I hope that anyone reading this realizes that I made the error in the title on purpose! I haven’t seen excape in writing, but I hear it spoken frequently. It is spelled, and pronounced, escape. No x anywhere.
Nowhere should one ever use no were unless referring to a were animal. I would hope there are no weres. This is not to be confused with we’re, the contraction of we are. I have seen people, particularly on Facebook, use no were instead of nowhere (one word, notice) or were in place of we’re. As I’ve said before, it’s an apostrophe people! One little character which makes your writing so much clearer!
The criteria for good grammar are not always clear because many people, for whatever reason, are not aware of the unusual status of some words. Take for example, criteria. Not criterias. Why? Because it is already plural. The singular form of criteria is criterion. Another word like this is phenomenon. The plural is not phenomenons, but phenomena. Media is also frequently mistakenly pluralized. The singular is medium. This is most frequently used when discussing different types of art media. Which medium do you use? When discussing newspapers and television news, I believe it is usually media. The United States has various forms of media.
These are a few grammatical mistakes I’ve encountered in the last few months. I’ve seen a meme going around Facebook that shows a screen that would require a person to put the correct form of a word into a sentence in order to access the internet. What a great idea! Maybe people would actually learn!
Author: Rose Morton
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No comments on I can’t excape bad grammar!
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This post is not about a complaint or pet peeve. It is actually about something I appreciate in Oklahoma’s regional accent.
Around here, people often pronounce the word pen as pin. Because of that, they frequently qualify it by saying ink pin.
Thank you, Oklahomans, for this clarification. It is appreciated.
That is all. -
Soli Deo Gloria is a Latin phrase that means “Glory to God alone” or “God’s glory alone.” This should be every Christian’s motto or creed. Our purpose on this earth is to glorify God. It is why He created us. I believe it’s something many of us frequently forget. We go about our lives as nominal Christians with our own agenda. This is one reason I decided to get it tattooed on my arm where I can see it every day. I’m a visual person, so it is a constant reminder of why I’m here and what I should be focusing on in my life. It’s a reminder that I belong to God. I’m not a perfect Christian. Who is? But it’s there as a reminder when I forget.
Another good thing about having it is that it’s an opener to share my faith when people notice it. They usually say: “Oh! That’s pretty. What’s it say? What’s that mean?” Then I get to explain. If you know me, you may know that’s I have a hard time just walking up to people and talking to them. That’s one reason I write this blog, but the tattoo is kind of an on-the-spot witnessing tool. Our actions are an important indicator of our faith, but let’s face it – even non-Christians sometimes do ‘good’ things. And many Christians aren’t living out their faith as they should. We should always live out our faith. It should always show in our actions whether anyone is watching or not. But in the same way, having a cross, or even Soli Deo Gloria, as a tattoo doesn’t automatically mean a person is a Jesus-follower.
No believer is perfect. We strive to become more like Christ, but often fail. I thank God for His forgiveness because I know I could never get through life on my own. I’m here to give God glory, even if I forget it sometimes.
Soli Deo Gloria
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How high it isHow wide it beHow low it wasToo far to seeMany people say and write heighth without a second thought. Width and depth and even breadth are correct. Heighth makes sense, right?It may make sense, but it is wrong! I don’t know why this one is different than the others, but it should never be spelled or pronounced heighth. If you do this – stop it!This brings me to another common misuse. Frequently, people write then instead of than. Then is used to say: “I want to do this, then that;” whereas, than is used to say: “I would rather do this than that.”Then indicates a sequence of activities or events; and than indicates a preference for one thing over another. When speaking, people often pronounce than as then, so I can understand some of the confusion. There are regional variations in how words are said; however, there is no variation in the spelling of the words. They are different, despite regional pronunciations.One other word that is constantly misused is were. Were is a verb (Not to be confused with were as in werewolf. That’s a whole other animal). It should never be used in place of we’re, which is a contraction of we are. That’s just lazy. It’s just an apostrophe, people! One extra keystroke, maybe two on a phone. It is not that difficult and there is no reason not to use it. It will make your writing, or texts, clearer. I’m one of those people who takes longer to decipher text speak than to type out a message using complete words and punctuation. Please be kind and use good grammar! My thanks.
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Many people think of Christmas as only a time of family, Santa Claus, presents, Christmas trees, and lights. These are not bad things, but Jesus-followers need to remember why we really celebrate this time of year. It’s the coming of our Savior!
I know that many criticize Christians for celebrating on December 25th. This is probably not the actual date of Jesus’ birth, and it was the date of a pagan holiday. But does it really matter? The point is to celebrate the birth of our Savior, not that He was born on that specific day. We could just as easily celebrate in the middle of summer. It makes perfect sense to me to celebrate on the same date as an already established holiday. If everyone else is celebrating something, why not have the Christian celebration at the same time? It might have helped believers avoid pagan practices.
