MARILYN CORNWELL: Marilyn's Photos - Aug 3 2026

Graduate college or graduate from college. The New York Times has somehow embraced casual grammar. I noticed this as this looked like a typo to me. I hadn't heard the expression graduate college.

As Mirriam-Webster puts it, the school grants the degree to the student, so the student graduates from that school.

Another form that is used is "I was graduated from college." It sounds like a long journey of many small steps, as though one gets a degree by passing through many small increments of degrees. This is the transitive and intransitive debate that occurred during the 1800s. It is now normal to say "I graduated from college."

It is too late at this point to help out those Spring graduates writing their resumes. Never mind, it probably worked out with CHAT AI recommending the graduated from version.

Here's a version that gives rise to laughter: one site says it is incorrect to "pass out of school" and that one should use "finished his schooling" or "completed his school education."

Here's the Laura Secord Public School in Queenston. This is where the Secord Homestead is located. This is no longer a public school. It is now a school of restoration arts. That Laura Secord name, though, is an important one to the War of 1812, so seems to make sense to be maintained.