CORRECTIONS & EXPLANATIONS - July 29, 2007

Monday

REMUNERATION/RENUMERATION

“Remuneration” simply means payment. It does not mean repayment.
“Enumeration" means counting again or recounting.

Tuesday

POSSESSED OF/BY/WITH

If you own something, you are possessed of it.
If your person has been taken over by a demon, you are possessed by it.
If you are very determined to get ahead, you are possessed with the drive to succeed.

Wednesday

WHAT IS WRONG HERE?

"Mark, an accomplished football player, introduced her to weight training when both were still in high school, him at Centennial and her at Assumption."The use of the objective form of the pronouns “him” and “her” is incorrect. The subjective forms must be used.

Corrected version:
Mark, an accomplished football player, introduced her to weight training when both were still in high school, he at Centennial and she at Assumption.

Thursday

THERE'S, THEIRS, THEIR'S

“There’s” is the short form of “there is”.
There is a time to sit and wait.

“Theirs" is a possessive plural pronoun.
The kingdom is theirs if they so desire.

“Their’s” is a misuse of the apostrophy and does not exist.

Friday

STATIONARY/STATIONERY

“Stationary” means standing still.
The soldier stood in a stationary position for an hour.

“Stationery” is the paper upon which you write.
Her stationery had a floral design at the top.

THE WORDS

“Fulsome" (adj.) means offensive to good taste, excessive, disgusting or gross.
His comments about the girl’s weight were fulsome and resented.

“Scrupulous" (adj.) means having a strict regard for what is right, precise or correct.
She was scrupulous in her treatment of all her students with complete fairness.

“Perorate" (v.) means to speak at length or to bring a speech to a conclusion.
The windy politician would perorate at any available opportunity.

“Conundrum" (n.) means a riddle the answer to which involves a pun or play on words or anything that puzzles.
Agatha Christie, in her play “And Then There Were None”, presented a conundrum for each of the characters who died.

“Nebulous" means hazy, vague, indistinct or confused.
His motive for abusing his neighbour was nebulous and hurtful.