lead a metal element (pronounced like red)
lead present tense of led (pronounced like seed)
led guided, past tense of to lead

Thanks to Hermie for reminding me about the confusion between lead and led.

Pop Quiz

1. He lead/led the horse to water.
2. She tested the water for lead/led.
3. Will the new CEO lead/led by example?

Answers:

1. led
2. lead
3. lead

The Funny Spot

Thanks to Lester K. for passing these along.

The Washington Post’s Mensa Invitational asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition. Here is an edited version of this year’s winners.

1. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start With.

2. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.

3. Bozone: The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.

4. Cashtration: The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period.

5. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray painted very, very high.

6. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn’t get it.

7. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

8. Hipatitis: Terminal coolness.

9. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease.

10. Karmageddon: It’s like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the earth explodes and it’s, like, a serious bummer.

11. Decafalon: The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.

12. Glibido: All talk and no action.

13. Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

14. Arachnoleptic Fit: The frantic dance performed just after you’ve accidentally walked through a spider web.

15. Beelzebug: Satan in the form of a mosquito that gets into your bedroom at 3:00 a.m. and cannot be cast out.

16. Caterpallor: The color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you’re eating.

The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation 10th Edition Now Available
An indispensable tool for busy professionals, teachers, students, home-school families, editors, writers, & proofreaders. If you buy the book through Amazon, please write a customer review. Reviews are immensely helpful at letting other consumers know that The Blue Book is a valuable resource.
What’s New:
• 60 additional pages at the same low price
• More quizzes
• Spelling / Vocabulary / Confusing Words
Click to order
View entire contents online
• Spelling / Vocabulary / Confusing Words
• Grammar Rules
• Punctuation & Capitalization
• Rules for Writing Numbers
• More than Two Dozen FREE Quizzes in interactive format with answers
Discounts available for schools, bookstores, and multiple copies. Click to order
________________________________________

Students, Teachers, Professionals, Parents
– MORE QUIZZES AT YOUR FINGERTIPS!

• Access to 130 multiple-choice, self-scoring quizzes instantly!
• Practice online or download and copy to your heart’s content.
• Fun quizzes on grammar, punctuation, parallel construction, active vs. passive voice, lay vs. lie, affect vs. effect, plus dozens of other confusing words and homonyms.

New! Don’t need all the quizzes at once? You can now purchase the same interactive, downloadable subscription quizzes individually. Click here

________________________________________
English In A Snap: 68 One-Minute English Usage Videos
I’ve just completed 68 one-minute video lessons that are available FREE. Learn all about who and whom, affect and effect, subjects and verbs, adjectives and adverbs, commas, semicolons, quotation marks, and much more by just sitting back and enjoying these easy-to-follow lessons. Tell your colleagues (and bosses), children, teachers, and friends.
Click here to view.
________________________________________
Watch Jane’s NEW Grammar and Punctuation Video Soon

All of my one-minute lessons are now compiled into a 40-minute FREE video. Watch for it soon.

Calling All Editors
Advertise Your Editing Services On Grammarbook.com and in the E-Newsletter
What you will get for your investment:
• A full ad on Grammarbook.com: My site gets over 1,400,000 hits/month! I will offer you enough space to advertise your services, bio, photo, Web site address, and e-mail address, plus any additional information you wish to provide potential clients.
Click here to see where your ad will appear.
• Your services advertised in my weekly e-newsletter (over 25,000 subscribers!) for a full year.
• Premium, cost-effective exposure: I receive requests for editing on a daily basis. I can’t handle all the business and am looking to partner with qualified editors.
Cost: $250/quarter or $900/year
Send your resume and a 2-3 page sample of work that gives a before-and-after view to Jane@grammarbook.com.

Valuable Link
Click here to read excerpts from Jane’s other wonderful book, Enough Is Enough! Stop Enduring and Start Living Your Extraordinary Life and listen to her podcasts. Learn more about Jane’s personal coaching work, speaking engagements, and articles that will inspire you to thrive. 10 Keys to an Extraordinary Life on Yahoo! Video or by joining mypathtv.com where you will also find Jane’s weekly advice column, “Ask Jane.”

Recommendation

I’d like to introduce you to a great Website I discovered recently that I know you will appreciate:

Vocabulary.com offers FREE, kindergarten-adult interactive puzzle activities. This self-paced site, based on state standards, has PRINTABLE lesson plans and exercises. All content is original and supplemental to school curriculum with time-saving activities as helpful reinforcement for teachers, students, and parents.

I guarantee that you will learn words and have fun at the same time.

If you decide to take the free Grammar Mastery Quiz, you’ll eventually come to #40, which has turned out to be confusing for many.

Question 40: The department’s principal/principle concern is the safety of all employees.

First, let’s figure out what part of speech the word is in the sentence above. Since it describes concern, which is a noun, it must be an adjective. The word principle can only be used as a noun. Principal may be either a noun or an adjective. When it is an adjective, principal means “first or highest in rank, importance, value, etc.; chief; foremost” (Dictionary.com)

Let’s double check. Can we substitute any or all of these definitions for principal in the sentence?

The department’s first/chief/foremost concern is the safety of all employees.

Obviously the answer is yes, so the correct answer is, “The department’s principal concern is the safety of all employees.

The Funny Spot

Thanks to Jacquie H. for sending the following dangler:

“This restroom reserved for parents of young children, seniors, and the handicapped.”

Thanks to Joe D. for sending this “puntification.”*
A boy was born with no body, only a head. He wanted to play like others so his parents paid for an operation so he had a body. He ran out into traffic and was run over by a car. Moral of the story: quit while you’re a head.

*No, this is not a real word.

Announcements

The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation 10th Edition Now Available
An indispensable tool for busy professionals, teachers, students, home-school families, editors, writers, & proofreaders. If you buy the book through Amazon, please write a customer review. Reviews are immensely helpful at letting other consumers know that The Blue Book is a valuable resource.
What’s New:
• 60 additional pages at the same low price
• More quizzes
• Spelling / Vocabulary / Confusing Words
Click to order
View entire contents online
• Spelling / Vocabulary / Confusing Words
• Grammar Rules
• Punctuation & Capitalization
• Rules for Writing Numbers
• More than Two Dozen FREE Quizzes in interactive format with answers
Discounts available for schools, bookstores, and multiple copies. Click to order
________________________________________

Students, Teachers, Professionals, Parents
– MORE QUIZZES AT YOUR FINGERTIPS!

• Access to over 130 multiple-choice, self-scoring quizzes instantly!
• Practice online or download and copy to your heart’s content.
• Fun quizzes on grammar, punctuation, parallel construction, active vs. passive voice, lay vs. lie, affect vs. effect, plus dozens of other confusing words and homonyms.

