Here are the corrections and explanations for last week's entries.
Monday
TAUNT/TAUT/TOUT
“Taunt”, a verb, mens to carp persistently, to harass, to bait, to ride or to tease.
“They taunted the boy until so much that he completely withdrew from society.”
“Taunt”, as a noun, refers to an aggravation or a mockery.
“The brute’s taunt of the little boy was cruel and demeaning.”
“Taut”, which is always an adjective, means tight or distended or pulled tight.
“She had extremely taut stomach muscles.”
“Tout”, as a verb, means to show off, to boast or to brag.
“The pushy political aide touted the seeming virtues of his boss and income provider.”
“Tout” as a noun refers to one who a huckster or a seller of shoddy goods.
“The circus tout conned many a child into wasting his loose change.”
Tuesday
COMPLEMENT/COMPLIMENT
“Complement”, as a verb, means to complete, to fill up or to make full.
“The shoes beautifully complement your stunning wardrobe.”
Complement”, as a noun, refers to a complete number or quantity, a supplement to make something complete or full.”
“The addition of one more egg in the carton made a full complement of a dozen eggs.”
“Compliment”, as a noun, refers to praise, adulation or adoration.
“The shy hockey player took the compliment of his fan with typical humility.”
“Compliment”, as a verb, means to express respect for, to praise or to esteem.
“I compliment you on your winning the race under such severe circumstances.”
Wednesday
The following pieces are either confusing, inconsistent, incomplete, poorly punctuated or structurally incorrect. Correct what needs attention.
“Spencer and Brittany must read daily, practise their musical instruments and arrive at school prepared. Balance, without sacrificing responsibility.”
The second group of words is not a complete thought; a verb is needed or the punctuation needs to be changed.
“Spencer and Brittany must read daily, practise their musical instruments and arrive at school prepared: balance, without sacrificing responsibility.”
“Assignments are effective only when they're engaging and meaningful, for example, deciding which strategy to use to solve a math problem, instead of rote repetition.”
The punctuation is incorrect; a colon should be used after “meaningful” instead of a comma.
“Assignments are effective only when they're engaging and meaningful: for example, deciding which strategy to use to solve a math problem, instead of rote repetition.”
“The only conclusive way to improve academic success, studies show, is simple: Reading with or to kids every day.”
“Reading” should not be capitalized.
“The only conclusive way to improve academic success, studies show, is simple: reading with or to kids every day.”
“A subject of a previous court order forcing him to provide a blood sample for the police DNA databank, Blair's blood on the broken glass linked him to the crime.”
There is no principal clause in this unit, so it is an incomplete thought.
A comma cannot be used in place of a full stop, which requires a period. A semi-colon can be used when the topics are related.
“Blair was a subject of a previous court order forcing him to provide a blood sample for the police DNA databank; Blair's blood on the broken glass linked him to the crime.”
Thursday
Identify and correct the errors in the following pieces.
There are four; I bet you miss one.
Hint: I just gave you a hint.
“So as of this week, the Ontario Labour Relations Board has two bitter City of Windsor disputes in front of it: The bad-faith bargaining charges filed by CUPE during its summer strike, and the PETU dispute.”
There should be no capitalizing after the colon.
The comma is not needed after “strike”.
“So as of this week, the Ontario Labour Relations Board has two bitter City of Windsor disputes in front of it: the bad-faith bargaining charges filed by CUPE during its summer strike and the PETU dispute.”
“Yes - the same benefits-for-life package that was at the heart of the CUPE strike.”
This is an incomplete thought; take out “that”.
“Yes - the same benefits-for-life package was at the heart of the CUPE strike.”
“Maybe not the same thing, but close enough to keep everybody happy.”
This, too, is an incomplete thought.
“Maybe it was not the same thing, but it was close enough to keep everybody happy.”
Friday
HISTORICAL/HISTORIC/HISTORICALLY
“Historical” means taking place in history, from the past or having to do with history.
“There is doubt that the historical Knights of the Round Table ever existed.”
“Historic” means having significance in history and usually refers to an event or to a person.
“Martin Luther King made historic contributions to the American civil rights movement.
“Historically” is the adverb form of both words.
“Historically, the home teams wear their dark jerseys and the visiting teams wear their white or light jerseys.”
TAKE THIS TO HEART
“Ignorance never settles a question.”
This was penned by Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881).
LAST WEEK’S WORDS
“Gregarious” (adj.) Means social, avoiding of solitude, communal or needing social contact.
“Chronological” (adj.) means arranged in order of time or in a time sequence.
Other forms are “chronologist”, “chronometer” and “chronoscope”. The simplest form is “watch” or “clock”.
“Tantamount” (adj.) means being essentially equal, as good as or equivalent to.
“Conjecture” (n.) refers to a hypothesis, an opinion based on incomplete evidence, speculation or supposition.
“Colloquy” (n.) refers to a conversation, a dialogue or a group discussion.
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