LANGUAGE CORNER
"Graduated College"
But not with honors
Hey, ejenk," Charlie McDonald e-mailed from Las Cruces, N.M., where he is retired as a high school English teacher but active as a freelance writer and weekend singer-guitarist, "how about jumping on 'he graduated Harvard in 1966' "? Clearly appalled at having heard a famous broadcaster say that, Mr. McDonald added, "Zounds!"
Zounds it is. "Graduated Harvard" (or anything else)
is a common error; the phrase needs "from." Technically,
it's the institution that does the graduating — moving the student
up a grade — and some traditionalists hold out for "was
graduated from." The "was" is uncommon these days,
but the "from" is not optional if we don't want to look
illiterate.
