Schmenglish VIII
Snark, snark, snark. Feelin’ kinda snarky this morning. All right: here’s a list that makes me itchy-scratchy. Sometimes things don’t bother me regarding usage, like ending a sentence with certain prepositions (as long as it isn’t “at”). Sentence fragments. Don’t. Bug me. Usually. Unless they’re in a research paper. I’m not the Knot-See I used [...]
Fun stuff to look at, silly.
Yeah, I needed to avoid ending a sentence in a preposition. You know, the kind of word I dangle at the end of my every post? Speaking of prepositions, I took an easy quiz this morning. But this one was interesting, because it uses British English. It was surprising to me (even though I scored [...]
Schmenglish VII
Yep, it’s time for another one. I’ve been amassing them — the little annoying errors that make me squirm. As I’ve said before in my other Schmenglish posts, I am not nearly the grammar N**i I used to be. For good or ill, I’ve mellowed with age, like the fine, stinky cheese that I am. [...]
Thrashing the deceased equine
It really does, you know. I think it bears repeating. Whatever the reasons (internet shorthand habits, fewer spelling and usage tests after elementary school resulting in less attention paid to grammar, general apathy, overwhelmed teachers trying to keep up with NCLB, standardized testing that’s anything but standard), Americans continue to butcher their language. Sometimes I [...]
Schmenglish VI
Having written a book myself, during which time my editor slashed over 10,000 words and red-lined my prose left and right, I thought there could never be an editor who would let slide any grammar that was less than perfect — especially when the book is printed by a major publishing house. I was wrong. [...]