and others. The phrase is "All present *or* accounted for" not "All present *and* accounted for." If everyone is present, then they don't need to be accounted for because they're, well, present. The point of the phrase is to say that everyone who is supposed to be there either is there or it is known why they're not there. It's kind of silly to say "Everybody's here and we know why."
While I have you here, I'll mention another one. Then is an adverb, indicating one thing following another. "This happened. Then that happened." If this, then that." Than is a conjunction and is used to indicate a comparison. "This is bigger/smaller/more/less than that." If you write "This is bigger then that" it makes no sense. And it's more evident than would be likely if it were a typo. I understand that you likely mispronounce it when you speak, which is why you misspell it when you type. The goal, then, would be to learn to pronounce the word correctly, which would help you to spell.
Thank you.
1 year ago
4 comments:
Ahem. It's like this. My teeth grate when I hear "do like I do" or "like we have been told. What has become of that lovely little word "as"?
I'm going to need to review the grammar rules on the difference between "like" and "as." I remember someone saying that the old tv ad "Winston tastes good like a cigarette should" was intentionally wrong to make people notice it. The trouble was that it made us young folks (at the time) think that it was correct.
Thank you for mentioning it.
my definitions are sometimes described as archaic. Actuallyy I kind of enjoy being old enough for my opinion to be considered an anachronism.
WD=stelyzar
i.e. style czar
I know what you mean about being anachronistic. I like it, too.
LOL about "style czar." I'm wondering if that's a leader who happens to be fashionable or the head of the fashion police. ;-)
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