© 2024
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
An update has been released for the Android version of the WAMC App that addresses performance issues. Please check the Google Play Store to download and update to the latest version.

Vex, Hex, Smash, Smooch: Let Verbs Power Your Writing by Constance Hale

Writers know it instinctively: Verbs make a sentence zing. Grammar gurus agree: Drama in writing emerges from the interplay of a subject (noun) and a predicate (verb).

In her new book, Vex, Hex, Smash, Smooch: Let Verbs Power Your Writing

, Constance Hale (the best-selling author of Sin and Syntax: How to Craft Wickedly Effective Prose) zooms in on the colorful world of verbs and marches us through linguistic history to paint a layered picture of our language—from before it really existed to the quirky usages we see online today. 

Constance Hale is a San Francisco based journalist with a particular interest in the interesting edges of language.

Joe talks to people on the radio for a living. In addition to countless impressive human "gets" - he has talked to a lot of Muppets. Joe grew up in Philadelphia, has been on the area airwaves for more than 25 years and currently lives in Washington County, NY with his wife, Kelly, and their dog, Brady. And yes, he reads every single book.
Related Content