We know that this is a blog about language and grammar, not politics, but we can stand it no longer. This nonsense about how difficult it will be for Senator Biden not to appear condescending to Governor Palin in this week’s vice presidential debate has to stop.
Nearly every single “news” programs on cable television (news is in [...]
Entries from September 2008
September 30, 2008
Being Condescending Toward Palin
September 30, 2008
Up to More than the Limit
Many a late-night infomercial and women’s magazine hawk products that promise we can lose up to 50 pounds or more, save up to 100 dollars or more, and cut housework by up to 2 hours or more. I don’t buy it.
When you say up to, you’re putting a limit on it, saying that that’s as [...]
September 29, 2008
One of Your Problems Is…
While we, especially Sherry, focus on common grammar errors, my book (Literally, the Best Language Book Ever) discusses words or phrases that should be avoided for other reasons. That brings me to any sentence that begins with the phrase One of your problems is…. Don’t ever say that unless you’re a psychiatrist, and a patient asks [...]
September 24, 2008
See the Difference?
I seen (or he seen, she seen, you seen, they seen, or we seen) is substandard grammar. Do not use seen as the past tense of the verb to see. The past tense is saw, as in the old movie The Last Time I Saw Paris or the old song I Saw the Light. (The [...]
September 22, 2008
Pardon the Interruption
A recent Internet headline read Bear Interupts Live TV Broadcast. I had planned to read the article, but I got interrupted—and sidetracked—by that headline. If it had been possible, I would have interrupted the site editor before he or she posted the headline in order to correct the mistake, but of course, that wasn’t possible. [...]
September 20, 2008
Sporting Errors
If you think that the monthly review of topics that we’ve covered is a thing of the past, then you’ve got another thing coming. In fact, that’s what I’m presently writing.
While politics separates us at times, sports often unites us together as we gather in our media rooms or man caves (rooms we seem to [...]
September 18, 2008
It’s Friday!
I might be incorrect since I don’t know him, but sports talkshow host Jim Rome strikes me as a person who isn’t obsessed with grammar rules. He’s articulate and communicates well; otherwise, he’d never have been successful in his field, but I doubt that grammar and language are of great concern to him. Even he, [...]
September 17, 2008
No One Ever Graduates College
It’s true. You can’t graduate a college—-or a high school—–or any other institution of learning. It isn’t possible.
The preferred usage of the verb graduate is the following: The local high school graduated 300 students this year or He was just graduated from college. The school, itself, is doing the graduating to the students, or the [...]
September 15, 2008
Actual Fact
A fact is something that exists; it’s reality or the truth. It’s a fact that the collapse of banks is an indication of a very poor economy.
Actual is an adjective that is used to describe something as existing or being factual, such as The bank actually went bankrupt.
You may notice the repetition in the definitions, [...]
