Brushing up on Grammar: Misunderstood Words and Troublesome Prefixes
February 8th, 2014
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A good friend of mine asked me the other day if it was correct to say, “taken back” as an expression of surprise. The answer is “no”; the correct phase is “taken aback.” That may sound funny to some people, but it is correct.
This caused me to think about another word and some prefixes. So I decided to write about “aback,” “unkempt,” and how to use “in” or “im” or “il” or “ir” as a prefix with adjectives. Let’s take them one by one.
Misunderstood Words: “Aback” and “Unkempt”
“Aback,” an adverb, dating from AD 1,100 and coming to us from Middle English, has three historic definitions: Read more…
Categories: Education, Grammar, The Big Ten of Grammar, William B. Bradshaw " "im, " "ir", "il, "in, adjectives, Grammar, prefixes, unkempt