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Mar 21

What a difference one letter can make

Posted on Sunday, March 21, 2010 in Incorrect word usage, Misspelled words

interment means the act of burying a dead body
His remains were brought back for interment in the cemetery of his native town.

internment means confinement of foreign troops
During WWII there were internment camps in the USA for Japanese-Americans.

interment + another N = internment

Mar 20

Put that strange plural in parentheses

Posted on Saturday, March 20, 2010 in Incorrect word usage, Misspelled words

parenthesis is singular

parentheses is plural

Mar 19

Ice house, ice box, Frigidaire, fridge, …

Posted on Friday, March 19, 2010 in Incorrect word usage, Misspelled words

The appliance that keeps your food cold is called a refrigerator or fridge.

Before artificial refrigeration was common, communities had ice houses where lake ice was stored. They would have the ice delivered and kept in an ice box. At the beginning of the 20th century, artificial food refrigeration was invented.

The first self-contained mechanical refrigerator was invented in 1915. It was sold by the Guardian Frigerator Company which later became Frigidaire. That is where we get the word fridge but it is not part of the word refrigerator.

Mar 18

Did your ally just run down that alley?

Posted on Thursday, March 18, 2010 in Incorrect word usage

ally means one united to another by treaty

alley means a narrow street giving access to the rear of a lot

Mar 17

Please log in using your login

Posted on Wednesday, March 17, 2010 in Incorrect word usage

setup is a noun (Nice setup you have here.)
set up is a verb phrase (Please set up the equipment.)

login is a noun (Do you remember your login?)
log in is a verb phrase (Please log in now.)

Mar 16

Hard to wake up after your merry-making?

Posted on Tuesday, March 16, 2010 in Incorrect word usage

revelry means joyful merry-making

reveille is a bugle call used to wake military personnel

Mar 15

I don't got no grammar problems

Posted on Monday, March 15, 2010 in Incorrect word usage

don’t got no is literally do not got no and is a double negative meaning that you do have something. It should be don’t have any.

If you think you still need to say don’t got no, at least never write it down anywhere!

Mar 14

You would never say, "The reason is the reason."

Posted on Sunday, March 14, 2010 in Redundant word usage

Reason is because
because means for the reason that so don’t use it with reason

Reason is why
the reason is already the why so don’t use it with reason

For more information, visit because and why at Everything Language and Grammar.

Mar 13

Careful not to spell all words as heard

Posted on Saturday, March 13, 2010 in Incorrect word usage, Misspelled words

liberal means not limited to traditional views.

libral is related to libra, the Ancient Roman unit of weight.

Mar 12

Diving into grammar

Posted on Friday, March 12, 2010 in Incorrect word usage

Use dived for the past tense of dive when writing.
“I dived from the high board.”

Dove is a bird, not the past tense of dive!

(We say skydived. We never say skydove.)