Community Chat

[Nomorebirthdays]

I just read an article from a journalist from NBC. 

He writes suspect wrote in a journal " almost exactly" two weeks after such and such. 

What is almost exactly? 13 days or 14 days.

I certainly am not a writer or journalist but I see errors frequently, I expect more from professionals.

[fourpaws56]

it means almost exactly

[mstyrion 1]

---

@Nomorebirthdays wrote:

I just read an article from a journalist from NBC. 

He writes suspect wrote in a journal " almost exactly" two weeks after such and such. 

What is almost exactly? 13 days or 14 days.

I certainly am not a writer or journalist but I see errors frequently, I expect more from professionals.

---

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I don't see this example as an egregious mistake in grammar. Perhaps the writer couldn't confirm "exactly" how many days or that it was close to two weeks, but not exactly two weeks.  It appears to just be a stylistic approach for this writer.

Did he use proper punctuation?   

[Nomorebirthdays]

@mstyrion 1@I wont lose any sleep over it, it was a journal and dated.

My mind says exact means exact. Almost 2 weeks means less than 14 days.

It just seems wrong to me.

[suzyQ3]

@Nomorebirthdays, what you stumbled upon is one of the trickiest issues that I had to teach to my students who needed very strong language skills to become court reporters.

The adjective "exact" and the adverb form "exactly" is what is called an absolute. In other words, it cannot logically be compared or qualified. In the same way that you can't be "almost pregnant," you can't qualify "exact" or "exactly."

Some absolutes are the words square, perfect, never, always, dead, and the one most misused -- unique.

I hated teaching this as much as my students disliked learning it.  They loved trying to convince me that, yes, you could be a little pregnant or almost dead.

I had to teach them that if they insisted on qualifying an absolute, they should use the word "nearly," as in "That man is nearly perfect." In this sense, the modifier only comes close to the absolute word.

EDT: You have a keen eye, @Nomorebirthdays

[garmer]

"...the same, but different.." Lol. Oxymoron?

[deepwaterdotter]

@suzyQ3  Will there be a pop quiz tomorrow?

[suzyQ3]

---

@deepwaterdotter wrote:

@suzyQ3  Will there be a pop quiz tomorrow?

---

@deepwaterdotter, oh, dear. I did try not to sound too -- teachy.

[deepwaterdotter]

---

@suzyQ3 wrote:

---

@deepwaterdotter wrote:

@suzyQ3  Will there be a pop quiz tomorrow?

---

@deepwaterdotter, oh, dear. I did try not to sound too -- teachy.

---

You didn't "sound teachy", this is useful information that I had forgotten until you posted it here. 

[NAES1]

THIS particular wording > 'exactly' < WOULD MEAN VERY little to me, listening, but in a court of law where the exact means just _that_, then there is a difference. 

Poor grammar, though.

 I am hearing foul up all of the time,i.e., the word, ESPECIALLY. Often heard as Xpeshally. Very often.