Either Leave It Alone or Let It Go

Do not mistakenly use let for leave. This leads to another common grammar error in English. Of course, as is true for most words, there are other and nuanced meanings (I’m just going to stick to what is needed for our purposes), but generally, to let means to allow and is often used with the infinitive of a verb. To leave means to depart or to allow to remain and often takes the –ing form of the verb after it.

 

• Incorrect: Let me alone.
• Correct: Leave me alone.

• Incorrect: Let it sitting on the stove.
• Correct: Leave it sitting on the stove.

• Incorrect: Leave it sit on the stove.
• Correct: Let it sit on the stove.

• Incorrect: Leave it be.
• Correct: Let it be (just like the old Beatles song).

Sherry

 

Paul’s book–Literally, the Best Language Book Ever;

Sherry’s Grammar List

Total 360

I know (believe me, I know) that it sometimes seems as if it’s difficult to change direction in life, and perhaps that’s a reflection of our tendency to say the phrase I did a total 360 instead of the correct statement I did a total 180.

The statement is based on the fact that there are 360 degrees in a complete circle, so if we’re using the analogy of the circle to talk about change, 180 degrees indicates the greatest possible change. If you pick a point as zero on your circle (that is, your starting point) and draw a line from there to the farthest point opposite there, it is 180 degrees of the circle. In other words, to go 180 degrees is to go as far as possible opposite your starting point.

To go 360 degrees is to come full circle, ending up exactly where you started. That’s how the phrase I did a complete 180 came to signify a complete change, as in I did a complete 180 about exercise. That person may have gone from being Susie the Spud (Couch Potato) to Suzanne the Non-stop Swimming Machine. If she had done a complete 360, then you’d have needed to pass the gravy to Susie the Spud since she’d have been right back on the couch, with remote control, hot-buttered popcorn, and back-to-back-to-back reality television shows.

It’s easy enough to confuse since, for many of us, it’s been a long time since high school geometry class, but if we want to change, we might as well start with getting the phrase right.

–Paul

Paul’s book–Literally, the Best Language Book Ever;

Sherry’s Grammar List

 

The Effect Will Affect You

This is one of those strictly written errors in English; nevertheless, it’s still a grammar error. Affect and effect have several meanings, but people get them most mixed up when trying to use the noun effect as the verb to affect. Stay with me; it gets much easier.

Affect is a verb. When you affect something, you influence it (verb) or change it (verb), as in the following sentences:

• Grammar affects my life.
• Cheating in the presidential race affected the outcome.
• That decision will affect our profit margin.

The use of effect is usually as a noun meaning an influence (noun) or a result (noun).

• Grammar has an effect on my life.
• The cheating in the presidential race had an effect on the outcome.
• The decision had the effect of increasing our profit margin.

Effect can be a verb also, but it isn’t used often; it means to bring about.

• The new CEO effected change in the company.

Sherry

Paul’s book–Literally, the Best Language Book Ever;

Sherry’s Grammar List

Blowback

Blowback has become an increasingly popular (i.e, trendy) term, and it’s being used to mean….uh…actually, I don’t know what it’s being used to mean. That’s one of the problems with words that are made up or words that are being used to mean something other than what they really do mean (i.e, misused).

It seems to mean consequences, such as The blowback from John McCain’s negative campaigning is that Independents might not vote for him. Why a news reporter would choose to say blowback instead of consequences is beyond me since the word consequences would articulately and accurately give the intended meaning while the word blowback would accurately paint the picture of most members of the audience scratching their heads.

Even the most popular, ultra-modern online dictionary has not (as of this writing) started to define blowback to mean consequences, but it does define it in a number of other ways, the only one of which has any hint of consequences is “the effect caused by recirculation into the source country of disinformation previously planted abroad by that country’s intelligence service in an effort to mislead the government of another country.” I’d have to think about what what really means, but it doesn’t mean consequences.

–Paul

Paul’s book–Literally, the Best Language Book Ever;

Sherry’s Grammar List

 

Choose This!

A couple of days ago, I was reading the comments related to an Internet article listing food that packs on the pounds (is there really anyone out there who still doesn’t know that cream-filled doughnuts and buttered mashed potatoes could be the reason that the number on the scale keeps getting higher?), and I came across the chose/choose spelling error. Since it wasn’t the first time that I’d encountered that mistake, I thought that perhaps there were more of you who might like some information.

Choose rhymes with lose, cruise, and booze (I know, I know, English is full of spelling inconsistencies), as in I lose my temper, A cruise to ANYWHERE would do me a world of good, and Is it too early in the day for a little booze? It does not rhyme with loose; loose has a soft –s sound; choose has the –z sound. I choose my battles wisely.

The past tense of choose is chose, which rhymes with close, sews, and snows. She chose her maid of honor by pulling a name out of a hat. (Is there anyone out there who’s actually done that?)

Sherry

Paul’s book–Literally, the Best Language Book Ever;

Sherry’s Grammar List

Stupid Grammar Error

All right, let’s just dive right into this stupid thing.

Recently, a professional athlete was quoted in an article as saying I made the stupidest mistake. The athlete was talking about his personal life—his VERY personal life. (It’s hard to keep track these days, isn’t it?)

This may come as a surprise to many people, but the superlative form of stupid is most stupid, as in I made the most stupid mistake, not stupidest. Stupidest can be heard and seen everywhere, but it’s wrong. (Please don’t ask me to roll out my entire exposition on why finding a word in a modern dictionary doesn’t make it legitimate, standard English. Paul and I have already paddled across that ocean several times.)

