Imply and infer are closely related in meaning but they are distinct in their subjects and yet people regularly confuse them. In general, the speaker or writer implies and the reader or hearer infers. An implication is a suggestion of something without . . . Continue reading →

Just before I entered public school in 1966 the geniuses who were running the education establishment had already begun to give up on education in favor of using schools as laboratories of social change, personal development, and family therapy. In their defense, . . . Continue reading →

“He is as good of a running back as you will see in the SEC.” One hears and sees the expression, “as good of” almost constantly now and it as defective as it is unnecessary. The first part of the problem is . . . Continue reading →

Not very long ago, as recently as the 1950s and 60s, the most remote public school student in America learned a little Latin. By remote I mean, e.g., rural villages in Nebraska. By the 1970s, however, Latin went the way of phonics . . . Continue reading →

Words are frequently learned aurally. After all, children learn their native language aurally until they learn to read. Even after we learn to read, however, we continue to collect new words through hearing them. I suspect that fact may account for the . . . Continue reading →

It is easy to confuse two words when they have the same root. This is the case with the adjectives (words that modify nouns or persons, places, and things) incredulous and incredible. As incredible as it might seem and as incredulous as . . . Continue reading →

The distinction between while and though is neglected but should be recovered. The writer who observes it is clearer and more useful to his reader. Most often today, even in edited publications (e.g., newspapers, magazines, and books) one sees them used interchangeably . . . Continue reading →

The other day a sports-talk show host, whom I enjoy, said, “Me and him talked about it.” I was taken aback. As I understand it, this fellow is the child of a school teacher who would surely not permit him to speak . . . Continue reading →

One hears and sees these two adjectives confused with increasing regularity. E.g., in a Dallas, TX news story an attorney is quoted as saying, “It’s incredulous that this lease is being used….” The word incredible is derived from the Latin incrēdibilis, which . . . Continue reading →

Thanks to H. H. Fowler’s reincarnation on Twitter for this very clear explanation of the distinction between an adverb and an adjective: Kirk Douglas is right. Badly is an adverb. To “feel badly” means that one’s sense perception is damaged. To “feel . . . Continue reading →

Sports-talk radio is a never-ending source of malapropisms and a good indicator of the state of the language. One abuse which I hear regularly on the radio and in personal conversation is the unnecessary use of the preposition of. A preposition indicates . . . Continue reading →

I have noticed these two words being confused more frequently of late, hence a grammar guerrilla post. Your is the possessive of you. It means that something belongs to you. “I see that your ball rolled into the street.” “The house is . . . Continue reading →

Talk radio is either the fertile valley or the fruited plains of popular speech. As a regular listener to several genres I have noticed both hosts and listeners confusing these two words: quasi and pseudo. One may almost understand why there might . . . Continue reading →

Almost without fail today, whether on a media news program, in print, or in causal discussion, when one hears or reads the phrase “begs the question” (or some variant) it is used to mean, raises the question. On its face this might seem an odd thing since raises is hardly an obscure or antiquated verb. Continue reading →