Paul Yeager's weather book
Paul Yeager's language book
Monthly Archives: February 2008
The Plurals Are Rain and Snow
Here’s a look at your snows on your Saturday. We’re looking at wind-driven snows. I hear these kinds of things almost daily from both local and national weather personalities. The plural of rain is rain, and the plural of snow … Continue reading
Posted in grammar, weather
Tagged grammar, plural of rain and snow, rains as plural, snows as plural, weather channel, weather grammar, writing
1 Comment
The Reason is Already the Why
I’ve already written about the redundancy of the reason is because, but I’ve noticed that many people are also curious about whether the reason why is correct grammar. Both the reason is because and the reason why have something very … Continue reading
Posted in grammar
Tagged grammar, grammar error, incorrect grammar, reason why, reason why is because, writing
3 Comments
It Was Like A Nightmare or Something
When I talk about the need to communicate well, I’m not just talking about the need to use proper grammar rules at all times. It’s more about the need to express thoughts in a way that gives the listener an … Continue reading
Misremembered
Everyone had a good laugh at Roger Clemens when he recently said (at the congressional hearing about steroid use) that Andy Pettitte had misremembered since we all know that misremembered is obviously not a word. While I agree with those … Continue reading
Posted in grammar, language, sports, writing
Tagged Andy Petitte, grammar, language, misremembered, prefix, Roger Clemens, sports
10 Comments
I’m Sorry If I Offended Anyone
I have one piece of advice to all would-be apologists out there: If you’re not sorry, then don’t apologize! I am tired of hearing the standard non-apology of I’m sorry if I offended anyone. Apologies are not conditional upon whether … Continue reading
Posted in language, politics, writing
Tagged apologies, Bill O'Reilly, language, Michelle Obama, politics
2 Comments
Who Versus That
We all know that it’s important to avoid major grammar errors if we want to present ourselves in the best possible light, but it’s often subtle grammar errors that ultimately make the difference. Even when those subtle errors go unnoticed, … Continue reading
Posted in grammar, language
Tagged grammar, grammar error, language, using who or that, who vs. that, writing
2 Comments
Self Words: This Redundancy is Self-Evident
The reflexive pronouns are myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, and themselves. (Notice that there is no themself, ourself, theirselves, or hisself in that list, so please don’t ever say those non-words again.) When you use one of these … Continue reading
Posted in grammar
Tagged grammar error, reflexive pronouns, self grammar, self-control yourself, writing
1 Comment
NPR Redundancy
Some of the most common grammar errors are those of redundancy. In fact, there are so many such errors that I devoted an entire chapter (Play It Again, Sam) to them in Literally, the Best Language Book Ever. Examples in the … Continue reading
Posted in grammar, language, writing
Tagged National Public Radio, NPR, NPR Radio, redundancy, writing
Comments Off on NPR Redundancy
It’s These, Not These Ones
These ones come from Paris. Those ones come from Australia. Used in this way, these and those are demonstrative pronouns that should never be followed by ones. These already refers to the objects (the ones, the things) that are near, and … Continue reading
Posted in grammar
Tagged grammar, grammar error, these, these ones, those, those ones, writing
Comments Off on It’s These, Not These Ones
Ideation and Ideating
I wasn’t paying much attention to the television, but when I heard a guest on an MSNBC broadcast say ideation, it grabbed my attention. The exact quote was There is a lot of ideation out there. I’m not sure of the … Continue reading
Everything Language and Grammar 