MONDAY
Identify and fix the error below. Give reasons for your choice.
“More power! More style! More technology! Less doors!”
“Less” cannot be used when referring to numbers; it can only be used for amounts.
Poetically, the line should be completely alliterative with the “m” sound but it is not.
Basically, it is very poorly thought out.
“More power! More style! More technology! Fewer doors!”
TUESDAY
Fix any errors in the following?
If there are no errors, support your position.
“First-round pick anxious to prove scouts wrong”
“Anxious” is incorrect because it means apprehensive, whereas “eager” is the intended meaning.
I do not accept the colloquial substitution of “anxious” for “eager”.
The hyphen is unnecessary in “first round”.
“First round pick eager to prove scouts wrong”
CORRECT GRAMMAR?
Is there a grammatical error in the following?
Identify and fix it. Explain the error.
“A home along Highway 3 is being offered for free to whomever is willing to pay to have it removed.”
“Whomever” is incorrectly used; it should be “whoever”. “Whoever” is the subject of the noun clause “whoever is willing to have it removed”; this noun clause is the object of the preposition “to”.
“A home along Highway 3 is being offered for free to whoever is willing to pay to have it removed.”
CORRECT PUNCTUATION?
Are there punctuation errors in the following?
If so, fix them and give reasons for your choices.
If there are no errors, support your position.
“ ‘So, they need a good babysitter, they need to have friends or neighbours. It’s not good enough to think a child has gone to sleep, the baby’s been fed and so on.’ ”
The commas after “babysitter” and “sleep” should be semi-colons because full stops are needed to separate principal clauses.
I do not like using an apostrophe on “baby” because this implies possession which is an incorrect interpretation. The correct term is “baby has been fed”.
The term “and so on” is superfluous.
“ ‘So, they need a good babysitter; they need to have friends or neighbours. It’s not good enough to think a child has gone to sleep; the baby has been fed.’ ”
WEDNESDAY
“HIT AND MISS”/ “HIT OR MISS”
When something is done in a careless or haphazard way it is done in a “hit-or-miss” fashion. The action is successful, a “hit” or unsuccessful, a “miss”.
“Hit-and-miss” is very popular but makes less sense.
“The gifted athlete’s hit-or-miss attitude flustrated his coaches so much that they benched him for a boy who was eager to play and learn.”
THURSDAY
Find, explain and correct the errors in the following pieces. Give reasons for your choices.
“ ‘Municipalities are going to have to ask themselves those kinds of questions, but from our perspective those are one of the things that we’re going to take a new and fresh look at today.’ ”
“Those” is plural but it is used to refer to the singular “one”. It must be changed.
“ ‘Municipalities are going to have to ask themselves those kinds of questions, but from our perspective those are some of the things that we’re going to take a new and fresh look at today.’ ”
“Prosecutor Matt Miazga said he doesn’t care how high-profile the couple or the incident is – other people on the plane were frightened by Sensenberger’s behaviour and there are a large number of potential witnesses to what went on.”
“Number” is a singular collective noun, but the verb referring to it is plural. This is incorrect and must be fixed.
Prosecutor Matt Miazga said he doesn’t care how high-profile the couple or the incident is – other people on the plane were frightened by Sensenberger’s behaviour and there is a large number of potential witnesses to what went on.”
FRIDAY
ASCRIBE/SUBSCRIBE
“Ascribe” is a verb meaning to assign to another, to attribute to another or to credit something to someone.
“We ascribe Mary’s short temper to the rigours of enduring a pushy and nasty boss whom we do our best to ignore.”
“Subscribe” is a verb meaning to take, to offer, to tender or to agree with a theory or belief.
“I subscribe, on a monthly basis, to the Windsor Star and read it with a very critical eye.”
WORTH REMEMBERING
“There is no calamity greater than lavish desires.
There is no greater guilt than discontentment.
And there is no greater disaster than greed.”
Lao-tzu, the Chinese founder of Taoism who lived from 604 BC to 531 BC, wrote this.
LAST WEEK’S WORDS
“Asinine” (adj.) means mindless, foolish, ludicrous or nonsensical.
“Her behaviour was so childish and asinine that the audience booed her off the stage.
“Nitwit” (n.) refers to a dimwit, a simpleton or a slow foolish person.
“In order to get attention from his peers and to upset his teacher the boy acted up and pretended to be a nitwit.”
“Galvanize” (v.) means to amaze, to astonish, to astound or to shock.
“His leadership is so intense it should galvanize the entire team to greater effort and concentration.”
“Inertia” (n.) refers to the tendency of a body to maintain a state of rest or inactivity.
“Very often inertia takes over a student who is completely bored in class and he appears to be in a trance.”
“Collateral” (adj.) means situated or running side by side, confirmative, corroborative or ancillary.
“A bomb will always cause collateral, and often calculated, damage around its target and creates tremendous fear among the population.”
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