If you’re the kind of person who reads the Oxford English Dictionary for fun (I’m not naming names, but you know who you are, Maggie), then here’s just about the coolest compilation of grammar resources you could ever ask for.

The University of Chicago Writing Program maintains a lush list of high quality grammar websites.

Their principles of selection:

We update the sites about four times a year, using the following highly technical method: we go to the sites and try them out. We include the sites on this page if they pass the following three tests. 1) The advice they give must be correct to the extent that “correctness” is possible when discussing a phenomonon as fluid as language. 2) They must not be boring. Humor and lively writing count heavily. 3) They must not be completely inundated with advertisements. Some ads are fine (site creators must live, after all). But we won’t include a site if it has more ads than grammar, or if it tries to hijack your email address to give it to another site, or if it contains any pop-up ads at all.

Here’s a site recommended by one of our readers.   Grammar Girl handles common questions about grammar and style such as

• –whether to use who or whom,
• –usage differences between affect and effect, and
• –grammar myths such as “Never end a sentence with a preposition.”

What I like about Grammar Girl’ s quick and dirty tips:

• –The advice is well-researched and documented.
• –Readers have a choice of listening to a podcast or reading a transcript; sometimes Grammar Girl even includes cartoons.
• –The entries demonstrate good reasons for making certain choices, but they also show that grammar “rules” are changing and subject to context.

Ask the Center Staff

Can a tutor edit my paper?

No.  However, the Center is a learning resource, so tutors will gladly help you identify error patterns in a draft and show you how to make corrections yourself.  That way, you can leave here with some good editing strategies.  But tutors will not edit a paper for you.

Check out the Proofreading & Editing section of our Writers’ Resource Index for tips, too.