Hi readers! The Grammar Cop presents a motley assortment of awful errors today. Hang on to your hat!

1. SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN (reprinted on Salon.com): “The researchers found that most cats … looked between the fan and their human owner, seeming to gage their response.” Gauge would be a whole lot better! Yes, yes, I see in the online dictionary that it says:
   gage ³
   (gāj)
   n. & v.  Variant of gauge.
   But seriously, it just looks  wrong. The Grammar Cop hates this. You should too. 🙂
2. So help me, I have no idea how I ended up at this purportedly legit news website, but somehow I did. I was just following this irresistible Sarah Palin link. BLASTINGNEWS.COM: “SARAH PALIN MELTS DOWN DURING TRUMP RALLY WITH RACIAL REMARKS ABOUT ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS.” This was a headline touting a story about said remarks. But what struck me immediately was that “racial” was the wrong word. It should have been racist. (The meaning of “racial” is more like this:
   1- Of, relating to, or characteristic of race or races.
   2-Arising from or based on differences among human racial groups: racial conflict; racial discrimination.)

   But neither of these was the sense intended in the headline.

3. DAILY INSPIRATION.ME: “Rumi love quotes are very exhilarating and have a mesmerizing effect on it’s readers.” This is wrong on two or three counts. First of all, by now you all know how I feel about “it’s” as a possessive form – and it isn’t pretty! But aside from that mistake, there’s more: To what, or to whom, does the “it” refer? If it refers to the poet, Rumi, then it’s incorrect; it should say his readers. (Rumi was a person, not a thing.) If it’s referring to the “love quotes,” then it should say their, since the quotes are plural.  I vote for his.

School is out!