Another Question Beggar

Second panel.

I’ll let you enjoy the other corrections on your own.

Remember: begging the question is using wat you want to prove as evidence of its truth. The incorrect guy, on the left, isn’t using an assertion as proof, so the guy on the right is correct.

Other posts mention this fallacy; use the search box to find them.

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My experience with small town newspapers tells me that they have a lot of weakness in their proofreading and copy editing departments. Redundancy is a pretty common error.

Redundancy is when you repeat yourself unnecessarily. Here’s today’s example:

In order to provide the building with some tender loving care, Magin enlisted the help of Jackson, Wyoming, business MD Roofing to help tackle some of the work that needed to be put into the house to restore it back to its original state.

“Restore it” is enough. you don’t need “back.”

While I’m being a curmudgeon, I’ll mention that the first two words (“In order”) aren’t necessary, and although the “it” after “restore” is grammatically correct, a noun (the house) is better than a pronoun.

Harrumpf.

Oh. A picture of the place:

When people feel eagerness when they look forward to an event, I often hear them say “I can’t wait!” when they really mean that they can hardly wait. The curmudgeon in me wants to quote a friend from high school (Hi, Dick!) who always responded to that remark by saying, “you’ll have to.”

I finally ran into an instance of a guy who actually couldn’t wait—he was doing something about bringing the desired event closer. Fourth panel:

So don’t say “I can’t wait” when you mean “I can hardly wait.”

Harrumpf.

Look at the two hyphens:

• The first hyphen is wrong. “Well” is a plain old adverb modifying “known.”
• The second hyphen is correct. “Well-known” is a compound adjective modifying “places.

I admit, the difference is a bit subtle.

I see the incorrect “alright” so often, I’ve pretty much given up on pointing out the error. (“Already” is one word, though.) But someone finally got it correct! So I gotta tell everybody: