Twitter sometimes suffers from a bad reputation as the mouthpiece of vacuous celebrities and nasty trolls, but if you follow the right accounts it can be a valuable resource to improve your spelling and grammar. I’ve compiled a small list of the tweeters I find useful, thought-provoking and occasionally amusing.
@GrammarGirl
Who are they? Mignon Fogerty, grammar podcaster and author of Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing.
Follow for: Easy ways to remember the huge array of perplexing grammar rules.
@MerriamWebster
Who are they? The go-to online American English dictionary.
Follow for: Their Word of the Day and Words at Play features. Discover unusual words and what they mean, or marvel at the idiosyncrasies of the English language.
@OxfordWords
Who are they? The Oxford University Press, publisher of the Oxford English Dictionary.
Follow for: Their blog on everything from word usage to the application of punctuation. A personal favourite is their quarterly announcement of which new words have been added to their online dictionary – words like ‘MacGyver’ and ‘awesomesauce’ recently became official!
@Grammarly
Who are they? Makers of the writing software that helps correct spelling and grammar.
Follow for: Amusing grammar memes, helpful hints, tips, and news. A nice mixture of content.
@The_YUNiversity
Who are they? Grammar YUNiversity: they describe themselves as ‘the grammar bosses for generation TL;DR’ (which stands for Too Long; Didn’t Read).
Follow for: Comparisons of similar words, exploration of the meanings of common phrases, and helpful infographics on word usage.
@Dictionarycom
Who are they? Dictionary.com – they claim to be the world’s leading digital dictionary.
Follow for: Interesting word trivia, quotes and language trends.
@APStylebook
Who are they? The Associated Press Stylebook is one of the world’s most widely-referenced style guides, originally created by American journalists.
Follow for: Style tips, notification of new guide entries, and #APStyleChat, where you can ask them all your burning grammar and style questions.
