CORRECTIONS & EXPLANATIONS - March 2, 2008

Here are the corrections for last week’s postings.


Monday

WHO'S/WHOSE

“Whose” is the possessive form of “who”, as in, “Whose shoes are these in the hall?”

“Who’s” is a contraction which means “who is”, as in, “Who’s going to pick up those shoes?”


YOUR/YOU'RE

“Your” is the possessive form of “you”, as in, “That is your shirt draped on the floor”.

“You’re” means “you are”, as in, “You are going to put that shirt away where it belongs”.


Tuesday

SENSUOUS/SENSUAL

“Sensuous” means appealing to the senses, such as taste or touch.

“Sensual” means excessively or physically affecting or derived from the senses.


Wednesday

TORTUROUS/TORTUOUS

“Torturous” means causing pain or painful in a cruel way.

“Tortuous” means winding, crooked, intricate or tricky to handle.


PLURALS

What is the plural form of "cupful" and of "spoonful"?

The plural of “cupful” is “cupfuls”.
The plural of “spoonful” is “spoonfuls”.

I bet they fooled you. I disagree with my sources; I think the plurals should be "cupsful" and "spoonsful". If you can definitively prove one or the other, please let me know and I will publish an amendment.


Thursday


How many errors can you find in the entries below?

"RCMP in Kamloops, B.C., are calling their decision to use a Taser on a man brandishing a butcher knife earlier this week."
This group of words is an incomplete thought; there is no main verb.
“RCMP” is a singular group and needs a singular verb.
"The RCMP in Kamloops, B.C., is calling their decision justified in using a Taser on a man brandishing a butcher knife earlier this week."

"'We arranged a land swap with St. Clair college and had made agreements in terms of when they could take over the old building which we were not able to fulfil. We had arrangements for furniture that had to be put in storage. There are a number of issues that we're going to have to deal with.'"
“Number” is singular and needs a singular verb.
"Fulfil", actually, is acceptable.
'We arranged a land swap with St. Clair college and had made agreements in terms of when they could take over the old building which we were not able to fulfil. We had arrangements for furniture that had to be put in storage. There is a number of issues that we're going to have to deal with.'"


Friday

CALLOUS/CALLUSED

“Callous” means cold-hearted or emotionally hardened.

“Callused” refers to the tough build-up on a person’s hands or feet.


FUN QUOTE

"Youth is a wonderful thing. What a crime to waste it on children."
George Bernard Shaw said this.


THIS WEEK’S WORDS

“Vestigial" (adj.) means rudimentary, undeveloped, budding or emerging.

“Obstreperous" (adj.) means stubbornly defiant or aggressively noisy.

“Presage" (v.) means to forebode, to predict or to signal bad news.

“Reprove" (v.) meand to admonish or take one to task for bad behaviour.

“Ebullient" (adj.) means exuberant, high spirited or joyous.


"COMMENT" COMMENT

Nicholas, "him" and "her" are not possessive pronouns. "Him" and "her" are the objective cases of the pronouns "he" and "she".