New! Don’t need all the quizzes at once? You can now purchase the same interactive, downloadable subscription quizzes individually. Click here

________________________________________
English In A Snap: 68 One-Minute English Usage Videos
I’ve just completed 68 one-minute video lessons that are available FREE. Learn all about who and whom, affect and effect, subjects and verbs, adjectives and adverbs, commas, semicolons, quotation marks, and much more by just sitting back and enjoying these easy-to-follow lessons. Tell your colleagues (and bosses), children, teachers, and friends.
Click here to view.
________________________________________
Calling All Editors
Advertise Your Editing Services On Grammarbook.com and in the E-Newsletter
What you will get for your investment:
• A full ad on Grammarbook.com: My site gets over 1,000,000 hits/month! I will offer you enough space to advertise your services, bio, photo, Web site address, and e-mail address, plus any additional information you wish to provide potential clients.
Click here to see where your ad will appear.
• Your services advertised in my weekly e-newsletter (over 25,000 subscribers!) for a full year.
• Premium, cost-effective exposure: I receive requests for editing on a daily basis. I can’t handle all the business and am looking to partner with qualified editors.
Cost: $1000/year
Send your resume and a 2-3 page sample of work that gives a before-and-after view to Jane@grammarbook.com.

Valuable Link
Click here to read excerpts from Jane’s other wonderful book, Enough Is Enough! Stop Enduring and Start Living Your Extraordinary Life and listen to her podcasts. Learn more about Jane’s personal coaching work, speaking engagements, and articles that will inspire you to thrive. 10 Keys to an Extraordinary Life on Yahoo! Video or by joining mypathtv.com where you will also find Jane’s weekly advice column, “Ask Jane.”

For the past tense of to plead, you may use either pleaded or pled.

Example: He will plead not guilty to the charges.
Example: He pleaded not guilty before his trial.
Example: He pled not guilty before his trial.

Note: In the strict legal sense, one cannot plead innocent.

Word of the Week

Avuncular: Having to do with an uncle, especially in kindness or tolerance.

Example: He showed her avuncular affection.

The Funnies: A Compendium of “Puntifications”

Thanks to Hu O. for sending these. The last one is an original of his. If you send me an original “puntification,” I will publish it in this newsletter and credit you.

1. I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me.

2. Police were called to a daycare where a three-year-old was resisting a rest.

3. Did you hear about the guy whose whole left side was cut off? He’s all right now.

4. The roundest knight at King Arthur’s round table was Sir Cumference.

5. To write with a broken pencil is pointless.

6. When fish are in schools they sometimes take debate.

7. A thief who stole a calendar got twelve months.

8. A thief fell and broke his leg in wet concrete. He became a hardened criminal.

9. Thieves who steal corn from a garden could be charged with stalking.

10. We’ll never run out of math teachers because they always multiply.

11. When the smog lifts in Los Angeles, UCLA.

12. The professor discovered that her theory of earthquakes was on shaky ground.

13. The dead batteries were given out free of charge.

14. If you take a laptop computer for a run, you could jog your memory.

15. A dentist and a manicurist fought tooth and nail.

16. What’s the definition of a will? (It’s a dead giveaway.)

17. I didn’t know where the sun went at night, so I stayed up thinking about it until it dawned on me.

18. I knew she was bulimic so I tried not to talk about food, but she kept bringing it up!

Announcements

Order More Quizzes

New! Can’t get enough of the quizzes on my site? You can now order additional ones individually for just $.99 or as a package (over 130 with 5 new ones added monthly) for an annual subscription of $29.95.

English In A Snap: 68 One-Minute English Usage Videos

I’ve just completed 68 one-minute video lessons that are available FREE. Learn all about who and whom, affect and effect, subjects and verbs, adjectives and adverbs, commas, semicolons, quotation marks, and much more by just sitting back and enjoying these easy-to-follow lessons. Tell your colleagues (and bosses), children, teachers, and friends. Click here to view.

Review the 10th Edition

**If you own the new 10th edition of The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation (and who wouldn’t want to), please write a review on Amazon.com. (Scroll to Customer Reviews and click on the button.) Consumer reviews are the most helpful guides for other potential customers.

One Laptop Per Child Donation
** I am offering my subscription area quizzes free to One Laptop Per Child, a nonprofit organization that makes and donates laptops to children in developing countries worldwide. This will provide hundreds of thousands of children the English skills they so desperately want and need.

Calling All Editors
Advertise Your Editing Services On Grammarbook.com and in the E-Newsletter

What you will get for your investment:

*A full ad on Grammarbook.com: My site gets over 1,000,000 hits/month! I will offer you enough space to advertise your services, bio, photo, Web site address, and e-mail address, plus any additional information you wish to provide potential clients. Click here to see where your ad will appear.
*Your services advertised in my weekly e-newsletter (over 25,000 subscribers!) for a full year.
*Premium, cost-effective exposure: I receive requests for editing on a daily basis. I can’t handle all the business and am looking to partner with qualified editors.
Cost: $1000/year
Send your resume and a 2-3 page sample of work that gives a before-and-after view to Jane@grammarbook.com.

How You Can Help the Children of New Orleans Today!

The words of the Buddha – If you knew what I know about the power of generosity, you would not let a single meal go by without sharing it.

Last October, I made a promise to the people in New Orleans that I would keep their needs in the forefront. Then Kim Nance, Assistant Principal of James Weldon Johnson Elementary School, called me when she read that I was offering free copies of The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation to New Orleans public schools. I asked her what else she needed to help her 400 schoolchildren, their families, and her teachers. She asked tentatively, “Do you really want to know?”

As sad as it was for me to hear her incredulity, my resolve to bring attention to these kids’ plight strengthened as Kim spoke. She told me about her preschoolers who, after having “accidents,” had to sit the rest of the day, embarrassed and smelly, in their soiled clothing. Gratefully, a social worker took money out of her own salary to buy extra clothing for these young children.

Then Kim’s tone changed as she proudly shared that her school’s girls just won their first basketball tournament but had nowhere to display their trophy. When I asked, “What else?” she described having to shout through a bullhorn at assemblies because the school has no microphone or amplifier. And the cafeteria, where assemblies are held (There is no auditorium.), doesn’t have tables or chairs, forcing families who come to watch their children perform in a play, poetry reading, or musical event to stand.

Kim, who lost her own home in Katrina, aches for these children, many of whom are living in overcrowded conditions (15 to an apartment with one bathroom) or homeless under freeways, often with distant relatives or even strangers. Like war victims, these young children are suffering from post-traumatic stress. Kim says that what will heal them is what heals any of us: to know that they matter and that people care about them enough to help.

Kim has this to tell us:
Reaching out to us softens the jarring, daily experiences that our students and teachers suffer just to work and learn. By donating, you are giving our students the belief that they are valued. Your efforts help me to exhale a little and your contributions are allowing us to do what all teachers and administrators desire to do—teach our students. Thank you!

So if you feel compelled to help donate for needed supplies to Kim’s school, call Robin Fox at SchoolOutfitters.com, 1-866-619-5320. Just tell her how much you want to put on your credit card for supplies for James Weldon Johnson Elementary School. She will keep a list of donors that will go both to me and to the school. In a few weeks, I will publish what I trust will be a long list of donors’ names in this newsletter.

Supplies Requested Supplies Donated Still Needed
500 folding chairs ($11.95 each) 200 chairs 300 chairs
1 trophy case 1 trophy case
7 lg. rectangular tables ($85 each) 7 tables
Chair dollies ($287 ea.) 1 dolly (holds 84 chairs) 6 dollies
PA system PA system

Create Your Abundant Life NOW! with Jane
at Club Med in Cancun!
June 21-28, 2008

If your life is about more than English usage…
Enjoy the beautiful beach, delicious food, and luxurious setting while experiencing enriching programs by renowned self-help leaders, including a NEW program that I am offering:

Create Your Abundant Life NOW!
How do you know if you have limiting beliefs around abundance?
Just ask yourself:
Do I believe that abundance is that which already exists?

