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.

 

[SevenFeathers]

I instinctively feel that the expressions "I was bored of" rather than "bored by"

Bored "of" doesn't sound right, for sure. Bored "by" is better. I seem to have always used bored "with". For example, "I am bored with this job". And as a follow up, I could say, "I am bored by the repetition".

 

[rs]

Lyrics of Grandmother's Song by Steve Martin​

(this was an actual song! Google it.)

intro.
Be courteous, kind and forgiving,
Be gentle and peaceful each day,
Be warm and human and grateful,
And have a good thing to say.

Be thoughtful and trustful and childlike,
Be witty and happy and wise,
Be honest and love all your neighbors,
Be obsequious, purple, and clairvoyant.

Be pompous, obese, and eat cactus,
Be dull, and boring, and omnipresent,
Criticize things you don′t know about,
Be oblong and have your knees removed.

Be tasteless, rude, and offensive,
Live in a swamp and be three dimensional,
Put a live chicken in your underwear,
Get all excited and go to a yawning festival.

(Okay everybody!)
Be courteous, kind and forgiving,
Be gentle and peaceful each day,
Be warm and human and grateful,
And have a good thing to say.

Be thoughtful and trustful and childlike,
Be witty and happy and wise,
Be honest and love all your neighbors,
Be obsequious, purple, and clairvoyant.

Be pompous, obese, and eat cactus,
Be dull, and boring, and omnipresent,
Criticize things you don't know about,
Be oblong and have your knees removed.

Be tasteless, rude, and offensive,
Live in a swamp and be three dimensional,
Put a live chicken in your underwear,
Go into a closet and suck eggs

 

[T.C.]

I think the problem with ‘bored of’ is that it’s not the word ‘of’ that is wrong, it’s the word ‘bored’ that is wrong.

I honestly don’t think I’ve ever said ‘I’m bored of’ something. If I wanted to express the feeling that I think that phrase is trying to get across then I would use - as Grok points out as alternatives - ‘sick of’ or ‘tired of’, or even ‘had enough of’.