English Language

See also: English as a Second Language.

Words and Vocabulary

• Ask Oxford
  This is the website for the Oxford family of dictionaries from Great Britainn.
• BBC Routes of English
  A series of programs on English dialects
• The Word Spy
  This Web site and its associated mailing list are devoted to recently coined words and phrases, old words that are being used in new ways, and existing words that have enjoyed a recent renaissance.
• Merriam-Webster (Dictionary)
  Not only the dictionary, but cool informations about words. You can also learn a word a day.
  • Scrabble Sprint
    Test your ability to create words.
• OneLook Dictionary: the faster finder
  12,960,939 words in 973 dictionaries indexed. A great source of links to other online dictionaries.
• National Spelling Bee
  Information on the Scripps national Spelling Bee with results and study tips.
• Scrabble.com
  Check at this official worldwide scrabble website to see if a word qualifies in scrabble (for instance, "er"). It also includes a "word builder": input the tiles that you have and word builder will suggest possible words.
• The Word Detective
  "The Word Detective on the Web is the online version of "The Word Detective", a newspaper column answering readers' questions about words and language. "The Word Detective" is written by Evan Morris and appears in finer newspapers in the U.S., Mexico and Japan."
• World Wide Words
  Learn about brand new words, how words and phrases came about, find out what words in the news mean. International English from a British viewpoint by Michael Quinion, an author and lexicographer.
• YourDictionary.com
  Need a dictionary? Look here for a wide selection.

Grammar

• Bartleby.com: English Usage, Style & Composition
  A collection of classic works on English.
  • Elements of Style (1918) by William Strunk Jr.
    good points to remember when writing (like one paragraph to each topic; begin each paragraph with a topic sentence; end it in conformity with the beginning)
  • The King's English
    by H.W. Fowler, 2nd ed. 1908. A classic work from Columbia University's Bartleby Library with such hints as
    "Prefer the familiar word to the far-fetched.
    Prefer the concrete word to the abstract.
    Prefer the single word to the circumlocution.
    Prefer the short word to the long.
    Prefer the Saxon word to the Romance."

Pittsburgh

• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Spelling Bee
  An annual oral competition in spelling held each March for students in 8th grade or lower.