Grammar Giggle – Miss Conception

I hate spam! And I receive a lot of it in my blogs. But this one caught my eye. While since the sender is “playboy casino,” I could almost understand the “miss conception” error–ALMOST–but I think the second error leaves out the word “ready.” I realize that people who spam are probably not among the most intelligent humans out there, but every once in a while it makes for good Grammar Giggle material.

miss conception

Confusing Words Of The Week

Words of the WeekIt’s time for “Confusing Words of the Week” where I take a set of two or three words that get confused and give you definitions and try to give you a memory trick to help you remember when to use which word. If you have words that confuse you, use the Ask PTB tab on the website or send an email to [email protected] and they may appear here soon!

This week’s words are:

  • tack – (n.) direction; (v.) to change direction
  • tact – considerate way of behaving so as to avoid offending others

Memory tips:

  • tack – think of the “k” as a road with a choice of direction

k

  • tact – think of the “t” as keeping things even to avoid offending others

t

Grammar Giggle – Wedding Invitations

I recently received this wedding invitation (after I received a message warning me of the errors). While the purchaser of the invitations should definitely make sure everything is correct, it would be nice if printers had some grasp of basic grammar so that they could mention when something doesn’t look right so that the purchaser can decide how they want to do it. This bride isn’t going to let the invitation ruin her wedding, but it is a shame that it got through the process without anyone noticing.

Wedding1Wedding2

Replay Thursday

Thursday-ReplayIt’s time for a review of recent blog posts just in case you’ve missed them. We call this Replay Thursday. Here are posts from Proof That proofreading blog and 60 Is The New 60 blog during the past week.

https://proofthatblog.com/2019/02/04/grammar-giggle-barbies/

https://proofthatblog.com/2019/02/05/confusing-words-of-the-week-47/

http://60isthenew60blog.com/2019/02/06/dont-phub-me/

Confusing Words of the Week

Words of the WeekIt’s time for “Confusing Words of the Week” where I take a set of two or three words that get confused and give you definitions and try to give you a memory trick to help you remember when to use which word. If you have words that confuse you, use the Ask PTB tab on the website or send an email to [email protected] and they may appear here soon!

This week’s words are:

  • decadent – something that is luxurious and self-indulgent
    • The dessert was the most decadent thing she had had in quite some time.
  • decedent – a person who has died.
    • The decedent did not leave a Last Will and Testament.

Memory tips:

  • decadent – think of “deca”–which means a factor of ten–to represent how much weight you will gain if you eat the decadent dessert.
  • decedent – think of the beginning of the word “deceased” so a decedent is someone who is deceased.

Grammar Giggle – Barbie’s

This was a picture I took of a Christmas gift for my youngest granddaughter. It highlights the improper use of an apostrophe. What exactly belongs to Barbie? Or are you talking about more than one Barbie? Perhaps you’re talking about 20 Barbies? If this had said 20 Barbies and Barbie’s accessories, then the apostrophe in the second “Barbie” would be correct because you’re talking about accessories belonging to Barbie. As it is here, the apostrophe is incorrect because you’re talking about 20 Barbies so it is plural NOT possessive.

Barbies2