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Overspoke
By now, most of use have heard Tucker Carlson’s (of Fox News) opinion on quarterback Michael Vick’s involvement in dog fighting: He thought that Vick should have been executed. What most of us might...
View ArticleFun, Funner, Funnest: Are We Having Fun Yet?
A reader asked whether we could shed some light on the correct use of the word fun; this is one of my pet peeves, so I’m only too happy to oblige. I hear of people who had fun birthdays, movies …...
View ArticleHas Your Curiosity Been Peaked—or Piqued?
I understand why it’s tempting to use the word peak when describing an excited stage of interest in or curiosity about something. After all, a peak is the pointy top of something, so it’s natural to...
View ArticleIs It Have Gone or Have Went?
Don’t get the past tense of the verb to go confused with the past participle of the verb to go. The past tense is went, and the past participle is gone, and each one has a different place in a …...
View ArticlePlural of Mother-In-Law: It’s the Mothers, Not the Laws!
A faithful reader sent a comment about how hyphenated plural nouns such as mother-in-laws and sister-in-laws drives her crazy. She actually said that hearing this grammar error sounds like fingernails...
View ArticleCould Care Less or Couldn’t Care Less; Do You Care?
How many times have you heard someone say I could care less? For every time you’ve heard it, have you wondered why the person saying it COULD care less about something he seemingly doesn’t care about...
View ArticlePast or Passed: When the Past Has Passed
Use past to refer to the time that came before now or to refer to beyond something in distance. His ten years of working for a corporation with a bad reputation is in the past (the time before now)....
View ArticleLeave and Let: Either Leave It Alone or Let It Go
Do not mistakenly use let for leave. This leads to another common grammar error in English. Of course, as is true for most words, there are other and nuanced meanings (I’m just going to stick to what...
View ArticleVerb Moods: What Mood Are You In?
Verbs can have one of three moods: indicative, imperative, or subjunctive. The indicative mood only includes verbs in sentences that are either statements (declarative sentences) or questions...
View ArticleThe Difference Between Drink, Drank, and Drunk in Grammar
I’ve written before about the past participle of the verb to run; I’ve noticed a similar problem with the pattern of the verb to drink. The present tense of drink is, of course, drink. He drinks eight...
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