Stupid is just like lucid (same -id ending). The comparative form is more lucid, and the superlative form is most lucid. Likewise, the comparative form of stupid is more stupid, and the superlative form is most stupid. In fact, in general, -id words use more and most instead of –er and –est. (The water was more tepid, he was the most lucid, they could have been more candid, his reflexes have grown more torpid, the milk was the most rancid, his tongue had grown more acrid. No one would even think to say tepidest, lucidest, candidest, torpidest, rancidest, or acridest.)

Oddly enough, as many times as I’ve heard the word stupidest (and believe me, if I sold my soul to the devil in order to have eternal life, that wouldn’t be long enough for me to count the number of times that I’ve heard it over the past few years), I’m not sure that I’ve ever heard anyone use the word stupider (even though it is now given as an alternative form in some modern dictionaries!). Maybe that’s because people know how stupid the word stupider sounds and that the correct form is more stupid. Then why don’t they know how stupid stupidest sounds and that the correct form is most stupid?

Regardless, the aforementioned athlete may have made the most stupid mistake in his personal life, but he also made a mistake when he used the word stupidest.

I hope that we can now lay this stupid grammar error to rest.

Sherry

Paul’s book–Literally, the Best Language Book Ever;

Sherry’s Grammar List

Diss Goes Mainstream

It’s interesting to follow the progression of one generation’s trendy words as they spread into the more mainstream lexicon. The reason that the new generation started to create the new, trendy way of speaking was to separate themselves from the older generation, not so they would be imitated by the older crowd.

It seems as if the non-word diss, which is a trendy, slang way of talking about being treated in a disrespectful manner, such as He dissed me when he said I lied, may be on a path toward more widespread acceptance. On separate occasions in the past week, co-blogger Sherry Coven heard Chris Matthews, Andrea Mitchell, and Newt Gingrich each use diss on MSNBC when discussing politics. If these three don’t represent the older, more conservative generation from whom the younger people are trying to separate themselves, it’s hard to imagine who would.

When the new generation’s way of speaking is used by the older generation, the new generation often moves on to something else. And who could blame them; the last thing they want is for their parents to sound the same as they do. Also, it’s a problem for the older generation when they start to use the more youthful words. There weren’t too many people watching MSNBC who were thinking, “Gee, Chris and Andrea are in tune with the youth of today.” Some were probably thinking, “Is Andrea Mitchell trying to sound young? Please,” or, more likely, “Chis Matthews sounds ridiculous when he says diss.” Still others were saying, “What does diss mean?”

From a communication standpoint, the latter is the more serious problem when the words cross from the informal communication of the young to the more formal communication of the rest of the population, such as network television. Diss is not a word; therefore, many people don’t know what was trying to be communicated.

–Paul

Paul’s book–Literally, the Best Language Book Ever;

Sherry’s Grammar List

Literally, the Best Language Book Ever in Stores Today

Today is a day that I’ve been looking forward to for quite some time. My book, Literally, the Best Language Book Ever, is officially being released by Perigee Books. 

Working with Perigee to get it published was a great experience, and now, I’m fortunate enough to have been given several opportunities to talk about the book to the media. The point of writing a book, however, is to be able to write something for other people to read and enjoy, and that day is finally here. The books that have been pre-ordered in recent months will finally be shipped, and the book is now in book stores across the country, including Barnes and Noble, Borders, and many of the larger independent book stores.

–Paul

Let’s Lose This Spelling Error

I’ve actually had a couple of readers send me e-mail to ask that I write about the difference between loose and lose. It seems that I’m not the only person to have seen these two spelling errors.

 

When talking about something that is missing or misplaced or something that is relinquished, use the verb to lose. I lose my keys at least once per week. She loses her temper easily. They lose every bet that they place.

 

When talking about something that is not secure or contained, use loose. The doorknob is loose. He has loose morals. The goose is loose.

 

Sherry

 

Paul’s book–Literally, the Best Language Book Ever;

Sherry’s Grammar List

Jobs I’d Hate to Have

Expiration dates on food products are important, of course; otherwise, we’d have even more people going around saying “This doesn’t smell good–here, sniff” and “This doesn’t taste right–here, take a bite,” but it’s clear that we’ve taken this one step too far. I’m referring, of course, to the new development of stamping expiration dates on eggs–not on the carton that they come in but on each individual egg. I have some in my refrigerator right now.

I think I hate mornings more than the average person, but even I am not yet so lazy that I have to start reading my food instead of the box. Seriously, I look at the expiration date on the carton of eggs when I’m in the store, and then I recklessly go about making breakfast for the next week without double checking the expiration date. Call me a rebel. If I needed to, though, I wouldn’t mind doing the exhaustive research needed to look at the carton again. I don’t need to have someone in the egg processing plant making sure that the egg stamper has enough ink. That’s not a job I’d like to have. 

What’s more, I don’t like the precedent that’s being set. One of my co-workers buys Pop Tarts that have trivia questions stamped on them (I get about 50% of the answers correct, by the way), but what’s next? Are we going to start printing the fat and calories on individual potato chips? Are we going to have the words “tarter control” and “enamel strengthening” written on the white strip of the tri-colored toothpaste, itself?

Hey, if this book-writing thing doesn’t work out for me, maybe I could get a job writing expiration dates on Tic Tacs.

–Paul

Paul’s book–Literally, the Best Language Book Ever;

Sherry’s Grammar List