Here are the corrections and explanations for last week's entries. (Be patient; they are extensive.)
Monday
Find and fix the errors in the following sentences.
“The entire family visited Sea World, the Animal Kingdom, Universal Studios, road on the teacups and merry-go-round, and watched a fireworks show.”
The past tens of “ride” is “rode”, not “road”.
The comma after “merry-go-round is superfluous.
“The entire family visited Sea World, the Animal Kingdom, Universal Studios, rode on the teacups and merry-go-round and watched a fireworks show.”
“But these are the first layoffs in quite awhile and there's a possibility some will be called back after the new year.”
“Awhile” is an adverb meaning “for a short time”. “a while” is the object of the preposition “in”, so it is a “noun”. The two terms are not interchangeable.
“But these are the first layoffs in quite a while and there's a possibility some will be called back after the new year.”
Tuesday
What is unacceptable with each of the following entries? Fix the problems.
“...pushing further to the south…”
“Further” means in addition to. “Farther” refers to distance.
“...pushing farther to the south…”
“Oh, yeah!”
A professional newscaster could, at the very least, elevate her vocabulary to “Oh, yes!”
“Oh, yes!”
“Ignatieff has learned the language of inclusiveness, he has survived the bumbling rituals of retail politics, but he kept coming back to his urgent need to 'explain to Canadians' what exactly is going on.”
The punctuation is incorrect. Semi-colons must be used, not commas.
The verb tense must be kept consistent throughout.
The last subordinate conjunction, “but”, should probably be “and”.
“Ignatieff has learned the language of inclusiveness; he has survived the bumbling rituals of retail politics; and he has kept coming back to his urgent need to 'explain to Canadians' what exactly is going on.”
“But what if the country needs straight talk and specific ideas instead of patient instruction: Would Ignatieff bail out the auto industry, for instance?”
The first word after a colon is not capitalized unless it is a proper noun.
“But what if the country needs straight talk and specific ideas instead of patient instruction: would Ignatieff bail out the auto industry, for instance?”
Wednesday
Identify and correct all the errors below.
“FEWER WORKERS: With Chrysler Financial moving most of its employees to Toronto there will even be less people in Chrysler's Windsor headquarters.”
When referring to numbers, “fewer” must be used.
When referring to amounts, “less” is used.
“Fewer workers” is correct. “Less people” is incorrect.
The rule must be applied consistently.
There should be a comma after “Toronto”.
“FEWER WORKERS: With Chrysler Financial moving most of its employees to Toronto, there will even be fewer people in Chrysler's Windsor headquarters.”
Thursday
Identify and correct the errors in the following piece.
“But when it comes to the passenger prohibition, Baraoniciu sees another case of society's bias against teen drivers. ‘Us as young people, we are already getting screwed over by the insurance companies with large monthly payments and such.’”
“Bias” is used when the meaning is “for”. Prejudice” is used when the meaning is “against”.
“Us” is objective. The subjective form is needed.
There should be a comma after “We” and the second “we” should be eliminated.
“And such” is unnecessary fill and should be eliminated.
“But when it comes to the passenger prohibition, Baraoniciu sees another case of society's prejudice against teen drivers. ‘We, as young people, are already getting screwed over by the insurance companies with large monthly payments.’”
Friday
Fix the error in the sentence below.
“A Ontario pet owner has been charged with killing an animal after a puppy fell from a 10th-story balcony Wednesday night.”
“An”, not “a”, is always used before a word beginning with a vowel.
“An Ontario pet owner has been charged with killing an animal after a puppy fell from a 10th-story balcony Wednesday night.”
DOMINATE/DOMINANT
“Dominate”, which means to control, to rule or to govern, is a verb.
“Dominant”, which means leading, principal or foremost is an adjective.
A GOOD PHILOSOPHY
“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.”
Abraham Lincoln coined this phrase.
LAST WEEK’S WORDS
“Averse” (adj.) means unwilling, disinclined or hesitant.
“Sclerotic” (adj.) refers to the fibrous membrane covering the eyeball and the connotation is usually to the hardening of one’s ideas or opinions.
“Malapropism” (n.) is the habit of ridiculously misusing words. The word is for Mrs. Malaprop, the “old weather-beaten she-dragon” of Sheridan’s play, The Rivals.
“Sinecure” (n.) means an office requiring little or no work, especially one yielding profitable returns. In the Church, it is an ecclesiastical benefice without cure of souls.
“Frivolous” (adj.) means merry, dizzy, giddy or flippant.
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