If you can’t answer this question with a resounding YES!, then don’t waste any more of your life suffering in lack.

Here’s another test of your abundance quotient:
Do you feel that you don’t have enough:
• Time
• Money
• Energy
• Love
• Intimacy
• Fun
• Self-esteem
• Inspiration, or
• Direction

There is a Buddhist saying that no enemy can harm us as much as our own worst thoughts. Three kinds of negative thoughts stop us from manifesting abundance:
• Fear
• Self-judgments
• Limiting beliefs

Any one of them can sabotage us, keep us stuck in a rut, stress us out, cause us confusion, or make us want to give up.

You will experience cutting-edge strategies and intriguing processes so that you will begin immediately to manifest your spirit’s deepest desires.
Price: Get your Friend of Jane discount $1999 (regular price $2600)/$1000 for children under 18, which includes lodging, meals, airport transportation, and all programs. Check out this beautiful, newly renovated Club Med for yourself.
Contact Teresa Williamson at media@podium-pr.com or call 650-759-1005 for more information and to register. Put in your Subject Line: Club Med w/Jane

Other self-help luminaries who will be speaking:

Cameron Johnson: You Call the Shots

Maybe you’ve watched Cameron on the Big Give with Oprah – now meet him in person. Cameron is recognized as one of the most successful young entrepreneurs in the world. Over the last eight years, Cameron has given hundreds of speeches worldwide. Cameron is also the author of the international bestselling book, “You Call the Shots.” Cameron will inspire you with his story and motivate you to the next level of success.

Teresa Rodriguez Williamson: Build Your Personal Mission Statement

Teresa is the creator and founder of TangoDiva.com—a worldwide online social network and travel magazine for women. She is also the author of “FLY SOLO: The 50 Best Places on Earth for a Girl to Travel Alone.” She has appeared on hundreds of TV shows, magazines, and newspaper articles around the world. Teresa will teach you how to create and build a mission statement that can guide you to success.

Chet Holmes: How to Double Your Sales

Super Strategist of the Fortune 500, Chet Holmes had more than 60 of the Fortune 500 as clients, taking his place as America’s top marketing executive, trainer, strategic consultant, and motivation expert. He is the author of the NO.1 bestselling book, “The Ultimate Sales Machine.” Chet will teach you how to double your sales – no matter what your business is.

Stephen Pierce: The Art of More

For many, Stephen Pierce’s name is synonymous with success. Recognized as one of the world’s leading Internet marketers and Business Optimization Strategists, Pierce wears several hats when it comes to his businesses. He will teach you how to expand your business in a competitive world.

Spike Humer: Consciously Creating Your Future

Dedicated to the passionate pursuit of creating joy, excellence, and positive abundance in life, health, relationships, and business throughout the world. He will help you create a clear and compelling vision for your life.

Joe Polish: From “Real World” to “Real Money”

Joe Polish is the founder and President of Piranha Marketing, Inc. Considered to be one of the most effective direct-response marketing experts in the world, Joe made his name teaching other entrepreneurs the marketing techniques and business strategies that came directly from his own “real world” work experiences. Joe Polish is a business strategy consultant and marketing expert who has helped thousands of entrepreneurs become successful. And during your week at Club Med, he will teach you his secrets to success.

Greta Remington: Innovative Thinking for Growth

What is the next “big idea” for your company? How do you know which ideas to pursue? Based on the greatest creative minds in history and the most innovative companies of today, Greta’s proven methodology for identifying market opportunities has generated millions in incremental revenue for her clients from the Fortune 500 to start-ups. Greta will teach you her step by step methodology for improving your innovative thinking and creating actionable ideas to grow your business.

_______________________________________
Valuable Link
Click here to read excerpts from Jane’s other wonderful book, Enough Is Enough! Stop Enduring and Start Living Your Extraordinary Life and listen to her podcasts. Learn more about Jane’s personal coaching work, speaking engagements, and articles that will inspire you to thrive. 10 Keys to an Extraordinary Life on Yahoo! Video or by joining mypathtv.com where you will also find Jane’s weekly advice column, “Ask Jane.”

When is it correct to use youths, fishes, and hairs?

Use youths and hairs when countable.
Examples: Three youths were given awards for community service.
The youth of today watches less TV but spends more time on the computer.

Note that youth, used as a collective noun, was followed by the singular verbs watches and spends.

Examples: The hairs on her chin were long.
Her hair is long.

Fish and fishes are interchangeable although some references say to use fishes when referring to two or more kinds of species.

Examples: These barracuda fish are huge.
All the fish in the reef are colorful.
All the fishes in the reef are colorful.

Brain Teaser

This question came from a listener to a radio show that I was a guest on:

Which is yellow in the song, “itsy bitsy teenie weenie yellow polka dot bikini,” the dots or the bikini?

The Funnies

Thanks to Andrea K. for spotting this in an article written by Anderson Cooper (and apparently unedited):
Well, I can’t wait to introduce you to a little boy that will shatter all those stereotypes. His name is Dylan Jackaway. He’s five and a half years old and he knocked my socks off from the moment I met him. He has piercing blue eyes that are full of passion and dark hair.

This smile is a gift from Bob T.:

This happened to me whilst teaching at one of my TESOL classes at a college in England; I hope you find it as amusing as I did.

After setting my class a task, I sat down to peruse some of their homework. After several minutes one of the male students called out, “Bob, how do you spell sex?”

Somewhat at a loss I asked, ‘Why do you want to spell sex? Sex has nothing to do with the task I’ve just set?”

His reply, “’Well, I want to spell insects and I know how to spell in.”

A Story
The words of the Buddha – If you knew what I know about the power of generosity, you would not let a single meal go by without sharing it.

Last October, I made a promise to the people in New Orleans that I would keep their needs in the forefront. Then Kim Nance, Assistant Principal of James Weldon Johnson Elementary School, called me when she read that I was offering free copies of The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation to New Orleans public schools. I asked her what else she needed to help her 400 schoolchildren, their families, and her teachers. She asked tentatively, “Do you really want to know?”

As sad as it was for me to hear her incredulity, my resolve to bring attention to these kids’ plight strengthened as Kim spoke. She told me about her preschoolers who, after having “accidents,” had to sit the rest of the day, embarrassed and smelly, in their soiled clothing. Gratefully, a social worker took money out of her own salary to buy extra clothing for these young children.

Then Kim’s tone changed as she proudly shared that her school’s girls just won their first basketball tournament but had nowhere to display their trophy. When I asked, “What else?” she described having to shout through a bullhorn at assemblies because the school has no microphone or amplifier. And the cafeteria, where assemblies are held (There is no auditorium.), doesn’t have tables or chairs, forcing families who come to watch their children perform in a play, poetry reading, or musical event to stand.

Kim, who lost her own home in Katrina, aches for these children, many of whom are living in overcrowded conditions (15 to an apartment with one bathroom) or homeless under freeways, often with distant relatives or even strangers. Like war victims, these young children are suffering from post-traumatic stress. Kim says that what will heal them is what heals any of us: to know that they matter and that people care about them enough to help.

Kim has this to tell us:
Reaching out to us softens the jarring, daily experiences that our students and teachers suffer just to work and learn. By donating, you are giving our students the belief that they are valued. Your efforts help me to exhale a little and your contributions are allowing us to do what all teachers and administrators desire to do—teach our students. Thank you!

