RSS Feed
Mar 31

Dumb and dumber become more stupid

Posted on Wednesday, March 31, 2010 in Incorrect word usage

dumb and stupid have different forms for their superlatives*:

dumb
dumber
dumbest

stupid
more stupid
most stupid

Never use stupider or stupidest.

*The form of an adjective that expresses which of more than two items has the highest degree of the quality expressed by the adjective; in English, formed by appending “-est” to the end of the adjective (for some short adjectives only) or putting “most” before it. — Wiktionary

Visit Everything Language and Grammar for more on this.

Mar 30

The anonymous vote was unanimous

Posted on Tuesday, March 30, 2010 in Incorrect word usage

anonymous means an author of unknown name

unanimous means complete agreement within a group

These could sound similar so be sure to choose the correct one.

Mar 29

A noteworthy thing is about to happen

Posted on Monday, March 29, 2010 in Incorrect word usage, Misspelled words

eminent means noteworthy

imminent means about to happen

The spelling difference is found at the beginning:
imminent
eminent

Mar 28

Not using good grammar and so forth

Posted on Sunday, March 28, 2010 in Incorrect word usage

Do not use and etc in a sentence.

et cetera is Latin for and so forth and is abbreviated etc.

If you use the word and before the word etc it would mean and and so forth.

It is common to use and so forth instead of etc.

Mar 27

Please coordinate those conjunctions!

Posted on Saturday, March 27, 2010 in Incorrect word usage

Use either but or yet but not both together

Use either and or yet but not both together

For more information, click here to visit Everything Language and Grammar.

Mar 26

The couple had a couple of great ideas

Posted on Friday, March 26, 2010 in Incorrect word usage

couple must be followed by of unless it refers to two people
There are a couple of bright kids in the class.

For more details, click here to visit Everything Language and Grammar.

Mar 25

Did Esther produce the ester?

Posted on Thursday, March 25, 2010 in Homonyms/Homophones

Esther is a female name

ester is chemical compound

Mar 24

I do not and she does not like spiders

Posted on Wednesday, March 24, 2010 in Incorrect word usage

don’t is the same as do not
doesn’t is the same as does not

I don’t like grammar mistakes in a blog.

He doesn’t like grammar mistakes in a blog.

It doesn’t look good to have grammar errors in a blog.

Grammar errors in a blog don’t look good.

Mar 23

"Vengeance is mine, I will repay," says the Lord

Posted on Tuesday, March 23, 2010 in Misspelled words

avenge means to exact satisfaction for by punishing the injuring party

revenge means personal retaliatory action

vengeance means revenge taken for an insult, injury or other wrong

vengeful means wanting vengeance

Mar 22

Here comes the judge

Posted on Monday, March 22, 2010 in Misspelled words

Should the word judgment have the word judge within?
Only when writing British English.

judgment is the preferred American English spelling

judgement is the preferred British English spelling

The related word judging does not contain judge.