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Mother's Day Ideas
Are you panicking over what to do for your mom or your kids' mom Sunday? Here are some ideas:
Call 1-800-FLOWERS immediately and order flowers.
Get out some construction paper and glue and make a homemade card with the kids.
Figure out a breakfast-in-bed menu, shop for ingredients, and prepare to make it (fresh fruit, French toast, OJ, etc.).
Plan a picnic to the gorgeous Arnold Arboretum in Boston (it's Mother's Day and Lilac Sunday!). If Boston's out, plan a picnic somewhere since restaurants are always such a mob scene and so run-of-the-mill.
Have fun!
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The Mother of All Vocabulary Quizzes
Mother's Day is Sunday. You have a choice. You can run out to the store and buy a card and mail it. Or you can forward our GrammarTip to Mom and put "Happy Mother's Day" in the subject and give her a real treat. Then see if she does better than you with these words.
1. nacre: (a) motherly love; (b) motherly advice; (c) mother-of-pearl; (d) mother of all tests.
2. matronymic: (a) a name derived from that of the mother or a maternal ancestor; (b) facial features favoring one's mother; (c) matronly; (d) descriptive of one who nags incessantly.
3. abalone: (a) the female lobster; (b) any of a genus of edible rock-clinging gastropod mollusks that have a flattened shell slightly spiral in form, lined with mother-of-pearl, and with a row of apertures along its outer edge; (c) territorial capital of Kansas, named for the first woman governor of Kansas territory; (d) pretentious nonsense.
4. Igraine: (a) the wife of Uther and mother of King Arthur; (b) the mother of Ozymandias; (c) the mother of Prometheus; (d) the mother of all headaches.
5. Anne Boleyn: (a) mother of Henry VIII; (b) mother of Henry I; (c) mother of Elizabeth I; (d) mother of Elizabeth IV.
6. ave: (a) Latin for mother; (b) to rid oneself of; (c) to take off (the hat) in greeting or as a sign of respect; (d) an expression of greeting or of leave-taking.
7. cade: (a) left by its mother and reared by hand [a cade lamb]; (b) a morning love song sung by a mother to her newborn; (c) of or resembling a doddering old woman; (d) a long scarf worn chiefly by Mexican women, specifically mothers.
8. doula: (a) a motherless calf in a range herd; (b) a woman experienced in childbirth who provides advice, information, emotional support, and physical comfort to a mother before, during, and just after childbirth; (c) one who manages a household especially as a wife and mother; (d) an elderly Russian woman.
9. chanteuse: (a) a woman of rank, station, or authority; (b) a mother who is head and ruler of her family and descendants; (c) the emotional tie between a mother and a child and especially a son; (d) a woman who is a concert or nightclub singer.
10. Mnemosyne: (a) mother of Nemesis; (b) the Greek goddess of memory and mother of the Muses by Zeus; (c) mother of Parsippany; (d) um, I forget.
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Answers: 1:c 2:a 3:b 4:a 5:c 6:d 7:a 8:b 9:d 10:b Rate Yourself: Mom loves you anyway.
3 to 5 correct: Mom sticks up for you.
6 to 7 correct: Mom is proud of you.
8 to 9 correct: Mom brags about you.
All 10 correct: Mom forgets your siblings' names but never yours.
Definition source: Merriam-Webster 11th Collegiate Dictionary
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| Weekly Grammar Tip |
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Who, Which, and That
Who and that are used when referring to persons. Select who when the individual person or the individuality of a group is meant and that when a class, species, or type is meant.
She is the only one of my managers who can speak Japanese fluently.
He is the kind of student that should take advanced basketweaving.
Which and that are used when referring to places, objects, and animals. Which is always used to introduce nonessential clauses, and that is ordinarily used to introduce essential clauses.
Laura's report on employee benefits, which I sent you last week, should be of some help. (Which introduces a nonessential clause - there is only one report.)
The report that I sent you last week should be of some help. (That introduces an essential clause - there may have been other reports sent in other weeks.)
NOTE: Many writers now use either which or that to introduce an essential clause. Indeed, which is to be preferred to that (1) when there are two or more parallel essential clauses in the same sentence, (2) when that has already been used in the sentence, or (3) when the essential clause is introduced by an expression such as this...which, that...which, these...which, or those...which.
Vivian is taking courses which will earn her a higher salary rating in her current job and which will qualify her for a number of higher-level jobs.
That is a movie which you must not miss.
We need to reinforce those ideas which were presented in earlier chapters.
Which, that, and who may be used to refer to organizations. When you are referring to the organization as a single entity (in other words, as it), then use which or that. However, when you are thinking of the organization in terms of the individuals who make up the organization (in other words, when you think of the organization as they), you may use who or that.
Although you are free to choose your own doctor, medical care is also available through an HMO [a health maintenance organization] with which the company has a special contract. (Since the HMO is referred to as a single entity, use with which, not with whom.)
Whenever we run short of computer supplies, the Brown and Weiner Company is the one that gives us the best service and the best prices.
We really like doing business with the people at the Brown and Weiner Company. They are a customer-oriented group who give us the best service and the best prices. (That may also be used in this sentence in place of who.)
Source: The Gregg Reference Manual.
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| Word of the Week |
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sinecure
Pronunciation: SIGH-na-cure
Function: noun
Etymology: Medieval Latin sine cura without cure (of souls)
Date: 1662
Definition: an office or position that requires little or no work and that usually provides an income
Example: "And at once they began to look quickly and with a hurried sympathy at the big man who stood like a statue before the blackboard; then, hastily, they came back to themselves and the frantic consideration of what mattered most: how would the defeat affect them? For they had their lives to lead, they had their wives, their children, themselves: this was really the heart of the matter. As they explored it, they had a frightening vision of a future filled with pain, uncushioned toil, economy; a future bereft of sinecure, privilege, protection; a future, in short, without City Hall."
- The Last Hurrah, by Edwin O'Connor; Little, Brown & Co., 1956, p. 349.
Definition source: Merriam-Webster's Eleventh Collegiate Dictionary.
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Copyright 2008 by ProofreadNOW.com, Inc., 447 Boston Street, Topsfield, MA 01983 USA. Published weekly (we try) by the editors at ProofreadNOW.com, Inc. and sent to customers of record and to opt-in guests. Many readers find it is best to read a portion, put it aside, then come back and read more.
Please rate this GrammarTip (10=high, 0=low):
10 - Like having all your picks win the bowl games.
8 - Like having half the day off after New Year's Day.
6 - Like finding a parking space at the mall.
4 - Like finding a parking space near the mall--across the street.
2 - Like working all day the day after New Year's Day.
0 - Like staying home and forgetting the office was open all day the day after New Year's Day...until they tracked you down.
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