So if you feel compelled to help donate for needed supplies to Kim’s school, call Robin Fox at SchoolOutfitters.com, 1-866-619-5320. Just tell her how much you want to put on your credit card for supplies for James Weldon Johnson Elementary School. She will keep a list of donors that will go both to me and to the school. In a few weeks, I will publish what I trust will be a long list of donors’ names in this newsletter.

Supplies Requested Supplies Donated Still Needed
500 folding chairs ($11.95 each) 200 chairs 300 chairs
1 trophy case 1 trophy case
7 lg. rectangular tables ($85 each) 7 tables
Chair dollies ($287 ea.) 1 dolly (holds 84 chairs) 6 dollies
PA system PA system

Announcements

“Coffee Talk”: A Fundraising Event for James Weldon Johnson Elementary School

Tuesday, April 15, 2008, 10:00 AM, Northpoint Cafe, 1250 Bridgeway, Sausalito

Remember Lucy in Charlie Brown? She put up a sign offering “Advice: 5 Cents”
Well, the price for that sage advice has just been lowered by a nickel!

Sip your latte and have an Aha! FREE (Donations for Johnson Elementary School gratefully accepted) with popular Life Coaches and Bestselling Authors Jane Straus (Enough Is Enough! Stop Enduring and Start Living Your Extraordinary Life) and Diane Conway (What Would You Do If You Had No Fear? Living Your Dreams While Quakin’ in Your Boots).

Talk with Jane or Diane about whatever concern/issue/decision is foremost in your mind. Be ready to get a new perspective, be inspired, share a laugh, find your courage, or let go of an old, painful thought—before your coffee gets cold! Take this opportunity to declare what you would do if you had no fear. Then be ready for results!

NEW! English In A Snap: 68 One-Minute English Usage Videos

I’ve just completed 68 one-minute video lessons that are available FREE. Learn all about who and whom, affect and effect, subjects and verbs, adjectives and adverbs, commas, semicolons, quotation marks, and much more by just sitting back and enjoying these easy-to-follow lessons. Tell your colleagues (and bosses), children, teachers, and friends. Click here to view.

Calling All Editors
Advertise Your Editing Services On Grammarbook.com and in the E-Newsletter

What you will get for your investment:

*A full ad on Grammarbook.com: My site gets over 1,000,000 hits/month! I will offer you enough space to advertise your services, bio, photo, Web site address, and e-mail address, plus any additional information you wish to provide potential clients. Click here to see where your ad will appear.
*Your services advertised in my weekly e-newsletter (over 25,000 subscribers!) for a full year.
*Premium, cost-effective exposure: I receive requests for editing on a daily basis. I can’t handle all the business and am looking to partner with qualified editors.
Cost: $1000/year
Send your resume and a 2-3 page sample of work that gives a before-and-after view to Jane@grammarbook.com.

Create Your Abundant Life NOW! with Jane
at Club Med in Cancun!
June 21-28, 2008

If your life is about more than English usage…
Enjoy the beautiful beach, delicious food, and luxurious setting while experiencing enriching programs by renowned self-help leaders, including a NEW program that I am offering:

Create Your Abundant Life NOW!
How do you know if you have limiting beliefs around abundance?
Just ask yourself:
Do I believe that abundance is that which already exists?

If you can’t answer this question with a resounding YES!, then don’t waste any more of your life suffering in lack.

Here’s another test of your abundance quotient:
Do you feel that you don’t have enough:
• Time
• Money
• Energy
• Love
• Intimacy
• Fun
• Self-esteem
• Inspiration, or
• Direction

There is a Buddhist saying that no enemy can harm us as much as our own worst thoughts. Three kinds of negative thoughts stop us from manifesting abundance:
• Fear
• Self-judgments
• Limiting beliefs

Any one of them can sabotage us, keep us stuck in a rut, stress us out, cause us confusion, or make us want to give up.

You will experience cutting-edge strategies and intriguing processes so that you will begin immediately to manifest your spirit’s deepest desires.
Price: Get your Friend of Jane discount $1999 (regular price $2600)/$1000 for children under 18, which includes lodging, meals, airport transportation, and all programs. Check out this beautiful, newly renovated Club Med for yourself.
Contact Teresa Williamson at media@podium-pr.com or call 650-759-1005 for more information and to register. Put in your Subject Line: Club Med w/Jane

Other self-help luminaries who will be speaking:

Cameron Johnson: You Call the Shots

Maybe you’ve watched Cameron on the Big Give with Oprah – now meet him in person. Cameron is recognized as one of the most successful young entrepreneurs in the world. Over the last eight years, Cameron has given hundreds of speeches worldwide. Cameron is also the author of the international bestselling book, “You Call the Shots.” Cameron will inspire you with his story and motivate you to the next level of success.

Teresa Rodriguez Williamson: Build Your Personal Mission Statement

Teresa is the creator and founder of TangoDiva.com—a worldwide online social network and travel magazine for women. She is also the author of “FLY SOLO: The 50 Best Places on Earth for a Girl to Travel Alone.” She has appeared on hundreds of TV shows, magazines, and newspaper articles around the world. Teresa will teach you how to create and build a mission statement that can guide you to success.

Chet Holmes: How to Double Your Sales

Super Strategist of the Fortune 500, Chet Holmes had more than 60 of the Fortune 500 as clients, taking his place as America’s top marketing executive, trainer, strategic consultant, and motivation expert. He is the author of the NO.1 bestselling book, “The Ultimate Sales Machine.” Chet will teach you how to double your sales – no matter what your business is.

Stephen Pierce: The Art of More

For many, Stephen Pierce’s name is synonymous with success. Recognized as one of the world’s leading Internet marketers and Business Optimization Strategists, Pierce wears several hats when it comes to his businesses. He will teach you how to expand your business in a competitive world.

Spike Humer: Consciously Creating Your Future

Dedicated to the passionate pursuit of creating joy, excellence, and positive abundance in life, health, relationships, and business throughout the world. He will help you create a clear and compelling vision for your life.

Joe Polish: From “Real World” to “Real Money”

Joe Polish is the founder and President of Piranha Marketing, Inc. Considered to be one of the most effective direct-response marketing experts in the world, Joe made his name teaching other entrepreneurs the marketing techniques and business strategies that came directly from his own “real world” work experiences. Joe Polish is a business strategy consultant and marketing expert who has helped thousands of entrepreneurs become successful. And during your week at Club Med, he will teach you his secrets to success.

Greta Remington: Innovative Thinking for Growth

What is the next “big idea” for your company? How do you know which ideas to pursue? Based on the greatest creative minds in history and the most innovative companies of today, Greta’s proven methodology for identifying market opportunities has generated millions in incremental revenue for her clients from the Fortune 500 to start-ups. Greta will teach you her step by step methodology for improving your innovative thinking and creating actionable ideas to grow your business.

Review the 10th Edition

**If you own the new 10th edition of The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation (and who wouldn’t want to), please write a review on Amazon.com. (Scroll to Customer Reviews and click on the button.) Consumer reviews are the most helpful guides for other potential customers.

One Laptop Per Child Donation
** I am offering my subscription area quizzes free to One Laptop Per Child, a nonprofit organization that makes and donates laptops to children in developing countries worldwide. This will provide hundreds of thousands of children the English skills they so desperately want and need.

