My Pet Peeve

Towards is not a word.
There are no ifs ands or buts, towards is not a word. In no instance is it correct to use that foul word. I have looked this one up in the AP Stylebook, the dictionary and Writing for the Technical Professions (the book we use for the scientific writing class), and all three sources state that toward should be used in all instances.
This is my pet peeve because it is so simple. There is nothing confusing about it, yet so many people, journalists included, use it incorrectly. It is now my mission to educate every student of mine about this quirky little irritant.
Similarly, regard, forward, and backward should also be used without the s. The only instance I can think of when an s is appropriate would be if you were sending your regards. "Send your mother my best regards," for example, is correct. In regard to all other references, do not put an s on the end of the word. I know saying backward and forward sound awkward, but they are also correct.
I could not find references on backward, forward and regard, so I my information came from Robert Wernsman, the news writing instructor. I consider him as reliable a reference as the AP Stylebook, and I consider his information as writers' law.

Super Smart Spellers

In an earlier post, I made a list of spelling words that give me trouble. I had my students do the same, and I think some of their ideas are pretty clever. So, I thought I would share their cleverness with anyone reading this blog. Is anyone really reading this anyway?

Advantageous- ad a man named Van and tag a man named tageous (by Tanner).

Affidavit- I always forget the second f in affidavit. To help remind me most affidavits I sign are for feed, so that always helps me remember the extra f (by Jordan).

Bookkeeper-(s)bookkee-per(son) (by Collin).

Candidate- can-did-ate (by Larkin).

Counterfeit-"e" before "I" way after "c" (by Collin).


Deceitful- I before e except for c. (by Maggie).

Defendant- defend-ant (by Larkin).

Drunkenness-"see" two "nn's" (by Collin).

Drunkenness- is drunken-mess with an n (by Larkin).

Friendliness- Friend-li-ness. (by Maggie).

Laboratory- people in laboratory are "lab rats." (by Collin).

Libraries- think of prairie and and instead of air you can remember ari so you can properly spell libraries (by Tanner).


Occurrence-usually hapens two times or more "cc" and "rr" (by Collin).


Mimicked- Mim-icked. (by Maggie).

Remember-I always try to put in an extra e after the last m in remember. To get over my problem I just say the word very fast to try and forget about adding an e to the word (by Jordan).

Saxophone- Sax-o-phone (by Maggie).

Sophomore- Soph-0-more (by Maggie).

Subpoena- sub-po-ena (by Larkin).

Tomorrow- I always try to put in two M's in tomorrow. Every time I write it now I think about how there is only one day that starts with an M, so then I remember to only put in one M (by Jordan).

Truly- tru-ly (true lie) (by Larkin).

Until- there are two different people one is named un and the other is named til (by Tanner).

Until- I always forget to only put one l on until. The only way I know I have misspelled if it looks right its wrong, but if it looks wrong then it is right (by Jordan).

Vaccinate- To help remind on how to spell vaccinate, I think that you give shots in cc measurements (by Jordan).

Warrior- you should remember war and then when you start the second section of the word you can hear the r in rior so you know that there are two r's in warrior (by Tanner).

Weird-think of a wired and then you should be able to know that you should change the ie to ei (by Tanner).

Happy studying!