The Penguin Dictionary of American English Usage and Style : a Readable Reference Book, Illuminating Thousands of Traps That Snare Writers and Speakers/ by Paul W

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penguin reference THE PENGUIN DICTIONARY OF AMERICAN ENGLISH USAGE AND STYLE

Paul W. Lovinger was a staff reporter and columnist for newspapers for two decades. His freelance writings include The Marijuana Question (with Helen C. Jones), a widely ac- claimed study of the drug as viewed by scientists and users. He also writes songs, both music and lyrics (specializing in children’s and novelty). He lives in San Francisco. 00-FM_4 10/22/02 10:28 AM Page iii

the PENGUIN DICTIONARY of AMERICAN ENGLISH USAGE AND STYLE

A Readable Reference Book, Illuminating Thousands of Traps That Snare Writers and Speakers

paul w. lovinger

p penguin reference 00-FM_4 10/22/02 10:28 AM Page iv

PENGUIN REFERENCE Published by the Penguin Group, Penguin Putnam Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A. Penguin Books Ltd, 27 Wrights Lane, London W8 5TZ, England Penguin Books Australia Ltd, Ringwood, Victoria, Australia Penguin Books Canada Ltd, 10 Alcorn Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4V 3B2 Penguin Books (N.Z.) Ltd, 182-190 Wairau Road, Auckland 10, New Zealand

Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England

First published in the United States of America by Penguin Reference, a member of Penguin Putnam Inc., 2000 This eBook edition published in 2002

Lovinger, Paul W. The Penguin dictionary of American English usage and style : a readable reference book, illuminating thousands of traps that snare writers and speakers/ by Paul W. Lovinger. p. cm. ISBN 0 7865 2886 9

Set in Minion with Schneidler Initials Designed by Betty Lew Map and endpapers by Mark Stein Studios

Making or distributing electronic copies of this book constitutes copyright infringement and could subject the infringer to criminal and civil liability.

First edition (electronic): November 2002 00-FM_4 10/22/02 10:28 AM Page v

contents

introduction: watching our words vii general topics xiii lexicon, a to z 1 reference works 487 00-FM_4 10/22/02 10:28 AM Page vii

introduction Watching Our Words

Aim; Form entries. Thus the book in part amounts The volume in your hands is meant to to an informal survey of contemporary be both useful and enjoyable, a readable problems in English usage. dictionary for all who are interested in Both perennial problems and new our language. ones come up. Of the misuses discour- In A-to-Z form, it is mainly a guide to aged by earlier books on English usage, good usage of English, the American some persist; others have not turned up, variety, contrasted with some 2,000 but, as though to take their place, new quoted examples of misusage and ques- offenses against the language have tionable usage. It does the job of “illumi- emerged. nating many traps and pitfalls in English usage” (as my editor puts it). I have Here are some hints for finding your way sought to provide clear explanations in around the volume: plain language. This book is designed for general readers as well as those who • Main entries, headed in boldface, work with words. are arranged alphabetically, letter by The examples were drawn from the letter. popular press, broadcasting, books, and • Many entries are divided into a variety of other sources, mostly in the sections, which are numbered and latter eighties and the nineties. Each titled. The sections of an entry are entry devoted to a specific word or arranged alphabetically, and their phrase contains one or more of those titles are listed at the beginning, quotations. The troublesome forms are after the main title. Some sections contrasted with the proper forms (which contain subsections, distinguished are emphasized by italics) and defini- by letters and titles. tions are given. • There are numerous cross- Entries on general topics are pre- references, some standing alone and sented too; they deal with matters of others within entries. For instance, grammar, punctuation, style, and so on. in the C’s under Comma it says See A list of them, with further description Punctuation, 3, referring the reader of the two types of entry, appears under to the entry. Many entries refer to “General Topics,” following this intro- related entries. Alphabetical order duction. is used in listing any series of cross- With few exceptions, the examples references and various other have determined the choices of word series.

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viii introduction

Viewpoint grammatical correctness over “political This work could be viewed as an anti- correctness.” (In my view, those who dote to laissez-faire lexicography and mutilate our language for political anything-goes grammar. The doctrine motives do wrong.) that whatever emerges from people’s lips At times the difference between cor- is the language and that many verbal rect and incorrect usage is hazy. English wrongs make a right is not advocated has an abundance of words,* more than here. Nor is the cliché of English as “a any other language, and multiple ways living language” dragged in to justify to express almost any idea. Our lan- bad English. guage is so complex that nobody ever On the contrary, I do not hesitate to learns it all and that even its leading distinguish between right and wrong authorities occasionally stumble. They usage when the difference is clear. My disagree and one finds fault with an- inclination is to question deviant forms, other. Their differences concern both challenge innovations to prove them- specific points and standards of strict- selves, and resist senseless fads. (See also ness or looseness in the use of words and the final section of this introduction.) I grammar. thereby risk being labeled a “purist” by Some loose uses of words or phrases some critics—as though impurity were and some slang that may pass harmlessly desirable. in informal conversation are inappropri- Perhaps in a long-range, philosophi- ate when transferred to serious writing cal sense there is no verbal right and or even serious speech. This book will wrong. But that view does not help you help the reader to make sound choices. and me in choosing our words and putting together our sentences clearly Examples and properly according to the educated Samples of sentences that clearly fall norms of society. Those holding the per- into the wrong category follow. The first missive views follow most of the norms few are (alternately) by professionals of themselves. They do not say or write, broadcasting and journalism. A correc- “Them guys hasn’t came,” or “I ain’t did tion follows each quotation. (Each nothin nohow,” although some people comes up in the main text.) are apt to do so. For the most part, the “There were roofs completely tore laws of grammar have not been re- up.” Torn up. pealed. “I like to serve it with croutons . . . Not that one should be pedantic that is flavored with olive oil.” Are fla- either. The book does not flatly condemn vored. split infinitives, prepositions at the end “Police said ——— and ——— built of sentences, conjunctions at the begin- the bombs theirselves.” Themselves. ning, sentence fragments, or phrases like “It would be more racism showing it’s “It’s me.” But it does value precision ugly head again.” Its. over fashion, logic over illogic, and “There is a way to empower your

*The Oxford English Dictionary, seeking to record all English words, says it covers more than 500,000 words and phrases in its twenty volumes. The Guinness Book of World Records places the count at more than 600,000 words plus 400,000 technical terms, a total exceeding a million. It numbers the Shakespearean vocabulary at 33,000 words and expresses doubt that any person uses more than 60,000. 00-FM_4 10/22/02 10:28 AM Page ix

introduction ix

children and make them far more bet- the meanings of certain words or if we ter . . . students.” Delete “more.” accept some clichés on their faces, we “Women have smaller brains then may believe that fury rages in the “eye” men.” Than. of a storm; a “fraction” is a small part; “The . . . campaign has got to break the character “Frankenstein” was a into the double digits to be respectful.” monster; to “impeach” an official is to Respectable. oust him from office; a jury can find a (Headline:) “Be Happy She Prys.” defendant “innocent”; pencils contain Pries. the metal “lead”; a “misdemeanor” is not a crime; prostitution is the “oldest Additional slip-ups, by people in other profession”; an exception “proves” a fields, include these: rule; the Constitution guarantees “the (Advertising:) “I always wanted to pursuit of happiness”; and so on. loose weight.” Lose. (Book publishing:) “Allow someone The criticism of any extract does not else to proofread [edit?] it . . . who will negate the overall merit of the work that not be affraid to be biased in their opin- is quoted.* ion.” Afraid to be unbiased in his opinion. Clarity (Diplomacy:) “It is quite clear that the Clarity is a leading theme of this crisis has reached a critical point.” book. More than 100 entries deal with Better: the dispute or the situation. the problem of ambiguity (noun): the (Education:) “Me and my kids live in state of being ambiguous (adjective), a dormitory.” I and. able to be interpreted in two or more dif- (Law:) “No one is free to flaunt the ferent ways. Consider this sentence: tax laws.” Flout. “When P—— was hired by H——, he (Medicine:) “We’re obligated to do had a criminal record.” Which one is that biopsy irregardless of the physical “he”? (That example is from Pronouns, findings.” Regardless. 1. Consult also the cross-reference (Psychology:) “Their child don’t look Ambiguity and the next section of this so good.” Doesn’t look. introduction, Wounded Words. General examples of fuzzy prose appear in The book debunks some widespread Verbosity and other entries.) misbeliefs. If we do not fully understand Clear expression requires clear think-

*Of 2,000-odd examples of misusage or questionable usage, almost half originated with newspapers, news agencies, or magazines; about a fifth each with broadcasters and books; and a tenth with people in many other fields or miscellaneous sources, described in the text. A few appeared in other reference works. The single most frequent source of examples was The New York Times (usually the national edition), which occasionally is quoted here approvingly too. Newspapers distributed in the San Francisco Bay area and TV and radio broadcasts heard there were significant sources. Dozens of other newspapers, from most regions of the country, yielded examples too. So did 120 books, mostly nonfiction. Some correct or incorrect examples, not counted above, were composed where fitting. The sources of the quotations are not usually identified by name. Space did not permit the publication of a list of such sources (although it had been contemplated). But a variety of reference works consulted as sources of information are listed in the back of the book. 00-FM_4 10/22/02 10:28 AM Page x

x introduction

ing. It helps also to be versed in the dis- strict meanings follow; loose meanings tinctions among words and in the ele- are in parentheses. Which meaning a ments of grammar, including tense, writer or speaker has intended is not number, mood, parts of speech, sentence always plain from the context. structure, and punctuation. Even so, A fabulous story is one that is charac- clarity may not survive hastiness, inabil- teristic of a fable (or a good story). An ity to express ideas simply, intentional impact is a violent contact (or an effect). hedging, lack of facts, language that is A legendary figure is mythical (or too pompous or too slangy, obscurity of famous). One who is masterful is dicta- ideas or terms, overloading of sentences, torial (or skillful). To scan a document is overlooking of double meanings, stingi- to examine it carefully and systemati- ness in using words or punctuation, too cally (or quickly and superficially). If a little thought, or too much abstraction scene is a shambles, it shows evidence of and generality without concrete exam- bloodshed (or disorder). If an incident ples. transpired this year, this year is when it Then, too, muddiness and confusion became known (or happened). When an can overcome our best efforts. Writers ultimatum is given, a threat of war is on the English language often compare it issued (or a demand is made). That with other languages and glory in its which is viable is able to live (or feasi- complexity, variety, and subtlety. Yet the ble).* language is so complex, with varieties of Many loose or questionable uses are expression so vast, subtleties so fine, and widespread. Does that mean we have to such a proliferation of word meanings, follow suit? Of course not. that it can trap any of us at some time or other. Unqualified praise helps no one. Save the Language Let us be aware of the difficulties and try New words continually appear. Those to overcome them. that fill needs are generally desirable. Greater efforts to write and speak What ought to be questioned or resisted clearly, accurately, and sensibly would are the watering-down of distinctive mean more understanding, something words that we already have, the creation that society needs. of ambiguity and fuzziness, the breakdown of grace and grammar, and irra- Wounded Words tional verbal fads. One of the problems is that English is Change characterizes the history of being deprived of the benefit of many English; but whereas innovations in the distinctive words as looser meanings main language used to be tested slowly develop. The addition of the new mean- by time, and street slang usually stayed ings renders some of the words ambigu- there, they are now both thrust upon the ous. I call them wounded words. public almost instantly by the media of Examples of those words and their mass communication.

*Among words in similar condition are these: accost, alibi, anticipate, bemuse, brandish, brutalize, burgeon, careen, classic, cohort, compendium, connive, cool, culminate, decimate, desecrate, destiny, dilemma, disaster, effete, eke, endemic, enormity, erstwhile, exotic, fantastic, formidable, fortuitous, fraction, gay, idyllic, incredible, increment, internecine, jurist, literal, livid, marginal, mean (noun), minimize, neat, obscene, outrageous, paranoid, pristine, quite, sure, travesty, unique, utilize, verbal, virtual, vital, weird, wherefore, willy-nilly. The words emphasized in this section have separate entries. 00-FM_4 10/22/02 10:28 AM Page xi

introduction xi

Our language is an invaluable To support the cause of good English, resource, as much a part of our heritage you and I need not join a group, attend as forests, wildlife, and waters. Yet rallies, or give money. We can contribute where are movements for verbal conser- every day by knowing the language, vation? Who campaigns to save endan- shunning the fads, and watching our gered words? When do we ever see words. demonstrations against linguistic pollu- P.W.L. tion? San Francisco 00-FM_4 10/22/02 10:28 AM Page xiii

general topics

Here is a list of the titles, or headings, of this book’s main topic entries—that is, entries that deal with general topics. They are distinguished from word entries—which discuss how to use the particular words in their titles. (Those entries are not listed.)* Following this list comes a list of cross-reference titles on general topics.

Abbreviation Double possessive Active voice and passive voice Ellipsis Adjectives and adverbs Expletives Anachronism FACT- words BACK(-) prefix and pairs Gerund Backward writing Guilt and innocence BI- and SEMI- prefixes Hawaii Capitalization Homophones CIRCUM- prefix I and i Clause Infinitive Cliché clash Iran Clichés Italic(s) Collective nouns -IZE ending Comparative and superlative degrees Joining of words Comparison Metaphoric contradiction Complement Modifiers Confusing pairs Modifying Contractions Mood Crimes (various felonies) NANO- prefix Dehumanization Nouns Division of words Number (grammatical) Double meaning Numbers Double negative Paragraph

*The titles in the two categories differ in their use of capital or lower-case letters: • The title of a topic entry, such as Punctuation or Verbs, is printed in lower-case letters, except for an initial capital. (Preﬁxes and sufﬁxes, in capitals, are a further exception.) • The title of a word entry, such as AFFECT and EFFECT or COMPRISE, is printed in capital letters, except for any incidental word, like and. (In a word entry, the lower-case and indicates a contrast between the main words. A comma—as in BEMUSE, BEMUSED—separates forms or words in the same category.)

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xiv general topics

Participle Series errors Personification Spelling Plurals and singulars Subjunctive Possessive problems Synonymic silliness PRE- prefix Tautology Prepositions Tense Pronouns Titles Pronouns’ classification Trademarks Punctuation Twins Quotation problems Verbal unmentionables Range, true and false Verbosity Reversal of meaning Verbs Run-on sentence -WISE ending SELF- prefix -Y ending Sentence fragment

The following list presents cross-reference titles on general topics. They are found in their alphabetical places in the text. (Cross-reference titles on speciﬁc words are not listed. Additional cross-references, untitled, may be found within many entries.)

Absolute constructions Copula or copulative verb (linking Abstract noun verb) Accuracy and inaccuracy Correlative conjunctions Accusative case Creatures, plural Adverbs Danglers Agreement in number Dash “A” instead of personal pronoun Dative Ambiguity Declarative sentence ANTE- and ANTI- prefixes Defining clause Antecedent Digits spelled out Apophasis Double entendre Apostrophe Double genitive Apposition, appositive Doubling of letters Articles (parts of speech) -EN, -REN plurals Attributive adjective Enumerations Auxiliary verbs (helping verbs) Exclamation point Bible -F ending Brackets Figures Bullet Fire Case of letters Fractions Case of pronoun -FUL ending Colon Fused participle Comma Future tense Common nouns Genitive (possessive) Compounds (words) Germanisms Concrete noun Helping verbs (auxiliary verbs) Conditional sentences Homographs and homonyms Conjunctions HYPER- and HYPO- prefixes Contrast Hyphen 00-FM_4 10/22/02 10:28 AM Page xv

general topics xv

-ICS ending Predicate noun (predicate nomina- IF clauses tive) Imperative Prediction Incomplete sentence Prefix Indicative Present tense Inflected and uninflected forms Preterit, preterite (past tense) -ING form of verb Probability Initials Progressive tenses INTER- and INTRA- prefixes Proper nouns (names) Interrogative sentence Quantities, measures Intransitive and transitive verbs Question mark Inversions Quotation marks -ISE ending Reflexive pronouns Juvenile language Repetition and its avoidance Law, courts, legal terms Restrictive clause Lists Scientific writing -LY ending -SELF, -SELVES endings Measures, quantities SEMI- and BI- prefixes Metaphor Semicolon Misquotation -S ending Names of products Sequence of events Names, plural Shakespeare Negatives Sibilant endings Nominative case Singulars and plurals Nondefining clause Slash Nonrestrictive clause Split infinitive Object(ive) complement Statistics Object, objective case Stealing -O ending Subject Pairs of words Subjective case Parentheses Subject(ive) complement Passive voice Subject-verb agreement Past tense Substantive Per cent, percent Suffix Perfect infinitive Superlative Perfect tenses Time Period Transitive and intransitive verbs Person (grammatical) Virgule Phrase Voice Positive degree Will (legal) Predicate Wit Predicate adjective Words that sound alike 00-FM_4 10/22/02 10:28 AM Page xvii

the PENGUIN DICTIONARY of AMERICAN ENGLISH USAGE AND STYLE 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 1

A and AN. The choice of using a or observed by a few American writers and an before a word depends on the sound speakers, such as an anchor woman who of the word. Use a if the next word be- said, “NASA today called off an historic gins with a consonant: a daisy, a good space mission.” egg. Use an if the next word begins with The foregoing rules assume that one a vowel: an ape, an easy victory. needs a or an (indefinite article) and not The wrong choice showed up in three the (definite article). A or an goes before newspapers. A federal official was a word or phrase denoting a person or quoted (or misquoted) as saying, “We thing (noun) but not a specific one. The are concerned any time there is a allega- person or thing is usually singular but tion of serious wrongdoing. . . .” In an- sometimes plural: a few good men, a other news story, an investor “filed a great many people. $800 million lawsuit.” In a column, a A or an is properly omitted from presidential candidate drove “a M-1 some common constructions. One vari- tank.” ety contains no followed by an adjective: Corrections: It is “an allegation,” be- “no better time” / “no more beneficial cause allegation begins with a vowel discovery” / “no such animal.” Another sound. It is “an $800 million lawsuit,” contains kind, sort, type, species, or the because eight begins with a vowel like: “that kind of gem” / “this sort of sound. (The number phrase would be thing” / “some type of evergreen.” pronounced as eight-hundred-million- Meaning can hinge on the presence or dollar.) And it is “an M-1 tank”: Al- absence of a or an. “A novelist and poet though m normally is a consonant, the spoke” suggests one person. For two letter as such is pronounced em. persons, an extra a is necessary: “A nov- A precedes the sound of the y conso- elist and a poet spoke” (although “both nant, even if the initial letter is usually a spoke” makes it clearer). “The zoo will vowel: a European, a ewe, a uniform. acquire an apteryx, or kiwi”—two alter- The use of an before such a word is not native names for the same creature. But standard. “The zoo will acquire a koala or a wom- An precedes a word starting with a bat”—one or the other. silent h: an hour, an honorable man. Us- In writing certain phrases that con- ing an before a pronounced h, in a word tain a, particularly a lot and a hold, whose h was once silent, like historic or some people erroneously affix the a to humble, is an uncommon practice in the the noun. A while may be properly writ- U.S.A. but more common in Britain. It is ten as one word sometimes, but not al-

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2 abbreviation

ways. See A WHILE and AWHILE; In telling of the bags O. J. Simpson HOLD; LOT. took to “LAX,” was a television re- See also THE. porter lax in assuming that everyone knew the airline industry’s code for the Abbreviation. 1. Code letters. 2. Los Angeles airport? San Francisco Three forms. newscasters continually spell out “SFO,” never identifying it as their air- 1. Code letters port’s code. It has at least eighteen other A newspaper article uses the initials meanings. “APS” eleven times but never says what One of those newscasters said on the they stand for. In the same issue, another radio, “There will be no water rationing article mentions “WIPP” twice without this year for East Bay MUD [pro- explaining it. Another newspaper men- nounced “mud”] customers.” Some lis- tions “North Carolina A&T State Uni- teners may have heard of the East Bay versity” three times in an article, never Municipal Utility District. Others may informing the readers (mostly non- wonder who would want to buy mud. Carolinians) what “A&T” stands for. A piece by a news agency cites a 2. Three forms “DOE study done by Aerospace Corp. Technically, three main condensed of Los Angeles.” The context indicates forms may be distinguished, though all that the research did not involve female three are often lumped under the word deer. But the uninitiated reader has no abbreviation. way to relate those three letters to “En- An abbreviation, strictly speaking, is a ergy Department,” which is mentioned short version of a word or phrase in several paragraphs before and after writing, such as Rep. for Representative “DOE.” and etc. for et cetera. Unless initials are as widely known as An acronym is pronounced like a U.S., C.O.D., M.D., and the letters of word; it is formed from initials or parts the broadcasting networks, the full name of a name or phrase. Examples are AIDS or phrase should be used at first. If the from acquired immune deficiency syn- initials will be used thereafter, the full drome and LORAN from long-range name may be linked to them in this way: (aid to navigation). “Albuquerque Public Schools (APS)” or An initialism is composed of initials “Department of Energy (DOE).” that are spelled out in pronunciation, let- Often initials are unnecessary. In sub- ter by letter, such as FBI for Federal Bu- sequent references it may be clearer to reau of Investigation and cc for cubic refer, for example, to the schools or the centimeter(s). department. Better yet, repeat the full See also Punctuation, 8; and Titles, 2. name, if it is not too long. Even when initials are explained at ABDOMEN. See STOMACH. the start, they can challenge one’s memory if there are too many of them. A ABIDE and ABIDE BY. To abide book on international law contains something usually means to endure it, to statements like this: “. . . The remaining tolerate it. “Can you abide such hot 40 NNNS parties to the NPT had still weather?” It can also mean to await it. not . . . [concluded] a safeguards agree- A columnist thinks that the press has ment with the IAEA.” One chapter uses treated a certain local politician too such forms some 300 times. A reader kindly. The politician “has succeeded in needing a reminder has to go back and making himself the personification of the hunt for it. city.” An attack on him therefore be- 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 3

accused, alleged, reported, suspected 3

comes an attack on the city “and no one rector of Programs of the Northern can abide by that.” It should be “and no California Hillel Council. [See also one can abide that.” Omit “by.” DUE TO.] To abide by something is to comply with it, conform to it. “I abide by the Is the reporter so afraid of sticking her law.” / “I’m a law-abiding citizen.” neck out that she requires the weight of The past tense and past participle of authority behind an announcement of a abide is abode or abided. holiday?

ABOUT TO. See NOT ABOUT TO. ACCOST. To accost is to approach and speak to someone first. A panhan- Absolute constructions. See Modi- dler and a person seeking directions ac- fiers, 1D. cost people on the street. Some have the mistaken idea that it means to assault or Abstract noun. See Nouns, 1. attack. A news report on national television ACCEPT confused with EXCEPT. said that several friends were “accosted See EXCEPT and EXCEPTING; Homo- by a white mob.” Probably attacked phones. should have been used instead of “accosted.” ACCORDING TO. According to is A city official, speaking about assaults a common phrase that is used in sen- on parking officers, referred to “their tences like these: “A promising discovery chances of being accosted.” He meant in the fight against flat feet was made this assaulted. week, according to a local professor.” / “According to the sect, the world will Accuracy and inaccuracy. See Num- come to an end next Thursday.” bers, 5; Quotation problems, 1; Reversal It tells us that the statement is made of meaning. on the authority of the one quoted. It implies that the writer does not vouch for Accusative case. See Pronouns, 10 A. the veracity or sense of the statement or may even question it. Thus it should be ACCUSED, ALLEGED, RE- used with caution. PORTED, SUSPECTED. 1. Ac- News people sometimes append “accused in the news media. 2. Two cording to” to what should be matters of adverbs. objective fact. For example: 1. Accused in the news media According to the administration, “An accused mass murderer finally Contra aid will run out September 30. gets his day in court,” it was announced on local television. This would have Will it or won’t it? If the writer has any been a better way to phrase it: “A man doubt, he should find out for himself. accused of mass murder finally. . . .” Some statements are too obvious to What the newscaster essentially called need any attribution, let alone the “ac- him was a mass murderer who had been cording to” form. This item is no scoop: accused. Such misuse of the participle accused Many Jewish students at SF State has become fairly common among news will not be attending class today due people. They assume that it protects to Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New them from any libel suit. When they de- Year, according to A—— S——, Di- scribe someone as an “accused thief,” 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 4

4 acronym

for example, they mean he is not defi- Writers and editors should be aware nitely a thief, just one who has been ac- that none of the four words in question cused of being a thief. But to call will protect them against suit. It is not someone an “accused thief” is still call- enough to say “There really was an ac- ing him a thief. “Accused” modifies cusation”—or “allegation” or “report” “thief”; it does not mollify it. Similarly or “suspicion”—if its substance was an “accused doctor” or “accused false or erroneous. As a rule of thumb, lawyer” is a doctor or lawyer who has avoid charged prose if there is no been accused. charged defendant. The misuse of alleged, as a synonym for “accused” in its objectionable sense, 2. Two adverbs has long been established among jour- Allegedly and reportedly (a later ar- nalists. An example: “Dazed and bleed- rival) occupy the domain of the news ing from a vicious assault . . . Laurie media, and there they should be con- M—— pleaded with alleged attacker fined. They are used in this way: “The David A—— to take her to a hos- accused man allegedly [or “reportedly”] pital. . . .” Alleged normally means de- struck the victim.” In grammatical clared as such without proof. But the terms, the selected adverb modifies the sentence essentially says the accused man verb, struck. Someone ought to explain committed the crime; “alleged” scarcely in what manner the accused person mitigates the nastiness joined to his struck the other when he “allegedly” name. A fairer phrasing would be: struck him or “reportedly” struck him. “. . . Laurie . . . pleaded with her at- During our Persian Gulf war, a banner tacker—alleged to be David . . . —to in an American newspaper cried: “Hus- take. . . .” sein reportedly asks for asylum in Alge- Suspected is apt to be treated in the ria” (referring to President Hussein of manner of the other two questionable Iraq). The “report” came from a French words. The comments about accused newspaper, which cited no source. No hold for suspected. A “suspected as- more was heard of it. We need not pon- sailant” is an assailant who is suspected, der the unimaginable act of “reportedly according to the literal meaning of the asking”; a larger question is involved: words. In stating that “serious damage When an editor finds a story so shaky has been done to national security by that he must qualify its headline with convicted or suspected spies,” two news- “reportedly,” should he not think twice paper by-liners show that they regard before running it at all? “suspected spies” the same as convicted spies. (See Guilt and innocence, 3.) ACRONYM. See Abbreviation. The word reported often is used in a similar grammatical way. Although usu- ACROPHOBIA. See HOMOPHO- ally applied to incidents, rather than BIA. people, its presence can raise questions. For instance, when a news story men- “ACROSS FROM.” These two sen- tions a “reported crime,” is it referring tences, which appeared in newspapers in to a crime that has been reported to the Texas and New York, raise questions: police, or is it just using “reported” in its “The farm is across from the plant.” / vague, journalistic sense, as a supposed “. . . This man’s brother was across from hedge against legal action, or as if to say: the President’s house with a gun. . . .” “We’re not sure that it happened, but we Across what? The tracks? The street? were told that it did”? The park? Use of the slang term “across 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 5

active voice and passive voice 5

from” requires that the topographical tions:” Five numbered paragraphs fol- entity in the way be obvious. low. Such a format lends itself to the passive. Active voice and passive voice. An Too much passive can get dull. Scien- announcer broadcast the following sen- tists load their writing with it. If you tence, and in a sense he spoke with two read research papers, you can get the voices. idea that scientists never do anything. Somehow everything is done, as though If you’re in the market for high- by magic. Take the following description quality furniture, this sale should not of an experiment, from a biology annual be missed. (emphasis added).

Notice how weak the sentence gets after Stock suspension of normal eryth- the comma. It starts out in the active rocytes were prepared from freshly voice and ﬁnishes in the passive voice. It heparinized rat blood. . . . The plasma would have more punch if it followed and buffy coat were removed, and the through actively: “. . . don’t miss this cells were washed. . . . The super- sale” or “you should not miss this sale.” natant of the ﬁrst washing was The inconsistency as much as the relative discarded, and the cells were resus- weakness of the passive voice impaired pended and diluted. . . . NACl dis- the announcement. solved in 10 ml sodium buffer, at the Voice is the form of a verb that indi- appropriate Ph, was chosen for the cates whether the subject of a sentence preparation of the hypotonic solu- performs the action or receives the actions. . . . The required standard 50% tion. The two sentences that follow ex- hemolysis was reached by adjustment press the same thought in two ways. of the NACl concentration.

• “Matilda found a chinchilla” is in The combining of voices can produce the active voice. The subject a sentence that is not just weak but also (Matilda) performed the action. ungrammatical. It happens when a verb • “A chinchilla was found by in the active part does not agree with Matilda” is in the passive voice. The anything in the passive part. Such a sen- subject (a chinchilla) received the tence appears in the foreword of a gener- action. ally admirable dictionary. The sentence preceding it says the editors do not give The active voice is more direct and merely the essence of a definition. usually more forceful than the passive. Nevertheless, the passive has a place. Instead, the reader is given the neces- You may want to emphasize the doing sary additional connotative informa- and play down the doer. The identity of tion, even if it means devoting a good the doer may be obvious, unknown, in- deal of space to doing so. . . . significant, or indefinite: “Letterpress printing is not used much now.” / “Flags The sentence is passive up to the second are being lowered to half-mast.” / “The comma; thereafter it is active. That fact package was delivered yesterday.” / “It alone does not spoil it. The trouble is just isn’t done.” that the words “doing so” do not refer A book on world history says, “The to anything. If, for instance, the sentence Neolithic stage in culture is character- began (in an active voice) “Instead, we ized by the following important innova- insist on giving the reader the 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 6

6 ad and add

necessary . . . ,” doing so would fit. An- It seems as though every piece of writ- other way to correct the sentence is to ing about improving one’s English has to make the second part “. . . even if it re- contain some mistake. (The book you quires a good deal of space.” are now reading is probably no excep- Double passives can be awkward. tion.) So a newspaper article on legal En- This is acceptable (though not an illus- glish indirectly quotes a judge “who tration of energetic reporting): “The sus- advises lawyers to write like good news- pect was said to be wanted in three paper reporters: simple and straightfor- states.” This, however, is too clumsy for ward.” And ungrammatically? publication: “The peak was again at- You may write a simple piece or write tempted to be climbed.” Better: “An- a piece that is simple—this word is an other attempt was made to climb the adjective only. But you write simply— peak.” A passive believed, reported, this word is an adverb only. said, or thought will tolerably combine Unlike simple and simply, straightfor- with another passive. Many others will ward may be used either as an adjective not: attempted, begun, forgotten, pro- or as an adverb. posed, sought, and so on. Among other words that serve both as adjectives and as adverbs are down, far, AD and ADD. See Homophones. fast, first, little, much, same, straight, very, and well. They have one form only. ADAPT and ADOPT. To adapt (They are sometimes called flat adverbs.) something is to adjust or change it so as The following are more examples of to make it suitable for one’s purpose. words that double as adjectives; used as Hollywood writers often adapt novels to an adverb, each has an alternative form the screen. ending in -ly, the form of most adverbs: To adopt something is to accept or bright, cheap, loud, quick, sharp, slow, take it as one’s own—unchanged—as strong, sure, and tight. Some writers one would adopt a child. consider the -ly form—brightly, cheaply, An anchor man who referred to “the etc.—more formal or fancy. platform that the Democrats adapted in In some cases, adding -ly changes the Atlanta” chose the wrong word. It meaning. Each of these is a combined should have been adopted. adjective and adverb: hard, high, late. By the way, adopted children have And each has an -ly form with a different adoptive parents. meaning: hardly, highly, lately. Hyphens should never be attached Adjectives and adverbs. 1. In gen- to adverbs ending in -ly: “a strongly eral. 2. Placement. worded letter” / “the rapidly moving train.” (Some adjectives end in -ly and 1. In general are subject to hyphenating when at- An adjective describes someone or tached to participles. See Punctuation, something. (In terms of grammar, it 4D.) modifies a noun or pronoun.) Examples Sometimes an adjective is erroneously of adjectives are green, wet, and Euro- used for an adverb and vice versa. An at- pean. torney general said, “We take it very se- An adverb describes an action, or it rious”—instead of seriously, the adverb. further describes a description. (It modi- A psychologist said, “You’ve done all of fies a verb, an adjective, or another ad- those things that sound wonderfully”— verb.) Examples of adverbs are thinly, instead of wonderful, the adjective. probably, and increasingly. (Sound is a linking verb. See Verbs, 1F.) 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 7

adjectives and adverbs 7

Descriptive terms ought to be stinted, If an auxiliary is helping the verb, it is used only when needed to paint a pic- perfectly proper for the adverb to go be- ture. Some writers and speakers shovel tween them: “We will soon know the re- them out when the unadorned facts sults.” / “His support would quickly would suffice. In prose characteristic of vanish.” Some writers have the mistaken supermarket tabloids, a reporter said on notion that an adverb cannot split a verb a television network, “Amazing new rephrase, such as will know or would van- search has led to an astonishing discov- ish. That notion seems to stem from the ery” (about the migration of brain cells). concern about split infinitives. See also CELEBRATED; GRISLY (etc.); A news story said “her family’s home Synonymic silliness. badly was damaged.” The sentence Adjectives or adverbs come up in hun- structure has a Germanic flavor. Telling dreds of word entries and such topic en- the story orally, the writer would proba- tries as Comparative and superlative bly say “her family’s home was badly degrees; Comparison; Double negative; damaged.” Joining of words; Modifiers; Modifying; Similarly, a news story in another pa- Nouns; Participle; Possessive problems; per said “the stadium measure heavily Series errors; Tautology; Verbs. was favored.” Better: “the stadium measure was heavily favored.” 2. Placement An author wrote, “I have no great ob- An adjective may go just before the jection to . . . its [Cockney] being denied noun it modifies, as in “A yellow bird officially the status of a dialect.” Better: appeared” (an attributive adjective); or it “being officially denied. . . .” may follow a linking verb, as in “The If a verb has more than one auxiliary, bird was yellow” (a predicate adjective). it gets complicated. The adverb normally Contrary to the syntax of many lan- goes after either the first or second auxil- guages, in English we would not be iary, depending on what it is supposed to likely to speak of “a bird yellow.” Nor- modify. mally an adjective does not immediately follow the noun it modifies. Exceptions • “You will always be welcome in our are found in poetry, for instance: house.” Here the adverb applies to “thy spirit . . . With its life intense and the whole compound, will be mild. . . .” See also “PROOF POSI- welcome, and follows the first TIVE.” auxiliary, will. Where to put adverbs often perplexes • “He will be sharply reprimanded.” people. Typically an adverb goes just be- Here the adverb specially applies to fore a simple verb: “They often bring the main verb, reprimanded, and flowers.” It may go at the beginning of a goes right before it. sentence or clause or at the end, particularly if it gets emphasis: “Unfortunately When in doubt, one can play by ear. If she failed.” / “The river is rising rapidly.” it sounds right, it is likely to be right. The placement of an adverb can dras- An adverb made up of a number of tically affect the meaning of a sentence, words often follows a verb phrase. “I such as this one: “A plan for reducing have said it again and again.” the work force slowly has been pre- When it comes at the beginning, an pared.” The sentence is ambiguous. adverb can modify an entire sentence or Does it refer to “A plan for slowly reduc- clause. “Usually she arrives early and ing the work force” or does it mean that bakes the bread.” Usually applies to the plan “has slowly been prepared”? both arrives and bakes. It is a mistake to 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 8

8 admission

overlook the effect of the adverb on the 2. ADMISSION and ADMITTANCE second verb, in this manner: “Skillfully Now for the kind of admission that he concluded the difficult operation but does have to do with entry: it is the act collapsed from exhaustion.” Make it or fact of being allowed to enter, the “He skillfully concluded” to avoid say- right to enter, or, loosely, a charge for ening, literally, that he skillfully collapsed. tering. As a rule, an adverb should not sepa- In the sense of entry, admittance is rate a verb from its object. “Liza solved similar. It too means the act or fact of be- quickly the puzzle” should be “Liza ing allowed to enter or the right to enter. quickly solved the puzzle.” However, admittance usually is limited See also Infinitive, 4; Verbs, 4. to literal entry into a specific place. (“A locked gate prevented our admittance to ADMISSION. 1. Acknowledgment. the garden.” / “Admittance to the 2. ADMISSION and ADMITTANCE. kitchen is restricted to employees.”) Admission often has the added impli- 1. Acknowledgment cation of a privileged entry, as into a When it does not have anything to do group, a profession, or a place of enter- with entry, admission is acknowledg- tainment. (“Your admission to the soci- ment that a statement is true, a state- ety has been approved.” / “What is the ment that reflects more or less cost of admission to the show?”) More- unfavorably on the one making the ac- over, admission may be used figuratively. knowledgment. (“The judge permitted the admission of Admission can range in seriousness her testimony.”) from a trivial concession for the sake of For both nouns, the usual adjective is argument to a confession of a crime. It admissible, meaning able to be accepted can be used in a general sense (“Taking or admitted. (“Hearsay generally is not the Fifth Amendment is not admission of admissible evidence.” / “Only those with guilt”) or specifically, applying to some- tickets are admissible.”) Admittable is thing acknowledged (“His admission rare. that he took an illegal drug did not pre- See also ADMIT. vent his election”). Your acknowledgment of a fact that ADMIT. 1. “ADMIT TO.” 2. Han- does not reflect upon you, except per- dled without care. haps favorably, is not an admission. The word does not fit this sentence, from an 1. “ADMIT TO” article by a news service: A main headline in a California newspaper identifies a politician who “Quits A new 13-city survey finds Phila- Senate, Admits to Corruption.” And an delphia diners, by their own admis- Oregon newspaper reports on a broker sions, to be the most generous tippers in trouble: “. . . he denied today ever ad- of the lot. . . . mitting to the $18,619 in missing funds.” The finding may be based on their own Admit, when used in the sense of ac- accounts, figures, numbers, reports, re- knowledge or confess, should not be fol- sponses, statements, statistics, or words. lowed by “to.” English idiom allows But it is not based on their own “admis- admits wrongdoing or admitting a mis- sions,” because being a generous tipper take but not “admits to” or “admitting is not usually considered something to to” an action. (Just omitting the “to” be ashamed of, at least in American soci- will not rescue the second sample. He ety. denied admitting, not “the $18,619,” 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 9

advocate 9

but the disappearance of it. Or he denied ADVERSE and AVERSE. See Con- admitting that $18,619 was missing.) fusing Pairs. Admit to is proper when the meaning is to permit one to enter a group or pro- ADVICE and ADVISE. Advice is the fession: “She was admitted to the club” noun, meaning an opinion on what to or “The state admits to the bar only do about a problem. “I’m going to the those who pass the examination.” Admit lawyer for advice.” Advise is the verb, to is correct also in the sense of permit- meaning to recommend or to give ad- ting physical entrance: “The gate admits vice. “The lawyer will advise me.” to the house.” / “The guards will not ad- All that is common knowledge, is it mit to the plant anyone lacking proper not? Maybe not. A sign in a window of- identification.” fers “TAROT CARD READINGS BY MISS GLORIA” and “ADVISE ON 2. Handled without care ALL PROBLEMS.” (One problem is her One of the meanings of admit is to name. A sign on a wall calls her “Mrs. confess wrongdoing. The word is so Gloria.”) commonly used in that sense that it must Some authorities object to the use of be handled with care when a more neu- advise to mean inform, notify, say, state, tral use is intended. Admit (as a transi- or tell. It is common in business— tive verb) can mean also to concede the “Please advise which model is de- truth of a trivial allegation or to ac- sired”—and can suggest business jargon knowledge a shortcoming that is quite when used elsewhere. innocent: “I admit I’ve been slow to an- One who advises is either an adviser swer my mail lately, but I’ve been busy.” or an advisor. The press customarily in- The word tempts headline writers by sists on the e spelling. The o spelling is in its brevity and can mislead them and line with the adjective advisory, which is their readers. A headline read, “Mon- spelled only that way. toya Admits Forgeries.” It seemed to say a U.S. senator had confessed crimes, but ADVOCATE. The verb advocate the text said something much different: means to recommend or promote (a While acknowledging that a campaign cause). It is a transitive verb only. That finance report of his filed in New Mex- is, it must transmit its action to an ob- ico bore false signatures of two cam- ject. You advocate something. paign officers, he said he was shocked to It was misused in these press quota- learn of it. A safer headline—perhaps tions: “Herlihy . . . has been advocating “Forgeries ‘Shock’ Montoya”—would for the name change. . . .” / “The new or- have avoided the incriminating juxtapo- ganization . . . is advocating for a one- sition. year moratorium. . . .” Omit each “for.” See also ADMISSION; CONFESS. The man “has been advocating the name change.” The group “is advocating a ADMITTANCE. See ADMISSION, one-year moratorium.” 2. If “advocating” were changed, say, to arguing, pleading, pressing, or pushing, ADOPT and ADAPT; ADOPTED both quoted sentences could accept for. and ADOPTIVE. See ADAPT and All four verbs are intransitive (not need- ADOPT. ing an object) as well as transitive. One can also argue an issue, plead a case, “ADULT.” See EXOTIC. press charges, or push a broom. A policeman used advocate unid- Adverbs. See Adjectives and adverbs. iomatically in another way: “They advo- 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 10

10 affect and effect

cated other people to violate the law.” should have used effect: “How to affect He may have been thinking of another a peaceful overthrow.” word: “They encouraged other people to violate the law.” 2. EFFECT: the noun to remember An advocate (noun) is one who pro- As nouns, the two words are easier to motes a cause or who pleads someone’s choose between. You will probably want cause, perhaps as an attorney. “The sen- to use effect, the result of a cause. ator is an advocate of lower taxes.” / Affect refers to emotion or feeling. “She acted as his advocate at the hear- Only psychologists seem to have affec- ing.” tion for affect. It is pronounced with em- As a verb, advocate is pronounced phasis on the ﬁrst syllable, unlike the AD-vuh-kate. As a noun, it may be pro- other noun and the two verbs. nounced the same way, but more often it In both of these press examples, “af- is pronounced AD-vuh-kit. fect” should be effect:

AFFECT and EFFECT. 1. AFFECT: Texaco Inc. has announced a deal that the more common verb. 2. EFFECT: the seems certain to set off a major debate noun to remember. in the United States about its affect on energy security. . . . 1. AFFECT: the more common verb To affect is to inﬂuence or make a The Justices Are People[;] change in (something). A newspaper ar- Climate of Their Era May Have an ticle used the wrong verb: Affect

It [the Senate] is also a position of Another newspaper got both the noun power, an opportunity to effect one’s and the verb wrong in the same article: world. . . . It’s not clear what affect the nomi- A senator can affect the world, not “ef- nations will have on the polls. . . . fect” it. “The PRI has tried to effect social Similarly, “effecting” should be affect- policy by driving away poor fami- ing in this sentence, from an editorial in lies. . . .” another paper: Change “affect” to effect and change Until these cases are resolved, suspi- “effect” to affect. See also IMPACT. cion will hang over the White House like a noxious plume, effecting every- AFTER. After (preposition) is something that goes on beneath. [Watch times replaced by subsequent to, a out for noxious feathers!] correct but pretentious synonym. “Sub- sequent to dinner” is no improvement Another meaning of the a verb is to over “after dinner.” The modest after is feign or give the appearance of (some- a useful word on all levels of English, thing). For example: “Actors ably affect though sometimes overused. accents.” After (conjunction) is a well-worn To effect is to bring about, carry out, tool of the press, used to string episodes or accomplish (something). Example of together in reverse chronological order. the e verb: “Each executive effected As shown by the newspaper excerpt be- economies.” It is used much less often low, the word is not limited to one use than the other verb. per sentence. A state supreme court af- Instead of “affect,” this headline ﬁrmed a robber’s conviction, ﬁnding that 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 11

“ain’t” 11

a revolver taken from his car without a The gas men returned in the nick of search warrant was valid evidence. time, but the aggravation led the Brooklyn woman to ponder the frag- C—— is serving a five-year senile dependency of modern life. tence after pleading no contest to the charge that he robbed a gas station Usually when world leaders make mini-market in Long Beach, after state visits, the local population is un- brandishing a revolver. [See BRAN- interested at best, or perhaps slightly DISH.] aggravated by the inconveniences, such as rerouted traffic and disrupted The sentence is overstuffed with ideas schedules at the airport. and its double after runs the sequence of events backward. Better: “C—— had The first could have used provoke; the used the revolver to rob a gas station second, annoyance, irritation, or vexa- mini-market in Long Beach. Charged tion; the third, annoyed, irritated, or with the robbery, he pleaded no contest vexed. and received a five-year sentence, which he now serves.” AGORAPHOBIA. See HOMO- Some authorities prefer after to fol- PHOBIA. lowing (as a preposition): “He spoke after [not “following”] dinner.” One Agreement in number. See Number grammarian accepts that use of follow- (grammatical). ing only when the two events are related by more than time: “Following the riot AHEAD (time). See FORWARD and in Union Square yesterday, six men will BACK (time). appear in Circuit Court today.” See also CONDITION, 1. A HOLD. See HOLD.

