Monday, November 5, 2007

LATE MONDAY ENTRY

THANKS

I thank Monica Wolfson for the article she wrote about this blog in today's Windsor Star. I appreciate the tone because it captures the essence of the blog mandate.

I also appreciate the publicity and hope it generates some interest in all of us bettering our skills in the use of the English language.


HOW SHARP ARE YOU?

Are there any errors in the following sentences? There may, or may not, be errors and you are expected to defend whichever side you choose.

"The gang of boys are abusing the rest of the children that are in the playground."

"Tom, Harold and myself are going to go skating this afternoon."

"Mary was recently named as the new Director of Personal."

"The premiere of the film occurred last night."


TODAY'S WORD

The word for today is "supercilious".

Define "supercilious" and use it in a sentence.


FYI

If you sent me a comment and it is not offensive, I publish it. Your comment is then inserted in the "Comment" section of the day to which it refers.

If you ask for an opinion, I will try to answer you the next day. Certainly, I will respond by the end of the week.

Thanks for your patronage and patience.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Okay, I think I have it.

"The gang of boys is abusing the rest of the children that are in the playground."

The subject of this sentence is "gang" and the verb must be singular to correspond. In the second half of the sentence the verb is "are" because it refers back to children which is plural.

"Tom, Harold and myself are going to go skating this afternoon." This sentence is correct.

"Mary was recently named as the new Director of Personnel." "Personnel" is a noun referring to a group of people in a work place, while "personal" is an abjective that describes something in reference to a particular person.

"The premiere of the film occurred last night." I think this sentence is correct.

"Supercilious" means haughty.

Anonymous said...

The gang of boys is abusing the rest of the children that are in the playground. ("gang" is singular so verb must be singular)

Tom, Harold and I are going skating this afternoon, ("I" is the subject of the sentence)

Mary was recently named the new Director of Personnel ("as" is inappropriate and "personal" is the incorrect word and also an adjective not a noun)

The premiere of the film occurred last night. (this is correct)

supercilious- haughty, condescending

She taunted the loser with a supercilious smile.

Anonymous said...

The gang of boys is abusing the rest of the children that are in the playground. ("gang" is singular so verb must be singular)

Tom, Harold and I are going skating this afternoon, ("I" is the subject of the sentence)

Mary was recently named the new Director of Personnel ("as" is inappropriate and "personal" is the incorrect word and also an adjective not a noun)

The premiere of the film occurred last night. (this is correct)

supercilious- haughty, condescending

She taunted the loser with a supercilious smile.

Anonymous said...

"The gang of boys IS abusing..."
Gang is the noun and is singular.

"Tom, Harold and I are going..."
Myself doesn't go places. I do.

"Mary...of Personnel"

The last sentence, I believe, is correct.

Anonymous said...

Ooops. Made a mistake in spelling in my comment yesterday. (See the first anonymous entry.) The word "personal" is an "adjective" not an "abjective". Surprised you didn't catch that one, Michael.

But looking at the second sentence again, it is incorrect and should be "I" not "myself". I wonder though, can we use "myself" in this way, if it is being used for emphasis?

Anonymous said...

"The gang of boys are abusing the rest of the children that are in the playground."

gang is singular so it should be is and for tighter writing I'd remove the words that are. People overuse that. I was taught whenever you get the urge to use THAT resist.


"Tom, Harold and myself are going to go skating this afternoon."

Tom, Harold and I are going....

"Mary was recently named as the new Director of Personal."

Mary was recently named director of personel.

"The premiere of the film occurred last night."

The film premiere was last night.

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