This desparately needs an index somewhere
Been a couple of months since the last quiz -- any others forthcoming?
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This is fun. Can we submit our scores and apply for a job?
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More, please. These quizzes help keep my brain sharp!
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#4 had 2 error's the pronoun their in "their honeymoon" cannot be used for Elizabeth Taylor's wedding to Richard Burton as Elizabeth Taylor is not a noun in the sentence.
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Oh, wrong, wrong. Would you say "her honeymoon"? "His honeymoon"? "The honeymoon of both of them"? If you try the alternatives, you will often realize what is correct.
I got 'em all. Probably because copy editing was a large part of my career.
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In #13, I believe that "like" should be "such as" because an actual example is provided.
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I also think it should be "such as" but for a different reason. "Such as" implies that the example is one of a number, but "like" implies some similarity between the example and both the main subject and other possible examples.
I so look forward to each new set. Keep them coming!
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I just discovered this and love it! Thank you!
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I enjoyed this, but NO, I don't wish to do another and be further humiliated ;)
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I would regard J.C.P.O.A. as an initialism; an abbreviation is part of a word, like Mr. or St. or CentCom.
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Merriam-Webster agrees & includes initialisms in its definition of acronym.
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Thank you, Mr. Corbett. Please put out more of these. We do so miss "After Deadline."
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A brilliant star is born, Mr. Corbett, on the second attempt, I might add! Past sixty, and with a preference for English over French, this avid reader is a slow learner, but please keep giving us a 'Copy Edit' on a daily basis. Yours with appreciation.
Poor Mr. Corbett if he were to agree to produce these on a daily basis! Look at his profile on the Times' website and you will find that he is a very busy person wearing multiple hats. I would settle for one a month, Mr. Corbett, if that's not too much to ask.
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My results on this quiz were just 9 right out of 13. They put me in mind of Mrs, Pritchett, my eigth grade English teacher, who regularly returned my homework assignments with the words "Do This Over Again" scrawled on them in capital letters and red ink.
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... Mrs. Pritchett, my eighth grade English teacher ...
Darn. She is still making me do my homework over again.
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And how did you miss "vicious cycle," when the correct term is "vicious circle"?
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I didn't realize both were acceptable. (I just checked, and the common "vicious cycle", though commonly used, is apparently frowned upon.
The errors that virtually all papers and magazines make which exasperate me are mostly much more blatant than these. (Phases for fazes was pretty bad, and more typical of those that make me grind my teeth, when supposedly professional journalists and editors are producing the material, which I'm paying for access to).
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In your honor, Perfect Gentleman, you will find the definition of the word 'cycle' in the Oxford Reference Dictionary, described as 'A recurrent round or period (of events, phenomena, etc); the time needed for one such round, or period." There is more, but this is the end of the beginning.
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"Vicious circle" appeared in logic and literature as early as the 17th century. "Vicious cycle" is sometimes listed as a variant but is not believed to have been coined until the mid 20th century. The OED does not list it as a definition. "Cycle," as described by Miss Ley, connotes recurrence, but "circle" is more in line with the description of an idea chasing its own tail. So I think your argument is, perhaps, "Miss Ley'd."
On an unrelated note, I cite the 1994 film about the Algonquin Round Table, "Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle."
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