Now don’t get scared. We won't start drilling you on “who” vs. “whom,” conjugations, and gerunds. You can relax. We’ll take a much more practical approach, and we won’t use any strange words. Promise.

Eons ago, someone gave me a small yellow object to hang on my wall. It proclaimed, “I am silently correcting your grammar.” It was the perfect gift. In fact, I still have it. Grammar is a big deal to ...