Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

Infobox Podcast
title = Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing


caption =
host = Mignon Fogarty
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url = [http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/ http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com]
rss = http://www.qdnow.com/grammar.xml
atom =
status =
began = 7/30/2006
ended =
genre =
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"Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing" is an educational podcast that was launched in July 2006 and the title of a print book that was released in July 2008. The podcast, which has ranked as high as #2 on iTunes,cite news | url=http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/internet/01/22/grammar.girl/index.html | title='Grammar Girl' a quick and dirty success | work=CNN.com | author=Williams, David E. | date=January 25 2007 | accessdate=2008-07-24] offers short one-topic English grammar lessons at no charge to subscribers hoping to improve their writing skills. Archived audio shows and complete transcripts are available at the [http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/ Grammar Girl website] , and audio archives are also available from the [http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=173429229 iTunes music store] .

The print book offers advice similar to that found in the podcast and reached number nine on the New York Times best-seller list for paperback advice books. [cite web | url=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/17/books/bestseller/bestpaperadvice.html?_r=1&oref=login | title=Best Sellers | work=August 17, 2008 New York Times | accessdate=2008-08-20]

Host Mignon Fogarty has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Washington and a master's degree in biology from Stanford University. [cite web | url=http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2007/novdec/show/fogarty.html | title=Say It So | work=2008 Stanford Magazine | accessdate=2008-08-20]

Listenership

The Grammar Girl podcast had been downloaded over seven million times as of December, 2007. [cite web | url=http://www.amazon.com/Grammar-Girls-Quick-Better-Writing/dp/0805088318/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219067957&sr=8-1 | title=Product Description | work=Amazon.com, Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing | accessdate=2008-08-20] According to a Podtrac survey conducted in October 2006, approximately 50% of listeners are male and 50% of listeners are female. Listeners are encouraged to submit grammar questions by e-mail and voicemail. The majority of episodes are built around these submissions.fact|date=July 2008

Recognition

The podcast has won three awards: the 2007 Podcast Award for Best Education Podcast,cite web | url=http://podcastawards.com/ | title=Podcast Awards | accessdate=2008-07-24] the 2007 Podcast Peer Award for Favorite Audio Program, and the 2006 Podcast Peer Award for Best Education Podcast. [cite web | url=http://www.ilonlineconf.org/index.cfm?page=featured_speakers | title=Featured Speakers | work=2008 Illinois Online Conference for Teaching and Learning | accessdate=2008-07-24]

The Grammar Girl podcast was the subject of an article in the "Wall Street Journal" (November 4-5, 2006), recommended by the German newspaper [http://www.bild.t-online.de/BTO/tipps-trends/digital-leben/aktuell/2006/11/sprachkurse-ipod/ar-sprachkurse-ipod.html Bild.de] (December 1, 2006), profiled on [http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/internet/01/22/grammar.girl/index.html CNN.com] (January 23, 2007), and positively reviewed by the [http://www.podcastingtricks.com/2006/11/30/favorite-podcasts-grammar-girl-podcastingtrickscom/ Podcasting Tricks] website (November 30,2006).fact|date=July 2008

In their end-of-year review, iTunes staff listed the Grammar Girl podcast as a favorite for 2006.fact|date=July 2008 The show was also listed as an iTunes People's Choice podcast for 2006, ranking 29th in number of new subscribers for the year.fact|date=July 2008

Mignon Fogarty appeared on the March 26th episode of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" as a grammar expert. [cite web | url=http://www.oprah.com/slideshow/oprahshow/oprahshow1_ss_20070326/6 | title=Letter to Oprah | work=2007 Oprah Winfrey Show | accessdate=2008-08-20] She was on the show to answer a viewer question about the use of possessive apostrophes. The viewer thought a previous show should have been titled "Oprah's and Gayle's Big Adventure," but Fogarty confirmed that "Oprah and Gayle's Big Adventure" was a correct use of compound possession. She went on to discuss several other common grammar errors, including "Affect vs. Effect" and "Who vs. Whom."

The Grammar Girl print book reached number nine on the August 17, 2008 New York Times best-seller list for paperback advice books.

Parodies

*The "Quick and Dirty Tips" format used by "Grammar Girl" and the affiliated podcasts listed at [http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/ Quick and Dirty Tips] (March 2, 2007) are the subject of ridicule at [http://www.podparody.tv/ Pod Parody TV] .
*On his Discovery Science Channel series "It's All Geek to Me", "New York Times" technology writer David Pogue dressed up as Fogarty, hair, glasses and all, and lip-synched one of her actual podcasts as part of a "visual demonstration" of what podcasts were in that program's episode about the iPod. He also gave the same treatment to Grammar Girl's fellow Quick and Dirty Tips podcaster Legal Lad.

References

External links

* [http://www.startupstudio.com/grammar-girls-founder-mignon-fogarty/podcasts/2007/05/10/ Startup Studio] In depth interview with Mignon Fogarty on the creation of Grammar Girl.