I realized on March 3 that March 4 is National Grammar Day, but I was getting ready to head out of town, so I didn’t have time to post. So it’s late but here you go… my latest grammar pet peeves, for my ranting pleasure and your enjoyment… and maybe edification.

1) Advance/Advanced. Conference season gives me ample opportunity to cringe at this, especially since I think huge endeavors are worth the copyediting effort (cheers to Learning Solutions, jeers to TechKnowledge and ICE). Advance registration is registering in advance; maybe advanced registration involves adding pre-conference programs…?

2) Penultimate. Ultimate means last; and penultimate means next to last, not most ultimate (which doesn’t even make sense).

3) Simple/Simplistic. Sometimes simplistic is used (incorrectly) to mean very simple, but actually it’s not a compliment. Simplistic means overly simple to the point of being misleading or under-nuanced.

Until next time…