________________________________________
Valuable Link
Click here to read excerpts from Jane’s other wonderful book, Enough Is Enough! Stop Enduring and Start Living Your Extraordinary Life and listen to her podcasts. Learn more about Jane’s personal coaching work, speaking engagements, and articles that will inspire you to thrive. 10 Keys to an Extraordinary Life on Yahoo! Video or by joining mypathtv.com where you will also find Jane’s weekly advice column, “Ask Jane.”

When phrases or clauses are misplaced in a sentence, such that they don’t agree with the subject, sometimes funny or even embarrassing meanings and images will result. Danglers are difficult for us to spot when we write them because we can’t always see that what we have written is not what we meant to express.

Example: While walking across the street, the bus hit her.
Did the bus really walk across the street?

Correction: While she was walking across the street, the bus hit her. OR
The bus hit her while she was walking across the street.

Example: I have some pound cake that Mollie baked in my lunch bag.
Did Mollie actually bake the pound cake in my lunch bag?

Correction: In my lunch bag, I have some pound cake that Mollie baked.

Now that you are alerted to danglers, perhaps you will be able to appreciate some of the bloopers below even more. Thank you to Hu Orendi for sending these along.

The Fasting & Prayer Conference includes meals.
————————–
The sermon this morning: “Jesus Walks on the Water.” The sermon tonight: “Searching for Jesus.”
————————–
Ladies, don’t forget the rummage sale. It’s a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Bring your husbands.
————————–
Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our community. Smile at someone who is hard to love. Say ‘Hell’ to someone who doesn’t care much about you.
————————–
Don’t let worry kill you off—let the Church help.
————————–
Miss Charlene Mason sang “I will not pass this way again” giving obvious pleasure to the congregation.
————————–
For those of you who have children and don’t know it, we have a nursery downstairs.
————————–
Next Thursday there will be tryouts for the choir. They need all the help they can get.
————————–
Irving B. and Jessie C. were married on October 24 in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days.
————————–
A bean supper will be held on Tuesday evening in the church hall. Music will follow.
————————–
At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be “What Is Hell?” Come early and listen to our choir practice.
————————–
Eight new choir robes are currently needed due to the addition of several new members and to the deterioration of some older ones.
————————–
Scouts are saving aluminum cans, bottles and other items to be recycled. Proceeds will be used to cripple children.
————————–
Please place your donation in the envelope along with the deceased person you want remembered.
————————–
The church will host an evening of fine dining, super entertainment and gracious hostility.
——————— —–
Potluck supper Sunday at 5:00 PM—prayer and medication to follow.
————————–

The ladies of the Church have cast off clothing of every kind. They may be seen in the basement on Friday afternoon.
————————–
This evening at 7 PM there will be a hymn singing in the park across from the Church. Bring a blanket and come prepared to sin.
————————–
Ladies Bible Study will be held Thursday morning at 10 AM. All ladies are invited to lunch in the Fellowship Hall after the B. S. is done.
————————–
The pastor would appreciate it if the ladies of the Congregation would lend him their electric girdles for the pancake breakfast next Sunday.
————————–
Low Self Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7 PM. Please use the back door.
————————–
The eighth-graders will be presenting Shakespeare’s Hamlet in the Church basement Friday at 7 PM. The congregation is invited to attend this tragedy.
————————–
Weight Watchers will meet at 7 PM at the First Presbyterian Church. Please use large double door at the side entrance.
————————–
Sunday: “I Upped My Pledge - Up Yours.”

A Funny Little Story for Francophiles

This is a true story told to e-newsletter reader Joseph Depalma by a French-Belgian colleague who grew up in a family with one parent a French speaker and the other an English speaker. The colleague was fluent in both, but her younger brother only spoke English. They occasionally visited their French-speaking grandmother. And like all good grandmothers, she fed the kids an immense amount of food. Once, after returning from a visit, the colleague’s mother asked how the visit went. Her younger brother started to complain, saying, “Every time we go to grandmother’s house, she feeds us and feeds us until we’re completely full. But when I tell her ‘Enough!’ she gives me an egg. (French: un oeuf)

ANNOUNCEMENTS

NEW! English In A Snap: 68 One-Minute English Usage Videos

I’ve just completed 68 one-minute video lessons that are available FREE. Learn all about who and whom, affect and effect, subjects and verbs, adjectives and adverbs, commas, semicolons, quotation marks, and much more by just sitting back and enjoying these easy-to-follow lessons. Tell your colleagues (and bosses), children, teachers, and friends. Click here to view.

Calling All Editors
Advertise Your Editing Services On Grammarbook.com and in the E-Newsletter

What you will get for your investment:

*A full ad on Grammarbook.com: My site gets over 1,000,000 hits/month! I will offer you enough space to advertise your services, bio, photo, Web site address, and e-mail address, plus any additional information you wish to provide potential clients. Click here to see where your ad will appear.
*Your services advertised in my weekly e-newsletter (over 25,000 subscribers!) for a full year.
*Premium, cost-effective exposure: I receive requests for editing on a daily basis. I can’t handle all the business and am looking to partner with qualified editors.
Cost: $1000/year
Send your resume and a 2-3 page sample of work that gives a before-and-after view to Jane@grammarbook.com.

Create Your Abundant Life NOW! with Jane
at Club Med in Cancun!
June 21-28, 2008

If your life is about more than English usage…
Enjoy the beautiful beach, delicious food, and luxurious setting while experiencing enriching programs by renowned self-help leaders, including a NEW program that I am offering:

Create Your Abundant Life NOW!
How do you know if you have limiting beliefs around abundance?
Just ask yourself:
Do I believe that abundance is that which already exists?

If you can’t answer this question with a resounding YES!, then don’t waste any more of your life suffering in lack.
Here’s another test of your abundance quotient:
Do you feel that you don’t have enough:
• Time
• Money
• Energy
• Love
• Intimacy
• Fun
• Self-esteem
• Inspiration, or
• Direction
There is a Buddhist saying that no enemy can harm us as much as our own worst thoughts. Three kinds of negative thoughts stop us from manifesting abundance:
• Fear
• Self-judgments
• Limiting beliefs
Any one of them can sabotage us, keep us stuck in a rut, stress us out, cause us confusion, or make us want to give up.

You will experience cutting-edge strategies and intriguing processes so that you will begin immediately to manifest your spirit’s deepest desires.
Price: Get your Friend of Jane discount $1999 (regular price $2600)/$1000 for children under 18, which includes lodging, meals, airport transportation, and all programs. Check out this beautiful, newly renovated Club Med for yourself.
Contact Teresa Williamson at media@podium-pr.com or call 650-759-1005 for more information and to register. Put in your Subject Line: Club Med w/Jane

Review the 10th Edition
**If you own the new 10th edition of The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation (and who wouldn’t want to), please write a review on Amazon.com. (Scroll to Customer Reviews and click on the button.) Consumer reviews are the most helpful guides for other potential customers.

One Laptop Per Child Donation
** I am offering my subscription area quizzes free to One Laptop Per Child, a nonprofit organization that makes and donates laptops to children in developing countries worldwide. This will provide hundreds of thousands of children the English skills they so desperately want and need.

