Be Impeccable: Commonly Misused Phrases That Will Make You Sound Ignorant

[cindyj]

Those darn misplaced apostrophes!! Today on my morning walk, I noticed someone had put up a little sign by their gate, with the family name on it. Let's call them, "Smith". The sign said "The Smith's" instead of "The Smiths". It was a pretty little wood sign.

Perhaps they were declaring "ownership" of their sign?!

 

[SevenFeathers]

Perhaps they were declaring "ownership" of their sign?!

 

[Laura]

I had an exchange with Grok on this one:

Prompt: I instinctively feel that the expressions "I was bored of" rather than "bored by" or "I was embarrassed of" rather than "embarrassed by" are wrong, but I can't quite say why. What does Grok say?

Grok:
You're right to feel that something's off—those constructions ("bored of," "embarrassed of") are widely considered non-standard or incorrect in formal English. Here's the clear, rule-based breakdown:

1. Bored and embarrassed are past participles used as adjectives.​

• When describing the cause of the feeling, we use the passive voice structure:be + past participle + by + agent/cause

I was bored by the lecture. She was embarrassed by his comment.


The lecture bored me → I was bored by it.His comment embarrassed her → She was embarrassed by it.

2. "Of" implies possession or origin, not causation in this context.​

• Saying "bored of" or "embarrassed of" treats the emotion like a container you can be "of" rather than something done to you.
• It's a hypercorrectionor influence from phrases like:
  • "tired of" (correct: you've had enough → exhaustion from repetition)
  • "afraid of" (correct: fear directed toward something)
  • "sick of" (correct: fed up with)

But bored and embarrassed aren't in that group—they're transitive participles requiring by.


I was bored of the movie. → Sounds like the movie is a substance you're made of. I was bored by the movie.

3. "Bored of" has surged in informal British English (especially among younger speakers) and is now common in speech and casual writing.​

• Dictionaries like Oxford and Cambridge note it as "informal" or "increasingly common," but still list by as standard.
• In formal writing, exams (IELTS/TOEFL), or edited publications, by is required.

Adjective	Correct preposition	Example
bored	by	bored by the speech
embarrassed	by	embarrassed by the mistake
tired	of / with	tired of waiting
frightened	of / by	frightened of spiders
amazed	at / by	amazed at the view
disappointed	in / with	disappointed in the team

Grok's verdict:​

"I was bored/embarrassed of..." is grammatically incorrect in standard English.Use by for the cause."Of" is a common informal variant (especially UK), but avoid it in formal contexts.

Your instinct is spot-on—and now you can explain why.