I often hear this combination.
Problem:
The answer is the opposite of what the respondent intends.
Explanation:
It is a common English blunder to respond with “Yes” to a question such as “Do you mind whether I go ahead of you?” when you do NOT mind.
Apparently many English speakers convert “Do you mind …?” into “May I …?” and then answer the original question in the same way.
A question of the form “Do you mind …?” is effectively asked in the negative.
Solution:
“Do you mind …?” “No.”
I saw this in an email message this morning.
Problem:
The writer used a past participle where a preposition was required.
Explanation:
The word “passed” — spelled P-A-S-S-E-D — in the expression “it was passed 3:00 pm” is the past participle of the verb “pass”.
The message writer was trying to say in the complete sentence that the time was after 3:00 p.m. when someone saw something.
The word “after” in this context is a preposition.
In other words, the message writer should have used a preposition instead of a past participle, and this preposition should sound like “passed” — spelled P-A-S-S-E-D — and act as a synonym for the preposition “after”.
This gives us the solution. The writer should have used the preposition “past” — spelled P-A-S-T — which means beyond in time.
Solution:
“… it was past 3:00 pm …”
August is here, and summer vacations are in their final stretch.
Digital cameras have become so common now that it has been unusual to see film cameras this summer.
When digital cameras first appeared, one of the big selling points is that there were no negatives or transparencies that could deteriorate.
Today, though, there is a bigger danger lurking.
Many people do not upload their digital photos to their computers until they have their first bad experience with losing the digital photo files on their cameras or with losing their digital cameras with hundreds of photos inside.
Others master the process of regularly moving their digital photos from their cameras to their computers.
Some go beyond this and master the process of uploading copies of those photos to websites such as WalMart.com for printing at local stores or at websites such as SnapFish.com for printing and getting mailed to their homes.
What I recommend, though, is to go beyond these two processes and make sure that the digital photos and other precious files on your computer are regularly backed up.
Please save yourself the heartache of future loss of your precious digital photos by reading my article “Online Backup Services” and then signing up for an online backup service such as MozyHome Unlimited.
You will thank yourself later, when you can still retrieve your vacation photos from this summer.