An Unnecessary Word

Instant Quiz

Can you correct the error in the sentence below? Scroll to the bottom of today’s post for the answer.  

Although Kathy is a strong woman, Joe is the dominate person in their relationship.

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Problems at Facebook have been front-page news this week! Concerns about Facebook are nothing new.  A 2020  New Yorker article explored the role that Facebook played in electing President Trump in 2016.

Here’s an excerpt from the article. Can you spot an unnecessary word?

Giles and Parscale owned two of the more ambitious Web-design businesses in town, and the merger allowed them to focus on their respective strengths: Giles made everything look good, and Parscale made everything work on the back end.

The offending word is – of course – respective. It adds nothing to most sentences. Even worse, respective makes your writing pompous and old-fashioned. Most of the time you should fight the urge to add respective to something you’ve written.

Image provided by Julien Eichinger – stock.adobe.com

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Instant Quiz ANSWER

Dominate is a verb (an action). The word you need today is dominant (an adjective).

Although Kathy is a strong woman, Joe is the dominant person in their relationship.  CORRECT

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