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Pam Nelson: The Grammar Guide

 

Archive for January 2010

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10: Word of the year lists

I This article was originally posted by the Raleigh News & Observer, a subsidiary of The McClatchy Co.; is posted here to provide continuity; and is copyright © 2011 The News & Observer Publishing Company, which reserves the right to remove this post.

1: Word watch: Dilemma

A colleague pointed out some loose usage in this passage: Your house may soon be overrun by holiday weekend houseguests. As the host, you’ll have a dilemma: what to feed them. A dilemma is a choice between two bad alternatives, many usage experts say. To illustrate, I will refer to a scene from a favorite movie. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid faced a dilemma when they were trapped on that rocky ledge above a river as they were being chased by the posse: Stay and be killed or captured — or jump and drown or die in the[.....]