Two Things Most People Get Wrong

But he got them both right! Good for him. I’ll tell you what they are after the comic. See if you can tell what they are.

• First panel—Most people would say “…wish I was.” The rule is that when you state something contrary to fact, you should use the subjunctive, which he does.
• Second panel—He correctly used lying (progressive of “lie”) instead of the incorrect “laying.”

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The humor is in whether the statements are metaphors or similes…

I was lucky! The comic for the next day contains the needed definitions:

the conversation continues…

and more:

As you can tell, Frazz is a pretty good comic for us English teachers. Go click the link below the first comic and read a few.

I don’t recall mentioning this grade-school point of grammar before. The difference between “well” and “good.”

• Well—an adverb. Goes with verbs. Well done!
• Good—an adjective. Goes with nouns. Good lesson!
• Yes, both words can be nouns, but that’s a lesson for another day.

Okay, class, here’s a test. Did he get it correct or not? Last panel.

Or I could say they’re both right.

Another definition of entitle is “to give a title to something,” So the teacher is using a correct, if longer than necessary, word.

Synecdoche (pronounced sin-EK-duh-key) is when you mention a part of something but mean the whole thing. When you compliment your buddy’s car by saying that it’s a nice set of wheels, that’s synecdoche. Here the kid refers to himself but mom is thinking of, well, read the comic.

Does it count if the cartoonist is referring to everything, but the kid isn’t?