My preliminary final list of oxymorons
original copy
paid volunteer
partially complete
perfectly awful
preliminary final
pretty ugly
second best
silent alarm
terrific headache
Ten awfully good oxymorons
almost exactly
almost done
awfully good
awfully nice
awfully pretty
definite maybe
fatally injured
final draft
first annual
good grief
Though slow, this ox is not a moron
an oxymoron is a figure of speech in which two words with opposing meanings are used together intentionally for effect or a paradoxical juxtaposition of two seemingly contradictory words.
The most common form of oxymoron involves an adjective-noun combination of two words.
The skydiver’s landing was almost exactly on target.
Sometimes it is in a phrase insted of just two words:
One bright day in the middle of the night,
Two dead boys got up to fight.
Back-to-back they faced one another,
Drew their swords and shot each other….
I think I will explore some oxymorons and share them in a few posts.
For more details, visit Wikipedia.
How a web page works
A web page is a text file that contains text and HTML tags.
HTML tags are simple instructions for a web browser.
A web browser is a program like Internet Explorer or Firefox.
It interprets these HTML tags to display your web page.
Here is the HTML used to show the above four lines in a browser:
<p>
A <strong>web page</strong> is a text file that contains text and HTML tags.
<br />
<strong>HTML tags</strong> are simple instructions for a web browser.
<br />
A <strong>web browser</strong> is a program like Internet Explorer or Firefox.
<br />
It interprets these HTML tags to display your web page.
</p>
If you run an html file on your computer it will open in a browser. The address will point to the file on your computer. In order to make it available to others you need to place it on a web server. When it is run from there the address will point to the file on the web server.
We asked them to give the book to us
We and us are pronouns. We is used as a subject. Us is used as an object.
Confusion can occur when either one is next to a noun that describes it.
We humans are often very emotional beings. (Test it out by dropping humans.)
There was no weathering the hurricane but us fools. (Test it out by dropping fools.)
For more information see Everything Language and Grammar.
This is the real McCoy
The real McCoy means the real thing.
It appears to have originally been the real McKay in Scotland. It was used to refer to G Mackay & Co Ltd’s whisky.
Click here for more details.
Does anybody really know what time it is?
Spell out the time of day when it is on a quarter hour or half hour.
He gets up at six thirty every morning.
Spell out the time when using o’clock.
The meeting is at seven o’clock.
Use numerals when an exact time is being emphasized.
The flight leaves at 8:23.
Use numerals when using a.m. or p.m.
The ceremony will be at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday.
Use noon and midnight instead of 12:00 a.m. or 12:00 p.m.
The luncheon will be at noon on Friday.
Standard English
I thought this was interesting…
The problem with some grammar rules from the perspective of modern linguistics is that there is not one absolute grammar in the English language. Most American native English speakers equate standard English with being correct and any non-standard variation of English with being incorrect.
In reality, however, the concept of standard American English is really the privileging of a particular dialect of English that originates from the Ohio River Valley. This is the dialect of English that the anchors of the nightly news speak and that we base our notions of correct and incorrect grammar on. It is important to recognize that no grammar is any more correct or incorrect than any other on a functional level, and our notions of correct and incorrect are culturally constructed.
From: yourdictionary.com
If you don’t vote, don’t complain!
Easily misspelled election terms:
campaign
candidate
caucus
constituency
constituent
delegate
federal
gubernatorial
incumbent
independent
partisan
precinct
rhetoric
He was manifesting an unusual behavior
to manifest means to make evident by displaying
manifesting means the process of something becoming evident
manifestation means an instance of something becoming evident
Many Pentecostals believe that speaking in tongues is a manifestation of the Holy Spirit.