AGGRAVATE. To aggravate is to “-A” instead of HAVE. See HAVE, make an undesirable condition worse; HAS, HAD, 2. for instance, “A chill aggravates the ﬂu.” An aggravation is (1) a worsening of that “A” instead of personal pronoun. condition, or (2) the thing that makes it See Pronouns, 2 A. worse. A trouble or burden, not a person, is aggravated. “AIN’T.” It is hard to imagine a syndi- The extracts, from three metropolitan cated writer who does not know that newspapers, illustrate none of those “ain’t” is widely impugned as illiterate, meanings, only the loose use of the so let us assume that this one used it de- words to signify annoy(ance), vex- liberately: (ation), stir(ring) up, or the like. Such use is common in colloquial speech and ca- And Giuliani got to run in a year sual writing; it is out of place in more when everybody knows that whatever formal media. it is that’s just around the corner ain’t prosperity. The measures apparently were cali- brated to be harsh enough to undercut Why “ain’t”? Was it humor of some pressure from Congress for additional kind or verbal slumming? Is not or isn’t sanctions but not so harsh as to aggra- or is no would have ﬁt the sentence and vate Beijing into a deep breach in the spared the writer the appearance of ig- Chinese-American relationship. . . . norance. 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 12

12 alibi

The same questions may be addressed nity, the popular misuse casts a shadow to the scientiﬁc author who titled a chap- on the legitimate use of the word. ter “Black Holes Ain’t So Black.” His An associate of a peace foundation reason for avoiding the proper Are Not recommended that Washington outline or Aren’t is equally obscure. criteria for Russian admission to the In- The American Heritage Dictionary ternational Monetary Fund to “offer the has called the word “beyond rehabilita- Government some alibi for unpopular tion.” Only 1 to 6 percent of its usage austerity measures.” Change “alibi” to panel (105–166 members) has approved excuse or justiﬁcation. of its serious use in writing; 16 to 19 percent, in speech. ALIVE. See LIVE, 1. Merriam-Webster has viewed it differently: The word is “used orally in most ALLEGED, ALLEGEDLY. See AC- parts of the U.S. by many cultivated CUSED, ALLEGED (etc.). speakers. . . .” That comment in Web- ster’s Third New International Dictio- ALL NEW. The bombardment for nary provoked ridicule; one wag generations by “new” products, “new” wondered “where Webster cultivated services, and “new” entertainment may those speakers.” have desensitized the public to novelty. “Ain’t” is common in the most casual Now many advertisers and TV networks of colloquial speech as a substitute for seem to feel that anything new has to be am not, are not, is not, have not and has announced as “all new” just to get any- not. It may be suitable for writing when one’s attention. the writer is quoting someone or simu- So on four networks we hear these an- lating spoken slang. It appears in many nouncements: “the all-new Mazda songs, like “It Ain’t Necessarily So.” truck” / “an all-new ‘Simpsons’ ” / “the “Say it ain’t so” (plus a name) has be- all-new Mitsubishi Galant” / “Herbie’s come a cliché. Its legendary origin in a back with an all-new adventure.” The boy’s challenge to an arrested baseball items are not brand-new in all respects. player is well known. So when a newspa- Each is just a new model or new episode, per corrected the expression in a head- but evidently the writers of the commer- line—“Say it isn’t so, Joe” (about a cials do not consider that new enough. football star’s lawsuit against another newspaper)—it looked wrong. ALLOT. See LOT. See also “AREN’T I?” ALL READY. See ALL TOGETHER ALIBI. Alibi is a legal term. It is a de- and ALTOGETHER (etc.). fense in which a defendant contends or tries to prove that he was somewhere ALL RIGHT. Many people seem un- else than at the scene of a crime when it aware that all right is composed of two was committed. In Latin, the word’s simple words, all and right. The phrase source, alibi means elsewhere. An alibi is frequently misspelled, sometimes as may be truthful or not, as any other type “allright” but usually in this manner: of defense may be. Unfortunately, that noun has come to “Henry took a turn for the worse al- be used conversationally to signify an right.” excuse for a misdeed, often an excuse that rouses suspicion or is downright Putting it in a quotation (that one was in spurious. Outside of the legal commu- a medical book for the layman) does not 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 13

also 13

absolve a writer. And the fact that some All together (adjective phrase) means permissive dictionaries condone the mis- in a group: “At last our family is all to- spelling is no excuse as long as it is gether.” Altogether (adverb) means en- widely viewed as a sign of ignorance. tirely, all told, or on the whole: “The All was not right with Henry. The in- rumor is altogether false.” / “Altogether tended meaning there was certainly. 107 were present.” / “How was the That is the meaning in the odd sentence show altogether?” below (another quotation, this one in a Similarly all ready, meaning com- leading newspaper). pletely prepared (“The group is all ready to go”), differs from already, meaning by “Virginia has made history, alright, all this or that time (“but the plane has alright, but race is still very much some- ready taken off”). thing that has to be contended with.” An editor dictated a letter that should have said, “Your comments are all most Perhaps an editor inserted the right ver- heartening.” Instead of all most, his sec- sion but forgot to delete the wrong one. retary typed “almost,” suggesting that In addition to that meaning and the the addressee’s comments were not quite literal meaning of entirely right, all right heartening. embraces a variety of other, more or less See also ALL RIGHT. informal meanings: adequate, agreeable, correct, good, O.K., permissible, safe, ALLUDE and ELUDE. See Confus- satisfactory, uninjured, well, yes. It is ing pairs. both an adjective and an adverb. It should be placed after the word it ALONG WITH. See WITH, 2. modifies. “This restaurant is all right.” Placed before the noun—“This is an all- ALREADY. See ALL TOGETHER right restaurant”—it becomes slang. and ALTOGETHER (etc.). “Alright” may have been hatched by analogy with already. But “alright” and “ALRIGHT.” See ALL RIGHT. all right have the same meanings and the same pronunciations; the two syllables ALSO. 1. Adverb, not conjunction. 2. get about equal stress. Already and all Placement. 3. Synonyms. 4. Wrong use. ready, however, have different meanings and different pronunciations. Already 1. Adverb, not conjunction stresses the first syllable, whereas all Also, an adverb, should not be forced ready gives the first and second syllables to do the work of a conjunction, or con- even stress. See also ALL TOGETHER nector—at least in writing. That is the and ALTOGETHER, -READY, -MOST. consensus of grammatical authorities. For instance: “He carries nickels, dimes, ALL THAT. See Anachronism, 4; and quarters, also half-dollars.” Tacking THAT, ALL THAT. on an afterthought to a written sentence in that manner is considered juvenile. Af- ALL-TIME RECORD. See RECORD. terthoughts in impromptu speech cannot be helped. ALL TOGETHER and ALTO- Some of those authorities object to GETHER, -READY, -MOST. An starting a sentence with also: “I was run- author erroneously wrote that people ning to escape the rain. Also I didn’t “came altogether” instead of “came all want to be late for work.” Better: “I was together.” running to escape the rain and also to get 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 14

14 also

to work on time.” The “also” could even new Central Park Zoo also will have” be omitted. one. (The sample has another fault: To start a sentence with also is a jour- “their” should be its. See Pronouns, 2B.) nalistic peculiarity. This is typical: “Also See also Adjectives and adverbs, 2. named were. . . .” A more idiomatic start might be: “Others named were. . . .” 3. Synonyms Too, likewise, in addition, and besides 2. Placement are synonyms for also and can be more The placement of also, like that of precise at times. But use one at a time. some other adverbs, can substantially af- Warning of the danger of winds’ fect the meaning of a sentence. These knocking over trees, a city park ofﬁcial two sample sentences are the same ex- said redundantly, “Nature’s pretty but cept for the location of also: it’s also dangerous too.” The sentence can take either also or too but not both. • “He was also charged with theft.” (It was one of multiple charges 4. Wrong use against him.) A different misuse of also, as well as • “He also was charged with theft.” other faults, is illustrated by this passage (He as well as another person was (dispatched by a news agency two years charged with that offense.) before the collapse of the U.S.S.R.):

The misguided belief that compound The chairman of the House Armed verbs may not be split sometimes leads a Services Committee says Soviet Presi- writer or editor to choose the second dent Mikhail S. Gorbachev appears to form when the first is right. A news be carrying out his pledge to make agency reported a prison sentence for a sizeable cuts in Soviet Forces in East- man paid to influence an attorney gen- ern Europe. eral. The next paragraph: But Rep. Les. Aspin, D-Wis., added that Soviet forces have also increased E. Robert ———, a legal consultant artillery strength in Eastern Europe. for Wedtech, also was fined $250,000 for misrepresenting the funds he re- If the first of the two sentences told of, ceived from the company. say, increased infantry strength, “also increased” would pass muster. As it Inasmuch as no one else was fined stands, only artillery is increased, so $250,000, make it “was also fined . . .” “also” makes no sense. A quotation from a magazine illus- By “also,” the writer may have meant trates the opposite error: at the same time. That is not what also means. See 3. The new Central Park Zoo will also The passage illustrates another jour- have an underwater window to see nalistic peculiarity: The first sentence their polar bears. mentions “The chairman” and the second sentence mentions “Aspin,” but Also would have been in the right place nothing ties the two together. Either the if the magazine’s previous sentence had first sentence should have named him described other features planned for the (“Rep. Les Aspin . . . , the chairman of new zoo. Actually that sentence de- the House Armed Services Committee, scribes an underwater window to see po- says . . .”) or the second sentence should lar bears at a zoo in another city. “The have mentioned his rank (“But Rep. Les 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 15

a.m., p.m., noon, midnight 15

Aspin . . . , the chairman, adds . . . ”— AM NOT. See “AREN’T I?” present tense, as in the first sentence). A similar illustration is the news dispatch AMONG. See BETWEEN, 1. in 2. See also NOT ONLY, a phrase often AMOUNT and NUMBER. A accompanied by but also. computer book says, in explaining a desktop publishing program, “The total ALTAR and ALTER. See Homo- amount of hyphens appearing in one phones. paragraph can also be determined.” “Amount” should be number. The ALTERNATE and ALTERNA- following colloquy helps to explain the TIVE. See Confusing pairs. use of the two words. “How much are lemons?” ALTOGETHER. See ALL TO- “A dollar a pound.” (The amount of GETHER and ALTOGETHER (etc.). money.) “How many are in a pound?” A.M. See A.M., P.M., NOON, MID- “Four or five.” (The number of NIGHT. items.) “How much fruit will I need for half a Ambiguity. See Adjectives and ad- gallon of lemonade?” verbs, 2; ANOTHER; APPARENT, AP- “About a pound.” (The amount of PARENTLY; AS, 1, 4, 5; AS and LIKE, fruit.) 1; BECAUSE, 1; BETWEEN, 3; BI- and Use amount when you are interested SEMI- prefixes; BILLION; DATA; Dou- in “how much”—how much money, ble meaning; Double negative, 2; Double fruit, labor, or anything else. It pertains possessive; Ellipsis; FARTHER and to a singular noun. FURTHER; FORWARD and BACK Use number when you are interested (time); FORMER; FREE, 2; GAS, 1; GO in “how many”—how many lemons, OFF and GO ON; GREAT; HAVE, people, hyphens, or other items. It per- HAS, HAD, 1; Infinitive, 4; Introduction tains to a plural noun. (to the book), Clarity (ambiguity defined), Wounded Words (65 words listed, A.M., P.M., NOON, MIDNIGHT. representing entries); LATTER, 1 (end); “The shoot-out took place right after 2 LET, LET’S, 1; LIKE, 1; Modifiers, 3B; A.M. this morning,” a newscaster an- NEAR MISS; NOT; Nouns, 4; Num- nounced redundantly. bers, 1, 10; Participle; Prepositions, 2, 5; In his sentence, “A.M.” and “morn- Pronouns, 1; Punctuation, 3, 12; Rever- ing” meant the same thing: the period sal of meaning; Run-on sentence; SPEAK from immediately after midnight to im- TO, TALK TO; Synonymic silliness, 2; mediately before noon. He could have THAT, 2; THAT, ALL THAT; THAT said “right after 2 A.M. today” or “right and WHICH, 1, 2; THE, 1, 2; THIS, 2; after 2 o’clock this morning.” TO, 2; TOO, 1; UNLIKE, 1; WHICH, A.M. stands for the Latin phrase ante 1; WHO, 1. meridiem, meaning before noon. An En- glish adjective with the same meaning is AMBIGUOUS and AMBIVA- antemeridian. LENT. See Confusing pairs. P.M. stands for the Latin phrase post meridiem, meaning the same as the En- AMERICAN INDIAN. See RACE glish adjective postmeridian: after noon. and NATIONALITY. It represents the period from immedi- 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 16

16 an

ately after noon to immediately before differently from 1984 (a fact that does midnight. not detract from the eminence of Or- In referring to the stroke of 12, you well’s book). can say 12 noon or 12 midnight, or just An almanac anachronistically stated noon or midnight. To avoid confusion, that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) do not abbreviate. Sometimes “12 M.” was “founded in 1862.” It was so (meridian) is used for noon and “12 named in 1953 as a new identity for the P.M.” for midnight. But the “M.” can be Bureau of Internal Revenue. A television misinterpreted as an abbreviation of interviewee said Al Capone, the gangster, “midnight” and people may not know was arrested for “IRS violations.” Make what to make of the “P.M.” it tax violations. Capone died in 1947. Midnight ends a day. So “midnight This statement was made in a TV doc- Wednesday” is the end of Wednesday, umentary about the search for the miss- not the beginning of Thursday. ing link by archaeologists in Africa: A.M. and P.M. are spelled also with lower-case letters (a.m., p.m. or a.m., Tools were first recognized by Louis p.m.) or small capitals (A.M., P.M.). Leakey, when he came to this remote corner of Tanzania in 1931. AN. See A and AN. Leakey went to Tanganyika. Tanzania Anachronism. 1. Historical revision. was formed in 1964 (from the union of 2. Illogical captions. 3. Retroactive reti- Tanganyika and Zanzibar). tling. 4. Untrue dialogue. 2. Illogical captions 1. Historical revision Captions of photographs published in In 1867 Secretary of State William H. the popular press are apt to juxtapose Seward signed a treaty “to purchase past and present illogically, as this cap- Alaska from the Soviet Union”—at least tion in a Sunday paper does: that is what the hostess on a national radio show said (111 years later). Various UNDER THE GAZE of a mannequin commentators have called Seward ahead Saturday, Steve C—— . . . tries sal- of his time; he would have had to be fifty mon sausage . . . at the Pittsburg years ahead to deal with the Soviet Seafood Festival, which continues to- Union, which came into existence in day. 1917. The treaty was with Russia. That is an example of an anachro- “Saturday,” yesterday, he “tries” it? nism, a verbal or graphic misplacement “Tries” should be tried. The writer has in time, a chronological error. Chronol- forced upon the present tense the impos- ogy shares with anachronism the root sible task of representing the past as well khronos, Greek for time. (Ana- means as the present (the festival “continues to- backward.) Sometimes anachronism is day”). Having set an action in the past, a used erroneously in place of anomaly or sentence cannot bring in the present contradiction, but time is the key. tense to represent that action. We are concerned here mainly with To write that “strawberries await the distortion of history by the intrusion buyers Thursday at Whole Foods market of things that came later, particularly . . .” would normally imply that buyers names, terms, and expressions. Anachro- could expect them next Thursday. But nisms are inevitable in fiction represent- the quotation is the caption of a picture ing the future: 1984 turned out taken yesterday, Thursday, and pub- 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 17

and 17

lished today, Friday. It should have (1) sure” / “Give me a break” / “I don’t be- left out the day, or (2) said “strawberries lieve this” / “I love it!” / “We’re [or awaited buyers Thursday . . . ,” or (3) “I’m”] out of here” / “all that” (“She said “strawberries are pictured [or “are wasn’t here all that long. . . . I didn’t shown”] awaiting buyers Thursday. . . .” think it was all that serious”). Then the present tense would not be forced into a role it could not fulfill. AND. 1. Excess. 2. Lack. See also Tense for discussion of the proper and improper mixing of time ele- 1. Excess ments. Among pedagogic rules that went too far was the one that forbade anyone to 3. Retroactive retitling start a sentence with And. Few if any This sentence was attributed to a pupils thought to say, “But the Bible news service: does it.” An occasional use of And to begin a Time magazine reported Sunday that sentence can be beneficial: It can associ- independent counsel Donald Smaltz is ate that sentence with a related one investigating a charge made by a for- when putting them together in one sen- mer pilot for Tyson Foods that he tence would be unwieldy. helped convey cash payments from There is less justification for starting a the company to President Clinton paragraph with And. The purpose of a while Clinton was governor of new paragraph is to separate its idea Arkansas. from what preceded. But on rare occasions such use of And may be warranted Impossible. No “payments from the as a stylistic device. company to President Clinton” could Some journalists seem to be reacting have been made while he was governor vigorously to that pedantic shall-not by of Arkansas. He held those offices at two going to the other extreme: different times. Change “President” to Bill. Anyone who does not know that And the trend toward greater special- Bill Clinton was elected president would ization . . . also adds to costs. not be likely to read the story. One could speak also of now President Clinton, al- And Dr. Sidney Wolfe says costs though such use of now, as an adjective, rise because patients do not have to is uncommon. (The allegation has not worry about the bills—the govern- been proved. The statement involves sev- ment and insurance companies do it eral layers of hearsay.) See also FOR- for them. MER. And Wolfe cautions that with more 4. Untrue dialogue doctors now owning a share in new In portrayals of historical eras on tele- testing equipment, there is an increas- vision, the dialogue is liable to contain ing incentive for them to order extra expressions that did not come into vogue tests. until later. Sometimes loose grammar of the future is thrust into characters’ And the number of physicians mouths. clearly is growing. By a decade or two, three series por- traying the past anticipated such con- All of the four quoted sentences—three temporary expressions as “That’s for of which start paragraphs—come from 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 18

18 and that, and which, and who

one newspaper story. One in every seven They all spoke nonsense. Anniversary sentences begins with “And.” stems from the Latin anniversarius, which means returning yearly. The pre- 2. Lack fix, anni-, originated in annus, year, out And (a conjunction: it connects of which developed the English words words, phrases, etc.) can mean also, in annual and annuity. The suffix, -versary, addition, plus, together with, and as a came from the Latin vertere, to turn. result. Sometimes and is incorrectly re- So an anniversary is the yearly return placed by “but” or “plus.” See BUT, 1; of the date of an event, or an observance PLUS. or celebration of the event on that date Having more than one and in a series, in a later year. “Today is the tenth an- or enumeration, is not wrong and may niversary of” an event is enough. “Ten- be necessary. An irrational avoidance of year anniversary,” as some are saying, is and results in a common mistake. See Se- redundant. ries errors. A lesser period than a year may be commemorated in other ways: “It is AND THAT, AND WHICH, six months since . . .” or “one month AND WHO. See THAT, 3; WHICH, since . . .” or “As two weeks passed since 3; WHO, 2. the unprecedented prior restraint was imposed. . . .” ANECDOTE and ANTIDOTE. If enough people deem it important An anecdote is a short, often amusing, to commemorate an event of a recent account of an incident. An antidote is a month, possibly a new word would be medicinal substance that counteracts a useful. I nominate lunaversary. It allows poison. (Both words are Greek in origin. us to say, “Today is the first [or sixth] lu- The first is from anekdotos, unpub- naversary of” the given event. The prefix lished, from an-, not; ek-, out; and is from luna, Latin for moon. Two-week dotos, given. The second is from antido- commemorations are not common. tos, antidote, from anti-, against, and the same dotos.) ANOTHER. Another (adjective and Occasionally the two words are pronoun) is paradoxical, at times em- mixed up. This dialogue was said to phasizing similarity, at other times em- have taken place in a university class: phasizing difference. It can mean (1) one more of the same kind (“I’ll have an- [Instructor:] If a person gets poi- other portion”) or (2) one that is differ- soned, what do you do? ent (“They speak another language”). [Coed:] Give him an anecdote. Sometimes it can suggest (3) resemblance (“This city is becoming another Laughter may be a good medicine, but Manhattan”) or (4) variations on a you can carry it too far. theme (“We’ve had one problem after another”). ANNIVERSARY. One television Although a flexible word, it is not a newscaster said of Romania, “This general substitute for additional, more, weekend is the six-month anniversary of or others. Some question its use with un- the revolution.” Another said the Czechs equal numbers. It is correct to say, “were marking the one-month anniver- “We’re giving a $100 bonus to Betty and sary of the bloody police crackdown.” another $100 to Charlie.” Another em- From a book: “As the unprecedented phasizes the likeness. What is question- prior restraint reached its two-week an- able is a use like this: “The Yanks scored niversary....” four runs in the first inning and another 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 19

anxious 19

three runs in the second.” The “an- tive). It is to act in advance of an event, other” serves no function there but either to forestall it or to meet it with the would be useful if the Yanks scored “an- appropriate preparation. “He is a great other four.” Make it “and three runs in chess player and anticipates his oppo- the second” or, for emphasis, “and three nent’s moves long in advance.” / “They more runs in the second.” anticipated the crash by selling most of “Another” does serve to prevent am- their stocks.” biguity in this sentence: “Five people Usually, however, it serves merely as a were treated at the hospital and another fancy, four-syllable synonym for expect. three were admitted”; but a better phras- “We anticipate visiting our in-laws this ing is “and three others were admitted.” holiday.” So common has that use been, This sentence, from a book about the it may not be easy to tell if someone is English language, has more than one de- using the word loosely or strictly. fect: U.S. Attorney William ——— said The number of words in use with full here last night he anticipates dropping entries in the OED is 171,476, plus the local case and deferring the prose- another 47,156 which are obsolete. cution to San Diego.

Omit “another”; the second number Does it simply mean he expects to do does not match the first. Nor does the those things? Or does it mean that he is second category match the first: The making the necessary preparations? An- 47,156 words are not part of “The num- ticipate is a wounded word. (Another ber of words in use.” This is a possible trouble with the sample is the shift in revision (with the appropriate parallels tense: “said [past] he anticipates [pre- and pronouns): “The number of words sent].” See Tense, 2.) with full entries in the OED is 218,632, comprising 171,476 words that are in ANTIDOTE and ANECDOTE. use plus 47,156 words that are obso- See ANECDOTE and ANTIDOTE. lete.” A related problem concerns other. ANXIOUS. To be anxious is primar- “Of eleven men questioned, five were ily to feel anxiety or anxiousness; that is, charged with gambling and the other six apprehension, concern, foreboding, or were cleared.” The first set does not have uneasiness of mind. “I’m anxious about six, so it is not technically right to speak the verdict.” / “The people are anxious of “the other six.” The six others would for the war to end.” / “She’s anxious to be proper. Better yet, just delete “the get the test over with.” This adjective other.” comes barely changed from the Latin See also NOTHER. anxius, meaning distressed. The word often is watered down, par- ANTE- and ANTI- prefixes. See ticularly in informal conversation, so Homophones. that the main idea behind it—the anxiety—is lost. “I’m anxious to see the Yan- Antecedent. See Pronouns, 1; THIS, kees play,” Joe tells his friend. Pleasant, 2; WHICH, 1; WHO, 3. not worrisome, anticipation, is all that his “anxious” implies. He might find ea- ANTICIPATE. The Latin verb antici- ger, the pedagogue’s alternative, too pare means to take action beforehand. fancy for him. One of these, however, That is the primary meaning of its En- should express his meaning and keep glish offspring anticipate (verb, transi- him grammatical to anyone’s satisfac- 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 20

20 any

tion: “I can hardly wait to see” / “I want Any and all, as in “Any and all viola- very much to see” / “I’m excited about tors will be prosecuted,” is legalese and seeing” / “I’m keen on seeing” / “I’m redundant. Pick any or all—or neither. looking forward to seeing. . . .” Sometimes any is wrongly used in a Although the use of anxious in those comparison, such as “The Acme widget carefree senses is widespread in collo- has more features than any widget on quial speech, authorities are divided as the market.” Any other. As it stands, to its propriety. One who is writing has Acme illogically remains in the same more resources and less cause to take lib- class as all the others; other would set it erties with the word than conversing apart. friends have. A book says: The use of any with a superlative, e.g., “the biggest ears of any animal,” bothers There is a tendency among Euro- some critics, who would prefer “of all peans to romanticise the nomads, animals.” Others defend the expression which I was anxious to avoid. as idiomatic and established. You may choose. There was no cause for anxiety. The au- Any as an adjective has these mean- thor could write what he wanted. If he ings: one, of several, no matter which did not want to romanticize the nomads one (“Any brand will do”); some (“Have (or romanticise them, using the British you any mangoes?”); even a bit of (“I spelling), he did not have to do so. In- don’t have any wool left”); and every stead of anxious, one of these phrases (“Any child knows that”). would have served him well: “deter- Any can be an adverb, meaning at all mined to avoid” / “eager to avoid” / (“I can’t make it any tighter”). When it “hoping to avoid” / “inclined to avoid” / does not precede a comparative adjective “seeking to avoid” / “desirous of avoid- (“It can’t hurt any”), it is regarded as in- ing” / “intent on avoiding.” formal. Furthermore, any can be an indeﬁnite ANY. 1. In general. 2. With BODY or pronoun (“I don’t have any of those ONE. 3. With MORE. 4. With PLACE. books”). As a pronoun, any may be con- 5. With TIME. 6. With WAY. strued either as singular, in the sense of any one (“Is any of these pictures to 1. In general your liking?”); or as plural, in the sense It is a mistake to think that any must of some (“Are any of them for sale?”). always be joined to body, one, place, See also Double negative; ONE as time, or way whenever the two words pronoun, 3. appear next to each other. In general, any- combined with the 2. With BODY or ONE other element stresses just the any in Anybody and anyone have the same meaning and speech; as separate words, meaning. As a single word, each is a pro- both get stress, in meaning and speech. noun meaning any person. “Anybody Any and more should not always be [or “anyone”] can do it.” / “Does any- joined either, even though more is one [or “anybody”] have a knife?” The stressed in anymore. Each pair will be choice depends on personal preference. considered in the sections below. If rhythm or conciseness matters, the ad- Anyhow, anything, and anywhere are ditional syllable and letter in anybody invariably single words. can make a difference. In the pronuncia- Anywhere should have no s attached. tion of either word, the ﬁrst syllable is “Anywheres” is substandard. stressed. 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 21

any 21

Occasionally the adjective any is sepa- “any more”) or a question (“Do you rate from the noun, body or one. visit her anymore?” or “any more?”). Any and body are kept separate when And note that it always ends a thought. both words are important and both are In some regions “any more” is used stressed when spoken, as in mentions of colloquially in positive statements as a any (human) body or any body of water. synonym for now. An example comes Any and one are kept separate when from a radio talk show, whose host the meaning is any single thing or person asked, “Has the ——— Church gotten and both words are stressed when spo- so out of touch with reality that it’s just a ken: “Pick any one.” / “Any one of them big joke any more?” Sometimes it even can do the job alone.” starts a sentence: “Any more we don’t Some critics consider it unreasonable see them.” Such uses are not standard. to combine a superlative with anyone in an expression of this order: “He is the 4. With PLACE smartest person of anyone I know.” An architectural critic was quoted as They would replace anyone with all or saying, “I’d never seen anyplace so beau- omit “of anyone.” Others consider the tiful” (as San Francisco in the forties). It combination a time-honored idiom. It is should be: “I’d never seen any place so your decision. beautiful.” (Any serves as an adjective, See also ONE as pronoun, 3; Pro- place as a noun.) nouns, 2C. As one word, anyplace (adverb) means at, in, or to any place. It shares 3. With MORE that meaning with anywhere, although The writers of these sentences anyplace is more informal. Some author- wrongly connected any and more: ities scorn anyplace or any place used as an adverb. “If I never get anymore, I’m happy,” Insofar as anyplace is acceptable, it is she says, explaining her fear of be- interchangeable with anywhere, as in the coming an obsessed collector. sentence “I’ll go anyplace for a good job.” You cannot substitute anywhere ...Travis said, “Come ON, Dad, for “anyplace” in the opening quotation. we’re not gonna see anymore trees, are we?” 5. With TIME You cannot go wrong keeping any Any time is preferably used as two and more separate. Some authorities in- words. The one-word form has not sist on any more in all uses. gained general acceptance. A critic When any more means an indeﬁnite writes, “The one-word anytime is non- additional amount, degree, or number existent in the English language”; yet (serving as an adjective)—the meaning in dictionaries list it: “adv. at any time.” the sentences above—its words must be Britain does not use anytime. kept separate. Street signs say, “No Parking Any- When it concerns time (serving as an time.” Telephone books say, “You can adverb)—when it suggests from now on, call it [an information line] anytime.” since a certain time, or now—it is either Those uses can pass; but any time or, anymore or any more. Then it goes in a strictly, at any time is better, allowing more or less negative statement (“He time due emphasis. As a rule, anytime promised not to do it anymore” or “any is tolerable when at any time can be sub- more” / “I hardly go there anymore” or stituted. 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 22

22 ape and monkey

The words unquestionably must be Apophasis. See Verbal unmention- kept detached in this sentence: “I can’t ables. find any time for my hobby nowadays.” There any serves as an adjective; time is Apostrophe. See Punctuation, 1. the noun that it modifies. The single word must be an adverb. APPARENT, APPARENTLY. Ap- parent (adjective) has two nearly contra- 6. With WAY dictory meanings. It can mean open to As a word (adverb) anyway means view (“The damage to the building was nevertheless or in any event. “Aware of immediately apparent”) or obvious (“It the risks, they embarked on the expedi- is apparent from these figures that our fi- tion anyway.” / “He probably didn’t do nancial situation is perilous”). The word it, and anyway there’s no law against it.” can also mean seeming, based on ap- As a phrase (adjective and noun), any pearance but not necessarily so. (“The way means in some manner, no matter apparent art treasure has turned out to which. “Make the repair any way you be a fake.”) can.” (Some dictionaries confusedly give Dictionary definitions of apparently such a definition for the single word.) (adverb) include plainly or obviously, Anyway should have no s attached. but now its most common meaning is “Anyways” is substandard. seemingly. (“The magician apparently sawed a woman in half.”) APE and MONKEY. When a movie News media use apparent or appar- character calls a chimpanzee “bad mon- ently often. Its purpose is not always ap- key!” and a pair of movie reviewers re- parent. This is from a nine-sentence peatedly refer to it as a “monkey,” news story: someone ought to speak up for the de- graded creature. Two men were apparently killed in Let it be said here that a chimpanzee is separate shooting incidents, one oc- not a “monkey.” It is an ape, one of the curring Tuesday night and the other great apes at that. Apes do not have tails; Wednesday morning. . . . A driver had monkeys do. Apes have more complex apparently lost control and crashed brains and can stand and walk nearly his vehicle. . . . Police are investigating upright. They are our closest relatives in the apparent homicide. the animal kingdom. Other great apes (family Pongidae) “Apparently killed” is absurd. If the are the bonobo, gorilla, and orangutan. “apparently” was meant to apply to The gibbon and siamang are lesser something else (“separate” or “shoot- (smaller) apes (family Hylobaeidae). ing”?), it was misplaced. (Incidentally, The so-called Celebes black ape and “one occurring” and “the other” are un- Barbary ape (of Gibraltar) are really necessary.) The other “apparently” and macaque monkeys, misnamed in the be- “apparent” are acceptable. lief that they lacked tails; their tails are “Apparently” was misplaced and mis- tiny. leading in another story: Both ape and monkey belong to the order Primates; so do the lemur and Tenant power apparently defeated man. The designation of all nonhuman Proposition E, which would have primates as “monkeys” is a hoary collo- lifted rent controls. . . . quialism; note the sobriquet of the Scopes (“Monkey”) Trial of 1925. “Apparently defeated” implies doubt See also PRIMATES. that the proposition was defeated. Per- 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 23

aroma 23

haps this was meant: “What appeared to word needed in each instance was ap- be tenant power defeated Proposition prised. E. . . .” A police chief and a victim of a purse APT. See LIABLE. snatcher both died “of an apparent heart attack.” Such journalistic use of the “AREN’T I?” This expression enters word has been called ambiguous. It casual remarks and profound writings could signify that the diagnosis was ob- alike: “. . . Porter said with a grin, ‘I vious; that the fatal ailment merely gave guess I am a little detail-oriented, aren’t the appearance of being a heart attack; I?’” / “Aren’t I equally determined by or that a heart attack was evidently, the grand unified theory?” probably, or possibly the cause of death. Many people who never would say Evident or evidently applies to that “ain’t I?” are drawn to “aren’t I?” To which facts point to. It stresses evidence, point up the absurd character of that whereas apparent or apparently stresses genteelism, let us turn the phrase appearances. Probable or probably ap- around, making a declarative sentence plies to that which is likely to be true; out of it: “I aren’t.” Or let us expand the possible or possibly, to that which may contraction: “Are I not?” In the declara- or may not be true. tive form: “I are not.” In short, I and are A news service reported that William do not mix. Colby, a former CIA director, was “miss- Until the widely maligned “ain’t” ac- ing and presumed drowned in an appar- quires respectability or amn’t (a contrac- ent boating accident” in Maryland. That tion of am not, used colloquially in he had gone canoeing on a river would Scotland and Ireland) gains general ac- have been a more accurate detail than a ceptance, our best recourse may be the conjecture about an accident, even phrase am I not?—and what is wrong though qualified by “apparent.” After with that? the body was found, a medical examiner “I guess I am a little detail-oriented, determined that Colby had drowned fol- am I not?” lowing a heart attack. “Am I not equally determined by the grand unified theory?” APPENDIX. See Plurals and singu- See also “AIN’T.” lars. ARGUE. See ADVOCATE. Apposition, appositive. See Nouns, 1; OR. AROMA. An editorial complains about panhandlers at rail stations: Some APPRAISE and APPRISE. To ap- obstruct the passageways; others are ag- praise is to evaluate or estimate as to gressive. “And sometimes in the halls worth or quality. “The house was ap- and entrances there is the aroma of hu- praised at a million dollars.” man waste.” To apprise is to inform or notify. Of- “Aroma” does not describe what the ten of follows. “We must apprise the writer is talking about. An aroma is a president of this news.” good smell. It may be spicy or pungent, A woman said in a television inter- but it is never bad. view about her divorce, “I was not ap- Any of four other words could have praised that our marriage was having been chosen: Smell and odor can be some rocky points.” A man calling a ra- good or bad or neither. Stink and stench dio advice program said, “He was dying emphasize badness, just as fragrance and and I never was appraised of this.” The aroma emphasize goodness. Scent sug- 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 24

24 around

gests an identifying and usually delicate The best repair for such a defective emanation. sentence is rewriting. Put each idea into a We have discussed seven nouns. Adjec- separate sentence. A possible revision tives are related to ﬁve of them: Aromatic follows. (We are guessing what the facts and fragrant refer to pleasant-smelling are.) odors. Odorous usually is unpleasant; smelly and stinking always are. Wan too is said to be receiving medical treatment, for a heart condi- AROUND. See ESTIMATE, ESTI- tion. Last week a spokesman in the MATED. Chinese government stated that Wan had cut short a U.S. trip for medical ARRANT and ERRANT. See Con- reasons. Actually the reasons were po- fusing pairs. litical. Wan is not seriously ill.

ARREST WARRANT. See WAR- “As was,” seen in the initial sample, is RANT. a form that looks artiﬁcial and invites ambiguity. So is any phrase combining as Articles (parts of speech). See A and and a misplaced verb, like “as are” or AN; THE. “as did.” A news story described a program drafted by an African political AS. 1. Ambiguity. 2. Excessive use. 3. party. Lack of a pair. 4. With NOT. 5. With WELL. It refers to the party as the vanguard “of the Mozambique people” rather 1. Ambiguity than “the worker-peasant alliance” as The little word as can cause a great did the program approved at the pre- deal of confusion. It starts many an un- vious party congress. clear phrase, an example of which appears in the sentence below. By trying to The previous program “did” what? jam a bunch of different ideas into one “Did” does not hook up with any verb. sentence, the writer may have saved Perhaps the writer was trying to reuse some space but lost his readers. “refers,” but “did refers” would not be grammatical.” Here is ﬁrst-aid: “. . . as While Wan is not seriously ill and the program approved at the previous cut short a U.S. trip for political and party congress referred to it.” That not medical reasons, as was stated last would still leave a double use of “as” week, he too is said to be receiving and a complex sentence. Again we turn medical treatment, for a heart condi- to the two-sentence solution. The quoted tion. sentence could end with “people.” A second sentence could read as follows: We are forced into a guessing game. What “was stated”: (1) everything be- The program approved at the previ- fore “as,” (2) that Wan “cut short a U.S. ous party congress called Frelimo [the trip for political and not medical rea- party’s short name] “the worker- sons,” or (3) “medical reasons”? (The peasant alliance.” third choice seems the most plausible, but “medical reasons” and “was stated” It can be uncertain whether as is indo not go together.) And who “stated” tended to mean because or at the same it: (1) someone in a foreign government, time that: “As the rain began falling, I (2) the writer, or (3) somebody else? went inside.” Rephrasing is needed, e.g., 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 25

as 25

“The rain began falling, so I went in- “than” with as and moves those being side” (cause); or “I went inside just as compared closer together. the rain began falling” (time). Several words must sometimes sepa- (As is used as a conjunction in the ex- rate the first as and the second. This is amples above. It is also classified as an from another TV program: adverb, pronoun, and preposition.) Costs of health plans are climbing 2. Excessive use nearly twice as much at midsized A mere two letters long, as is a companies than at larger companies. workhorse in the press. In journalese it is a favorite conjunction for stringing to- Change “than” to as. (The sentence gether ideas, related or unrelated. News- needs more fixing. Just what it means to paper writers do not restrict themselves climb twice as “much” is unclear. Fast or to just one as per sentence: high, depending on the facts, would be clearer.) See also THAN, 2A. The assessment was borne out by Another problem is the faulty youthful protesters today as they sur- “as . . . or . . . than” construction. It is il- veyed wrecked banks as plumes of lustrated by a business executive’s re- cobalt-blue tear-gas smoke rose in the mark that the decisions made by narrow streets. workers can be “as good or better than” the decisions made by management. The Why does everything need to be packed necessary second as is missing: “as good into one sentence? Try chopping the sen- as or better than. . . .” It may be clearer tence in two. to put the or phrase at the end of the sentence: “as good as the decisions made by The assessment was borne out by management, or better.” Another possi- youthful protesters today. They sur- ble correction: “at least as good as. . . .” veyed wrecked banks as. . . . Similarly, a history book says:

The message becomes less unwieldy. (Let The new law would permit the com- us pretend that we know what “The as- pany to send its tea directly to Amer- sessment” is.) ica from India, and sell it at a tax of but three cents a pound, making this 3. Lack of a pair American potable as cheap, or One as is usually not enough when a cheaper, than smuggled tea. sentence likens two things in a simile or contrasts them in a comparison. Idiom The sentence can be ﬁxed in either of calls for an as . . . as pair: “as happy as a two ways: (1) “as cheap as smuggled tea lark” or “twice as high as last year’s or cheaper”; (2) “as cheap as or cheaper price.” than smuggled tea.” (All of the commas A television newscaster told what re- except the second one are unnecessary. searchers knew about left-handedness: Commas are acceptable in this way: “as cheap as, or cheaper than, smuggled They do know that men are three tea.”) times as likely to be left-handers than The examples above each lacked the women. second as of the as . . . as pair. In the example below, the ﬁrst as is missing. “As . . . than” is wrong. A correction: “. . . men are three times as likely as It may be hard to imagine women to be left-handers.” It replaces Walken—often as not a slick villain in 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 26

26 as

his movie roles—tromping around in believed) but its northern variant inn- farmer’s boots and overalls. till. . . .

