If you’re like many people, when a new movie or book is released, you don’t want to know what surprises it contains. You go out of your way to avoid talking about the story in fear of accidentally discovering the ending and steer clear of anything that says “spoiler alert,” convinced that knowing the secret would ruin the story. But, is that actually true?

According to a study published in Psychological Science, spoilers may not spoil anything. In fact, the study found that knowing in advance a story’s outcome or an unexpected plot surprise may actually allow you to enjoy the story more.

Researchers Christenfeld and Leavitt ran three experiments using 12 classic short stories, including ironic-twist, mystery and literary stories by famous authors such as Roald Dahl, Agatha Christie and John Updike.

The researchers presented the stories to the subjects in one of three ways:
(1) as was originally written and without a spoiler,
(2) with a spoiler paragraph before the start of the story, and
(3) with a spoiler paragraph incorporated into the text as if it was part of the original story.

Each version of each story was read by at least 30 participants, and for each type of story, participants most preferred the version that was prefaced by a spoiler. Why and how could this be?

One researcher explained this surprising result by suggesting that perhaps we enjoy the good writing more than the actual plot. Another interesting idea proposed by the researchers is that a spoiled story may simply be easier to read.

"It could be that once you know how it turns out, it’s cognitively easier – you’re more comfortable processing the information – and can focus on a deeper understanding of the story," Leavitt explained in a press release on the study.

So, what do you think? Many of us enjoy re-watching our favorite movies and television shows and re-reading our favorite stories. Is this the same? When you read a book for the first time, do you enjoy knowing which one of the suspects committed the crime at the beginning, or do you prefer figuring it out yourself along the way?

Read the full press release here: Spoiler Alert: Stories Are Not Spoiled by 'Spoilers'.

Misused words and words that aren't words at all have been covered previously on this blog. Today, we’ll dive into some common expressions and discover if one word or two should be used.

• After All/Afterall – In this case, only “after all” is correct. It makes sense that “afterall” would pop up from time to time though. We’re all busy and looking for ways to simplify our lives, shortening words and combining them. In this case, however, we should stick with “after all.”
• All Right/Alright – This pairing is a bit more complicated than the previous one. Traditionally, “all right” is the correct usage and “alright” is incorrect, but as we mentioned in a previous blog post , the English language is constantly evolving, and “alright” is slowly gaining acceptance for everyday use.
• Every Day/Everyday – Speaking of “everyday,” we bring you our third pairing. In this case, both are words but have different meanings. Many people mistakenly write “everyday” when they really mean “every day.” This sentence gives us the correct usage for both: Jane likes to eat oatmeal for breakfast every day; it has become an important part of her everyday routine.
• Any One/Anyone – Here, we have another example where both are correct, illustrated as follows: Any one of the three of us could be chosen to lead the team, but I don’t know why anyone would select me.

There are many other examples like those listed above, but we’ll explore them in a future blog post.

The English language is always evolving. For proof of this, all we need to do is look back at the prose of William Shakespeare. People certainly don’t say things like “The apparel oft proclaims the man,” these days, and if they did, they’d probably be the recipient of more than a few strange looks.

In our highly technological society, language continues to evolve even today. It’s graduation season, and the way we refer to the act of graduating seems to be in a state of flux. As Grammar Girl notes in her blog, recent history has given us three ways to say it. In the early 1900s, it was common for one to say “he was graduated from college.” By the middle of the last century, the saying morphed into “he graduated from college.” In the past few years, the statement has become more simplified still, and many people often say “he graduated college.” For more on this subject, check out Grammar Girl’s insightful blog post.

Not only are we omitting words where we feel that they are no longer needed, but we’re also making up new words that we feel do a better job of capturing what we want to say. A popular example these days is the “word” melty. If you search in any dictionary, you won’t find melty anywhere, but that hasn’t stopped the likes of popular fast food chains from using it in their ad campaigns with abandon. The thought must have been that “melty cheese” sounds so much better than “melted cheese.” It may not be a real word today, but it likely won’t take long for it to make its way into dictionaries with its frequent appearance in our everyday lives.

The evolution of language could be seen as positive or negative, but it seems to be a necessity as we progress as a society. We’re always looking for faster, better ways of living our lives, so why should language be left out of the mix?

In a similar vein to our misused words blog posts, we give you a list of frequently-used “words” that aren’t words at all. You hear them all the time, and if you know better, you may feel a familiar pang of annoyance whenever they come up:

• Irregardless – If someone uses this “word,” what they really mean is “regardless.”
• Pacifically – The word you’re actually looking for here is “specifically,” and, thankfully, use of the correct word is not limited to those of you on the west coast!
• Supposably – This one comes up quite frequently, but what you really want to say is “supposedly.”
• Self-depreciating – To “depreciate” is to decrease in value, so it’s no surprise that this pops up from time to time. The correct terminology, however, is “self-deprecating.”
• Disorientated – No need to add the extra letters here, folks. What you’re really looking for is “disoriented.”
• Flustrated – This is probably a combination of “frustrated” and “flustered,” but it’s also incorrect. Use one of the correct words to express your point instead.
• Unthaw – To thaw is to melt, so if you’re unthawing something, you’re actually freezing it.

Do you have other “words” that drive you crazy each time you hear them? Be sure to let us know!

You’re probably not surprised to learn that there are enough misused words in the English language to warrant four blog posts. We’ve covered a few excellent examples thus far, and we’ve still come across more than deserve further examination. Check out the latest three:

• Anyway or Anyways. In this case, you don’t need to remember which word to use in a particular situation because, as a matter of fact, anyways is a nonstandard form of anyway and is never technically correct. Since we’re sure you wouldn’t want to use an incorrect word anyway, we’ll move on to the next pair.
• Accept or Except. Oh, that crazy English language. Why are these words so similar, yet so different? Accept is a verb, as in “I cannot accept the fact that he is leaving on Friday.” By accepting, or refusing to accept, you’re doing something. Meanwhile, except is a preposition used to clarify what or who is not included, as in “Everyone except Jodie met after work to plan the party” or “The box of crayons had all of the colors I needed, except orange.”
• Affect or Effect. Just when you thought it couldn’t get crazier, we bring you this pair, which are often confused in everyday situations. Luckily, there’s a relatively simple way to remember which is which. Affect is a verb, as in “The inclement weather will undoubtedly affect my commute to work” or “I was not affected by the cold weather because I had dressed appropriately.” Effect, however, is a noun, as in “Luckily, I did not experience any side effects after taking the medication for my head cold” or “The construction noises outside will definitely have an effect on my ability to sleep tonight.”

As always, thanks for reading!