Friday Follies #232 – Making Grammar Great Again, One Hyphen at a Time

~ Ellie

Things we all should know, presented by your friendly neighbourhood Grammar Cop!

  1. They’re run by and for a class of elites, who could care less, literally, whether the average person lives or dies.
  2. Without further adieu, it’s time for the Jungle Tours addition of Myth Busters: “Is A Cassowary A Dinosaur?”
  3. Each of the cabins have a bathroom with a toilet and sink, with showers located at the wash house.

 

 

And the corrections:

  1. Now, look. Many people couldn’t care less whether the writer knows the proper way to say this expression or not… but the Grammar Cop cares! In fact she just modelled it for you in this sentence. The phrase is not “could care less.” It’s couldn’t care less. Ironically, the writer wrote “literally” right after saying it incorrectly!  (Yes, some may argue with the Grammar Cop, but space constraints prevent her from entering into such a debate. Interested readers could check out many sources; I like this link: https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/706/which-is-correct-could-care-less-or-couldnt-care-less.)
  2. As a resident of a bilingual (French-English) Canadian province, the Grammar Cop finds this mistake amusing. The correct phrase is not “without further adieu.” It’s without further ado, meaning “without any fuss or delay; immediately.” (“Adieu” is a French word that means “goodbye” or “farewell.”) By the way, 10 points if you also noticed the incorrect word, “addition.” The writer meant “edition.”
  3. Okay, now this one should jump out at you. But… just in case it didn’t, here’s the deal: The subject of the sentence is “Each.” This word indicates ONE item, no more. Therefore this ONE item should have a singular verb to agree with it: has. But in the example above, the verb is not singular; it is plural: “have.” Bzzzzzzzzt! Wrong! Want to know the reason for this boo-boo? Simple. The silly writer thought that the plural noun, “cabins” was the subject of the sentence. But we know it’s not. No, the subject is actually what, class? “EACH.” And it is singular. Case closed. 😀

Class dismissed! Please have your homework ready for next week. Kidding! No homework! Isn’t that great, class? 😅 Have a great week, stay safe and healthy! See you next Friday.

 

15 thoughts on “Friday Follies #232 – Making Grammar Great Again, One Hyphen at a Time”

  1. 1-I couldn’t care less about them either. Average people unite!
    2-It is time for the editor to bid adieu to that writer and demand the addition of new one. BTW, cassowaries everywhere are laughing.
    3-I would not stay there if there is no shower in the cabin.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

        3. I didn’t read blogs until late in the day, despite your having yours up very early. For one thing, I had a visit from neighbor Logan. He came over to bring some squash and asked if he could stay for a while. I was delighted.

          Liked by 1 person

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