A BANNER DAY!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

Today marks the second anniversary of MichaelsEnglishUsage.com.
During that time, 597 new posts have been published.
MichaelsEnglishUsage.com receives over 1,000 hits a month, and that is a proud accomplishment for such a seemingly esoteric subject.
MichaelsEnglishUsage.com has presented about 500 words in an effort to keep an awareness of the beauty and complexity of language.
MichaelsEnglishUsage.com has been constantly vigilant in challenging professional writers and speakers to proofread their material and to maintain a high level of professionalism and accuracy in their writings and deliveries.
MichaelsEnglishUsage.com refuses to accept slipshod mediocrity in English usage and will remain a pricking thorn as long as writers continue to provide the content.

Thank you. Keep visiting. The crusade is continuing.


PET PEEVES

Here is a list of errors that have been cited over the last two years and are totally unacceptable under any circumstances.

1. Incomplete sentences.

2. Subject-verb disagreement.

3. "Went missing..."

4. Poor or non-existent proofreading.

5. "Where did you get that at?" (or variations of dangling infinitives or participles.

6. Comma splices.

7. "I seen..."

8. "I got..."

9. "Off of..."

10. "He says to me..."


TODAY'S PROFESSIONAL CONTRIBUTIONS

Identify and correct the errors in the following pieces.

"Take Bill gates: one of the world's richest men, founder of Microsoft and philanthropist."
Donna Nebenzahl, "Obama seizing success", The Windsor Star, Monday, April 6, 2009.

"Until he comes up against Jack Bauer, that is."
Alex Strachan, "Washington setting helps 24 regain its edgy energy", The Windsor Star, Monday, April 6, 2009.


TODAY'S WORD

The word for today is "diligence".
What part of speech is "diligence"?
Use "diligence" in a sentence.