Hello! I’m a scientist and writer turned editor and swivel-chair linguist. Sentence first is my blog about the English language: its usage, grammar, styles, literature, history, and quirks. It began as a pet project but has since received favourable mention in the Economist, Guardian, Atlantic, Baltimore Sun, TIME, and elsewhere.
I live in the west of Ireland, but thanks to modern technology you can read this (almost) anywhere. Its title is from a line spoken by the Queen in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll: “Sentence first – verdict afterwards.”
I am interested in how people communicate. Words are powerful tools and deserve careful use, but language usage changes constantly. For formal writing and editing I like the plain style, and I am contrarily fascinated by gobbledegook. But because I’ve had love affairs with various kinds of writing, from science writing and travel writing to fiction and poetry, I’m interested in all styles and in the countless ways we express our ideas.
You can e-mail me at stan @ stancarey.com if you want something written, edited, or proofread, or if you want to say hello. There’s more information on my editing website. I get a lot of questions about grammar – too many to make a habit of answering them, though I do so when I can.
I write a regular column about language for Macmillan Dictionary Blog. I’ve written for ELT Journal, The Fortnightly Review, Emphasis writing consultancy, Culch.ie and the Visual Thesaurus. You can also find me on Twitter, Google+ and Tumblr (more profiles to come).
Blog comments are welcome, and are never judged for their grammar. (I’m in editor mode only when editing, and even then I’m not judgemental.) Unless otherwise stated, all writing and photography are © Stan Carey. Thank you for visiting.
Stan