________________________________________
Valuable Link
Click here to read excerpts from Jane’s other wonderful book, Enough Is Enough! Stop Enduring and Start Living Your Extraordinary Life and listen to her podcasts. Learn more about Jane’s personal coaching work, speaking engagements, and articles that will inspire you to thrive. 10 Keys to an Extraordinary Life on Yahoo! Video or by joining mypathtv.com where you will also find Jane’s weekly advice column, “Ask Jane.”

Rule: The plurals for capital letters and numbers used as nouns are not formed with apostrophes.

Example: She consulted with three M.D.s. BUT
Example: She went to three M.D.s’ offices.
The apostrophe is needed here to show plural possessive.

Example: She learned her ABCs.
Example: the 1990s, not the 1990’s
Example: the ’90s or the mid-’70s, not the ’90’s or the mid-’70’s
Example: She learned her times tables for 6s and 7s.

Exception: Use apostrophes with capital letters and numbers when the meaning would be unclear otherwise.
Example: Please dot your I’s.
You don’t mean Is.
Example: Ted couldn’t distinguish between her 6’s and 0’s.
You don’t mean Os.

National Grammar Day
Did you know that you may have missed a major holiday without realizing it? No, I don’t mean St. Patrick’s Day or Easter or even Weatherperson’s Day (February 5). I am referring to National Grammar Day, which came and went on March 4 without much hoopla. I have to admit that, although I knew we have much to celebrate on September 24 (National Punctuation Day), I didn’t realize that we “word nerds” have two days a year dedicated to our obsession. I think we should celebrate with a toast to the quirkiness of our rich and enigmatic language. So thanks to Amy B. for sending the following by Richard Lederer, Author of Anguished English:

The verbs in English are a fright.
How can we learn to read and write?
Today we speak, but first we spoke;
Some faucets leak, but never loke.
Today we write, but first we wrote;
We bite our tongues, but never bote.
Each day I teach, for years I taught,
And preachers preach, but never praught.
This tale I tell; this tale I told;
I smell the flowers, but never smold.
If knights still slay, as once they slew,
Then do we play, as once we plew?
If I still do as once I did,
Then do cows moo, as they once mid?
I love to win, and games I’ve won;
I seldom sin, and never son.
I hate to lose, and games I lost;
I didn’t choose, and never chost.
I love to sing, and songs I sang;
I fling a ball, but never flang.
I strike that ball, that ball I struck;
This poem I like, but never luck.
I take a break, a break I took;
I bake a cake, but never book.
I eat that cake, that cake I ate;
I beat an egg, but never bate.
I often swim, as I once swam;
I skim some milk, but never skam.
I fly a kite that I once flew;
I tie a knot, but never tew.
I see the truth, the truth I saw;
I flee from falsehood, never flaw.
I stand for truth, as I once stood;
I land a fish, but never lood.
About these verbs I sit and think.
These verbs don’t fit. They seem to wink
At me, who sat for years and thought
Of verbs that never fat or wrought.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

NEW! English In A Snap: 68 One-Minute English Usage Videos

I’ve just completed 68 one-minute video lessons that are available FREE. Learn all about who and whom, affect and effect, subjects and verbs, adjectives and adverbs, commas, semicolons, quotation marks, and much more by just sitting back and enjoying these easy-to-follow lessons. Tell your colleagues (and bosses), children, teachers, and friends. Click here to view.

Calling All Editors
Advertise Your Editing Services On Grammarbook.com and in the E-Newsletter

What you will get for your investment:

*A full ad on Grammarbook.com: My site gets over 1,000,000 hits/month! I will offer you enough space to advertise your services, bio, photo, Web site address, and e-mail address, plus any additional information you wish to provide potential clients. Click here to see where your ad will appear.
*Your services advertised in my weekly e-newsletter (over 25,000 subscribers!) for a full year.
*Premium, cost-effective exposure: I receive requests for editing on a daily basis. I can’t handle all the business and am looking to partner with qualified editors.
Cost: $1000/year
Send your resume and a 2-3 page sample of work that gives a before-and-after view to Jane@grammarbook.com.

Create Your Abundant Life NOW! with Jane
at Club Med in Cancun!
June 21-28, 2008

If your life is about more than English usage…
Enjoy the beautiful beach, delicious food, and luxurious setting while experiencing enriching programs by renowned self-help leaders, including a NEW program that I am offering:

Create Your Abundant Life NOW!
How do you know if you have limiting beliefs around abundance?
Just ask yourself:
Do I believe that abundance is that which already exists?

If you can’t answer this question with a resounding YES!, then don’t waste any more of your life suffering in lack.
Here’s another test of your abundance quotient:
Do you feel that you don’t have enough:
• Time
• Money
• Energy
• Love
• Intimacy
• Fun
• Self-esteem
• Inspiration, or
• Direction
There is a Buddhist saying that no enemy can harm us as much as our own worst thoughts. Three kinds of negative thoughts stop us from manifesting abundance:
• Fear
• Self-judgments
• Limiting beliefs
Any one of them can sabotage us, keep us stuck in a rut, stress us out, cause us confusion, or make us want to give up.

You will experience cutting-edge strategies and intriguing processes so that you will begin immediately to manifest your spirit’s deepest desires.
Price: Get your Friend of Jane discount $1999 (regular price $2600)/$1000 for children under 18, which includes lodging, meals, airport transportation, and all programs. Check out this beautiful, newly renovated Club Med for yourself.
Contact Teresa Williamson at media@podium-pr.com or call 650-759-1005 for more information and to register. Put in your Subject Line: Club Med w/Jane

Review the 10th Edition
**If you own the new 10th edition of The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation (and who wouldn’t want to), please write a review on Amazon.com. (Scroll to Customer Reviews and click on the button.) Consumer reviews are the most helpful guides for other potential customers.

One Laptop Per Child Donation
** I am offering my subscription area quizzes free to One Laptop Per Child, a nonprofit organization that makes and donates laptops to children in developing countries worldwide. This will provide hundreds of thousands of children the English skills they so desperately want and need.

________________________________________
Valuable Link
Click here to read excerpts from Jane’s other wonderful book, Enough Is Enough! Stop Enduring and Start Living Your Extraordinary Life and listen to her podcasts. Learn more about Jane’s personal coaching work, speaking engagements, and articles that will inspire you to thrive. 10 Keys to an Extraordinary Life on Yahoo! Video or by joining mypathtv.com where you will also find Jane’s weekly advice column, “Ask Jane.”

Dictionaries don’t all agree on the definitions of these words and neither do style manuals. So I will attempt to shed more light on the distinctions.
Abbreviations
According to Dictionary.com, an abbreviation is a shortened or contracted form of a word or phrase, used to represent the whole, as Dr. for Doctor, U.S. for United States, lb. for pound.

Initialisms and acronyms are two types of abbreviations that are used to shorten phrases.
Initialisms are abbreviations that are pronounced one letter at a time.
Examples:
• FBI
• HTML
• IBM
• DVD
• BTW (by the way)
Note that most people would simply call the above abbreviations, which is fine.

Acronyms are abbreviations that are pronounced as words.
Examples:
• NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)
• AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome)
• OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries)
• SPA (Society of Professional Accountants)
• WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant)
• ASAP (as soon as possible)
• Radar (radio detecting and ranging)
• Scuba (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus)
Note that acronyms are pronounceable.