Change the phrase in dashes to “as often Literally the parenthetical clause says the as not. . . .” The sentence appeared in a editors believed the negative, although newspaper’s television review. Was the the context suggests the reverse. A omission of a two-letter word meant to clearer wording would be “the save space? Plenty of it remained at the editors . . . believed that he had done end of the paragraph. so.” Sometimes the as . . . as pattern is (What follows “but” does not make copied when it is not needed: “As hot as grammatical sense. Either add a verb, it was, I shivered.” The opening “As” is e.g., “but had used its northern variant,” unnecessary (and archaic). There is no or place “not” after “used.” See BUT, 6.) simile or comparison here. The second This was stated in a news broadcast as means though. on a radio network: “As best as” is not a legitimate form. See AS BEST. The VA considers alcoholism willful A personal pronoun following misconduct, not a disease, as most of as . . . as can be subjective or objective: the medical profession does. “He is as big as I” (that is, as big as I am). But “They pay Sam as much as me” “Does” ties in with nothing; but since (that is, as much as they pay me). See the only other verb in the sentence is also Pronouns, 10E. “considers,” the second clause seems A sentence may need only a single as if to say that most of the medical profes- one of the two things being compared sion also considers alcoholism willful came up in a previous sentence. “It sells misconduct. An opposite message may for $1,500. The competing product is have been intended, although there was twice as expensive” or “just as expen- no explanation. Whatever the message sive.” Just as appears to be the model for was should have been in a separate sen- redundancies in the press like “equally tence. as speedy.” Equally speedy would be correct. 5. With WELL The phrase as well as has primarily 4. With NOT meant and not only. Though forced to In a negative comparison, switching bear the extra sense of and in addition, it to so . . . as is an option. You can say ei- has not fully adapted itself to that role. ther “Charles is not as tall as his sister” Classiﬁed as a conjunction, it is consider- or “Charles is not so tall as his sister.” A ably weaker than the conjunction and. few grammarians prefer the latter form. This is an example of its distinctive A construction that can be confusing use: “Gertrude, as well as I, is going to goes as follows: “The line-item veto is the meeting” (not “are” going or “am” not an economy device, as a number of going). The number of the verb remains reformers think.” Do they think it is or it singular, and the person of the verb con- is not? Literally the sentence is express- forms to the main subject. As well as im- ing the negative, but that may not be the plies the addition of a new fact (that intended meaning. Similarly, a lexicogra- Gertrude is going) to a fact already pher writes: known (that I am going). A dictionary’s sole example is “skill- ...Orm had not used unntill (as the ful as well as strong,” which illustrates editors of the work and of the OED the newer use, that of simple addition. 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 27

as and like 27

The phrase becomes merely a drawn- Like is not acceptable in these sen- out replacement for and. Sometimes tences, from radio and daily press: one cannot tell which meaning was intended. Tonight it will cool off, like it al- When as well as is put between two ways does. verbs, the verb form is the same. In this sentence, from a biography, one word Like they did last week before the could well be changed: Assembly Judiciary Committee, judges were expected yesterday to ask In the three days they covered at least for a delay in legislative action. ﬁfty miles as well as climbing two mountains of around 3000 feet. . . . He looked like he had put on some of the weight he had lost. To match covered, change “climbing” to climbed. Besides would go with climb- In the ﬁrst and second of the three sam- ing. ples, change “like” to as. In the third, The grammarian H. W. Fowler took it change “like” to as if or as though. on himself to “come to the rescue of the The “like”—after “likes”—looks phrase as well as [a conjunction] . . . be- even worse in the sample below, from a ing cruelly treated” like the preposition book. Change “like” to as. besides. Among examples: “His death leaves a gap as well as creating a by- At other times, he likes to produce election in Ross”—make “creating” cre- spectacular effects, like when he puts ates, or replace “as well as” with an imposing beret made of crumpled besides. “You were there as well as paper onto his picture of The Student me”—make “me” I. with a Pipe. . . . Both should not go with as well as. See BOTH, 2. Sometimes when like is needed, As well, without the second as, can people who have become afraid of it mean in addition (“He wins the money substitute “as.” Comprehension can and a car as well”) or with similar effect suffer: “Harold, as his brother, appeared (“We might as well give up”). It should in a movie.” If the message is that not open a sentence, as it did on the ra- both were in movies, not that Harold dio: “As well we’ve got another [road] portrayed his brother, change “as” to closure.” Although unnecessary, “as like. well” would have been more idiomatic One may reasonably take issue with at the end of the sentence. the rule, on grounds of literary history. Shakespeare and other celebrated, long- AS and LIKE. 1. Confusion. 2. In- gone writers did not avoid like with comparability. verb. Nor do most people in colloquial speech. Some authorities defend such us- 1. Confusion age. But after generations of insistence Like is proper in this sentence: by grammarians, editors, and teachers, a “Sometimes I feel like a motherless writer or careful speaker today emulates child.” Or this one: “He looks like you.” Shakespeare et al. at the risk of having It conforms to the rule: Like (a preposi- his literacy questioned. tion) may be followed by a noun or pronoun that is not allied to a verb. As (a 2. Incomparability conjunction) introduces a clause, a Simply following the rule will not res- group of words with a subject and verb. cue an error in logic. When you liken 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 28

28 as best

one thing to another, they must be com- ASPIC. See JELL-O. parable. This sentence is defective: ASSAULT. See Crimes, 1. Like the days before interstate travel . . . Albuquerqueans are using ASSISTANT. The abbreviation of as- Albuquerque’s main street. sistant is asst. Do not omit the t and the period, as a television station did. In a re- The writer seems to be likening a time to port on a ﬁre, the station interviewed an what people are doing, but the two con- assistant ﬁre chief, identifying him with a cepts are incomparable. Change “Like” caption on the bottom of the screen that to As they were doing in. placed the title of “Ass Chief” before his See also LIKE, 2; UNLIKE, 2. name.

AS BEST. “As best as could be deter- ASSURE, ENSURE, and INSURE. mined, no dailies failed to print . . .” 1. The differences. 2. More about AS- (from a report on a flood, in a magazine SURE. for the newspaper industry). “As best as” should be removed from 1. The differences one’s vocabulary. No superlative, such as To assure is to make (someone) sure best, longest, happiest, or bravest, belongs of something, to give confidence, or to in the as . . . as form. A phrase like “as promise confidently. Usually the word is brave as a lion” expresses the degree of a directed at people, not things; and it im- quality, but a superlative per se expresses plies the use mainly of words, not deeds, that; the degree is the highest. No one to set one’s mind at rest. “We assured would say, “He was as bravest as a lion.” them of our support for this worthy The sample could well begin “As far cause.” as” (and, to be still more idiomatic, “it To insure is to make (something) sure could be determined” or “anyone could or certain, to guarantee, to make safe or determine . . .”). secure, to protect (against), or to agree to The error typically appears in this pay money in the event of loss. Usually form: “She painted as best as she could.” this word is directed at things, not It can be corrected in any of three ways: people; and it implies deeds, rather than (1) change “best” to well; (2) change “as mere words, to make something certain best as” to the best; “She painted the or secure. “We must observe our budget best she could”; (3) omit the second strictly to insure that we stay solvent.” “as”: “She painted as best she could.” Except in the sense of indemnify, The single as there means in the manner when insure is the only verb to use (“The that (she could paint best). company insures my property against See also AS, 3; BETTER and BEST fire” or, intransitively, “The company in- (etc.); Comparative and superlative de- sures against fire”), ensure has the same grees. meaning as insure and usually is pronounced the same (in-SURE). The “AS EVERYONE KNOWS” or spelling of ensure is less common. The “AS IS WELL KNOWN.” See OF British prefer ensure in every sense COURSE, 3. except the financial, but almost no American authorities insist on such AS FAR AS. See FAR. discrimination. The related nouns are assurance and AS MUCH AS. See Numbers, 2 insurance. Again, it is a matter of words (end). and deeds. “You have our assurance that 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 29

attributive adjective 29

the product is safe.” / “The scrupulous Before Watergate, they might have testing we do is the best insurance of our used at this time or at this point or, if in- product’s safety.” clined toward plainer talk, now or right Life assurance is a term traditionally now or no adverb at all. Just leaving out used by British insurance companies. Life “at this point in time” would give such insurance is the American term, notwith- messages more punch and not impair standing the Equitable Life Assurance So- them any. Obviously the time is the pre- ciety of the United States, whose archaic sent. name insures its distinction. A variation came from an ex- congressman: “I think at that point in 2. More about ASSURE time that I admitted I broke the House You assure a person or a group. (As- rules.” At that time or simply then sure is a transitive verb). You do not just would be a good replacement. (The sec- “assure” in general, contrary to the be- ond “that” would make more sense after lief of a reporter. This statement is both “think” but could be omitted.) unidiomatic and misleading: “The Presi- dent had assured the troops would not ATTORNEY and LAWYER. “The be sent into the city.” At ﬁrst it looks as parents’ lawyer, . . . a Corte Madera at- though he “assured the troops” of some- torney who specializes in suits against thing. The sentence should have read school districts said. . . .” The writer has something like this: “The President had reversed the two terms. The sentence assured the senator that the troops ought to read, “The parents’ attorney, would. . . .” (The journalistic avoidance . . . a Corte Madera lawyer who. . . .” of that contributed to the trouble. See Attorney often serves as a pompous THAT, 1, 2.) synonym for lawyer. In its narrower sense, however, attorney means a person AS TO. See IN TERMS OF, 1; TO, 1. who has been appointed or empowered to act for another in a legal or business AS WELL AS. See AS, 5. matter. One who acts as an attorney is usually—but not necessarily—a lawyer. ATE and EATEN. See Tense, 5A. A lawyer is a person whose profession is the practice of law. Smith, a lawyer, is ATOMIC. See NUCLEAR. Brown’s attorney. Brown, a layman, is Smith’s client. Each is an attorney or a ATTENDANCE. See IN ATTEN- client in relation to the other person. DANCE. Lawyer may be used in the more speciﬁc “AT THIS POINT IN TIME.” sense too: Smith is Brown’s lawyer. A lawyer in a trial is often spoken of The televised hearings in the Watergate as counsel. “In all criminal prosecutions, scandal of the seventies popularized a the accused shall enjoy the right . . . to wordy and roundabout adverbial have the assistance of counsel for his de- phrase. More than twenty years later, a fense” (Sixth Amendment, U.S. Consti- spokesman for major league baseball tution). Counsel can be singular or said, upon announcing a concession to plural. The judge in a trial often ad- end a strike, “We are happy to have this dresses a lawyer as counselor. done at this point in time.” And a motor See also Titles, 3. vehicles dealer said, in commenting on the settlement of a trade dispute with Japan, “At this point in time we’ve all Attributive adjective. See Adjectives got a lot more cars than we need.” and adverbs, 2. 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 30

30 auxiliary verbs (helping verbs)

Auxiliary verbs (helping verbs). See are from daily newspapers; the fourth is Adjectives and adverbs, 2; Inﬁnitive, 4 from an annual book for writers.) (end); Verbs, 1, 4. It was awhile before Mr. Pietsch, who AVENGE and REVENGE. See Con- is from Ohio, the son of a minister, en- fusing pairs. tirely recovered his sense of humor.

AVERAGE. See Collective nouns, 2; “After awhile it becomes easy to LIFE EXPECTANCY (etc.); MEAN know things. . . .” (noun); Numbers, 10E; PER CAPITA. Once in Awhile, First Time Can Be a AVERSE and ADVERSE. See Con- Charm fusing pairs. For most writers it takes awhile to get AVOID and EVADE. See Confusing the knack. pairs. Change each “awhile” to a while. For AWAKE, AWAKEN. See WAKE, example, let us correct the first sentence: AWAKE (etc.). “It was a while before Mr. Pietsch entirely recovered his sense of humor.” AWARD. Organizations and govern- (What does his Ohio origin or his kin- ments award people honors and money. ship to a minister have to do with his That is, they give them things as a result sense of humor? See Modifiers, 2.) of judgment. An award (noun) is that Never write “for awhile.” For is part which one is awarded (verb). of the meaning of awhile. Each of the A transit district’s newsletter reported following three samples contains that that a committee had “awarded four bus error. Awhile can stay in each, but not operators . . . with plaques recognizing preceded by “for.” (They are by a colum- their excellent aid to seniors and dis- nist, a news service, and a history book abled passengers.” Omit “with.” The respectively.) committee awarded the operators plaques. One could say instead that it Koppel let it slide for awhile, but fi- presented the operators with plaques or nally he whacked Bush with it. that it honored them with plaques. It is simply a matter of idiom. “So she played the slot machines for awhile, then got a bite to eat.” AWAY and AWEIGH. See Homo- phones. In Virginia the assembly actually gained the upper hand for awhile. A WHILE and AWHILE. Some have the notion that whenever they find Omit each “for”: e.g., “let it slide the words a and while next to each other, awhile.” As an alternative, keep the they must stick them together as one “for” but sever a and while: “let it slide word, regardless of meaning. Not so. for a while.” In the sample below (by an- Awhile means for a period of time. It other columnist) “awhile” cannot stay; is an adverb, not what the four samples make it “For a while. . . .” below need. Each should have been given the indefinite article a with the noun For awhile, victory would seem while, meaning a period of time. (Three within his grasp. 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 31

a while and awhile 31

A while is not often used adverbially, Every agent who’s been in business a in the manner of the ﬁnal sample (from while has been contacted by writers another book for writers). Using it that unhappy with their present agents. way is acceptable to some authorities but not to others. Either awhile or for a while would be unquestionably correct. 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 32

BACHELOR and SPINSTER. A monly called single, although the Bureau movie review said, “William Hurt plays of the Census has long defined single as Graham Holt, a male spinster who “never married.” shocks neighbors when he decides to adopt a 10-year-old.” BACK(-) prefix and pairs. A news “Male spinster” is as contradictory as article described a drug trial in Florida “female bachelor.” A spinster is a female and added, “Locally it took a backseat by definition: She is a woman beyond to news of the crack cocaine epidemic in the usual age for marrying who has not Jacksonville. . . .” When used as a noun, been married. (In some contexts, like the term back seat consists of two British law, age is not relevant. Neither words: “Locally it took a back seat...” is sex on rare occasions: in a primordial or “The passenger sat in the back seat.” use of spinster as a professional spinner The two words are hyphenated when of fiber.) used as an adjective, usually in back-seat The actor described in the movie re- driver. (The article’s joining of the view plays a bachelor. Numerous dictio- phrase contradicted the newspaper’s naries define bachelor as “an unmarried own style rule.) man.” That definition is incomplete. The same goes for back room: two The word often implies that the man (1) words as a noun (“Come into the back is of the usual age for marrying, or be- room”), hyphenation as an adjective (“It yond, and (2) has never been married. was a back-room deal”). It has to do At least two dictionaries recognize bach- with pronunciation. Unifying the words elorette and the synonymous bachelor would indicate that the first syllable girl. Of course a college graduate of ei- should be stressed. Actually, each sylla- ther sex may be a bachelor of arts, sci- ble gets about equal stress in back seat, ence, or some special field. But only a and the same is true for back room. It is male can be a plain bachelor. also true for the two-word nouns back One who is unmarried as a result of road and back yard. The latter is often divorce is a divorcée (woman) or divorcé spelled “backyard,” although the noun (man), pronounced dih-vaur-SAY either front yard is always two words. The way. A divorced person, without regard Associated Press understandably calls to sex, is a divorcee, pronounced dih- for back yard as a noun, backyard as an vaur-SEE. One who has been bereaved adjective. In a phrase like backyard of a spouse and who has not remarried barbecue, the stress shifts to the first syl- is either a widow (woman) or a widower lable. (man). Any unmarried status is com- As nouns, back door and back stairs

32 bachelor and spinster 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 33

backward writing 33

give the syllables about equal stress. As Trying for a comeback is Maurice adjectives, when each initial syllable is Ferre, a polished Puerto Rican busi- stressed, they become single words: nessman who was Mayor for six con- backdoor, backstairs. Both adjectives secutive terms. . . . can mean secret or underhanded, in addition to their literal meanings. The lat- Fishing for trout with Baker during ter has an alternate form: backstair. the week of the July 18 Democratic These twenty nouns are all single conclave in Atlanta will be veteran words, stressing the first syllable: back- California political consultant Stu ache, backboard, backbone, backcourt, Spencer . . . and Rep. Richard Cheney backdrop, backfield, backfire, back- of Wyoming. ground, backhand, backlash, backlog, backpack, backrest, backside, back- The normal sequence of a declarative space, backspin, backstop, backstroke, sentence is (1) subject, or noun, and (2) backwash, backwater. predicate, or verb. All of the samples Backstretch and backwoods, which above reverse the normal sequence. stress the syllables about equally, are Inversions, as they are called, are nec- anomalies. essary in questions (“Where am I?”). Generally either backward or back- They suit the Bible (“Blessed are the wards may be used as an adverb (“The meek”), poetry (“While follow eyes the car went backward[s]”), though some steady keel”), and old-style prose (“To press organizations avoid the latter. Only the victors belong the spoils”). They are backward serves as an adjective (“a found in exclamations (“How forceful backward glance”). are honest words!”), commands (“Get thee to a nunnery”), and hypothetical BACK (time). See FORWARD and clauses (“Had I only known”). An inver- BACK (time). sion can provide a transition between thoughts (“Next comes the matter of fi- Backward writing. 1. Looking-glass nances”), emphasize a negative idea syndrome. 2. Some causes and cures. 3. (“Never . . . was so much owed by “Upcoming”: Germanisms. so many to so few”), and set a scene (“In a village of La Mancha . . . there 1. Looking-glass syndrome lived . . .”). Backward run often sentences. Turvy Reasonable inversions of other types topsy turned are idioms. Reversed are appear now and then, formed with style, phrases. Journalese is it. in idiomatic English. The idiom sampled The compulsion to write backward is earlier is quintessential journalese. Not not known to reach such an extreme, ex- only does the sentence structure appear cept in Lewis Carroll’s Through the awkward and depart from the standard Looking Glass, but newspapers from manner of speech, but also it may shift coast to coast are replete with sentences the emphasis away from that which is like these: most important. In the fourth example, is “Fishing for trout” more significant Suspected are cadmium, nickel, cop- than the meeting of three politicos? per, mercury and hydrocarbons. Often the first part of a sentence is a normal quotation, direct or indirect, but Affected were eggs, vegetables, sugar the attribution that follows is inverted: and pork—the staple meat in the Chi- “. . . charges a supervisor” / “. . . pointed nese diet. out Eve” / “. . . explains Bunny.” The 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 34

34 bacteria and bacterium

people are not being charged, pointed “Comments Marion Solomon, a West- out, or explained; they are performing wood therapist and author of. . . .” The the actions. Simple, unambiguous title and subtitle of her book and the phrases like “said Tom” or “replied Mrs. name of its publisher intervene before Green” are tolerable when not overused. we get to read her comment. The reporter could have written something like 2. Some causes and cures “Marion Solomon, therapist and author, The persistence and ubiquity of in- comments: . . .” and postponed the de- verted writing may have several causes: tails. perhaps widespread imitation of a Time magazine idiosyncrasy, perhaps a belief 3. “Upcoming”: Germanisms that distorting sentences helps to make Sometimes a simple phrase containing writing readable. Another explanation is a verb and an adverb is twisted around, that journalists often see the distorting as joined together, and used in a manner the solution to a problem: that is more Germanic than English. Ex- In a typical case, a reporter has the amples are “ongoing” and “upcoming” names and individual details of people used as verbs in place of going on and caught in a police raid. His problem is to coming up. See ONGOING; OUTPUT; put them in a coherent sentence. Rather PLAY DOWN and DOWNPLAY; UP- than start with a tedious list and end COMING. with the words “were booked,” he be- See also “PROOF POSITIVE”—not gins with “Booked were” and then gives Germanic but an expression that re- the list. But he could start with a phrase verses the normal positions of adjective like Those booked were and not have to and noun. contort the sentence at all. Our first two examples can be re- BACTERIA and BACTERIUM. paired easily by preceding “Suspected Bacteria is a plural word, denoting two are” and “Affected were” with short or more of the microscopic, single-celled phrases: “The chemicals suspected [of organisms that cause disease, putrefac- toxicity] are cadmium, nickel, copper, tion, and fermentation. In speaking of mercury and hydrocarbons” and “The just one specimen of those organisms, foods affected [by price rises] were eggs, that is, one cell, use bacterium, the singu- vegetables, sugar and pork. . . .” lar. It is New Latin, from the Greek bak- An effort to crowd too much into one terion, small stick. sentence is often a factor. Our third quo- The excerpts are from a television fea- tation in section 1 is brief but abridged; ture, an article by a news agency, and a the sentence in the newspaper was fifty statement by a biologist, respectively. words long. Instead of putting forty-five words ahead of “is trying for a come- One resistant bacteria can become back,” the reporter wrote: “Trying for a sixteen million in twenty-four hours. comeback is Maurice Ferre, a polished Puerto Rican businessman who. . . .” A It should start: “One resistant bac- better course would be to turn that in- terium.” verted structure right-side up and add a sentence: “Former Mayor Maurice ...Any method that sets the white Ferre is trying for a comeback. He is a and causes the yolk to begin to con- polished Puerto Rican businessman geal will kill the bacteria unless it’s who. . . .” present in high numbers. In an article about attitudes toward divorce, a paragraph begins this way: “It’s” should be they’re or they are. 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 35

bathroom 35

For this bacteria . . . there’s practically trademark, it should not be written in no effect on any of them. lower case, the way it appears in a book of English instruction for newcomers. In “For these bacteria . . .” sample dialogue, a pharmacist asks a We may also speak of a single strain customer, “Do you need any band- (or form or colony) of bacteria: “A new aids?” Capital B, capital A. Competitors strain of bacteria has caused the out- call their products adhesive bandages. break of inﬂuenza.” BASE and BASS. See Homophones. BAD and BADLY. A local reporter and a Senate leader made essentially the BATHROOM. Calling a room with same mistake on television. The ﬁrst was no facility for baths a “bathroom” is not following up a crime; the second was de- a serious shortcoming. It is common in scribing reaction to a change in the pres- conversational speech, less so in the ident’s budget policy: press:

Merchants and residents feel badly The mother of two young sons, she about what happened. usually finds herself having to take them into the women’s public bath- Some Democrats who want to play room while shopping. politics and not address the issues feel badly. The east wing will be radically al- Change “badly” to bad. One who is ill tered and will contain two movie the- or unhappy feels bad, not “badly.” And aters, . . . bathrooms and a coat check people, or things, may look bad, not room, among other conveniences. “badly.” Feel or look (a linking verb) links the person or persons (the subject) But bathroom is more specifically ap- to bad (adjective) and is not modified by plied to the type of room that contains a it. Similarly, one feels sad, not “sadly.” bathtub or shower or both, a sink, and a Theoretically someone could feel toilet. badly if he lost his sense of touch. Then The public place that everyone seeks feel (verb) would be modified by badly at some time is often called a rest room (adverb). This is more likely: “My foot (although few go there to rest) or a men’s hurts badly.” Badly, this time meaning or ladies’ room (less often a gentlemen’s intensely, modifies hurts (verb). To say or women’s room). The ladies’ room is “My foot hurts bad” would be as un- also a powder room. grammatical as saying “I feel badly.” Ei- Even though frankness, if not vulgar- ther remark would be enough to make a ity, generally abounds these days in the grammarian or English teacher feel bad. media of mass communication, Ameri- See also FEEL. cans remain squeamish in referring to that type of room. Our standard terms BAIL and BALE. See Homophones. are all euphemistic. In American culture, unlike the con- BAN. See FORBID, PROHIBIT, and vention in some other cultures, it is not BAN. considered refined to call the public room a “toilet.” But it is proper to use BAND-AID. Band-Aid is a brand of toilet in speaking of the plumbing device adhesive bandage with gauze in the cen- as such. Toilet itself used to be a eu- ter, used for small wounds. Being a phemism. It once meant dressing table. 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 36

36 bazaar and bizarre

Some use lavatory, literally a washing and that his support is so small be- place. Latrine is a communal toilet place cause of his involvement in the Lin- in a military type of setting. Each word coln Savings and Loan scandal. traces to the Latin lavare, to wash (latrine via lavatrina, bath). The word causes particular confusion af- What soldiers call a latrine, sailors call ter a negative clause. a head. If the enclosure is a small, out- door shack with no plumbing, it is an The witness said that the case was outhouse or privy. The john and the can not brought before the committee be- are slang. cause of the incident the night before. In Britain you can ask for the w.c., the initials of water closet. An informal syn- Did the witness testify that as a result of onym there is the loo. “the incident” the case was not brought before the committee? Or did he deny BAZAAR and BIZARRE. See Ho- that “the incident” caused the case to be mophones. brought before the committee? We do not know. BE, AM, IS, ARE, WAS, WERE. Another quotation illustrates the haz- See Active voice and passive voice; ardous use of because after a negative “AIN’T”; “AREN’T I?”; Collective and, secondarily, the ungainly use of be- nouns; DUE TO; Pronouns, 10D; Sub- cause twice in one sentence. In a trade junctive; Verbs, 1, 3; WAS and WERE; journal for the newspaper industry, an WHO, 3. article tells of a British newspaper that increased its circulation by cutting its BECAUSE. 1. Ambiguity. 2. Incom- price. The writer comments: patible pairs. 3. Who is talking? This cheers me up because it sug- 1. Ambiguity gests that circulation is not declining Because needs to be handled with care because readers are morons who in a sentence containing more than one don’t care. idea. Take this sentence, from a newspaper: By itself, the sentence is ambiguous. One could rationally interpret it in either of Only 20 percent of Californians these ways: would vote to re-elect Senator Alan Cranston because of his involvement 1. The information suggests that circula- in the Lincoln Savings and Loan scan- tion is not declining, the reason being dal, a new California Poll shows. that readers are morons, who don’t care how bad their newspaper is. It could be interpreted as saying that Thus I am cheered. only 20 percent of Californians would 2. The information suggests this: The vote for the senator “because of his in- reason that circulation is declining is volvement . . .” and that others would not that readers are morons, who fail do so for other reasons. The context sug- to appreciate how good their newspa- gests that the sentence would be better per is. I am cheered to know that it is recast in this way, separating two ideas: another reason.

A new California Poll shows that The context points to the second inter- only 20 percent of Californians would pretation. (The message is that the indus- vote to re-elect Senator Alan Cranston try has no control over the intellect of its 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 37

begin, began, and begun 37

readers, but it can control price, quality, The conjunction because means for and marketing.) Either way, the readers the reason that, not “on the supposed do not come out very well. grounds that.” Unless it is qualified— e.g., “because, in the words of one 2. Incompatible pairs American official, who refused to be Because is teamed up at times with the identified”—the writer or speaker is li- wrong partners. “The reason is because” able to be stuck with what follows. is a redundant partnership. See REA- SON, 1. “Why . . . because” is another. BED as verb. See CHAIR, 2. “Why the alarm sounded was because a fire broke out on the ninth floor.” Omit BEFRIEND. From its looks, one “why” and “was” (“The alarm sounded might assume that the verb befriend because a fire . . .”) or change “because” means to be friendly with somebody. A to that (“Why the alarm sounded was book on advertising advises any reader that a fire . . .”). Otherwise it is like say- who is confused about scheduling radio ing “The reason that . . . was for the rea- spots: “Call the media rep you be- son that.” See also REASON, 2. friended in Chapter Three.” That chap- Because normally is a conjunction. It ter discusses dealings with radio should not be used as though it were a salesmen. noun, e.g., “Because he’s the boss gives To befriend is not merely to be him the right to boss us around.” These friendly with someone or even to be are incompatible: “because . . . gives.” someone’s friend. It is to act as some- Change (1) “Because he’s” to Being, or one’s friend in time of need. A family (2) “gives him” to he has, following a that takes in a war refugee is befriending comma, or (3) “Because” to That. the person.

3. Who is talking? BEGET. It is a poetic verb (transitive), The lead paragraph of a newspaper literally meaning to be the father of. It article will follow. Not avowedly an edi- can be used figuratively, meaning to torial, it is identified as “NEWS ANALY- cause something to exist, e.g., “Hunger SIS.” begets crime.” But do not forget the literal meaning, as a politician did when ZAGREB, Crotia [sic]—In twice she wrote in an op-ed essay, “Teenage bombing Serbian positions around the pregnancies beget teenage pregnancies. Muslim enclave of Gorazde, the Welfare mothers beget welfare moth- United States and its Western allies ers.” have wagered that force will bring the The normal past tense of beget is be- Serbs back to the negotiating table be- got. An archaic past tense, found in the cause force is the one thing Serbian Bible, is begat. A headline over a letter to soldiers in Bosnia understand. the editor erroneously said, “Violence begats more violence.” Begets—there is It is not necessary to delve into the sub- no “begats.” stance of the final clause, introduced by See also SIRE. “because.” Some readers will recognize it, recycled from past wars, hot and cold. BEGIN, BEGAN, and BEGUN. The point is that the writer, whatever his The past tense of the verb begin, to start, intention, is expressing that opinion. It is is began: “It began to rain.” The past attributed to no one, although later in the participle is begun: “Construction has article he refers vaguely to “One Ameri- begun.” can official” (the one who fed it to him?). A reputable newspaper used one for 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 38

38 belly

the other: “The ‘night float’ began in Was he really so deep in thought or just most New York State hospitals as a gru- amused by the thought? eling rite of passage ended.” Begun In a similar book, another author re- would be right. (Commas or dashes calls a visit to an oil company’s camp in should precede it and follow “passage” the Sahara during a choking dust storm. to set off the explanatory matter. By the way, “night float” was a thirty-six-hour The Europeans working there asked shift for new doctors.) whether we would like showers and then some lunch. Such questions were BELLY. See STOMACH. almost bemusing after weeks in the desert. BEMUSE, BEMUSED. Some writers confuse “bemuse” with amuse. The Later he describes the privation after meanings of the two words are not at all weeks of desert travel and adds: similar now, although they once were. The -muse part of each can be traced to Then there is a town; and the abun- the Medieval Latin word for snout, dance of everything is almost bemus- musum. ing. Bemuse (verb, transitive) means (1) to daze or muddle someone, or (2) to cause “Bemusing” fits neither context. Amus- one to muse or be deep in thought. It ing fits each. may take the form of bemused (past In the excerpt below, from a financial tense and past participle) and bemusing newspaper, the meaning is not clear. (present participle). Examples: “He blamed the alcohol for bemusing his “You can’t find anyone to bribe head.” / “Bemused by his equations, the here,” says a bemused American de- professor paid no heed to the bell.” veloper, Joseph T——, who is negoti- Amuse (verb, transitive) now means ating to build a hotel on the Red Sea to entertain or appeal to one’s sense of and apartment blocks in Asmara. humor. At one time it meant to beguile or bemuse. The context gives no reason why the de- An autobiography describes a gen- veloper should be stupefied or en- eral’s reaction to a barroom brawl. grossed. Was he amused, confused, surprised—or what? Gunfighter must have noticed that several of his officers sported shiners, BESIDE and BESIDES. See Confus- bruises, and puffed lips. He said nothing pairs. ing. But I detected on his seamed face a bemused smile. BESIDES and AS WELL AS. See AS, 5. Could it have been “an amused smile”? Another book of recollections tells of BEST. See AS BEST; BETTER and a motor trip in Africa. To get fuel to BEST (etc.). cross the Sahara, the author willingly de- toured for several days. BETTER and BEST, WORSE and WORST. The rule is simple, though I thought, bemused, of the times in often disregarded in conversations and my pre-Africa life I had fumed and by ring announcers who say “May the ranted over late planes and traffic best man win”: When the merits of two jams. things are compared, one thing is better 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 39

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and one is worse (unless they are equal among Canada, Mexico, and the United in merit). Only when there are three or States,” all three are meeting together. more items for comparison can one be Similarly, one may have many pieces the best and another the worst. Thus of cheese to sandwich between many these sentences, uttered by a political slices of bread. The bread slices are con- candidate and by a senator (who used to sidered as pairs. The same sandwich be a journalist) are wrong: principle permits “He paused between sentences” and “Commercials are Which of the two candidates for your broadcast between innings.” (But see 2, nomination is best qualified to be below.) president of the United States? Between can refer to the combined possession of two people or other enti- The policies of the president are the ties. “John and I had fifty dollars be- best of the two [sets of policies]. tween us.” Use among when speaking of three or more. A TV newscaster was Correction: “is better qualified” / “are talking about three baseball-playing the better of the two.” brothers: “Between them the Alou See also AS BEST; Comparative and brothers played forty-seven major-league superlative degrees. seasons.” Change “between” to among.

BETWEEN. 1. AMONG and BE- 2. “BETWEEN EACH” or “EVERY” TWEEN. 2. “BETWEEN EACH” or Although it is fairly common in collo- “EVERY.” 3. “BETWEEN . . . OR” or quial use to pair between with “each” or “TO.” 4. “BETWEEN YOU AND I.” “every,” it is absurd from a logical standpoint. That such a combination ap- 1. AMONG and BETWEEN pears occasionally in serious literature In school many of us were taught to does not make it any more sensible. Ex- distinguish between the prepositions be- amples: “He paused between each sen- tween and among: The former applies tence” and “Commercials are broadcast only to two things, the latter to more between every inning.” than two. That is so in a good many Something cannot be “between” one cases. “It was a conversation between thing. Between generally applies to two, Tom and Dick.” / “The two talked only sometimes to more than two. Each and between themselves.” But “It was a con- every are singular words, meaning one versation among Tom, Dick, and of a group considered individually. In the Harry.” Each converser addressed the examples, change each “between” to af- other two. The Constitution authorizes ter; or follow “each sentence” or “every Congress “To regulate commerce . . . inning” with and the next; or use plural among the several States. . . .” forms (see 1, above). The rule is too sweeping, however. There are exceptions, and our educators 3. “BETWEEN . . . OR” or “TO” may have considered them too subtle for When between is followed by two us. Between applies to three or more speciﬁed things, only and can connect things when the relation is essentially be- them. Sometimes between is combined tween pairs. For instance: “Conferences with “or,” pitting a dual word and a sin- are going on between Canada, Mexico, gular word: “It’s a choice between right and the United States to consider future or wrong.” Right and wrong, or else a migration.” That means three separate choice of. The words choose, decide, and two-party conferences are taking place. decision also lead people astray. But when “A conference is going on From goes with to, just as between 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 40

40 bevy

goes with and. Sometimes those idioms and adverbs. Some are general words: are carelessly confused. “Between 10 to bicycle, a pedal vehicle with two wheels; 15 percent of the population is believed bifurcate, to separate into two parts or to be affected by the disease.” Either branches; bilingual, pertaining to two change “Between” to From or change languages. Some are technical: bicuspid, “to” to and. A variation of that error is having two points, and a tooth of that to use “between” with an en dash: “He sort; bifocal, having two different focal ruled between 664–600 B.C.” Make it lengths, and a lens ground that way; bi- “from 664 to 600 B.C.” Merely changing valve, having two hinged shells, and a the dash to and would correct the gram- mollusk of that sort. mar but leave the meaning uncertain. The chief problems with bi- lie in des- (See also Punctuation, 4C.) ignations of frequency. Bimonthly (adjective and adverb) means appearing or 4. “BETWEEN YOU AND I” taking place every two months. A bi- In speaking confidentially, no one is monthly is a periodical published every likely to say “between I and you.” The two months. Biweekly means appearing common version, with the pronouns or taking place every two weeks. A bi- switched around, is essentially the same weekly is a fortnightly, a periodical pub- mistake, a form of overrefinement. As lished every two weeks. the object of a preposition, any personal Semimonthly is twice a month; semi- pronoun following between must be in weekly, twice a week. At times “bi-” the objective case: between you and me; words have been used instead. between him and her; between us and “Loosely,” said The Random House them. (You can be either subjective or Dictionary, first edition. “Nonstandard” objective.) See also Prepositions, 1; Pro- was the label in The American Heritage nouns, 10. Dictionary, first edition. Later editions of those dictionaries and Webster’s Third BEVY. A bevy of quail is a hunter’s contain no such labels. By including term for a flock of those birds. This noun among their definitions of bimonthly and is also applied to larks, roe deer, and biweekly “twice a month” and “twice a some other groups. It may once have week” without qualification, they foster meant a drinking group, after the Old confusion. “The ambiguous usage is con- French noun bevee, an act of drinking. fusing,” The Oxford English Dictionary Writers habitually mate bevy with the says. It offers semi-monthly, semi-weekly, phrase “of beauties” in picture captions etc. (preferring hyphenated forms). and television continuities pertaining to Biennial (adjective) means taking displays of young females. In two install- place every two years or lasting two ments of an entertainment news series, years. Biennially (adverb) is every two co-hosts (female and male) referred to years. A biennium (noun) is a two-year “this year’s bevy of beauties” at the Miss period. Twice a year is semiannual(ly) or Universe pageant and said “James semiyearly. (The Oxford gives half- Bond’s back with a bevy of beauties.” yearly.) Two other bi- words related to year BI- and SEMI- prefixes. The prefix cause confusion and could well be aban- bi- indicates two, double, or twice, de- doned: biannual, which is commonly depending on the word it begins. It comes fined as twice a year; and biyearly, which from the Latin bis, meaning twice, and is is sometimes defined as every two years used in that very form as a musical in- and sometimes as twice a year (depend- struction. ing on the dictionary). Bi- is part of nouns, verbs, adjectives, All this can be perplexing. To make 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 41

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sure of being understood, try doing Not a fragment of information would without the bi- words that pertain to fre- have been lost if he had saved a word quency, or at least explaining them. (and an unnecessary dash) and written: While it may seem verbally expensive to “. . . a key tactic . . . is paying off big.” speak of, say, “the meeting that is held Better yet: “. . . a key tactic . . . is paying every two years” instead of just “the bi- off.” ennial [or “biyearly”] meeting,” it The same expression, hyphenated, ap- avoids misunderstanding. Similarly, a bi- peared in a banner headline about the weekly or bimonthly does well to ex- success of a young Hollywood per- plain that it is published “every two former: “Actor’s success now flowing weeks” or “every two months.” big-time.” The use of the word “flow- Semi-, as in “the semiannual meeting” is understandable in view of the ac- ing,” should not cause any problem in tor’s then latest film, A River Runs the context of time. Latin for half, semi- Through It. One might expect the can mean half (semicircle, semiquaver) stream image to continue; for example, as well as twice during a given period. “Actor’s success now flowing in More often it means partly (semiauto- torrent.” To introduce instead that ex- matic, semiclassical). pression from the vaudeville stage is almost to mix metaphors. BIBLE. See Clichés; COVET; Exple- tives; Infinitive, 4; -MAN-, MAN; BIKE, BIKER. Bike is primarily a col- NONE, 1; NOR, 1; Subjunctive, 2; loquial shortening of bicycle, meaning SUCH, 2; WHO and WHOM, 2. (noun) the pedal-operated, two-wheeled vehicle or (verb, intransitive) to ride a bi- BIG TIME. Big time is a colloquial cycle. Biker is the corresponding term noun for the highest status in any busi- for bicyclist or bicycler, one who rides a ness, occupation, or competitive field: bicycle. “My athletic friend has made the big As a comparable term, motorcycle time.” The phrase came out of vaude- and motorbike riders have borrowed ville, where it denoted performances in bike for either of their motor-driven two- the big cities, which offered relatively wheelers and biker for one who rides it. high pay for few performances. A problem arises when someone uses A related adjective, big-time, means bike (noun or verb) or biker without successful or important or pertaining to making it clear which vehicle is meant. the big time: “That contractor is a big- A news broadcast told of a gathering time operator.” of “100,000 bikers,” repeatedly using In recent years it has become a faddish that word and never once explaining phrase, used in still another way: as an that they were motorcyclists. Bicyclists adverb. The lead paragraph of a newspa- may gather in groups too. See NOT TO per’s main story, about police powers, MENTION for a similar example. said: BILLIARDS and POOL. The scut- As fear of crime continues to grip tling of a “plan to locate a pool hall” in a the public mind, there’s new evidence mostly residential neighborhood was that a key tactic of the get-tough-on- summarized in the lead of a newspaper crime campaign is paying off—big story. The second paragraph said “the time. billiard parlor would have replaced a What does “time” contribute to the sen- neighborhood restaurant.” Loath to re- tence, except the superfluous message peat “pool hall,” the reporter chose “bil- that the writer knows the latest slang? liard parlor” as a synonym. 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 42

42 billion

Many owners of pool halls or pool- hundred trillion years is not likely to af- rooms, apparently aware of the seamy fect life on earth to any measurable ex- reputation of those places, prefer the tent. terms “billiards” and “billiard parlor,” The earliest use of billion quoted in even though they may own no billiard The Oxford English Dictionary was by tables, only pool tables. Both games use John Locke, 1690. The dictionary says hard balls, rods called cues, and oblong, that billion, trillion, and quadrillion green-felt-covered tables with raised, were purposely formed in the previous cushioned edges. But pool usually has century to denote the second, third, and six pockets and sixteen balls, whereas fourth powers of a million respectively. billiards—or three-cushion billiards, the French arithmeticians later redefined the favorite version—has no pockets and words so that billion represented a thou- three balls. What the industry calls sand million, trillion a thousand thou- pocket billiards, players call just pool. sand million, and so on. In the nineteenth century, the United States BILLION. Billion can be ambiguous, adopted the French system, and in 1948 especially in the United Kingdom. To France adopted the British system. In Americans, it is a thousand million, or later decades there has been a trend to- 1,000,000,000, or 109. It is the unit that ward use of the U.S. values in Britain, es- congressmen often toss around when pecially in technical writing. discussing the federal budget. But a See also NANO- prefix. British billion is traditionally a million million, or 1,000,000,000,000, or 1012— BIT. See MUCH. what Americans call a trillion. What is called a billion in the United States is a BIZARRE and BAZAAR. See Ho- milliard in the United Kingdom. mophones. In a book, a cosmologist, physicist, and professor of mathematics presents BLACKMAIL. See Crimes, 2. the theory of inflation in the early universe, “an increase by a factor of at least BLAME. 1. Blame ON and blame a billion billion billion. . . .” Later in the FOR. 2. BLAME or CREDIT? book he suggests the possibility of the universe’s “recollapsing in a hundred bil- 1. Blame ON and blame FOR lion years or so.” The book was pub- The moving of industrial plants to lished in the United States by an Mexico is “a factor Democrats blame on American publisher for American read- the nation’s unemployment,” in the ers, but the author is British and his dis- words of a local television newscaster. cussion of the future of the universe is He got it backward. Nobody says U.S. taken from a lecture at the University of unemployment causes plants to move to Cambridge, England. Unless the book Mexico. version was edited for American readers, You blame something for an ill. But they may not be receiving exactly the in- you blame an ill on something, or, as an tended message. alternative, place the blame for the ill on Under such confusing circumstances, something. (Something or someone, that it is well to specify which billion is is.) meant, for example “a hundred billion Thus, “The moving of plants to Mex- (U.K.) years . . .” or “1.7 billion (U.S.) ico is a factor Democrats blame for sales.” Fortunately the particular exam- the nation’s unemployment.” Or they ple of ambiguity is not critical; a confu- “blame the nation’s unemployment sion between a hundred billion and a in part on the moving of plants”; 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 43

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or they “place some blame for the na- seen anything like the current blitz- tion’s unemployment on the moving of krieg against cigarettes and people plants. . . . ” (Changing “the nation’s un- who smoke them. employment” to unemployment in the United States would clarify the identity She was grammatically correct but factu- of the nation.) ally incorrect. The story described sev- A few critics do not want the verb eral, separate antismoking actions that blame to be followed by on. They com- had taken place within several weeks: plain that a construction like “He enactment of laws by states and cities, blames the disease on an insect” mis- bans by restaurant chains, and federal places the blame. They would approve measures. The “blitzkrieg” later became of “blames the insect for . . .” or “puts a mere “assault” and still later just a [or “places”] the blame for the disease “movement” that “appears to have on. . . .” Only 18 percent of the usage gathered momentum in recent weeks.” panel of The American Heritage Dictio- Furthermore, “it has been several years nary objected to the blame . . . on con- in the making and is the result of a com- struction. It is doubtful that anyone plex set of pressures and events.” So it would misunderstand a sentence like could not veritably be described as a “Don’t blame it on me.” lightning war, however metaphorically.

