READERS’ WORDS

I REMEMBER you writing in one Pedant Class about the difference between a “peak”, which is the top of a mountain or the front part of a cap, and to “peek”, which is when you take a sneaky look at something. Yet in last week’s Sunday Times there is a reference to Oscar Pistorius stopping to “peak” around the corner. I do not think this was referring to the peak of his career as an athlete. It would seem that even journalists at the peak of their writing powers should sometimes take a peek in the dictionary. — Max Kruger

FOLLOWING the thread of your column “Triumph of the wool” (March 30). The question arises: Did the Whigs (members of the British reforming and constitutional party circa 1680) wear wigs, and if so did it make them feel whiggish? — Ray Hurley

YOUR correspondent John Nicolson rightly commented on the poor use of the word “like” but then committed the terrible crime of saying “. . . as if it was . . .” Please, “if it” is followed by the subjunctive form “were”, never “was”, although far too many people say “was”. My other gripe is the incorrect use of “who and that”. Who is used for people, and that for everything else. So we should say “the person who” and “the dog that” — not the other way around. — Dennis Wright