CORRECTIONS & EXPLANATIONS - January 20, 2008

Here are the corrections and explanations for last week's postings.

Monday

What is the error in the following?

"Police have said that none of the children were stabbed."
“None” is a singular noun and must have a singular verb.
"Police have said that none of the children was stabbed."

Tuesday

Does this make sense?

"An Oakville man is behind bars after he stole a car from the Casino Windsor valet stand as the owners were about to claim it and crashed it into a nearby pharmacy."
The writer makes it appear as if the owners crashed the car whereas it was the thief. The sentence has to be reworded.
"As the owners were about to claim their car at the Casino Windsor valet stand, an Oakville man stole the car and crashed it into a nearby pharmacy. The man was arrested and is behind bars."

Wednesday

DRASTIC/DRAMATIC

“Drastic” means severe or frightening and very often dangerous.

“Dramatic” means striking, bold or vivid and does not have the negative connotation of “drastic”.

Thursday

GAFF/GAFFE

“Gaff” (n.) is a hook or spur, used mainly in fishing. Sometimes it is used on bad actors.

“Gaffe” (n.) is a French word meaning a mistake or error.

Friday

What is the error in the entry below?

"A small sample of Windsor business owners and executives are slightly less pessimistic about the city's economic future than a year ago, according to a survey conducted by a research team at the University of Windsor."
“Sample” is a collective single noun and requires a single verb.
"A small sample of Windsor business owners and executives is slightly less pessimistic about the city's economic future than a year ago, according to a survey conducted by a research team at the University of Windsor."


AN ESOTERIC SERIES - Part 1

TENSE

The change in the form of a verb to show a change in time is called "tense".
There can be action in the PRESENT, the PAST and the FUTURE.

CONJUGATION

"Conjugation" means to give the tense forms of a verb with the first, second and third person pronouns.

AN ESOTERIC SERIES - Part 2

“TO HAVE”

Present Tense
I have, you have he has
We have, you have, they have

Past Tense
I had, you had, he had
We had you had they had

Future Tense

I shall have, you will have, he will have
We shall have, you will have, they will have

AN ESOTERIC SERIES - Part 3

"TO HAVE" - PERFECT TENSE - must use “have” as the auxiliary verb

Present
I have had, you have had, he has had
We have had, you have had, they have had

Past

I had had, you had had, he had had
We had had, you had had, they had had

Future
I shall have had, you will have had, he will have had
We shall have had, you will have had, they shall have had

AN ESOTERIC SERIES - Part 4

“TO HAVE” - PROGRESSIVE TENSE - indicates “continuing” action at the time

Present
I am having, you are having, he is having
We are having, you are having, they are having

Past
I was having, you were having, he was having
We are having, you are having, they are having

Future
I shall be having, you will be having, he will be having
We shall be having, you will be having, they will be having

AN ESOTERIC SERIES - Part 5

“TO HAVE” - PERFECT PROGRESSIVE TENSE - must use “have” as the auxiliary verb

Present
I have been having, you have been having, he has been having
We have been having, you have been having, they have been having

Past
I had been having, you had been having, he had been having
We had been having, you had been having, they had been having

Future
I shall have been having, you will have been having, he will have been having
We shall have been having, you will have been having, they will have been having


THIS WEEK’S WORDS

Didactic” (adj.) means excessively instructive, informative or inclined to teach too much.

“Enervation” (n.) means enfeeblement, lack of vitality or exhaustion.

“Insipid” (adj.) means bland, tasteless or flat.

“Avatar” (n.) means embodiment, incarnation or personification as in giving bodily form to a spiritual being. It comes from Hindu mythology and is often associated with evil.

"Pernicious” (adj.) means exceedingly harmful, corrupting or degrading.