Patricia T. O'Conner (born Feb. 19, 1949) is the author of five books about the

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the ...

. A former staff editor at ''

The New York Times Book Review ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...

'', she has appeared regularly as a language commentator for

WNYC WNYC is the trademark and a set of call letters shared by WNYC (AM) and WNYC-FM, a pair of nonprofit, noncommercial, public radio stations located in New York City. WNYC is owned by New York Public Radio (NYPR), a nonprofit organization that ...

and Iowa Public Radio. She has written extensively for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', including book reviews,

On Language ''On Language'' was a regular column in the weekly '' New York Times Magazine'' on the English language discussing popular etymology, new or unusual usages, and other language-related topics. The inaugural column was published on February 18, 19 ...

columns, and articles for the op-ed page and the Week in Review section. Her work has also appeared in '' Smithsonian'', ''

The Paris Review ''The Paris Review'' is a quarterly English-language literary magazine established in Paris in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton. In its first five years, ''The Paris Review'' published works by Jack Kerouac, Phil ...

'', the ''

Literary Review ''Literary Review'' is a British literary magazine founded in 1979 by Anne Smith, then head of the Department of English at the University of Edinburgh. Its offices are on Lexington Street in Soho. The magazine was edited for fourteen years by v ...

'' (London), and other publications. A native of Des Moines,

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...

, she graduated from

Grinnell College Grinnell College is a private liberal arts college in Grinnell, Iowa, United States. It was founded in 1846 when a group of New England Congregationalists established the Trustees of Iowa College. Grinnell has the fifth highest endowment-to-stu ...

in 1971 with a BA in philosophy and received an honorary degree from Grinnell in 2006. She did graduate work in urban journalism at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

, before beginning her career as a reporter and editor in 1973. After several years at

The Des Moines Register ''The Des Moines Register'' is the daily morning newspaper of Des Moines, Iowa. History Early period The first newspaper in Des Moines was the ''Iowa Star''. In July 1849, Barlow Granger began the paper in an abandoned log cabin by the junction ...

and

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

, she joined the New York Times in 1982. She and

Stewart Kellerman Stewart Kellerman is an American author, journalist, and blogger who has reported on wars in Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. A former editor at ''The New York Times'' and foreign correspondent for United Press International, he has cove ...

, her husband and co-author of several books and articles, answer questions about the English language on The Grammarphobia Blog.

Publications

*''Woe Is I: The Grammarphobe's Guide to Better English in Plain English'' (Riverhead, 4th ed., 2019, ) *''Origins of the Specious: Myths and Misconceptions of the English Language'', co-authored by Kellerman (Random House, 2009, ) *''Woe Is I Jr.: The Younger Grammarphobe's Guide to Better English in Plain English'' (Putnam, 2007, ) *''You Send Me: Getting It Right When You Write Online'', co-authored by Kellerman (Harcourt, 2002, ) *''Words Fail Me: What Everyone Who Writes Should Know About Writing'' (Harcourt, 1999, ) *''The Reader Over Your Shoulder'', by Robert Graves with Alan Hodge; new introduction by Patricia T. O’Conner (Seven Stories Press, 2018, )

References

Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American women writers Grinnell College alumni Writers from Des Moines, Iowa Etymologists American women journalists The New York Times editors American copy editors Writers of style guides American broadcasters American bloggers 21st-century American non-fiction writers American women bloggers 21st-century American women writers {{US-nonfiction-writer-stub