Atakdoug

Useful Information

This user was a member of the League of Copyeditors.

Is human.This user is a participant in the Grammar WikiProject.

This user is a random page patroller.

This editor is a WikiGnome.

enThis user is a native speaker of the English language.

Personal

This user supports protection of the environment.

This user has visited 50 of the 50 United States.50

This user has visited 13 of the 10 provinces and 3 territories of Canada.13

85This user has visited 85 of the 205 countries in the world.

This user loves playing bridge, and does so professionally.

This user is an ex-birder, but still knows his stuff.

This user is a certified scuba diver.

This user wants to tax the rich to provide health care, education and welfare for everyone._†$ £
¥ €

Grammar

ANAL 5This user is incredibly stringent with professional grammar.

its & it'sThis user understands the difference between its and it's. So should you.

infin¦
itiveThis user chooses never to split infinitives.

whomThis user insists upon using whom wherever it is called for, and fixes the errors of whomever he sees.

which & thatThis user knows how to use which and that correctly.

Latin Plurals: "Data is are..."

This user uses "data", "media", "memoranda", "criteria", and "agenda" as the plurals of "datum", "medium", "memorandum", "criterion", and "agendum".

“,;:’This user is a punctuation stickler.

since

This user dislikes the use of since to mean because.

Majority ≠ right

This user recognizes that even if 300,000,000 people make the same mistake, it's still a mistake.

Welcome, all. I'm Atakdoug. Here, I'm an occasional Wikignome, most of whose edits are corrections to the grammar, punctuation, or spelling of our well-meaning but sometimes less than perfectly erudite contributors. Note: I can't type for shit, so when you see that I've written "teh" or "shoudl" somewhere, please either correct it (in the mainspace) or just understand (in talk). I'm fallible. A little.

My primary profession, in which I've engaged for well over twenty years, is tutoring those who're planning to take graduate admission exams, primarily the LSAT (law school) and MCAT (medical school) but also the GMAT and GRE. If you want to know more or to contact me, see my website at DougCouchman.com.

I also play bridge seriously, mostly for fun but also occasionally as a teacher and paid partner. I'm active in the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) and am currently (until my term ends at the end of 2024) the chair of the League's Advisory Council and a member of the Board of Directors, among other positions.

In real life I live in Arizona, but I consider myself a citizen primarily of the planet that we seem inexplicably to be doing our best to destroy.