Grammar Clinic

Meaning: Lacking skill, cleverness, or resourcefulness in handling situations : inept Example: Any project, however carefully planned, is doomed to fail under maladroit management.

Meaning: Full of danger or risk. Example: In 2007, el-Sayed established a small online newsletter to investigate corruption. When the conflict broke out, he took to writing about the parlous state of public utilities and the profiteering on both sides that followed.

Meaning:  A grassland especially of southern Africa usually with scattered shrubs or trees. Example: In the South African cakes you’ll find marula—a fruit that grows in the veld, typically used to make a popular liqueur—and naartjie, a type of sweet mandarin orange.

Meaning: A legendary animal with the head of a man, the body of a lion, and the tail of a dragon or scorpion. Example: The recently unearthed stela depicts a manticore and several other frightening and fantastic creatures.

Meaning: Deficient in sense or intelligence : silly Example: One of the kids had some cuckoo theory about the house being demolished because of evidence of a UFO landing visible in the tiles of its roof.

Meaning: The quality or state of being correct in judgment or procedure Example: Integrity doesn’t demand flawlessness, but it does require the kind of moral rectitude that enables one to quickly assume responsibility for one’s errors, to say ‘I was wrong and I am sorry.’

Meaning: To cheat by trickery  Example: Thimblerigging the market was such an accepted practice some traders were even taunted for not stealing enough.

Meaning:  Characterized by affection of grandeur or splendor or by absurd exaggeration. Example: The committee eventually scaled back the most outlandish parts of its plans for the festival, including a grandiose scheme to bring in live peacocks for the event.

Meaning: Blustering swaggering conduct: a pretense of bravery. The quality or state of being foolhardy. Example: The quiet, reserved actor is primarily known for playing characters who radiate bravado and swagger.

Meaning: Seeming to have a supernatural character or origin. Example: Our waiter had an uncanny resemblance to the creepy villain in the film we had just seen.