Sometimes incorrect words and usages become so imbedded in our speaking and writing we believe them to be acceptable forms.  Perhaps the day is coming (I regret it) when it will become acceptable to say  "They served a good dinner for Joe and I." and "It was him!"; "preventative" instead of "preventive," this from TV interviews with medical people.

"Further" and "farther" are also misused:  According to my faithful desk-side companion, Look It Up, by Rudolf Flesch, "Farther. . .is commonly used in the sense of greater distance or to a greater degree; further is commonly used in these two senses and also, to mean in addition."   

Correcting such mis-uses is one of the great values of our workshops.  Even though I believe I have corrected EVERY grammatical error in a manuscript chapter I am reading, I was recently reminded to "mind your grammar" when I wrote "He nodded his head up and down."  If he nodded, the reader knows it is up and down.  A similar mis-use is "She shook her head back and forth."  Shaking the head indicates back and forth movement.

Let us all dedicate ourselves to the best possible word usage!   Until tomorrow, Willma