Archive for the ‘usage’ Category

The late and lamented Bull Market, just market bull

Posted on March 3rd, 2010 by by Administrator

From Guy Geldworth, a friend of Sentence Parts:
Life is jittery in the office these days. Just trying to take care of our clients’ portfolios. We emphasize uncorrelated measures as we try to moor assets in safe harbors, yet it appears there’s nowhere to hide. I have to say it, the deregulated market seems to have [...]

A thing “accrues,” but not to oneself. Huh?

Posted on January 21st, 2010 by by Administrator

The accrual of power
Jonathan Zittrain, a lecturer at Oxford specializing in Internet governance and regulation, appeared on the Charley Rose Show and spoke on future uses and abuses of cyberspace and the internet. Along the way, Rose asked Zittrain what he believed a good social use of the Internet might be. Zittrain considered [...]

What kind of “thing” is contemporary news reporting?

Posted on December 15th, 2009 by by Administrator

The word “thing” can be used with good effect. See Keith Olbermann, “The Fuel Tax Thing” next posting. However, when used indiscriminately, as had a Los Angeles television reporter while reporting on a fire threatening the ruin of nearly completed condominiums, “things” like using language to actually name a solid object can cause alarm. [...]

Ah, might Latin be the culprit? Ditch the “for”

Posted on October 29th, 2009 by by Administrator

nother friend has the following to add:
He says: “How about: ‘Every year, the average person’s debt rises by $1139′”?
Then, “It’s the obfuscating Latin that bothers me more.”
Further question: Does the word “for” come from a Latin locution?

Charlie Sheen & Denise Richards…”The most nastiest couple”?

Posted on October 20th, 2009 by by Administrator

eraphim means “Angel of the highest order” (Concise Oxford Dictionary). Kim Serafin, a reporter and commentator of the Entertainment subculture (In Touch Weekly) who possesses a seraphim like smile, recently lost touch when proved guilty of the commission of a most unangelic grammatical error–the double superlative.
Comparitive and Superlative forms of adjectives “are used to emphasize [...]