Sunday, March 14, 2010

CORRECTIONS & EXPLANATIONS - March 14, 2010

Here are the corrections and explanations for last week's entries.

Monday

Identify and correct the errors in the following pieces. Try to identify four examples.

“Grow your savings with ING Connect.”

You cannot grow savings; savings grow by themselves as do crops and hair.

“Build your savings with ING Connect.”


“We've extended our working hours and grown our team...”

This is the same rule violation as in the first example.

“We've extended our working hours and developed our team...”

“French frigate Nivose has seized 35 pirates in three days off of Somalia, the French military said on Sunday, claiming 'the biggest seizure' so far in the vital shipping lane.”

“Off of” is incorrect; these two prepositions cannot be used together. 
How does France “seize” pirates which is what is stated in the headline? I have interesting visions coming into my mind on that one. I think it is a poor choice of words.

“French frigate Nivose has seized 35 pirates in three days off Somalia, the French military said on Sunday, claiming 'the biggest seizure' so far in the vital shipping lane.”
France captures pirates off Somalia, The Windsor Star, Monday, March 8, 2010.


Tuesday

ANTI-/ANTE-

Prefix” is something put in front or before a word or element..

Anti” is a prefix meaning opposed to or against, preventing or relieving.
“Anticlimax”, “antidote” and “anticipate” are some examples.

Ante” is a prefix meaning before or preceding.
“Antedate”, “antecedent” and “antediluvian” are examples.
“Ante”, as a noun, refers to a stake in poker put in the pool be each player before the hand is seen.


Wednesday

EXALT/EXULT

Exalt” (v.) means to raise something up high, to extol the virtues of something or someone or to glorify.
Exaltation” is the noun form.
Exalted” is the participial form.
Exalter” is a noun form for one who exalts.

Exult” (v.) means to celebrate joyfully, to rejoice proudly ot to be highly elated.
Exultingly” is the adverb form.
Exultant” is the adjective form.
Exultation” is the noun form.


Thursday

DEPRECIATE/DEPRECATE

Depreciate”, a verb, means to lower or lessen the value of something, to decay or to belittle.
It is spoken with a soft “c”.
“Depreciation” is the noun form.
“A car’s value depreciates with age.

Deprecate”, a verb, means to express earnest disapproval of, to urge reasons against or to protest against.
It is spoken with a hard "c".
“Deprecation” is the noun form.

“Please do not deprecate my efforts at explaining the meaning of words.”


Friday

IMMIGRATE/EMIGRATE

Immigrate” means to move into a new country; “im”,  which has to do with going in, is the clue.

Emigrate” means to leave a country. The “e” at the beginning of the word is the clue because it comes from “ex” meaning to go out as in “exit”.

A CHARACTER TRUTH

“Sweet mercy is nobility's true badge.”
William Shakespeare, who lived from 1564 to 1616, wrote this.
Bonus: it is taken from Titus Andronicus.

THE WEEK'S PET PEEVE

Is this one unbelievably inane or just inane?
"My bad!"


LAST WEEK’S WORDS

Effusive” (adj.) means alive, animated, gushing or said with unrestrained enthusiasm

Anterior” (adj.) means near the head, toward the front plane of the body or prior in time.

Fractious” (adj.) means easily irritated or annoyed, hard to manage or unruly.

Decadent” (adj.) means marked by excessive self-indulgence and moral decay, epicurean or voluptuous.
Decadence” is the noun form.
Decadently” is the adverb form.

Imprecate” (v.) means wish harm upon, to put a curse on, to damn or to utter obscenities.
Imprecatory” is the adjective form.
Imprecation” is the noun form.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I'm just curious. In the frigate quote, I totally missed the "off of" mistake, but I thought there was another problem. Aren't there some quotation marks missing, or did you just omit them?