Some familiar missteps in our latest batch of homophone problems. If these aren't already on your watch-out list, better add them.
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After 34 grueling hours in which they veered eight miles off course, a passing ferry spotted their last remaining signal flair and picked them up.
Make it “flare.†We've done this one before.
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Walking into a conference room, her eyebrows shot up at the site of an elaborate spray of flowers, a congratulatory gift from a supporter.
We meant “sight,†of course. (The sentence also has a dangler problem; her eyebrows didn't walk into the room.)
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Mr. Cuomo waved a tax for fuel barges, and told New Yorkers they could get 10 gallons of gas without charge from fuel trucks across the region provided by the federal government.
Make it “waived.â€
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Close but Not Quite
They're not homophones, but he re are more examples of confusion over similar words:
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Even as they absorbed Mr. Romney's defeat, the party's top elected officials, strategists and activists said they believed that Republicans had offered a persuasive message of economic opportunism and fiscal restraint.
If they were advocating “opportunism,†they should have expected to lose: it means “taking advantage of circumstances without regard to principles.†Presumably the message was about “economic opportunity.â€
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Two examples from the same day:
In “Crewel,†a first novel by Gennifer Albin, 16-year-old Adelice lives in Arras, a dystopic world in which everything is strictly controlled by the Guild.
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Her life changed profoundly and suddenly with “Hunger Games,†the adaptation of the first in the best-selling Suzanne Collins trilogy of young-adult novels, about a dystopic society where chi ldren are sacrificed in yearly reapings.
I'm not sure where this variant came from - maybe from the similarity to “myopicâ€? - but the word we want is “dystopian,†the opposite of “utopian.â€
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In a Word
This week's grab bag of grammar, style and other missteps, compiled with help from colleagues and readers.
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The less-than-two dozen puppeteers and human characters who work on the show - and collaborate on each other's outside puppet productions, as well - are a tightly knit band.
The hyphens are unnecessary, and it should be “fewer†not “less.†Better still, why not just use the actual number, or a simpler approximation like “roughly 20″? Also, “one another's†is better than “each other's†for more than two.
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Her husband Dan, 80 years old at the time, felt he could no longer care for her alone.
Make it “Her hus band, Dan, …â€
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Kevin Clash, the longtime voice and puppeteer behind “Sesame Street's†Elmo character, resigned on Tuesday after a new allegation was made that he had underage sexual relationships.
The stylebook prefers “under-age.â€
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On the golf course, driving to another hole, John Paul said there came a day in every young man's life when he had to grow up, to stop the adolescent high jinks that can be so fun and so destructive.
Generally avoid this colloquial use of “fun†as an adjective.
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Due to launch in 2013, Dr. Hernandez likens the product to “Puerto Rican moonshine.â€
Dangler. He is not “due to launch†next year, the product is. (Also, we try to resist this P.R. use of “launch†for product introductions.)
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Susan Lerner of Common Cause New York called the latest version of the regulation “a compromise posi tion, and as such, it's an acceptable one.“
The verb “called†doesn't apply after the first three words of the quote; rephrase.
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Tuck mentioned a few players he thought had the potential for extended success at the professional level, including Seattle receiver Golden Tate and Minnesota tight end Kyle Rudolph, but he conceded that it was a little strange to remain the most high-profile alumni despite his having been drafted in 2005.
This whole sentence is clunky and could have been sharpened. But in any case, make it “alumnus,†singular, and make it “highest-profile†rather than “most high-profile.â€
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One of the most well-known polling firms, Gallup, had among the worst results. Gallup has now had three poor elections in a row.
There's a word for “most well,†and it's “best.†Make it “best-known.â€
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Greg Cosell, a senior producer at NFL Films whose football acumen and analysis of game film is respected around the league, said that was rarely noticeable on film.
Make it “acumen and analysis … are respected.â€
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But New York must have an immune system that keeps it safe from destabilizing outside influences, because M. Wells lasted just more than a year before the steak knives and the foie gras vanished from the scene.
“Just over a year†is more idiomatic.
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Once talked about as a future United States senator or mayor of Chicago, Mr. Jackson's circumstances have unraveled in the last few years.
Another dangler. His circumstances were not “once talked about …â€
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Before the Broadway musical and the HBO film there was this portrait of Edith Bouvier Beale and her daughter, Little Edie, below, directed by David and Albert Maysles. An aunt and a first cousin of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, the two lived as recluses in a deteriorating mansion in East Hampton, N.Y. “There is no doubt about the artistry and devotion that the Maysles have used in recording the life in ‘Grey Gardens …'â€
The plural of Mayles is Maysleses.
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On Twitter, a new adverb - a pejorative, really - emerged in conversations about Hostess: Bained.
New, yes; pejorative, yes; an adverb, definitely not.
