When I came across this use of the word isle on a parenting site, I couldn’t help wondering how common the error might be: …many people share beliefs from one end of the isle, and some from the other. The context was an item about teaching children about differing political views without prejudicing them against … Read more
Several weeks ago, President Obama, in announcing during a television interview that he didn’t want to inflame Islamic extremists by releasing photos taken of Osama bin Laden’s body following the al-Qaeda leader’s assassination by a U.S. military unit, said, “There’s no need to spike the football.” Huh? In American football, players have been known to … Read more
A phrasal verb consists of a verb and a preposition, a verb and an adverb, or a verb, an adverb, and a preposition — the verb’s partners are collectively known as particles — that combine to produce a figure of speech. (Phrasal verbs are common in idiomatic expressions, such as “add insult to injury” or … Read more