Comments on: AskOxford’s Ask The Experts

By: sd

sd — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 14:29:14 +0000

This is such a great site! I’m probably going to read every word of it!

In college we referred to them as “serial commas” – I’m wholly in favor! I know that both are correct (depending on the preferred style) but irks me to see a missing comma!

By: Betsy

Betsy — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 22:13:34 +0000

Higgins – I’ve almost always been able to depend on “came to me naturally” too – until I had inquisitive kids to explain things to! For myself, I can use “it just doesn’t sound right.” For them, I have to do better (while keeping it on a first-grade level).

By: Higgins

Higgins — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 21:05:29 +0000

Betsy – that’s the explanation I’ve always used. Then again for some reason the less/fewer thing just came to me naturally, so I’m not sure if it’s a quick enough trick to use on-the-fly.

Grammar Girl has some helpful stuff:

grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/less-versus-fewer.aspx

By: Betsy

Betsy — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 20:51:16 +0000

This is particularly timely for me. My first grader has been struggling this week with “fewer.” My explanation to her was that we use “less” for things we measure and “fewer” for things we count. How’s that sound to you experts out there?

By: Kelly

Kelly — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 17:34:53 +0000

I always felt that “porridge” comes pretty close to rhyming with “orange”.

By: Willylumplump

Willylumplump — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 17:33:33 +0000

Door hinge rhymes with orange.