Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Word of the Day Wednesday

Combine (v)
to bring into or join in a close union or whole; unite.

Combine. It's a word we in the Education World like to use often.  We combine two simple words to make a compound word. We combine two halves to make a whole. We combine two normally sized classes to make one big giant forty-student class.  You get the point.  

Now, let's say we did all of these things yesterday. We combined two normally sized classes to make on big giant forty-student class.  We did not combinded two halves to make a whole. We did not combinded two simple words to make a compound word. 

Present Tense: Combine
Past Tense: Combined
Not combinded, and certainly not combound, a thought that popped in my head that is equally as ridiculous yet an error I have not actually heard by the English speaking ignoramuses I encounter on campus. Thank goodness.

I don't understand why some people choose to make a perfectly simple word more complicated than it needs to be.  Are you trying to make it more past tense than it already was? Did you think because you joined to things together a really long time ago it needed an extra 'd'? 

OK enough ranting. Time to get off my high horse and do something actually productive. 

PS: I will never claim to be a perfect English speaker. Just today, groggy and not yet fully recovered from football tailgating, I tried to use the word "innovative" [in-uh-vey-tiv] and pronounced it "in-NOH-va-tive." I could have cried I was so embarrassed. We all make mistakes, just not more than once. Think next time you speak. Please.



Enjoy a grammatically perfect Wednesday my loyal followers :-) 

1 comment:

Ashley said...

Perfect post for you, miss glitz and grammar! BTW, I know exactly which class, when, and where the word "combinded" was spoken. Pretty sure I cringed... and pretty sure she repeated it twice.

Oy. Happy Wednesday, Miss Y! Xoxo

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...