Category Archives: proofreading

Grammar Giggle – It’s A Set Up!

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I captured this on one of my websites. It just didn’t look right. Research shows that according to Merriam-Webster online dictionary, “set up” is a verb meaning “to put (a machine) in readiness or adjustment for an operation.” The noun “setup” means “the preparation and adjustment of machines for an assigned task.”

In this example, “Website Analytics is not setup” is incorrect. You are talking about the action (verb) of putting your machine in readiness for an operation.

The second example “Setup Website Analytics” is also incorrect because it is also a verb showing the action of putting your machine in readiness for an operation–in this case Website Analytics. I think the only case where “setup” would be correct with the subject Website Analytics is if you were to say “Website Analytics Setup” (the preparation and adjustment of machines for an assigned task–in this case, Website Analytics) with instructions for the actual set up process.

It is definitely confusing, but if you are actually setting something up–like a computer program or app–it is “set up.”

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Grammar Giggles – Myself

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I saw this in a local business newspaper. It illustrates the problem with reflexive pronouns. Those are the “-self” words like myself, herself, himself. Read this post on reflexive pronouns to help you avoid the improper use of the “-self” words.

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Grammar Giggle – Cemetary

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A loyal Proof That reader sent this to me. For some reason, I always hold teachers and government workers to a higher standard. I know I shouldn’t, but I do. And I always like to check to make sure there isn’t another meaning for what I think is a misspelled word, but this at the top of my Google search says it all:

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Grammar Giggle – Foutain Drinks

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I caught this picture at a gas station in Albuquerque this past weekend. One thing they had going for them is that it was the same on two sides of the sign and consistency is a good thing. At first I thought it might have been a spacing issue, particularly since another side of the sign spelled “Red Bul” with only one “t,” but looking at the picture again, I don’t really think that is it.

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Grammar Giggle – Didgital

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While I was shopping at a local grocery store with my daughter recently, I came upon this sign. The correct word is “digital,” meaning “relating to or using calculation directly with digits rather than through measurable physical quantities” (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/digital) (emphasis added).

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Grammar Giggle – When You Know Something’s Just Not Right

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I recently received this email. I could immediately tell from the return address on what showed up in my email as “Wellsfrago Loan Company” that something was just not right. I was correct! There is a lot not right here.

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