Language Quiz

Here's the new quiz - and always remember, maybe nothing is wrong!

From an interoffice memo:

The team is developing a list of skills and knowledge's needed by the analyst of the future.

And here's the previous one:

From the Biography Channel's ad for Sherlock Holmes:

He thrives on the dizzying, delights in the bizarre, and relishes in the puzzling.

The answer here is:

Their love of parallelism (thrives on, delights in, relishes in) has led them to make what's called 'an argument error' - the verb relish doesn't use the preposition in - or any preposition, for that matter. You don't 'relish in' something, you just 'relish it'.

This should read:

He thrives on the dizzying, delights in the bizarre, and relishes the puzzling.

If they really wanted to keep up the parallel structure, they need another verb, perhaps 'revel':

He thrives on the dizzying, delights in the bizarre, and revels in the puzzling.

If you're ever uncertain about the arguments (that is, the way the words that go with the verb, or noun for that matter) that a verb takes, I recommend using a good dictionary such as the Longman Advanced American Dictionary (it even has a CD version with pronunciation and grammar tips). Such a dictionary does more than merely define words; it gives usage and argument structures as well.

Remember, previous quizzes can be found here.