Use these words correctly and your readers will think you're a walking genius.

Age -- aged -- at the age of.

• I outdid a water skier aged 24 for the trophy. (NOT: a skier age 24.)
• I didn't plan to retire at the age of 65. (NOT: at age 65.)
  NOTE: Elliptical references to age -- for example, at age 65 -- should not be used except in technical writing such as human resource manuals.
• See the chart on page 64 for the schedule of retirement benefits for employees who retire at age 65.

  All of. Of is not needed after all unless the following word is a pronoun.

  • All the team members ski for Mastercraft.
  • All of us have had our ACLs torn at one time or another.

  All right. Like all wrong, the expression all right should be spelled as two words. (While some dictionaries list alright without comment, this spelling is not generally accepted as correct.)

  Amount -- number. Use amount for things in bulk, as in "a large amount of lumber." Use number for individual items, as in "a large number of inquiries."

  Appraise -- apprise.

  • We would like to appraise (set a value on) Mr. Southworth's estate.
  • I will apprise (inform) you of any new developments.

  Between -- among. Ordinarily, use between when referring to two persons or things and among when referring to more than two persons or things.

  • The territory is divided evenly between the two sales representatives.
  • The profits are to be evenly divided among the three partners.

  Bad -- badly. Use the adjective bad (not the adverb badly) after the verb feel or look.

  • I feel bad (not badly) about the crash.
  • BUT: He was hurt badly.
  • NOTE: You might "feel badly" if your fingertips are damaged somehow.

  Biannual -- biennial -- semiannual. Biannual and semiannual both mean "occurring twice a year." Biennial means "occurring every two years." Because of the possible confusion between biannual and biennial, use semiannual when you want to describe something that occurs twice a year.

  • PREFERRED: our semiannual water ski tournament
  • CLEARER THAN: our biannual water ski tournament
    If you think your readers could misconstrue biennial, avoid the term and use every two years instead.

  Biweekly -- bimonthly. These two words do not mean the same thing. Moreover, bimonthly has two quite different meanings, which could confuse your readers! Biweekly means every two weeks. Bimonthly means "occurring every two months" or "occurring twice a month." (Yes, you can look it up!)

  Could not care less. To say that you "could not care less" means that you do not care at all. To say that you "could care less" implies that your ability to care has not yet reached rock bottom, so you do care at least a little bit. This is an often-mangled phrase. When people say "I could care less," they are usually intending to convey their utter disregard for the subject, and they demonstrate their misunderstanding of logical speech.

  Latter -- last. Latter refers to the second of two persons or things mentioned. When more than two are mentioned, use last.

  • July and August are good vacation months, but the latter is more popular.
  • June, July, and August are good vacation months, but the last is the most popular.

  Lay -- lie. Lay (principal parts: lay, laid, laid, laying) means "to put" or "to place." This verb requires an object to complete its meaning.

  • Please lay the nitroglycerin on the counter with extreme care.
  • I laid the poster right on your desk.
  • I had laid two other flyers there yesterday.
  • He is always laying the blame on his assistants.
  • The dress was laid in the box. (A passive instruction implying that someone laid the dress in the box.)

  Lie (principal parts: lie, lay, lain, lying) means "to recline, rest, or stay" or "to take a position of rest." It refers to a person or thing as either assuming or being in a reclining position. This verb cannot take an object.

  • Now he lies in bed most of the day.
  • The slalom course lay behind him as he skied westward into the sunset.
  • This letter has lain unanswered for two weeks!
  • Today's contestant list is lying on the judge's table.

  Today's subject was chosen based on reader input. Can we cover other subjects of interest to you? Let us know!

On this day in 1906, at 5:13 a.m., an earthquake estimated at close to 8.0 on the Richter scale struck San Francisco, California, killing hundreds of people as it toppled numerous buildings. The quake was caused by a slip of the San Andreas Fault over a segment about 275 miles long, and shock waves could be felt from southern Oregon down to Los Angeles. It is estimated that 3,000 people died as a result of fires and ensuing mayhem. Find a stable place and take today's quiz on geology.

1. pumice: (a) the downslope movement of soil and (or) rock; (b) a region of land surrounded by divides and crossed by streams that eventually converge to one river or lake; (c) landslides that are broken during movement into chaotic masses of small blocks, rock fragments, or individual grains; (d) a volcanic glass full of cavities and very light in weight used especially in powder form for smoothing and polishing.

2. sea mount: (a) the point on the Earth's surface vertically above the point (focus or hypocenter) in the crust where a seismic rupture nucleates; (b) a submarine mountain rising above the deep-sea floor; (c) a flat-topped submerged mountain or seamount found in the ocean; (d) intersection of a fault with the ground surface; also, the line commonly plotted on geologic maps to represent a fault.

3. butte: (a) an isolated hill or mountain with steep or precipitous sides usually having a smaller summit area than a mesa; (b) referring to the determination of the size and shape of the Earth and the precise location of points on its surface; (c) the point within the Earth where an earthquake rupture initiates; (d) a particularly scenic mountain or ridge.

4. caldera: (a) a seismic body wave that involves particle motion (alternating compression and extension) in the direction of propagation; (b) a large, circular depression in a volcanic terrain, typically originating in collapse, explosion, or erosion; (c) a curving surface within the Earth along which the temperature is constant; (d) a valley occupied or formerly occupied by a glacier, typically with a U-shaped profile.

5. fissure: (a) a narrow opening or crack of considerable length and depth usually occurring from some breaking or parting; (b) a metamorphic rock with coarse interlocking grains and little or no foliation; (c) a small steep-sided valley or erosional channel from 1 meter to about 10 meters across; (d) a moraine formed along the side of a valley glacier and composed of rock scraped off or fallen from the valley sides.

6. outcrop: (a) the rapid downslope movement of soil and rock material, often lubricated by groundwater, over a basal shear zone; (b) a sinuous, hollow tunnel formed when the outside of a lava flow cools and solidifies and the molten material passing through it is drained away; (c) the removal of elements from a soil by dissolution in water moving downward in the ground; (d) a coming out of bedrock or of an unconsolidated deposit to the surface of the ground.

7. seismicity: (a) the study and mapping of sea-floor topography; (b) the science of that part of the hydrologic cycle between rain and return to the sea; (c) the relative frequency and distribution of earthquakes; (d) the study of the relative abundances of isotopes in rocks to determine their ages (see geo-chronology) or conditions of formation.

8. Moho: (a) the uppermost layer of a soil, containing organic material and leached minerals; (b) the boundary layer between the earth's crust and mantle whose depth varies from about 3 miles beneath the ocean floor to about 25 miles beneath the continents; (c) a sediment consisting of layers of chert alternating with bands of ferric iron oxides (hematite and limonite) in valuable concentrations; (d) what the Earth gets back just before it decides to quake.

9. colluvium: (a) a fast downhill mass movement of soil and rock; (b) a breccia of powdered rock formed by crushing and shearing during tectonic movements; (c) a detachment of soil and broken rock and its subsequent downslope movement at slow or moderate rates in a stream- or tongue-like form; (d) rock detritus and soil accumulated at the foot of a slope.

10. kinematic: (a) a branch of dynamics that deals with aspects of motion apart from considerations of mass and force; (b) the study and correlation of polarity epochs and events in the history of the Earth's magnetic field as contained in magnetic rocks; (c) the study of mineral composition, structure, appearance, stability, occurrence, and associations; (d) the study of Earth surface conditions and materials from airplanes and satellites by means of photography, spectroscopy, or radar.

Go here for the answers.