CORRECTIONS & EXPLANATIONS - March 21, 2010

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

Monday

DEW/DO/DOO/DUE

“Dew” (n.) is the moisture on the grass in the morning and it should be pronounced as in “pew”.

“Do”, normally a verb meaning to perform or accomplish something, can be a noun referring to a party or a hair style.

“Doo” (n.) on the grass is what your dog left and you didn’t pick up.

“Due” is an adjective meaning owing or scheduled to arrive.


Tuesday

REPEL/REPULSE

“Repel”, a verb, means to force back, to reject or to fill with distaste or disgust.

“Repulse”, also a verb, means to fight off, to drive away or to ward off.

The subtle difference between the two is that one is repelled by another person, not repulsed, ever though that person might be repulsive.


HOW MANY?

How many errors can you detect in the following piece? Give the specifics of each and fix each.

“Laying in bed at Royal Inland Hospital Ben Basaraba, 24, from Creston, B.C., talks about the Big Iron Shootout at Revelstoke, where two were killed and 30 injured in a snowmobile-triggered avalanche on Boulder Mountain Saturday.”

“To lay” means to put down something as in “laying a floor.”
“Laying in bed” conjures interesting images but it is wrong; “lying”is required, and don’t make a pun of that.
An inconsistency is evident in “...two were killed and 30 injured...” in that numbers under one hundred should be written; at least, the writer could be consistent.
To keep the verbs consistent, “were” should be inserted before “injured”.

“Lying in bed at Royal Inland Hospital Ben Basaraba, 24, from Creston, B.C., talks about the Big Iron Shootout at Revelstoke, where two were killed and thirty were injured in a snowmobile-triggered avalanche on Boulder Mountain Saturday.”

Wednesday

Identify and correct the error in the following entry.

“Almost as tickled as CBS, which can expect off-the-charts ratings if Woods is still alive on the weekend, after ESPN carries the first two rounds.”

This is an incomplete thought. Who, or what, is almost as tickled?

“The PGA will be almost as tickled as CBS, which can expect off-the-charts ratings if Woods is still alive on the weekend, after ESPN carries the first two rounds.”


Thursday

NOTATE/NOTE

“Notate” means to write comments about a text or to make notations about text. Thios os often done by students in the margins of their textbooks.

“Note” means to pay attention, to observe or to notice. There are many other meanings but this is the operational one for this context.

ONE TO PONDER

“Prejudice is opinion without judgment.”
Voltaire, a French author, humanist and satirist who lived from 1694 to 1778, wrote this.


Friday

Identify and correct the errors in the following selections.

“Too much to handle.”

This is an incomplete thought; there is no verb.

“The Spitfires were too much to handle.”


“To doubt whether this Spitfire squad has what it takes to complete the mission.”

This also is an incomplete thought.

“This win should stop to any doubt whether this Spitfire squad has what it takes to complete the mission.”


LAST WEEK'S PET PEEVE - PRONUNCIATION OF "A"

This peeve involves everyone from the President of the United States down through a multitude of reporters and tons of people in between. It wouldn't be quite so bad if there were any consistency but there is none.

The indefinite article "a" is pronounced  "a" as in "hat". It is NOT PRONOUNCED as "a" as in "hay".


LAST WEEK’S WORDS

“Harbinger” (n.) refers to a forerunner, a herald or a precursor, as in the robin being the harbinger of the coming of spring.

“Rancorous” (adj.) means showing deep-seated resentment, animosity or bitterness.
“Rancor” is the US noun form and “rancour” is the British and Canadian form.

“Comportment” (n.) refers to a dignified manner of conduct, a bearing or presence as in the queen having regal comportment.

“Barbarous” (adj.) means brutal, cruel, vicious, beastly or savage.

“Apocalyptic” (adj.) means foreshadowing, prophetic or revelatory.
“Apocalypse” is the noun form. The term is used in the bible regarding revelations of the ultimate divine purpose.