CORRECTIONS & EXPLANATIONS - August 2, 2009

Here are the corrections for last week’s entries.

Monday

PURPOSELY/PURPOSEFULLY

“Purposely” (adv.) means to do something not by accident or with planning.

“Purposefully” (adv.) means acting or doing with a specific purpose in mind.


Tuesday

FAINT/FEINT

“Faint” (adj.) means very soft, muffled, muted, weak or lacking in courage.

“Feint” (n.) refers to a daring move, a trick or a distracting manoeuver, particularly on the battlefield.


Wednesday

HERE WE GO AGAIN

Identify and correct the errors in the following pieces.
(The pun is free. Identify it and you get a bonus star for your forehead.)

The Bonus Star is awarded to anyone who connected the title of today's posting, "Here We Go Again", with the example below about the overactive bladder. If that has to be further explained, you have to reread every blog entry that I have posted since I started.

“Council voted Monday to reconsider the issue. Why? Because the people spoke.”

“Because the people spoke,” is not a complete thought. “Because” is a subordinate conjunction.

“Council voted Monday to reconsider the issue. Why? They will reconsider because the people spoke.”


“ 1 in 6 adults have overactive bladder.”

“1" is singular and is the subject of the sentence. It needs a singular verb.
“In 6" is an adjective clause modifying “1".
Both numbers should be written out.
“Overactive bladder” is a moronic advertising cliché which should be preceded by the indefinite article “an”.

“ One in six adults has an overactive bladder.”


“Chicagoans Maggie and John Anderson have dedicated themselves to living off of only black-owned businesses in an effort called The Empowerment Experiment.”

“Off of” is incorrect for two reasons: two prepositions such as “off” and “of” cannot be used together; notwithstanding that, the meaning of the sentence precludes the use of “off of” and another phrase should be used.

“Chicagoans Maggie and John Anderson have dedicated themselves to living and buying from only black-owned businesses in an effort called The Empowerment Experiment.”


Thursday

FORTUITOUS/FORTUNATE

“Fortuitous” (adj.) refers to events that have no apparent cause or by chance. They are random but usually positive.

“Fortunate” (adj.) means of unexpectedly good fortune, lucky or favourable.


Friday

REPEL/REPULSE

“Repel” (v.) means to force back, fight off or reject.
“Repellence” is the noun form of the word.

“Repulse” (v.) also means to fight off , drive back or rebuff.
“Repulsion” is the noun form of the word.

The difference is that if you are disgusted with someone, you are repelled, not repulsed, by that person.


GENEROSITY

Identify the author of the following concept.

“Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need.”

Kahlil Gibran, Lebanese artist and poet, wrote these words.


LAST WEEK’S WORDS

“Magnanimous” (adj.) means great-hearted, ennobling, generous, understanding and tolerant.

“Munificence” (n.) refers to largesse, openhandedness, philanthropy or liberality of giving.

“Vicarious” (adj.) means alternate or experienced secondhand.

“Mastication” (n.) refers to biting or chewing of food in the mouth.

“Nebulous” (adj.) means lacking distinctness or definiteness of content.