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TomLaney1 March 16th, 2015 6:32am

MONDAY MORNING SPELLCHECK: Which spelling is correct? "Yesterday, I (led, lead) a parade down Main Street." (ANSWER INSIDE)

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musiman28 Cotton country
03/16/15 10:55 am

Yesterday I was led to the lead deposit by the lead engineer on the project! Sorry couldn't resist. But gold star for me today! I knew the word, but thoroughly enjoyed the explanation.

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TomLaney1 Jesus is Lord
03/16/15 5:40 pm

Gold star! 🌟 :o)

318851
03/16/15 9:15 am

Led Zeppelin

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TomLaney1 Jesus is Lord
03/16/15 5:39 pm

Gold star! 🌟 ♬♩β™ͺβ™«

imanag My heaven on Earth
03/16/15 8:39 am

Tom, you've led to way to grammatical excellence yet again. Great news about your family, too! Gold star!! 🌟

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TomLaney1 Jesus is Lord
03/16/15 5:38 pm

Gold star! 🌟

GrandmaALiCE
03/16/15 6:25 am

I never *led* a parade, but it would be fun to lead one some day. Imagine a parade float made of lead. If it was clever, it might be a leading attraction.

I always thought 'led' to be a strange word. I know it's right, but it just LOOKS wrong to me.

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huntflor Minnesota
03/16/15 5:12 am

Led, it's not that hard people.

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TomLaney1 Jesus is Lord
03/16/15 7:34 am

But lead is, when you're hit over the head with it! Gold star! 🌟

10o5t126 ...
03/16/15 4:53 am

Yay! Thank you for leading the way with this lesson. You led superbly.

TomLaney1 Jesus is Lord
03/16/15 7:32 am

Thanks, Brother Joe! Gold star! 🌟

TomLaney1 Jesus is Lord
03/16/15 7:31 am

Gold star! 🌟

Christian1459 Cookin Trouble
03/16/15 7:45 am

Awesome. I gotz a gold star. 😎

chickencookie disgusted
03/15/15 11:57 pm

I was thinking of these as poll words. Got it right.

TomLaney1 Jesus is Lord
03/16/15 12:47 am

Gold star! πŸŒŸβ€οΈπŸ‘Άβ€οΈπŸŒŸ

TomLaney1 Jesus is Lord
03/16/15 7:31 am

See the Answer discussion below for latest news.

firefly5 the verse
03/15/15 11:48 pm

Led. Though tomorrow, I may lead one.

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TomLaney1 Jesus is Lord
03/15/15 11:45 pm

ANSWER - PLEASE READ: This seems incredibly simple, yet we see these words confused all the time, and I'll reveal the reason in a moment. First, we are dealing with the verb "to lead" (pronounced /leed/ [lid]). Its past tense is "led" (pronounced

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TomLaney1 Jesus is Lord
03/15/15 11:52 pm

/ledd/ [lΙ›d]. And that's the answer to today's question: "Yesterday (in the PAST), I LED a parade down Main Street." Today, I lead (LEED); yesterday, I led (LEDD); tomorrow, I will lead (LEED). By the way, I can't pass up this chance to say that if

TomLaney1 Jesus is Lord
03/15/15 11:59 pm

some circumstance in the past prevented me from leading, I say, "I would've (NOT would of) led." "Would've" is a contraction for "would HAVE," and the word "of" has NOTHING to do with the subjunctive past tense of any verb.
OK, back to led/lead.

TomLaney1 Jesus is Lord
03/16/15 12:06 am

The culprit that causes our confusion is a totally unrelated noun, "lead" (pronounced /LEDD/ [lΙ›d]), a toxic grayish metal, chemical symbol Pb (derived from its Latin name, "plumbum"). Yes, lead pipes are where we got the word "plumbing." Now the

TomLaney1 Jesus is Lord
03/16/15 12:12 am

problem is that we have a VERB "lead, led, leading" and a NOUN "lead" which are not spelled and pronounced consistently: "He led me into the lead-lined chamber" uses two spellings for one pronunciation, while "I will lead you to the lead deposit in

TomLaney1 Jesus is Lord
03/16/15 12:19 am

the mine" uses one spelling for two different pronunciations.
So how can you keep these three little imps straight? Create mnemonics (the first letter is silent), or memory devices.
(1) Look Either Direction (LED) when you're about to be led.

