Kirk Mahoney . com

I heard this last night on the TMZ television program.

Problem:
The “totally” adverb reveals that the verb was not used correctly.

Explanation:
The reporter on the TMZ TV program used “totally” to indicate that the woman about whom the reporter was speaking was rude to the man identified by “him” in the statement.

In other words, the reporter essentially was saying that the subject of the sentence — “She” — was rude to the object of the sentence — “him”.

One may condescend “to” someone, but the verb “condescend” when used in this way means to put aside one’s superiority and assume equality with another person normally considered inferior.

In contrast, the reporter clearly indicated that the subject of the sentence did NOT put aside her feeling of superiority, so the subject did NOT condescend to the object of the sentence.

Solution:
“She was totally condescending with him.”