Do you use “?” when you are making a request that is not in the grammatical form of a question?

“Would you read this, please.” (Wait, where’s the question mark?)

Boss: Can you include this week’s numbers in the report for this morning’s meeting.

You: Yes.

Boss: Also, could you make 18 collated copies of it.

You: Will do.

Depending on time and workload, you might be tempted to respond with “since you ask, I’m actually a little slammed right now”; however, because you’re a model employee, you comply. You also probably noticed the terminal periods where one might expect a question mark, and (perhaps after an initial bolt of worry that someone was mad at you) realized these were not questions but rather directives given in a polite manner. Your boss does, in fact, expect an affirmative response followed by a revision and 18 copies in hand, pronto—in other words, it’s less of an ask and more of a tell.

Grammatically, the boss’s requests are imperatives, statements that express a command or order. The phrasing of the imperative as a question is a convention of common courtesy—it is certainly nicer to ask someone to do something rather than tell them to do it. At Merriam-Webster, “Proofread these pages” never breaks the library-silence of the editorial floor; however, “Can you please proofread these pages” can often be heard coming from slightly croaky voices unaccustomed to use.

Typically, the “imperative incognito” begins with a modal verb—e.g., could, can, would, will, and may, all of which indicate a polite request—and reads as a question until the end, at which a single dot is placed, changing the meaning of the preceding words into a command.

Could you sign here.

Can you please turn off your cellphone.

Would you kindly fill out this form.

Will you please sit down.

May I have your attention, please.

If a writer wants to retain the nicety of a question when stating an imperative, adding a question mark will do. The mark completes the statement as a “yes/no” question, giving the person being addressed an option of responding with “no” or “sorry, I can’t.” In most cases, that probably won’t happen; however, it’s nice to have given the person a choice (especially when that person may truly not be able or willing to carry out the request). In the end, the “yes” person will likely fulfill the favor, request, order, etc., whether out of courtesy or obligation.

For those who find disguising an imperative as a question a bit too unconventional—but who also want to make a polite request that conveys a sense of expectation of fulfillment—traditional, grammatically correct questions or statements will still get the job done (though in a wordy fashion). Just be sure to use modal verbs of politeness and the magic word please.

Would you be able to have the report ready for this morning’s meeting?

I would appreciate it if you can have the report ready for this morning’s meeting.

Please have the report ready for this morning’s meeting.

If you enjoy idioms as much as we do, Merriam-Webster has quite some interesting articles! Which of the following idioms do you think came first?

Fly the coop

When a chicken is accused of having flown the coop, it means that the chicken has escaped from their coop and is now flying or roaming free. Idiomatically, we use fly the coop to mean “to leave suddenly or secretly” or “to escape or go away” or “to leave home.”

In the morning the suspect had flown the coop.

All their children have flown the coop.

Third wife Lenore Stevens, fed up with his obsessive work habits, flew the coop 18 months ago, and the couple’s 11-year marriage looks to be… in turnaround. “We’re not totally done on that,” says [Richard] Mulligan, who until Nest was probably best known as Soap’s trouble-plagued Burt Campbell, a role that won him a 1980 Emmy. “It’s not a done thing yet. We’re just separated.”
—Joanne Kaufman and Doris Bacon, People Weekly, 29 May 1989

Pecking order

Pecking order refers to the basic pattern of social organization within a flock of poultry in which each bird pecks another lower in the scale without fear of retaliation and submits to pecking by one of higher rank. Chickens thus establish rank within their flock by pecking one another. The phrase is also sometimes used of other, non-pecking animals such as horses. In its idiomatic use, pecking order among humans refers to a social hierarchy (though usually without the pecking).