So, back on topic. The reason believers celebrate Christmas is to commemorate Jesus’ birth. But it really goes beyond that. To know why we celebrate Christ’s coming, we need to understand why He had to come in the first place. In order to understand that, we must go back to the beginning. Romans 5.12 says:”Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.” Adam was the man by whom sin first came into the world. If Adam hadn’t introduced sin and death to the world, we wouldn’t need a Savior.“For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.” – Romans 5.17-19
Adam’s sin brought punishment to everyone because we all sin, too. But Jesus came and was obedient to God’s will. Through Jesus’ death and resurrection we all have the chance to be reconciled with God.
It is so important to not only know that Jesus came, but also WHY He came. The Gospel is presented for the very first time in Genesis 3.15: “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall [crush] you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.” This is God speaking to Satan after Adam and Eve sinned. He told them that things were going to be difficult, but that there was hope in the future. Just telling people that Jesus died for their sin isn’t enough if the person doesn’t know what sin is, or doesn’t see him or herself as a sinner. We have to start at the beginning of the story.
Enjoy the presents, lights, decorations and even Santa Claus; but never forget the REAL reason we celebrate. Jesus Christ, or Lord and Savior!
And don’t forget to tell the story from the beginning!
*All verses from NASB. -
Followers of Jesus* frequently speak, or sing, of being “washed in the blood.” People outside the faith usually don’t understand what this means or why it is important to believers. Very simply, being washed in the blood means that our sins have been forgiven.
But being washed in blood sounds disgusting, right? Why would anyone want that? Well, our sins are disgusting to God. Any bad thing we do, whether it seems great or small, is an affront to Him.
I visited my old church this week (Trinity Chickasha), and my former pastor spoke about the ancient Jewish sacrifices. In the Old Testament, God provided a means by which the Jews could atone for their sins through the sacrifice of certain animals, at specific times. The writer of Hebrews explains that these sacrifices were not permanent. They had to be offered every year. Hebrews 10.4 says: “For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”** The only way for our sins to be erased is to trust in Jesus. This was accomplished in the Old Testament by trust in God’s future plans. The Jews did not trust in the sacrifices themselves. These sacrifices were a temporary practice that foreshadowed the supreme sacrifice of Jesus.
When Jesus came and died on the cross, He was the ultimate, final sacrifice. There are no further sacrifices needed because Jesus gave up His life for the sins of all who choose to believe in Him. Being washed in Jesus’ blood is a way of saying that we are made pure by the sacrifice of His blood.
New Testament authors speak frequently about the blood of Jesus.
Matthew 26.28: “For this is My blood that establishes the covenant; it is shed for many for the forgiveness of sins.” The context of this verse is Jesus speaking of the wine that represents His blood in the Lord’s Supper.
Romans 5.8-9: “But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us! Much more then, since we have now been declared righteous by His blood, we will be saved through Him from wrath.”
1 John 1.7: “But if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”
These are only a few examples. Also, many of the great, old hymns speak of Jesus’ blood: There is a Fountain, Power in the Blood, Nothing but the Blood.
The image of being cleansed by blood is powerful. God allowed Jesus to take our place, our punishment. Do you realize if Jesus hadn’t done this, we would have to pay the penalty for our own sins? God didn’t have to allow this substitution. He loves us and gave us a way to return to Him. We, after all, are the ones who have turned our backs on Him. We have a choice. We can continue in our own way, doing whatever we want to do – and suffer the consequences ourselves. Or we can accept the sacrifice of Jesus and give our lives to Him. Jesus’ blood covers us so that God no longer sees our sins.
Oh, precious is the flow that makes us white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus.
There is nothing more beautiful than being washed in the blood of Jesus, the Lamb. Because of His sacrifice we don’t have to be separated from God.
Unashamed
———————————————————-*I am going to try to not use the name ‘Christian’ as this term has been warped to basically mean a person who goes to church once in a while and says they believe in God. A follower of Jesus is someone who has had a life-changing encounter with Jesus and has given their life over to Him.
**All references are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible unless otherwise noted. -
One of my major pet peeves is the misuse of should have. I frequently hear people say and see people write should of instead. I think this may stem from the contraction should’ve, which sounds like should of when said aloud. Go ahead, try it. Okay, that is all about that one. It’s just wrong. Don’t use it.
Another one that drives me up a wall is using the word ran when it should be run. This seems to happen most often when the word is paired with have. Many people say/write: “I should have ran,” rather than “I should have run.” Incidentally, that is the correct usage of should have. Ran is the plain past tense of the word run. Run is used in instances of had run, have run, and will have run.
