36 episodes
Red Pen: A Grammar Podcast Columbia Journalism Review
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- Society & Culture
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4.8 • 34 Ratings
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Welcome to the weird, wild, scintillatingly stylish, and syntactically sound world of RED PEN—the grammar podcast that won't put you to sleep.Brought to you by the Columbia Journalism Review and hosted by old buds Ryan Davis and Mike Laws, RED PEN plucks examples from the news (as well as from novels, music, movies—wherever!) to answer all those questions you were too afraid to ask in English class.Digressions may include: Green Day's early work, the oppressive atmosphere of latter-day Batman movies, and, of course, cats. Lots of cats.
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What. The. F*ck.
Prepare to be scandalized. Oh, your stars!Questions/comments/ideas/snark go in the comments. We love you.Thing 1: Ryan DavisThing 2: Mike LawsProducer: Amanda DarrachFind all your favorite Red Pen songs over on the Red Pen Official Playlist.To use Red Pen chapters, swipe up on the Now Playing screen or click the top-right-corner Chapters button on Apple Podcasts for macOS.Show NotesThe Science of Curse Words: Why The &@$! Do We Swear?, John-Erik Jordan, Babbel
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Verily Varying Verbs
How to crack the attention economy? Coldcock your readers.Questions/comments/ideas/snark go in the comments. We love you.Thing 1: Ryan DavisThing 2: Mike LawsProducer: Amanda DarrachFind all your favorite Red Pen songs over on the Red Pen Official Playlist.To use Red Pen chapters, swipe up on the Now Playing screen or click the top-right-corner Chapters button on Apple Podcasts for macOS.Show Notes:Breaking the Laws, Mike on Nabokov, Red Pen S2 E8Dangler Untangler: Make those modifiers sing, ...
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BONUS: Red Pen at the Movies
Come for the critical reappraisal of ‘Shakespeare in Love,’ stay for Mike’s shocking revelation. Anon, good nurse!Questions/comments/ideas/snark go in the comments. We love you.Thing 1: Ryan DavisThing 2: Mike LawsProducer: Amanda DarrachFind all your favorite Red Pen songs over on the Red Pen Official Playlist.To use Red Pen chapters, swipe up on the Now Playing screen or click the top-right-corner Chapters button on Apple Podcasts for macOS.Show Notes:The Duchess of Malfi, John WebsterTambu...
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Odds’n’Sods
Oh, boy, are the “stick to the topic” ppl gonna love this one.Questions/comments/ideas/snark go in the comments. We love you.Thing 1: Ryan DavisThing 2: Mike LawsProducer: Amanda DarrachFind all your favorite Red Pen songs over on the Red Pen Official Playlist.To use Red Pen chapters, swipe up on the Now Playing screen or click the top-right-corner Chapters button on Apple Podcasts for macOS.Show Notes:Underworld podcast episode on MedellinVladimir Nabokov: Heat Seeker, Mike Laws, The Village...
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Breaking the Laws
When, whether, and how often. With a little help from Humbert Humbert. Questions/comments/ideas/snark go in the comments. We love you.Thing 1: Ryan DavisThing 2: Mike LawsProducer: Amanda DarrachFind all your favorite Red Pen songs over on the Red Pen Official Playlist.To use Red Pen chapters, swipe up on the Now Playing screen or click the top-right-corner Chapters button on Apple Podcasts for macOS.Show Notes:Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov on Google BooksA Teen’s Fatal Plunge Into the London Un...
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Finest Points
Or: How I learned to stop worrying and love nuance. Questions/comments/ideas/snark go in the comments. We love you.Thing 1: Ryan DavisThing 2: Mike LawsProducer: Amanda DarrachFind all your favorite Red Pen songs over on the Red Pen Official Playlist.To use Red Pen chapters, swipe up on the Now Playing screen or click the top-right-corner Chapters button on Apple Podcasts for macOS.
Customer Reviews
Great podcast
You asked for questions, so here you go:
I’m revamping my copy editing class for the spring. On what five grammar issues would you recommend budding copy editors spend time focusing?
Love this!
This podcast is a delight — interesting, informative, fun and a bit unpredictable. And there’s not a single minute that I “wait through” to get to the good stuff — it’s ALL GOOD! Even the music choices — quirkily relevant , playful and thoughtful — not your standard podcast filler music. Thank you for this intelligent, well-researched program. Clearly you are enjoying what you’re doing, and it’s a pleasure to hang out with you guys.
Sentence diagramming?
I’m loving the podcast in so many ways. Thank you! I wondered if you’d ever do an episode about sentence diagramming. Whenever I listen to you, I visually diagram in my head the sentences you’re discussing, just as I did on a blackboard in elementary school eons ago. But I know this method of teaching grammar is out of fashion and not used anymore. For me personally, I couldn’t imagine making sense of grammatical structures without this mental tool. (Plus it’s fun!) You’re both much younger than me, so I wonder: we’re you ever taught to diagram sentences? If not, did you pick it up later? Or do you really not need it? In short, what’s your take (if you have one) on sentence diagramming?
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