TomLaney1 Jesus is Lord
03/16/15 12:28 am

(2) Ed the Plumber works with lead pipes. (Ed & lead rhyme)
(3) Lead me to the nearest leaning tower. (Lead, near, and lean all have the "long Δ“" sound) Get the mental image of yourself visiting Pisa, Italy for this one to stick in your mind.

TomLaney1 Jesus is Lord
03/16/15 12:34 am

As always, there's no charge for the mnemonics — it cost me nothing to think them up!
On a total side note, Catherine (my daughter) and little 3-day-old grandson Ben are out of the hospital and resting comfortably at home, with the assistance of

TomLaney1 Jesus is Lord
03/16/15 12:39 am

daddy Don, who is, if possible, nearly as proud as I am! They stopped by this afternoon for a while, and we're grilling steaks for lunch tomorrow with them and my son Tom III and his fiancée Amy. Tom & Catherine's birthdays are Saturday and Sunday.

TomLaney1 Jesus is Lord
03/16/15 12:42 am

Enough of that for now. Today's orthographic excursion brought to you, as always, by:

⚜ ᎒ᎻᎬ Ꮹ᎑αŽͺᎷᎷαŽͺ᎑ α’αŽΎαžα†αŸαŽ¬ ⚜
[Ζ†ΙΉ-θΙ‘Ι‘Λˆ-ΙΉΙ™-fi] "Π―" Us!

Ru12bseen Ignoring the Ignorant
03/16/15 4:58 am

Just like read and red!!!! Oh... Wait.

πŸ˜πŸ˜‰

DerekWills Lone Star Gun Rights
03/16/15 5:32 am

Tom! I never thought a lecture on lead/led could ever pique my interest, but alas, your mastery of the English language and eloquence in explaining it has led me down yet another amazing lecture. You even touched on one of my biggest pet peeves, and

DerekWills Lone Star Gun Rights
03/16/15 5:34 am

that is when people ignorantly use "would of" or "could of" instead of the correct contraction of "would have" and "could have." Thank you Officer Tom! You are a gentleman and a scholar! 😊

MrMilkdud
03/16/15 5:36 am

My highschool english teacher strongly believed "lead" was the correct way to spell led, and that led was itself a mistake that had somehow been accepted by the powers that be. She'd go off on that tangent on a regular basis.

HammeringMan Gods Away On Business
03/16/15 5:56 am

I have gleaned another semantic treasure this morning. My father, a professor of chemistry and a linguist, never chose to enlighten me on the origin of the word Plumb. That is plum confusing to me. Nor does it explain why my plum tree is not plum.

HammeringMan Gods Away On Business
03/16/15 5:58 am

Perhaps I am just plum lead headed? Please help me Tom.

GrandmaALiCE
03/16/15 6:16 am

Great explanation, Tom! Yes, the 'would of' error is an annoying one. It deserves its own poll.

Derek, that was clever of you to pique our interest in Tom's recent poll on the word 'pique'.

HammeringMan Gods Away On Business
03/16/15 6:21 am

MrMilk: at what age where you when this teacher burdened you with such a leaden diatribe?

MrMilkdud
03/16/15 6:26 am

A junior. She was very intelligent, and she's go through the development and history of the word in grueling detail. If anything it taught me to remember the difference and it was a good introduction to the wild world of high stakes etymology.

MrMilkdud
03/16/15 6:32 am

She'd

TomLaney1 Jesus is Lord
03/16/15 12:44 am

Light-emitting diode. Yes indeed. Gold star! 🌟