They are Both Correct, But for Different reasons
First the comic. The last two panels:
Yes, you should modify a verb with an adverb, so “played badly” is right. But she doesn’t get his rule: Don’t correct someone’s English unless they ask you to. This is one of my life rules, and I confess sometimes it’s hard to obey. The only people who like being corrected are professionals in the field.
So correct me all you want!
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A Common Subject-Verb Agreement Error
Third panel. Whose life? Children! A plural! So the sentence should say “their lives” even though they no doubt do the risking one at a time. Using “their” ought to strengthen the plural agreement.
We Hear Hundredths of Seconds
That short amount of time is the only difference between some words. Here’s an example: “IV” has a couple hundredths of a second more between the I and V than “ivy” does. Another example: “beer” and “beard.” The only difference is that the “d” chops off about two hundredths of a second off the “r” […]
Why are these plurals different?
I’m sure there’s a linguistic or etymological reason, but I don’t happen to know it. Do you? Think Chief and Leaf. If you do know why, put it in the comments.
Good Tech Writing Joke
I do not do this! No deliberate goofs. But I suppose he has a point… What do you call a deliberate mistake?