Michael's English Usage

Grammar Lessons from a Grumpy Old English Teacher

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MONDAY’S DOSE OF POOR ENGLISH

Monday, November 26, 2012 By Michael Lyons Leave a Comment

RULE OF THE WEEK

ABSOLUTE MODIFIERS

Certain words fall into the category of “absolute modifiers” which means that comparative and superlative words such as “very”, “so” or “extremely” should not be used to modify them. As an example, “unique” means one of a kind, so a comparative or superlative modifier cannot be used because one of a kind things cannot be compared; so “extremely unique” is incorrect.

Other words which reflect some kind of absolute are “absolute”, “overwhelmed”, “straight”,
“opposite”, “right”, “dead”, “entirely”, “eternal”, “fatal”, “final”, “identical”, “infinite”, “mortal”, “opposite”, “perfect”, “immortal”, “finite” and “irrevocable”.

NATIONAL WRITER AT WORK

Identify, explain and correct the three errors in the following pieces. I suggest there are three.

“As for tweeting, anytime the mood strikes.”
Ken MacQueen, “GENIUS @ WORK”, Maclean’s, Canada’s National Magazine, November 12, 2012, Volume 125, Number 44, p. 10.

“Which brings us to square.”
 Ken MacQueen, “GENIUS @ WORK”, Maclean’s, Canada’s National Magazine, November 12, 2012, Volume 125, Number 44, p. 10.

TODAY’S WORD

The word for today is “demarcation”.
What part of speech is “demarcation”?
Define “demarcation” and use it in a sentence.

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