Ms. Choksondik: The adjective form is now also acceptable. For example, “The weather outside is shitty.” However, the literal adjective is not appropriate. For example, “My bad diarrhea made the ...

Q. What’s the adjective form of the word “integrity,” when you’re referring to someone who displays great integrity? “Integreful”? “Integrated”? — Carl Deitrick, Elgin A. You can do one of three ...

Ned in Albany had a question about the phrase, used in this column, “that works out great.” He asked, “Isn’t ‘great’ an adjective and what’s it modifying here? Shouldn’t it be ‘well’ in uncorrupted ...

Superlative close superlativeA word that describes the most of something, for example the biggest, the strongest, the fastest. adjectives are used to compare things and say which one is the biggest, ...

Years ago, I wrote a column about “whom” and the dangers of using it wrong. What happened next remains one of the weirdest moments in my writing career. A reader sent an email to scold me, but not for ...