In this episode Dr Clark continues his series on grammar. Continue reading →
In this episode Dr Clark continues his series on grammar. Continue reading →
In this episode Dr Clark continues his series on grammar. Continue reading →
In this episode Dr Clark continues his series on grammar. Continue reading →
In this episode Dr Clark continues his series on grammar. Continue reading →
In this episode Dr Clark continues his series on grammar. Continue reading →
In this episode Dr Clark continues his series on grammar. Continue reading →
In this episode Dr Clark continues his series on grammar. Continue reading →
In this episode Dr Clark continues his series on grammar. Continue reading →
But to study English literature is to open yourself to the literature of other nations, because English authors were never reading only English. You cannot have Chaucer without the three great Florentines: Dante, Petrarch, and, especially, Boccaccio. You cannot have the English . . . Continue reading →
The economy is hard for everyone right now. Even prepositions have fallen on hard times. In popular media, in news media, and particularly in social media, one regularly sees the expression, “prayers to so and so.” This usage reveals two errors, one . . . Continue reading →
Often, we employ a single word for many uses; even for similar uses. We employ belief (and its cognate verb) to mean at least four things, each of which can also be usefully distinguished from the others, on a continuum: prejudice, opinion, . . . Continue reading →
I realized recently that I have been neglecting my responsibility to save English grammar in America. My sincerest apologies, but the Grammar Guerrilla is back to observe and complain about the expression “too good of.” We hear it most often on sports-talk . . . Continue reading →
I submit that given a library of about 300 well chosen books, a chalkboard/dry erase board, a supply of paper, pencils, and pens, a cadre of dedicated, well educated teachers, who had authority to discipline students, produce outstanding high school graduates who, upon examination, could gain entrance into any university in the West. A substantial percentage of what, after Dewey is reckoned education is, in fact, a waste of time and energy. Continue reading →
The widespread use of woke, the past tense of wake, as an adjective is ungrammatical but there are other issues with the use of forms of wake. The conjugation of wake is: wake (present): It is time to wake up and smell . . . Continue reading →
I have been warning students for some years about the impending collapse of Western civilization. It used to be a joke. Now, the warnings are rueful. Another evidence that the end is closer than it might seem is the apparent loss of . . . Continue reading →
Every human endeavor has its own vocabulary. Auto mechanics shorthand expressions and jargon—though beware if he or she tells you that you need a new Johnson Rod as you will pay good money for no part and no service—like every other endeavor under the sun. Continue reading
Two popular expressions entered the American colloquial lexicon about a decade ago. I first heard them both used by an evangelical from the American South. He wanted to “speak into” an issue and “love on” some people. It seems as if the . . . Continue reading →
I have been thinking a bit about the etymological fallacy, which seeks to define words and other things by their origin.
Americans love to add intensifiers to words. They do it to add force to existing words. Irregardless, an adjective and an adverb, is a good example of this tendency. The earliest citation in the Oxford English Dictionary is from 1912, but it occurs in . . . Continue reading →
