Month: November 2008

“Contenting with a clutch in stop-and-go traffic …”

Adjectives, Misspellings, Verbs

I saw this in a ConsumerReports.org article.

Problem:
The article writer used the wrong verb.

Explanation:
The full sentence was “Contenting with a clutch in stop-and-go traffic, for instance, can be tiring.” in a ConsumerReports.org article titled “Should you shift to a manual transmission?”.

The verb “content” means to make satisfied or content.

Substituting this definition into the sentence yields “Making satisfied with a clutch in stop-and-go traffic, for instance, can be tiring.”, which makes no sense.

I believe that the writer got confused by the second “t” in the adjective “contentious”, which means quarrelsome.

The solution comes from the fact that the adjective “contentious” relates to the verb “contend”, which ends with a “d” and means to struggle in opposition, not to the verb “content”, which ends with a “t”.

Solution:
“Contending with a clutch in stop-and-go traffic …”

“… to advise every one of housekeeping items …”

Nouns, Pronouns

I saw this in an email message from a personnel department.

Problem:
The space between “every” and “one” does not belong.

Explanation:
The complete sentence in the email message was “The supervisors will hold a short meeting to advise every one of housekeeping items and scheduling information.”

“Every one” — with a space between “every” and “one” — is a noun phrase that means each person or thing.

An example of the correct use of “every one” (with the space) is “Every one of the plants had turned brown.”

“Everyone” — without the space — is a pronoun that means everybody in a group.

An example of the correct use of “everyone” (without the space) is “Everyone likes an end-of-year bonus.”

Solution:
“… to advise everyone of housekeeping items …”

“Chance that someday you will forget …”

Adjectives, Adverbs, Common English Blunders

I saw this in a television advertisement two days ago.

Problem:
“Someday” is an adjective, but an adverb is required here.

Explanation:
The verbiage displayed in the FedEx TV ad was along the lines of “Chance that someday you will forget to hit mute”, with no space between “some” and “day”.

“Someday” — without the space — tells you what.

For example, a “someday occurrence” is something that occurs at an indefinite future time.

In other words, “someday” is an adjective; it modifies a noun (such as “occurrence”).

In contrast, “some day” tells you when.

An example of the correct use of “some day” is “It will happen some day.”

The goal of the television advertising copywriter was to tell the viewer when he or she would forget.

Solution:
“Chance that some day you will forget …”