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.
Top 5!
In which Mike finally reads the comments.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.
2/3/2024 • 39 minutes, 40 seconds
Ergative Zones
How Padma Lakshmi schooled us all on the "middle voice."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:"It eats salty": middle voice on "Top Chef," Language Log on "stimulus subject perception verbs"The Grammar of Top Chef: What’s With "It Eats Salty"? Mental Floss on "gestalt verbs"
1/10/2024 • 40 minutes, 7 seconds
Words We Love
And a few we hate. And, for some reason, a few that are German.Questions/comments/ideas/snark go in the comments. We love you.Thing 1: Ryan DavisThing 2: Mike LawsProducer: Amanda DarrachShow Notes:The Staten Island Ferry Schedule (But sign your marriage license on dry land.)Out of Office podcastPhonesthemes@germanonliners
12/13/2023 • 55 minutes, 8 seconds
Source Code, Part I: Correcting the record
On the record, off the record, on background, deep background: What to expect when you're expecting to be a source.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:A scrappy newspaper’s final cover lacks Voice, Alexandria Neason, CJRJournalists are fed up with requests to be ‘on background’ or ‘off the record,’ Ted Kitterman, PR DailyArtforum Fires Top Editor After Its Open Letter on Israel-Hamas War, Zachary Small, The New York TimesBoth Sides Now, Amanda Darrach, CJR
11/29/2023 • 41 minutes, 35 seconds
Make Up the Breakdown
It's an epidemic, people: one-word compound nouns standing in for phrasal verbs. Is Kelly Clarkson to blame?Questions/comments/ideas/snark go in the comments. We love you.Thing 1: Ryan DavisThing 2: Mike LawsProducer: Amanda Darrach
