{"id":4567,"date":"2018-06-28T16:23:20","date_gmt":"2018-06-28T20:23:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/?p=4567"},"modified":"2018-07-30T16:43:19","modified_gmt":"2018-07-30T20:43:19","slug":"n-seen-t-shirt-silently-correcting-grammar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/ponte-vedra\/n-seen-t-shirt-silently-correcting-grammar\/","title":{"rendered":"This \u2018n That | Seen on a t-shirt: \u201cI Am Silently Correcting Your Grammar\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Mims Cushing
\n<\/span>mail@floridanewsline.com<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Gentle readers, prepare to loathe this column. Be ready to stop reading it after the first paragraph. I sometimes receive what Martie Thompson, editor of this newspaper, calls \u201cfan mail.\u201d I won\u2019t get any love notes for this one. That\u2019s okay. It\u2019s something I want to write about and it\u2019s my column. Besides my kids and grands haven\u2019t done anything heinous to write about lately.<\/span><\/p>\n

The topic is grammar. I know. Boo hiss. But I\u2019ll understand if your eyes glaze over. Let\u2019s get started. I hope this is a teachable moment for you.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Use \u201cless\u201d not \u201cfewer,\u201d when what is less is not quantifiable. \u201cLess water,\u201d is fine. Of course you wouldn\u2019t say \u201cfewer water\u201d unless you say \u201cfewer drops of water. You can count drops of water. \u201cShe has fewer cats than I have.\u201d Not \u201cless cats.\u201d And do not use \u201c\u2026 than me.\u201d You can choose \u201cI have\u201d because you wouldn\u2019t say \u201cfewer cats than me have.\u201d Always put the verb at the end of the sentence and you\u2019ll be right every time.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Farther refers to distance. Think \u201cfar\u201d or \u201cfar off.\u201d \u201cSt. Augustine is farther than \u2026\u201d (fill in the blank). When do you use further? When you want to mean \u201cin addition,\u201d as in \u201cfurthermore. You\u2019d never say \u201cfarthermore,\u201d right?<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. \u201cIt\u2019s\u201d means \u201cit is.\u201d The apostrophe is added to mean Hey! I\u2019ve taken a letter out and substituted it with that apostrophe. \u201cIt\u2019s a fine day,\u201d means \u201cIt is a fine day.\u201d If you say, \u201cThe dog is chasing its tail,\u201d there is no apostrophe needed because you are not saying, \u201cThe dog is chasing it is tail.\u201d Very simple.<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. Then we come to \u201canxious\u201d and \u201ceager.\u201d Anxious means nervous. \u201cThe kids are anxious for Christmas to arrive.\u201d Are they nervous? Only if they are afraid Santa will bop them on the head for breaking bad. Sorry, being bad. No, they are eager, which means excited. I understand it\u2019s (it is) being used incorrectly by so many people that it\u2019s now okay to use anxious and eager interchangeably. Be a grammar purist! Fight it! <\/span><\/li>\n
  5. Next: I heard a newscaster use \u201cbit\u201d when bitten should have been used. She said, \u201cThe girl was bit by the shark.\u201d Put \u201cbit\u201d in the blender, unless you mean, \u201cThe shark bit me.\u201d I\u2019m sorry you were bitten by a shark, but if you bit it, good for you.<\/span><\/li>\n
  6. Now for my personal pet peeve: Using \u201cvery unique.\u201d Total arrgh from me. Unique means one of a kind. So how can something be very unique if the word means \u2026 One Of A Kind? Her bracelet is unique. And by way \u2014 drop \u201cvery\u201d in many instances. It\u2019s an unnecessary intensifier. (I\u2019ve taken more editing courses than I can count. You can trust me.)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    If you test me on mathematics, I will run away and hide. My weak spot now and forever is arithmetic. But we have to talk more than do math, therefore English is more important for us (not \u201cwe!\u201d) mortals than math. (Think \u201cfor us.\u201d You would never say \u201cfor we mortals.\u201d)<\/span><\/p>\n

    Send your pet grammar peeves to me in care of this newspaper. Well, perhaps this column can be useful. If nothing else, line your birdcage with it.<\/span><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    By Mims Cushing mail@floridanewsline.com Gentle readers, prepare to loathe this column. Be ready to stop reading it after the first paragraph. I sometimes receive what Martie Thompson, editor of this newspaper, calls \u201cfan mail.\u201d I won\u2019t get any love notes for this one. That\u2019s okay. It\u2019s something I want to write about and it\u2019s my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4099,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[114,113],"class_list":{"0":"post-4567","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ponte-vedra","8":"tag-lifestyle","9":"tag-mims-cushing"},"yoast_head":"\nThis \u2018n That | Seen on a t-shirt: \u201cI Am Silently Correcting Your Grammar\u201d - Florida NewsLine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ponte Vedra NewsLineBy Mims Cushing mail@floridanewsline.com Gentle readers, prepare to loathe this column. Be ready to stop reading it after the first paragraph. I sometimes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/ponte-vedra\/n-seen-t-shirt-silently-correcting-grammar\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"This \u2018n That | Seen on a t-shirt: \u201cI Am Silently Correcting Your Grammar\u201d - Florida NewsLine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ponte Vedra NewsLineBy Mims Cushing mail@floridanewsline.com Gentle readers, prepare to loathe this column. Be ready to stop reading it after the first paragraph. I sometimes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/ponte-vedra\/n-seen-t-shirt-silently-correcting-grammar\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Florida NewsLine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheFloridaNewsLine\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-06-28T20:23:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-07-30T20:43:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/PVN-Mims-Cushing-1607.