Wiggly Wednesday

I think between my grammar geek-out below and the elegy challenge, I should lighten the mood a bit by sharing one of my favorite YouTube features. If you haven't already discovered "Auto-Tune the News," you really should check it out. There are many more where this comes from, but this is my favorite so far.

We have our first two entries for the elegy challenge. It is amazing, Alicia and Paige are friends, and they managed to write very complementary poems in a very short time span. If you haven't already, check them out.

I finally made it to the children's haircut place before it closed today, and the boy was great, except that he wouldn't sit still and kept trying to stand up in the little car-chair. He was having a really enthusiastic conversation about the thing he kept trying to get to, although I couldn't see anything that interesting in his line of sight. I will really enjoy it when I actually know what he is saying. He's cute now, but sometimes I really wonder what he is trying to say. I'm just glad he didn't decide to cry. I didn't realize how much hair he actually has now until I noticed that it took the hairdresser at least 5 more minutes to cut it this time, and she pointed out how much new growth he has at the hairline. He may be like his uncle and dad and have to have it thinned out when he gets it cut when he gets older. He always looks so much older when he has a haircut. I like that it doesn't stick out funny all the time and is easier to wash, but it's hard to see how grown-up he looks...it's a trade-off.

Wednesday Grammar Geek-Out #4

4. What are the principal parts of a verb? Give principal parts of "lie,"  "play," and "run".

I admit, I will need to just straight look this one up, because I'm not sure what "principal parts" refers to. 

The principal parts of a verb are the four forms a verb can take. These are the present (or infinitive), the past tense, the past participle, and the present participle. Participles are forms in which the verb is combined with an auxiliary verb to form a verb phrase. The present participle combines a form of "to be" with the infinitive form of the main verb, and adds -ing to the main verb (ex: she is walking). The past participle combines a form of "has" to the main verb and adds -ed to the infinitive of the main verb (ex: He has finished his homework). Participles can also function as adjectives: "your mother is charming," "he is a devoted father."

So, the principal parts of the listed verbs:

Lie: (to) lie; lied; (has/had/have) lied; (am/is/are) lying

Play: (to) play; played; (has/had/have) played; (am/is/are) playing

Run: (to) run; ran; (has/had/have) run; (am/is/are) running

So, "lie" and "run" both have an irregular form; I suspect this is why they were chosen.

Haiku News

Pacific Northwest

suffering from record highs

and no a/c there.

Tanning beds are found

to be carcinogenic--

why am I not shocked?

Ricky Berens has

a swimsuit malfunction, but

at least his butt's nice...