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The Vine

The Tomato Nation advice column addresses your questions on etiquette, grammar, romance, and pet misbehavior. Ask The Readers about books or fashion today!

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Articles tagged with: grammar

The Vine: August 19, 2003
August 19, 2003 – 11:44 AM | No Comment

Dear Sars,
I have to rant about something. I know I’m preaching to the choir when writing you (Sars) about it, but I just can’t hold this in any longer. I have noticed that a fair …

The Vine: August 14, 2003
August 14, 2003 – 11:24 AM | No Comment

Hi Sars,
Have been an enthusiastic reader of your TWoP recaps for some time and just discovered Tomato Nation, which has meant my last few work days have been spent reading old Vines. If you look, …

The Vine: August 12, 2003
August 12, 2003 – 9:49 PM | No Comment

Hi Sars,
I’m writing in response to “What do you mean you can’t take kissing lessons?” in The Vine. I had my first kiss two months ago (at the age of 21). I was in the …

The Vine: August 8, 2003
August 8, 2003 – 4:11 PM | No Comment

Dear Sars,
For the longest time I’ve been itching to start my own web journal — yours being my all-time favorite (along with Squishy, The Redhead Papers, Pound, and some others) — but I have some …

The Vine: August 7, 2003
August 7, 2003 – 4:07 PM | No Comment

Hey Sars,
The letter about “free rein” struck a chord with me. I frequently twitch when I hear or read folks twisting a saying because of phonetic similarities. Some I’ve noted recently:
“Shoe-in” vs. “shoo-in”
“Mute point” vs. …

The Vine: August 5, 2003
August 5, 2003 – 3:55 PM | No Comment

Hey Sars —
Randomness, I know, but would you happen to know what being afraid of socks is called? How about feet?
I know fear of spiders is arachnophobia, but other than that, I’m stumped on phobias.
Wondering
Dear …

The Vine: August 1, 2003
August 1, 2003 – 3:33 PM | No Comment

Dear Sars,
I know that you get tons of letters, and the chance that you’ll respond is slim, but I think I need to at least say this to someone more than anything else. I am …

The Vine: July 31, 2003
July 31, 2003 – 2:53 PM | No Comment

Dear Sars,
No depressed or annoying people in this rant, but there do happen to be two depressed or annoying and/or just plain weird cats and one slightly annoyed roommate at the heart of my question.
The …

The Vine: July 25, 2003
July 25, 2003 – 1:33 PM | No Comment

Sars,
I can’t turn down a dare, especially when it’s a grammar dare.
I had a feeling the difference between “pleonasm” and “tautology” had to do with pleonasms being phrases, while tautologies appear to be clauses. I …

The Vine: July 24, 2003
July 24, 2003 – 1:28 PM | No Comment

“A ‘tautology’ is a redundancy, not a logical lapse.”
Could you explain that more? I’ve always gotten by with the mathematical definition that a tautology is a statement that is always true. For example, “Sars will …