2. BLAME or CREDIT? BLOC and BLOCK. A book dealing To blame is to place responsibility for with Britain’s acquisition of destroyers a fault or a mistake, not for something from the United States in 1940 quotes good or laudable. This was said on a the minutes of Churchill’s war cabinet in medical talk show: this way:

Asian women have the lowest rate of It might well prove to be the ﬁrst cancer in the world and we have step in constituting an Anglo-Saxon blamed it on their lower fat consump- block or indeed a decisive point in tion. history.

Change “blamed it on” to credited it to Did those minutes (which, presumably, or attributed it to. indirectly quoted Prime Minister See also CREDIT; THANK, THANKS. Churchill) actually read “Anglo-Saxon block”? Bloc was then and is now the BLITZKRIEG. Blitzkrieg is a Ger- normal spelling of the word in the sense man word adopted by English. It means of a group of nations, parties, legislators, lightning war, from blitz, meaning light- or individuals of different loyalties allied ning, and krieg, meaning war. It was in a common cause. In politics of conti- used by Hitler to describe a sudden, mas- nental Europe, a bloc is a group of polit- sive attack, designed to conquer a coun- ical parties that support the ruling try swiftly. It can also denote a sudden, government. swift, massive attack of a nonmilitary The k and no-k versions of the word nature. are used interchangeably in the phrase Seeking an exciting noun, a writer bloc vote or block vote. It has two mean- chose blitzkrieg for a story in a ings: (1) the vote of a substantial number metropolitan newspaper. Was she right? of people voting as a group; (2) a method of voting at a convention or con- But in his 18 years of defending the ference in which a delegate’s vote is industry, Walker Merryman has never weighted according to the number of 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 44

44 blond and blonde

members he represents. In dozens of [A doctor who saw someone driving other senses (as noun and verb), the while reading:] Does that blow your word is spelled only block. mind? It certainly blows my mind.

BLOND and BLONDE. Yellowish, Minds are not blown. The expression is golden, or flaxen hair is blond (adjective) overdue for retirement. when it is used in a general sense or per- Substitute a verb like amaze(s), as- tains to a male, blonde (adjective) when tound(s), or overwhelm(s) (you, me, etc.) it pertains to a female. A man or boy or, in the example below, an adjective with blond hair is a blond (noun); a like amazing, astounding, or over- woman or girl with blonde hair is a whelming. blonde (noun). Among four people advertising in the [An astronomer, on the process of hu- “Personals” one day for companions of mans’ acquiring extraterrestrial opposite sex, two men identified them- atoms:] I find the process completely selves as mind-blowing.

40, 6′1″, blonde hair, blue eyed, slen- der. . . . BOIL, BOILED. In dealing with eggs, food writers customarily avoid ...Tall, trim, attractive blonde, 32. hard-boiled or soft-boiled, believing that we boil just the water and “cook” the The other two were women who identi- eggs. If the rest of us have any qualms ﬁed themselves as about eggs, they are more likely to concern dietary usage than English usage. SWF, 26 / Slim, blue-eyed blond. . . . Hard-boiled egg is a common phrase, which gave rise to the colloquial adjec- Petite blond, big brown eyes, 40s. . . . tive hard-boiled, meaning tough and callous, applied to a person. Each of the four used the wrong gender. A leading cookbook gives instructions Apropos to the genders of hair words: for cooking “Soft-Cooked Eggs” and brown hair is brunet (adjective) in a gen- “Medium-Soft-Cooked Eggs” and eral sense or pertaining to a male, “Hard-Cooked Eggs.” But it does not brunette (adjective) pertaining to a fe- avoid boiled beef, boiled potatoes, and male. A male with brunet hair is a brunet New England boiled dinner. “Cooked” (noun); a female with brunette hair is a is less informative. The verb cook in- brunette (noun). cludes all methods of preparing food for As adjectives, blond and brunet are eating by the application of heat. often used for females. Water will boil (verb, intransitive) at 212 degrees Fahrenheit or 100 degrees “BLOW YOUR MIND.” This ex- centigrade; that is, it will reach an agi- pression is a relic of the hippie era. Re- tated, bubbling state in which it vapor- cent examples follow. izes. A person is said to boil when greatly excited. And to boil (verb, transi- [A promotion for a TV drama:] Their tive) a liquid is to heat it to the boiling dreams will blow your mind. point. One can also boil a solid: subject it to [A student suffering a disease:] It still the heat of a boiling liquid. That has kind of blows my mind. been a deﬁnition of the word since the 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 45

both 45

Middle Ages. In the fourteenth century, probably just baby Blythe before being Chaucer wrote in the prologue to The christened William Jefferson. An infant Canterbury Tales: “A Cook they at birth normally has only a surname. hadde . . . To boille the chiknes [chick- See also NEE. ens] with the marybones [marrow bones]. . . .” BOTH. 1. BOTH . . . AND. 2. BOTH Thinking of all those victuals, dare we with words of togetherness. 3. Other consider the unappetizing sense of boil principles. (noun) as a skin infection? 1. BOTH . . . AND BORE, BORNE, and BORN. Two Sentences that contain both with and erroneous substitutes for borne ap- are not always constructed as carefully, peared in two issues of a newspaper. neatly, and logically as they should be. For instance, the editor of a local weekly The 40-year-old Cambodian wrote: woman . . . has bore a child and lived for 10 years here in a thatched We recently added Elizabeth P—— hut. . . . to our pool of critics—both because we like her writing and her perspec- “Has bore” is wrong. Make it “has tive. borne.” Borne is a past participle of the verb bear. The past tense is bore. To use That is illogical and ungrammatical. bore in that sample sentence, relocate Following the “both” there is a clause: “has” in this way: “. . . bore a child and “because we like her writing.” One has lived for 10 years here in a thatched should expect to ﬁnd a comparable hut. . . .” clause after the “and,” for example: “because we agree with her perspective.” In- Asked whether the building had stead only the phrase “her perspective” ever born any nameplate, Mr. For- appears. manek replied, “No, the secret police The sentence could be corrected also have always been very modest.” by relocating the “both,” as follows: “because we like both her writing and In the second sample, “born” should be her perspective.” borne. Born also is a past participle of The main point is that when both is the verb bear but is used only in the combined with and (forming a pair of sense of given birth and only passively; correlative conjunctions), what follows e.g., “She was born abroad.” one must match grammatically what fol- A little-used noun that sounds the lows the other. If a clause follows the same is bourn, spelled also bourne. It is both, a similar clause must follow the (1) a brook or small stream; (2) a bound- and. A phrase must be paralleled by a ary, destination, or realm, used in po- similar phrase, a verb by a verb, a noun etry: “The undiscover’d country from by a noun. This sentence, from a news whose bourn No traveller returns”— story, falls short: Shakespeare, Hamlet. Mr. Wan is believed to be caught in BORN with name. An almanac says a difﬁcult position by the power strug- “William J. Clinton was born William gle in China. For he is both a close Jefferson Blythe III in Hope, Ark., on friend of Mr. Deng—sometimes serv- August 19, 1946.” Not exactly. He was ing as Mr. Deng’s bridge partner—and 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 46

46 bough and bow

is a leading exponent of China’s “both the girls” to “both of the girls” in changes in recent years. formal usage. But “both the girls” might bring to mind “and the boys,” whereas Omit either the third “is” or the “both.” “both of the girls” is unambiguous.

2. BOTH with words of togetherness B. Possessive constructions Both, adjective or pronoun, means the Whether both can go with a posses- one and the other. For instance (as adjec- sive pronoun gets a yes and a no. One tive), “Both buses go downtown,” or (as authority accepts “both our fathers” (re- pronoun) “Both go downtown.” ferring to two fathers). Another dislikes Both indicates that an activity or state “both their mothers,” preferring “the that could apply to only one (thing or mothers of both”; but the former seems person) applies to two. Therefore both to be an established construction: “a should usually not go with any descrip- plague on both your houses.” tive word or phrase or any verb that ap- When what is possessed is singular, plies only to two or more. Two such there is no such disagreement. Of both is words are alike and same. One cannot often necessary. Either of these will do: be alike, and one cannot be the same. In “It is the belief of both” or “It is both “Both dogs look alike,” change “Both” men’s belief.” These are wrong: “both’s to The. In “The books are both the belief” / “both their belief” / “both of same,” delete “both.” their belief.” Words of that sort include agree, between, equal(ly), joint(ly), meet, and to- C. Replacing EACH; errors in number gether; phrases include along with, as In “Both praised the other,” change well as, combined with, each other, and “Both” to Each. An alternative wording to have in common. It takes two or more is “They praised each other.” to be equal, to be together, and so on. “I see a bus stop on both sides of the “Both” does not belong in “The street” erroneously places one stop on brothers have both been united.” In two sides. Either change “a bus stop” to “Both agreed on the wording of the con- bus stops or change “both sides” to each tract,” they should replace “Both.” In side. “I did both my work in addition to his,” change “in addition to” to and. Al- D. THE with BOTH though “both” could be omitted too, it Some authorities object to the before is useful for emphasis. both. It is at least unnecessary in “She A federal cabinet ofﬁcer spoke of pay- scorns the both of them” and strained in ments to “both HMOs as well as skilled “The both men were disappointed.” In nursing facilities.” Either do without each instance, either omit “the” or “both” or change “as well as” to and. change “both” to two.

3. Other principles E. Two only Both applies only to two things, ac- A. BOTH with OF tions, or qualities, not to three or more. Both often goes with of when a pro- In the sentence “He is both tall, dark, noun follows: “Give me both of them.” and handsome,” leave out “both.” You would not say “Give me both them.” But “The referee penalized both BOUGH and BOW. See Homo- them and us” is correct. phones. Otherwise, of is generally optional. A dictionary prefers either “both girls” or Brackets. See Punctuation, 7. 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 47

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BRAKE and BREAK. See Homo- from the speaker or writer, or other phones. movement that is not toward him. It was announced on the radio that a BRANDISH. To brandish an object police bomb squad had picked up a sus- is, strictly, to wave or shake it menac- picious device and “they’re getting ready ingly or defiantly. Did these four as- to bring it out of the building.” Better: sailants (described by four journalists) take it out. The movement was not nec- really do that? essarily toward the speaker; and anyway, in the sense of physical removal, take out A convicted murderer used a hid- is idiomatic. den pistol to hijack an airliner . . . brandishing it when he left the plane’s BROADSIDE. rest room. . . . POPLAR BLUFF, Mo.—A Union . . . They were surprised by a Pacific train slammed broadside Sun- man . . . brandishing a .25-caliber day into a station wagon driven into handgun. the path of the 73-car train, cutting the automobile in half...... Mrs. B—— . . . brandished a 10-inch knife in her right hand. The train probably did not slam “broadside” into the station wagon. Unless it ...Officers said he appeared leaves its track, a train is not likely to hit drunk and brandished a shotgun at anything “broadside.” two patrolmen and his daughter. Broadside (when used as an adverb, as it is used above) means with a broad On weighing the likelihood of such an side facing a given object; that is, a abundance of weapon-wavers as the broad side of whatever is performing the public press depicts, we can bet that reaction. If an automobile skids sideway porters often choose brandish when they on an icy street and hits a parked truck mean hold, wield, or point. (any part of the truck), we can say that the car hit the truck broadside. BREADTH and BREATH. See A newspaper turned the word into a Homophones. hyphenated verb of uncertain meaning:

BREAK and BRAKE. See Homo- . . . His wife, on her usual biking phones. route, was broad-sided only a few blocks from their Twin Peaks home BREAKFAST (verb). See DINE. by a drowsy 20-year-old running a stop sign. BREATH and BREATHE. See Confusing pairs. Nothing was said about a motor vehicle. Maybe the 20-year-old was running. BRING and TAKE. “Please take this money and claim check to Tom’s Repair BROKE and BROKEN. See Tense, Shop and bring me my lamp.” In the 5A. sense of physical movement, illustrated by that sentence, the verb bring indicates BRUTALIZE. The primary meaning movement toward the speaker or writer, of brutalize is to make (a person or ani- or toward a place associated with him; mal) brutal or like a brute, an animal. the verb take indicates movement away That meaning of the verb (transitive), 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 48

48 buck naked

from about 1700, is particularly useful, The verb or adjective may be used fig- for it is not duplicated by any other sin- uratively or poetically (“The child’s gle word. artistic talent burgeoned in kinder- Another sense of brutalize (transitive), garten”) as long as it refers to that which from the latter 1800s and lately popular, is newly emerging. Too often burgeon or is to treat (one) like a brute or with bru- burgeoning is used loosely instead of in- tality. That use tends to render the word crease or increasing, expand or expand- ambiguous. An article said the prison ing, or any of numerous synonyms. system “brutalizes inmates.” Does the These two passages (from a syndicated system make inmates brutal or treat column and an editorial respectively) il- them brutally? lustrate the loose use: Even when not ambiguous, the word is apt to serve nowadays as a fuzzy sub- The congressional flag service stitute for more informative verbs, such sprouted in 1937. . . . By 1955 the de- as batter, beat, club, kick, mug, pommel, mand was so heavy that there was a punch, rape, torture, or whip. Or it be- three-year waiting list. This prompted comes a fashionable replacement for Congress to establish a more elabo- various idioms: An article said “a group rate system to meet the burgeoning of them brutalized [attacked?] the demand. woman jogging through the park.” A movie reviewer commented on TV, The burgeoning demand for physi- “This monster feels himself like a brutal- cian services is reflected in a new ized [an abused?] child.” study. . . . A nearly obsolete sense of the verb (intransitive) is to live or become like a Strictly speaking, if the flag service brute. “sprouted” in 1937, that is when the demand for flags burgeoned; and the de- BUCK NAKED. See ON, 3. mand for physician services probably burgeoned thousands of years ago. BUCOLIC. Bucolic (adjective) means The next two sentences (from news rural, pastoral, pertaining to the coun- stories) are ambiguous: tryside. Therefore it was redundant for the narrator of a documentary on rail- . . . The legislation would authorize road travel to say, “As the train nears spending more than $1.5 billion . . . to Portland, the bucolic countryside gives provide birth control information in way to signs of civilization.” Either omit an effort to slow the demand for fossil “bucolic” or change “countryside” to a fuels in burgeoning nations. word like scenery. See also IDYLLIC. Hungary is growing adept at focus- ing world attention on its burgeoning Bullet. See DUM-DUM BULLET; Se- refugees. ries errors, 5. “Burgeoning” could be interpreted ei- BURGEON, BURGEONING. To ther in the loose way to mean expanding burgeon is to put forth new buds, leaves, or in a stricter way to mean newly blossoms, etc.; or to begin to grow. Bur- emerging. The latter sentence is doubly geoning, used as an adjective (“the bur- troublesome: People do not “burgeon,” geoning tree”) means budding or except perhaps at birth. sprouting or putting forth new buds, leaves, blossoms, etc. BURGLARY. See Crimes, 3. 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 49

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BUT. 1. BUT or AND? 2. “BUT When a phrase such as “no question THAT”; “BUT WHAT.” 3. Further dou- but that” or “no doubt but that” is used ble negatives. 4. Question of pronouns. in place of no question that or no doubt 5. With “HOWEVER” etc. 6. With that, “but” is at best unnecessary. At NOT. worst, “but” produces a double negative, thereby reversing the meaning of 1. BUT or AND? the sentence. On a television talk show, a But (as a conjunction) introduces a politician said: contrast. Something that was just said will be contradicted or an exception to it There is no question but that we will be given. The “but” is unwarranted are in serious economic trouble in this in this headline bank: country.

Labor got little from Clinton and De- But can mean except, other than. So if mos, but things look worse now there is no question “but” that we are in serious economic trouble, one can say Where is the contrast? Let us assume with logic that the only question is that labor had got much, instead of “lit- whether we are in serious economic trou- tle.” A but would have been called for. ble. Omitting “but” corrects the sample As it stands, what follows the “but” is sentence: “There is no question that we not very different from what precedes it. are in serious economic trouble. . . .” Thus the conjunction needed is and. Al- “But what” does not improve on “but ternatively, replace the comma and that.” A member of the press said, in a “but” with a semicolon: “Demos; forum on television: things.” Similarly, “but” should be and in this I don’t think there’s any doubt but sentence from television news. The part what Congress will permit the aid to after the “but” offers no contrast, just continue. more of the same. The speaker had no doubt that Congress Hong Kong is already one of the would approve the aid. Such replace- most crowded places on the planet, ment of that with “but what” is unac- but the population is expected to dou- ceptable to most authorities (even to ble. . . . some who condone “but that”). See also THAT, 3. The opposite error, using “and” instead of but, comes from a television in- 3. Further double negatives terview with a woman in public life. As a But (as an adverb) means only, no teacher, she taught girls “never to raise more than. A negative should not pre- their hands and interrupt.” cede but, used in that sense. It seems to mean that she taught them In both of these sentences, the to be quiescent. “And” implies more of “wasn’t” or “won’t” plus the “but” what precedes, carrying the negative amounts to a double negative: “The force of “never” to “interrupt.” How- child wasn’t but ﬁve years old.” / “We ever, the context indicates that what she won’t have but a day to spend in the taught them was really the reverse: city.” If the intended meanings are that “never to raise their hands but to inter- the child’s age was only ﬁve and we can rupt.” spend only a day in the city, change the sentences to “The child was but . . .” 2. “BUT THAT”; “BUT WHAT” and “We will have but. . . .” 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 50

50 but

This sentence is fairly clear: “We can like this: “But we must look ahead to the but hope that peace will come soon.” It future, however.” suggests that we can do no more than “But . . . however” is redundant. Se- hope. This one is ambiguous: “We can- lect one or the other. not but hope that peace will come soon.” Is it intended to mean the same as 6. With NOT the other sentence—in which case the “But” is mistakenly used in place of as “-not” is wrong—or does it mean that in an essay: “He was not so much a just hoping is inadequate? comic actor . . . but a real comedian.” See also Double negative. What we see is not so much a contrast as a comparison. 4. Question of pronouns “But” should be dropped from this A tricky question of pronouns arises sentence: “It is not an evergreen . . . ; but when but is used to mean except. Do we its leaves fall in the autumn. . . .” The say that “everyone attended class but statements are compatible, not contrast- she” or “but her”? Authorities differ. ing. This is a proper but sentence: “It is (Some consider but a preposition, to be not an evergreen but a deciduous tree.” followed by a pronoun in the objective Another defective form goes like this: case. Others consider but a conjunction “They did not get as far as the city but its that precedes an elliptical clause—e.g., suburbs.” It is defective because the im- “she did not”—and calls for a pronoun plied clause that follows but lacks the in the subjective case.) service of a verb. The only verb in the A working rule is to make the pro- sentence is “did not get,” which does not noun I, we, she, he, or they (subjective apply to “its suburbs.” The simplest cor- case) before the verb; but make it me, us, rection is to insert a verb after but: “but her, him, or them (objective case) after reached its suburbs.” the verb. Thus “Everyone but she at- This similarly ﬂawed sentence may be tended,” however “Everyone attended corrected in two ways: “We have not but her.” seen the document but the news.” Either place “not” after “seen” or follow the 5. With “HOWEVER” etc. but with a verb: “but have seen the But can be the equivalent of however, news.” It can be argued that the original nevertheless, and yet. Normally none of sentences are clear enough. Nevertheless, those words should go with but. Some- adding balance and logic can strengthen times carelessness produces a sentence them. See AS, 4, for another illustration. 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 51

CAME. See COME and CAME; Month” Inside Wire Repair Plan. COME and GO. It is a formal list, calling for consistency CAN and MAY. The traditional dif- and correctness. Change “can” to may ference between the two verbs is that in b and c. can pertains to ability, may to permis- See also MAY and MIGHT. sion. Thus, “Can you lift this barbell?” asks whether one is physically able to do CANNON and CANON. See Ho- it. “May I speak?” asks permission; ob- mophones. viously anyone orally asking that question can speak. “You may kiss the CANVAS and CANVASS. See Ho- bride” gives permission; plainly the mophones. bridegroom can do it. In informal conversation, can is often CAPITAL and CAPITOL. An arti- used in place of may, particularly in neg- cle called Katmandu “the capitol of ative questions or statements. “Why Nepal.” Make it capital, not “capitol.” can’t I speak?” / “You can’t” or “You The Capitol is the building in which cannot.” When a customer asks a store- the Congress of the United States meets. keeper, “Can I see that watch?” the lat- A comparable building in which a state ter would do well to say, legislature meets is a capitol. “Certainly”—not “You can, if you have A capital is a city or town that serves eyesight.” as the ofﬁcial seat of government of a The writer of “Repair Information” country, state, or province. A capital, or in a telephone directory seemed bewil- capital letter, is a large letter like A, B, or dered by the two words, using each C, used to start sentences and proper twice: names. Capital (with no article) is a noun denoting assets, investment If you have a problem with your in- money, wealth, or those possessing side wiring, you have several repair them; and capital is also an adjective options: pertaining to those things or meaning fa- a. You may do the work yourself. tal, ﬁrst-rate, or foremost. b. You can hire someone to do it. Will this help? Only one building in c. You can hire us to repair your the United States is the Capitol and only inside wiring. . . . one building in each state is a capitol— d. You may subscribe to our “Per- with o in the third syllable. The word for

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52 capitalization

an administering city and assets and all erned,—That whenever any Form of the rest is capital—with a in the third syl- Government becomes destructive of lable. these ends, it is the Right of the Both words originated in caput, Latin People . . . to institute new Govern- for head. The ancient temple of Jupiter ment . . . to effect their Safety and on the Capitoline Hill in Rome was the Happiness. original Capitol. Some current principles of capitaliza- Capitalization. When it does not ap- tion follow. ply to investment and the financial kind 1. Beginning of a sentence. The first of capital, the term capitalization con- letter of every sentence starts with a cap- cerns the use of capital letters in writing ital. So does a sentence fragment that and printing. stands alone. “Her answer was brief. Which words start with capitals (up- ‘Yes.’ ” per-case letters) and which start with 2. Colon. A sentence fragment follow- small letters (lower-case letters) has been ing a colon is not usually capitalized: decided by custom in most instances, al- “I’m eating only three times a day: though differences on many points exist. morning, noon, and night.” Whether to Questions can often be resolved by a dic- capitalize a complete sentence after a tionary. (But some dictionaries are not colon is up to each writer or publication. helpful. The otherwise authoritative Ox- 3. Days, times of the year. Days, ford English Dictionary capitalizes all months, and holidays are capitalized: entries. Webster’s Third capitalizes al- Thursday, November, Thanksgiving. most none, running such entries as Seasons are usually not: winter, summer. “kansas city” and “saint patrick’s day” 4. Derivatives of names. Most adjec- while noting that they are “usu cap”; tives derived from people’s names or when are they not? The capitalization other proper nouns are capitalized: Eu- scheme for entry titles in our book is de- clidean geometry, Georgian architecture, scribed under General Topics, near the Shakespearean plays, Machiavellian front.) ethics, Roman numerals. Many are not: Sometimes one’s personal preference pasteurized milk, roman type, italic type, decides, although in the interest of read- french fries, venetian blinds. ers, it ought not to be followed to an ex- 5. Heavenly bodies. They are usually treme. At one extreme is the shunning of capital: Saturn, Milky Way, the star Sir- all capitals, a quirk of two literary per- ius. The Earth and the Sun may be capi- sonages of the past; at another is the ar- tal in the context of astronomy, small in bitrary capitalization of words for general contexts: the greatest show on emphasis, which was common centuries earth; soaking up the sun. back. A condensed excerpt from the 6. Historical events and eras. They are Declaration of Independence follows. often capitalized: The Industrial Revolu- The first letter of every noun deemed im- tion. World War II. But there is disagree- portant is a capital. ment; it is “the battle of Hastings” in one work, “The Battle of Hastings” in . . . All men are created equal . . . with another. certain unalienable Rights, that 7. Initialisms and acronyms. Most ini- among these are Life, Liberty and the tialisms and acronyms, such as M.D. pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure and AIDS, are all capitals. Doctor of phi- these rights, Governments are insti- losophy becomes Ph.D. Abbreviations, tuted among Men, deriving their just like com. for committee and secry. for powers from the consent of the gov- secretary, do not need capitalizing. 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 53

careen and career 53

8. Names. Capitalize the name of a Lord—is always capitalized. A deity in a person, city, state, country, business, or- general sense—the Roman god of war— ganization, religion, language, national- is not. Sacred terms in any religion are ity, specific institution, trademark, or capitalized. Modern Bibles do not capi- government body: John Brown, Atlanta, talize he and his when referring to God. South Dakota, Bank of America, Girl The adjective referring to the Bible may Scouts of the U.S.A., Bulgarian, Purdue be either Biblical or biblical. University, Pepsi-Cola, the Supreme 13. Sentence within a sentence. A sen- Court. Institutions or groups referred to tence enclosed in parentheses or dashes in a general sense are not usually capital- within another sentence is commonly ized: the medical profession, the middle uncapitalized: “The accusations (remem- class. ber that he denied them all) were exten- 9. Personification. In poetic usage, sive and damaging.” Whether to common words put in human terms are capitalize a question within a sentence is capitalized: “the lute of Hope . . . the up to the writer: “I thought, Why am I voice of Love . . . the wand of Power.” here?” / “I thought, why am I here?” 10. Press differences. Some newspa- 14. Titles. In the titles of books, shows, pers will not capitalize the categorical works of art, and so on, generally all part of names; they will write, for in- words are capitalized except articles (a, stance, “Elm street” and “Washington an, the), some conjunctions such as and school.” The press has been getting away and short prepositions such as in and of. from that “down style.” Styles of head- A small word is capitalized too when it is lines vary. Some are like titles, the initial the first word of the title: Riders of the letter of each word capitalized (“Cops Purple Sage but The Outline of History Catch Robbers”); others are like ordinary and A Little Night Music. sentences (“Cops catch robbers”); a few Official titles are capitalized before a are all capitals (“COPS CATCH ROB- name (Secretary of State Robert Smith) BERS”). The Associated Press and many but not after a name (Robert Smith, sec- papers following its style do not capital- retary of state). See also 10. ize president unless it precedes a name. 15. Two words always capitalized. The New York Times always refers to the The words I and O (without an h, as in U.S. chief executive as President. “O God”) are always capitalized. 11. Quotations. A quotation within a 16. Verse. Traditional verse capitalizes sentence typically starts with a capital the first word of every line: “We whirl, when the quotation is set off by some singing loud, round the gathering introductory words: “Emerson said, sphere, / Till the trees, and the beasts, ‘Life is a series of surprises.’” When the and the clouds appear / From its chaos quotation blends with the rest of the sen- made calm by love, not fear.” tence, some authorities start the quotation with a small letter: “Emerson said CARDINAL NUMBERS. See Num- that ‘life. . . .’” Others insist on a capital bers, 11. if the original text began with a capital: “Emerson said that ‘Life. . . .’ ” All agree CAREEN and CAREER. Careen that a fragment of the original after the has been misused so often, confused beginning needs no capital when with career, that the misusage has largely blended with the rest of the sentence: taken over. Mark a loss for the language. “Emerson called life ‘a series of sur- To careen (verb, intransitive) is to tilt prises.’ ” or lean to one side, or to toss from side 12. Sacred names. The name of God to side, or to turn a ship on its side in dry in all its forms—Allah, Jehovah, the dock. It can also mean (verb, transitive) 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 54

54 case of letters

to cause to tilt or tip, or to turn (a ship) Case of letters. See Capitalization; I on one side. It originates in the Latin ca- and i; Pronouns, 10A (end). rina, a ship’s keel. To career (verb, intransitive) is to rush Case of pronoun. See Pronouns, 10; or move at high speed, perhaps wildly. In WHO and WHOM, 1. a description of a market scene in Niger, a book of true adventure contains an ex- CAUGHT and CAUGHT UP. For ample of the strict use of career: aeons, insects have been getting caught in webs. All of us have been caught in A man trying out a camel careered out the rain and caught in traffic. of control, much to the amusement of Not long ago it became popular to en- the crowd. cumber that simple verb with a superfluous adverb. A network anchorman and The word is no longer used often. We two local radio broadcasters provide the are more likely to hear something like examples: “What happens when the tele- this on our television sets: phone company gets caught up in its own web?” / “They got caught up in yes- Cable Car Thirteen careened almost terday’s strong earthquake.” / “In your out of control down one of the steep- case, you’ll be going early, so you won’t est hills in San Francisco. be caught up in the 8:30 dinner crush.” To catch up has long meant to come Or this, broadcast by a competing sta- from behind through speed or effort: tion: “The Braves were losing to the Twins by two runs but caught up in the ninth in- . . . Car Number Thirteen went ca- ning.” reening down the Hyde Street hill. Another meaning of caught up, used only in the passive, adds the implication In newspapers, this is what we will read of gradualness or unwittingness to ad infinitum: caught: “Many who came to listen to the speech were caught up in the mob hyste- . . . The car . . . hit another automo- ria.” / “She did not intend to abandon bile and careened into Biscoe. New York but was caught up in the glamour of Hollywood.” That adapta- . . . He and his family were injured as tion of the phrase is useful. the car careened out of control in the In the contexts of the broadcast sen- same village. tences, however, “up” contributes nothing. All it tells us is that the speakers are Apart from cars: an editorial warned caught in the web of a fad. of “careening” comets; TV news de- See also UP. scribed roller-coaster fans who “careen the curves”; and in press items, bandits CAUSATIVE, CAUSE. See FAC- “careened” from a crime scene and a TOR, 1. senator “careened around the world.” But The New York Times used the au- CELEBRANT and CELEBRA- thentic word in a story about new legs TOR. See Confusing pairs. for war veterans: CELEBRATED. Both are well- Within seconds, the two men were known cases, famous cases, some may skipping, lurching, careering forward. say infamous or notorious cases, but is . . . either a “celebrated” case? A network 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 55

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anchor man reported during television have censored news stories at battle coverage of a hearing for O. J. Simpson fronts, studying them and cutting out or that a limousine driver “found himself in blacking out whatever they do not want the most celebrated murder case of our to be made public. Such activity is cen- time.” And a prominent daily newspaper sorship. Banning a work as a whole or reported: refusing to sponsor something is not truly “censoring” or “censorship,” al- Two years and three months after it though such designations are often began, the celebrated McMartin bandied about. preschool child molesting case is tee- To censure someone is to reprimand tering on the brink of mistrial. or express strong disapproval of him, particularly in an open or formal man- Celebrated suits a person or thing that ner by a person or body in authority. For has been publicly honored or praised. It example, the U.S. Senate has censured comes, of course, from celebrate, one of several members for misbehavior. whose meanings is to honor or praise The words get mixed up. While ex- someone or something publicly. Who pressing distaste for a rap act that would want to celebrate a murder case was being banned as obscene, a TV pan- or a “child molesting case”? elist asked, “Should it actually be cen- In describing a newly published set of sured?” He probably meant censored, cards, a writer for a suburban weekly although that word would be question- mischose the ﬁrst word in this sentence: able too. On another TV panel show, the mod- Celebrated killers like cannibal Jeffrey erator reported that a baseball club Dahmer, Charles Manson, Vietnam owner was “reprimanded and censored War criminal Lt. William Calley (con- in the strongest terms” for racial slurs. victed of killing 22 Vietnamese in the Doubtless he meant censured. Mai Lai [My Lai] massacre) and Bon- A supporter of a senator charged with nie and Clyde all appear amid the sexual harassment said of his private blood-splattered graphics. conduct, “If it’s inappropriate behavior, then let them censor him.” Censure was If the writer felt that he absolutely had the word she needed. to place an adjective before killers, he Two nouns pronounced the same as could have used infamous or notorious. censor are sensor, a device that reacts to But could any adjective enhance the ef- a particular stimulus of energy (light, fect of a plain enumeration of those motion, etc.), and censer, a vessel in killers? which incense is burned.

CENSOR and CENSURE. The two CENSUS. See CONSENSUS. verbs are pronounced somewhat differently, SEN-sir and SEN-shur respec- CERTAIN. See SURE. tively. They have considerably different meanings, though they both originate in CERTIORARI. See GO OFF and the same Latin root, censere, to judge, GO ON. rate, or assess. To censor a written or dramatic CESSION and SESSION. See Ho- work is for someone in authority to ex- mophones. amine it and remove passages that he considers objectionable before it is pub- CHAFE and CHAFF. See Confusing lished or presented. Military censors pairs. 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 56

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CHAIR. 1. CHAIR and CHAIR- chairman and chairmen for both men MAN. 2. CHAIR as verb. and women. “Do not use chairlady, chairwoman or chairperson.” It explains 1. CHAIR and CHAIRMAN that “chairman (like foreman, A chair is furniture; a human being is spokesman and some similar terms) suf- not furniture. The statement would be fices for both sexes.” too obvious to make if not for published The Associated Press, while approv- sentences like these: ing of “chairwoman,” rejects “chairperson,” unless it is an organization’s Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., the chair of formal title. But a story dispatched under the Judiciary Committee, has had a its name contained a similar barbarism: mixed record on abortion. . . . “Glamour was supplied by the dinner’s chairpeople.” Eva has served as president and membership chair. Currently she is the 2. CHAIR as verb Chair of the Board of Directors of As a verb (transitive) meaning to place Magic Years Day Care. . . . in a chair or to install in a chair of office, chair is long established though little Correction: the chairman of the judiciary used nowadays. committee, membership chairman, and The modern press often uses chair as a chairman of the board of directors. verb meaning to serve as a chairman. A Although widely used in some circles, few authorities object to such use, at chair as a substitute for chairman is least in formal writing. The Times style proper only in the jargon of parliamen- manual says to avoid it. The examples tary procedure; e.g., “I appeal from the are from two other newspapers. ruling of the chair.” In general prose, chair may signify a chairmanship or an . . . Assemblyman Richard Rainey academic office, but not an individual failed to win the chairmanship of the holding the office; for example, “The Public Safety Committee . . . but . . . chair is vacant,” but not “He was ap- he’s happy to settle for chairing the pointed chair.” Local Government panel. . . . Assem- Chair and chairman should be in blyman Curt Pringle . . . will chair the lower case, except when the latter is af- Appropriations Committee. fixed to a proper name (e.g., Chairman Mao). In the second sample, Eva is both [Testimony was heard by] a House a small “chair” and a big “Chair.” Government Operations subcommit- A male chairman is formally ad- tee chaired by Rep. Mike Synar. . . . dressed as Mister Chairman, a female chairman as Madame Chairman. Utilizing an item of furniture as a verb Avoid the ungainly barbarism seen in is not out of the question. To table is to a headline: “Republicans select their put (something) on a table; especially to chairpersons.” A newspaper editor nor- put (a legislative measure) on the table, mally seeks brevity in headlines, so it is i.e., postpone indefinitely. To bed is to surprising that one would choose a furnish (someone) with a bed, or to put seven-letter suffix, “-persons,” instead of (someone) to bed, or to go to bed. On a three-letter suffix with the same mean- the other hand, no one is likely to say, ing, -men. “A new governor will desk the state ad- The New York Times style manual ministration” or “A vast empire was properly instructs staff members to use throned by the queen.” 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 57

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CHARACTER. This noun has many words. In the context of the ad (transi- legitimate meanings, among them in- tive), it means examine or investigate. In tegrity; reputation; distinguishing quali- another context (intransitive) it can ties or features; a fictional person; and a mean to be proven authentic. “His story symbol. Yet it is often used unnecessar- checks out.” ily: “glue of a strong character,” instead To check out (verb, transitive) is also of strong glue; or “the charming charac- to account for a departure (especially of ter of the painting,” instead of the charm a guest from a hotel, a customer from a of the painting. In phrases like “an event store, or a book from a library). Hotel of this character,” kind or sort is more guests check out (verb, intransitive); or fitting. they check out of, say, the Grand Hotel. A colloquial sense of character is Check-out (noun) is the process or act an eccentric person. The reporter who of departing from an establishment, or a put it in the item below was not neces- time that a hotel sets for the end of a day. sarily wrong but seemed to be short of In addition it is a counter where cus- facts. tomers pay in a self-service market, also called check-out (adjective) counter. Clarence ———, otherwise known The noun, as a single word, checkout, as Filmore Slim, a long-time San Fran- is instruction or training given to an air cisco character, pleaded guilty to one force pilot to familiarize him with a par- count of ——— in a plea bargain with ticular aircraft. the district attorney’s office yesterday. See also Punctuation, 4D, for an example of inconsistent use of check-out and check-in, the process or act of arriv- CHARITY. See MERCY and PITY. ing at an establishment.

CHAUVINISM. Chauvinism (pro- CHIEF JUSTICE. Misnaming the nounced SHOW-vin-izm) is extreme pa- nation’s highest judicial office is a com- triotism, militant glorification of one’s mon error, albeit a minor one. country; or, by extension, excessive de- A front-page news summary said, votion to any cause or group. It came “Died: Warren Burger, 87, retired from Chauvin, the name of a French sol- Supreme Court chief justice.” dier who was a fanatical admirer of This was reported on a television net- Napoleon. work: “Warren Burger served as chief Male chauvinist has been a common justice of the Supreme Court for seven- pair since the sixties. Some think that teen years. . . .” chauvinism or chauvinist has to do with His successor, William H. Rehnquist, opposition to or disparaging of a group, became “the sixteenth Chief Justice of particularly women, and they omit the the Supreme Court,” a book blurb said. modifier. A topic on a TV quiz show was The book itself, by Rehnquist, had it “chauvinist terms for women”: broad, right. dame, doll. They are slang terms, per- Federal law says: “The Supreme haps demeaning terms—far removed Court of the United States shall consist from chauvinism. of a Chief Justice of the United States and eight associate justices. . . .” Each of CHECK OUT and CHECK-OUT. the eight is a “Justice of the Supreme A software company advertises, in a Court of the United States.” magazine, “Checkout our Web Site. . . .” The erroneous appellations often can As a verb, check out consists of two pass. But surely some occasions, like the 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 58

58 “chilling effect”

ones referred to above, call for the ofﬁ- people” is imprecise. So are a father’s cial title to be dusted off. words in a newspaper article about bilin- See also HIGH COURT. gual education: “I see people using language as a refuge, not mixing with other “CHILLING EFFECT.” This mod- people who don’t speak Chinese.” ern cliché does not concern refrigeration China has various spoken languages mechanics or the meteorological conse- of the Sino-Tibetan group, including quences of arctic winds. It does concern Mandarin, Cantonese, Wu, Min, Hakka, an effect of an enforcement action, prose- and others. Sometimes they are called cution, enactment, ruling, policy de- “dialects,” but they differ among them- cision, crisis, or other occurrence, selves as much as the Romance lan- according to some critic or commentator. guages of Europe do and people from Seldom is heard a discouraging, imped- one part of China often cannot compre- ing, inhibitory, or retardant word. More hend speech from another part. Man- often the word is “chilling.” A few exam- darin is the ofﬁcial and most prevalent ples follow; many more could be offered. language of China. An uncommon error appeared in a [TV news of a crackdown on pornog- picture caption related to the news story raphy in Alabama:] What worries quoted above: “A blackboard in Chor civil libertarians is the chilling effect Pang’s class at Key elementary shows in- this might have on the people who structions in both English and Can- make movies, even good movies. tonese characters.” Make it Chinese characters. One array of characters ex- [An article on Christian Scientists: A ists for all of China, although there are a medical ethicist] said that the prosecu- few variations in the way some charac- tions already are having a chilling ef- ters are assembled. fect. The written language has no alphabet and no rules for pronunciation. Charac- [A TV “magazine”: Virginia’s re- ters and their meanings must be memo- moval of a physician’s medical license] rized. One must learn about 4,000 had a chilling effect on doctors characters to read a Chinese newspaper. throughout the country. Scholars may know ten times as many. The characters are pronounced accord- [An article about federal policy on ing to the words in one’s spoken lan- scholarships:] . . . Mr. Wilder said Mr. guage. Williams’s ruling would have “a chilling effect on all minority-targeted CHORD and CORD. See Homo- programs. . . .” phones.

