Tergiversate
Pronounced "ter-JIV-er-sate", it means “to change repeatedly one's attitude or opinions with respect to a cause, subject, etc.; equivocate.”
Where's the Edit Button on Facebook?
Posting with errors? I am guilty of this all the time!
If I really want to put out a good piece of writing (not like this one ~ lol), it takes me hours to finish it. And even if I feel that I am ready to publish it, I still edit it.
In this time and age, however, microblogging is so prevalent. Any thought, encounter, experience you have you always would want to shout it out there. Often you just type and push the Send / Publish button, and regret a minute later because what you had written badly needs editing.
For blogs or websites, it's easy to edit; but Facebook, nah. This is the status I want to edit. Look here:
If I really want to put out a good piece of writing (not like this one ~ lol), it takes me hours to finish it. And even if I feel that I am ready to publish it, I still edit it.
In this time and age, however, microblogging is so prevalent. Any thought, encounter, experience you have you always would want to shout it out there. Often you just type and push the Send / Publish button, and regret a minute later because what you had written badly needs editing.
For blogs or websites, it's easy to edit; but Facebook, nah. This is the status I want to edit. Look here:
The fourth line should read: Well, guess what? For 20 years, I was doing assignments.
Then next line: Everyone laughs.
The ones posted are not really wrong but for usage, style, I feel the corrections are more appropriate. But I can't find the edit button. Where is the edit button in Facebook?
Got excited to see that Edit or Remove option there. But look at my options:
No option to edit the post itself.
Before, during the early days of Facebook, I remember clearly they have this Edit button. I should know because I would edit my posts several times. (lol)
Wish they would bring it back.
The Absence of a Pronoun Antecedent
An online local news provider reported about the same-sex marriage and went:
There are two things that are wrong in this sentence.
Be careful with your pronoun antecedents and facts.
... This came amid news that New York City has also legalized gay marriage. It became the sixth state in the United States to do so.
There are two things that are wrong in this sentence.
- The pronoun It in the second sentence does not have an antecedent. The pronoun does not clearly point to New York City.
- If the It pronoun does point to New York City, then it negates the succeeding thought, which is "the sixth state in the United States..." New York City is not a state. There is a New York state of which New York City is a part of.
Be careful with your pronoun antecedents and facts.
I've Achieved!
"I've achieved!"
I first saw this slogan on billboards. My first reaction was to ask myself, "isn't the verb "achieve" a transitive verb?"
A transitive verb needs an object to complete its thought. For example:
But then again I don't think the company--and a call center at that--that put out that slogan didn't make sure that they were expressing a good and grammatically correct sentence. So I looked up again the word "achieve."
Dictionary.com says:
I first saw this slogan on billboards. My first reaction was to ask myself, "isn't the verb "achieve" a transitive verb?"
A transitive verb needs an object to complete its thought. For example:
The sales team achieved its quota for the quarter.
The college graduate feels that he has achieved a lot.
But then again I don't think the company--and a call center at that--that put out that slogan didn't make sure that they were expressing a good and grammatically correct sentence. So I looked up again the word "achieve."
Dictionary.com says:
Achieve
–verb (used with object)
to bring to a successful end; carry through; accomplish: The police crackdown on speeders achieved its purpose.2. to get or attain by effort; gain; obtain: to achieve victory.
–verb (used without object)
3. to bring about an intended result; accomplish some purpose or effect.
So, there, the word can be with or without an object.
Thanks to this "I've achieved!" slogan, I am able to review my English grammar/usage again. ;)Check out the Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus!
I stumbled upon this interesting site: Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus.
You key in a word and you will be given the synonyms of that word presented like a thinkmap like this:
Then the meanings of each synonym is given at the right column. You position your mouse on a word and the definition appears. And the choices expand as you click on every word. This way, you don't need to key in the word every time. It definitely makes your word search easier and more efficient.
Check it out! :)
Fee v. Cost
Fee - an amount of money paid for a particular piece of work or for a particular right or service.
Examples:
How much is the registration fee?
We have added the doctor's fee to the bill.
Cost - the amount of money needed to buy, do or make something; the amount of money needed for a business or to do a particular job
Examples:
I wish I could install this software to my new laptop at no extra cost (that is, for no additional money).
Management told the marketing people to cut advertising costs.
Source
Examples:
How much is the registration fee?
We have added the doctor's fee to the bill.
Cost - the amount of money needed to buy, do or make something; the amount of money needed for a business or to do a particular job
Examples:
I wish I could install this software to my new laptop at no extra cost (that is, for no additional money).
Management told the marketing people to cut advertising costs.
Source
'Austerity' is 2010 Word of the Year
Not many of us pay attention to our vocabulary. What words we often use, what words are newly coined, and what words are added to the dictionary.
Through the years, words get listed on the dictionary while others got removed mainly due to its reach, use, or lack of it. And little did we know that words are also good signs of the times. :D
Take for example the word 'Austerity.' It is declared as the 2010 Word of the Year. Here's why:
Through the years, words get listed on the dictionary while others got removed mainly due to its reach, use, or lack of it. And little did we know that words are also good signs of the times. :D
Take for example the word 'Austerity.' It is declared as the 2010 Word of the Year. Here's why:
Austerity, the 14th century noun defined as "the quality or state of being austere" and "enforced or extreme economy," set off enough searches that Merriam-Webster named it as its Word of the Year for 2010, the dictionary's editors announced Monday.
John Morse, president and publisher of the Springfield, Mass.-based dictionary, said "austerity" saw more than 250,000 searches on the dictionary's free online tool and came with more coverage of the debt crisis.
"What we look for ... what are the words that have had spikes that strike us very much as an anomaly for their regular behavior," Morse said. "The word that really qualifies this year for that is 'austerity'."
Source
