A fight to the death! Grammar errors and non-errors

Paul Brians, a professor of English at Washington State University, wrote the book on Common Errors in English Usage. He also maintains a website that contains the contents of the book, featuring hundreds of common misuses of English. It’s a handy resource if you have a question about usage—especially when you’re looking for just the right word.

Even more interesting is his list of Non-Errors. It’s basically a list of words and usage that uptight grammarians stick to, but Prof Brians offers some insight into why these supposed errors are actually okay and are standard English. An example:

Momentarily
“The plane will be landing momentarily,” says the flight attendant, and the grumpy grammarian in seat 36B thinks to himself, “So we’re going to touch down for just a moment?” Everyone else thinks, “Just a moment now before we land.” Back in the 1920s when this use of “momentarily” was first spreading on both sides of the Atlantic, one might have been accused of misusing the word; but by now it’s listed without comment as one of the standard definitions in most dictionaries.

A fight to the death! Grammar errors and non-errors

TrackBacks

Leave a comment

manufactured environments

my other blogs

monthly archives