DAILY BRIDGE CLUB

My friend the English professor is a stickler for word usage. He chastised me for writing that Unlucky Louie “continuously” makes errors.

“‘Continuously’ means ‘unbroken,’ ” the prof said. “The proper word is ‘continually,’ meaning ‘over and over.’ ”

When Louie was declarer at four hearts, West led a trump. Dummy played low, and East took the queen and returned a trump. When West won and led a third trump, Louie was doomed. He could discard the jack of spades and a diamond on dummy’s clubs but still had two diamond losers.

“Louie’s mistakes could comprise a whole library,” I said.

“‘Comprise’ means ‘embrace,’ ” the prof sighed. “The whole comprises its parts, not the other way around. Louie’s mistakes constitute a library.”

In any case, Louie lost a cold game. Since West won’t be leading a trump from the queen, Louie must play dummy’s king at Trick One. Then the defenders can’t remove dummy’s trumps, and Louie can ruff a diamond in dummy for his 10th trick.

Daily question

You hold: ♠ AJ ♥ J10872 ♦ J832 ♣ K Q. Your partner opens one diamond, you respond one heart and he bids one spade. What do you say?

Answer: Don’t bid notrump. Support partner’s first suit; bid three diamonds. Many pairs treat a jump-preference in opener’s minor as forcing, but if partner has a minimum and passes, you may not have a game. Note that he has at least four diamonds: He would open one diamond on a three-card suit only with 4-4-3-2 pattern.

South dealer

N-S vulnerable