CORRECTIONS & EXPLANATIONS - March 22, 2008

Here are the corrections for the past week's postings.

FYI: if you did not catch my spelling error in one of last week's entries, you are out of luck; it has been fixed. Too bad! so sad!


Monday

THE "SPOKEN" WORD

"Last year Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was in attendance. No invitation this time around."

The last unit has no verb, so is an incomplete thought.

"Last year Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was in attendance. No invitation was issued this time around."


Tuesday

Identify the errors in the following:

"Laprise, 54, was doing it behind his boss and longtime friend's back, court was told."

Do the boss and friend share a back?
“Long-time” is a hyphenated word.

"Laprise, 54, was doing it behind his boss and long-time friend's backs, court was told."


"White had already booked Tuesday off of work in anticipation of the hangover."

“Off of” consists of two prepositions that are never used together.

"White had already booked Tuesday off work in anticipation of the hangover."


Wednesday

Identify the errors in the following examples. Correct them.

"As I reflect back on my life I think only of the good times."

“Reflect back” is redundant.

"As I reflect on my life I think only of the good times."


"The other alternative is to think of the disasters but that would be real upsetting."

“Other alternative” is redundant.

"The alternative is to think of the disasters but that would be real upsetting."


Thursday

STYLE VS. STRUCTURE

"Because the most frightening thing about Woods is that he hasn't reached his apex yet."

This clause begins with the subordinate conjunction “because” and, therefore is an incomplete thought. Remove the conjunction.

"The most frightening thing about Woods is that he hasn't reached his apex yet."


"Athletes like him and stories like this come around once in a lifetime. If that. Enjoy. Magical Sundays can't last forever. Not even in Tiger's world."

This example has a series of incomplete thoughts.

"Athletes like him and stories like this come around once in a lifetime, if that. Enjoy. Magical Sundays can't last forever, not even in Tiger's world."



THIS WEEK’S WORDS

“Clamourous" (adj.) means offensively noisy, boisterous or loud.

“Unctuous" (adj.) means unpleasantly ingratiating, oily, smarmy or fawning.

“Cataclysmic" (adj.) means cruel, brutal or severely damaging.

“Felicitation" (n.) means congratulations or an expression of good wishes.