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Category Archives: grammar
Quarter of a Century of Sports Cliches
One of my favorite chapters in the book I wrote (Is having a favorite chapter in my own book against author etiquette?) is the one on sports cliches since we’ve been talking about sports (fans, media, and athletes) for much … Continue reading
Posted in grammar, language, sports, writing
Tagged Gene Collier, language, manage the game, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Sports cliches
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Stationary versus Stationery
There are certain lessons—and when I say lessons, of course, I mean grammar lessons—that we always remember having been taught, and this is one of them for me. I still recall my elementary-school teacher explaining the difference between stationary, which … Continue reading
Posted in grammar, language, writing
Tagged English, grammar error, language, stationary, stationery, writing
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Pangs or Pains?
This is as close to fast-food week as we’re ever going to get here at languageandgrammar.com. Not only did I recently talk about the Chick-Fil-A Bowl, but now I’m talking about a topic that’s been featured in a recent McDonald’s … Continue reading
Posted in grammar, language, writing
Tagged English, grammar error, hunger pains, hunger pangs, language
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12 Million Reasons
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: While not all of us care about using proper grammar at all times, we all have at least one language pet peeve. As you’ll notice from the Pet Peeves page on … Continue reading
Posted in grammar, language, writing
Tagged 12 million reasons, English, Kevin Millwood, language pet peeves, major league baseball, mlbtraderumors, writing
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Coldest I’ve Ever Been
It is with great shame that I must report that I have to write about one of my own language failings. When it was bitterly cold the other morning, I reported that I’ve never been that cold before. While I … Continue reading
Posted in grammar, language, writing
Tagged English, grammar, I've never been that cold before, imprecise language
7 Comments
Alls Is a Grammar Error
I heard someone on television (one of my favorite resources for grammar errors) use the grammar error alls, as in Alls I know is…. It’s not an error that I hear often, but it has been around for a very … Continue reading
You Can Quote Me on That
While British English allows for period placement outside quotation marks, in American English, the period goes inside the quotation marks. He referred to the people being wrestled to the ground and the shoes flying in mid-air as a “disagreement.” Paul … Continue reading
Posted in grammar, language, writing
Tagged English, grammar error, language, quotation marks, writing
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It’s Supposedly, Not Supposably
What does supposably mean? Is it supposed to mean in a supposed way? How about able to be supposed? No, I don’t suppose; those don’t make sense. In reality, supposably is a non-word that is mistakenly used for the correct … Continue reading
Posted in grammar, language, writing
Tagged English, grammar error, language, supposably, supposedly, writing
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User Friendly Is Just Easy to Use
While flipping around the dial (that’s what we used to say back in the good old days), I heard the host of a travel show tell a traveler that Italy is the most user-friendly country. A country is user friendly? … Continue reading
Posted in grammar, language, writing
Tagged easy to use, English, grammar, language, user friendly, writing
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