Carrying On

Today's error comes to us courtesy of my friend Lindsay, of IAMNOTASTALKER. The typo occurs in the last paragraph of a Huffington Post article about a 9-year-old who was suspended for sexual harassment when, while talking to a buddy, he referred to one of his female teachers as a certain four-letter word.

The typo is a straightforward one: The word carry is missing three letters. The sentence requires the present progressive tense, which indicates continuing action. This is accomplished by using a form of the verb "to be" along with a present participle, which is a verb with an -ing suffix. So, "is carry" should be "is carrying." It's a simple mistake, so I won't get carried away.

Oh, are you curious to know what four-letter word got the fourth-grader suspended for two days? It starts with cu-. Any guesses? Nooooooo, not that! You're disgusting! The kid was suspended for calling a teacher "cute." The nerve of that boy!