…my father’s sisters were squabbling in accordance with their time-tried pecking order.
—Hortense Calisher, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1988

A discussion of the sociodynamics of bouldering springs up; Ann says that the rock can be a tense and uncomfortable place for beginners. People will show you the moves, yes, but you learn very soon that there is a pecking order.
—John Skow, Smithsonian, June 1985

In the nineteen forties cats and cat people ranked very near the bottom of the pecking order of pets and pet owners. An organization of cat haters called Friends of the Birds was openly advocating the trapping and killing of neighbors’ pet cats and was winning legislative support in Illinois and California…
—Raymond D. Smith, Cats Magazine, October 1983

Put all your eggs in one basket

To put all of your eggs in one basket is to risk all you have on the success or failure of one thing. This idiom apparently comes from the idea that, when collecting eggs from your hens, should you put them all in one basket and then drop that basket, you would lose all your eggs. A safer bet would be to divide them among a few different baskets.

Another lesson drawn from these downturns is the importance of diversification, a strategy that involves spreading investments across a variety of assets to reduce exposure to any single one. Crypto winter’s dramatic price fluctuations serve as a warning that putting all one’s eggs in one basket can be costly.
—Damilola Lawrence, Cryptopolitan, 19 May 2023

We believe mixed farming is the best option for our operation. We don’t like having all our eggs in one basket. For years, cattle were not overly profitable … but beef cattle, in particular Angus, have been extremely profitable over the past five years.
—Louise Mann, The Weekly Times (Australia) Online, 18 May 2023

Walk on eggshells

To walk on eggshells is to exercise extreme caution. The extended use apparently comes from the fact that eggshells are fragile and would, upon being stepped on, break easily. It would take an impossibly light step to not break them. The phrase is used especially to refer to acting carefully around someone who may be easily upset.

They had to walk on eggshells around the unpredictable coworker.

In late April, [Cockrell Hill Mayor Luis] Carrera wasn’t sure if Jimmie [Vaughn] wanted to hug him or punch him. He said that he felt like he was walking on eggshells around the Texas guitar legend. At first, he thought Jimmie was in a bad mood until he cracked a smile.
— Christian McPhate, The Dallas Observer, 8 May 2023

Mother hen

When a hen is hatching eggs and raising young chicks she sits on them physically protecting them from harm. A hen will continue to keep her chicks close by for several weeks, guiding them to eat the right foods and stay away from danger. A person described as a mother hen is a person who assumes an overly protective maternal attitude.

If you’re a particularly lucky writer, Nora was not only an influence but a sort of literary mother hen with a cashmere-clad wing outstretched. She was a connector, a cajoler, a cheerleader—maybe even a friend. I was among those lucky ones.
—Meghan Daum, The Los Angeles Times, 28 June 2012

And while [Renée] Bacher initially justified her mother-hen actions as being in her daughter’s best interest—coming up with excuses to vet her daughter’s roommate or staying too long in her daughter’s dorm room under the guise of helping her move in—eventually she concluded: “As with all Helicopter Parenting, this was about me.”
—Lori Gottlieb, The Atlantic, July/August 2011

No spring chicken

Typically, with the warming weather in the spring, a hen’s natural instinct to hatch eggs will kick in. She’ll sit on her clutch, and about three weeks later chicks will emerge from their shells. Thus, spring is when the youngest chickens are upon us. The term spring chicken is used figuratively to mean “a young person”.

Owing to some other illness of [Aerosmith frontman Steven] Tyler’s, the last three shows went off the tour. It was disappointing. Most of those guys are more than 10 years older than I am, and I’m no spring chicken. I’m not sure they’ll ever tour again.
— Kim Poindexter, Tahlequah Daily Press (Oklahoma), 2 April 2023

[WWE wrestler Randy] Orton is still just 42 years old, which is like a spring chicken in pro wrestling these days. A plethora of high-profile stars—ranging from Bobby Lashley to Edge to Brock Lesnar—are still performing at an incredibly high level in their mid-to-late 40s, and there’s little to suggest that Orton won’t be able to do the same.
—Blake Oestriecher, Forbes.com, 27 March 2023

Rule the roost

A roost is a support (such as a bar or tree branch) on which chickens rest. And in a flock you may find that one chicken rules that roost. Figuratively, rule the roost means “to have the most control or authority in a group”.

