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Oops – I missed this year’s National Grammar Day (March 4th). But it’s never too late for a grammar funny: “Did you hear the one about the past, present, and future walking into a bar together? It was tense . . . 🤣”
Our language uses several made-up words, or “coined” words as they are sometimes called (why “coined,” I do not know). And more are being created every day, it seems. A recent one – “hangry” – combined two words into one, to describe when someone is angry because they are hungry. An excellent word, I thought….
While walking recently, I noticed the plants that were in “winter” mode compared to the ones that were blooming away. It seems to me that all plants are pretty when blooming, but when their blooms drop, what do they look like? Like people, yes? When we are happy, healthy, and doing well personally and professionally,…
Unfortunately, the events of January 6, 2021, prompted me to move this Confusing Words post to the top of the list. My first thought was sadness; my second thought was how encouraging that every headline I saw used the correct word – capitol – when discussing what happened at the building, itself! I know, I’m…
I started a Homonyms spreadsheet last year to help my Adult Literacy League students learn how the spelling of a word can impact its meaning while not impacting its sound. A shout-out to Claudia who is helping me organize the spreadsheet. She is also converting the data into a Word document so she can add…
In the season of giving, I started thinking about those words and discovered that take, in particular, is used in what might seem strange ways. Whenever we use expressions, our listeners’ or readers’ frame of reference is incredibly important. If they don’t understand the expression, we could have a lost message or, perhaps worse, a…
In these days of social distancing, I realized I would like to know more about the difference between social and sociable. According to grammarist.com, “social people like going out and being with people, whereas sociable people are easy for others to get along with.” [Yes, the definition did end with a preposition🤨]. Social is also…
This year certainly has been different for sporting events. Schedule changes, cancellations which were then uncancelled, and safety protocols (I’m pretty sure the word “bubble” has never been used as often as it has this year 😏). But I think the strangest, from a viewer’s perspective, is the audience – or the lack of an…
Hello, all! Thank you to everyone who responded with homonym misspellings in September! I found a few more from webinar announcements, and I was emailed several other online misspellings that clearly fall into my “SpellCheck Won’t Help You” chapter of an upcoming book about Persuasive Communications. What about these examples? They REALLY made me want…
Communicating online instead of in person means spelling is extra important – especially when words sound the same but are spelled differently. Here are a couple of examples I have seen recently. While I take the rest of September off from posting, I’d love it if you all would look for other misspelled homonyms and…