TGIF, Friday Follies followers! Here are some frightful flubs gathered by our tireless Grammar Cop. And oh, the irony! You’ll see why. 😅

1. “Han offers to help setup an appointment at the University of South Florida in Tampa, where I can…”
2. “…this could have a political advantage if it forces Democratic senators who are running for president to chose between campaigning and impeachment.”
3. “… the editing process is about polishing your story, catching errors, expanding on themes that you started to explore but didn’t fully give them their due, and so much more.”

The corrections:

1. When you set up an appointment, it’s two words, not one. The only time it’s one word is when it’s a noun, e.g.: The room setup was appropriate. The stage setup was perfect. This example was written by a journalist, by the way; hence the irony.
2. Chose is the past tense of choose. In this sentence, the present tense is called for. The sentence should read …this could have a political advantage if it forces Democratic senators who are running for president to choose between campaigning and impeachment. This was in a newsletter emailed to me by The New York Times. Shame on them.
3. You may find when you read this that something is wrong, but you can’t quite put your finger on it. The problem centres around “but didn’t fully give them their due.” It’s jarring, because it intrudes on the parallel construction of “polishing your story”; “catching errors”; and “expanding on themes.” The sentence can be reworded like this: …the editing process is about polishing your story, catching errors, expanding on themes that you started to explore, and so much more. The phrase “but didn’t fully give them their due” is unnecessary. Ironically the poorly structured sentence was written in a blog touting proper writing and editing! Isn’t the rewritten sentence more streamlined? Yes it is! 😊

The internet’s most effective and ever-so-humble Grammar Cop is ready for a good rest now. Have a great week!