Garbl's Writing Center
About Me,
Gary B. Larson
garbltoo@gmail.com
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PLEASE NOTE: I am happily retired in Port Townsend, Washington. I have deactivated Garbl's Writing Resources and am no longer adding, revising, or updating writing resources in this section or any other section.. But please continue to visit and use my free Editorial Style and Usage Manual, Consise Writing Guide and Plain English Writing Guide. I update their content occasionally.
Garbl's Word Links is an annotated directory of websites that can help you discover, understand and use (or avoid) Latin and Greek derivations, misused words, unusual words, word origins, new words and slang. You'll also find separate sections below on spelling and vocabulary.
Words can and do break
bones--Gary B. Larson, Seattle, Washington, April 23, 1999.
Personal commentary on verbal abuse and the misuse of language.
Garbl's Editorial Style and Usage Manual--This
style guide can help answer your writing questions about abbreviations,
capitalization, grammar, numbers, organization terminology, punctuation,
spelling and word usage. The Concise Writing Guide
provides simpler alternatives to wordy, verbose, overstated or pompous words
and phrases.
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Banished Words List--Lake Superior State University, Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. |
"Words and phrases banished from the Queen's English for Mis-, Mal- or Over-Use, as well as General Uselessness"
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Borrowed Words in the English Language--Kryss Katsiavriades, contract computer analyst and programmer with a software consultancy in London. |
The site title says it all, covering languages from Algonquin to Zuni.
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Earliest Known Uses of Some Words of Mathematics--Jeff Miller, math teacher at Gulf High School in New Port Richey, Florida |
As the page title says... complete with well-documented sources.
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Lexical FreeNet--Doug Beeferman, a graduate student (now on leave and working at Lycos) in the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. |
As a combination thesaurus, rhyming dictionary, pun generator and concept navigator, this site enables you to search for relationships between words, concepts and people.
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The Nautical Origins of Some Common Expressions--Bill Graf, Fort Ogden Design, internet page design |
From "a square meal" to "the whole nine yards" to " garbled ": Garbling was the prohibited practice of mixing rubbish with the cargo. A distorted, mixed up message was said to be garbled--until this website sailed in !
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The Online Slang Dictionary--Walter Rader |
A well-organized, easy-to-use, alphabetical list of English slang.
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Standard English words [that] have a Scandinavian Etymology--The Viking Network, Wigo H. Skramm, project director, Fetsund, Norway |
A long list of standard English words that describe actions or the states of things--with the source or the present-day associations.
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Wilton's Word & Phrase Origins --David R. Wilton, Albany, California. |
A site devoted to origins of words and slang phrases.
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The Word Detective--Online version of a newspaper column by Evan Morris, author of The Book Lover's Guide to the Internet (1998). Morris' collection of Word Detective columns is available through my association with Amazon.com |
Answers to readers' questions about words and language.
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The Word Wizard--Rufus Miles in the United Kingdom. |
Answers your questions about word derivations and offers a selection of new words, slang meanings, snappy quotations and elegant insults.
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World Wide Words--Michael Quinion, British editor for the Oxford Dictionary and New Words columnist for the Daily Telegraph . |
More than 400 pages on the history, origins, evolution and idiosyncrasies of English, regularly featuring new words and words in the news.
Creativity | Writing Process | Grammar | Style and Usage | Reference Sources | Words |Fat-Free Writing |Plain Language | Action Writing | Word Play
[ Home ] [ Writing Resources Home ] [ Style Manual ] [ Plain English Guide ] [ Concise Writing Guide ] [ Writing Bookshelf ] [ What's New ]
Spelling
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Absolutely Ridiculous English Spelling--Mikie Metric Productions, Williamsport, Pennsylvania |
Spelling rules, memory tricks, examples and charts covering the nearly trackless jungle of ridiculous English spelling.
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Everyday Spelling--Scott Foresman-Addison Wesley Educational Publishers Inc. |
For students in grades one through eight, this site includes a new spelling puzzle and word every week and the 25 most frequently misspelled words and spelling strategies for each grade.
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Free Spelling Course--Marie Rackham, retired public school English teacher, Campbell River, British Columbia, Canada |
Thirty-unit course includes weekly work plan, pre-tests, exercises, dictation sentences, final tests, answer key and bonus unit on the rules of spelling.
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Some Rules and Suggestions about Spelling--Charles Darling, professor of English/humanities, Capital Community-Technical College, Hartford, Connecticut. |
Suggestions cover using spell-checkers, dictionaries and mnemonics; homonyms and plurals; "sounding it out"; British spellings; five specific rules; and several quizzes.
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Spelling: Common Words that Sound Alike--Purdue University Online Writing Lab, West Lafayette, Indiana |
This resource covers common spelling errors including accept/except, ei/ie, noun plurals, and -ible/able.
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Spelling--Dorothy Turner, Writing Centre, University of Ottawa |
Focuses on four standard spelling rules: words with "ei" and "ie," words with a final "y" before a suffix, words with a final silent "e" and words with double consonants.
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Spelling it Right--Learn to Spell Confidently--Roger Smith, a retired English and media studies teacher at a north England comprehensive school |
More than 150 pages of advice on tackling spelling problems and worksheet exercises, each comprising a complete lesson designed to improve spelling skills.
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SpellWeb--Steve Nelson, Clear Ink Corp., website developer, Walnut Creek, California |
Not sure which spelling is right? Enter both versions, and let the web decide, using the Infoseek, Excite and FAST search engines
Creativity | Writing Process | Grammar | Style and Usage | Reference Sources | Words |Fat-Free Writing |Plain Language | Action Writing | Word Play
[ Home ] [ Writing Resources Home ] [ Style Manual ] [ Plain English Guide ] [ Concise Writing Guide ] [ Writing Bookshelf ] [ What's New ]
Vocabulary
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The Ten Best Vocabulary Learning Tips--Sheppard Software, Jenkintown, Pennsylvania |
Explains tips ranging from "Read, Read, Read!" to "Use mnemonics" to "Get excited about words!"
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A.Word.A.Day--Anu Garg, internet engineer for AT&T Labs. |
Website for the free AWAD mailing list that sends a vocabulary word and its definition to subscribers every day.
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Word Safari--Ruth M. Pettis, designer and proofreader in Seattle, Washington |
A playful approach to vocabulary acquisition, launching users on web surfing expeditions to see how the featured words and expressions are used in context.
Creativity | Writing Process | Grammar | Style and Usage | Reference Sources | Words |Fat-Free Writing |Plain Language | Action Writing | Word Play
[ Home ] [ Writing Resources Home ] [ Style Manual ] [ Plain English Guide ] [ Concise Writing Guide ] [ Writing Bookshelf ] [ What's New ]
Created by Gary B. Larson of Port Townsend, Washington, garbltoo@gmail.com.
Updated March 5, 2016.