This actually happened to me when I was facilitating a continuing education class for 200 accountants in Charlotte, North Carolina, a few years back. An audience member and I were wearing identical outfits. Read more
This is another example of language we can send to the Redundancy Department of Redundancy. Yet, we do hear people say:
“We completely eliminated the problem.” Read more
Following graduation from Mississippi State University, I moved back to my hometown and worked that summer and fall at my hometown newspaper. One of the most fun projects I contributed to during that time was the Thanksgiving recipe publication. Read more
“Larry decided to postpone sending the email until later that afternoon.”
“I’m going postpone doing my geometry homework until later.”
Have you ever heard someone use the phrase “postpone until later”? It kind of just rolls off the tongue, but it’s poor usage.
Postpone automatically indicates later. If you postpone studying, it means you’re not going to study until later.
So, the practical grammar tip here is to always eliminate “until later.” Just say postpone.
After all, you’ve never heard someone decide to postpone studying until earlier.
To customize a keynote or professional development session that will have your audience laughing and learning, contact Mandi Stanley.
Certified Speaking Professional Mandi Stanley works with business leaders who want to boost their professional image by becoming better speakers and writers through interactive high-content keynotes, breakout sessions, workshops, technical writing seminars, and fun proofreading classes.
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“Halleigh, the spelling of your name is very unique.”
“She had a very unique way of expressing frustration.”
“The author took a most unique approach to revealing the murderer at the end of the mystery novel.”
Very unique?
Most unique?
Very unique is another phrase we should send to the Redundancy Department of Redundancy. Why? Unique actually means “unlike anything else.” It’s unique. Period. It is unnecessary to modify it with words like very and most. According to its definition, you can’t have varying degrees of uniqueness. Something can’t be a little unique or a lot unique or very unique. It’s unique—just like a rainbow unicorn.
To customize a keynote or professional development session that will have your audience laughing and learning, contact Mandi Stanley.
Certified Speaking Professional Mandi Stanley works with business leaders who want to boost their professional image by becoming better speakers and writers through interactive high-content keynotes, breakout sessions, workshops, technical writing seminars, and fun proofreading classes.
You might also like:
How Do You Handle Virtual Meeting Whiners?
Use this App to Capture Fresh Presentation Ideas
Wacky Word of the Week: Purge this Particular Word
Photo by mark glancy from Pexels
A fellow Amory Panther brought this confusing word pair to my attention through Facebook. Let’s see how well you choose the correct word in this sentence: Read more
Are you starting something or beginning something? Read more
Blame this one on my Southern accent, but as soon as you scroll down the page, say the first word you see out loud: Read more
This week’s post is a quick read, but we’re using our summer theme of “Grammar Grapplers” to answer readers’ questions. Recently, I’ve received a couple of versions of this question. What do you think? Please choose the correct response. Read more
Is it “nitch”?
Or is it “neesh”? Read more
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