See if you can correct the errors: to pound on the podium, remember, the pounder must be prone, that is, lying on one's belly. It is difficult to appear resolute and firm while throwing a tantrum.

A Wall Street Journal feature dated 21 April proffered cautionary data on "Why Burning Rubber Is Getting More Expensive." Copy in the graphic said, "Replacing high-performance tires can be expensive, but it's possible to purchase alternate brands to save money."

The curious writer/editor will crack the Journal's Guide to Business Style and Usage and find the entry for alternate, alternative: "Because alternate can mean every second one (The club meets on alternate Tuesdays), generally use alternative to mean substitute: Mutual funds are an alternative to stocks. The noun alternative once meant a choice between two but now can mean a choice among more than two."

Here follows a collection of repeat-worthy citations plucked from "The Typochondriac" and "Wood on Words" columns printed during the past 20 years. All first appeared in Wall Street Journal stories.

1. Ms. Wallace, a former veteran of tabloid daily newspapers, is expected to emphasize celebrity news.

2. Children would watch men in sailor outfits sing sea shanties and play the concertina.

3. At 8:15 a.m., he looks incongruous loitering the streets outside a FedEx store.

4. They live in a five-bedroom house that has hardwood floors, a fireplace with an ornate mantle in each room and a wood-paneled dining room.

5. It was a big advance in the fight against the Auto Immune Deficiency Syndrome.

6. Some CNN executives are far from certain about future prospects.

7. All of Eastern Europe is tuning into the saga of Nova TV, and it is far more than a soap opera.

8. Colgate-Palmolive Co. sends its agencies guidelines forbidding them from running ads in magazine issues with certain content.

9. Just like they teach in Economics 101, demand for a dwindling supply of something generally means a higher price.

10. Other factors, however, can--and have--caused crashes on approach and landing.

You have now earned a peek at The Right Stuff ... by the numbers:

1. Drop the former. Once a veteran, always a veteran.

2. Sea chanteys do not include Johnny Long's enduring "Shanty in Old Shantytown."

3. Loitering, like lagging and departing and a host of other intransitive verbs that we thoughtlessly abuse, needs a preposition.

4. A mantle (cloak) on a fireplace mantel (shelf) could cause a problem.

5. Acquired is the "A" in AIDS, the acronym that in fill identifies the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (1982).

6. Drop the redundant future. And it would be real news if they were certain about prospects.

7. Tuning in to. The in is part of the verb.

8. Forbidding them to run ads. Forbid takes the preposition to.

9. Just as they teach in English 101, like isn't a conjunction.

10. You can avoid this tense trap by saying simply other factors have caused. If they have caused crashes, they obviously can.

Boston Globe columnist Brian McGrory used his 24 May real estate column to rant and rail against "the podium-pounding, fire-breathing rhetoric from a group of minority activists...."

To pound on the podium, remember, the pounder must be prone, that is, lying on one's belly. It is difficult to appear resolute and firm while throwing a tantrum. Surrender the alliteration and find a way to recast the sentence.

Alden Wood, professor emeritus at Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts, writes and lectures on language usage. He is a retired insurance industry vice president of advertising and public relations.