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Tag Archives: grammar error
Can’t Hardly or Can Hardly: I Can Hardly Stand It
In Shakespeare’s time, double negatives such as can’t hardly were common, but in current standard usage (and by current, I don’t mean that I just made it up this week!), double negatives are substandard grammar. Hardly means scarcely or barely, … Continue reading
Posted in grammar, language, writing
Tagged can hardly, can't hardly, English, grammar, grammar error, language, writing
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Bad or Badly: Instead of Feeling Badly, Just Feel Bad
Bad is an adjective that is used with linking verbs (verbs of being, such as be, become, seem, feel, taste, look, smell). Don’t feel bad about slamming my hand in the car door; it happens all the time. I feel … Continue reading
Bring, Brang, Brung, Brought
Bring is an irregluar verb, that is, a verb that has its own particular conjugations rather than following the same pattern followed by other verbs. That irregular pattern might not seem logical to us, or we might not like the … Continue reading
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Tagged brang, bring, brought, brung, English, grammar error, have or has brought
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Bring versus Take
Bring and take are easily confused because their meanings are so similar, but the difference is in the perspective. Bring is done toward you, the speaker, as in the song Bring Me Some Water. Anything transported to you is brought … Continue reading
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Tagged bring or take, English, grammar error, language, writing
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Dragged or Drug: Look What the Cat Dragged In
I was horrified to see that an online dictionary is now even mentioning the word drug as a non-standard past tense conjugation of the word drag instead of what it is, which is substandard. I haven’t checked to see whether … Continue reading
Posted in grammar
Tagged dictionaries, dragged vs drug, grammar, grammar error, past tense of drag, writing
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Dived or Dove: Let’s Dive Right In
Ok, here’s the deal. Dive is a regular verb, and a regular verb makes its past tense form by adding –ed to the end (or just –d if there’s already an –e at the end of the word). The past … Continue reading
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Tagged conjugation, dived or dove, English, grammar error, irregular verb, language, regular verb, writing
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Cancel One L
Remember that spelling rule you learned in elementary school about doubling the final consonant before adding -ed or -ing to a verb? Well, if you remember, then you know that there is a little more to the story. When making … Continue reading
Posted in language
Tagged canceled, canceling, cancelled, cancelling, English, grammar error, language, spelling errors, writing
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Telephonically? Can’t We Just Use the @!&* Telephone?
After having heard this from a certain former Alaska governor, I looked it up and did find the adverb telephonically in the dictionary. I asked myself why in the world someone would use the ridiculous “word” telephonically when she could … Continue reading
Posted in language
Tagged English, grammar error, language, Palin, telephonically, writing
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Orient or Orientate: Don’t Get Disorientated Over This One
Last week, a reader asked that I talk about the words orient and orientate and their, ummmm, evolution, so here we go. According to Webster’s dictionary, orient first appeared in 1727 and meant to cause to face and turn to … Continue reading
Meantime, the Controversy Rages
Fine, it’s not a major controversy, but I figured I would need a sensationalistic headline in order to get any but the most grammar- and language-obsessed among us to read about the proper use of meantime and meanwhile. It’s not … Continue reading
Posted in grammar, language, writing
Tagged descriptivists, grammar, grammar error, language, meatime versus meawhile, writing
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Everything Language and Grammar 