Maeve Maddox
There’s no formula for what I do,” said King, who added that if he tried to analyze and formulate his approach to writing, he might loose his touch.
The word “loose” in this quotation from a site about publishing is incorrectly used. King might lose his touch.
Although fighting what may be a losing battle, enough careful writers and speakers distinguish between the verbs lay and lie to make their forms and uses worth our attention.
In response to the “When to use ‘on’ and when to use ‘in” post about prepositions, Francesco Mapelli writes: I still don’t get the “He was not thinking well on that occasion.” Why is “in” wrong here?
The English verb ending -ed is a curious construction.
Although always spelled -ed, it has three different pronunciations. Two of them can lead to misspellings:
/ed/ as in faded
/d/ as in turned
/t/ as in wrecked
Judging by the comments on the “When to use ‘on’ and when to use ‘in’” post, I wasn’t the only one to get out of school with less than a complete grasp of what a preposition is or does.
Nate asks: What are the proper usages of the words “in” and “on” in a sentence? I often confuse the two. Here are some examples: “The boat is in/on the water,” “We are in/on the planet,” “We’re going to the concert in/on July 1st.”
One of our readers, Pankaj, has asked for clarification on the posting called “The Gentleman Fled on Foot.” Was I addressing a matter of diction, or was I advocating the denial of respect for persons in unfortunate circumstances?
Just as the personal pronouns I and me are frequently used incorrectly–the subject form I used instead of the object form me, and vice versa–the reflexive pronoun myself sometimes crops up where I or me belong.
English has numerous word pairs that are spelled alike, but pronounced differently according to whether the word is being used as a noun or as a verb.
Does anyone remember when drug dealers were arrested and not “busted?” Or when a robbery mentioned on the evening news was a “robbery” and not a “heist?”
Some writers and speakers seem to believe that “I” is somehow more high class than “me.” Snooty characters on soap operas are especially fond of this construction. The fact is, “I” and “me” are class neutral. They simply have different jobs to do.
My local TV news team never lets me down when it comes to egregious misuse of the English language.