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Pam Nelson: The Grammar Guide

 

‘confused words’ archive

Number of comments in parentheses

May 12: Check out the new Grammar Guide quiz (inspired by good usage)

I often use published mistakes for my Grammar Guide quizzes, but today I was inspired by writers and editors who got things right. All of the sentences in today’s Grammar Guide quiz (It’s No. 71) come from The New York Times. I read the national edition in print on Sunday mornings. This quiz will betray my reading interests; I turn first to the Sunday Review, the Book Review and Sunday Styles (I love the wedding reports). As usual, the quiz is more about usage and copy editing than about the mechanics of grammar. And I am somewhat prescriptivist in[.....]

March 4: A new quiz for National Grammar Day 2013

Today is National Grammar Day. My fellow grammar geeks have been busy. If you check out the Grammar Day page, you’ll see all sorts of activity and postings. I am disappointed that none of my Grammar Day haiku on Twitter achieved honorable mention in the Grammar Day haiku contest, but I enjoyed all the charming and clever entries. Fun was had by all. I am a little late with this post, but I have a new Grammar Guide quiz. This one is all about word choice, and, of course, it’s more about usage and editing than grammar. But “grammar” is large[.....]

Dec. 2, 2012: What, me worry? When a copy editor reads the paper (13)

My recovery from newspapers has hit a few bumps lately. I haven’t missed the work exactly, but I have seen a few lapses in my local newspaper, which happens to be my former employer, that caused me to cringe, left me irritated and made me wish I were still there to have (perhaps) averted the mistakes. I write today in sorrow that the organization I once worked for had to thin its ranks of more experienced copy editors. We truly are missed. I started to write this post without identifying the paper because I have friends who work there[.....]

Oct. 15, 2012: This post is due to a misreading (2)

One of the usage rules drilled into my head many years ago is that due to can be used only as an adjectival phrase and that often the phrase we need is because of, which works as an adverbial phrase. The classic example is: I fell because of the ice on the sidewalk. (because of modifies the verb fell. My fall was due to the ice on the sidewalk. (due to acts as a subject complement — an adjective to modify fall.)

Aug. 19, 2012: Sometimes it’s just a spelling error — Quiz No. 68

John McIntyre wrote recently in his You Don’t Say blog about whether an incorrect spelling could be considered a typo rather than a writer’s ignorance of the correct word. The example he used is principle/principal. As Mr. McIntyre wrote, sometimes the writer merely mistypes, but sometimes the mistake is the result of confusion.

May 16, 2012: Word choice quiz: More tricky sentences (1)

I’ve run across some interesting examples of confused words lately. Sometimes, even in context, these sentences can be quite challenging. I chose what I think is the better word, but some writers and editors might disagree. Give the quiz a try.