Comments on: The Next Two Panels

By: Rainey

Rainey — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:08:32 +0000

Cidu Bill, this reminds me of a similar joke in which an elementary school teacher tells her class to write a paper about what they would do if they had a million dollars. One student handed in a blank paper. When questioned about this, the student replied “Because that’s what I would do if I had a million dollars.”

By: mkilby

mkilby — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 07:16:08 +0000

@ furrykef (11) - Nonetheless, Merriam-Webster accepts all three forms as standard English.

The MW dictionary seems to have a very low threshold when accepting new entries. I recently saw (quoted elsewhere, all from MW3): “boomingest, charmingest, cunningest, darlingest, excitingest, knowingest, and willingest“, none of which I would ever consider a usable word.

By: Mark in Boston

Mark in Boston — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:19:11 +0000

I graduated high school in 1969. I bachelored my degree in 1973 and mastered it in 1978 but I haven’t doctored it yet.

Which is correct: I borned in 1951, or I borned my mother in 1951?

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 01:53:30 +0000

That’s actually what I’m doing after high school.

By: Rachael

Rachael — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:29:26 +0000

WOW. that dude looks and sounds exactly like this kid named Cody Bradford in my Language Arts class. He’s in eighth grade and doesn’t know what nouns are.

By: furrykef

furrykef — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:55:02 +0000

Ah, I’d misread the Merriam-Webster entry. The actual history of the phrase is:

1) I was graduated from high school. (once the only correct form)
2) I graduated from high school. (once condemned; currently preferred)
3) I graduated high school. (relatively new; condemned by some and accepted by others)

Nonetheless, Merriam-Webster accepts all three forms as standard English.

- Kef

By: bookworm

bookworm — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:47:39 +0000

Furrykef, I learned it the other way around. Google “grammar graduate from”. Graduate is an active verb, something the subject does TO the object. A person doesn’t graduate the school, the school graduates the person.

By: Cidu Bill

Cidu Bill — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:46:36 +0000

Jeff, I think the rule is, if you can get out of Westview alive and don’t look back, you’ll be okay. Just don’t enroll in the University of Westview.

By: furrykef

furrykef — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:13:37 +0000

So is it official that “graduate high school” is now proper English? I graduated FROM high school, and dropping the preposition just sounds like one didn’t learn enough to actually graduate.

Actually, until fairly recently, it’s “graduate high school” that prescriptivists have claimed is correct, and “graduate from high school” that they have claimed is incorrect. Gradually, the “graduate from” usage has taken over, which just goes to show that today’s “incorrect English” is often tomorrow’s “correct English” (and sometimes vice-versa!). In any case, Merriam-Webster says that both are correct.

- Kef

By: Cidu Bill

Cidu Bill — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:03:35 +0000

Pirk, think about what you wrote here. And about what strip.