CHRISTEN. To christen (verb, tran- CHINESE (language). Under “Chi- sitive) used to mean to make (someone) nese” (noun), at least three dictionaries Christian. Now to christen an infant is offer “the language of China” as their to bring it into a Christian church by second deﬁnition. In a strict sense, the baptism; also to give it a name at bap- language of China is a written language tism. By extension, to christen also only and does not exist as a tongue. One means to name and dedicate (usually a speaks a Chinese language. An al- vessel or structure) in a ceremony; or, manac’s statement that “Chinese is the loosely, just to name (anything). mother tongue of more than 1 billion In a ﬁlm on Siberian tigers, the narra- 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 59

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tor said, “They [zoologists] christen the The accent falls on the third syllable cub Sasha.” If a wild beast had to be hu- in circumnavigate, the second syllable in manized, “they name” should have suf- circumference, and the first syllable in ficed. (There was no ceremony, religious the other five circum- words. or otherwise.) CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. CIRCUM- prefix. The prefix circum- It is a pervasive myth that circumstantial comes from the Latin circum, around, evidence is flimsy evidence. Often and means around, surrounding, or on “mere” or “only” precedes “circumstan- all sides. Sometimes different circum- tial.” A biographer wrote, concerning words are confused. the evidence against two brothers A high school freshman rose in his charged with a fatal bombing: civics class to contrast the days of Mag- ellan, when it took three years to go It would only be circumstantial evi- around the world, with contemporary dence, and it was difficult to hang times, when “the world can be circum- men on circumstantial evidence. cised in a few days.” Silent pause. The teacher said, “You mean circumnavigated, don’t you?” / “Yes.” Actually I On the contrary, circumstantial evidence had meant circumscribed. That would can be just as strong as, or stronger than, not have been the right word either. the other type of evidence: direct evi- To circumnavigate the world, or an is- dence. And men have been executed on land, means to pilot a ship or airplane all the basis of circumstantial evidence. around it. To circumscribe something is Circumstantial evidence is informa- to encircle, restrict, or draw a line tion used in court to prove a contention around it. To circumcise someone is to indirectly. Rather than dealing with the excise a certain genital part of him or main issue head on, it relies on reason- her. The three verbs stem from circum able inference from the surrounding cir- plus the Latin verbs meaning to sail, to cumstances. Direct evidence deals with write, and to cut, respectively. the main issue directly. A news agency said that many A man is accused of burglarizing a promises made to a Brazilian who paci- home. No witness saw the crime being fied Indian tribes were “circumnavigated committed. The evidence against the de- by the government. . . .” In that context, fendant is solely circumstantial: The vic- a better verb would have been circum- tims’ valuables were found in his vented. To circumvent something, say a possession and his fingerprints were law, is to go around it figuratively, to found at the crime scene. It is convincing keep it from happening, especially by evidence. craft or tricky maneuvering. The word A witness in a murder trial testifies originates in circum plus the Latin verb that he saw Mr. Cain shoot Mr. Abel. meaning to come. Such evidence is direct. The defense then Three other well-known circum- brings Mr. Abel into court, alive and words are the nouns circumference (a well. That too is direct evidence. line or distance around a circle) and circumstance (surrounding facts or condi- CLASS. See FACULTY; KIND OF, 1, tions) and the adjective circumspect 2; TYPE, 1. (prudent, cautious). They come from circum plus the Latin verbs meaning to CLASSIC. The traditional meaning of carry, to stand, and to look, respectively. a classic is a literary, dramatic, or artistic 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 60

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work that has survived the test of time Cliché clash. By that term we mean a and been generally accepted among the jarring mixture of clichés. Typically it highest in quality. Now we seem to have turns up when an impromptu speaker instant “classics,” if advertisers can be gets confused between two expressions. believed. “The critics love Disney’s For instance, when you do not want newest classic,” a TV announcer said. to confront a problem, do you sweep it A book blurb hailed a man who had under the rug or do you put it on the founded a record company “to churn back burner? “After the campaign, it’ll out hundreds of classic records. . . .” be swept right back on the back burner,” What he recorded were not works by said a senator on the drug problem. Mozart or Beethoven but rock ’n’ roll Each of eight samples here contains or songs. And a review of a movie musical hints at two well-known expressions. In said, “The tunes . . . —including ‘Lola the ﬁrst seven, delivered on the air, the Wants’ and ‘Shoeless Jo From Hannibal expressions are metaphors or combined Mo’—are classics.” A popular song that parts of metaphors. remains in the repertoire is a standard. A TV network reporter and panelist Any writer who does not know the dif- ridiculed reporters who had said that ference between popular and classical George Bush lost the Republican nomi- music may do well to choose some other nation: “Where are those reporters to- topic. day? They’re eating humble crow.” (Note to gourmets: Combine humble pie Clause. A clause is a group of words with crow—and voilà!) with a subject (the doer of an action) and In a press conference, President Bush a predicate (the verb, the action). Some commented on the government of deﬁners stop there. They would consider Panama. He could not seem to decide the simple sentence “Snow fell” a clause. whether to use a clock or a board game Others would consider it a clause only in as a metaphor, so he used them both: a sentence containing at least two “You get the distinct feeling that the clauses: “Snow fell and streets became clock is not going to be set back to slippery.” square one.” In the latter example, each clause A man on the street was chosen for a (connected by and) is an independent sound bite in an election story on a TV clause. Each could stand alone as a sepa- network. Explaining why he was voting rate sentence. against an incumbent, he did not say “A A dependent clause (also called a sub- leopard can’t change its spots” or “You ordinate clause) cannot stand alone. In can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” He “I love this ring, which my mother gave said, “You can’t change spots on an old me,” the part up to the comma is an in- dog.” dependent clause and also the main Do you prefer to play poker with wild clause of the sentence; the part starting cards or with a joker? Interviewed on the with which is a dependent clause. radio, a South African commentator said about white rightists in his government, CLAUSTROPHOBIA. See HO- “They are a wild joker in the package.” MOPHOBIA. Another question is whether to give the economy a boost or a shot in the CLEAN and CLEANSE. See Con- arm. A congressional leader theorized fusing pairs. that a tax decrease was “giving the economy a boost in the arm.” CLEMENCY. See MERCY and A panelist said on a television pro- PITY. gram of news commentary: 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 61

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We really have no evidence that Bill (3) it is used correctly and, if a quota- Clinton is going to step up to the plate tion, is quoted accurately. in his first hundred days and really These are examples of oft misquoted take the bull by the horns. sayings: “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely” (not Maybe the new president would have “Power corrupts”)—Lord Acton. “For been inspired by a rousing chorus of the love of money is the root of all evil” “Take Me Out to the Bullfight.” (not money itself)—Bible, 1 Timothy The final example is different, because 6:10. “Music hath charms to soothe a it appeared in print (in a book review) savage breast” (not “beast”)—Con- and because the clash is stylistic, rather greve. “A foolish consistency is the hob- than metaphoric. goblin of little minds” (not just consistency)—Emerson. “To gild refined Her husband, Roger, freaks out but gold, to paint the lily” (not “gild the the party has momentum enough to lily”)—Shakespeare, King John. keep going and just about everyone, it The expressions as a matter of fact, by seems, has enough carnal knowledge the same token, in the final analysis, to of Ros to make her, posthumously, an all intents and purposes, and when all is even better conversation piece than said and done have meanings but are she was in life. [Emphasis is added.] rather windy and probably not essential. Some other expressions are irrational, There is a place for hippie slang, just as inaccurate, or almost meaningless. (See there is for King James’s English—but “BLOW YOUR MIND”; “COULD they are not the same place. CARE LESS”; “EXCEPTION PROVES THE RULE”; “IDEA WHOSE TIME Clichés. The character of Big Brother HAS COME”; “OLDEST PROFES- was an exciting, new idea in George Or- SION”; “RINGING OFF THE well’s novel 1984. Used repeatedly as a HOOK”; “YES, VIRGINIA”). metaphor in discussions and articles (for On the other hand (that is a cliché), to instance, as the subtitle of a column tell hikers “It’s five miles as the crow flies about new technology to snare violators but double that on the road” swiftly im- of federal laws), the appellation loses parts useful information; and “the bur- most of its thrill, although it makes a den of proof is on the plaintiff” carries point. legal significance. All of the following All clichés were original and fresh ex- fifty clichés also convey ideas succinctly, pressions at one time but now, by defini- even though all those ideas might be ex- tion, are trite, commonplace, and pressed differently: frequently imitated. That reality does Break the ice, call the tune, clear the not mean we should always avoid them. air, dark horse, fait accompli, give and It depends on the cliché and the circum- take, happy ending, heaven on earth, in stances. This volume contains many ex- the same boat, labor of love, law and or- amples of expressions considered der, lethal weapon, lion’s share, make overused, if not unworthy of use; al- ends meet, make good, mean(s) well, though admittedly the merit of a particu- miscarriage of justice, moral victory, lar expression is subject to difference of more or less, mutual attraction, neck and opinion. neck, needle in a haystack, now and A trite expression need not necessarily then, odds and ends, on the fence, open be banished, as long as (1) it is needed to secret, patience of Job, pay the piper, per- convey the desired meaning, (2) it is cho- sona non grata, place in the sun, pyrrhic sen thoughtfully and makes sense, and victory, rags to riches, rank and file, sav- 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 62

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ing grace, see eye to eye, smell a rat, stab heading said, in part, “The drug war- in the back, stitch in time, supply and de- riors try ‘scientific’ fix: Bug cocoa fields.” mand, sweetness and light, sword of Was an innocuous drink a target in the Damocles, take pot luck, tilt at wind- drug war? Cocoa powder, like chocolate, mills, tip of the iceberg, tit for tat, under is made from the seeds of the cacao tree. a cloud, under the aegis of, vicious circle, It appears that an editor had confused wear and tear, wishful thinking. cocoa with coca, the tree or shrub whose English is indebted to French for leaves are the source of cocaine. (The cliché in the sense of a printing stereo- text had it right.) type (an electrotype plate in traditional Another plant of similar spelling is the printing). A figurative cliché can be con- coco, also known as coco palm or co- sidered a figuratively stereotyped expres- conut palm or coconut tree. The plural sion; i.e., one that is fixed, conventional, of coco is cocos. and unoriginal. The word is pronounced klee-SHAY. COHORT. This sample sentence, from The New Republic, is entirely cor- CLIMACTIC and CLIMATIC. rect in its usage: See Confusing pairs. When Robert Bork’s Supreme CLINCH. “Giants clinch,” a streamer Court nomination went down in cried. And there on the front page was a flames, his candidacy vanquished by a picture of baseball players hugging one well-funded cohort of liberal pressure another. groups, conservatives deplored the To clinch something (transitive verb: tactics used to defeat him. it has an object) is to make it secure or settle it conclusively. The San Francisco In the next sample, from a newspaper, team had clinched the championship of a word that was treated properly in the the National League’s western division. magazine is put to questionable use. But just to clinch (intransitive verb: no object) means, in slang usage, to em- Looming above the throng at the brace. In boxing, to clinch (intransitive) huge CBS window is the elder states- is to hold one’s opponent so as to avoid man of the media, Walter Cronkite, getting punched. A clinch (noun) is the hand over heart as a Metropoli- act of clinching. tan Opera baritone belts out the na- Except for certain nautical and indus- tional anthem, while his younger trial senses, do not confuse clinch with cohort, Dan Rather, stands respect- clench, meaning (noun) a tight grasp or fully back. . . . (verb, transitive) to grasp or bring together tightly. Clinch and clench are used In words like co-worker and coau- interchangeably when they denote thor, the prefix co- indicates one who (noun) a particular knot or a secure fas- works jointly with another. So is it not tening device, especially a driven nail reasonable to assume that a cohort is an with its point beaten down, or (verb, associate of a “hort”? The trouble is that transitive) to grip with one of those de- there is no such thing as a “hort.” Co- vices. hort comes from the Latin cohors: enclosure, military company, or multitude. COCA and COCOA. A press col- (Court, courtesy, and curtain also stem umn related a scheme to use caterpillars from that Latin word.) to eat the plants that yield cocaine. The The most specific meaning of cohort is 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 63

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that of an ancient Roman military divi- 1. Group: singular or plural? sion, comprising 300 to 600 soldiers, a This question deals with the type of tenth of a legion. Cohort has been ap- noun that is a collection of people, crea- plied also to any body of warriors. It can tures, or things—a crowd, a team, a denote also any group or band joined in committee, a jury, a company, a herd, a a struggle or common cause. That is the ﬂock, an array, or other group. When it meaning of cohort in the opening sam- is the subject of a sentence or clause, ple. The other samples illustrate the loos- should we treat it as singular or as plu- est use, in which the word is applied to ral? individuals. Often its tone is derogatory: It may depend on whether we emphasize the group as a whole or its members. What other operations beyond “The crowd was roaring,” but “A those already known were planned or crowd of fans were ﬁghting one another executed by Mr. North and his coin the grandstand.” horts in the enterprise? Any doubts are customarily settled in favor of the singular in the United States. The youth . . . is accused of coerc- Britons have leaned toward plural con- ing four children . . . into becoming struction. his cohorts in the burglary and torch- A frequent mistake is to construe a ing of an apartment. . . . subject as both singular and plural within a sentence or clause. The mis- . . . Assistant U.S. Atty. John Gor- taker is likely to choose a singular verb don . . . prosecuted Browning and 21 but a plural pronoun. In the following alleged cohorts. . . . quotations, from metropolitan newspapers on two coasts, emphases are added The crime story represented by the last to point up inconsistencies. example shared an issue of a metropolitan newspaper with an obituary contain- Protests have been going on at the ing this sentence: weapons station since June 10 when a group of demonstrators was arrested . . . Monroe and his cohorts gave after they successfully caused a train movement to Bugs Bunny. . . . to stop.

Such lax use of “cohort(s)” is not gen- “Was . . . they” protesting? No, they erally acceptable, though it is usually were protesting. “Was” is singular; condoned in casual speech. If a word like “they” is plural. The two words do not associate, colleague, companion, co- mix. worker, or fellow-worker is meant, it Most users of English have no trouble should be used. For an implication of with simple sentences such as “The wrongdoing, one can choose accomplice, demonstrator was arrested” and “The confederate, gangster, partner in crime, demonstrators were arrested.” Noun or ring member. (Occasionally confeder- and verb match in number: singular with ate is used in an innocent sense too.) singular, plural with plural. But complicate a sentence with an equivocal sub- COKE. See Trademarks. ject, a clause or two, and a pronoun— then trouble arises. Collective nouns. 1. Group: singular Is “a group of demonstrators” singu- or plural? 2. NUMBER OF, AVERAGE lar or plural? Presumably the writer OF. 3. Quantities, measures. ﬁxed on “group” and thought that it had 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 64

64 collective nouns

to be singular: “was arrested.” So why and a verb (“Five California psycholo- did she not stick with her decision and gists have developed . . .”). write “after it . . . caused a train to The final example in this section illus- stop”? Aware that the demonstrators trates two defects: were arrested as individuals, she must have felt a sense of plurality to switch A gang of robbers has been charged tracks and write “they . . . caused.” with holding up 31 banks . . . using But then the sentence called for “were the subway for their getaway. . . . arrested.” (It never needed “successfully.”) If the gang is singular and “has been When a group is a formal body, the charged,” the pronoun representing American custom is to construe it as sin- “gang” also must be singular: Change gular: “Congress has agreed. . . .” In “their” to its. However, if the gang, as Britain it is often construed as plural: plural, made “their getaway,” keep the “Parliament have agreed. . . .” This pas- plural pronoun but change “has” to sage, from an American newspaper, has have. Better yet, change “A gang of rob- it both ways: bers has” to “Five men have.” They are not “robbers” until they are convicted. The first way around the wall See also COUPLE; FACULTY; proved to be in Hungary last August, Nouns, 3; PAIR; STAFF. when the reformist-minded Budapest government decided to take down its 2. NUMBER OF, AVERAGE OF own barbed-wire fence with Austria The word number often throws writ- and later dropped their objections to ers and speakers off course when it is East Germans crossing from Austria part of the subject of a sentence. into Hungary. A growing number of researchers is “Its . . . fence” and “their objections” are trying to teach former crack addicts to inconsistent. “Their” ought to have been stay away from . . . cues that will its. (A factual correction: the Germans make them crave the drug. . . . were crossing from Hungary into Aus- tria.) “A growing number of researchers are When a group is informal, the writer trying. . . .” The number is not perform- or speaker often has a choice. Here, ing the action; the researchers are. They again, a press sentence is inconsistent: are separate individuals. “A growing number of” merely qualifies “re- A team of California psychologists searchers.” If the number of researchers has developed a sense-of-humor test were ten, the writer would not have that they believe may eventually shed written “Ten researchers is trying. . . .” It light on the fundamental nature of hu- should not make any difference that man personality. their number is growing. If the subject were, let us say, a group of researchers, a If the team of psychologists is singular case might be made for “researchers is,” and “has” developed something, then it as grating as the phrase is. believes. But if “they believe,” the team What is the reader or listener supposed of psychologists, being plural, have de- to focus on? In the quoted sentence, the veloped something. Other options are “researchers” obviously take the spot- repeating part of the subject (“a sense- light. Another sentence could start simi- of-humor test that the team be- larly but place its emphasis elsewhere: lieves . . .”) and rephrasing the subject “The growing number of researchers in 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 65

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America is attributed to an improvement just couldn’t have came here and got my in science education.” Here the emphasis stuff on my own.” In a television inter- is on the growing number. view, a military cadet said, “At any time As a rule of thumb, a subject starting they could have came to me.” And a with “a number of” takes a plural verb; caller to a radio talk show said, “He a subject starting with “the number of” could’ve came to his co-workers and takes a singular verb. said, ‘How do you feel about this?’ ” In Other phrases that can be misleading each instance, the past tense was mistak- as part of a subject are an average of, a enly used instead of the past participle; majority of, and a total of. Using them is “have come” would have been correct. more complicated than using a number The three would have had an excuse of. for the error if they had looked up come It is grammatically correct to say “An in a certain general dictionary. It erro- average of 186 million eggs were pro- neously indicates that “came” is the past duced daily in the country last year.” participle as well as the past tense. The focus there is on eggs, a plural. It is See also COME and GO. equally correct to say “The average of 186 million was lower than . . .” or “The COME and GO. Considered sepa- average . . . takes into account. . . .” Gen- rately, the two sentences in the quoted erally “the average” focuses on the aver- passage (from a front page of a age as such. “An average of $5.50 is renowned newspaper) are correct. But paid” and “An average of two pounds of they are inconsistent—in more than their sugar is needed” are correct too; the different lengths, which is a desirable in- items would be singular without any consistency. mention of an average. See also MAJORITY, 2; TOTAL, 2. Organizers of the second Take Our Daughters to Work Day estimated 3. Quantities, measures that about 3 million American girls, Measures of distance, money, weight, most of them between the ages of 9 volume, and so on are commonly treated and 15, took off a day from school as singular, even though plural in form. yesterday to go to work with their They take singular verbs: “Twenty-two parents or other adults and get a miles is a long walk.” / “About $3.7 mil- closer look at opportunities awaiting lion is owed.” / “Six feet, four inches was them in the real world of work. Abe’s height.” / “A hundred pounds And some boys came along this more makes a ton.” / “Twelve gallons of year. gasoline ﬁlls my tank.” See also AMOUNT and NUMBER; Why did girls “go” to work while boys FEWER and LESS; MANY and MUCH; “came” to work? Numbers; Verbs, 3. Although the distinction between come and go blurs at times and each Colon. See Punctuation, 2. word has many meanings, you should know whether you’re coming or going. COME and CAME. The basic form (That principle did not apply to Grou- of the verb come is the same as its past cho Marx, who liked to sing, “Hello, I participle: “Come inside.” / “She has must be going.”) come a long way.” The past tense is In a sentence like “Come to papa” or came: “The rains came.” “Come to me, my melancholy baby,” the In a situation comedy, the star deliv- verb to come means to advance toward ered this line: “I don’t understand why I the one speaking. To come is also to ap- 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 66

66 comﬁt and comfort

proach a particular place: “. . . Behold, (appears and disappears). But note that wise men from the East came to each subject has two contrary activities. Jerusalem. . . .” Another meaning is to In the passage about the girls who appear, to move into view: “The fog missed school to go to work with their comes on little cat feet.” Still another parents and the boys who went along, meaning is to follow: “Come with me.” two subjects did essentially the same It can mean also to be a native or resi- thing. dent of a place (“She comes from See also COME and CAME. Spain”), to happen or take place (“The time will come”), to reach a total (“That COMFIT and COMFORT. See comes to exactly ten dollars”), and to ar- DISCOMFIT and DISCOMFORT. rive at a certain result or condition (“We came to an agreement and the meeting Comma. See Punctuation, 3. came to a halt”). The verb to go often means to depart, COMMISERATION. See MERCY to move away from this place: “She has and PITY. gone already.” / “Go and sin no more.” To go can mean also to travel to a place: COMMIT, COMMITTED. 1. “I must go down to the seas again.” / Missing objects. 2. Recommit. “We’re going home.” It can mean also to be in operation or to move: “The motor 1. Missing objects is going.” / “The car started to go.” Something is missing from both of Among other meanings are to disappear these sentences, extracted from a televi- (“The dictatorship must go!”), to be in sion newscast and a book about business particular circumstances (“The people mistakes: often go hungry”), to have a certain tendency (“This state usually goes Republi- There isn’t the same pressure on Presi- can”), to be known (“He goes by dent Bush as there was on President Bubba”), to result (“How did the game Kennedy when he first committed to go?”), to start (“Wait till I say ‘go’ ”), putting a man on the moon. and to be compatible or sociable (“They go together”). If the U.S. firm had committed to a Each of the two verbs figures in nu- more direct form of involvement such merous expressions. A come idiom and a as equity participation, it could have go idiom may have a word in common earned greater profits. but differ completely in meaning. For instance, to come along can mean to ad- President Kennedy “committed” what vance or proceed toward success: “She or whom? The country? The govern- has really come along in her studies”; to ment? Himself? And what should “the go along can mean to cooperate: “When U.S. firm” have “committed”? Itself? Its they offered him a lot of money, he went planning and resources? A quarter of its along with their plans.” Some other assets? words similarly in common are about, In all its meanings—obligate, entrust, by, down, into, off, on, and out. consign, refer, perpetrate, and so on— One sentence (and certainly a pair of the verb commit is transitive. That is, it sentences) can encompass both coming must transmit the action to an object. and going; this one does. Other exam- Each sample sentence lacks an object. ples: “The cat comes and goes” (arrives Headlines need to be terse, yet they and departs). “The sun comes and goes” are not absolved from the requirements 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 67

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of grammar. This one appeared on a quently stands for whatever point of front page of a metropolitan daily: view the user expresses. “Syria Commits to Talks, Baker Says.” When Congress favored declaring Use of the past participle, committed, Communist China a most favored na- would have avoided the misuse with- tion, a spokesman for capitalist groups out being wordy: “Syria [is] Committed said, “We see it as a vote for common to. . . .” sense.” At one time, commit was used in an A talk show host said, “You [women] intransitive way (with no object) in the can’t have it all. It’s just common sense.” sense of perpetrating an offense. Such A (male) colleague of his said later, fa- use is obsolete. No longer may one say, voring higher prices for women’s hair- for instance, “This man has committed.” cuts than for men’s, “Let’s try to use One may say, “Many people who should some common sense on this”; and favor- know better commit grammatical of- ing compulsory auto insurance, “It’s just fenses.” common sense.” A competitor prefaced a discussion of Cuba by saying, “I’m go- 2. Recommit ing to give you the kind of common- To recommit is to commit again. This sense logic that you don’t get in most of verb too is transitive only. It comes up the media these days.” mainly in the context of legislative ac- In a headline, a weekly presented a tion, in which it means to send a pro- point of view as “Commonsense Drug posed measure back to a committee: Policy. . . .” Used as an adjective in that “The Senate decided to recommit the way, the term should be hyphenated: bill.” common-sense. The main article in an issue of a national daily bore a headline that used the COMMUNIST, COMMUNISM. verb as though it were intransitive: See SOCIALIST, SOCIALISM. “PLO Recommits to Peace, but Reins in Arafat.” The headline could be challenged on both grammatical and factual COMMUTE. To commute (as an in- grounds. (The story said the Palestine transitive verb) means to travel between Liberation Organization, critical of its home in one community and work in an- leader’s failure to gain wider Palestinian other. Another common meaning of the self-rule, “set specific conditions for the verb (transitive) is to change a penalty or continuation of talks with Israel.”) A re- debt to a lesser one. For instance, when a placement: “PLO Sets Terms for Peace governor changes a convict’s sentence Talks, Reins in Arafat.” from life imprisonment to ten years, he commutes it. It is the penalty that is Common nouns. See Nouns, 1. commuted, not the person on whom it was imposed. This is wrong: COMMON SENSE. Common sense may be defined either as ordinary sound Mao’s widow was sentenced to death, judgment or as the assumptions people later commuted to life imprisonment, are liable to make without special for heading the so-called Gang of knowledge. “For millennia a flat earth Four, blamed for the worst excesses of was common sense.” Originally com- the 1966–1976 Cultural Revolution. mon sense was supposed to be a master sense that gathered and interpreted the Not the woman but her sentence was five senses. In practice, the term fre- commuted. 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 68

68 comparative and superlative degrees

Comparative and superlative de- PARED WITH; Comparison; MORE grees. Many an adjective or adverb has and MOST; MORE with comparative; three forms, or degrees (that is, degrees MOST with superlative; Numbers, 10B, of comparison): the positive, compara- D. tive, and superlative. COMPARED TO and COM- 1. A word in the positive degree de- PARED WITH. 1. Similarities and scribes something—say, as soft, high, contrasts. 2. Two other problems. fast, sweet, or good—without comparing it with something else. 1. Similarities and contrasts 2. The comparative degree indicates that Each of these four sentences contains something exceeds something else. It one wrong word: is softer, higher, faster, sweeter, or better. . . . Detective Tom Lange . . . asked 3. The superlative degree is the most ex- him to bring the glove found outside treme: softest, highest, fastest, sweet- Simpson’s mansion into the middle of est, or best. Something is in the top the crime scene so it could be com- order or surpasses all others in some pared to the glove found near the bod- respect. ies.

Use the superlative only when what Typically, community college part- you describe is among three or more of timers earn about half the hourly pay its kind. If it is one of only two, use the of full-time teachers—$28.38 com- comparative. “This melon is the largest pared to $53.36. . . . of the three” but “This melon is the larger of the two.” There were not many words in the It is a common mistake to use the su- first ROGET’S THESAURUS, com- perlative instead of the comparative; for pared to the number in a volume like instance, to say that someone is the this. . . . “tallest” of two. See BETTER and BEST (etc.). A talk show host made the oppo- There are no published studies that site mistake: “The three networks were compared the drug to placebo or fake fighting to see who would get the bigger pills. piece of the pie.” One network would get the biggest piece. (And “who” Each “to” should be with. should be which. See WHO, THAT, and When we compare something to WHICH, 1.) something else, we are likening the two A book about business mistakes things or pointing out similarities. (“The makes a verbal mistake: streaks on Mars used to be compared to our canals.” / “People have compared The firm encountered legal problems Castro to Stalin.”) in West Germany, however, because When we compare something with German law dictates that superlatives something else, we are either contrasting are not permitted. One product can- the two (“$28.38 compared with not be called better (or stronger) than $53.36”) or examining them to look for another. differences or similarities (“studies that compared the drug with placebo or fake Better or stronger are not “superlatives.” pills”). They are comparatives. Is all that just unnecessary fussiness? See also COMPARED TO and COM- The use of “to” instead of with by a 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 69

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news agency gives a twist to the ﬁrst Informative writing has to make more sample. The “to” seems to imply that the sense. When something is said to be big- detective wanted to make the two gloves ger, smaller, quicker, more beautiful, less look like a pair—probably not what ei- crowded, or the like, one needs to know ther he or the writer had in mind. With what the thing is bigger than, smaller would have suggested that the detective than, and so on. The word than does not wanted an objective comparison of the always have to be in the sentence. (“John two gloves. weighs 300 pounds. His wife is even heavier.”) And the comparison is implied 2. Two other problems in certain expressions, such as higher ed- The sentence below (from an edito- ucation and the upper classes. In general, rial) illustrates two other points. though, when more or less or an -er word in the comparative degree is used, Four in 10 black men over the age of it must be made completely clear what is 20 smoke, compared to only 32 per- being compared to what. This sentence cent of white men. fails to make it clear:

The grammarian Wilson Follett would While residents in the San Francisco have challenged compared, as well as to, metropolitan area—including San in the last sentence, had he lived to read Mateo and Marin counties—spent it: The black men would smoke even if less on food last year, they still rank not compared with the white men; the ninth in total restaurant sales and tops two facts are independent and belong in in per capita spending. separate independent clauses or sentences. He railed at length against “gra- They “spent less on food” than what? tuitous comparison,” the statement of Than on clothing? Than anyone else? independent facts as if they were depen- Even if the reporter had written, for indent. stance, “spent less on food last year than Note also that one of those two statis- they spent in the previous year,” the sen- tics was presented on a scale of one to tence still would have raised questions ten and the other on a percentage scale. and contained inconsistencies. (How While some readers may have had no could the spending of “residents” be dis- trouble converting “four in 10” to forty tinguished from that of visitors? If the percent, or “32 percent” to about three spending was for “food,” why are only in 10, the writer’s zeal for synonymizing restaurants mentioned, not food stores? may have obscured the message for Was “per capita spending” just in restau- other readers. rants too? On what scale were the residents measured? They were “ninth” or Comparison. 1. “More” or “less” “tops” out of how many units, of what than what? 2. What are we comparing? nature, in what geographical category?) See Comparative and superlative de- 1. “More” or “less” than what? grees and its references for some gram- In the mythical realm of advertising, matical problems. the advertiser’s product customarily is “better,” gives you “more,” and costs 2. What are we comparing? you “less.” What it is better, bigger, and To be compared, things must be com- cheaper than is left to the imagination. parable. They have to ﬁt the same gen- The veracity or mendacity of such vague eral category. You do not compare claims cannot easily be checked. A copy- apples with orangutans. Apples and or- writer is interested in sales, not facts. anges at least are both fruits. 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 70

70 compassion

The discussion here deals with logic size with time. A complete correction: and style, not the verity of the premise “. . . as big as it was at any time . . .” expressed in the newspaper sentence be- Although the examples above are not low. worded logically, at least we know the essential points of similarity or contrast . . . Japanese investors still need to that the writers have tried to express. In learn that the tenant is king in Amer- the example below, the essential message ica, compared to the landlord’s mar- is not clear: ket in Japan. . . . Contrary to popular belief, children It seems to be comparing a royal rank account for 15% of the homeless pop- and a type of market. Either the ﬁrst or ulation. the second part has to change. Exam- ples: (1) “to learn that a tenant’s market What is the “popular belief”? Contrary prevails in America, compared . . .”; (2) to popular belief usually implies that the “to learn that the tenant is king in Amer- adjoining statement is the opposite of the ica, compared with his subordinate posi- belief. The statement here, a statistic, has tion in Japan. . . .” (“To” needs to be no clear opposite. with. See COMPARED TO and COM- See also AS, 3; AS and LIKE, 2; LIKE, PARED WITH.) 2; UNLIKE, 2; Numbers, 7, 10B. Instead of compared with, the difference could be highlighted by unlike or in COMPASSION. See MERCY and contrast to. A reporter was on the track PITY. but got derailed: COMPENDIUM, COMPENDI- In contrast to 40 years ago the Gover- OUS. A book is subtitled “A Com- nors today—Mr. Mabus, 39 years pendium of Source Material to Make old, Mr. Clinton, 40, and Mr. Roemer, Your Speech Sparkle.” An article refers 45—are not set in the segregationist to “ ‘Outrageous Animation,’ a feature- ways of the past. length compendium of cartoons. . . .” In both cases “compendium” is used as He seems to be comparing a time in the though it meant collection. past with three governors. What he A compendium is a summary, abridg- probably meant to say and should have ment, or outline of a work. That is one said was of this order: “In contrast to the meaning of the word in Latin, its source. governors of their states 40 years ago, Perhaps the comp-, as in compilation or the Governors today . . .” or “Unlike comprehensive, fools people. their counterparts 40 years ago, the Compendium (noun) is related to Governors today. . . .” compendious (adjective), meaning sum- A columnist, writing about quartet marized, containing all the essentials singing, got into double trouble: succinctly. Noah Webster’s ﬁrst general dictionary, 1806, was titled A Compen- Barbershop was big in the ’50s, as dious Dictionary of the English Lan- big at any time since its Golden Era in guage. He meant that it was concise. the early years of the century. When a lexicographer sought “to produce a work that would be as compen- To insert a second as—“as big as”— dious as Webster’s Third,” did he want it would help but not completely rescue to be as concise? Other comments of his the sentence. It seems to be comparing (references, in an essay, to “The sheer 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 71

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quantity and range of the material” and COMPLEMENT and COMPLI- “the inclusiveness of this huge new dic- MENT. An advertisement for an tionary”) indicate that he meant as inclu- apartment complex included this sen- sive or as comprehensive. tence: “Beautiful shade trees compliment these garden apartments and beautifully COMPLAINANT. The chairman of landscaped grounds.” If trees could talk, a Senate committee asked a witness at a they might “compliment” the apart- prominent hearing three times whether ments and grounds on their appearance. the “conduct of a complaintant” could As it is, the writer should have used the be relevant to a rape case. other word, complement. A person who complains, particularly To compliment (verb, transitive) in the sense of filing a formal complaint someone is to pay the person a compli- in a legal case, is a complainant, spelled ment (noun): an expression of admira- with just one t. One who complains, but tion, congratulation, or praise. (Think of not in a formal sense, can also be called a beautiful i’s.) complainer, with no t. There is no “com- To complement (verb, transitive) plaintant.” something is to add, or serve as, a complement (noun) to it. A complement is Complement. As a term of grammar, that which makes something whole or complement is used in varying ways. In brings it to perfection or completion. the broadest sense, it is a word or group (Complete this word with e’s.) of words that completes a grammatical A savings bank displayed a sign say- construction. Usually the word or group ing, “ASK ABOUT OUR COMPLE- of words goes with a verb in the predi- MENTARY MORTGAGE ANALYSIS.” cate of a sentence (see Verbs, 1D) and If the intended meaning was that the makes the meaning of the verb or its ob- mortgage analysis would be provided ject complete. free of charge as a courtesy or compli- A complement may be a direct object ment, complimentary should have been (“Jack built the house” / “I met him”) or the adjective chosen. Complementary an indirect object (“Give the boy his means acting as a complement, complet- money” / “I will send her a letter”). See ing what is lacking. Verbs, 1E. More often complement refers to a subjective complement or an COMPOSE. See COMPRISE, 1. objective complement. A subjective complement (or subject COMPOUNDS (chemicals). See complement) accompanies a linking verb SILICON and SILICONE. and identifies or qualifies the subject. If the complement is a noun, it is called a Compounds (words). See Plurals predicate noun (or predicate nomina- and singulars, 2B; Punctuation, 4D. tive). (“That bird is a gooney.”) If it is an adjective, it is called a predicate adjec- COMPRISE. 1. “COMPRISED OF.” tive. (“They seem happy.”) See Verbs, 2. “INCLUDE, CONTAIN.” 3. The 1F. whole and the parts. An objective complement (or object complement) completes the meaning of a 1. “COMPRISED OF” direct object. (“His friends call him To comprise (verb, transitive) is to Red.” / “Mining made them rich.” / consist of, to be composed of—of is part “John got the clock to run.”) See also of the meaning. FACT- words, 2 (factitive). In four press samples, the word’s past 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 72

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participle, comprised, is misused as Using comprise implies that all the though it meant “composed.” (In the items making up the court or team or first two, it opens an appositive phrase. other body are being enumerated. (“A In the latter two, it serves as a main water molecule comprises two atoms of verb.) hydrogen and one atom of oxygen.”) But using include implies that not all the The special panel, comprised of seven items are being enumerated. (“A water senators on the Judiciary Committee molecule includes one atom of oxygen.”) and two from Foreign Relations, also Contain can have either meaning, de- meets privately. pending on the context. (“This can contains only tomatoes. That one contains The author will develop the plot in salt and spices.”) consultation with the committee, comprised of Mr. Clarke and two 3. The whole and the parts other lawyers. The whole comprises its parts, not the other way around. Congress comprises “Comprised of” is wrong. Changing it two houses. Two houses do not “com- to comprising would correct both sen- prise” Congress. tences: “comprising seven senators...” This passage appears in a medical dic- / “comprising Mr. Clarke and. . . .” An- tionary, under “fat”: other way is to change “comprised” to consisting, composed, or made up, keep- Three fatty acids, oleic acid . . . stearic ing of. acid . . . and palmitic acid . . . comprise the bulk of fatty acids present in The court is comprised of eight ac- neutral fats found in body tissues. tive judges. A correction that keeps the word com- ...Our research team was comprise is as follows: “The bulk of fatty prised of women. acids present in neutral fats found in body tissues comprise three fatty acids: To fix those two sentences, change “is oleic acid” etc. An alternative correction comprised of” to comprises (“The court is to change “comprise” to make up: comprises eight active judges”) and re- “Three fatty acids . . . make up the duce “was comprised of” to comprised bulk,” etc. (“Our research team comprised women”). There are other ways: “The Concrete noun. See Nouns, 1. court consists of” and “Our research team consisted of” / “The court is com- CONDITION. 1. Accidental drol- posed of” or “made up of” and “Our re- lery. 2. Contradictory meanings. search team was composed of” or “made up of.” (We assume that the com- 1. Accidental drollery position of each group was given in its Do you want to get into condition? entirety.) People do it in a variety of ways. We hear on television that a man is “in good 2. “INCLUDE, CONTAIN” condition after falling twenty feet from a At least three dictionaries mislead- gondola at Disneyland,” and we read in ingly give as one of their definitions of a newspaper that an ex-president is “in comprise “To include, contain.” The excellent condition after . . . he was meanings are not the same. thrown from a horse. . . .” 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 73

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Warning: Those methods are not rec- is that what is confessed is bad or faulty, ommended for everyone. You are better or so perceived. off with good food and normal exercise. The only perceptible fault in the fol- If anyone really concludes from such lowing sentence, the lead of an article, is reports that accidents bring about physi- its final word: cal fitness, blame a combination of two journalistic locutions: (1) reversal of the “Four times they asked me to play chronological order of events, often with Kate, and four times I refused,” Car- after, in an effort to update the news; ole Shelley confessed. and (2) use of condition in a special sense, that of a medical prognosis, a What is so bad about turning down a prediction of a patient’s chance of recov- part in a play that an actress has to “con- ery. A patient who is sore, bruised, and fess” it? hurting may not feel in “good”—let In colloquial speech, confess and ad- alone “excellent”—condition, but that is mit often are used interchangeably. what the reporter got from his medical When a formal, written confession of a source. crime is made, confess is more precise. Sometimes the word condition or a In the sense of acknowledging wrong- synonym is omitted from a headline doing, confess is both a transitive verb dealing with someone’s health, and read- (“He confessed the burglary”) and an in- ers may be told that the person “is criti- transitive verb (“He confessed”). In that cal” or “serious” or “good.” The result sense, admit is transitive only. With the may be an ambiguity or, at least, a temp- sanction of several dictionaries, one may tation to wags. either confess a crime or confess to a See also AFTER; CRITICAL. crime. Some grammarians consider “confess to” clumsy and not idiomatic. 2. Contradictory meanings In religion, confess can mean to de- Condition (noun and verb) has dozens clare one’s faith or belief, or to make of meanings. Two of its popular mean- one’s sins known to a priest; the priest is ings are contradictory: To be in or get said to confess someone. into condition refers to physical fitness See also ADMIT. or good health, but to have or suffer a condition refers to an ailment or disease. CONFIDENT. See SURE. Neither application is suitable in writings on scientific or medical topics. In Confusing pairs. A list of sixty word “He suffers from a heart condition,” the pairs that can be troublesome follows last word would bother many editors, below. The words (or combining forms) even in the popular press. Its use is your in boldface in each paragraph have dif- choice. ferent meanings, spellings, and pronunciations but are subject to confusion Conditional sentences. See Subjunc- because they look or sound similar. They tive; WAS and WERE. are presented in alphabetical order and briefly defined, with illustrations of use CONDOLENCE. See MERCY and in most instances. PITY. Other groups of the same kind, enumerated at the end of this list, are dealt CONFESS. The primary meaning of with as separate entries. See also Homo- confess is to acknowledge or admit one’s phones, listing pairs of words that are crime, misdeed, or fault. The implication spelled differently but pronounced the 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 74

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same. Punctuation, 1 B, deals with con- the priest celebrating the Eucharist. Cele- fusion related to apostrophes. brator, one who celebrates; “New Year’s celebrators.” Adverse, unfavorable; “an adverse re- Chafe, to rub or irritate, “shoes that sult.” Averse, opposed; “averse to gam- chafed her feet.” Chaff (noun), grain bling.” husks separated from seeds, “separate Allude, to refer (to something or the wheat from the chaff”; (verb) to someone) indirectly or by suggestion, tease in a friendly way, “chaffed by his with no specific mention; “alluding to wife for watching too much sports.” his opponent but never mentioning him Clean (verb), to literally remove dirt, by name.” Elude, to avoid or slip away debris, stains, or impurities; “to clean from, especially by crafty means; “elud- the bathroom.” Cleanse, in a figurative ing the police for years.” sense, to clean, purge, or purify—appli- Alternate (noun), a substitute, “an al- cable to religion and ceremony; “to ternate at the convention”; (adjective) ev- cleanse ourselves of sin.” ery other, or first one and then the other, Climactic, pertaining to a climax; “alternate years” / “alternate boxes.” Al- “the climactic scene.” Climatic, pertain- ternative (noun), a choice, “the alterna- ing to climate; “climatic data.” tive to ice cream”; (adjective) providing a Corps (pronounced like core), a mili- choice, “an alternative dessert.” tary or other group. Corpse, a cadaver. Ambiguous, able to be interpreted in Credible, believable; “a credible ac- two or more ways; “an ambiguous sen- tress.” Creditable, deserving credit; “a tence.” Ambivalent, having conflicting creditable achievement.” feelings, e.g., love and hate; “his ambiva- Dairy, a place that produces or sells lent attitude toward her.” milk products. Diary, a private record Arrant, out-and-out; “arrant non- book. (The a and i are sometimes inad- sense.” Errant, wandering, deviating; “a vertently transposed.) knight-errant” / “an errant golf ball.” Delusion, a false belief; “a delusion of Avenge, to inflict punishment for, em- grandeur.” Illusion, a misleading image phasizing justice; “avenge the crime.” or false perception; “an optical illusion.” Revenge, to inflict punishment for or on Deprecate, to express disapproval of, behalf of, emphasizing retaliation; “re- or to plead against; “to deprecate the venge my abused daughter.” proposed merger.” Depreciate, to lessen Averse, see Adverse in this list. the value of, or to decline in value; “the Avoid, to keep away from; “avoid the peso is depreciating.” crowd.” Evade, to escape by devious Dialectal, of a dialect; “a dialectal means; “evade taxes.” word.” Dialectic, a method of logic; “the Beside, alongside; “a nightstand be- philosopher Hegel’s dialectic.” side the bed.” Besides, in addition (to); Disassemble, to take apart; “The re- “other performers besides the star.” pairman has to disassemble the ma- Breath (noun), respiration or an in- chine.” Dissemble, to disguise the real halation of air; “a deep breath.” Breathe nature of something by means of a false (verb), to inhale and exhale air; “breathe appearance; to act hypocritically; “He deeply.” dissembled his hostility by feigning Calvary, the place of, or a representa- friendship.” tion of, Christ’s crucifixion. Cavalry, Efficacy, effectiveness; “efficacy of the combat troops, formerly on horseback, drug.” Efficiency, competency, speed, now in armored vehicles. and economy in a job; “the workers’ effi- Celebrant, strictly speaking, a partici- ciency.” pant in a religious ceremony, particularly Elemental, of or pertaining to an ele- 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 75

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ment or force of nature; “elemental par- Luxuriant, abundant, profuse; “luxu- ticles.” Elementary, fundamental, intro- riant vegetation.” Luxurious, of, provid- ductory, presenting the rudiments; ing, or characterized by luxury; rich, “elementary school.” pleasurable; “a luxurious hotel.” Energize, to give energy to, or to Marital, pertaining to marriage. Mar- rouse; “energize the circuit” / “energize tial, pertaining to war. (The i and t are the audience.” Enervate, to deprive of sometimes inadvertently transposed.) energy, to weaken; “enervated by the Material, the substance(s) that a thing tropical climate.” is made of; “raw material” / “fine mate- Entomology, the study of insects. Ety- rial.” Materiel (or matériel), munitions mology, the study of word history or an in war or things needed in any undertak- account of a word’s origin and developing; “men and matériel.” (In pronuncia- ment. tion the -el is stressed.) Errant, see Arrant in this list. Moral (noun), the lesson of a tale, Evade, see Avoid in this list. “the moral of this fable”; (adjective) Fiscal, financial or pertaining to rev- concerning right and wrong, “a moral enue; “fiscal year.” Physical, pertaining obligation.” Morale, mental spirits; “the to the body or to material things; “phys- soldiers’ morale.” ical exercise.” Ordinance, a law or regulation, often Forceful, full of force, effective; “a minor; “city ordinance.” Ordnance, forceful speaker.” Forcible, carried out weaponry, particularly artillery; “army by force; “forcible entry.” ordnance.” Glance (noun), a quick look, “a Oscillate, to swing back and forth reg- glance at her face”; (verb) to take a ularly; “an electric fan that oscillates.” quick look, “to glance back.” Glimpse Osculate, to kiss each other; “lovers os- (noun), a very brief, incomplete view or culating.” sight, “a glimpse of the Pope”; (verb) to Parameter, primarily a mathematical catch a glimpse of, “to glimpse at a me- term: a symbol (such as a or t) represent- teor.” ing a quantity that is constant in a par- Hyper-, excessive or too high, as in ticular case but whose value varies in hypertension, high blood pressure, and different cases, e.g., a radius, varying hyperthermia, high temperature. Hypo-, with different circles. Perimeter, the bor- inadequate or too low, as in hypoten- der of a two-dimensional figure; “the sion, low blood pressure, and hypother- perimeter of the room.” mia, low temperature. Persecute, to oppress (people), typi- Illusion, see Delusion in this list. cally because of religion, race, or poli- Inter-, among or between, as in inter- tics; “China’s effort to persecute the state, among states. Intra-, within, as in Tibetans.” Prosecute, to institute or con- intrastate, within one state. duct court proceedings, particularly Judicial, pertaining to or befitting criminal, against (someone); “the deci- judges or courts; “the judicial system.” sion to prosecute him on perjury Judicious, prudent or showing sound charges.” judgment; “a judicious decision.” Perspective, a technique of represent- Laudable, praiseworthy; “a laudable ing three dimensions in two-dimensional achievement.” Laudatory, expressing art, or one’s viewpoint; “the perspective praise; “presented with a laudatory of the painting” / “from my perspec- plaque.” tive.” Prospective, in the future, likely; Lightening, reducing a weight or a “prospective customers.” load. Lightning, an electric discharge in Physical, see Fiscal in this list. the atmosphere. Practicable, workable, able to be car- 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 76

