This is a common error that I see (and hear) a lot. Towards is used in British English, while in the U.S., we use toward. Toward means moving in the direction of or in relation to. So when I received this notification from an American company, it caught my attention. I have previously written a blog post about this topic at https://proofthatblog.com/2016/07/27/the-pesky-s/.
This I found on Twitter. The correct phrase should be “couldn’t have gotten.” I think the error happens because when you are actually saying the phrase out loud, it sounds like “couldn’t uv gotten” so people assume it is “of” instead of “have.” That is incorrect.
This is a pretty common error that I saw on a TV ad recently. The phrase “use to be” is incorrect. When you’re talking about something that happened in the past but doesn’t happen anymore, the correct phrase is “used to be.” In this sentence it means that in the past, surgery was the only option, but it is not the only option anymore, so “used to be” would be correct.
Sunday, March 9, marks the beginning of daylight saving time throughout most of the 
United States. Being an Arizona native, I remember when we tried daylight saving time here. It’s tough to put a kid to bed when the sun is bright overhead. Arizona has not observed daylight saving time for many years, but that’s not the intended topic.
You may have noted that in the paragraph above it was daylight saving time NOT daylight savings time. Singular “saving” is correct. The proper way to indicate the time for the different time zones during daylight saving time is:
EDT – Eastern daylight time
CDT – Central daylight time
MDT – Mountain daylight time
PDT – Pacific daylight time
That designation indicates that the specified time is during daylight saving time in the specific time zone. For instance, 3:00 p.m. MDT would be 3:00 in the afternoon in Denver (and other cities in the Mountain time zone) on dates between March 9, 2014, and November 2, 2014 (the date range when daylight saving time is in effect this year). The other part of the year is standard time and would be designated as:
EST – Eastern standard time
CST – Central standard time
MST – Mountain standard time
PST – Pacific standard time
An alternative is to eliminate the specific designation altogether and use these terms year-round:
ET – Eastern time
CT – Central time
MT – Mountain time
PT – Pacific time
While we’re talking about time, the difference between a.m. and p.m. is important. The designation “a.m.” stands for the Latin term ante meridiem and means the time from midnight to noon. The designation “p.m.” stands for the Latin term post meridiem and means the time from noon to midnight. While people seem to grasp that concept, the exact times of midnight and noon seems to confuse them. The time 12:00 a.m. is midnight (it is between midnight and noon) and 12:00 p.m. is noon. Note that 11:59 at night is 11:59 p.m. because it is between noon and midnight. It is always good to confirm whether the a.m. or p.m. is correct so people don’t think an event is 12 hours earlier or later than intended.
To those of you who will “spring forward” this weekend, enjoy it and keep the time straight so others know exactly what time you are talking about.
A reader wrote and asked me whether the phrase “attorney-client privilege” or “attorney-client privileged” was correct. I gave her my answer and told her that I would write a blog post on it.
“Attorney-client privilege” is defined as “the requirement that an attorney may not reveal communications, conversations and letters between himself/herself and his/her client, under the theory that a person should be able to speak freely and honestly with his/her attorney without fear of future revelation.” (http://dictionary.law.com/default.aspx?selected=2467)
“Attorney-client privileged” would be used if you were talking about an “attorney-client privileged communication” or “attorney-client privileged information.”
I did find a law firm article (http://www.faegrebd.com/the-holey-grail-a-guide-to-attorney-client-privilege) indicating memos containing privileged information should be marked “ATTORNEY-CLIENT PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL.” This makes sense because you are talking about the information in the memo, which is attorney-client privileged information (as mentioned above) and is confidential information.
So, if you are indicating on a memo or on a letter that the information is confidential and subject to the attorney-client privilege, the correct designation appears to be “ATTORNEY-CLIENT PRIVILEGED INFORMATION.” It follows that you could say that the word “information” is assumed and “ATTORNEY-CLIENT PRIVILEGED” is a correct designation.
When you are talking about the privilege and not the information, then “attorney-client privilege” is proper, but if you are talking about information or a specific communication, then “attorney-client privileged” is correct.
This research proved that my original answer to the reader was . . . wrong! But now I know and will be able to figure out if we are talking about the privilege or the communication so that I get it right.
I saw this sign the other day and had to go back and make sure it said what I thought it said and to get a picture of it. For Sale Buy Owner? I don’t want to buy the owner, but surely someone is interested in the 4+ acres of property that would seem to be for sale if the sign were correct. Is the property for sale or the owner? It is definitely confusing.