Both of our parents were tough, but Mama was as tough as an old shoe, who ruled the roost without saying a word.
—Wayne Easter, quoted in The Mt. Airy News (North Carolina), 14 May 2023

Summer grilling (smoking) season is upon us. Travel west a couple of states and peppery brisket slow-smoked over post oak is king. But here in God’s country, pork rules the roost.
—Russ Latino, Delta Democrat Times (Greenville, Mississippi), 18 May 2023

If you enjoy idioms as much as we do, Merriam-Webster has quite some interesting articles! Which of the following idioms do you think came first?

Fly the coop

When a chicken is accused of having flown the coop, it means that the chicken has escaped from their coop and is now flying or roaming free. Idiomatically, we use fly the coop to mean “to leave suddenly or secretly” or “to escape or go away” or “to leave home.”

In the morning the suspect had flown the coop.

All their children have flown the coop.

Third wife Lenore Stevens, fed up with his obsessive work habits, flew the coop 18 months ago, and the couple’s 11-year marriage looks to be… in turnaround. “We’re not totally done on that,” says [Richard] Mulligan, who until Nest was probably best known as Soap’s trouble-plagued Burt Campbell, a role that won him a 1980 Emmy. “It’s not a done thing yet. We’re just separated.”
—Joanne Kaufman and Doris Bacon, People Weekly, 29 May 1989

Pecking order

Pecking order refers to the basic pattern of social organization within a flock of poultry in which each bird pecks another lower in the scale without fear of retaliation and submits to pecking by one of higher rank. Chickens thus establish rank within their flock by pecking one another. The phrase is also sometimes used of other, non-pecking animals such as horses. In its idiomatic use, pecking order among humans refers to a social hierarchy (though usually without the pecking).

…my father’s sisters were squabbling in accordance with their time-tried pecking order.
—Hortense Calisher, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1988

A discussion of the sociodynamics of bouldering springs up; Ann says that the rock can be a tense and uncomfortable place for beginners. People will show you the moves, yes, but you learn very soon that there is a pecking order.
—John Skow, Smithsonian, June 1985

In the nineteen forties cats and cat people ranked very near the bottom of the pecking order of pets and pet owners. An organization of cat haters called Friends of the Birds was openly advocating the trapping and killing of neighbors’ pet cats and was winning legislative support in Illinois and California…
—Raymond D. Smith, Cats Magazine, October 1983

Put all your eggs in one basket

To put all of your eggs in one basket is to risk all you have on the success or failure of one thing. This idiom apparently comes from the idea that, when collecting eggs from your hens, should you put them all in one basket and then drop that basket, you would lose all your eggs. A safer bet would be to divide them among a few different baskets.

Another lesson drawn from these downturns is the importance of diversification, a strategy that involves spreading investments across a variety of assets to reduce exposure to any single one. Crypto winter’s dramatic price fluctuations serve as a warning that putting all one’s eggs in one basket can be costly.
—Damilola Lawrence, Cryptopolitan, 19 May 2023

We believe mixed farming is the best option for our operation. We don’t like having all our eggs in one basket. For years, cattle were not overly profitable … but beef cattle, in particular Angus, have been extremely profitable over the past five years.
—Louise Mann, The Weekly Times (Australia) Online, 18 May 2023

Walk on eggshells

To walk on eggshells is to exercise extreme caution. The extended use apparently comes from the fact that eggshells are fragile and would, upon being stepped on, break easily. It would take an impossibly light step to not break them. The phrase is used especially to refer to acting carefully around someone who may be easily upset.

They had to walk on eggshells around the unpredictable coworker.

