Archive: Arts & Entertainment

SMART TALK

by Dr. Parley Speake




MORE IMPORTANTLY: At the Center for English as a First Language, we put more importantly and most importantly into the same treatment plan as I feel badly. The pretentious yet ignorant, which is to say fatuous, make themselves sound foolish by using adverbs like a cook who thinks there's no such thing as too much spice. Hopefully is another similar faux pas, and one of our un-favorites.

We tell our patients that adverb compulsion makes them look like jerks. In speaking and writing, simpler is smarter. Don't complicate unnecessarily, we tell them. Just say more important, most important, I feel bad, and I hope.

Not only will they impress the knowledgeable, but they'll also use correct grammar.

Of course, you, dear reader, had it right all along.

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