Carol,

 The author may be objecting to "surrounded," based on a hyper-literal reading ("if it's not encircled, it's not surrounded"). I've seen some similar examples, although usually in older books (for example, an author objecting to "audience" for a group of people watching a visual performance).

Bill Spruiell

On Sep 29, 2011, at 10:08 AM, "Carol Morrison" <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:

Dear List Members:

This morning in class, the students and I came across a sentence in their grammar handbook that apparently contains a misusage of some sort that we could not identify:

The Keweenaw Peninsula is surrounded on three sides by Lake Superior.

The only explanation we could some up with is that "three sides" should be replaced with "all sides" because a peninsula only has three sides and an isthmus. Or does it have two sides?

Best-

Carol

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