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Did England Have a Nightmare, or Have Themselves to Blame?
Roger: "England 1-2 Argentina." On paper, neutral. Then you reach for a verb, and the neutrality's gone.
What Cracker Barrel's Logo U-Turn Was Really About
Okay, so — when a chain called Cracker Barrel Old Country Store retires the guy in overalls, you don't need a
The Seal Was Broken
Roger: "I bought a box of animal crackers yesterday but had to take them back. The seal was broken." Ah.
A Rash of Good Luck
Roger: "What happens when you cross a four-leaf clover with poison ivy? You have a rash of good luck."
"Mistakes Were Made" — and Other Ways to Say Nothing
(A composite. The lines below aren't a quotation from anyone in particular — they're stitched from the genre, because
Three Words That Have Never Been Improved
"Mind the gap." You've heard it — clipped, recorded, faintly disapproving — a thousand times on the London Underground, and
The Verb Control Panel
A friendly map of tense, mood and all the other verb settings — start here
The Verb Control Panel
Start here for a map of the door knobs English hands you — and which room to open next
The Verb System — Complete Guide
Tense, aspect, mood, voice, all tangled in one sentence — the verb system laid out so it clicks