Do you ever wonder about the origin of a word or when it came to be a common part of the language? According to Ask.com, the word acronym originated in 1943: “As wartime production of names using initials reached an all-time high, it was high time to give a name to the growing arsenal of alphabetic abbreviations. That need was met in a note in the February 1943 issue of American Notes and Queries: ‘Your correspondent who asks about words made up of the initial letters or syllables of other words may be interested in knowing that I have seen such words called by the name acronym, which is useful, and clear to anyone who knows a little Greek.’
“Greek? Yes, acronym follows the model of other designations for types of words, like synonym, antonym, and homonym. The -nym means “a kind of word”; acro- means “top, peak, or initial,” as in acrobat or acrophobia. Sometimes scholars distinguish between initialisms, which are simply a series of letters pronounced one after the other, like USA (1795 as “United States of America,” 1848 as “U.S. Army”), GOP (Grand Old Party, 1883), IQ (1916), and GI (1917); and hard-core acronyms, which are initials pronounced as a separate word, like WAC (a member of the Women’s Army Corps, 1943), snafu (1944), and radar (radio detection and ranging, 1941). In general use, however, these are all called acronyms.”

Joke of the Week

Thanks to Patt for sending this to give us some needed relief from confusion:

My wife was in labor with our first child. Things were going pretty well
when suddenly she began to shout, “Shouldn’t, couldn’t, wouldn’t,
didn’t, can’t!”

“Doctor, what’s wrong with my wife?”

“Nothing. She’s just having contractions.”

I welcome all jokes and funny items involving English usage. You can send them to me at Jane@grammarbook.com.

NEW! English In A Snap: 68 One-Minute English Usage Videos

I’ve just completed 68 one-minute video lessons that are available FREE. Learn all about who and whom, affect and effect, subjects and verbs, adjectives and adverbs, commas, semicolons, quotation marks, and much more by just sitting back and enjoying these easy-to-follow lessons. Tell your colleagues (and bosses), children, teachers, and friends. Click here to view.

Calling All Editors
Advertise Your Editing Services On Grammarbook.com and in the E-Newsletter

What you will get for your investment:

*A full ad on Grammarbook.com: My site gets over 1,000,000 hits/month! I will offer you enough space to advertise your services, bio, photo, Web site address, and e-mail address, plus any additional information you wish to provide potential clients. Click here to see where your ad will appear.
*Your services advertised in my weekly e-newsletter (over 25,000 subscribers!) for a full year.
*Premium, cost-effective exposure: I receive requests for editing on a daily basis. I can’t handle all the business and am looking to partner with qualified editors.
Cost: $1000/year
Send your resume and a 2-3 page sample of work that gives a before-and-after view to Jane@grammarbook.com.

Create Your Abundant Life With Jane
at Club Med in Cancun!
June 21-28, 2008

If your life is about more than English usage…
Enjoy the beautiful beach, delicious food, and luxurious setting while experiencing enriching programs by renowned self-help leaders, including a NEW program that I am offering:

Create Your Abundant Life NOW!
How do you know if you have limiting beliefs around abundance?
Just ask yourself:
Do I believe that abundance is that which already exists?
Do I believe that money is love?
If you can’t answer both questions with a resounding YES!, then don’t waste any more of your life suffering in lack.
Here’s another test of your abundance quotient:
Do you feel that you don’t have enough:
• Time
• Money
• Energy
• Love
• Intimacy
• Fun
• Self-esteem
• Inspiration, or
• Direction
There is a Buddhist saying that no enemy can harm us as much as our own worst thoughts. Three kinds of negative thoughts stop us from manifesting abundance:
• Fear
• Self-judgments
• Limiting beliefs
Any one of them can sabotage us, keep us stuck in a rut, stress us out, cause us confusion, or make us want to give up.
You will experience cutting-edge strategies and intriguing processes so that you will begin immediately to manifest your spirit’s deepest desires.
Price: Get your Friend of Jane discount $1999 (regular price $2600)/$1000 for children under 18, which includes lodging, meals, airport transportation, and all programs. Check out this beautiful, newly renovated Club Med for yourself.
Contact Teresa Williamson at teresa@tangodiva.com for more information and to register. Put in your Subject Line: Club Med w/Jane

Review the 10th Edition
**If you own the new 10th edition of The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation (and who wouldn’t want to), please write a review on Amazon.com. (Scroll to Customer Reviews and click on the button.) Consumer reviews are the most helpful guides for other potential customers.

One Laptop Per Child Donation
** I am offering my subscription area quizzes free to One Laptop Per Child, a nonprofit organization that makes and donates laptops to children in developing countries worldwide. This will provide hundreds of thousands of children the English skills they so desperately want and need.

________________________________________
Valuable Link
Click here to read excerpts from Jane’s other wonderful book, Enough Is Enough! Stop Enduring and Start Living Your Extraordinary Life and listen to her podcasts. Learn more about Jane’s personal coaching work, speaking engagements, and articles that will inspire you to thrive. 10 Keys to an Extraordinary Life on Yahoo! Video or by joining mypathtv.com where you will also find Jane’s weekly advice column, “Ask Jane.”

Subjunctive Mode
Are you old enough to remember the ad jingle, “I wish I were an Oscar Mayer wiener…”? Did you ever wonder about I were? This is an example of the Subjunctive Mode, which means that you are expressing a hypothetical, wishful, or imaginary thought. Note that a plural verb is used. Sentences using wish and if usually indicate Subjunctive Mode.
Example: If I were rich, I’d sail around the world.
Example: He wishes he were in a position to give his employees raises.

Some Confusing Words

Oriented vs. Orientated
The dictionary allows you to use either word to mean “adjusted or located in relation to surroundings or circumstances.”

Example: The house had its large windows oriented toward the ocean view.
OR
Example: The house had its large windows orientated toward the ocean view.

Democratic Party vs. Democrat Party
It’s the Democratic Party. Some non-Democrats don’t like the implication that one party has a lock on democratic principles so will say Democrat Party.

NEW! English In A Snap: 68 One-Minute English Usage Videos

I’ve just completed 68 one-minute video lessons that are available FREE. Learn all about who and whom, affect and effect, subjects and verbs, adjectives and adverbs, commas, semicolons, quotation marks, and much more by just sitting back and enjoying these easy-to-follow lessons. Tell your colleagues (and bosses), children, teachers, and friends. Click here to view.

Calling All Editors
Advertise Your Editing Services On Grammarbook.com and in the E-Newsletter

What you will get for your investment:

*A full ad on Grammarbook.com: My site gets over 1,000,000 hits/month! I will offer you enough space to advertise your services, bio, photo, Web site address, and e-mail address, plus any additional information you wish to provide potential clients. Click here to see where your ad will appear.
*Your services advertised in my weekly e-newsletter (over 25,000 subscribers!) for a full year.
*Premium, cost-effective exposure: I receive requests for editing on a daily basis. I can’t handle all the business and am looking to partner with qualified editors.
Cost: $1000/year
Send your resume and a 2-3 page sample of work that gives a before-and-after view to Jane@grammarbook.com.

