English fail!

I’ve posted a link before to English Fail blog.  Today in the Pain Clinic’s procedure room (which houses a fluoroscopy–x-ray–machine), I noticed a warning sign and was immediately pleased at the prospect of sending in a photo to the blog.  But then I wondered what kind of back-log the administrators of that blog have, and I wanted [...]

Understatement of the Month Award

“The plane is very seriously damaged,” said Jan Van der Cruysse, a spokesman for Brussels Airport, referring to a 747 cargo plane that crashed today while attempting to take off en route to Bahrain, CNN.com reports.  Only four of five crew members sustained minor injuries.
Here’s a picture of the damaged plane.

I was noticing that it [...]

I have no words…

http://englishfail.wordpress.com/2008/05/21/missing-cow-fail/
And yes, I have about three grammar blogs on my favorites list.  But I don’t have a problem.  People who correct others’ grammar in comments on grammar blogs are the ones who have a problem.

Another blog

On the blog English Fail, I saw a funny post. The blog features pictures of grammatical mistakes seen by various grammarians who submit photos. (And for those of you who are worried about me, I do not spend most of my free time looking at grammar blogs. I do not have a problem.)
This picture had [...]

A near flub…

…appears in the February 23 edition of The Economist, in an article that addresses the split in Hamas’ leadership:
“Yet even the pragmatists, currently seeking a deal with Israel that would comprise a ceasefire, an exchange of prisoners and a formula for opening the border crossing to Egypt, shy from the kind of concessions–such as recognising [...]

Today’s analogy

I had this realization recently about some words that are occasionally confused. It’s not entirely precise, but perhaps generally true:
Flaunt is to blatant as flout is to flagrant.

A Little Pizzazz

The art of capturing the audience with the title and subtitle
I’ve never heard formal teaching on this topic, but I’ve noticed how newspapers and magazines often make use of both a title and a subtitle. As a result, I’ve developed an intuitive sense of how most writers use these features. It seems that a [...]

This is good to know

I knew that ever since beginning to read a British news source which I will not name here, I’ve become increasingly confused about placing my periods and commas with relationship to the quotation marks. It used to seem black and white (The comma always goes inside), but more and more these days, logic tells me [...]

Return of the comma

From the February 24, 2007 edition of The Economist, in an article about “off-shore” financial centres, er, centers like Dubai and Bermuda:
“Those that [become tax havens], they found, are overwhelmingly small, wealthy and, especially, well governed, with sound legal institutions, low levels of corruption and check and balances on government.”
I count seven commas. I’m told [...]

My grammar soapbox

For those of you who didn’t love diagramming sentences in high school English, now is the time to stop reading. I’ve always enjoyed grammar, especially learning it in different languages, as it helps me understand English better. Understanding grammar, in my opinion, leads to more clarity in communication.
I had the idea for this post when [...]