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ried out; “testing the device to see if it’s Serve (verb), to perform service, to practicable.” Practical, effective, utilitar- help; “to serve our customers” / “to ian, put to a useful purpose; “the first serve my country.” Service (verb), to re- practical electric light.” pair or render (something) fit for service, Precede, to go before; “to precede the or (for a male animal) to mate with (a fe- discussion with a brief introduction.” male animal); “to service cars” / “to ser- Proceed, to continue on; “to proceed vice cows.” cautiously up the mountain.” Sewage, waste water and solids car- Presumptive, presumed; providing ried off in sewers and drains; “excess ground for belief or acceptance; “pre- sewage from the heavy rains.” Sewerage, sumptive evidence” / “heir presump- a system of sewers, or the removal of tive.” Presumptuous, quick to presume, waste through such a system; “improv- venture, or take liberties; too forward; ing the city’s sewerage” / “efficient sew- impudent; “a presumptuous student erage.” who contradicted his teachers.” Simple, not complicated, easy to un- Proceed, see Precede in this list. derstand or deal with; “simple direc- Prospective, see Perspective in this list. tions.” Simplistic, oversimplified; “a Prostate, a male gland. Prostrate simplistic answer to a complex prob- (verb), to have (oneself) bow down; or lem.” (adjective) lying down full length. Specie, money in the form of coin, as Revenge, see Avenge in this list. distinguished from paper money; “is- Sanction, (noun) authoritative per- sued in specie.” Species (singular and mission, or (verb) to allow or approve; plural noun), a biological class, ranking “sanctioning my activities.” Sanctions, after a genus, consisting of animals or action taken against a country to force plants able to interbreed; “an endan- compliance with certain standards; “the gered species.” sanctions against South Africa.” Systematic, based on, forming, or Saving, a reduction in expense (or la- characterized by a system, plan, or bor, time, etc.) or its result; “a saving of method; methodical; orderly; “a system- 20 percent” / “daylight-saving time.” atic study” / “systematic work habits.” Savings (plural), sums of money that Systemic, affecting the body as a whole, have been saved and laid away; “to have not just one organ or location; “a sys- savings in the bank.” temic disease” / “a systemic drug.” Scrip, a certificate or other paper to be Trustee, pronounced trust-EE; a mem- held temporarily and exchanged for ber of an institution’s governing board, stock, money, services, etc., or such is- or one who holds title to property for the suance in general. Script, handwriting; benefit of another. Trusty, pronounced or the written form of a dramatic work TRUST-ee; a prisoner considered trust- or oral program. worthy and granted special privileges. Seasonable, suitable to the time of Turbid, opaque, dense, or muddled; year; “a seasonable cold spell.” Sea- “turbid water” / “turbid smoke” / “tur- sonal, affected by the season, or coming bid mental state.” Turgid, swollen, in- at regular times of the year; “seasonal flated, or pompous; “turgid foot” / work” / “seasonal planting.” “turgid style of writing.” Sentiment, opinion, emotion, tender Venal, subject to corruption, “venal emotion, or thought influenced by emo- officials.” Venial, easily forgiven, excus- tion; “my sentiment is” / “logic, not sen- able; “a venial sin.” timent.” Sentimentality, an excess of Vicious, wicked; “a vicious crime.” sentiment or emotion; “a melodramatic Viscous, slow-flowing; “a viscous liq- play, marred by sentimentality.” uid.” 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 77

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See also the following entries: SET and SIT SHIMMER and SHIMMY ADAPT and ADOPT SILICON and SILICONE ADVICE and ADVISE SPAT and SPATE ANECDOTE and ANTIDOTE TEMBLOR and TREMBLER APPRAISE and APPRISE TESTAMENT and TESTIMONY CAREEN and CAREER THAN [and THEN] CENSOR and CENSURE TORTUOUS and TORTUROUS COCA and COCOA WENCH and WINCH DESERT and DESSERT WHEREFORE and WHEREOF DISCOMFIT and DISCOMFORT WITHER and WRITHE DISINGENUOUS and INGENUOUS WREAK and WRECK DISINTERESTED and UNINTER- WREST and WRESTLE ESTED DISQUALIFIED and UNQUALIFIED CONGRESSMAN, CONGRESS- EMIGRATE and IMMIGRATE MEN. See PEOPLE as a sufﬁx; PER- EMINENT and IMMINENT SON, 1. EXERCISE and EXORCISE Conjunctions. See AND; AS; AS and FARTHER and FURTHER LIKE; BECAUSE; BOTH, 1; BUT; EI- FLAUNT and FLOUT THER; NEITHER; NOR; NOT ONLY; FLOUNDER and FOUNDER OR; Series errors; THAN and THEN; FOREWORD and FORWARD THAT; WHETHER; WITH (misused). FORTUITOUS [and FORTUNATE or FELICITOUS] CONNIVE. This verb stems from the FULSOME [and FULL] Latin connivere: to close the eyes. The FUROR and FURY strict meaning of connive is to pretend GANTLET and GAUNTLET not to see a wrong or evil, thereby tacitly HARDY and HEARTY consenting to it. It goes with at. For in- HINDI and HINDU stance, “The president connived at the HISTORIC and HISTORICAL crimes of his men.” IMPLY and INFER The word (in the form of a gerund) INCIDENCE and INCIDENT was not used strictly when a broadcaster LIGATION and LITIGATION said the movie Wall Street conveyed the LOOSE and LOSE message that “lying, cheating, and con- MASTERFUL and MASTERLY niving are bad things.” Nor was its use NAUSEATED and NAUSEOUS (as a verbal adjective) strict in an article NAVAL and NAVEL about a lottery winner, whose “conniv- OPTOMETRIST and OPTICIAN ing relatives . . . tore his work clothes to PALPATE and PALPITATE shreds to keep him at home. . . .” PENCHANT and PENSION “Connive” is often used loosely in PERQUISITE and PREREQUISITE place of contrive or conspire, “conniv- PRESCRIBE and PROSCRIBE ing” in place of contriving, conspiring, PROPHECY and PROPHESY or cunning. Popular confusion probably REBUT and REFUTE arose from the words’ superﬁcial similar- REMUNERATION and RENU- ity. Their roots (Old English for cunning, MERATION Latin for the others) differ completely. RESPECTABLE and RESPECTFUL REVOLT and REVOLUTION CONSECRATE, CONSECRA- RUIN and RUINS TION. See DESECRATE, DESECRA- SCALD and SCOLD TION. 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 78

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CONSENSUS. A question for two CONTAIN. See COMPRISE, 2. critics and a reporter follows these excerpts: CONTINUAL(LY) and CONTIN- UOUS(LY). Continuous (adjective) or Here is a man [Scorsese] who, by gen- continuously (adverb) means without in- eral consensus is the best American di- terruption; going on steadily, either in rector of the last twenty years. time or in space. “The dam provides us with energy continuously.” / “I use a When the Chicago group played New continuous roll of paper in my printer.” York last fall, the general consen- For centuries continuous was the sus . . . was that the dancers did a meaning of continual, and dictionaries swell job. still include the former as one of the definitions of the latter. In modern times, But there has always been a general though, a useful distinction between the consensus of some kind of Mafia in- two arose. Continual (adjective) or con- volvement in the crime. . . . tinually (adverb) now means frequently repeated, taking place again and again. What other kind of consensus is there? It “Old Faithful’s continual spraying of is general by definition: general agree- water and steam into the air fascinates ment. Sometimes consensus is defined as visitors to Yellowstone.” / “Our neigh- unanimity, although it can describe also bors are continually playing music a collective view or majority agreement. loudly.” To substitute “continuous” or The phrase “consensus of opinion” is “continuously” would change each common. Various authorities frown on meaning. it, considering “of opinion” redundant. Sometimes the words are mistakenly Some others justify a consensus of opin- or carelessly interchanged, as in this pair ion, particularly when it needs to be dis- of examples: In the Arctic in December tinguished from a consensus of “it is dark continually.” / “A continuous authority, of evidence, of faith, of taste, use of ‘miracle’ to describe any coinci- of testimony, and so on. dence or amazing happening is vulgar.” In any case, “consensus of” does not Make it continuously in the first sentence go with “some kind of Mafia involve- (the darkness persists without interrup- ment” (in the third example). You can tion), continual in the second sentence test the sentence by substituting agree- (the use is repeated, not steady). ment for “consensus.” Among possible “Our goal at any given time is to corrections: change the first “of” to that strive continually to be ‘the best,’ ” the there was or change “consensus of” to director of an institute wrote. She proba- belief in. bly meant continuously strive, rather Consensus sometimes is misspelled than strive only at intervals. (See also “concensus” and occasionally is confused Quotation problems, 3.) with “census.” Consensus, like consent, originates in the Latin consentire, to Contractions. 1. Errors in number. 2. agree. It has nothing to do with census, Informality. 3. Quotation. 4. Perplexity. an official counting of inhabitants, which comes unchanged from Latin. 1. Errors in number A contraction is a shortened version CONSENT. See CONSENSUS. of a word or phrase, such as can’t in place of cannot or it’s in place of it is. CONSUL, COUNCIL, and Its use does not relax any grammatical COUNSEL. See Homophones. requirement. Subject and verb must still 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 79

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agree in number, just as if no contraction Witnesses reported tank movements were used. Both samples below contain Monday, but the reports couldn’t be errors in number. ofﬁcially conﬁrmed.

There’s even gossip, advice columns Why “He’s” and “couldn’t” instead of and TV listings [in a Polish weekly]. he is and could not? Did the reporters think a chatty style ﬁt those stories? The “There’s” is meant to contract there and latter sentence would be particularly un- is. But is does not go with the enumer- suitable for oral delivery, in which “-n’t” ated features. Change “there’s” to There is not always articulated. are. 3. Quotation Scientists say it’s “usually impossi- Contractions may or may not be war- ble” to predict when an earthquake ranted in quotations. If a speaker did not occurs but there’s been “tremendous utter any contraction, its use can border advances” in predicting where one oc- on misquotation. The excerpt below is curs, said Gore. from a published account of a rally in Moscow. This time “there’s” purports to contract there and has. But has (singular) dis- “The agenda’s already been de- agrees with “advances” (plural). Change cided,” said Boris N. Yeltsin, the pop- “there’s” to there have. ular maverick deputy-elect. “It’s been See also DON’T and DOESN’T. prepared by the apparat. . . . If we allow ourselves to be dictated to by the 2. Informality apparat, we will sink into a morass Usually contractions are acceptable in that we’ve only now begun to climb spoken English. They may also ﬁt writing from,” he said. [Emphases are added.] that is informal or that aims at simulating speech. They are standard in some ex- Yeltsin spoke in Russian, a language pressions, “It’s a boy.” / “It can’t happen with few contractions. It has nothing like here.” / “Aren’t we all?” / “Isn’t it time?” “agenda’s” / “It’s” / “we’ve.” What do An -n’t in a question is especially com- they contribute to the report that agenda mon and often desirable, e.g., “Won’t has, It has, and we have would not? you come home?” (rather than “Will Far from putting fanciful contractions you not come home?”). But eloquence in their quotations, some writers go to may call for the complete not: “If you the opposite pole and eliminate contrac- prick us, do we not bleed?” (rather than tions that were uttered. President Nixon “don’t we bleed?”). was widely quoted as saying, “I am not a Except where speakers are quoted us- crook.” His precise words were, “Well, ing them, contractions can stand out I’m not a crook [emphasizing “not”]. conspicuously in formal writing or ac- I’ve earned everything I’ve got.” Note counts of grave events, weakening the the three contractions. writing and giving it an inappropriate informality. Two examples from the press 4. Perplexity follow. Contractions can be confused with possessive forms. Even professional writ- He’s accused of trying to blow up his ers sometimes mix them up. See ITS and disabled parents and grandmother by IT’S; Punctuation, 1; WHOSE, 2 (confu- rigging a natural-gas leak in the base- sion with who’s). ment of their Russell Street home. During the national Democratic con- 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 80

80 contrary to popular belief

vention in San Francisco, a newspaper Contrast. See BUT, 1; COMPARED there ran a banner with this phrase: TO and COMPARED WITH, 1; Com- “Mondale’s halfway home.” Was the parison, 2; Irony; NOT, 1C; UNLIKE. paper running an exposé of a term spent by the vice-president in a house for reha- CONUNDRUMS. See FESTOON, bilitation? The headline raised that ques- FESTOONED. tion in my mind. But no; the story underneath said he had acquired half CONVINCE and PERSUADE. the delegates needed to win the presiden- Convince deals with concepts. It is to tial nomination. The apostrophe-s cause (someone) to believe something. meant is. Persuade deals with performance. It is to If contractions can confound those of cause (someone) to do something. us who are native to English, pity the If “We convinced the governor of newcomers and foreign visitors trying to Smith’s innocence” or “We convinced decipher them. The contractions in these him that Smith was innocent,” only the three passages are emphasized: governor’s belief changed; the man was not yet freed. If, however, “We per- What’s puzzling is that Mrs. suaded him to pardon Smith” or “He Cheney, who’s performed ably in her was persuaded to pardon Smith,” ah, job, applauds the Public Library’s then there was action. “considerable success in recent years Note that convince (verb, transitive) in achieving increased support. . . .” may be followed by of or that, never by “to.” Persuade (verb, transitive) is commonly followed by to. Literature of the But if the people who make up past shows also persuade into or unto America’s work force are more di- plus noun. verse than ever before, it’s men who In practice, the two words are often are still in charge—and who’ll stay interchanged. In a typical mixup, an an- that way if they heed Felice S——. . . . chor man said on network television:

. . . W—— is one of about 20 young- He has convinced the Food and Drug sters with cancer—or who’ve had can- Administration to change the food- cer—camped at Monte Toyon. . . . additive laws.

Readers of English must know the He, a doctor, has persuaded the FDA to possessive -’s. They may also know that change the rules. One could also say the -’s can stand for is when attached to a doctor has convinced the FDA that it noun or, sometimes, a pronoun. Those should change the rules. However, the who are unfamiliar with American con- persuaded phrasing is terser and makes versational speech may not realize that it clear that rules—not just minds—have -’s can also stand for has or us (“Let’s been changed. eat”). And they may not know what to make of some creations—like “who’ll” COOK. See BOIL. and “who’ve,” in which half of will and half of have are expunged for no obvious COOL. This word’s popularity among reason. juveniles as an all-purpose adjective of approval has spilled over to their elders. CONTRARY TO POPULAR BE- Not even a book on computer technol- LIEF. See Comparison, 2; NOT, 1C. ogy is immune to such jargon: 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 81

“could care less” 81

Some of the multimedia software but its use in more formal contexts meets available on CDs is soooo cool. . . . with objections from various writers, How totally cool I thought text-based speakers, and editors. Three-fourths of adventure games were. . . . Developers the American Heritage Dictionary’s us- are turning out improved drives, and age panel found it unacceptable. (coolest of all) some of the funkiest Omitting the with phrasing shrinks software. . . . [A movie] was cute— the word’s informative value. Unless the very cool, even. . . . The very cool context makes it clear, such use of cope sound programs . . . [Etc.]. generates questions.

Cool is perfectly proper in describing Copula or copulative verb (linking that which is moderately cold; or makes verb). See BAD and BADLY; FEEL; one feel that way, as a cool suit or cool GOOD and WELL; Pronouns, 10D; colors; or is calm, as a cool head or a Verbs, 1F. cool bandit; or lacks cordiality, as a cool reception. But if everything that pleases COPY-EDITING, COPYREAD- you, from mild diversion to sublime ec- ING. See PROOFREAD, PROOF- stasy, is “cool,” then you are talking kid- READING. die talk. See also NEAT. CORPORATION. See FIRM.

COPE. The issue is not whether one CORPS and CORPSE. See Confus- can cope with something but whether ing pairs. one can just cope—with nothing in particular. An example is excerpted from a Correlative conjunctions. See BOTH, journal of business and ﬁnance: 1; EITHER, 1; NEITHER, 1; NOT ONLY; Prepositions, 5. Faced by the pent-up demand created by neglect during Ethiopian rule, “COULD CARE LESS.” An expres- barefoot doctors from the front lines sion that once made sense, however couldn’t cope. overused, has become a cliché in muti- lated form. Educated users are uttering “Cope” with what? With anything? the very reverse of what they think they With everything? With all the medical are saying. These include a school princi- problems of the civilian population of pal in a newspaper interview and a Eritrea? columnist in a television forum: Cope (verb, intransitive) came to En- glish from the Old French couper, to “I could care less if people never strike, which came from coup, a blow. smoked again, but smokers have their Usually cope is followed by with, in a viewpoint,” said Bill R——, principal. phrase meaning to struggle with or con- . . . tend with, (something) either with some success or on fairly even terms. Let’s assume that Ms. Brown is as Cope without with, meaning to deal sane as a senator. I could care less. with or manage some situation or other, is a relative innovation, described as If the speaker could care less than he “colloq.” by the Oxford English Dictio- does now, he still cares. The expression nary. It did well in the title of a musical originally was I couldn’t care less. By the show, Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope, sixties, people began dropping -n’ts. 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 82

82 could have, could’ve, and “could of”

Among broadcast variations: “Ameri- An old editors’ tale holds that couple cans could care less” (instead of could must be singular. If you wish to follow not or couldn’t) and “Some can care that path, at least do so all the way less” (cannot or can’t). through a sentence. Accordingly, “their” becomes its in each of the four samples. COULD HAVE, COULD’VE, and When you construe couple as singular, “COULD OF.” See HAVE, HAS, be prepared to say, “The couple was on HAD, 2. its honeymoon.” Does the phrasing look or sound odd? Then try a plural con- COUNSEL. See ATTORNEY and struction. LAWYER; Confusing pairs (council etc.). 2. Plural construction In general, the noun couple denotes COUNT and COUNT ON. See two of the same kind, whether closely re- ON, 2. lated or not. It may be treated as singular or plural, depending on the kind. When COUP D’ÉTAT. See REVOLT and it refers to a man and woman who are REVOLUTION. united in some way, couple is more likely to be plural. Most of the time you can- COUPLE. 1. Inconsistency in number. not go wrong with sentences like the fol- 2. Plural construction. 3. Use as modi- lowing; they are corrections of the four ﬁer. samples: 1. Inconsistency in number The couple . . . were . . . on their The journalists who wrote the four honeymoon. sentences below seem unable to make up their minds. . . . The couple have agreed to annul their stormy marriage. . . . The couple . . . was the crown prince and princess of Sweden . . . on their . . . The couple want to demolish honeymoon. a . . . home on their property. . . . The couple has agreed to annul Couple enjoy reclusive life on their their stormy marriage. . . . mountain. . . . The couple wants to demolish a If the man and woman are named, of- unique contemporary home on their ten they can replace “the couple.” property.

Couple enjoys reclusive life on their 3. Use as a modiﬁer mountain. As a modiﬁer, couple is usually preceded by a and followed by of: “a couple What the writers cannot decide is of kids.” An article said “there are a cou- whether to regard husband and wife as ple ways” to reduce the state’s liabilities. one or two. In each sentence, couple is Make it “a couple of ways.” regarded as both singular and plural. When a couple precedes certain adjec- The verb, such as “was” or “wants,” is tives, including more and less, no of fol- singular while the pronoun, “their,” is lows: “a couple more oranges.” plural. Any logic behind such inconsis- A couple means two of something. tency fails to emerge. Using it in place of a few—“Go a couple 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 83

crescendo 83

of miles and turn right”—should be left main headline: “Bomb Rips Apart Israeli to loose speech. Bus, Kills 22; ——— Takes Credit.” One takes credit for, say, founding an institu- COVET. To covet is to crave or long tion or creating an invention, not for for something. It may imply craving committing a massacre. Accepts Respon- something that belongs to another. The sibility would have been right. (The Ten Commandments say that one shall headline named the group, thereby not covet a neighbor’s wife and goods. granting it the notoriety it craved. Just Covet is a verb (transitive and intransi- “Group” would have been preferable.) tive), pronounced KUV-it. See also BLAME, 2. The news media frequently use coveted, the past participle, along with CREDITOR and DEBTOR. A na- award or prize in the manner of these ex- tional television show devoted to the try- cerpts: “Solectron . . . won the coveted ing of monetary claims should be able to Malcolm Baldridge National Quality distinguish a creditor from a debtor. Yet Award in 1991.” / “Now we hear that its announcer said about a woman who Dilbert and his hapless colleagues are up was sued for money, “She is accused of for a coveted Reuben Award. . . .” dodging a debtor.” If she owed the debt, The award is often one that most she was the debtor. The one seeking pay- people have never heard of. Who is do- ment was the creditor. ing all that coveting? A weekly paper said that someday Iraq’s “bank accounts will be unfrozen Creatures, plural. See Plurals and sin- and it will have to pay its debtors.” gulars, 2C. Creditors.

CREDIBLE and CREDITABLE. CRESCENDO. No one with a See Confusing pairs. knowledge of music is likely to have written any of these passages: CREDIT. A three-column headline over a letter to the editor of a large daily Clark’s mounting annoyance with said, “Credit Reagan for Destroying So- the witness reached a crescendo in cial Programs.” From the standpoint of redirect questioning. grammar and not politics, the verb should be blame, not “credit.” If the let- But with cocaine, dopamine is not ab- ter writer had opposed social programs sorbed and continues to excite nerve (which was not so), credit might have cells. The result is that the nerve stim- been appropriate. (Then it would have ulation rises to a crescendo with no been more idiomatic to “Credit Reagan relief, causing the feeling of euphoria. With the Destruction of Social Pro- grams.”) When troubled at home, seek so- In both financial and nonfinancial lace—and photo opportunities— senses, credit (noun) is positive, not neg- abroad. President Nixon offered a ative. To credit a financial account is to prototypical example with his jaunt to add to one’s credit: the amount in one’s Egypt in 1974, as Watergate reached a favor. To credit a person with something crescendo. is to give him credit, in the nonfinancial sense: worthy approval, commendation, Crescendo does not mean a high honor, or praise. point. It is a musical term that means (as Another large daily made a wildly in- an adjective or adverb) gradually getting appropriate use of credit as a noun in a louder or (as a noun) a gradual swelling 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 84

84 crime, misdemeanor, and felony

of volume or a passage that gradually “Rising” is redundant. Rising is what gets louder. Crescendo tells us nothing makes a crescendo. about the sound level, only about the process of increasing it. In musical CRIME, MISDEMEANOR, and scores, crescendo usually is expressed by FELONY. The title of the Woody a symbol (<) or an abbreviation (cresc., Allen movie Crimes and Misdemeanors cres., or cr.). reflected the popular notion that a “mis- To say that a piece of music demeanor” is not a “crime.” The misde- “reached” or “rises to” a crescendo meanor is one of the two main categories would be meaningless. A crescendo may, of crime, the less serious category. The however, reach a forte, a loud passage; a more serious one is the felony—the kind fortissimo, a very loud passage; or even a we worry about. piano, a soft passage, if the music is very A misdemeanor is usually punishable soft at the start. The opposite of by a fine or a term of less than a year in a crescendo is diminuendo or decrescendo, county jail or both. The punishment for meaning gradually getting quieter. a felony is usually a term of a year or Crescendo in Italian means increasing. more in a penitentiary, but in some juris- All of the italicized words were adopted, dictions the maximum can be death. full blown, from Italian. Larceny or theft, which is stealing Crescendo may be used figuratively, in (without personal contact or forcible en- a nonmusical sense, to mean an increas- try), can be either a misdemeanor or a ing or intensifying, not a peak of inten- felony, depending on the value of the sity: “the market’s crescendo of activity loot. Statutes, varying in the fifty states, as the morning progressed.” determine which category a crime fits. Two television networks made the (In some places, traffic or other minor same kind of mistake on the same misdeeds are variously categorized as in- evening in reporting the same speech. fractions, offenses, or violations. They Describing the increasing support for Bill bring only fines and often are not consid- Clinton for president, one newscaster ered crimes.) said: In popular usage—and even in some formal contexts—“crime” means felony. It reached a kind of crescendo with Any talk about “the crime issue” or Mario Cuomo’s speech. “crime on the streets” or “a life of crime” is not likely to concern the com- The anchor man on the other network mission of misdemeanors. Just be aware said about that speech: that crime and misdemeanor are not opposites. Particularly did Cuomo do a good job The U.S. Constitution uses the term of building to a crescendo. high crimes for what are usually called felonies. It requires the removal from of- The sentence below does have a dy- fice of any federal officer impeached for namic crescendo, but one word needs to and convicted of “treason, bribery, or be omitted. other high crimes and misdemeanors.” So misdemeanors are in infamous com- The Reagan administration, amid a pany. rising crescendo of questioning about See also Crimes (various felonies). the U.S. role in policing the sea lanes of the war-torn gulf, strove to adopt a Crimes (various felonies). 1. AS- business-as-usual posture. . . . SAULT and RAPE. 2. BLACKMAIL 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 85

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and EXTORTION. 3. BURGLARY, but otherwise seemed to be too squeam- ROBBERY, and THEFT. 4. MAYHEM, ish to display any form of rape in the ar- MURDER, and MANSLAUGHTER. 5. ticle’s seventeen paragraphs, so he let TREASON and ESPIONAGE. “attack” and “assault” ﬁll in ﬁve times.

1. ASSAULT and RAPE 2. BLACKMAIL and EXTORTION If Joe tries to strike Mary but misses “When to Stop Oil Blackmail: Now.” or if he merely threatens to hurt her A headline over an editorial in a promi- physically and Mary has a reasonable nent daily so declared. fear that he will carry out the threat, he “There isn’t any question that there has committed assault. If he actually was blackmail,” the governor of strikes her, he has committed assault and Wyoming said about his state’s raising battery. the drinking age from 19 to 21 to avoid Unlawful sexual intercourse imposed losing federal highway funds. by a male on a female against her will or “The only reason we’ve got any speed without her consent is rape. It is rape limit at all is Federal blackmail, pure and also if the female, willing or not, is under simple,” a Montana state senator said. an age speciﬁed by law. (In some states, “It is blackmail, pure and simple,” the forcible sodomy on either sex also is host of a news commentary program considered rape.) The press long avoided said of the so-called Unibomber’s de- that word, substituting various imprecise mand for publicity. terms, like “assaulting” and “molest- In each case, no “blackmail” had been ing.” Readers in modern times usually, committed. Strictly speaking, blackmail but not always, get more precision. This is not just any kind of pressure or coer- is from the lead paragraph of a news cion. It is not limiting oil production to story: raise prices. It is not using federal funds to induce states to enact certain laws. It At an emotional hearing Friday, a is not threatening violence to exact a 36-year-old Los Angeles man dubbed payment or an action. the “Flat-Tire Rapist” was sentenced Blackmail is an attempt to obtain to 113 years and seven life terms for money by threatening to disclose infor- assaults on 11 women. . . . mation about someone. Jane commits blackmail when she demands $5,000 To say that a man who forcibly copu- from John for not telling his wife about lated with eleven women committed “as- his double life. The payment too can be saults” is at best a gross understatement. called blackmail. A popular synonym is Nobody would be sentenced to a lifetime hush money. in prison for simply assaulting people. People often loosely use “blackmail” The next paragraph recounts the man’s when they are talking about extortion. conviction on “36 counts of kidnaping, The exact meaning of extortion varies robbing and attacking women. . . .” Kid- from state to state. It may be limited to napping (also spelled kidnaping) and an ofﬁcial’s misuse of his position or robbery are criminal charges. “Attack- power to obtain money or property, or it ing” is not a criminal charge. Although may encompass any person’s obtaining its use as a euphemism improves upon of payment through coercion, intimida- “assaulting,” which carries a legal mean- tion, or threat. Some states use the term ing, consistency and precision would blackmail only when the threat of disclo- have been best. The writer braced up ini- sure is in writing; when it is oral, the tially to mention the culprit’s sobriquet crime is considered a form of extortion. 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 86

86 crimes (various felonies)

Related verbs (transitive) are to black- lence or the threat of violence. If a crimi- mail (someone) and to extort (money nal steals someone’s money or property from someone). by striking the victim or threatening to harm him, with or without a weapon, he 3. BURGLARY, ROBBERY, and THEFT has committed a robbery. A perpetration All of these excerpts from news stories that begins as a burglary can become a show the same confusion: robbery as well if the culprit confronts an occupant of the building he has en- . . . Two of those patrons were police tered and threatens or harms him. ofﬁcers in search of a burglary sus- A person or place is robbed; that pect. . . . [They] later found out the which is taken is stolen. If robbers prey robbery call was a phony. on a bank, for example, they rob the bank and steal a sum of money. The LIMA, Peru—Slum dwellers tied a bank is robbed of the money. If the cul- man accused of burglary to a 40-foot prits are armed, they can be said to hold wooden cross. . . . A—— had been up an establishment or a person. It or he caught robbing a home . . . the report is held up; there has been a holdup or said. hold-up. Slangy synonyms are stick up (verb) and stickup or stick-up (noun). . . . While she and her husband were What go up are victims’ hands. away from home . . . burglars entered Another example shows the two their house. . . . In the previous month crimes confused in another way. On Hal- there had been 32 similar robberies in loween a sign at a convenience store re- just that one suburban neighborhood. quested that customers not wear masks when entering. A television newscaster The search for a “burglary suspect” tried to explain: “They want to make would not be prompted by a “robbery sure that burglars don’t take advantage call.” The Peruvian “accused of bur- of the holiday.” Robbers, not “burglars.” glary,” even if guilty, had not engaged in “What you’re about to see is robbery “robbing.” And if the “burglars” had in broad daylight,” a television reporter committed similar crimes, the crimes said. What he showed was not a “rob- were not “robberies.” It is a common bery” but a pocket-picking. As long as mistake to call a burglary a “robbery” or force is negligible, it is a form of larceny, to say “I’ve been robbed” when one’s which is common stealing or theft. If the home has been burglarized and no rob- pickpocket jostles his victim or uses bery has been committed. other substantial force, the crime be- If someone breaks into your house or comes a robbery. In some states, the term apartment with intent to commit a larceny or theft includes more elaborate crime, he is committing a burglary, schemes for stealing, such as embezzle- which is a felony. Depending on the ment, obtaining property by false pre- state, breaking into a commercial estab- tenses, and swindling. Larceny or theft is lishment also may constitute burglary. usually divided into two grades, depend- The standard verb (transitive) is to bur- ing on the value of the property stolen: glarize. To burgle (verb, transitive and grand, a felony, and petty (or petit), a intransitive), a relative newcomer, has misdemeanor. been used mostly in humorous contexts, A mugging is an unexpected, violent such as the title of a novel by P. G. Wode- attack on a person with the intent of house, Do Butlers Burgle Banks? committing robbery. To mug someone is Robbery, another felony, is theft from to assault and batter the person with in- a person, or in one’s presence, by vio- tent to rob. It is not a synonym for rob, 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 87

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as it was misused in a news story: “The victim. An unintentional killing is man- students and parents . . . told tales of be- slaughter if it is committed in the course ing . . . mugged of the chocolate they of a misdemeanor, say the disregarding were selling as a school fund-raiser. . . .” of a traffic signal. They could be robbed of the chocolate. Homicide is the killing of one human However, one is not “mugged of” any- being by another, whether unlawful or thing; and the story did not say if a sur- lawful. The term takes in murder, prise attack preceded the robbery, manslaughter, and legally justifiable making for a mugging. killings. Statutes condone homicide when it is committed in self-defense, or 4. MAYHEM, MURDER, and MAN- by an insane person, or as a necessary SLAUGHTER duty by a law-enforcement officer. (Of In a preview of a local news telecast, course, all those definitions pertain to an announcer spoke of criminals’ “anger American law. Military acts have to do at society exploding in murderous may- with jungle law.) hem.” Then a newspaper columnist described violence on New Year’s Eve and 5. TREASON and ESPIONAGE commented that “this kind of mayhem” A columnist quoted a senator, who could not be blamed on freedom. Next, was challenging a nominee for secretary readers of an editorial were told, “Sense- of defense: less mayhem is no monopoly of the Japanese cult” (as though there could be “He knew the confidential negotiating sensible mayhem). Last, a reporter on positions . . . right after he got national television, outdoing others in through [participating in arms control alliteration, said the Colombia drug car- negotiations], he immediately went to tel dealt in “money, murder, and may- work for defense contractors.” hem.” The newscasts, the column, and I put that latest charge to John the editorial told of no case of mayhem; Tower after Sunday’s televised broad- no one seemed to know what it meant. sides: Did he sell that confidential in- Although some use it vaguely instead formation about fallback positions to of words like havoc, violence, or destruc- clients, as Senator Nunn clearly im- tion, mayhem is a particular felony. It is plied? the act of intentionally depriving a per- “That would be treason,” said Mr. son of a bodily member or function, or Tower sharply. otherwise crippling, disfiguring, maim- ing, or mutilating him. For instance, one For an American to sell confidential U.S. who willfully blinds another is guilty of military information to American mili- mayhem. The crime may become murder tary contractors would not be “trea- if the victim dies as a result of the attack. son.” Treason is an act of armed revolt Murder is the malicious and unlawful or wartime betrayal. If an American sold killing of a human being with intent to such information to a foreign representa- kill, or without intent to kill but done tive, either in wartime or in peacetime, during the commission of another he could be charged with espionage, a felony, such as robbery. It makes no dif- form of spying. ference if the one killed was not the in- In another incident, the Central Intel- tended victim. ligence Agency discovered that one of its An unlawful killing, even if it is inten- spies was also a spy for the Russians. A tional, is not murder but manslaughter television interview with a newspaper re- if the perpetrator had reasonable provo- porter specializing in intelligence matters cation and felt no malice toward the produced this dialogue: 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 88

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[Host:] Why don’t they execute American lawyers for foreign drug him? cartelists “traitors.” A letter in a news- [Guest:] We don’t have a death paper termed the campaign of the reli- penalty for treason. gious right “treason.” Protesters against President Clinton carried signs accusing “Treason” had nothing to do with it. Es- him of “treason” for actions concerning pionage was the crime. The statement is China. also wrong on a second score: The maxi- Treason has to do with war. In miscel- mum penalty for treason is death, under laneous decisions, courts have ruled that a federal statute. Another such statute all these circumstances are essential for provides a maximum penalty of death conviction: (1) a person either takes up for espionage too, but only when the in- arms against the United States or sup- formation obtained has been delivered ports the enemy after a war formally be- to a foreign government. gins; (2) in the latter event, he both takes Two network news women, within the side of the enemy and gives the three months in 1997, made the erro- enemy aid and comfort; (3) the aid neous statement that Julius and Ethel and comfort is in an overt act; (4) he in- Rosenberg were “executed for treason” tends to betray this country; (5) he is in 1953. Actually the couple were con- a U.S. citizen; and (6) the war formally victed of espionage, not “treason.” The begins with a declaration of war by alleged deed was the passing of atomic Congress. secrets to the U.S.S.R., when it was an ally of the U.S. (One speaker was prefac- CRISIS. See CRITICAL. ing an interview with a one-time member of the Soviet spying agency, who said CRITERIA and CRITERION. that no atomic secrets were passed and The noun criteria is a plural form of cri- that Ethel was not a spy.) terion, a standard or rule on which one Espionage is the obtaining—and often bases a judgment or decision. An alter- the delivery to a foreign government as native plural is criterions. It is incorrect well—of secret American military or de- to speak of “a criteria” or say “the crite- fense information with intent to injure ria is.” the United States. Thus it was a mistake to report on a In many a country, “treason” or its radio network that “the Chinese have a linguistic equivalent is whatever the ruler very strict criteria for what they want” in says it is. In the United States, treason is trade. Depending on the meaning in- what the Constitution says it is: only tended, the reporter should have either “levying war against them” (the United omitted the “a” (“the Chinese have very States) or “adhering to their enemies, strict criteria”) or used criterion (“the giving them aid and comfort.” Convic- Chinese have a very strict criterion”). tion, under the Constitution, requires When a TV panelist said, about a ban “the testimony of two witnesses to the on discrimination by some New York same overt act” or “confession in open clubs, “I think the criteria is 400 mem- court.” bers,” unquestionably “criteria” should Despite the constitutional prescrip- have been criterion. tion, those seeking to stain adversaries Criterion comes from Greek and re- sometimes apply the “treason” brush tains the Greek plural ending. See also with broad strokes. Senator Joseph R. Plurals and singulars, 2E. McCarthy once accused the Democratic Party of “twenty years of treason.” A CRITICAL. 1. Concerning crises. 2. former federal administrator called Concerning criticism etc. 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 89

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1. Concerning crises eventually touched virtually every A mayor was shot in Japan, and a agency. . . . story in a New York newspaper included this sentence: Change “culminate” to ended. The example is wrong on two scores: To culmi- The Mayor, Hitoshi Motoshima, nate does not mean to end or to be the was reported in critical condition but outcome. Moreover, it is an intransitive out of danger tonight after two hours verb, not transitive; one does not “cul- of surgery. minate” something. Although culminate(d) does belong in If he was in “critical” condition, how the sentence below, the preposition that could he be “out of danger” at the same follows it is not idiomatic. time? Critical in such a context normally means dangerous; it pertains to a crisis, a ...A growing body of scientific crucial point when the course of a dis- evidence on the dangers of so-called ease—or anything else—can turn in ei- secondhand smoke has culminated ther a favorable or an unfavorable with an influential Environmental direction. Could the report have lost Protection Agency report declaring something in translation? environmental smoke a “Class A Car- cinogen.” . . . 2. Concerning criticism etc. Critical (adjective) has an assortment Make it “culminated in.” The verb is of other meanings, among them crucial, normally followed by in, not “with.” decisive, perilous, and referring to important products or materials that are in CUM. Cum, Latin for with, appears in short supply. hyphenated combinations in this man- In the sense of judging, critical is not ner: “En route, don’t miss St. Francis necessarily negative. It can mean charac- Fountain, a Mission landmark lunch- terized by careful and objective judg- counter-cum-candy shop, founded in ment or it can pertain to formal 1918.” It becomes a high-flown substi- criticism. Popularly it is more often con- tute for together with or simply and, strued as judging unfavorably or in- mystifying many readers who would un- clined to judge unfavorably. derstand “lunch counter and candy A Nevada newspaper ran the headline shop.” (The piling up of two modifiers “Man is critical after car goes into as well as the compound further compli- canal.” The text beneath it indicated that cates the sample. See Modifiers, 4.) the only person in the car was a woman. The u in cum may be pronounced the Maybe that critical man was the owner. short way—inviting confusion with See also CONDITION. come—or like the oo in book.

CRY. See -Y ending. CUSTOM. As an adjective, custom means specially made for an individual CULMINATE. To culminate means customer (a custom suit) or doing work to reach the highest point or the climax to order (a custom tailor). of something. How not to use this verb is A label and a leaﬂet accompanying a illustrated by a press excerpt. mass-produced blanket say the product was “CUSTOM LOOMED” by a cer- The razing of the International tain manufacturer. As used in commerce, Hotel . . . culminated a crisis that the word is usually empty puffery. 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 90

Danglers. See Modifers, 1. “On the other hand, the data in the archives doesn’t reveal the sense that DARING. A radio network broadcast there’s a broad plan afoot to take over this phrase: “A daring escape from a Eastern Europe.” medium-security facility outside of Pueblo.” It lacks Colorado and a verb. Is the sentence right or wrong? As a (See Sentence fragment). The main trou- Latin plural, data traditionally was ble, though, is that daring is a word of strictly a plural in English. Thus “The praise; it commends one’s adventurous- data in the archives don’t reveal . . .” ness, initiative, boldness, and fearless- Data are pieces of information, particu- ness in a risky endeavor. Take the larly raw facts or figures used as the ba- “daring young man on the flying sis for conclusions or judgments. trapeze,” the subject of song since 1868. Many educated people, particularly Although no adjective was really in the United States, now use the word needed, a better one would have been as a collective singular (as the historian brazen or imitative. (The method of es- uses it); many do not. You cannot go cape, by helicopter, had been used before wrong construing data as plural, partic- and, still earlier, portrayed in a movie.) ularly in any formal use. In a comparable nonsentence, “A dar- The traditional singular of data is da- ing daylight robbery on a busy San Fran- tum, which is used much less often than cisco street” was reported on local circumlocutions like an item in the data. television. The same crime was “a dar- “A data” will offend many pairs of eyes ing holdup” on local radio. And when or ears. And “this data” can be ambigu- criminals stealthily murdered a guard ous: Does it mean one item or all the and wounded two people before rob- items? Fact or figure usually will do for a bing a bank, a newspaper described “a singular. daring holdup.” If those crimes required If you do choose to use data as a col- an adjective, ruthless would have been lective singular, at least be consistent. preferable, but why did the facts have to These two sentences appear in two con- be embellished at all? secutive paragraphs in a scientific journal: Dash. See Punctuation, 4. The demographic data obtained DATA. A historian is quoted, by a from the present updated sample is book critic, on newly revealed records of very consistant with that found in the the erstwhile Soviet Union: initial reports. . . .