In late April, [Cockrell Hill Mayor Luis] Carrera wasn’t sure if Jimmie [Vaughn] wanted to hug him or punch him. He said that he felt like he was walking on eggshells around the Texas guitar legend. At first, he thought Jimmie was in a bad mood until he cracked a smile.
— Christian McPhate, The Dallas Observer, 8 May 2023

Mother hen

When a hen is hatching eggs and raising young chicks she sits on them physically protecting them from harm. A hen will continue to keep her chicks close by for several weeks, guiding them to eat the right foods and stay away from danger. A person described as a mother hen is a person who assumes an overly protective maternal attitude.

If you’re a particularly lucky writer, Nora was not only an influence but a sort of literary mother hen with a cashmere-clad wing outstretched. She was a connector, a cajoler, a cheerleader—maybe even a friend. I was among those lucky ones.
—Meghan Daum, The Los Angeles Times, 28 June 2012

And while [Renée] Bacher initially justified her mother-hen actions as being in her daughter’s best interest—coming up with excuses to vet her daughter’s roommate or staying too long in her daughter’s dorm room under the guise of helping her move in—eventually she concluded: “As with all Helicopter Parenting, this was about me.”
—Lori Gottlieb, The Atlantic, July/August 2011

No spring chicken

Typically, with the warming weather in the spring, a hen’s natural instinct to hatch eggs will kick in. She’ll sit on her clutch, and about three weeks later chicks will emerge from their shells. Thus, spring is when the youngest chickens are upon us. The term spring chicken is used figuratively to mean “a young person”.

Owing to some other illness of [Aerosmith frontman Steven] Tyler’s, the last three shows went off the tour. It was disappointing. Most of those guys are more than 10 years older than I am, and I’m no spring chicken. I’m not sure they’ll ever tour again.
— Kim Poindexter, Tahlequah Daily Press (Oklahoma), 2 April 2023

[WWE wrestler Randy] Orton is still just 42 years old, which is like a spring chicken in pro wrestling these days. A plethora of high-profile stars—ranging from Bobby Lashley to Edge to Brock Lesnar—are still performing at an incredibly high level in their mid-to-late 40s, and there’s little to suggest that Orton won’t be able to do the same.
—Blake Oestriecher, Forbes.com, 27 March 2023

Rule the roost

A roost is a support (such as a bar or tree branch) on which chickens rest. And in a flock you may find that one chicken rules that roost. Figuratively, rule the roost means “to have the most control or authority in a group”.

Both of our parents were tough, but Mama was as tough as an old shoe, who ruled the roost without saying a word.
—Wayne Easter, quoted in The Mt. Airy News (North Carolina), 14 May 2023

Summer grilling (smoking) season is upon us. Travel west a couple of states and peppery brisket slow-smoked over post oak is king. But here in God’s country, pork rules the roost.
—Russ Latino, Delta Democrat Times (Greenville, Mississippi), 18 May 2023

What are the best starting words?

According to the experts, some of the best starting words are:

arose

soare

later

saine

tares

lares

rales

rates

cares

So, what should you guess if you want to win? Generally speaking, the strategy you pick depends on whether you simply want to have the best chance to win in six tries or you want to win in as few guesses as possible. That being said, the experts agree that going after the vowels is a good opening move. For this reason, the words ADIEU and AUDIO are extremely popular opening guesses that give a lot of info on the vowels. However, those words will leave you at a loss for consonants, and you will likely need to repeat some vowels if you want to learn anything about consonants.

Another common piece of advice is to include as many different commonly used consonants as possible to narrow things down. Words like SIRED, ANTES, TONER, RINSE, and RATES are good first picks as you have both some vowels and top 10 consonants too.

Many statistically-minded people like to make the absolute most out of their starting two guesses by squeezing in all of the top 10 most common letters. That means you need two words that include all of E, T, A, O, I, N, S, R, H, and L. If that’s your game, might we suggest HATER and LIONS? Or maybe RINSE and LOATH?

What Dictionary.com team members love to start with (yes, we are obsessed with Wordle, too)

While trying to stack the odds is all well and good, everyone has their own preferences and favorite words that they like to use. Because at the end of the day, the most important thing is to have fun.

Dictionary.com Employees’ Wordle Survey 

Name: Mike Porter
Job title: senior software engineer
Word: laugh
Why I like it: A good mix of vowels and consonants.

Name: Heena Narottam
Job title: senior software engineer
Word: stear
Why I like it: I like it because it uses the top two most common vowels and the top three most common consonants.

Name: Heather Bonikowski
Job title: lexicographer
Word: ocean
Why I like it: First vowel-heavy word that came to me, and it works pretty well.

Name: Mike Sandula
Job title: senior software engineer
Word: earth, noise, adieu
Why I like it: They cover a lot of common letters. Adieu because of the number of vowels plus it makes me feel fancy.

Name: Jess Miller
Job title: director of marketing
Word: group, heart
Why I like it: I used to do group but switched to heart for more common letters. I switch it up sometimes, though.

Some of our users’ favorite words to start with

Take a look at the best starting words (according to you!) and join in the conversation on Twitter.

adieu, aisle, alien, alter, anime, aorta, arise, aside, audio, bacon, beaut, bored, cause, crate, crack, crest, earns, eight, farts, feast, great, harpy, hoist, ideal, ideas, ingot, irate, learn, least, loyal, meany, meats, media, mousy, niche, notes, omega, onery, opera, peace, pears, pilot, pithy, plant, point, ports, power, prior, quest, rages, rates, ratio, rents, rouse, scale, shape, shore, snare, soare, sport, stare, steak, stern, stoic, stony, store, strap, table, teams, tears, those, tired, touch, train, water, yeast, youth

Some highlights from our social media manager:

stare. It covers 5 of the most common letters, & the 2 most common vowels.

— All we are is Dustin the wind. Fully Vaxxed #BLM (@sqlcheesecake) January 21, 2022

I use AUDIO or ADIEU, and knock out those vowels right off the bat.

— Literally Three Kobolds in a Trenchcoat (@ThreeKobolds) January 21, 2022

What are the best starting words?

According to the experts, some of the best starting words are:

arose

soare

later

saine

tares

lares

rales

rates

cares

So, what should you guess if you want to win? Generally speaking, the strategy you pick depends on whether you simply want to have the best chance to win in six tries or you want to win in as few guesses as possible. That being said, the experts agree that going after the vowels is a good opening move. For this reason, the words ADIEU and AUDIO are extremely popular opening guesses that give a lot of info on the vowels. However, those words will leave you at a loss for consonants, and you will likely need to repeat some vowels if you want to learn anything about consonants.

Another common piece of advice is to include as many different commonly used consonants as possible to narrow things down. Words like SIRED, ANTES, TONER, RINSE, and RATES are good first picks as you have both some vowels and top 10 consonants too.

Many statistically-minded people like to make the absolute most out of their starting two guesses by squeezing in all of the top 10 most common letters. That means you need two words that include all of E, T, A, O, I, N, S, R, H, and L. If that’s your game, might we suggest HATER and LIONS? Or maybe RINSE and LOATH?

What Dictionary.com team members love to start with (yes, we are obsessed with Wordle, too)

While trying to stack the odds is all well and good, everyone has their own preferences and favorite words that they like to use. Because at the end of the day, the most important thing is to have fun.

Dictionary.com Employees’ Wordle Survey 

Name: Mike Porter
Job title: senior software engineer
Word: laugh
Why I like it: A good mix of vowels and consonants.

Name: Heena Narottam
Job title: senior software engineer
Word: stear
Why I like it: I like it because it uses the top two most common vowels and the top three most common consonants.

Name: Heather Bonikowski
Job title: lexicographer
Word: ocean
Why I like it: First vowel-heavy word that came to me, and it works pretty well.

Name: Mike Sandula
Job title: senior software engineer
Word: earth, noise, adieu
Why I like it: They cover a lot of common letters. Adieu because of the number of vowels plus it makes me feel fancy.

