Dear readers, I'm not one of those grouchy grammarians who insists on eradicating split infinitives, who preserves the distinction between "who" and "whom," and who can actually diagram a sentence correctly. For an editor, I have only the most casual understanding of the rules of grammar. However, I do have a few pet peeves, as all editors do, and here's the biggest one.
Please, please, please acquaint yourself with the difference between "every day" and "everyday." These are not interchangeable. Every time you use "everyday," pause and think to yourself, "Do I really mean 'every day'?"
"Everyday" is an adjective. It means ordinary, something you might encounter with great frequency.
"Every day" means, literally, every day.
So I go to the market every day, and when I go, I wear my everyday shoes, not my fancy going-out shoes.
(I know that most of my readers, all three of you, don't need this refresher. Those of you who do need it, please take it to heart. The next time I see a misused "everyday," I fear blood will be spilt.)
Next time, we'll tackle "it's" versus "its."
Sunday, July 09, 2006
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10 comments:
Every day I wonder what an everyday split infinitive is. Maybe I should look it up. I'm sure I'm guilty of it... a lot alot!!
If in doubt, askoxford.com.
They told me what a split infinitive is.
Sister, you said it. Grammarians unite! And nice choice with the every day/everyday. I'm going to have to put to/too in my Grammar Enemy #1 spot, but every day/everyday would not be far behind.
I think you should explain the difference between your and you're.
I'd be happy to, if only it would do any good.
I'm going to take this opportunity to weigh in on split infinitives. I don't think there's anything wrong with them. We don't speak Latin. We can split our infinitives if we want to.
There. I said it.
One of the best lines in Star Trek would be nixed if it weren't for splitting infinitives. And no, I didn't figure that out all by myself. Ask Oxford told me.
PS- I told Rug about the whole Battlestar Galactica thing and how you wanted me to check out the new season. How you told me I was beyond hope in the Sci-Fi dept. but you will keep trying. He laughed.
I have a feeling he would watch it with ya though. He loves that crap, I mean, stuff. ;)
"To boldly go where no man has gone before."
And I don't need no Ask Oxford to tell me about that.
I do numbers, not nouns (or infinitives).
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