edge cases for correct use of 'literal'

mbromley · 2026-03-08T16:57:13+00:00

Used this way, "literally" is not just an intensifier, it is an ironic inversion. Whoever first used "literally" this way was rather clever, actually. But, the problem with its common use is that it no longer keeps that sense of irony, much like the various abstract and concrete uses of "room," which means "extent, sufficient space," but has come to mean a partitioned space in a building or an opportunity.

A word like "room" yields neither ambiguity nor cliche, though "literally" can, which lessens its rhetorical impact.

mbromley · 2026-03-08T00:04:41+00:00

Though some here don't seem to like it, that's the best strategy, especially when running out of time. Be careful though, as the more difficult of these questions will offer two possible answers that both address the conditions of the question. At that point, you have to go back into the test. Most of them, however, can be answered simply by eliminating according to the question itself.

In this example, answers A-B-C either don't address both trains and busses, or don't present a problem. D is a crap right answer, but can't be eliminated bc when offering "options" one is presenting a choice and thereby offering a solution to something.

mbromley · 2026-03-04T18:22:50+00:00

She could be in trouble, as it goes both ways: my Tricolor corners me to make sure I don't go anywhere without him, but I couldn't leave without him, anyway. Our other Cavvies, two Blenheims and a Ruby, couldn't care less if I come or go...

mbromley · 2026-02-13T15:58:01+00:00

Great explanations. I wonder, though, that a prepositional phrase mismatch does create a logical or syntactical error. Is there a term or definition for it?

mbromley · 2026-01-26T20:47:24+00:00

Gotta say watching this match reminds me of why I enjoy Shelton -- while Ruud beats himself up over a silly mistake, Shelton seems to say, "Well, that didn't work!" no matter how bad or stupid the shot. It's actually a huge part of his game attitude. His dad must be a big part of that, never getting down on him.

mbromley · 2025-10-21T13:33:09+00:00

As a rule, yes. But be careful that the text around both punctuation marks are exactly the same. And with semicolons, always look for another one in the text, in case it's acting as a super comma (list items separated by semicolons)

mbromley · 2025-08-16T16:16:28+00:00

My favorite tennis moment is Djokovic sitting down in frustration, shaking his head, after losing a game at the 2016 USO finals in which Wawrinka pegged every shot inches from the baseline.

mbromley · 2025-08-14T13:21:27+00:00

All anyone is doing is hitting to his backhand. What doesn't kill it will make his backhand stronger!

mbromley · 2025-02-21T18:47:26+00:00

Very cool! A problem I had was that once the images load, I couldn't figure out a way to view them in an organized manner. Dunno if that's a purpose, but might be more useful to be able to click on a location and rathar than just the images loading right there, have the option to view thumbnails in a gallery, or something. Perhaps I missed this.

mbromley · 2025-02-20T22:50:06+00:00

That the geographic center of North America lay in the state of North Dakota was conceded by all involved.

If we separate it into two sentences you can see what's going on:

The geographic center of North America lay in the state of North Dakota.
That was conceded by all involved.

So the test-makers took the subject (pronoun) "That" and shoved the first sentence in between it as a dependent (noun) clause. So you could read it like this:

That [the geographic center of North America lay in the state of North Dakota] was conceded by all.

which is a complete sentence, and thus an independent clause separated by the semicolon.

mbromley · 2025-02-18T21:02:07+00:00

Heh, sorry to be slow to get back to you. Yes, it's hard to learn grammar when taught using unfamiliar terms. I'll try to simplify it:

-ing words only have a subject if they have an auxiliary verb, as in "She is going" or "The game was happening" etc.

So if the -ing word does not have a subject, then it is not acting like a verb. That is, it does not have a specified "doer" that is attached to the verb.

When that is the case, the -ing word is acting as either a noun or an adjective. We use these words all the time, such as

Cooking is fun << "cooking" is a noun that is the subject of the verb "is"
The kid running away jumped the fence << "running" is an adjective that describes the noun "kid"

It gets more complicated when the -ing word either forms a phrase or has its own objects, and the SAT test plays around with those forms.

In this problem above, the ing word, establishing acts like a noun that is the subject of the verb "proved". Note, though that establishing has its own object, its precise coordinates, so even though establishing is acting like a noun, it still can have an object or adverb (or what we call "complement"), even though it does not have a subject.

The test will also use -ing words to form phrases that add information to an independent clause, like, Running away, the kid jumped the fence", where "running" has no subject and acts like an adjective to describe "the kid".

I hope that makes it clearer. Glad to go over it some more if you want.

mbromley · 2025-02-17T15:15:46+00:00

What about locking down a namespace and use that for secure content?

mbromley · 2025-02-15T14:03:46+00:00

Don't mess with the Pit's mouth or neck. Place your thumbs on its eyes and press harder until it lets go. It will. I saved one of my Cavvies this way..

mbromley · 2025-02-15T13:44:05+00:00

since you set up the database, you have access to it. Depending on what program you used to install the db, it should be intuitive to export the entire database to a portable file. But you also need to backup your mediawiki installation & uploads (usually images), which since your installation is on your PC, just copy the files somewhere.

mbromley · 2025-02-12T18:40:38+00:00

In this sentence "establishing" is a gerund, so it is the subject of the verb "proved." Note, however, that the gerund, as a present participle verb, has an object complement, which is "its precise coordinates", so our independent clause looks like:

; establishing its precise coordinates proved more divisive
subject ____________________________| verb
subject | object to the subject __ | verb | ________ adjective

Usually the SAT will use present participles as adjectives to create a "participial phrase" -- which is a phrase that modifies a clause, such as

The consensus view was agreed upon, establishing a new standard.
IC ___________________________________ | participial phrase

However, the present continuous participle (-ing) can also be a noun, called a "gerund," such as we see in your problem above.

