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Friday, February 27, 2009
I thought it might be fun (at least, for a nerd like me) to start a Grammar Fundamentals Friday. For awhile, I have had a link on this blog to the left to a site which discusses almost all grammatical questions one might have. This "series" will take that one step further and actually highlight some of the more popular errors in the English language each week. If you have any suggested topics, feel free to share.

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"I can think of a myriad of reasons to do that."

One usually finds myriad in the above form, prefaced by a and followed by of. And due to the times in which we live with a significant lowering of standards in the English language, this is considered by some to be valid. However, if one looks at the original meaning of the word ("countless" or "ten thousand"), it becomes apparent that the proper use of the word is as one would use the word many. In other words, the above sentence should read "I can think of myriad reasons to do that." Unfortunately, I come across this correct use of the term infrequently at best, usually in more classical writers.

Thus ends the first lesson of How to Read and Write Good. I hope to do myriad more of these, hopefully on a weekly basis.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I used to be guilty of such grammatical errors but now I am much gooder than I uses to be.

Darius said...

Nice.

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The Cross Centered Life: Keeping the Gospel The Main Thing
Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God
Overcoming Sin and Temptation
According to Plan: The Unfolding Revelation of God in the Bible
Disciplines of a Godly Man
Money, Greed, and God: Why Capitalism Is the Solution and Not the Problem
When Helping Hurts: Alleviating Poverty Without Hurting the Poor. . .and Ourselves
The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith
Respectable Sins
The Kite Runner
Life Laid Bare: The Survivors in Rwanda Speak
Machete Season: The Killers in Rwanda Speak
A Generous Orthodoxy: Why I am a missional, evangelical, post/protestant, liberal/conservative, mystical/poetic, biblical, charismatic/contemplative, fundamentalist/calvinist, ... anabaptist/anglican, metho
Show Them No Mercy
The Lord of the Rings
Life at the Bottom: The Worldview That Makes the Underclass
The Truth War: Fighting for Certainty in an Age of Deception
Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist's Guide to Global Warming
The Chronicles of Narnia
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