Absorbing Writing Knowledge: Podcasts

Writing and communication is ubiquitous and sources for listening to and reading good verbal material abound.*  For this week, we vetted a selection of podcasts that directly address writing and language with content we endorse. Podcasts can be a convenient way to integrate learning into a busy schedule, as they are generally free, widely available and can be listened to while doing other everyday things like commuting or doing laundry.

In our research, we found that a lot of open-source information like podcasts on writing and language is not well-suited to academic or professional writing, especially at the graduate level. Many podcasts and related material focus on an audience of K-12 students. Another handful of writing-related podcasts were addressing creative writing, like fiction, rather than academic writing. The list we are providing here includes 2 podcasts and 14 episodes, is applicable to both native and non-native speakers, and is well-suited to an audience of advanced students in various fields. We hope this first recommendation list helps broaden your tools for learning to be a better writer or finding answers to tricky language questions.

FRESH AIR - This mainstream society & culture podcast from NPR incorporates segments devoted to language, grammar, and literature. The linguist Geoff Nunberg regularly contributes pieces related to grammar, word usage and verbal communication, which are always thoughtful, and sometimes very applicable to our Pepper Editing audience. Even if the topic focuses narrowly, as in a clip on the exclamation point, Nunberg always reflects on the bigger implications to society. On the whole and not surprisingly, these Nunberg clips are also very well written. Simply listening to well-composed content like these episodes can improve your vocabulary and writing ability. Each clip is about 5-10 minutes, so you can squeeze in concentrated learning here and there.

Changes To French Spelling Make Us Wonder: Why Is English So Weird? Aired February 24, 2016

For students who have learned English as a second language and students who have bounced between French and English, this article will contextualize and validate your frustrations learning spelling and pronunciation in either language.

Everyone Uses Singular 'They,' Whether They Realize It Or Not Aired January 13, 2016

This clip reflects the adaptation of language to shifting societal norms and clarifies a recently revised grammar rule. The singular use of “they” has long been common, but until recently, the formal grammar rules forced a writer to choose either “he” or “she” as singular pronouns or rephrase the sentence. To allow for and even embrace gender neutrality, English language authorities have officially accepted “they” as a gender-neutral pronoun and the American Dialect Society voted it word of the year.

Sorry Assiduous (adj.) SAT-Takers, Linguist In Dudgeon (n.) Over Vocab Flashcards Aired December 23, 2013

The central matter of this clip is summed up in Geoff Nunberg’s claim that “you can’t really learn the meaning of [a] word until you understand why it matters.”  In part, this commentary questions the effectiveness of learning words for standardized tests, in this case the SAT’s, but similar observations could be made of the GRE’s or TOEFL. More specifically, though, Nunberg makes the point that studying vocabulary for a test is only the beginning of learning it and words fully settle into one’s vocabulary as one finds occasion to use them.

Enumerating English Aired May 8, 2006

Here, Geoff Nunberg dissects the motivation to find out how many words the English language has and questions whether this information matters. He gives some background to popular claims about English vocabulary as compared to other languages, and criticizes the self-aggrandizing characterization of English as a great, or greater language on account of its supposedly superior selection of words.

Fresh Air also conducts many author interviews, which sometimes directly address the process of writing and the kind of writing in a book, though sometimes they only focus on the content of the book. We may include recommendations for author interviews in the future, but, here we have focused on content more directly related to writing.

You can find the Fresh Air podcast on iTunes or other podcast platforms or stream it from the website: Fresh Air. You can find all Geoff Nunberg’s fresh air clips gathered here: Fresh Air / Geoff Nunberg and you can find literary reviews by Maureen Corrigan here: Fresh Air / Maureen Corrigan.

GRAMMAR GIRL - This podcast excels in clarifying confusing grammar and expression issues and exploring histories of the English language. In addition to the podcasts mentioned here, you can find short articles for most commonly confused words, like "Toward" Versus "Towards", if you search the terms + “grammar girl.” Be aware that the content on writing strategy often does not apply to application essay writing, so be cautious about applying advice from Grammar Girl’s episodes on broader writing topics to application essay writing.

For your convenience, we’ve listed specific episodes we endorse with links. This week, we’re focusing on confused words or expressions and have them organized below from most to least common terms. Each episode runs about 5-12 minutes with 1 to 3 issues addressed per episode. The host, Mignon Fogarty, usually refers to the first segment of content as a “Quick and Dirty Tip” and the second the “Meaty Middle” and ads of about 30-60 seconds run in the beginning of the episode and between segments. Be patient through the ads, as the content in between is useful and clear. We hope this first list gives you a sense of what’s really helpful about Grammar Girl. We will add more recommendations as we find them!

‘Themself’ or ‘Themselves’? + Comma Mistakes (AKA Comma Splice). June 8, 2017 #527

‘A While’ vs “Awhile.” December 15, 2016 #547

"Which" Versus "That" February 2, 2017 - #554

Who Versus Whom August 18, 2016 #530

"Further" Versus "Farther" October 6, 2016 #537

‘Between,’ ‘Compared to,’ and ‘Compared With’ March 23, 2017 - #561

'Aloud' or 'Out Loud'? November 10, 2016 #542

“Burned” Versus “Burnt” May 25, 2017 #570

'Lit' or 'Lighted'? July 28, 2016 #527

‘Hone In’ or ‘Home In.’ December 29, 2016 #549

You can find the Grammar Girl podcast on iTunes or other podcast platforms for episodes that aired from about 6 months back. For earlier episodes, you can stream them from the website: Grammar Girl.

 * The word “verbal” and the word “oral” are often used interchangeably to mean spoken aloud. However, this definition is incorrect for the word verbal. While oral does, indeed, mean spoken, the word verbal refers more broadly to any expression related to words. Related, the term “written” technically refers to expressions that are physically written on paper, a screen or elsewhere, but it usually implies the act of composing thoughts into words. Even collections of words that are meant to be orally performed, like a play or a speech, are described as written, and would typically have a physical or digitally-written transcript.