 1: It’s important to use sentences that give your writing the effect that you want. Speaker 2: There are three types of sentences: simple, compound, and complex. Speaker 1: Simple sentences ...

How can you create a balance between short and long sentences, and how does that change the flow of ideas in your writing? This sentence has five words. Here are five more words. Five-word sentences ...

We’re total suckers for self improvement: The self-help industry brings in billions of dollars each year from countless books. All that encouraging advice can feel empowering and commonsensical, ...

When we think about relationships, we tend to think about our connections with others—our partners, friends, family members, and co-workers. This post focuses on a relationship that often gets ...

For years, nothing seemed capable of turning around New Dorp High School’s dismal performance—not firing bad teachers, not flashy education technology, not after-school programs. So, faced with ...