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Grammar. 4:56:45 PM 7/15/2010
So the miniature thing isn't going well. Whatever, I still have many months. Anyway, this post is about everyone's favorite subject: grammar. I have picked out a few of the most annoying things people around me say and corrected them below.

#1: "Supposably"

Everyone knows it's wrong, but people say it anyway. Now, supposably is a word; it's just being used incorrectly. If something is supposable, that means that it is able to be supposed. Whereas, if something is supposed, that means that it already has been. So when you say "the car supposably ran over the dog" you are saying

"It is possible to conjecture that the car ran over the dog."

If you use supposedly instead, then you are saying

"It has been conjectured that the car ran over the dog."

So if you were a detective at the scene trying to figure out what happened to the nasty, vile, dog, you would use supposably. If you were reading the story in the paper about how it's likely the car ran over the dog, you would use supposedly. The vast majority of the time, it's going to be supposedly.

#2: Something "needs done"

This should be obvious. You have two verbs in a row there. Doesn't that seem wrong? There are two solutions to this: either something needs to be done or something needs doing. You could say

"That dog blood needs to be cleaned up"

or

"That dog blood needs cleaning up."

#3: "Interesting enough"

I only know one person who says this, and I've mentioned it before, Luke. It's "interestingLY enough." When you are describing an event that took place as being interesting, you are usually describing the verb that happened. For example, if you say

"Interestingly enough, the car ran over that nasty dog."

you are really saying

"The car interestingly ran over that nasty dog."

So you can see that we really need an adverb here, not an adjective. You wouldn't say

"The car interesting ran over that nasty dog."

#4: "How are you?" "Well."

This one is a little trickier. People that know grammar usually are the ones that say this. When someone asks you how you are, they are technically asking for the manner in which you are being. So you'd naturally respond with an adverb:

"I am being well." or "I am well."

However, if you were pissed, you wouldn't say

"I am being angrily" or "I am angrily." - you would say "I am angry."

So wait a minute. One answer is an adverb and one is an adjective. Which is correct? I personally think the second is right. I think when people ask you how you are, they actually want you to describe what you are being, not the manner in which you are being, which demands an adjective. Unfortunately, the question is worded to sound like they are asking the latter. It basically all comes down to implied meaning.

2 responses to "Grammar."

NateHudd
    7/16/2010 10:50:51 AM
Del would be proud.
Luke
    7/20/2010 9:00:31 PM
Interesting enough, this post supposably needs done. Good info, we'll see if it sticks.



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