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These data represent a two-edged ally to mean eliminate 10 percent. Nu- sword. merous other verbs are available in place of “been decimated” in the second sam- After using “data” as a singular in that ple: diminished, dwindled, been cut, write-up, the scientist changes his mind been reduced, been halved (omitting “by and uses it as a plural. (He is consistent 50 percent”), and so on. in his misspelling of consistent: A little A senator wrote a colleague that the later he writes of “a consistant finding.”) latter’s “wish to decimate the bill by an additional 20 percent cut in acreage is Dative. See Pronouns, 10B. unacceptable.” Perhaps weaken or en- feeble was meant. DEBTOR. See CREDITOR and Decimate should not be used in lieu of DEBTOR. annihilate or demolish or modified by completely, totally, or the like; nor DECIMATE. should it be applied to something abstract or incalculable. To “decimate his She [Princess Pauahi] saw native Ha- argument” or “decimate their enthusi- waiians literally decimated—reduced asm” is meaningless. in number from 400,000 to 40,000. Declarative sentence. See Backward If Hawaiians had been “literally deci- writing; (-) EVER, 1. mated,” as a speaker said on television, they would have been reduced in num- DECRESCENDO. See CRES- ber from 400,000 to 360,000. CENDO. The literal meaning of decimate is to destroy a tenth part of something; specif- DEER, plural. See Plurals and singu- ically, in Roman times, to kill one in ev- lars, 2C. ery ten of an army or a group, each See LIBEL and victim having been selected by lot. The DEFAMATION. SLANDER. word comes from Latin, in which dec- imus means tenth. Decimal has the same DEFEND. See Verbs, 1C. source. If the word “literally” and the num- Defining clause. See THAT and bers had been left out, decimated could WHICH. have been used in a looser sense: to destroy a substantial part of something Dehumanization. A writer does not measurable by number. consciously aim to dehumanize someone This appeared in a letter to the editor: in writing but can do so through fuzzy thinking that equates a human being The shortsighted exploitation of a with an abstraction or a statistic. The ex- rain forest like that of Sarawak—a ample is from a newspaper column: 160-million-year-old ecosystem that has been decimated by 50 percent in Smith, by the way, was the first en- only a few decades and will be gone dorsement under the new POA policy forever in another 10 years—is not of polling all of the station houses be- the right of any country. fore making a decision.

In the light of its origin, decimate should A person is not an “endorsement.” The not go with a number—unless used liter- sentence can be improved: “Smith, by 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 92

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the way, was the first person endorsed the part about “independence and under . . .” or “Smith’s endorsement, by democracy.” Three concepts have been the way, was the first under . . .” confused. This is from a front-page news story Democracy, in theory, is a political in another paper: system in which the people rule. The term also denotes a system of govern- He was the 14th homicide of the year ment by elected representatives of the in the crack-ridden 34th precinct. people. Freedom means the state of being free “He was the 14th homicide victim of the from restraints or being free from official year . . .” or “His killing was the 14th oppression or being able to do what one homicide of the year. . . .” A victim is not wants. a homicide. Homicide is the killing of one Independence means complete auton- human being by another. (General dictio- omy, nationhood, not being under for- naries contain a secondary definition of eign rule. homicide as a person who kills another, a The world has many independent dic- meaning that is nearly obsolete.) tatorships. Citizens of some autocracies In an autobiography, a general draws have a degree of freedom, perhaps eco- on military jargon to describe plans for a nomic or religious, without democracy. bombing attack on Baghdad: Citizens of some politically free countries may lack certain democratic rights, The hour was also selected to mini- such as the control of foreign relations. mize collateral damage, since most And sometimes people democratically Iraqis would be at home. . . . decide to curb some freedoms, say, for certain businesses or offenders. By “collateral damage” he means the killing of civilian people. DEMOCRAT and DEMOCRA- See also DETERIORATE; FATAL- TIC. It is ungrammatical to use the ITY; FEWER and LESS, 2. noun in place of the adjective, yet it is frequently done intentionally. A rhetori- DELUGED. See INUNDATE, IN- cal question posed by a Republican UNDATED. leader in the House of Representatives is typical: “When did we start signing on DELUSION and ILLUSION. See to any Democrat agenda?” Democratic. Confusing pairs. The adjective ends in ic, whether we use democratic (with lower case d), per- DEMOCRACY, FREEDOM, and taining to democracy, or Democratic INDEPENDENCE. The three words (with capital D), pertaining to the are not synonymous, contrary to the im- Democratic Party. The word democrat is plication of this sentence, from an edito- a noun only, meaning one who believes rial: in democracy; the name Democrat is a noun only, meaning one who adheres to Students in communist China the Democratic Party. sought a bit of independence and In the fifties, certain Republican democracy and paid with their blood politicos began mangling the name of to learn that freedom is not in a dicta- the opposition party by referring to the tor’s dictionary. “Democrat Party” or the “Democrat candidate,” on grounds that no one The part of the sentence about “free- should think of it as the only democratic dom” does not follow reasonably from party. So far the Democrats have not re- 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 93

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ciprocated the suffix-scrapping by speak- de, removal or reversal, desecrate (verb, ing of the “Republic Party.” transitive) literally means to divest of sa- The silliness has persisted and spread cred character or to use in a profane way beyond Republican politics. A headline that which is sacred. A church has been in a national newspaper read, “Demo- desecrated if it is turned into a private crat Sluggers Are Benched.” There was house. A religious emblem has been des- enough space to add two letters, so the ecrated if it becomes a T-shirt design. To newspaper had no excuse for truncating treat with sacrilege, or lack of reverence, the proper adjective. The normally non- also is to desecrate. A man who wears a partisan moderator of a news forum on hat in a church (or no hat in a syna- television wrongly referred to a “Demo- gogue) could be accused of desecrating crat plan” instead of a “Democratic it. So could one who burns it. plan” or a “plan by Democrats.” The opposite of desecrate is conse- Actually, Americans give scant crate, to establish as sacred. The related thought to any meaning behind the nouns are desecration and consecration, names Republican and Democratic, respectively. which offer no clue as to current ideo- When Congress discussed a proposed logical differences. Both parties favor a constitutional amendment that would democratic republic. The party that is authorize legislation “to prohibit the now Democratic was called Democratic physical desecration of the flag of the Republican in our republic’s youth, United States,” it was essentially consid- when such terms had more meaning. ering the physical consecration of that flag, its establishment as a sacred object. DEMOLISH. When you demolish an One can desecrate only that which is sa- object, you tear it to pieces, burn it up, cred. Probably what the sponsors had or knock it into a shapeless mass. A meant was the malicious destruction or qualification like “entirely,” in the fol- damaging of an American flag. lowing sentence, or “completely” or “totally” is superfluous; it is implied in DESERT and DESSERT. Desert is demolish(ed). “The front end of his car the sandy wasteland, pronounced DEZ- is reported to be entirely demolished.” urt. When we insert an s, we get dessert, Demolish (verb, transitive) implies vi- the sweet end of a meal. It is pronounced olent destruction; destroy, completeness dih-ZURT, the same as the verb desert, of ruin or wreckage and the ending of meaning to abandon. something’s usefulness, if not existence; The words are mixed up sometimes. raze, leveling to the ground; and ruin, In a manual of English for newcomers, spoiling and badly damaging but not an- this was printed: “Waitress: What would nihilating. you like for desert?” (The answer could Demolition (noun) is a demolishing, a have been “sand tarts” but was not.) destruction. A synonym, less common, is Later, a celebrated anchor man an- demolishment. nounced that Gerald Ford, newly retired See also DEVASTATE, DEVASTAT- as president, was visiting Southern Cali- ING; RUIN and RUINS. fornia’s warm “dessert country.” (It was not announced whether Ford was given DEPRECATE and DEPRECIATE. an executive sweet.) See Confusing pairs. See also SAHARA.

DESECRATE, DESECRATION. DESTINY. It is impossible to do what The Latin sacrare, to make sacred, or these writings talk of doing. A political holy, is the root of this word. Preﬁxed by ad: “Let the people of New York choose 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 94

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their own destiny.” A history book: the The adjective deteriorating, becoming world was “bereft of confidence in its worse, has six syllables (dih-TIER-ee-uh- ability to control its own destinies.” An rate-ing). article: an Iranian official affirmed “the Omitting the o syllable and the r right of every nation to decide its own sound is a fault of some speakers: On destiny.” (Making the final word future TV, a visitor to a zoo said “it started to would have corrected each example.) deteriate” years ago and a senator said Literally, one cannot choose, control, about the North Koreans, “They are a or decide one’s destiny. Nor can destinies deteriating economy.” (They are not an be withheld or changed. A book quoted economy. Better: “They have a deterio- a professor as saying, “We have been de- rating economy.”) nied our Polish destiny” (heritage?). A Deterioration, noun (dih-tier-ee-uh- big headline proclaimed “HONG RAY-shn), is the process of deteriorating KONG’S NEW DESTINY.” (There was or the condition of having deteriorated. new rule, predetermined by two nations.) DEVASTATE, DEVASTATING. By definition, destiny is one’s in- “A devastating earthquake on Guam,” a evitable lot; or, in a broader sense, a pre- newscaster announced on television (in a determined course of events or a power nonsentence of the type so beloved by that predetermines events. (Explaining newscasters). “Nobody was killed and the meaning of destiny does not imply nobody was left homeless,” she added. that there really is such a thing.) To devastate (verb, transitive) is to lay Synonyms for destiny are fate and for- waste. Devastating (adjective) means ut- tune. However, they have additional terly destructive. The two words imply meanings that bypass the question of pre- widespread ruin and desolation. If an determination. Fate, like destiny, often is earthquake took no lives or houses, how used loosely to signify merely an out- could it be “devastating”? come or final result or future; sometimes It was announced on another televi- it specifically means an unfavorable out- sion program: “An American city has come. Fortune often denotes good or bad been totally devastated.” A qualification luck, particularly the good; it can also such as “totally” or “entirely” is super- mean financial success or wealth. fluous; it is implied in devastated. The verb destine (transitive), usually See also DEMOLISH; RUIN and RU- used in the passive, destined, can imply INS. predetermination, or it can suggest no more than intend(ed) for a particular DEVOTE. See Gerund, 3A. end or head(ed) for a particular destination. Destination occasionally means a DIALECTAL and DIALECTIC. predetermined end or a destining. More See Confusing pairs. often it is merely a place toward which a traveler or a moving object is headed. DID. See DO, DID, DONE. See also INEVITABLE. DIFFERENT. 1. The preposition that DESTROY. See DEMOLISH. follows. 2. Unnecessary use.

DETERIORATE. The verb deterio- 1. The preposition that follows rate, meaning to make (something) When a preposition follows different, worse or to become worse, has ﬁve sylla- normally it is from. This usage is not bles (pronounced dih-TIER-ee-uh-rate). standard: 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 95

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New York City is different than other from or to” as the British way and “dif- cities. . . . ferent than” as the American way. It is not the standard American way. . . . Tragedies . . . have led many South Africans to suspect that the new South 2. Unnecessary use Africa is no different than the old. Sometimes “different” contributes nothing. Omitting it from an advertise- Change “than” to from in both statement for a newspaper, posted on the side ments (uttered by network television re- of transit vehicles, might have strength- porters). Than generally follows only ened the message: comparative words—bigger than, faster than—and different is not one of them. It takes over a million different people It is a positive adjective, except in rare over a million different places every cases. day. Grammatically, you cannot go wrong with different from. Yet some writers Different emphasizes unlikeness: “The and grammatical authorities have found French and the Germans are much dif- different than acceptable under certain ferent people.” If multiplicity is to be circumstances, perhaps even preferable emphasized, many, several, various, or a from the standpoint of style. They allow number, like nine or a million, probably than when a clause or implied clause fol- is a better adjective to use: “Many lows and when using from properly knights attempted to slay the dragon,” would result in a more complicated sen- not “different knights. . . .” tence. For example: “The practice of medicine takes a different form in Japan Digits spelled out. See NO WAY, 1; than [it takes] in the United States.” In- Numbers, 11. stead of than, you could substitute “from that which it takes,” or something DILEMMA. A dilemma is a situation of that sort, remaining technically cor- that requires a choice between two rect but complicating the sentence. equally unpleasant alternatives. The The choice is not just between from word was borrowed from Greek, di- and than. The message can always be ex- meaning double and lemma meaning pressed differently. “Japanese physicians proposition. Where is the dilemma in the do not practice medicine in the same following sentence? way that American physicians do.” Few disagree that when we differenti- The social dilemma of teenage ate individual nouns, noun phrases, or pregnancy is growing in Wyoming pronouns—“Meteors are different from while the state ranks third in the na- meteorites” or “Big cats are much differ- tion, according to a study initiated by ent from little cats”—the only preposi- Wyoming’s Commission for Women. tion to use is from, except in Britain, where “different to” sometimes is used. Neither that sentence nor the rest of the The adverb differently is likewise fol- article it is extracted from presents us lowed by from: “Canadians do not with a “dilemma.” Teenage pregnancy speak much differently from Ameri- may be a question, predicament, plight, cans.” problem, or social ill, but the writer fails In listing differences between British to explain why it is a “dilemma.” (Nor English and American English, two En- does he explain in what way Wyoming glish lexicographers present “different ranks third in the nation.) 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 96

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The paragraph below does present a DISASTER. A disaster is a great mis- true dilemma, one faced by a political fortune, such as a destructive earth- party in Israel, although the paragraph quake, famine, or flood. It is a has other troubles. happening, typically sudden and unexpected, that causes extraordinary loss of Political analyst Shlomo Avineri life or property. foresaw a double-edged dilemma for A news magazine’s treatment of an at- Labor: Leaving the government opens tempted coup in Moscow reduced the the party to an unpredictable electoral word to triviality. It said of a press contest, he said, but staying in would ference by the conspirators, “Their per- mean submission to its direct ideolog- formance was a disaster.” It was a failure ical opposite, the right wing of Likud. or fiasco or an inept or bungling performance or, in colloquial terms, a flop “Double-edged” is superfluous; it de- or a dud. The article perfunctorily scribes all dilemmas. (Moreover the two added, “Three demonstrators were left alternatives are inconsistent in their dead. . . .” moods. Either change “opens” to would A book comments on an airline com- open or change “would mean” to pany’s change of name: “It was widely means.) greeted as a disaster.” If that was an air- See also HOBSON’S CHOICE. line “disaster,” the word has lost its meaning. Its loose use to describe any DIMINUENDO. See CRES- failure may be harmless in informal con- CENDO. versation but is inappropriately transferred to serious writing or discussion. DINE. When you dine, you eat dinner. Disaster (from the Old French desas- When you eat breakfast, lunch, or sup- tre, from the Old Italian disastro), re- per, you breakfast, lunch, or sup, as the flects a faith in astrology. Latin provided case may be. In a magazine article about the negative dis- and astrum, from the British tea drinking, this sentence ap- Greek astron: a star. peared: See also TRAGEDY.

Anna, the seventh Duchess of Bed- DISCHARGE. See LAY OFF and ford, typically dined on a huge break- LAYOFF; LET GO. fast, virtually no lunch, and then again at about eight o’clock. DISCOMFIT and DISCOMFORT. Inasmuch as the two verbs look similar One cannot “dine” on breakfast and and sound similar, it is not surprising lunch, let alone “virtually no lunch.” that people confuse discomfit and dis- (The sentence also contains a faulty se- comfort. But the words have different ries: “breakfast . . . lunch [both nouns], meanings and different Latin roots via and then again [adverbial phrase]. . . .” the old French desconfire, to defeat (past And then again what? The misshapen participle: desconfit), and desconforter, sentence breaks off, and we have to to discomfort. guess whether another oversized repast Originally discomfit (verb, transitive) or another bird’s portion was in store for meant to defeat (an enemy) completely the duchess. See Series errors.) in battle. Its strictest use today is still to defeat completely, though not necessar- DISASSEMBLE and DISSEMBLE. ily in battle. See Confusing pairs. It can also mean to frustrate (some- 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 97

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one), to foil one’s plans. Such an action is Two talk show hosts, intending to im- likely to leave a person disconcerted, pugn statements made in a murder case, perplexed, dejected, or humiliated. used that word instead of its antonym. A Opinions diverge on whether (1) the de- TV host called a remark “a little bit in- feat or frustration is essential to the genuous,” and a radio host said of an- meaning or (2) the mental state alone is other remark, “That was ingenuous.” enough. Both needed disingenuous: not can- At the loosest level we find “discom- did, not straightforward, insincere. fit” used as a mere variation of the verb Perhaps the in- (which can mean in as “discomfort.” You be the judge of well as not in Latin) is a source of confu- whether the latter d-word in this excerpt sion. Ingenuous comes from the Latin from a book has any special reason for ingenuus, meaning native, free-born, no- being: ble, or frank. Ingenuous has been confused with in- While most buyers of literature don’t genious, which means clever or cunning think twice about ads that appear in and originates in the Latin ingenium: in- magazines, they find the same ads dis- nate ability. comfiting in books. DISINTERESTED and UNIN- Discomfort (verb, transitive) means to TERESTED. What do a book on old make uncomfortable, either physically Flemish painting and a situation comedy or mentally; to distress mildly. It is also a have in common? noun: an uncomfortable or mildly dis- tressing condition or feeling. The oppo- He [Brueghel] rejected literal imita- site is comfort (verb, transitive): to make tion of the Italians, ignored their sub- comfortable, to soothe; and (noun): a ject matter, was disinterested in comfortable or soothing condition or idealized beauty, had no more taste feeling, or that which produces it. for nudes than for palatial architec- The noun related to the verb discomfit ture. is discomfiture: a state of being discom- fited or, sometimes, the act of discomfit- No matter how disinterested I am, the ing. In Shakespeare’s day the noun also driver won’t stop yapping away. was discomfit. (This is from Henry VI, Part 2: “. . . Uncurable discomfit / Reins The answer is the wrong use of “disin- in the hearts of all our present parts.”) terested.” Change it to uninterested (or, Comfit is not the opposite of discomfit in the first instance, to not interested): but a type of confection, a sugared fruit “He . . . was uninterested in idealized or vegetable. beauty . . .” (or “He . . . was not interested . . .”). / “No matter how uninter- DISCREET and DISCRETE. See ested I am . . .” Homophones. The prefixes dis- and un- both mean not. Both adjectives, disinterested and DISHONOR. See HONORABLE, uninterested, mean not interested. But HONORARY, HONORED. two different meanings of interested apply: DISINGENUOUS and INGENU- 1. The interested following dis- OUS. Ingenuous (adjective) means means possessing a financial interest or a candid, straightforward, unsophisticat- share or seeking personal gain or advan- edly frank. tage (in or from something, either stated 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 98

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or implied). “All interested parties at- to a seat on the state supreme court had tended the hearing on the proposed re- “received a ‘disqualified’ rating” from zoning.” the state bar. Actually the bar’s rating 2. The interested following un- was unqualified; the governor was not means having a fascination or curiosity obligated to observe it and did not. or being concerned or absorbed (for, Disqualified means rendered unfit, de- about, or by something). “She is inter- clared ineligible, or deprived of legal ested in antique collecting.” right or power. (One is disqualified from These are typical sentences using dis- entering a contest by being related to the interested and uninterested: “Members sponsor. A prejudiced juror may be dis- of a governmental board must be disin- qualified from service.) Unqualified, as terested in its affairs.” / “She is interested used above, means lacking proper or in antique collecting, but her husband is necessary qualifications. In another con- uninterested.” text, it can mean not modified or with- A synonym for disinterested is impar- out limitation (unqualified support) or tial. A synonym for uninterested is indif- complete or downright (unqualified suc- ferent. For 500 years indifferent meant cess). impartial. Now it commonly means apa- Disqualified is the past participle of thetic, not caring—which disinterested disqualify (verb, transitive). Unqualified meant in the seventeenth and eighteenth (adjective) has no corresponding verb. centuries. We change the quotations Its antonym is qualified (adjective). again: “He was indifferent to idealized beauty.” / “No matter how indifferent I DISSEMBLE and DISASSEMBLE. am. . . .” Indifferent can also mean See Confusing pairs. mediocre: “Was the movie good, bad, or indifferent?” Division of words. The division of a The noun related to interested is inter- word between lines slows down a reader est. It has the meanings of both (1) finan- a bit. With few exceptions, it should be cial or personal involvement and (2) resorted to only in typesetting or callig- fascination or concern. The noun related raphy and only when the division is nec- to disinterested is disinterest, meaning essary to justify the right-hand margin lack of interest in the first sense. “Disin- (that is, to make it straight) without big terest is an essential quality in a judge.” gaps in a line. A noun meaning lack of interest in the In manuscripts for publication it is second sense is indifference. “Our con- best not to divide words at all, lest it be gressman displays indifference to his less unclear whether the hyphens belong in affluent constituents.” print or not. To indicate that a hyphen at the end of a line should be printed, an DISMISS. See LAY OFF and LAYOFF; editor underlines the hyphen. LET GO. Sometimes grotesque divisions are seen in print. A newspaper divided boot- DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE straps into “boots-” and “traps.” One and WITHOUT PREJUDICE. See line should have contained boot- (the WITH PREJUDICE and WITHOUT first syllable plus a hyphen) and the next PREJUDICE. line straps. Nowadays words are usually divided automatically by computers. An DISMISSIVE. See SUPPORTIVE. editor can correct a bad division or disregard it. No one corrected that one. DISQUALIFIED and UNQUALI- Another newspaper divided probe FIED. A TV panelist said an appointee into “pro-” and “be.” A one-syllable 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 99

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word should never be divided. The divi- DIVORCÉ, DIVORCÉE, and DI- sion can throw readers off track, partic- VORCEE. See BACHELOR and ularly when the pieces have other SPINSTER. meanings, as pro- and be do. Any word should be kept intact if di- DO, DID, DONE. The catch phrase viding it might mislead readers. When “I dood it” belonged to the comedian isolated, a part of a word like hasten and Red Skelton. Much later, a big-city po- often tends to form a word in itself with lice chief said, “I think I’ve did a good a different pronunciation (has-ten and job,” and a restaurant reviewer said, of-ten). about meat that one could cut with a A hyphenated compound, such as fork, “I know because I’ve did it.” Nei- hang-up or send-off, should be divided ther man was being funny. Each proba- at the hyphen and nowhere else. Yet one bly made a slip of the tongue and knew was published as “han-” and “gup” and the correct form, “I’ve done it,” meaning the other as “sen-” and “d-off” in two I’ve performed it or carried it out, and all newspapers. A solid compound, such as these forms of the verb do: nearsighted or woodpecker, is divided Present tense: I, you, we, they do; he, between the two words of which it is she, it does. Past tense: I, you, etc. did. composed. Future tense: I, you, etc. will do. Perfect Two-syllable words should be divided tenses: I, you, we, they have or had done; between the syllables. However, a single he, she, it has or had done. letter is not split off from the rest of a A helping verb (such as has or is) usu- word. A word like adroit should never ally precedes the past participle done. be divided, inasmuch as its two syllables This broadcast sentence, “What he done are a and droit. One newspaper divided was impossible to do”—instead of that word into “adr-” and “oit.” “What he did” (dig out of an The rules, and their exceptions, go on avalanche)—is ungrammatical. It is also at length, dealing with prefixes, suffixes, contradictory; what is impossible cannot consonants, vowels, and double letters. be done. And the American and British systems When it is not ambiguous, done is ac- vary. Words divided according to pro- ceptable as an adjective meaning com- nunciation in the former (knowl-edge, pleted: “My work here is done.” democ-racy) are divided according to However, in a sentence like “The work derivation in the latter (know-ledge, will be done next month” it can be un- demo-cracy). derstood to mean performed; so if com- General dictionaries show possible di- pleted or finished is meant, it is better to vision points by means of centered dots. use one of those words. The dictionaries do not always agree on A facetious term for a mystery tale is a where those points are, sometimes whodunit. This slang noun was coined because pronunciations differ. It is from the ungrammatical phrase “Who hi•er•o•glyph•ic in one dictionary, done it?” Had the coiner been more hi•ero•glyph•ic in another; tel•e•phone scrupulous about his grammar, people in the first dictionary, tele•phone in the might be reading or watching whodidits. other. One dictionary makes it gon• See also DON’T and DOESN’T; USE a•do•trop•ic, a second go•na•do• TO and USED TO (regarding did). tro•pic, a third gonado•trop•ic, and a fourth go•nad•o•trop•ic. Any division of abbreviations, initials, DOESN’T. See DON’T and DOESN’T. or figures can be confusing and should be avoided. See Numbers, 3. DONE. See DO, DID, DONE. 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 100

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DON’T and DOESN’T. A syndi- stands it, the result can sometimes be lu- cated radio psychologist said she was dicrous, as in the illustrations below. sad to return home from vacation, “but They include boners by seven newspa- that don’t mean I don’t want to go pers, three advertisers, two television home.” And a congressman disputed the networks, and others. idea of encouraging everyone to vote: “I Among the words in double trouble don’t want some damn fool idiot that are appeal, cut, crash, dog, liquidate, don’t know the time of day marking a poach, spot, and spawn. The trouble ballot.” Let us not argue any issues or may amount to an unperceived coinci- judge who is an idiot but merely con- dence, the lurking of a literal meaning sider why “that don’t” was wrong each behind a ﬁgurative use, an overambi- time though “I don’t” was right. tious metaphor, the intrusion of a differ- Don’t is the contraction of do not. It ent meaning for the same word, an agrees with all plural nouns and with the unfortunate juxtaposition, a metaphoric pronouns I, you, we, and they. “I don’t contradiction, or the emerging of a true want” is correct in each quotation, for it meaning from a corrupted meaning. is like saying “I do not want.” Similarly Take the contemporary newspaper you, we, or they don’t want it, just as an- headline that said: “U.S. Grant Will telopes, the Browns, or congressmen Help Vets in State Get Jobs.” How much don’t want it. help can he give? He has been out of of- The contraction of does not is doesn’t. ﬁce since 1877. It agrees with all singular nouns and A banner headline in another newspa- with the pronouns he, she, and it per told of “Governor’s Plan to Cut Gas and other singular pronouns except I Lines.” It appeared during a gasoline and you. So “that [feeling] doesn’t shortage, when motorists were lining up mean.” And there is an “idiot that at service stations. But one could visual- doesn’t know.” Similarly, he, she, or it ize the governor, a critic of the gas com- doesn’t know, just as an antelope, Mr. pany, wielding an ax and whacking Brown, or a congressman doesn’t know. away at the company’s pipes. Of course, the full does not may be used Telling of a $20 million show in New instead of each doesn’t. York conducted by General Motors, the The psychologist said, in a later automobile maker, a TV network re- broadcast, “their child don’t look so porter said, “GM went on a crash pro- good.” Doesn’t or does not. gram to put this one on fast.” It is See also DO, DID, DONE. doubtful that the company appreciated his use of the word “crash.” “DON’T LET’S.” See LET, LETS, 2. After John DeLorean’s car company had run up a $50 million debt, some 400 Double entendre. See Double mean- creditors petitioned for liquidation. One ing. newspaper’s coverage of the story included a picture of the gentleman and a Double genitive. See Double posses- headline reading: “Judge asked to liqui- sive. date DeLorean.” Shades of Stalinism! The main headline in another newspa- Double meaning. In choosing words per read: “PLO appeals to U.S.” But and expressions, beware of the danger of probably few in the U.S. found the Pales- double meaning. A sentence can be inter- tine Liberation Organization very ap- preted in a way that was not intended. pealing. Even when nobody actually misunder- In the Southwest, the efforts of a local 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 101

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emergency coordinator to warn of a tor- Far East was headed: “Save the Salmon nado were the subject of a newspaper ar- From Poachers.” It raised an obvious ticle, which reported: “He said his office question to gourmets: What’s wrong sounded the sirens because it was alerted with poached salmon? by 911 emergency telephone operators.” Another headline said, “Official rips That is a lot of operators. textbooks under review.” One could An article on caring for Christmas imagine her sitting at a desk and tearing plants closed by advising, “Keep the soil pages from a pile of school books. moist at all times, but reduce a bit during This was heard on a national TV the winter.” And just below, a health spa newscast: “In the forefront of women’s ad urged women to “SHAPE UP golf, fame is the name of the game.” I NOW!” thought the name of the game was golf. “HAVING AN AFFAIR?” a restau- Within several days, three com- rant menu asks. “We cater all events . . . mercials for motor vehicles treated pick-up or full service.” Just the place to the television audience to an unusual take her or him. demonstration of truth in advertising. A newspaper’s television critic wrote: An announcer said 2,000 Dodge vans “I must confess that I find cooking were for sale, “but they won’t last long.” shows addictive. There is something He did not state the precise life ex- magical in the ‘act’ of taking a wide vari- pectancy of each vehicle. Another man, ety of ingredients and—voilà!—later speaking for Acura, forecast an “old- pulling from the oven a rabbit that bears fashioned, year-end blowout,” though a remarkable resemblance to an presumably the tires would hold for exquisitely broiled fish or a thoroughly most of the year. And a third said, forbidding dessert.” A broiled rabbit “Chrysler Corporation announces an in- that resembled a fish and could pass for credible lease opportunity on the a dessert would be remarkable indeed, Chrysler Concord.” Some commercial even to a nonaddict. claims are indeed incredible. What did the Japanese prime minister See also Metaphoric contradiction. report and why did an American newspaper insult him? It ran a four-column Double negative. 1. ANY, NO, headline: “ ‘Womanizing’ reports dog NOTHING. 2. Carelessness. 3. Un- Uno.” sound effects. A news service reported that a five- inch-long egg, laid by a condor at the 1. ANY, NO, NOTHING Los Angeles Zoo, “was spotted early In some languages double negatives Easter Sunday morning”—with colorful are considered proper. For instance, “I polka dots for the day’s festivities? have no money” in Spanish is Yo no In reporting on teenage pregnancy in tengo ningún dinero. The literal transla- Wyoming, a newspaper told of activities tion is “I don’t have no money,” which of the state’s Commission for Women: in English is considered ungrammatical; “Conferences like the one in Riverton to make it grammatical, either scrap the have spawned other action in Lovell, “don’t” or change “no” to any. Cody, Riverton and Thermopolis.” Was The English-speaking tradition is that the commission prepared for all that a double negative is vulgar and im- spawning? proper, unless the speaker wants one An article by an Alaskan senator negative to cancel the other and thereby protesting the catching of salmon off produce a positive. A sentence like the North America by fishermen from the sample above can have only one nega- 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 102

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tive: either before the verb or before its tive, it is significant that he did not use it object. in his own writing. Thus a radio host, wanting listeners to See also BUT, 2, 3; NEITHER, 2. stay tuned, erred by saying, “Don’t go nowhere,” instead of anywhere. 2. Carelessness An investigative correspondent was in The double negative is sometimes a error when he told a television audience result of carelessness or hastiness, hence that the cause of a plane crash did not understandably more common in speak- appear to be mechanical; there was “no ing than in writing. distress call, no ‘mayday,’ no nothing.” A television weatherman said, “I Two decades earlier, Jimmy Carter had wouldn’t be a bit surprised if we didn’t made a similar mistake during a debate find some anomalies there.” The literal with President Ford: meaning of the sentence is that complete normality (in the weather) would not If the Arab countries ever again de- surprise him at all. Probably he meant clare an embargo . . . I would not the opposite: “I wouldn’t be a bit sur- ship . . . [them] anything—no prised if we found some anomalies weapons, no spare parts . . . no oil there,” or “I would be surprised if we pipe, no nothing. didn’t find some anomalies there.” In both instances, the last “no” should This was heard in television coverage have been scrapped. (Another mistake is of rural fires: “No smoking bans were in in mood. Either make “declare” de- effect.” It was ambiguous. If the “no” clared or change “would” to will. See applied to “smoking bans,” the sentence Subjunctive; Tense, 4C.) Carter’s gram- meant that no bans on smoking were in mar did not noticeably hurt him; he was effect. If the “no” applied just to “smok- narrowly elected. Ford’s verbal blunders ing,” there was a “ ‘no-smoking’ ban,” had been worse. which, logically, would be the opposite H. L. Mencken wrote: “Like most of a smoking ban. The newscaster prob- other examples of ‘bad grammar’ en- ably meant to say, “Bans on smoking countered in American, the compound were in effect,” which would have negative is of great antiquity and was avoided the double negative of “no” and once quite respectable.” Chaucer used it “bans.” freely. It appears in some Shakespeare A university’s journalism dean was plays. (Romeo and Juliet: “I will not criticized for hiring a prominent person budge for no man’s pleasure.”) Mencken as a teacher. A newspaper trade magazine had kind words for it: quoted the dean on his hiring practices: Obviously, “I won’t take nothing” is We do not pay our outsiders nowhere stronger than either “I will take noth- near what they are worth and in ing” or “I won’t take anything.” And somewhat different amounts. equally without doubt there is a pic- “Not” and “nowhere” together make a turesque charm, if not really any extra double negative. Furthermore, the “not” vigor in the vulgar American . . . carries over to “in somewhat different “She never goes hardly nowhere” [a amounts,” negating the phrase. Omit- triple negative] . . . and “Ain’t nobody ting the “not” (or, better, “do not”) cor- there. . . .” rects both problems. Alternatively, Note that Mencken’s own negative is change “nowhere” to anywhere; and af- properly singular. Despite his finding of ter “and,” insert we pay them. strength and charm in the multiple nega- See also NOT, 1G. 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 103

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3. Unsound effects Double possessive. Joseph Priestley A newspaper story (about computer was a scientist and the discoverer of oxy- interviews) carried the headline “I can’t gen. He was also a philosopher, politi- get no interaction.” Perhaps the writer cian, and theologian, and in the 1760s of the headline knew better and was try- he wrote The Rudiments of English ing to achieve some kind of effect, be- Grammar. In clear prose that holds to sides the effect of making the newspaper this day, he pointed out an accepted seem illiterate and causing hundreds of anomaly of English usage: English teachers to grimace in pain. A two-word sentence fragment with In some cases we use both the genitive two negatives was put in a column and a [possessive] and the preposition of, as, book. (The column complained about this book of my friend’s. Sometimes, the poor quality of television “pool” indeed, this method is quite necessary, coverage of the U.S. invasion of Panama. in order to distinguish the sense. . . . The book looked askance at the popular This picture of my friend, and this pic- use of a word.) ture of my friend’s, suggest very different ideas. . . . Where this double Amateur photographers subbing genitive, as it may be called, is not for the big guys? Not hardly. necessary to distinguish the sense, and especially in grave style, it is generally I’m sure you are (it is, they will, omitted. etc.). Is the sayer really sure? Not hardly. The double possessive, also known as the double genitive, remains idiomatic. Hardly would have been enough, for in Literally the ’s in a phrase like that cat such contexts it means probably not. Pre- of his sister’s is redundant, inasmuch as ceding it with “not” doubled the negative. the of has already indicated possession, Not all sentences with multiple nega- and a few writers on usage look askance tives are no good; the present one is on the form. Roy H. Copperud advises grammatical though graceless. “We are those ﬁnding a friend of my uncle neater not unmindful of your problem, and more logical than a friend of my un- but . . .” is not so much graceless as cle’s to use the former even though the heartless. A brave, bleeding athlete re- latter is long-established idiom and not marks, “It’s nothing,” and his coach re- considered wrong. sponds correctly, “It’s not ‘nothing.’ ” Nobody minds when the possessive is And an old song that went “No, no, a a pronoun instead of a noun: friends of thousand times no!” got the negative mine and a dress of hers. Nobody is message across effectively. likely to say “friends of me” or “a dress Even when used correctly, perhaps as a of her.” device for deliberate understatement, a In writing, (1) an opinion of the doc- sentence with multiple negatives may not tor and (2) an opinion of the doctor’s be instantly comprehensible. “I would have two different meanings. First, the not be unhappy if the people did not en- opinion concerns the doctor; second, the dorse his leadership” is more clearly ex- opinion is held by the doctor. In speak- pressed in a positive way. “I would try to ing, the possessive form would be am- remain cheerful if the people rejected his biguous, “the doctor’s” sounding like leadership,” or other words to that effect, “the doctors.” Better: an opinion held by would be easier to grasp. the doctor. See also NO WAY. In the view of Eric Partridge, scrupu- 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 104

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lous writers avoid that form when the the drama is (a) the art or profession possessive is a noun, especially a plural dealing with plays, (b) the theater as an noun; they remember “the very sound institution, or (c) plays collectively. By rule that a piece of writing should be as metaphoric extension, drama or a drama clear to a listener as to a reader”; at least can mean either the nature of a play or a a writer or speaker must be sure that the set of events like a play in action, con- context makes the reference clear. flict, excitement, or story progression. Dramatic (adjective) means pertaining Doubling of letters. See Spelling, 3B. to drama (noun) or having its characteristics. Dramatically (adverb) means in a DOWN. See Numbers, 1. dramatic way or from the standpoint of drama. For example, conflict between “DOWNPLAY.” See PLAY DOWN characters is a dramatic device; a court and “DOWNPLAY.” trial sometimes is more dramatic than a stage play; the show last night was DRAFT. Draft or draught (British thought-provoking but dramatically in- spelling) comes from the Old English adequate; he orated and gesticulated dragan, meaning to draw, pull. When ap- dramatically, like an old-time Shake- plied to a beverage, draft is the drawing spearean actor. of liquid from its receptacle, as beer or “Dramatic” verbiage has proliferated ale from a cask. The beverage is avail- of late. That it does not take a drama able on draft. critic to find things “dramatic” will be “GENUINE DRAFT” as seen on beer amply illustrated below. First comes a set cans and in ads is meaningless. To see a of extracts from a book by a leading genuine draft, go to your nearest tavern. judge. By definition, draft beer is not bottled or canned. The country had changed dramati- Draft has another connection with cally indeed from the time during the fluid: Among many other meanings (like Civil War. . . . The income of individ- an air current, a check for money, mili- ual farmers rose dramatically. . . . The tary conscription, a preliminary text, stock-market crash . . . dramatically etc.), it is a swallowing or the portion of slowed down industrial expansion. liquid swallowed. . . . In the short run the effect of the change in membership on the Court’s DRAGGED and “DRUG.” The decisions was immediate, dramatic, past tense of drag is dragged. A television and predictable. . . . When I interviewer said two competing presi- moved . . . I was delighted with the dential candidates went to Dallas, Texas, dramatic change in my view. . . . Fi- and “drug along a bunch of advisers.” nally, both the commercial activity His “drug” use was dialectal. and the population of the United States continued to increase dramati- DRAMA, DRAMATIC, DRA- cally. [Emphasis is added.] MATICALLY. 1. “Drama” everywhere. 2. Alternatives. Within eight days, television reported that a woman’s illness had “dramatically 1. “Drama” everywhere worsened,” that local test scores had A drama is primarily a stage play, or a “dramatically increased from last year,” literary composition that tells a story that “a dramatic shift in wind direction” through dialogue and action. Drama or could imperil aircraft, that prosecutors 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 105

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in a murder case had “unveiled some language field has dramatically mush- dramatic photos,” that Miami had “cut roomed.” Would the field be any worse crime against tourists dramatically,” and off if it just mushroomed? that people could “dramatically reduce their risk of heart attacks.” In an ensuing DROVE. Drove is the past tense of week, there came television reports that drive (verb, transitive and intransitive). test scores in the nation’s schools had A drove (noun, from the same source, “improved dramatically,” that a reser- the Old English drifan, to drive) is a voir had “dropped dramatically,” that a group of animals being driven as a herd woman with the AIDS virus who took or flock. Someone probably saw the re- the drug AZT could “dramatically resemblance between the moving animals duce the chances of her baby getting and a moving crowd of people, for at AIDS,” and that chicken was found to times drove is applied to the latter. Typi- be “dramatically better than ham- cally the word applies to cattle or sheep. burger” in leanness. “Mice appear to be flocking out of the area in droves.” That was heard on a 2. Alternatives news-radio station. To flock is to gather In most contemporary uses of “dra- or travel in a flock or crowd, so flocking matic” or “dramatically,” one can either would suffice to get across the idea of eliminate the word without detriment or multiplicity without “in droves.” substitute a more accurate description. Two lists that follow offer fifty replace- “DRUG” and DRAGGED. See ments. You may think of more. DRAGGED and “DRUG.” Adjectives: big, considerable, dangerous, drastic, encouraging, extreme, DUAL and DUEL. See Homo- great, high, huge, large, marked, mighty, phones. noteworthy, precipitous, public, radical, remarkable, serious, sharp, significant, DUE TO. When to use the phrase due stark, steep, striking, stunning, substan- to and when not to use it can be confus- tial, vast. ing, although the publisher who wrote Adverbs: considerably, dangerously, the sentence below should have known drastically, encouragingly, extremely, far, better. greatly, highly, hugely, markedly, might- ily, much, precipitously, publicly, radi- This price increase has become nec- cally, remarkably, seriously, sharply, essary due to the new state sales tax significantly, starkly, steeply, stunningly, on newspapers and the increasing substantially, vastly. costs associated with producting the Saying that something is dramatic or IJ. done dramatically does not make it so. If it is so, such a label may be superfluous. All grammarians approve of due to Sometimes the right choice of verb when it means caused by or attributable makes any allusion to “drama” unneces- to and is helped by a form of the verb to sary. For instance, “the rate dramatically be: “His back injury was due to a fall increased” is a cumbersome way of say- from a cliff.” ing the rate soared. A more precise way However, when due to means because is to use a number, if it is known: the rate of and follows a clause, it is considered doubled or increased 69 percent. taboo. “He suffered a back injury due to These seven words made up a para- a fall from a cliff.” Among acceptable graph in a newspaper: “The child phrases in this type of sentence are as a 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 106

106 dum-dum bullet

result of, because of, on account of, and DUM-DUM BULLET. A newspa- owing to. per quoted a public ofﬁcial who had re- The grammarians have never satisfac- turned from the Middle East: torily explained this rule. (They say that due is an adjective and should modify a “I saw older men and women who noun. In the taboo form of sentence, it had been beaten and had suffered introduces an adverbial phrase, which from dumb-dumb bullets.” modiﬁes the verb. But owing also is an adjective and owing to gets their ap- To avoid that dumb-dumb error, realize proval in the same type of sentence.) that the dum-dum bullet, an outlawed, Careful writers and speakers generally soft-nosed bullet that expands on im- accept the rule, whatever its rationality. pact, originated in Dum Dum, India, a As for the opening quotation: one town near Calcutta. Another spelling of should expect a publisher to be careful the place is Dumdum and of the bullet is enough to avoid a “due to” snare (and dumdum, never “dumb-dumb.” delete an unneeded “t” from producing) before he publishes a statement explaining why a paper is worth more money. 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 107

EACH AND EVERY. See Twins, 1. lows the subject immediately, merely modifying or explaining it, the verb and EACH, EACH OF. Each can be ei- any following object are plural. “The ther an adjective, meaning every (“We boys each own cars.” / “We each should follow each clue”); or a pronoun, mean- know our cholesterol levels.” (The arti- ing every single one (“To each his cle beneath the headline did not say to own”). Either way, singularness is the “love” them.) essence of each. See also BETWEEN, 2; Nouns, 3; When the subject of a sentence is or Pronouns, 2. starts with each, the subject is considered singular. “Each has a car” or “Each EACH OTHER. Although each person has a car.” Note that the verb alone is singular, the phrase each other (has) is singular too and so is the object (a reciprocal pronoun) is considered plu- (car). ral. The following sentence, from a large The same is true when the subject is ad by a government, goes astray in that each of followed by a plural noun or respect and has four other flaws. pronoun. Both of the sentences below are in error. The first was part of a televi- Recently, the British Government sion commentary; the second formed a which has a similar law [concerning large newspaper headline. drugs], agreed with the Bahamian government for the reciprocal en- Each of these ladies this evening are forcement of forfeiture orders in each going to be doing such difficult rou- others’ country. tines. The last word should be plural: coun- Each of us should know tries. In addition, the apostrophe goes and love our cholesterol level before the s in each other’s. (See Punctu- ation, 1.) “Reciprocal” is redundant; ei- In the first, change “are” to is and “diffi- ther it or the last four words should be cult routines” to a difficult routine. In deleted. A comma belongs before the second, just change “our” to his. An “which.” (See THAT and WHICH.) Fi- alternative is his or her, which may be nally, the two governments deserve the impractical for a headline. same kind of G or g. There is another way: When the sub- Whether each other can represent ject of a sentence is plural and each fol- more than two persons or things divides

