Sunday, January 09, 2011

My hope for the world

If I could teach students, writers, and copyeditors only one thing, it might be this: the past tense of lead (verb, pronounced LEED: to guide others by going in advance of) is led, not lead (noun, pronounced LED: a soft grey metal). I see this error made so commonly that I'm starting to doubt that the distinction is correct (but it is: I checked!).

Professional editors should not make this mistake. But perhaps I am a lone voice in this particular language wilderness.

Sighfully,
L

2 comments:

Earl J. Woods said...

You've never led us astray yet, Leslie!

Leslie said...

= )

Thanks, Earl! I needed that.