Accents in written French aren't just weird squiggles that can be ignored - they give you vital clues on the word's pronunciation and sometimes even change its meaning. It can seem unfair, when in a ...

In the 1940 film “The Bank Dick,” W.C. Fields’ character, Egbert Sousé, explains that his name is pronounced “soo-ZAY, accent grave over the ‘e.’” Otherwise, of course, it would have to rhyme with ...

Colin Webb writes with a grave problem: The piece I’m writing at the moment needs me to use a few French expressions. Some of the French words have various different accents: acute, grave, circumflex, ...