I saw this sign more than once at Disneyland (consistency is good!). I thought something was wrong with it, so snapped this picture vowing to do some research and figure out if I was correct. The problem is whether it should be “age” or “aged.”
A friend and I were recently discussing what our possibilities for recreation are for a trip to Sedona, Arizona, this summer. When I said “vortexes,” her response was “shouldn’t it be vortices?” I had never heard that word, but told her I would investigate and use it as a blog topic. So here we are.
According to the Gregg Reference Manual nouns of a foreign origin retain their foreign plurals while some now have English plurals and others have two plurals—both foreign and English. How confusing is that? When there are two plural forms, one form may be preferred to the other and you are instructed to check your dictionary to be sure of the correct plural form.
I will not quote the entire section from Gregg, but it is interesting indeed. It is in the Tribute (11th) edition starting on page 204. Here are select entries:
| WORDS ENDING IN US (the asterisk indicates the preferred form) | ||
| Singular | English Plural | Foreign Plural |
| cactus | cactuses | cacti* |
| focus | focuses* | foci |
| nucleus | nucleuses | nuclei* |
| stylus | styluses | styli* |
| thesaurus | thesauruses | thesauri* |
| WORDS ENDING IN A | ||
| Singular | English Plural | Foreign Plural |
| agenda | agendas | |
| dogma | dogmas* | dogmata |
| formula | formulas* | formulae |
| vertebra | vertebras | vertebrae* |
| WORDS ENDING IN UM | ||
| Singular | English Plural | Foreign Plural |
| addendum | addenda | |
| auditorium | auditoriums* | auditoria |
| consortium | consortiums* | consortia |
| curriculum vitae | curricula vitae | |
| erratum | errata | |
| maximum | maximums* | maxima |
| memorandum | memorandums* | memoranda |
| stadium | stadiums* | stadia |
| ultimatum | ultimatums* | ultimate |
| WORDS ENDING IN O | ||
| Singular | English Plural | Foreign Plural |
| crescendo | crescendos* | crescendo |
| tempo | tempos | tempi (in music) |
| WORDS ENDING IN ON | ||
| Singular | English Plural | Foreign Plural |
| criterion | criterions | criteria* |
| phenomenon | phenomenons | phenomena* |
| WORDS ENDING IN X | ||
| Singular | English Plural | Foreign Plural |
| appendix | appendixes* | appendices |
| crux | cruxes* | cruces |
| index | indexes (of books) | indices (math symbols) |
| matrix | matrixes | matrices* |
| vortex | vortexes | vortices* |
| WORDS ENDING IN IS | ||
| Singular | English Plural | Foreign Plural |
| analysis | analyses | |
| crisis | crises | |
| ellipsis | ellipses | |
| parenthesis | parentheses | |
| synopsis | synopses | |
| WORDS ENDING IN EU OR EAU | ||
| Singular | English Plural | Foreign Plural |
| Adieu | adieus* | adieux |
| Bureau | bureaus* | bureaux |
| Plateau | plateaus* | plateaux |
| COMPOUND WORDS | ||
| Singular | English Plural | Foreign Plural |
| chaise longue | chaise longues* | chaises longues |
| hors d’oeuvre | hors d’ouevres* | hors d’oeuvre |
| maître d’ | maître d’s | |
So did you learn anything from this taste of English and foreign pluralization of foreign nouns? I sure did! I was wrong and will forevermore refer to Sedona’s vortices correctly. Who knew?
This was in my Facebook feed recently. Apparently this company wanted to get the attention of a house in Mesa for its program. Otherwise, it would have addressed it to Mesa RESIDENTS. And, once again, it also uses an apostrophe to make a word plural. It seems that a company paying to promote an ad would make sure it was correct.
I was in a CVS drugstore recently looking for something searching the aisle markers trying to find what we needed when this gem caught my eye:
I was taught a long time ago that when you’re talking about products to help you write a lEtter, use the stationEry with an “E.” That tip still holds true. StationAry means to stay in one place unmoving. Unfortunately for CVS they obviously know better because you can see part of an even bigger sign on the wall (but I took another picture to make it easier for you!):
You’ll note that they both have the same Spanish word, so they were attempting to show us where the stationery was located. At least the stationery is stationary!
P.S. – don’t do a Google search for a definition for stationAry, because this will come up:
I’m hoping that is only so they can catch people who don’t know the difference, but I’m scared that that is a very big hope!
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