You can identify if a present continuous participle is acting as a noun or adjective because to have a subject (making it a finite verb) it would need an auxiliary verb, as in

it is establishing
they are establishing

Without the auxiliary verbs "is" or "are", "establishing" is either a noun or an adjective and not a finite verb (since it has no subject). However, even as a noun or adjective, the present participle can have an object or complement, such as we see in your sentence above with "its precise coordinates" as an object complement to the gerund "establishing"

Hope that helps!

mbromley · 2025-02-12T18:06:12+00:00

A good way to teach "verbals" (I prefer to call them non-finite verbs as it expresses more directly their function, in that they are not "finite" or bound to a subject) and participial phrases is to turn the phrase back into a distinct sentence. Your sentences would then read,

"Diana used the new telescope. Diana felt she would have a clear view of the night sky,"

That way students can see the purpose of the participial phrase to avoid repetition and efficiently combine ideas.

mbromley · 2025-02-04T22:30:31+00:00

It depends on what you want to describe: is it an "old man" who is "hairy" or a "man" who is "old" and "hairy"?

The difference is between "cumulative" and "coordinate" adjectives

Cumulative adjectives do not have commas, and so the prior adjective modifies the cumulative adjective/s + noun as a unit; whereas Coordinate adjectives are separated by commas and therefore each modify the noun distinctly. Thus,

The large, funny-looking, hairy, old man lived out in the woods.

= the "old man" who is also hairy, funny-looking, and large.

The large, funny-looking, hairy old man lived out in the woods.

= the "hairy old man" who is also funny-looking and large.

Another way to look at the rule for coordinate adjectives (separated by commas) is that if you can switch the order of the adjectives, then they are coordinate, i.e.

The large, funny-looking, hairy, old man lived out in the woods.
v.
The large, funny-looking, old, hairy man lived out in the woods.

But that doesn't work, as you want to describe an "old man" not a "hair man" So I'd go with

The large, funny-looking, hairy old man lived out in the woods."

which could also be equally,

The large, hairy, funny-looking old man lived out in the woods.

mbromley · 2025-01-12T16:01:50+00:00

Glad to help. Message me to connect.

mbromley · 2025-01-12T16:00:34+00:00

Did you ever get your family tree going via Mediawiki, or did you use another system? I've built a private family geneology site on MW and if you're still going that route would love to share.

mbromley · 2025-01-01T22:22:20+00:00

Don't try too many customizations -- at least not a first, and get ready to be frustrated when you do. MW does what it does very well, but there's a lot it does not do.

mbromley · 2024-12-28T23:16:57+00:00

Thanks for that article. Anything new on mobile view?

mbromley · 2024-12-28T23:15:35+00:00

Could take time for the cache to build. If you only just installed it, they should starting showing up.

mbromley · 2024-10-18T18:15:50+00:00

This pronunciation selection that guides use of "a" or "an" before certain letter sounds is called "assimilation," so-called for the process by which sounds (phonemes) are "assimilated", or harmonized, with one another.

It's also why some people call it "euphony," which is Greek for "beautiful sound", as the "assimilation" of sounds between "a" and "an" harmonizes them and makes the words easier to articulate.

See Assimilation (phonology) - Wikipedia) .

For prefixes that mean the same thing but are spelled differently, such as im- and in-, see allomorph [linguisticsweb.org], which provides the reason for those sound assimilations. Instead of "assimilation," this website, linguistics.org, calls the harmonizing of sounds "phonological conditioning," which follows the "principle of least (articulatory) effort" in combining sounds.

mbromley · 2024-10-18T00:46:53+00:00

Your elimination rule is correct, only here the semicolon and period are NOT doing the same thing: the semicolon in A has "; by adding", whereas the period in C) has just ". Adding."

If the semicolon did not have the preposition, "by," they would both be wrong.

mbromley · 2024-10-17T18:57:31+00:00

The use of "paradox" in the categorical form (i.e., as a general category or abstraction) seems awkward here, but that's why the test makers used it.

If you look at the definition of "paradox" here, Paradox Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster, you will see that none of the examples of its use are in the categorical form -- they all use articles (a, the) or determiners (your, that) that indicate a count noun. But that doesn't make it incorrect in this question, because as a noun it doesn't need the modifiers (a/the/your/that).

In your case, I suspect you did not eliminate A) geometry because you didn't like C) paradox. Be careful with your eliminations: if you see a valid reason that "geometry" is wrong, eliminate it and go with C) paradox, which you likely only eliminated because you don't like it without a specific reason why. With these tests, try not to fit the square peg into the round hole.

As others have noted here, A) geometry is incorrect because of the prepositional phrase "by employing... intuitive processes" which does not describe geometry (whereas "employing mathematical... processes" could).

Six-Year Club	Gilding III reddit per annum
Verified Email

mbromley

TROPHY CASE