Recent Comments

1. 2 days ago on Phoebe and Her Unicorn

   I appreciate your self-serving thoughtfulness and won’t point out how convenient it is in that it precludes your embarrassment of having to research the matter and then deal with it on line. How very, very Trumpesque.

2. 3 days ago on Kliban

   Why was there no Kliban cartoon on Monday, 19 October 2020?

3. 3 days ago on Back to B.C.

   Hear, hear! I understand he also routinely begins sentences with “me”!

4. 3 days ago on Phoebe and Her Unicorn

   You base your comment on a flawed or non-existent memory from elementary or middle school. I suspect you have yet to bring the matter to the attention of an intelligent, educated, experienced English teacher.

   I dare you to research the gerund. How to treat gerunds is not difficult, but, for those not accustomed to gerunds, who have no day-to-day experience with the ins and outs of gerunds, it can be a challenge. Once one grasps the concept, it is quite easily understood. Here is a good resource:

   https://www.wordsmyth.net/help/verb_pattern/vp_8.html.

   The internet offers abundant resources on gerunds.

   The real challenge is not to understand and correctly use gerunds—that will come to any open-minded person in the twinkle of an eye—but to say to oneself “Perhaps I’m not as knowledgeable about this as I think I am. Perhaps, if I research the matter, I’ll learn something I thought I knew, but didn’t. On the other hand, perhaps I’ll find confirmation of my belief and be able to throw it in this asshole’s face! Whatever I do, if I’m wrong, no one will know unless I make it known.” Bonne chance!

5. 4 days ago on Phoebe and Her Unicorn

   You are in serious need of an education.

6. 4 days ago on Phoebe and Her Unicorn

   I defy you to use “your” as a pronoun in a sentence. It is impossible. It’s an adjective, NOT a pronoun. To argue otherwise is utter pigheadedness.

7. 4 days ago on Phoebe and Her Unicorn

   Your belief that I’ve misused “your” shows your ignorance of how gerunds must be treated. If you know a properly educated English teacher, ask him/her for guidance before you correct others based on your own lack of education.

8. 4 days ago on Phoebe and Her Unicorn

   It’s NOT “. . . far more adults read it then children.”, but “. . . far more adults read it THAN children.”

9. 4 days ago on Phoebe and Her Unicorn

   Correcting dialog can be tricky. If a writer wants readers to infer that a character is not particularly intelligent, educated, or experienced, then the inclusion of “ain’t” in dialgo is valid and should be left alone; however, when a character is routinely portrayed as intelligent, educated, and experienced, then it’s necessary to continue that portrayal through correct grammar and diction, e.g., “all right” rather than “alright.” In other words, writers must be consistent in all respects. If and when a writer’s own expertise fails, then corrections are warranted. Those whose educations fall short of spotting a writer’s errors from the get-go then often criticize those who DO point out the error as being hypercritical. What they’re actually saying is “Hey, since I didn’t immediately spot that error, then it can’t be an important issue and you shouldn’t have pointed it out.” That criticism of a VALID criticism is anticipated by the Dunning-Kruger effect.

10. 4 days ago on Phoebe and Her Unicorn

    No, you’re wrong. In this case, “being” is a gerund which requires the possessive adjective “your.” Ask any properly educated English teacher.