The Language Use and Grammar Curmudgeon

11:31:50 AM EDT

Amazing Lungless Frog Discovered
Animal Can Breath Through Its Skin!

Frogs, as well as other living creatures, do not "breath". They breathe!

 

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4:41:13 PM EDT

The one and only time I watched that "fifth grader" show, I heard a question about a fort in North Carolina. The fort is Sumter, but the fifth grader spelled it "Sumpter". And what's worse, the host pronounced it "Sumpter", too!

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8:34:17 AM EDT
Offered:
"Have a dvd player i can get it working if someone can fixed may have or wants for parts."


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11:09:57 AM EDT

This was on a disciplinary summary:

“In accordance with this section of the law, your child has been temporarily suspended for minor physical altercation (verbal).”

 

So...was it a physical altercation or a verbal one????

 

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11:06:04 AM EDT

Funky did it again. I'd written earlier about my disappointment with my favorite cartoons. Baby Blues referred to a turtle as an amphibian. And, Pearls Before Swine (in my opinion, the most clever - well, ok, not MOST, but sharing the spotlight with Rhymes with Orange) had characters saying, "Alright", instead of the correct "All right".

Well, in Funky Winkerbean, there is a character named Les. If you need to make a word possessive, and that word ends in "s", it's correct to put apostrophe s. The writer had a character say something like "It's his and Les' thing." This is incorrect. It should be "It's his and Les's thing." I know it might look funny, but it's correct.

My boss's outfits are beautiful.

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10:59:08 AM EDT

I read John Grisham's The Innocent Man in just a few days. I loved it. However, throughout the book, I had the feeling that I was watching Mr. Grisham defend a client, and not tell a story. I would be interested in reading about the same case written by John Glatt, my favorite true crime writer.

I was also struck by the many times Mr. Grisham used the word "anxious" when he meant "eager".

I read other reviews of the book. This is from a site that allows readers to review books and refer to themselves as "Resident Scholar". Here is a tidbit by one of the resident scholars, she said sarcastically:

"Because he was known as a strange character around town that partyied alot and wandered the streets late at night as well as living close to the victim he was the easiest suspect for the local polic to focus their efforts on.”

Dana Riedberger, Resident Scholar

 

Dana, you ain't no scholar

 

Michael Harris, a writer for something I found online called The Times, wrote a review about the book in October 2006. In his review, he wrote the title of the book in quotes instead of italics.

 

Here is another review. Again, the title is in quotation marks instead of italics. And, the title is incorrect. It’s The Innocent Man, not “An Innocent Man”. Notice the lack of comma before “which was filled with inaccuracies”. Either put in a comma, or change “which” to “that”!

 

Book Review: John Grisham’s “An Innocent Man”

Posted on December 31, 2006 by Bryan Scrafford

I have always been a big fan of John Grisham’s writing and legal thrillers in general, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I received Grisham’s newest book, “An Innocent Man,” for Christmas. “An Innocent Man” is about two men who were convicted of a murder that they didn’t commit. Based upon an extremely coerced confession which was filled with inaccuracies and was immediately reneged...

 

 

 

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10:17:19 AM EDT

I am a huge fan of the show "All My Children", but their grammar, oy! First, I remember the character Ryan playfully accusing someone of narcissism. He mentioned that it comes from the Greek myth about Narcissist. (The mythological character was actually Narcissus. No "t" at the end of the name.) 

Anyway, I was reading a summary for an episode I missed, and here is what I saw:

"Kendall later sneaks out of her room to meet up with Ryan in a hotel bar they once spent time at."

Meet up with??? Spent time at???

Here is my rewrite:

Kendall later sneaks out of her room to meet Ryan in a hotel bar where they once spent time.

It still might be a bit wordy, but definitely better than "meet up with" and "spent time at"!

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10:13:23 AM EDT

This was from a cover letter I found in our office mail:

I am writing to apply for a position

 Get to the point!

Write "I am applying for...".   You don't have to say "I am writing...". We already KNOW you are writing!

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10:08:45 AM EDT

Readers, I can't begin to correct this. I can't even figure out what this fellow's problem is. I can't figure out what the lawyer did that was wrong. This is BAD GRAMMAR. BAD SPELLING.

My spouse supposedly had me served divorce papers to only find out I was only served a tempory restaining orders. I had picked the paper up in lawyer's office. I had called him up on where was the divorce petition, and he told me
that TRO need to be served and divorce petition could be either mailed or brought to me via server, but considered them served because they will be coming. I'd like to find out if he is wrong, and if practiced law incorrectly, where can I report him? If this was just a technicality not getting paper's served, are there any blogs that I can post his
unprofessionalism and incompetence?

Well, I'll try...

My spouse apparently wanted me to be served with divorce papers. However, what I received was a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO).  The divorce petition will be forthcoming in the mail. I want to report the lawyer for incompetence.

hahahahah. HUH????

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6:28:27 AM EST
Vegetables are healthful. People are healthy.

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