Omorose Panya

Omorose Panya — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 00:18:55 GMT

John, I see no contradiction. "According to the Oxford Dictionary" is--wait for it-- according to the Oxford dictionary, not her. SHE (<-- not dictionary; her opinion) thinks there is no use for the "wider meaning". I (<-- erased "have to") agree with her.

Omorose Panya

Omorose Panya — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 00:13:59 GMT

I don't think I say "very unique" often---simply because I don't describe things as unique! (C'mon, you know very few things are unique these days.) I do realize that I says things like "completely destroyed" and I recognize the superfluousness (<-- wanted to type "superfluousity" but I guess that's not a word, lol). I have never really thought about this before, so thank you for the podcast. I will make a conscious effort to stop =)

John

John — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 17:34:37 GMT

Grammar girls seems to contradict herself when she says "According to The Oxford English Dictionary, since the middle of the 19th century unique has “had a tendency to take the wider meaning", and "There's just no reason to assign a new meaning to unique." I wouldn't call the middle of the 19th century "new"!

Allen

Allen — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 09:05:59 GMT

Being a singer, I feel that one would only write "I can succeed AT singing" when one is capable of putting the vocal cords together and making sound, as in 'the concept of singing.' For "I can succeed IN singing," I believe that the addition of the phrase "the field of" after "in" would make for a clearer idea. "I can succeed IN singing" will probably be taken as a career-oriented sentence, e.g. I can succeed in singing, cooking, or television.

Allen

Allen — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 08:56:13 GMT

Perhaps it's irrelevant--like that has ever stopped anyone--but I don't feel like the phrase "completely destroyed" is an egregious mistake. If something can be qualified as partially destroyed, it must therefore be able to be used with another qualifier, right? For some reason, perhaps due to the constant (d)evolution of the language, the softening of the word doesn't sound at all peculiar to my ear. (Upon a further ten seconds of review, "partially destroyed" could simply mean that a part of the unit was [wholly] destroyed, although this offers me little solace.)

Sarah G

Sarah G — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 06:55:00 GMT

Hi Grammar girl, thanks for this podcast episode, and for your podcast as a whole (i'm sure there is something grammatically incorrect in that sentence, but I guess I need another episode to pinpoint what it is). I am a student in the 10th grade, and I find these podcasts a fast and easy way to improve the quality of my English. This particular episode made me realize what a common problem modifying absolutes is in every day speech - and how much I need to improve. :(

:Grammar Girl

:Grammar Girl — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 04:11:30 GMT

If it feels right, I usually start e-mails with "Hi." For example, "Hi Ingrid." If I feel that a more formal tone is called for, then I'll just use the person's name followed by a colon.

Grammar Girl

Grammar Girl — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 04:05:08 GMT

You'll enjoy this page, which explains that "as per" means “in accordance with,” or “in response to the request made.” The Columbia Guide to Standard American English says "as per" is "from the jargon of stuffy commercial correspondence."

Grammar Girl

Grammar Girl — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 03:56:53 GMT

I'm having a hard time answering this one. I would say, "I can excel at singing" or "I can succeed in the music industry." To me, singing doesn't seem like something you succeed in or at. Can anyone else jump in here and give Sri a better answer?

Grammar Girl

Grammar Girl — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 03:53:10 GMT

It depends on who you are writing to. If you are writing to a friend, e-mail is usually informal. If you are writing a thank you e-mail to follow up on a job interview, you should treat it as something formal. (Mr. Manners would probably recommend sending a snail mail thank you note!) I tend to be a pretty informal person, so I slip into informal mode very quickly when I am e-mailing people, even if they are business associates. I can see how getting a one-word response can be annoying if more is called for, but I get a lot of e-mail and sometimes I appreciated the brevity of a one-word answer (if that is all that is needed)