Friday Follies #246 – Making Grammar Great Again, One Hyphen at a Time

~ Ellie

Hi FFers! The Grammar Cop brings you a potpourri of pungent faux-pas.

  1. She [Oprah] has also spent time with Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, who she invited to her house last year and gifted a basket of kumquats!
  2. “It’s a human virus,” said Weese. “It likes people and there are some animal species that can be effected but that’s a spillover.”
  3. West Island volunteers breaks social isolation even in lockdown.

And the corrections:

  1. The first mistake should be obvious: “who” should be whom, because it’s the object of the verb “invited” and therefore must be in the objective case. The second mistake is not universally considered incorrect, but this Grammar Cop believes it is, and since we’re on her turf, it’s wrong! 😁 We don’t “gift someone a basket”; we gift someone with a basket. More on this can be seen here.
  2. Did you spot it? This is a relatively common error; we’ve looked at it before. Many people get effect and affect confused. In the given sentence, it should say affected. A virus affects people. The effect is that we may get sick. So the verb is affect and the noun is effect. Sometimes there are exceptions to this rule, but let’s not muddle things just now. 😁
  3. Here’s a silly little mistake in the verb ending. Why is it “breaks”? The “s” denotes a singular subject: He breaks the cup. Sunshine breaks the gloom. But in the given sentence, the subject is plural: “volunteers.” Therefore we need a plural form of the verb: West Island volunteers break social isolation even in lockdown. (And good for them, I say!)

I hope you enjoyed these corrections. They were made by a Corrections Officer, so what’s not to like, as they say? 😁 (By the way, the Grammar Cop forgot (nooo!) last week’s promise to present something Halloween-related, but, well, buy yourself some appropriate candy as compensation, OK? Sorry!) Have a safe and restful week, everyone!

10 thoughts on “Friday Follies #246 – Making Grammar Great Again, One Hyphen at a Time”

  1. 1- Do I get gifted with a basket of kumquats because I noticed the bloopers?
    2-Grammaritis has infected the writer.
    3-I hope they were all wearing masks. 😀
    (Sorry I missed last week. I was in computer hell.)

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

      1. Ugh! I had to reinstall Windows 10 and then reinstall all the third-party apps and redo my website and other things. 10 days of supreme annoyingness. (Yes, that’s a word!) 😀 I actually had about 1200 emails waiting for me.

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply

        1. OMG OMG OMG!!! This is over-the-tip annoy…ment?!!! 😀 Seriously, i can just about imagine! What caused this? Never mind, I’m sure u don’t want to recount the awfulness!!

          Like

  3. I caught the ones you pointed out, so I’m feeling smug.

    I know “gift” morphed from a noun to a verb, but I would never gift anyone with anything. My ears are not comfortable with it.

    Also, I would have broken up sentence two and added commas. That is the way people talk, but my eyes object.

    Happy halloween 🎃

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Yes, generally I dislike those nouns-into-verbs too! As for commas, I mentally insert them wherever needed. 😀
      Hope your Halloween was fun! We had a little crisis (urinary blockage) with our kitty, Annie, but she’s much better now. Still, we will bring her to vet tomorrow if possible.

      Like

      Reply

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