December 18, 2008
Yes. I admit it. We are lovers of grammar. I remember dating MrPages and driving down the main strip of the city. Shoppers Drug Mart recently announced that they would be “Open to Midnight.” “Who is Midnight, and why is the drug store open to him?” MrPages queried. [Nota Bene for those of you who have lives: It should read: Open 'til Midnight]
So recently MrPages came across a great list of misused words and I thought I might share it as well as some of our other lovely links for any other grammarians that might stumble upon our blog:
The Inigo Montoya Guide to 27 Commonly Misused Words: “I do not think that word means what you think it means!” A wonderful listing of commonly misused words, especially in my own writing.
Words: Woe and Wonder: I love CBC. Programming for the thoughtful Canadian. This is an open forum where you can point out CBC’s mistakes and they will justify their uses – for the next time you’re up late and can’t seem to fall asleep.
Eats Shoots and Leaves and other books by Lynne Truss: Ms Truss is a kindred spirit. Her book came with apostrophe stickers so you could fix poorly punctuated store signs. Awesome reading.
KISS Grammar by Dr. Ed Vavra: Dr Vavra is a wonderfully insightful man who is trying to create a curriculum that helps people understand grammar. The site is so jam-packed full of stuff that it can be overwhelming. I’m using these materials with the oldest LittlePages. Someday I may find the time and energy to write how I’m doing it, but not just yet.
Guide to Grammar & Writing by the late Dr. Charles Darling: This is another educational site by a grammar lover. It has wonderfully thorough definitions and the online tests are kind of fun. [Go ahead and roll your eyeballs, but then come and try to explain Predicate Adjectives to a ten year old!] There is also a page of confused words here as well.
And to end: How about 274 lines of poetry that show just how crazy English spelling and pronunciation rules actually are. It gives me a whole new appreciation of the skill of reading when I reflect that my seven year intuitively understands a lot of the inconsistencies in this poem. Really, it’s rather an amazing feat that any of us can read and write at all.
Related posts:
December 18th, 2008 at 11:16 pm
P.S. – I made some quick edits to your grammar before it went live. Their/they’re, and some typos.
December 19th, 2008 at 12:14 am
I love Lynne Truss, I’m partway through her followup book on manners. Also great, but another topic.
I especially like to point out usage of quotation marks. We were in a restaurant that claimed it’s sandwiches were ‘”Fresh” and “Healthy”‘. Not really appetizing…
Here’s a link to that book I mentioned awhile back. It’s called Anguish Languish. It’s especially fun to read aloud (Meaning a good brain and tongue workout – take a look and see).
http://www.justanyone.com/allanguish.html
December 19th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Oh my goodness, MrsBranches! That is simply amazing. What a great enunciation exercise and I think it will work great for the drama class we run!
Hank-goo,
MrsPages
August 8th, 2009 at 2:51 pm
Hello, I’m an old online friend of Kirby’s from back when we both wrote in a start trek related online game.
Lovely to read a fellow Grammar Geek.
I’m also a Geek of Punctuation and have really enjoyed a book called The New Well-Tempered Sentence, which, for me, was very reminiscent of Lynne Truss.