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"587\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"566\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"editor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@floridanewsline\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@floridanewsline\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"editor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/ponte-vedra\/n-seen-t-shirt-silently-correcting-grammar\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/ponte-vedra\/n-seen-t-shirt-silently-correcting-grammar\/\",\"name\":\"This \u2018n That | Seen on a t-shirt: \u201cI Am Silently Correcting Your Grammar\u201d - Florida NewsLine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/ponte-vedra\/n-seen-t-shirt-silently-correcting-grammar\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/ponte-vedra\/n-seen-t-shirt-silently-correcting-grammar\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/PVN-Mims-Cushing-1607.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-06-28T20:23:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-07-30T20:43:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/#\/schema\/person\/f112e5505697e0e24f438c3562ad0fcc\"},\"description\":\"Ponte Vedra NewsLineBy Mims Cushing mail@floridanewsline.com Gentle readers, prepare to loathe this column. Be ready to stop reading it after the first paragraph. I sometimes\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/ponte-vedra\/n-seen-t-shirt-silently-correcting-grammar\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/ponte-vedra\/n-seen-t-shirt-silently-correcting-grammar\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/ponte-vedra\/n-seen-t-shirt-silently-correcting-grammar\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/PVN-Mims-Cushing-1607.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/PVN-Mims-Cushing-1607.jpg\",\"width\":587,\"height\":566},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/ponte-vedra\/n-seen-t-shirt-silently-correcting-grammar\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"This \u2018n That | Seen on a t-shirt: \u201cI Am Silently Correcting Your Grammar\u201d\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/\",\"name\":\"Florida NewsLine\",\"description\":\"The Newspapers Everybody Gets\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/#\/schema\/person\/f112e5505697e0e24f438c3562ad0fcc\",\"name\":\"editor\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/author\/editor\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"This \u2018n That | Seen on a t-shirt: \u201cI Am Silently Correcting Your Grammar\u201d - Florida NewsLine","description":"Ponte Vedra NewsLineBy Mims Cushing mail@floridanewsline.com Gentle readers, prepare to loathe this column. Be ready to stop reading it after the first paragraph. I sometimes","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/ponte-vedra\/n-seen-t-shirt-silently-correcting-grammar\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"This \u2018n That | Seen on a t-shirt: \u201cI Am Silently Correcting Your Grammar\u201d - Florida NewsLine","og_description":"Ponte Vedra NewsLineBy Mims Cushing mail@floridanewsline.com Gentle readers, prepare to loathe this column. Be ready to stop reading it after the first paragraph. I sometimes","og_url":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/ponte-vedra\/n-seen-t-shirt-silently-correcting-grammar\/","og_site_name":"Florida NewsLine","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheFloridaNewsLine\/","article_published_time":"2018-06-28T20:23:20+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-07-30T20:43:19+00:00","og_image":[{"width":587,"height":566,"url":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/PVN-Mims-Cushing-1607.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"editor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@floridanewsline","twitter_site":"@floridanewsline","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"editor","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/ponte-vedra\/n-seen-t-shirt-silently-correcting-grammar\/","url":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/ponte-vedra\/n-seen-t-shirt-silently-correcting-grammar\/","name":"This \u2018n That | Seen on a t-shirt: \u201cI Am Silently Correcting Your Grammar\u201d - Florida NewsLine","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/ponte-vedra\/n-seen-t-shirt-silently-correcting-grammar\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/ponte-vedra\/n-seen-t-shirt-silently-correcting-grammar\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/PVN-Mims-Cushing-1607.jpg","datePublished":"2018-06-28T20:23:20+00:00","dateModified":"2018-07-30T20:43:19+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/#\/schema\/person\/f112e5505697e0e24f438c3562ad0fcc"},"description":"Ponte Vedra NewsLineBy Mims Cushing mail@floridanewsline.com Gentle readers, prepare to loathe this column. Be ready to stop reading it after the first paragraph. I sometimes","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/ponte-vedra\/n-seen-t-shirt-silently-correcting-grammar\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/ponte-vedra\/n-seen-t-shirt-silently-correcting-grammar\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/ponte-vedra\/n-seen-t-shirt-silently-correcting-grammar\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/PVN-Mims-Cushing-1607.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/PVN-Mims-Cushing-1607.jpg","width":587,"height":566},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/ponte-vedra\/n-seen-t-shirt-silently-correcting-grammar\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"This \u2018n That | Seen on a t-shirt: \u201cI Am Silently Correcting Your Grammar\u201d"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/#website","url":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/","name":"Florida NewsLine","description":"The Newspapers Everybody Gets","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/#\/schema\/person\/f112e5505697e0e24f438c3562ad0fcc","name":"editor","url":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/author\/editor\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4567"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4567\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4568,"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4567\/revisions\/4568"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}