Create Your Abundant Life With Jane
at Club Med in Cancun!
June 21-28, 2008

If your life is about more than English usage…
Enjoy the beautiful beach, delicious food, and luxurious setting while experiencing enriching programs by renowned self-help leaders, including a NEW program that I am offering:

Create Your Abundant Life NOW!
How do you know if you have limiting beliefs around abundance?
Just ask yourself:
Do I believe that abundance is that which already exists?
Do I believe that money is love?
If you can’t answer both questions with a resounding YES!, then don’t waste any more of your life suffering in lack.
Here’s another test of your abundance quotient:
Do you feel that you don’t have enough:
• Time
• Money
• Energy
• Love
• Intimacy
• Fun
• Self-esteem
• Inspiration, or
• Direction
There is a Buddhist saying that no enemy can harm us as much as our own worst thoughts. Three kinds of negative thoughts stop us from manifesting abundance:
• Fear
• Self-judgments
• Limiting beliefs
Any one of them can sabotage us, keep us stuck in a rut, stress us out, cause us confusion, or make us want to give up.
You will experience cutting-edge strategies and intriguing processes so that you will begin immediately to manifest your spirit’s deepest desires.
Price: Get your Friend of Jane discount $1999 (regular price $2600)/$1000 for children under 18, which includes lodging, meals, airport transportation, and all programs. Check out this beautiful, newly renovated Club Med for yourself.
Contact Teresa Williamson at teresa@tangodiva.com for more information and to register. Put in your Subject Line: Club Med w/Jane

Review the 10th Edition
**If you own the new 10th edition of The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation (and who wouldn’t want to), please write a review on Amazon.com. (Scroll to Customer Reviews and click on the button.) Consumer reviews are the most helpful guides for other potential customers.

One Laptop Per Child Donation
** I am offering my subscription area quizzes free to One Laptop Per Child, a nonprofit organization that makes and donates laptops to children in developing countries worldwide. This will provide hundreds of thousands of children the English skills they so desperately want and need.

________________________________________
Valuable Link
Click here to read excerpts from Jane’s other wonderful book, Enough Is Enough! Stop Enduring and Start Living Your Extraordinary Life and listen to her podcasts. Learn more about Jane’s personal coaching work, speaking engagements, and articles that will inspire you to thrive. 10 Keys to an Extraordinary Life on Yahoo! Video or by joining mypathtv.com where you will also find Jane’s weekly advice column, “Ask Jane.”

Uninterested vs. Disinterested

Uninterested = not interested
Disinterested = unbiased

Example: She seemed uninterested in history.
Example: Because she was disinterested, she acted as the mediator.

Suppose vs. Supposed

Suppose = to assume to be real or true; to consider as a suggestion
Supposed = intended; required; firmly believed; permitted

Example: I suppose you will tell me when it’s time for dinner.
Example: Suppose we go to the movie now…will that work for your schedule?
Example: We were supposed to meet at the theater.
Example: He is supposed to be at work at 6:00 P.M.

NEW! English In A Snap: 68 One-Minute English Usage Videos

I’ve just completed 68 one-minute video lessons that are available FREE. Learn all about who and whom, affect and effect, subjects and verbs, adjectives and adverbs, commas, semicolons, quotation marks, and much more by just sitting back and enjoying these easy-to-follow lessons. Tell your colleagues (and bosses), children, teachers, and friends. Click here to view.

Calling All Editors
Advertise Your Editing Services On Grammarbook.com and in the E-Newsletter

What you will get for your investment:

*A full ad on Grammarbook.com: My site gets over 1,000,000 hits/month! I will offer you enough space to advertise your services, bio, photo, Web site address, and e-mail address, plus any additional information you wish to provide potential clients. Click here to see where your ad will appear.
*Your services advertised in my weekly e-newsletter (over 25,000 subscribers!) for a full year.
*Premium, cost-effective exposure: I receive requests for editing on a daily basis. I can’t handle all the business and am looking to partner with qualified editors.
Cost: $1000/year
Send your resume and a 2-3 page sample of work that gives a before-and-after view to Jane@grammarbook.com.

Review the 10th Edition
**If you own the new 10th edition of The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation (and who wouldn’t want to), please write a review on Amazon.com. (Scroll to Customer Reviews and click on the button.) Consumer reviews are the most helpful guides for other potential customers.

One Laptop Per Child Donation
** I am offering my subscription area quizzes free to One Laptop Per Child, a nonprofit organization that makes and donates laptops to children in developing countries worldwide. This will provide hundreds of thousands of children the English skills they so desperately want and need.

________________________________________
Valuable Link
Click here to read excerpts from Jane’s other wonderful book, Enough Is Enough! Stop Enduring and Start Living Your Extraordinary Life and listen to her podcasts. Learn more about Jane’s personal coaching work, speaking engagements, and articles that will inspire you to thrive. 10 Keys to an Extraordinary Life on Yahoo! Video or by joining mypathtv.com where you will also find Jane’s weekly advice column, “Ask Jane.”

A Comma Urban Legend

When I receive e-mails questioning the value of punctuation, I like to recount this urban legend that illustrates the power of punctuation. My thanks to Moussa M. for submitting this and for reminding me that good examples are timeless.

“A woman without her man is nothing.”

A professor wrote this on the chalkboard and asked the students to punctuate it correctly.

Most of the males in the class saw nothing wrong with the sentence as it was written.

Most of the females in the class wrote, “A woman: without her, man is nothing.”

Irregardless vs. Regardless

There is no such word as irregardless because regardless already means without regard.

Sneaked vs. Snuck

Snuck and sneaked are both fine as the past and perfect tenses for sneak.
Example: She snuck up on him. She sneaked up on him.
Example: She has snuck up on him twice while he was napping.
Example: She has sneaked up on him twice while he was napping.

Corrections
Thanks to Shawna Lambert for pointing out that the third example in my last newsletter had an error. My example, which was quoted from The Chicago Manual of Style: His article, “Death by Dessert,” appeared in the New York Times Magazine. According to CMS, “the” was not part of the name. However, Shawna questioned this and is correct that the title of the magazine is The New York Times Magazine.

Thanks to Kathy Davidson for pointing my sloppy grammar. I wrote, “The truth was that I had just been reading a book where the author sprinkled that word liberally throughout the text.” Kathy suggested politely that the sentence should be, “The truth was that I had just been reading a book in which the author…”

Announcement: Calling All Editors
If you are an experienced editor and would like to learn about a terrific, cost-effective advertising opportunity on Grammarbook.com, click here.

Review the 10th Edition
**If you own the new 10th edition of The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation (and who wouldn’t want to), please write a review on Amazon.com. (Scroll to Customer Reviews and click on the button.) Consumer reviews are the most helpful guides for other potential customers.

One Laptop Per Child Donation
** I am offering my subscription area quizzes free to One Laptop Per Child, a nonprofit organization that makes and donates laptops to children in developing countries worldwide. This will provide hundreds of thousands of children the English skills they so desperately want and need.

Jane’s English Usage Videos

Watch Jane deliver helpful usage tips at a book signing for her 10th Edition of The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation!

Watch Jane’s video on Subject and Verb Agreement.
________________________________________
Valuable Link
Click here to read excerpts from Jane’s other wonderful book, Enough Is Enough! Stop Enduring and Start Living Your Extraordinary Life and listen to her podcasts. Learn more about Jane’s personal coaching work, speaking engagements, and articles that will inspire you to thrive. 10 Keys to an Extraordinary Life on Yahoo! Video or by joining mypathtv.com where you will also find Jane’s weekly advice column, “Ask Jane.”