From: blenderdumbass . org
People often point out various grammatical errors in texts people write. As if having better attention to words makes the argument presented more or less valid. So I suppose I'm gonna rant about this.
Read or listen: https://blenderdumbass.org/articles/stupid_correct_english
A Sense of Doubt blog post #3712 - SoD Reprint of #284 The Dread Semicolon. https://sensedoubt.blogspot.com/2025/04/a-sense-of-doubt-blog-post-3712-sod.html #grammar #Semicolon #WhatsRightIsRight
https://mastodonapp.uk/@bbcnewsfeed/114353897671571397 Oh Stephen! Oh Beeb! 
China is encouraging it's retirees
Dangling modifier in the Irish Times Weekend Quiz. As a usage dictionary notes, "It's the funny ones that cause trouble." https://stancarey.wordpress.com/2013/06/06/a-hovering-dangling-modifier/
#Grammar exploration for today.
While reviewing a document at work I encountered this phrase: "do's and don'ts"
The pedant in me wants this to be either "dos and don'ts" or "do's and don't's".
I'm not the only one this bothers. According to this well-researched page, all three are considered acceptable to different constituencies:
https://www.vocabulary.com/articles/wc/dos-and-donts-or-dos-and-donts/
I will therefore resist the urge to mark up the document with a correction for this phrase. 
Grammar annoyance from the past couple of days: worse vs. worst.
Worse [the comparative form of bad] is used to compare two things that are both bad/low quality.
“This event is worse than the last one.”
Worst [the superlative form of bad] is used to describe something that’s of the lowest possible quality.
“That was the worst event I’ve ever attended!”
Read recently: “It only got worst when the event was over.” 
Correct: “It only got worse when the event was over.”
because they are quite nice and memes on top of memes. Turns out my grasp of English grammar isn't the best so we made two hats one with correct grammar and one without. See via the link in the Bio #Hats #Meme #Grammar #Style #Hat #Corduroy #Pōneke #Aotearoa #Wellington #NewZealand #Style #Fashion #Streetwear
LanguageTooler GmbH released #Grammar and Spell Checker - LanguageTool for Firefox version 8.19.4. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/languagetool/
Is it just me or is there like no research in #LFG on disjunct #adverbials? I found an MPhil thesis on the typology and placement possibilities of #adverbs in English (https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:d808caba-2c2c-4b84-8ec3-f62d78c67ab3), but that explicitly excludes comma-intonated adverbials like sentence adverbials and other disjuncts. A subsequent paper on disjuncts specifically is referenced (Cobb 2006), but it was apparently never published.
YouTube playlist on Bryan Garner's guide to writing. Absolute treasure, like all his books.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLd96oPdFukf41fh4Is1U5gEjxIz7i8GuE
I find it annoying that Toby Ziegler, a speechwriter, says, "I could care less..." 
#TheWestWing #grammar
V-는 통에 grammar = due to, because ~express the cause of a complex and distressing situation
아이들이 떠드는 통에 집중할 수 없어요.
(I can't focus because the kids are noisy.)
버스를 잘못 타는 통에 반대 방향으로 갔어요.
(I went the wrong way due to taking the incorrect bus.)
전쟁 통에 가족을 잃었어요.
(I lost my family due to the war.)
For details: https://www.koreantopik.com/2022/03/v-grammar-due-to-because-express-cause.html
Good writer's know when colons don't belong. #grammar #writing #writingcommunity #amwriting
After the boat race, one of my rowing coaches was saying on our WhatsApp how much he hates Oxford, but doesn’t know why. People started listing things:
“Marmalade”
“Brogues”
“Bags”
We should make a list, I said. “Marmalade, brogues, and bags”
Nothing. Not a single reaction.
Pearls before bloody swine. I ask you.
This piece makes the good point that "suspicion of the em dash also speaks to our mounting paranoia over automated communication" — we know there are people passing off AI crap as their own writing, and we want to be able to spot it. But the em dash "cannot be a reliable metric of AI reliance for the simple reason that it is a case of the software mimicking *human* writing patterns."
h/t @raganwald
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/chatgpt-hypen-em-dash-ai-writing-1235314945/
On the thorny issue of the Oxford comma I'm personally on the team that says any sentence where it noticeably increases or decreases ambiguity is poorly constructed. Redraft time.
I use it sometimes but generally prefer to avoid it for aesthetics reasons, it's certainly not something that should ever be load-bearing.
Popped onto the other place (or the other other place? BlueSky in any event) to catch up on current events. Not much useful today but I did see this headline.
The context was someone, not usually an Oxford comma advocate, saying this headline would benefit from one as the current text makes it sound like Katy Perry is Bezos's fiancé. A comma would clarify that she's not.
But surely it's actually more misleading that way? Katy Perry gets put in a subordinate clause!
Pirate Grammar Class (04/13/2025)
What's a pirate's favorite letter? RRRRrrrrrr
https://captainspurlin.com/
#captainspurlin #comics #comix #pirates #grammar #spelling
Your attention please. Verbing nouns and nouning verbs is common practice, but this should be extended. Your task for this week, class, is to verb a different adjective every day.