It amuses me when people try to use a common phrase, but actually say the exact opposite of what they mean. For example: “I could care less about that movie,” when they actually mean “I couldn’t care less.” Could care less isn’t the phrase anyway, but it also does not mean that the person doesn’t care at all. That’s what the phrase is supposed to mean. Another example of this is someone saying: “I don’t care to go to the movies,” rather than “I don’t care if we go to the movies.” Don’t care to means you don’t want to do something; whereas don’t care if means you don’t mind doing something.
Please, think before you speak! And look twice when you write!
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In the book of Romans, Paul writes: “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” (Romans 1.16, NASB)
As a believer in Christ, this is a call to me to speak out about my faith without shame. That is what I intend to do in this blog. My pastor has been preaching for the last few weeks about Christians’ influence in the world, or lack thereof. For me, this means writing about my beliefs and why I believe what I believe, inviting questions and discussion about God, Jesus, Christians, etc.
I welcome comments and questions from both believers and non-believers; though I can’t promise to have answers for every question. I only ask that people remain polite and respectful, even in disagreement.
For my first post, I thought it would be appropriate to write about the verse that supplied the name for this blog. I’ve been thinking for a couple of months about starting an apologetics blog, but couldn’t think of a name. This morning, my pastor was preaching about Romans 1.15-16, and it hit me!
He spoke about Christians losing faith in the power of the Gospel – that Jesus came, died, and rose again. For us. For anyone who believes. God didn’t have to do anything for us. We (mankind) have turned our backs on Him, not the other way around. Instead, He offers us a way to turn back to Him. He doesn’t force us, but gives us a choice. Christians can’t make people listen; we can only share what God has done in our lives with those who are willing to hear.
Jesus gives believers a mandate in Matthew 28.19: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…” (NASB) This is our call as believers. This is what I want to do here.
Unashamed
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People who know me well probably know that I do some gaming. I play a few online role-playing games primarily. I’m not a hardcore gamer by any means. But I have noticed a number of misused (and misspelled) words while reading blogs and forums related to these games.
Some of these have really been bothering me. I only have a few examples here, but I’m certain more will come to my attention.
The first one is using board rather than bored. The poster was discussing things gamers do when their game is down and they are board. The post was entertaining, but I really wanted to reply to it and correct the grammar. In case you’re not sure:
- Board is a piece of wood or a surfboard. It could be used interchangably with plank, as in a “plank of wood.”
- Bored indicates a person feeling like they have nothing to do, or that they wish they were doing something different than they are.
This is just another example of words that have absolutely nothing to do with each other except sounding alike.
Another error that irritates me is using the word loose for lose. I see this one frequently both in-game and in the forums. The only difference between the pronunciation of these words is, of course the “s.” In loose it is pronounced “s,” but in lose it is pronounced “z.” I don’t know why that is, really. It’s just one of those oddities of the English language. I started to compare loose to words like moose and goose, but I went on to add choose and realized the rule broke there. Because the “s” is choose is pronounced like a “z.”
Examples of the correct use of these words:
- You can lose your dog; but if you loose it, you have intentionally let it go. Loose isn’t used this way much in modern English, though.
- We use it more often thus: his pants are loose, her dress is loose, loosen your tie.
I’m only going to mention the last one briefly, as I have already addressed it in a previous post. The contraction you’re is frequently replaced by your. I am quite certain that in most cases this is usually done for expediency. It is still irritating to a stickler for proper grammar.
I’m not trying to pick on my gaming friends! But I know that it is possible to be a gamer and still use proper grammar and spelling in most game related communication. Of course, there are always exceptions.
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By request, I am going to address one of the most common errors people make when they are writing. These three words are frequently mixed up and misused – two, to, and too. Two is perhaps less mistreated than the other two. (See how I used it correctly there?) From my observations of online forums and other media, it seems that most often to is used in place of too, and less frequently the other way around. Sometimes, I think the mistake can be a simple typographical error – hitting the o too many times, or not enough. Oh, look! I used it correctly there!
Here are the basics of these words:
The easiest to remember is two, the number 2.
To is a verb usually used in conjunction with other verbs. It denotes action: “I’m going to the store.” “I have to be there at two o’clock.”
Too is an adverb. It means also, or as well. “I need milk, too.” “That’s too bad.” “I have to be there at two, too.” Okay, that last one is a little silly. I wouldn’t actually write a sentence like that, but it shows all three words in their appropriate use.
My greatest vexations, however, are the people who are just too lazy to hit the extra o. Really, people! It’s just one letter. Please, use it! I promise you won’t break your fingers (or your keybord, for that matter).
All the Writings 