Anything About English

The trouble with this word is that in most contexts it is basically unnecessary, as here.
[Bill Bryson]

That was in one of Bill Bryson’s book, Troublesome Words. This book is a kind of dictionary of common mistakes. I thought this could be a dictionary that I could read from back to back, very enjoyable!

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Be that as it may! Rosemary is my idol.
[30 Rock Season 2 Episode 4]

said Liz Lemon to Jack Donaghy, her boss, when Jack pointed out the differences between her and Rosemary will do her no good in her efforts imitating the senior writer that Liz had admired for years because the senior writer was apparently a freak.

Be that as it may, one thing comforts me; I see that one often meets with those whom one never expected to see again;
[Candide, chapter 24]

said Candide to Martin after Martin won the wager to prove whether a couple they saw are truly happy or not. Martin, as pessimist as ever about happiness in this world, challenged the wager to Candide when Candide tried to persuade him that at least the random couple they saw on the street was given a happiness. They then invited the couple to dinner when the couple both told their own story of unfortunate events.

Be that as it may!

Elfira, when her ears listened to what other said but it’s only her ears because her mind was already set and ready to go.

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This is my third post in Anything About English.

My first post was pointing out one of the exceptions in English language.

The second post. Well..
Few minutes after publishing the second post, I was listening to one of the Grammar Girl’s podcast, episode 204, Is “Got” proper English?

I said:

When it comes to the length of word, the British is the winner.

Mignon Fogarty, in her podcast, said:

If you speak American English, you will use “gotten” …. Users of British English, on the other hand, will say “got”

Hm..
With language, you’ll never know.
:D

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a color or a colour?
favorite or favourite?
honored or honoured?
traveled or travelled?
airplane or aeroplane?

and many more!

It’s the classic UK vs US English spelling.

I used to use whatever come to my head first. It didn’t matter to me as long as it was a real word.
That was before I found something.

When it comes to the length of word, the British is the winner.

Every first word of my example above is the shorter one of two. They all are US spelling style.

I know I cannot depend on this rule alone to detect which word is in which spelling style.

Gray, for example. It’s gray vs grey. Both have 4 letters.

Hm.

From this blog post, I found something that could help me remember:

Gray is a color.

Grey is a *colour*.

Or

grAy is how it’s spelled in America
grEy is how it’s spelled in England

The second one is from grey or gray site.
Besides the explanation, the site also provides 100 most commonly misspelled words.

Now, now..
How can I remember center vs centre?

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The 27 year old man owns a gorgeous four wheel drive.

Owns.
There’s an s already!

Yeah, but..

27 year old man? A gorgeous four wheel drive?
Aren’t they supposed to be 27 years old man and a gorgeous four wheels drive?
Well, no.

Noun phrase that acts as an adjective will lose its plural form.

Not all plural get their s.

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