Sentence of the Week #28 (and an Announcement)

[From Michelle Yeoman and Barbara Gastel:]

Editing Solution: Sentence of the Week #27

We thank the readers who commented on last week's sentence. Your responses are correct. Good work!

As a reminder, last week's sentence was as follows:

The audience began to loose interest when the seminar continued longer than expected.

The error in this sentence is the word loose, which should be lose. Thus, the corrected sentence reads as follows:

The audience began to lose interest when the seminar continued longer than expected.

Loose is generally an adjective. It can mean free and unrestrained. (Example: “My dog broke his leash and is running loose through the neighborhood.”) It also can mean the opposite of tight. (Example: “After my friends lost weight, their clothes were too loose.”)

Lose is a verb. One of its meanings is to stop having something. For example, one can lose weight, lose one’s keys, or lose interest. Lose can be confusing to spell because the o is pronounced as if it were oo. The past tense of lose is lost.

In our editing sentence, the audience lost interest when the seminar ran longer than scheduled. Thus, lose is the correct word.

Now, onward to our new sentence.

Sentence of the Week #28

The following sentence has 1 definite error:

The university will honor it’s researchers who published journal articles last year.

Please correct the error, and then keep reading this post.

The error in the sentence is the word it's, which should be its. Thus, the corrected version of the sentence is as follows:

The university will honor its researchers who published journal articles last year.

Many people confuse its and it’s. The possessive form of it is its (without an apostrophe, although the possessive forms of most words have apostrophes). Thus, its is the proper word to use in the current sentence of the week.

The word it’s is a contraction meaning “it is”. (Example: “It’s wonderful that the university will honor its researchers who published journal articles last year.”)

An Announcement

Perhaps you’re wondering why we provided the solution right away, instead of waiting until later. The reason is that sentence-correction practice through AuthorAID is about to enter a new phase. Therefore, the current post is our last Sentence of the Week post in the AuthorAID blog.

Looking ahead: We expect to provide sentence-correction practice in at least 2 ways.

First, we plan to include in the AuthorAID e-mail discussion list some sentences to correct. (By the way, if you’re not part of this discussion list, now might be a good time to sign up.)

Second, we plan to include interactive sentence-correction practice in 1 or more AuthorAID online courses. We’re excited about preparing this interactive lesson material.

We’ll also add to the AuthorAID Resource Library a compilation of all 28 Sentences of the Week and their solutions.

Do you suggest continuing the AuthorAID sentence-correction practice in any other ways? If so, please contact us at msyeoman@gmail.com or bgastel@cvm.tamu.edu. 

We've enjoyed preparing Sentence of the Week, and we hope you've found it useful and interesting. Thanks for your participation!

Michelle and Barbara