Name: Jess Miller
Job title: director of marketing
Word: group, heart
Why I like it: I used to do group but switched to heart for more common letters. I switch it up sometimes, though.

Some of our users’ favorite words to start with

Take a look at the best starting words (according to you!) and join in the conversation on Twitter.

adieu, aisle, alien, alter, anime, aorta, arise, aside, audio, bacon, beaut, bored, cause, crate, crack, crest, earns, eight, farts, feast, great, harpy, hoist, ideal, ideas, ingot, irate, learn, least, loyal, meany, meats, media, mousy, niche, notes, omega, onery, opera, peace, pears, pilot, pithy, plant, point, ports, power, prior, quest, rages, rates, ratio, rents, rouse, scale, shape, shore, snare, soare, sport, stare, steak, stern, stoic, stony, store, strap, table, teams, tears, those, tired, touch, train, water, yeast, youth

Some highlights from our social media manager:

stare. It covers 5 of the most common letters, & the 2 most common vowels.

— All we are is Dustin the wind. Fully Vaxxed #BLM (@sqlcheesecake) January 21, 2022

I use AUDIO or ADIEU, and knock out those vowels right off the bat.

— Literally Three Kobolds in a Trenchcoat (@ThreeKobolds) January 21, 2022

Why Five Letters?

Most Common English Letters

Most Common Letters In Wordle

Most Common Pairs

Best Starting Words

Our Favorite Starting Words

Users’ Favorite Starting Words

Lately, a particular word game known as Wordle has been all the rage online. If you haven’t heard the good word about Wordle, it’s a game created by and named after puzzle fan Josh Wardle that challenges you to name a particular five-letter word with only six guesses. With each guess, any letter that isn’t in the mystery word is shaded gray, a letter that is in the word (but was guessed in the wrong spot) is shaded yellow, and a correct letter in the right spot is shaded green. Land five greens, and you win!

Find the best words with Word Finder

If you’re STUCK in Wordle, and need a helping NUDGE, you can always rely on Word Finder! This tool—perfect for games like Scrabble™ and Wordle—should be in any word lover’s pocket, when the right word is just out of reach. Turn those yellow and black boxes into a row of green with just one quick search for that elusive 5-letter word.

This simple game has taken the internet by storm, largely due to how addictive it is to play and how easy it is to share your attempts on social media. Wordle can only be played once a day, and it keeps track of your winning streak and scores. Wardle has chalked up the game’s popularity to this once-a-day rule and the ease of sharing game results with friends.

It seems our users can’t get enough of Wordle either as Wordle answers have been among some of our top lookups recently! Some popularly searched Wordle words include knoll, youth, great, and gnome. With that in mind, we wanted to take a moment to share some popular Wordle strategies and a bunch of words that we and our users like to use as go-to moves in pursuit of Wordle success.

Why five letters?

In interviews, Josh Wardle hasn’t said specifically why he chose five letters. However, he and his partner narrowed it down from the “around 12,000” five-letter English words to 2,500 to use as the master list. It’s possible that the five-letter word goal (and Wordle itself) was inspired by the 1980s game show Lingo, which had very similar rules to Wordle.

Brush up on these spelling rules before the next round.

Most common letters in English

The exact numbers vary according to who measures and how, but the 15 most common English letters in order tend to be:

E

T

A

O

I

N

S

R

H

L

D

C

M

F

U

Unsurprisingly, Z, Q, J, and X consistently round out the bottom. As for the letters that begin the most English words, the top five are T, O, A, W, and B. For the end letter, the most common are E, S, T, D, and N.

Most common letters in Wordle

Our Wordle experts (we can call ourselves that, right?) here at Dictionary.com have put together a unique list of the most common letters appearing in Wordle so far (based on past answers).

Most common pairs

Which two letters go well together? According to letterfrequency.org, the 10 most common letter pairs are:

TH

HE

AN

IN

ER

ON

RE

ED

ND

HA