A CBC commentator referred to today's 50th anniversary of the "infamous" march on Washington. Surely that march is famous, not infamous. "Infamous" refers to an event or an action that is considered evil or monstrous. Thus freedom marches become famous, and the segregation laws of the...
In one of the most recent episodes of the popular British series, "Foyle's War", Foyle asks, "May I speak to whomever is in charge here?" "Whomever" should be "whoever" in this sentence. The reason for this is that "whoever is in charge here" is a subordinate...
An article in a recent New Yorker contains the following sentence: "A range of other provisions were also suggested." In the above sentence, range is the subject. Because range is a singular noun, the verb should be was. So the sentence should read as follows: "A range of other provisions...
If you aren’t interested in something–say, science fiction movies…. Are you disinterested in science fiction movies or uninterested in science fiction movies? If you aren’t interested in science fiction movies, you are uninterested in them. If you are disinterested, this means that you are neutral on a particular...
Here is a clear guide to the writing of titles. When are italics used, and when are quotation marks used? http://homeworktips.about.com/od/mlastyle/a/titles.htm ...
A clever New Yorker cartoon (May 28, 2012) shows a man tapping on his keyboard with his computer screen in front of him, and behind him a woman looking over his shoulder at the screen. She says, "It's 'She's driving me crazy and I'm not...
A writer in a Globe and Mail writes about a camping experience: "So it was with great excitement that I signed up my boyfriend and I for a night of succah camping in the Negev." That should read "I signed up my boyfriend and me...
A link to a Globe and Mail piece by Warren Clements on the current sliding-away of conjunctions: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/conjunctions-get-no-respect/article4485729/ ...
A CBC report yesterday referred to "a couple and its dogs". In the context, it was clear that "couple" referred to two people, but the pronoun "its" made them sound inanimate, or at least non-human. "Couple", being a collective noun, can be either singular or plural,...
When writing information that includes males and females, the acceptable "he or she", "him or her" can become tedious if the reference is repeated several times. To avoid that kind of tedium, try a couple of options: 1. try putting the whole thing in the plural--rather than "the student...