“Forever” is an adverb. Objects of prepositions need to be nouns, pronouns, or noun clauses, not adverbs.

So the humor is misdirection. You expect the gal in the third panel to correct the mistaken object of the preposition “in,” instead of express an opinion about baseball.

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In English we tend to combine oft-repeated phrases into single words. Here’s an example; second panel:

Mutt & Jeff by Bud Fisher

I think this dated back to the 1920s. It’s the first time I’ve seen “skin flint” instead of “skinflint.” I wonder if “cheapskate” was ever two words. I wouldn’t mind getting an ice cream cone for a quarter, though…

Good writing is concise. That means you got rid of extra words but didn’t get rid of too many words. (Getting rid of too many words is being terse.) Okay, we have a couple synonyms here that involve not being concise. Definitions after the comics.

• Redundancy—needless repetition; “do it over again.”
• Pleonasm—unnecessary words; “on a daily basis” instead of “daily.”
• Tautology—the same thing twice; “he was prepared and ready.”

I’ll let you decide which of these are in the comics.

When you have a compound subject or predicate, especially when they’re connected with a coordinating conjunction, they should have the same grammatical structure. Panel 1: the bird gets it wrong:

The bird should have said “…look good as well as taste good.” This is a fairly common mistake. Be alert for them when you read. Then you can join the grammar police!

Yes, “as well as” counts as a coordinating conjunction.

Two things I have opinions about! Panel 1 and panel 2.

The phrase in panel 1 is correct. Do you see it? Many many people get it wrong. Answer below

Panel 2 is grammatical but not true! Lots of people use this phrase incorrectly, too. What is it?

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• Panel one: “all right” two words is correct. Many folks incorrectly use “alright.” ick.
• Panel 2: Use “can’t wait” only if you describe doing something because you can’t actually wait. If all you want to do is emphasize your desire for something to happen, say “I can hardly wait.” harrumpf.