Paul Yeager's weather book
Paul Yeager's language book
Tag Archives: English
The “Ex” Factor: Misspellings and Pronunciations
Ex– words seem to be particularly prone to mispronunciations, and to a lesser extent misspellings, and if they’re not caught early, then they can be a challenge to correct—but who doesn’t like a good challenge? Expecially is an especially … Continue reading
Posted in grammar
Tagged English, escape, especially, espresso, excape, expecially, expresso, grammar error, writing
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Red States, Blue States, and Purple States
When (if) we finally get to the general election phase of our three-year presidential election cycle, there are going to be myriad overused words, phrases, and expressions that we’re going to hear. They will be as grating on my nerves … Continue reading
Posted in language
Tagged blue state, election phrases, English, purple states, red state, word repetition
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Everything is All Right—and Singular!
Many readers have expressed interest in learning how to use the indefinite pronouns everyone, everybody, and everything correctly, and I’m glad they did. We all (yes, all) fall prey to this English language error from time to time. There are … Continue reading
Posted in grammar
Tagged anyone, English, everybody, everyone, everyone their or everyone his, everything, grammar error, indefinite pronouns, somebody, writing
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The General Consensus Is…
The general consensus at languageandgrammar.com is that the expression general consensus is redundant. Consensus means that the majority holds the same opinion; in other words, it’s the general opinion of the group. Logically, then, not only is there no reason … Continue reading
Posted in grammar, language, writing
Tagged English, general consensus, grammar, language, writing
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Awhile/A while
The awhile/a while grammar error is, obviously, more of a written error than a spoken one. Awhile (one word) means for a period of time, as in Grandpa waited awhile before turning himself into a bat. It already includes the … Continue reading
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Tagged awhile vs a while, English, grammar error, writing
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A Very Unique Error
I recently heard a runway announcer (no, not the airport kind—the fashion kind) say that each model had her own very unique style. Well, unique already means one of a kind, and putting very in front of it doesn’t make … Continue reading
Could Of, Should Of, Would Of—I Mean, Have
Although this used to be more of a spoken error than a written one, it’s quickly gaining as a written error, so I thought that I’d do a short column on it before there’s no turning back. When saying Snoopy … Continue reading
Posted in grammar
Tagged could have, could of, English, grammar errors, should have, should of, would have, would of
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Flesh Out, New Friends
Don’t let the title confuse you–I’m not fleshing out new friends, whatever that might mean. This entry covers two issues. (By the way, how many of you read that sentence and thought that it was a post that covers two problems, not … Continue reading
Posted in grammar, language
Tagged business terms, English, flesh it out, flesh out, grammar, language, writing
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What Does the Word Dictionary Mean?
On several occasions in this relatively young blog, Sherry and I have stated that the mere presence of a word in a dictionary does not necessarily mean that the word is an acceptable word, and, understandably, some of you have … Continue reading
Posted in language
Tagged acceptable grammar, dived vs dove, dragged vs drug, English, language, writing
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Hit-and-Miss Misses the Grammar Mark
I’ve heard the grammar error hit-and-miss used instead of the correct hit-or-miss by almost every meteorologist on television and by many meteorologists who write weather blogs. Hit-or-miss is an adjective that describes something that either might or might not occur (usually … Continue reading
Posted in grammar, weather
Tagged English, grammar error, hit-and-miss vs hit-or-miss, meteorological terms, weather words, writing
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Everything Language and Grammar 