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108 eager

grammarians. Some say to use each visionary (Roosevelt’s own words) other for two, one another for three would have been more informative than or more: “Agnes and John love each “effete”; so would ineffective or timid. other.” / “The three friends visit one an- A review of a joint Russian and Amer- other’s homes.” H. W. Fowler saw nei- ican art exhibit says, “The American ther utility nor history on the side of painting, on the contrary, looks effete. such differentiation. Anyhow the use of It’s so well-made that its life is gone.” each other for more than two is not com- This time the passage offers a clue. By mon. Using one another for two is more “effete,” the writer appears to mean life- common. One another’s is the possessive less in creation, not depleted of life but form. stillborn. At times decadent, effeminate, fop- EAGER. See ANXIOUS. pish, soft, weak, or even elite has been loosely replaced by effete. Spiro Agnew EATEN and ATE. See Tense, 5A. used it to describe the press corps. It is seldom clear exactly what the user has in ECLECTIC. Variety is the essence of mind. this adjective. A descendant of the Greek Effete came from the Latin effetus, eklegein, to select, eclectic means choos- that has produced young (from ex-, out, ing or chosen from a variety of sources, and fetus, giving birth—the source of the subjects, methods, points of view, or the English fetus). like. “He was an eclectic student, with broad interests.” / “The museum’s col- EFFICACY and EFFICIENCY. See lection is eclectic.” Eclectic says nothing Confusing pairs. about merit or quality and does not mean discriminating, as some people E.G. (for example). See Punctuation, seem to think. 2A. In a newsletter, the director of an institute wrote about a series of educa- EITHER. 1. As a conjunction. 2. tional programs that “have featured a Other functions. 3. Pronunciation. variety of eclectic programs. . . .” Either “a variety of” or “eclectic” should have 1. As a conjunction been discarded. Either ﬁts four categories. In the sentences below, from two restaurant re- EFFECT. See AFFECT and EFFECT. views, it is meant as a conjunction, or connecting word, but it is misused. EFFETE. Effete (adjective, pronounced like a FEAT) is one of those Dessert is either vanilla ice cream, useful words that have been devalued by spumoni or a respectable caramel cus- misuse and rendered often ambiguous. tard for $1.50 more. Primarily it means no longer able to produce offspring or fruit. It can also mean . . . Other meals [include] . . . meat- depleted of vitality, exhausted of vigor. sauced rice and country salads and ei- An article about Thomas Jefferson ther ﬁve-spice chicken, imperial rolls, says, “Theodore Roosevelt thought he or shish kebobs. . . . was effete.” The adjoining sentences (telling of others’ views of Jefferson) As a conjunction, either means one or shed no light on the writer’s meaning. the other of two possibilities. Each sam- Other sources suggest that incapable and ple sentence, however, tells of a choice 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 109

either 109

between three. Omit “either” or else (present participle) but not so by has change it to a choice of. forgotten (auxiliary verb and past The either . . . or form connects two participle). These are three alternative grammatically equal portions of a sen- repairs: “He is either fibbing or forget- tence. (Either and or are called correla- ting.” / “He either is fibbing or has for- tive conjunctions. Other such pairs are gotten.” / “Either he is fibbing or he has neither . . . nor and both . . . and.) It is forgotten.” correct to say, “You may choose either When each noun is singular, any verb soup or salad”—a noun follows the ei- that follows has to be singular too: “Ei- ther and a noun follows the or. ther a hurricane or an eruption comes Sometimes the either is misplaced, like every few years”—not “come.” When this: “You may either choose soup or each noun is plural, any verb that fol- salad.” Although you will understand lows must be plural: “Either hurricanes her when a waitress says it, the sentence or eruptions come every few years”— is not logical: a verb and its object follow not “comes.” the either while a noun follows the or. It becomes more complicated when Either tends to grab the next word or the nouns differ in number. Make the phrase. “You may either choose”—here verb plural if it is closer to the plural it makes sense—“or have the choice noun than to the singular noun: “Either made for you.” Presley or the Jacksons are on that This excerpt, from a book on art his- record.” If the verb is closer to the singu- tory, is ill-balanced: lar noun, what then? Some grammarians would permit “Either the Jacksons or Nowadays, Bosch is either consid- Presley is . . . ,” but a better procedure is ered a surrealist, a painter of re- to put the plural noun second, as in the pressed desires and human solitude, previous example; or to revise the sen- or a fiery mystic with esoteric inclina- tence, for example: “The Jacksons may tions. . . . be on that record, or it may be Presley.” See also NEITHER; OR. It says that the artist “is either considered [verb] . . . or a fiery mystic 2. Other functions [noun]. . . .” The sentence can easily be Either serves as three other parts of repaired by interchanging “either” and speech: adjective (“Either entree is satis- the verb, “considered”: factory”); pronoun (“Either is satisfactory”); and adverb, which follows a Nowadays, Bosch is considered ei- negative statement (“If you don’t want ther a surrealist [noun] . . . or a fiery to eat, I won’t either”). Either, as an ad- mystic [noun]. . . . jective, sometimes means each, one and the other (“She wears a bracelet on ei- An alternative solution is to insert a verb ther arm”). after or. Example: As an adjective or pronoun, either goes with a singular verb, singular noun, Nowadays, Bosch is either consid- or singular possessive, as the case may ered [verb] a surrealist . . . or consid- be: “Either of them is capable of playing ered [or called, verb] a fiery mystic. . . . the role”—not “are capable.” / “No more copies were available at either the The problem can be more subtle: downtown or the uptown store”—not “He is either fibbing or has forgotten.” “stores.” / “Either woman will do her He is is followed sensibly by fibbing best”—not “their best.” 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 110

110 eke

3. Pronunciation These are from a newspaper and a book H. W. Fowler wrote that EYE, on law respectively: “though not more correct,” was replacing EE as the pronunciation of the first Once a company reneges on its half syllable of either in England’s educated of the bargain, it will have trouble ek- speech. ing out those sacrifices from its work- EYE-thur seems to be making ers. progress in America too. Imitation of the British practice or a belief that it is more Every grant to the President . . . was in high-class than EE-thur may help to ac- effect a derogation from Congres- count for this development. sional power, eked out slowly, reluc- tantly. . . . EKE. In The Outline of History H. G. Wells describes the raising of livestock Still another sense of eke out, found in by Neolithic people and credits them contemporary dictionaries if not often in with the discovery of milking. Then he use, is to make (a supply) last through correctly writes, “They eked out this economy. food supply by hunting.” To eke out something is to supplement it, to add to ELECT, ELECTED, ELECTIVE, it what it lacks. That which is eked out is ELECTORAL. 1. ELECTED and the original thing (the food supply), not ELECTIVE. 2. ELECTORAL. what is added and not what results. That is the primary meaning of the verb (tran- 1. ELECTED and ELECTIVE sitive). To elect (verb, transitive or intransi- A later but now common meaning, tive) is to choose. Politically, it is to disapproved by some critics, is to earn choose an official by vote. A person so with difficulty. Land pressures are in- chosen is elected (past participle). The tense in El Salvador, a newspaper says, office so filled is elective (adjective); that “because so many people are trying to is, filled by election. A telecast had an er- eke a living out of so small a country.” In ror: this sense, that which is eked out is what results (a living). He told ABC that he is not a candi- Which sense is intended may not al- date for any elected office. ways be clear. In the following sentence, what is the person’s occupation? “John “. . . Any elective office,” not “elected.” eked out his living by selling clothing.” (See also Tense, 2.) We do not know. If we construe the sen- The words can be used in nonpolitical tence according to the more traditional contexts. “He elects to throw a curve sense, John’s selling merely supplements ball.” / “I elected a science course.” / his income. According to the later sense, “It’s an elective course.” Elective here sales are John’s livelihood. means optional, not required. Eke alone, now archaic, meant to in- Elect (adjective), in combination with crease or enlarge (something); another the name of an office, e.g., president- meaning was also. An Old English ver- elect, denotes one who has been elected sion was spelled ecan, ycan, etc. So tradi- but whose term has not yet begun. It can tionally eke or eke out is associated with mean given preference: an elect group. In the idea of adding. Contemporary users theology it means divinely picked for sal- sometimes have in mind the opposite vation. Those so picked are the elect sense: subtracting, or squeezing out. (noun). 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 111

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2. ELECTORAL “Does not” what? Want? Match? Agree Elective can be a synonym for elec- with? “Does not” relates to nothing that toral (adjective), pertaining to selection was said or that is obvious. Whatever by vote or having the authority to elect. the meaning is, the sentence would be far The latter is pronounced i-LEK-tur-ul, clearer if it were divided into two sen- not (as mispronounced by the host of a tences. End the ﬁrst with “. . . drug en- TV quiz show) “i-lek-TAUR-ul.” The forcement.” Begin the second like this: Electoral College is not an educational “The House’s version provides . . .” or institution but the body that formally “does not provide. . . .” elects the U.S. president. Its members are A passage in a book on law and gov- electors. ernment is even more puzzling: A State Department spokesman expressed hope that the Nicaraguan leader Having survived the legal maze, was not “trying to derail the electorial where have we ended up regarding process.” The word is electoral. There is the 1973 bombing of Cambodia? Still no “electorial.” in something of a mess, because every time Congress authorized the bomb- ELEMENT. See SILICON and SILI- ing a number of its members said that CONE. they weren’t.

ELEMENTAL and ELEMEN- “Weren’t” what? “Weren’t aware that it TARY. See Confusing pairs. had” would be an adequate ellipsis—if that was the intended meaning. Or per- ELLIPSE. See OVAL. haps the author meant hadn’t and wrote “weren’t” by mistake. (Neither contrac- Ellipsis. There are two kinds of ellip- tion suits the grave topic. See Contrac- sis. In grammar it is the omission of a tions, 2.) word or words that would make a sen- In an ellipsis, it is enough work for the tence more complete but that can be un- reader or listener to silently repeat a derstood from the context. In word or phrase without having to punctuation it is the set of dots used change its form. Any word or phrase to when part of a quotation is omitted. be supplied should be exactly the same Only the ﬁrst kind concerns us right as one that has just been used. This is now. (See also Punctuation, 5.) from the daily quoted above: One need not, and should not, repeat the is in this sentence: “The boy is 5, the The companies include . . . the United girl 4.” The single verb sufﬁces for both Coconut Planters Bank, whose dispo- nouns. “I’ll be ready when you are.” sition could determine the shape of That sentence could end with another the coconut industry, one of the coun- ready, but it is not necessary. tries largest. Sometimes a writer or speaker leaves out too much, perhaps a necessary word. “Largest” does not connect with any As a result, the sentence sounds awk- other word in the sentence. If the co- ward or even leaves us guessing. A news conut industry is “one of the country’s story in a prominent daily said: largest industries,” why not say so? (A careless transformation of country’s also The Senate’s current version calls for mars the sentence. See Punctuation, 1C.) spending $2.6 billion for drug en- In this example from a book on law forcement that the House does not. and history, the reader is expected not 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 112

112 elude and allude

only (1) to supply a word that differs differ somewhat. For the human species, from the word used, but also (2) to sup- some draw the line at two months, oth- ply it before the other is used. ers at three months. Embryo comes from the Greek em- In 1808 President Jefferson took a bryon, embryo, fetus, or that which is very serious view of an attack by one newly born. Fetus traces to Latin, in army and several navy ofﬁcers upon which it means fetus, progeny, preg- Spanish territory. nancy, or a giving birth.

The first item enumerated seems to be EMERITUS. Emeritus (adjective) “one army.” The authors meant “one means being retired from service but army officer” and should have said so. keeping the title one held. As part of a ti- Lines like these, from two network tle, it commonly follows the original ti- telecasts, have been uttered in exposés by tle: “Professor Emeritus John J. Doe.” a number of broadcasters: Otherwise it can follow or precede the original title: “He is an emeritus profes- The offer sounded too good to be sor of law.” It is mainly applied to those true, and, as it turned out, it was. retired from colleges and universities, occasionally to others retired from white- If it sounds too good to be true, it collar positions. probably is. In ancient Rome emeritus (past participle of emereri, to earn by service) re- What part are we expected to silently referred to a man who had served his term peat? No doubt, from each context, it is as a soldier. The term is never applied to “too good to be true.” But someone tun- a former or retired member of the U.S. ing in late might repeat just the “true,” armed forces. reversing the meaning. To use emeritus indiscriminately in Omitting hundred or thousand from a describing a former job can be ludicrous. number can be misleading. See Num- The lead sentence of a newspaper’s main bers, 1. article applied it to a professional politi- See also AS, 1; Pronouns, 10E; Verbs, cian who had not retired but had been 4. unseated from his last office by a term limitation. ELUDE and ALLUDE. See Confus- ing pairs. Assembly Speaker Emeritus Willie Brown continues to hold a slim lead EMBRYO and FETUS. A newspa- over Mayor Frank Jordan among vot- per article said that courts had upheld a ers as next month’s mayoral election Minnesota law under which a man was nears. . . . charged with “fetal homicide” as well as murder. Allegedly he had shot a preg- An emeritus (noun) is one who is nant woman, killing both her and her emeritus (adjective). The plural is emer- one-month-old “fetus.” iti. Pronunciations: em-MER-it-us and A woman who is one month pregnant em-MER-it-tie. carries an embryo, not a “fetus.” An em- One who uses Latinisms strictly will bryo is an incipient animal or human be- speak of a woman as emerita (adjective) ing. It is in the early stages of or an emerita (noun). The plural is emer- development, unlike a fetus, which is in itae. Pronunciations: em-MER-it-uh and the middle or late stages. Interpretations em-MER-it-tea. 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 113

eminent and imminent 113

EMIGRATE and IMMIGRATE. practice of emigrating is emigration A book by a prominent judge describes (noun). One who emigrates is an emi- changes in U.S. population, such as an grant (noun). increase of sixty million in ﬁfty years. Occasionally immigrate and emigrate are used (as transitive verbs) to mean Some of this was natural increase, but bring in as immigrants or to send out as a good deal of it resulted from emigra- emigrants. “The company immigrated tion. In the forty years between 1860 Chinese to work cheaply as laborers.” and 1900, 14 million people had emigrated to the United States from for- EMINENT and IMMINENT. 1. eign countries. . . . At the same time The difference. 2. Related terms. that emigrants and other settlers were populating the territories in the West, 1. The difference many other emigrants were settling in Once, while working as a news re- the large cities of the East and Mid- porter, I looked in on the mayor’s ofﬁce, west. [Emphasis is added.] where efforts were being made to negoti- ate the end of a labor dispute. As I was Change “emigration” to immigration, telephoning my editor from the ante- “emigrated” to immigrated, and “emi- room, the mayor walked in and told me, grants” to immigrants. “The settlement of the bus strike is emi- Which family of words to call on de- nent.” I said, misquoting him, “The pends on whether you emphasize mi- mayor says the settlement of the bus grating in, or migrating out. The author strike is imminent.” (We had a scoop.) emphasizes migrating in. Immigrate The mayor knew his business, but originates in the Latin in-, in, and mi- what he did not know is that eminent grare, to migrate; emigrate in the Latin (adjective) means prominent, outstand- ex-, out, and migrare. A form of in- is ing, or noteworthy, whereas imminent im- while a form of ex- is e-. That ety- (adjective) means impending or soon to mology explains the double m in the im- occur; sometimes, threatening: said of a migrate words, the single m in the danger or misfortune. emigrate words. Some writers do not know that either. If you need a memory aid, think of A weekly’s review of a Shakespearean import, to bring goods into a country; play contained this sentence: “Best of all, and export, to send goods out of a coun- the language, while still Bard-ese, is im- try. minently comprehensible.” In this case, To immigrate (verb, intransitive) is to “imminently” should be eminently (ad- enter and settle in a country. Often it is verb), meaning to a remarkable degree followed by to and the name of the new or in an outstanding way. country. “The Treskunoffs immigrated Note that eminent(ly) has one m while to the United States ten years ago.” The imminent(ly) has two m’s. The words act or practice of immigrating is immi- originate in Latin, in ex-, out, and in-, in, gration (noun). One who immigrates is respectively (e- and im- are forms of an immigrant (noun). them) plus minere, to project. To emigrate (verb, intransitive) is to leave one’s home country with the inten- 2. Related terms tion of giving up residence there. Often it Eminent domain is the right of a gov- is followed by from and the name of the ernment to take private property for old country. “The Treskunoffs emigrated public use in return for compensation. from Russia ten years ago.” The act or Eminence (noun) means superiority, 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 114

114 employ

celebrity, or a high place or thing. Pre- ment was not accurate, particularly if the ceded by his or your, it is a title of honor violence was just “now becoming” com- for a cardinal in the Roman Catholic mon in Mexico. Church. The main article in a newspaper de- Imminence (noun) is the condition of scribed economic shortcomings in being imminent; or something that is im- Shanghai, adding: minent, particularly impending danger or evil. Meanwhile, tax evasion in the A superﬁcially similar word, not so Shanghai private sector became en- common, is immanent (adjective). Stem- demic, increasing an income gap ming from the Latin in, not, and manere, between state employees and free- to remain, it means existing or remain- market entrepreneurs that has aggra- ing within, particularly within one’s vated social tensions. mind. In theology, it pertains to the doctrine of immanence (noun), under which If the writer wanted to say that tax eva- God dwells everywhere in the universe. sion had become a phenomenon peculiar to Shanghai (a dubious proposition), en- EMPLOY. See UTILIZE, UTILIZA- demic would be appropriate. But if he TION (end). sought to bring out the rapid and extensive spread of tax evasion there, the ENDED and ENDING. word to use would be epidemic.

The Times Poll . . . interviewed ENDING. See ENDED and END- 1,618 American adults by telephone ING. for three days ending Sunday night. “END OF AN ERA.” See ERA, 2. Such use is common. But some authorities prefer ended, rather than “ending,” ENDS JUSTIFY THE MEANS. when the period is over. (It is completely Having gone to Somalia, Africa, to feed ended, not just in the process of ending.) the people, U.S. and allied forces were Some others accept either word. (Present shooting some of them instead. A TV participles sometimes apply to past news correspondent said the question events.) was “whether these drastic means justify All agree that ending is the word to the humanitarian end.” use when the terminal date is in the fu- He had it backward. The question ture. was “whether the humanitarian end jus- tiﬁes these drastic means.” Normally the ENDEMIC. “The problem is the kind means do not justify the end; that is a of violence that’s now becoming en- matter of language. The end may or may demic to Mexico,” a panelist on a televi- not justify the means; that is a matter of sion forum said. He spoke in the wake of opinion. a revolt and a political assassination in Mexico. ENERGIZE and ENERVATE. See That which is endemic to a place is re- Confusing pairs. stricted to it or particularly prevalent there. The kangaroo is endemic to Aus- ENORMITY. Residents of the tralia, the apteryx to New Zealand. Po- Hawaiian island of Kauai who had been litical violence, alas, is a global made homeless by a hurricane seemed to phenomenon. Thus the panelist’s state- be in good spirits, a television newscaster 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 115

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observed. Either they are used to being -EN, -REN plurals. See Plurals and close to nature, he said, or “the enormity singulars, 1, 2D. of what’s happened to them hasn’t yet sunk in.” ENSURE and INSURE. See AS- Unless he was saying that the hurri- SURE, ENSURE, and INSURE. cane was outrageously immoral, he misunderstood the meaning of enormity. He ENTHUSE, ENTHUSED. If the may have confused it with enormous- colloquial “enthused” ever is acceptable, ness, although magnitude or gravity it is assuredly out of place in a grim arti- might have been a better choice of cle about “the fratricidal carnage” of nouns. Enormity denotes monstrous evil revolutionary France: or a monstrously evil act. A nonhuman phenomenon like a hurricane is amoral, Baron Armel de Wismes, who puts on unless one ascribes it to the devil or an a black tie of mourning on the an- evil spirit. niversary of Louis XVI’s execution, is Flying from England to Cameroun, an not enthused about the festivities author observed the Sahara below. marking the 200th anniversary of the “Hours later, still above the desert, we French Revolution. began to appreciate its enormity.” Al- though some travelers in the desert have found it to be a hell, vastness or immen- The appropriate adjective is enthusiastic, sity would ﬁt the context better. meaning ardently interested in some- On a TV show about famous athletes, thing. At times “enthuse” is used as a a narrator said of a baseball player, verb. Most dictionaries call “enthuse(d)” “Now, two decades later, the enormity colloquial, informal, or popular, and few of his accomplishments can be appreci- writers, speakers, or educators show en- ated.” Surely the TV man did not intend thusiasm (noun) for it. to associate Hank Aaron’s accomplish- “The majority leader enthused over ments with monstrous evil, yet that is lit- his party’s gains,” instead of became or erally what he did by using “enormity” waxed enthusiastic, was disapproved by when he could have used greatness. 76 percent of The American Heritage A book (of mine) said, “. . . The enor- Dictionary’s usage panel. “He was con- mity of the cocktails took them out of siderably less enthused by signs of fac- the ‘social’ category.” Although some tionalism,” instead of enthusiastic over, have described alcohol as a wicked de- was disapproved by 72 percent. The mon, in this instance the word should panel did not consider the verb in a tran- have been immensity or hugeness. sitive sense, for which a case could be Some dictionaries offer such words made: “Professor Marshall enthused his among the deﬁnitions of enormity with- students,” instead of roused enthusiasm out mentioning that many critics scorn in or made . . . enthusiastic. its application to mere size. A source of criticism is American Heritage Dictio- ENTOMOLOGY and ETYMOL- nary; 93 percent of its usage panel re- OGY. See Confusing pairs. jected “The enormity of Latin America is readily apparent from these maps.” Enumerations. See Series errors. At one time enormous meant monstrously wicked. It and enormity both EPIDEMIC. See ENDEMIC. trace to the Latin enormis, meaning out of the ordinary, huge. “EQUALLY AS.” See AS, 3 (end). 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 116

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ERA. 1. Definition; pronunciation. 2. quoting the ancient, proverbial saying When will it end? “To err is human.” Error is a noun only. It means, of 1. Definition; pronunciation course, mistake. It can also mean wrong- An era is a division of time that is (a) doing, an act or example of deviation reckoned from a notable historical event, from what is right, or any of various de- as the Christian era is; (b) distinctive in fensive misplays in baseball. its character, events, conditions, or lead- The related verb is to err, which can ers, like the Roman “era of the adven- mean to make a mistake, to do some- turer generals” (H. G. Wells) or the thing wrong, or to go off course. (“The nineteenth-century American “era of captain chose to err on the side of cau- good feeling”; or (c) fundamental in geo- tion.” / “I’m afraid that I have erred in logic history, like the Mesozoic era. my calculation.”) Err rhymes with her Its customary pronunciation has long and sir. been EAR-uh. Many now pronounce it “To err is human” goes back at least like error without the final r, possibly to the Roman philosopher and dramatist risking misunderstanding. Modern dic- Seneca (4? B.C.–A.D. 65). Many others tionaries give both pronunciations. repeated that thought in one form or another, in numerous languages. The ver- 2. When will it end? sion by Alexander Pope, the English poet The news media, with a notable sense (1688–1744), “To err is human, to for- of history, inform us of all the various give divine,” is particularly famous. eras that we pass through—but only when the eras end; they are perpetually ERRANT and ARRANT. See Con- ending. fusing pairs. These were press headlines: “Era in Houston Ends As Chronicle Is Sold” / ERSTWHILE. Erstwhile (adjective) “Christmas at B. Altman: the End of an means former. It is a literary word, not a Era . . .” / “An era ends: Johnny [Car- word to be used regularly in conversa- son] says goodbye.” tion or frequently in writing. When it Broadcasters reported “the end of an does surface in casual talk or informal era” when a navy yard was shut down, a writing, its users often seem unsure of military base was closed, a gorilla died at what it means. a zoo, a hotel was demolished, and an- In a discussion on television, a pan- other navy yard closed. A news service elist wondered whether the vice presi- applied the same phrase to a bookstore’s dent’s involvement in a controversy over closing. election-campaign financing would af- When the baseball player Jose Can- fect his presidential ambition. She asked: seco was traded, an era did not end; it merely relocated. A main story in a Cali- Does this hurt him? Does this make fornia daily began, “A’s general manager his erstwhile opponents lick their Sandy Alderson sent an era to Texas.” chops?

EROTIC. See EXOTIC. She was literally asking about his former opponents. “Erstwhile” should have ERR, ERROR. Opening a segment been would-be. on movie mistakes, a network television A columnist wrote: program displayed the title “TO ER- ROR IS HUMAN” on the screen. The The erstwhile George Shultz and his network staff itself was in error, mis- shattered Department of State seemed 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 117

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to feel the same way [intolerant of mated” is supposed to make it right. It wrongdoing]. has been said that “total of” is understood. The New York Times chose to in- What the writer had in mind is anyone’s sert the two words, properly, in an guess. To speak of, in effect, the former article about Yugoslavia in the 1940s. George Shultz made no sense; he remained George Shultz. Ultimately one An estimated total of 1,700,000 Yu- might describe him as the erstwhile sec- goslavs were killed, both in combat retary of state. and in atrocities and reprisals by and Erstwhile as an adverb, or erstwhiles, against civilians. meaning formerly or some time ago, is archaic. The Far Eastern article could have said, for instance, “An estimated total of ESCALATE. See Verbs, 2. 2,000 Chinese students. . . .” The same thought can be expressed in some other ESPIONAGE. See Crimes, 5. way: A group estimated at 2,000; or a crowd estimated (or said or believed) to ESTIMATE, ESTIMATED. 1. An number 2,000; or simply about or ap- estimated what? 2. Estimated by whom? proximately or roughly 2,000. Around is 3. Pronunciation; other forms. colloquial.

1. An estimated what? 2. Estimated by whom? “An estimated” followed by a num- When “estimated” is used in a vague ber and a plural noun is a well-worn pat- sense, one is entitled to ask: “estimated” tern in the popular press, although four by whom? It does not tell us much unless specimens in one news story is unusual. we know who has done the estimating. The story dealt with reactions to China’s If, for instance, the police make an esti- Tiananmen Square massacre. mate of the size of the crowd attending a rally, it may differ wildly from an esti- On Sunday . . . an estimated 3,000 mate made by the sponsors or by jour- students and sympathizers rallied at nalists. Miyashita Park in Tokyo’s Shibuya It is best to state clearly, “The police district. . . . estimated that 5,000 attended” or “The An estimated 2,000 Chinese stu- sponsors estimated that 15,000 at- dents held similar demonstrations tended.” Sunday and yesterday outside Chinese If the word estimate or estimated is consulates in Osaka, Fukuda and used, a true estimate—that is, an ap- Nagoya. . . . proximate calculation—ought to have Major travel agencies reported that been made. Sometimes the ﬁgure is just a an estimated 500 Japanese are touring guess, but one never reads in the news- in China. . . . paper or hears on the air, “A guessed There are an estimated 3,100 Japa- 10,000 supporters attended.” nese residents . . . in Beijing. 3. Pronunciation; other forms Nonjournalists are less likely to say “an As a noun, meaning an approximate estimated 5,000 were there” than calculation, estimate is pronounced ES- “about [or around or approximately or tim-mit. As a verb, meaning to calculate roughly] 5,000 were there.” something approximately, estimate is No one would say or write, for in- pronounced ES-tim-mate. stance, “an 8,000 marchers.” The “esti- Estimated, the past tense and past 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 118

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participle of the verb estimate, is com- ever it is spelled, it is pronounced either monly used as an adjective in the press. et-SET-uh-ruh or et-SET-ruh. Occasion- The adjective presented in dictionaries is ally someone mispronounces the et “ex” estimative: pertaining to estimating or or misspells etc.: A printed sign in a store serving as an estimate. (“The 3,000 is window said, in advertising animals only estimative.”) made from plant parts, “Everything is Estimation can be an act of estimat- Natural . . . Eyes, Nose, Tail, Ect.” ing; a judgment made as a result; a valu- Usage critics have taken aim at etc. ation of merit; or esteem, repute. A few One called it amateurish and slovenly in critics object to the phrase “in my esti- literary prose. To another, etc. suits com- mation.” Roy H. Copperud writes, “Es- mercial or technical writing but its use timate is the judgment, estimation the elsewhere can make a writer seem lazy process of forming it.” Raising no such or ignorant. objection, The American Heritage Dic- While accepting those pronounce- tionary illustrates estimation by quoting ments as caveats, we can temper them: Thoreau: “No man ever stood the lower etc. can either stunt or tighten a sen- in my estimation for having a patch in tence; it is a matter of judgment. If etc. his clothes.” seems too curt, alternatives are to spell out et cetera or follow the series with ET AL. See ETC., ET CETERA, 2. and so on or another indication that the examples given are not exhaustive. Yet if ETC., ET CETERA. 1. And the rest. conciseness is desired, particularly when 2. ET AL. the listing is parenthetical or tabular, etc. may be preferable, as long as it is clear 1. And the rest what etc. is meant to suggest. In Latin et means and and cetera When, in highly concise fashion, only means the rest. As adapted to English, one item precedes the etc., a comma the phrase et cetera is the equivalent of need not intervene: instead of “rabbits, and so on or and so forth. Often it is ab- etc.,” make it rabbits etc. breviated: etc. Its user avoids listing all the items in a category. “They hunt small 2. ET AL. animals: rabbits, squirrels, etc.” The etc. A phrase of similar meaning, used of- indicates others in the same category ten in legal writing, is et al. It is an abbre- (like gophers and chipmunks, in this in- viation of the Latin et alii, meaning and stance). others, or et alius, meaning and another. Sometimes the two words are com- For instance, a case may be titled John bined in the noun etcetera(s). “The sen- Smith v. Harry Robinson et al., indicat- tence ends with a lazy etcetera.” / “I ing that there are other defendants be- packed the main items and let the sides Robinson. etceteras go.” Inasmuch as and is what the et means, ETERNITY. It is forever. It is time “and” or “&” should not precede et without end. (To state the deﬁnition of cetera or etc., although &c. is an op- this noun is not to take any stand on the tional abbreviation. A broadcaster spoke implicit cosmological question.) Some- of “alcohol, tobacco, and et cetera” and, times eternity is used metaphorically to in another redundancy the next day, describe an extremely long time. ended a series “et cetera, et cetera, et A music critic wrote that a symphony cetera.” orchestra “proved expert at making a A variant spelling is et caetera. How- mere 68 minutes of music run on for a 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 119

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small eternity.” It was an extravagant him . . . ?” and “Who ever said . . . ?” way to express his boredom. How mean almost the same as “What con- would he describe, say, the life ex- ceivably made him . . . ?” and “Who on pectancy of the Sun? earth said . . . ?” The w-word and the See also INTERMINABLE. ever need not be next to each other: “Where was it ever written that I have to EVADE and AVOID. See Confusing support your brother?” is similar to pairs. “Where the heck was it written . . . ?” The rule was essentially enunciated by (-)EVER. 1. Apart or together?—the H. W. Fowler, although he restricted the W-words. 2. EVER and EVERY. 3. interrogative ever to sentences reproduc- FOREVER, FOR EVER. 4. HOW- ing highly informal spoken speech. EVER. 5. WHYEVER, WHY EVER. 6. (Even then, who could not come next to With RARELY, SELDOM; definitions. ever; he wanted “Who could ever . . . ?” instead of “Who ever could . . . ?” To his 1. Apart or together?—the W-words reviser, Sir Ernest Gowers, the former Two words or one word? That is the was merely “better.”) question here, whether to write what Wilson Follett sanctioned the sepa- ever, when ever, where ever, and who rated, interrogative ever for any “com- ever or whatever, whenever, wherever, mon use” but not for a “grave style.” He and whoever. wrote that the adverbs “whatever, who- The answer is brief: one word in a ever, whenever, wherever, however, and statement, two words in a question. A whyever are rhetorically equivalent and book departs from that rule: should be treated alike.” Follett’s approach is recommended. (He noted that What ever method you use, however, dictionaries separated some words, kept should be checked out with the local some joined, and disagreed on which postal officials in your area. words to give each treatment. Their un- ruliness persists.) “Whatever method you use” would be Speakers need not worry about a dif- right. The excerpt is a declarative sen- ference between the two forms, although tence, a statement. they do tend to give an interrogative ever All the four w-words should be more emphasis than a declarative -ever. treated the same. “We visit them whenever we can.” / “He goes wherever they 2. EVER and EVERY send him.” / “Whoever did that must Ever so is a colloquial phrase meaning have been mad.” very, to an extreme degree or extent: In sentences like these, however, the “The sea is ever so calm today.” Ever so w-root and the ever part company: often means very often or repeatedly: “What ever made him do such a thing?” “It’s been raining ever so often lately.” / “When ever will that check come?” / Ever so often should not be confused “Where ever did you hear that?” / “Who with every so often, which means now ever said such nonsense?” and then or once in a while: “Every so In an interrogative sentence, that is, a often someone hits the jackpot.” Some- question, ever intensifies the basic word times the “ever” phase is used mistak- but is not essential to it. The separate enly when the every phrase is meant. ever is roughly equivalent to conceivably, possibly, on earth, the heck, and in the 3. FOREVER, FOR EVER world. For example, “What ever made Forever is infrequently written as two 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 120

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words, for ever, an older style. Either bors are ever throwing parties”). Collo- way, it means eternally or continually. quially it is also an intensive, comparable See FOREVER. to very: “Was that dinner ever good!”

4. HOWEVER EVERY. See BETWEEN, 2; (-)EVER, However requires special caution, un- 2; EVERY DAY and EVERYDAY; EV- like the two-word form, how ever, ERY ONE and EVERYONE; NOT, 1 A; whose use in questions is clear: “How Pronouns, 2; Verbs, 3. ever did you accomplish it?” The one-word form, however, used in EVERY and EVER. See (-)EVER, 2. declarative sentences, bears a dual meaning. It can mean (as an adverb) no matter EVERYBODY, EVERYONE. how or by whatever means: “However 1. -BODY and -ONE words. 2. “EV- you travel, make sure to arrive on time.” ERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT.” 3. It can also mean (as a conjunction) but Exaggeration. 4. Number. or in spite of that: “I didn’t get the job, however they said they would keep me 1. -BODY and -ONE words in mind.” However can be ambiguous, Everybody and everyone mean the as in this sentence: “I want to sail how- same thing: each person. Similarly, no- ever the winds rage.” Is the speaker fear- body and no one have the same mean- less or fearful? ing: no person. So do somebody and someone: some person. All are pro- 5. WHYEVER, WHY EVER nouns. (A somebody is a colloquial noun Whyever is rather rare. Why ever is meaning an important person.) more common. “He must be punished In each pair, one word is not necessar- whyever he did it.” But “Why ever did ily better than the other, and the choice is he do it?” a matter of personal preference. Sometimes, when rhythm or concise- 6. With RARELY, SELDOM; deﬁnitions ness is important, the fact that one word Ever means, among other deﬁnitions, of the pair has an additional syllable and at any time. “Does he ever do any an additional letter can make a differ- work?” Popularly used in this way: “He ence. Everybody has four syllables and seldom [or “rarely”] ever does any nine letters, everyone three and eight. work,” it is considered redundant by The second e is silent. The American Heritage Dictionary and Everyone should not be confused with its usage panel and by Roy C. Copperud, every one. See EVERY ONE and EV- although the expression has been around ERYONE. since the mid-eighteenth century. One may use seldom if ever or seldom or 2. “EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT” never (substituting rarely as needed) or The expression “everyone [or “every- just leave out the “ever.” Presumably the body”] is talking about” with a mention critics are concerned that time is built of a new establishment, product, publi- into the words rarely and seldom. Not so cation, service, show, or other thing is a hardly; it is perfectly all right to say, or promotional device aimed at making us sing, “He’s hardly ever sick at sea!” jump on the bandwagon. If everyone Ever can also mean always (“We must were really talking about something, it be ever vigilant”), by any chance (“If would be unnecessary to advertise it. But there ever was damage, you would be the expression is rarely true. protected”), or repeatedly (“The neigh- An informative television program 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 121

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opened with an announcement of the EVERY DAY and EVERYDAY. evening’s topics. Among them would be Just because the words every and day “the shocking, new book everyone’s come close to each other is no cause to talking about. . . .” I was not talking unite them. about it, never having heard of it before, These three quotations have the same and tuned the program out. error. [By a news agency:] “Everyday A magazine article, about a technique he’s feeling better.” [By a columnist:] for exercising, was titled “The Super Ab- “Editorials like that aren’t written every- Flattener Everyone’s Talking About.” day.” [On the TV screen:] “Kids ride free Were you talking about it? everyday.” Every day must be kept separate when 3. Exaggeration each day can be substituted. Corrections: Everybody and everyone are often “Every day he’s feeling better.” / “Edito- gross overstatements. The question in rials like that aren’t written every day.” / what group? ought to be answered, at “Kids ride free every day.” In such in- least implicitly, unless the pronoun rep- stances, when the pair serves as an ad- resents every person there is. verb, there is no more reason to unite the An article in the sports section of a na- two words than to unite every hour or tional newspaper opened this way: every week. However, the unitary form, everyday, One word sums up the NFL draft: is correct as an adjective, e.g., “Her need. Everybody talked about it, ev- everyday activities are vigorous.” erybody thought about it, everybody Two companies made the opposite slip. drafted based on it. In a magazine ad, a chain of computer There may have been a few people in the stores promised “EVERY DAY LOW world who did not talk, think, or do PRICES!” Signs in the windows of a anything about the need for football thrift and loan company urged the pub- players. See also Run-on sentence, 2. lic to “LOOK AT OUR EVERY DAY “Everybody does it,” or words to the HIGH YIELDS!” In both sentences same effect, is a common rationalization “EVERYDAY” would have been right. for a questionable action. An entertainer In pronouncing every day, we empha- said, concerning a risqué photograph of size both ev- and day. In pronouncing ev- him and a woman on a record cover: eryday, we emphasize just ev-.

“When girls see it they go, ‘Oh, EVERY ONE and EVERYONE. that’s nasty.’ But everybody does the Just as every day should not always be same stuff behind closed doors.” unified, neither should every one, although the rules are different. The first Speak for yourself, please. example is from a weekly publication. “Everyone of our 1,500 personnel 4. Number should have a flashlight—with extra Both everybody and everyone are sin- batteries and extra lights.” gular. Any pertinent noun, possessive, or verb must be singular. In quoting an oral statement, the writer “Has everyone here received a pam- mistakenly united every one. (See also phlet?” / “Everybody pulled his weight.” PERSONNEL.) / “Everyone in these units is well pre- A form letter to clients from a securi- pared.” ties group contained the same type of er- See also PRONOUNS, 2. ror. 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 122

122 “everything from”

With the holiday season upon us, to prove something, i.e., to establish a we . . . would like to extend our fact or to show the truth of a proposi- warmest greetings of friendship and tion. In a legal case, proof means evi- thanks to each and everyone of our dence that convinces those standing in clients. . . . judgment that a contention is true. When a chimpanzee was found to Only when everybody can be substi- have the human immunodeficiency tuted is everyone right. It means each virus, a telecaster introduced the news person. It never applies to things or ani- this way: “There’s proof today that mals, and it can never be followed by of. AIDS came from chimps.” It was prema- “Everyone needs a home.” / “Everyone ture to describe a preliminary piece of must eat” / “Everyone in our house has evidence as “proof.” Better news reports voted.” In speech, the first syllable is em- said the disease “most likely came” or phasized: EV-re-won. “may have come” from simians. Every one places more importance on the one. It means every single member of EVIDENT, EVIDENTLY. See AP- a particular group, which can comprise PARENT, APPARENTLY. people, things, or animals. Often of follows, as in “every one of our 1,500” and EVOKE and INVOKE. An art “each and every one of our clients.” The gallery says a certain artist’s paintings of and its object may be absent but im- “invoke a sense of continuum. . . .” They plied: “Twenty mice were tested and ev- evoke it. (Verbosity has further quota- ery one proved to be disease-free.” tion.) To evoke is to elicit, bring forth, or When every one is spoken, both the ev- produce (typically a response, feeling, or and the one are emphasized. image). Both every one and everyone are sin- According to a news story, a litigant gular and any ensuing verb or pronoun “evoked” an obscure law. He invoked it. must be singular: “Every one of the con- To invoke is to appeal to a deity or testants gives her all.” / “Everyone looks higher power for help, to call upon a out for himself.” source of authority, or to conjure (a See also EVERYBODY, EVERYONE; spirit) by incantation. NOT, 1A; Pronouns, 2C. EXACERBATE and EXASPER- “EVERYTHING FROM.” See ATE. A hill was crumbling, threaten- Range, true and false, 4. ing a house on top. When a television reporter spoke of the events that had EVIDENCE and PROOF. Although “exasperated the problem,” was she cor- loosely used as synonyms, they are not rect or should she have used exacerbated the same. Evidence is not necessarily instead? proof, but it takes evidence to establish At least five dictionaries vindicate her, proof. In general, the first is tentative; the approving of the interchangeable use of second is conclusive. exacerbate and exasperate (verbs, transi- Evidence means data that help to es- tive). In common usage, though, the tablish a factual conclusion or that are words are restricted in this way: meant to lead to a judgment. In a legal Exacerbate: to make (an illness or case, testimony of witnesses, documents, other unsatisfactory condition) more in- and objects typically serve as evidence tense. that opposing sides present in efforts to Exasperate: to make (someone) angry demonstrate opposite contentions. or highly annoyed. Proof means evidence that is sufficient So if you use either word with the 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 123

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other meaning, you will be technically in exception that proves the rule, won Iowa the clear, but you may not be under- in 1976.” A movie reviewer wrote, stood. “Italy is simply not a warlike nation. . . . Mussolini was the exception that proved EXCEPT and EXCEPTING. Ex- the rule.” In another book, a conductor cepting in place of except is out of style. says making concert suites out of movie The -ing serves no function in this press scores never works and “Prokofiev’s excerpt: Nevsky or Walton’s Henry V . . . are the exceptions proving the rule.” A number of small parties have How can an exception “prove” a emerged . . . but none of them, except- rule? Shouldn’t the exception disprove ing Civic Forum, appears to have the it? strength or organizational muscle to The answer lies in an archaic meaning challenge the . . . Communist Party. of prove: to test, originating in the Latin probare, same meaning. It survives in As normally used (as a preposition) some special fields, including mathemat- excepting follows a negative: “All politi- ics, minerals, and weapons. A scientist cal groups in the city, not excepting [not may test a rule (or theory, principle, etc.) excluding] the Klan, have been invited.” by seeking an exception; finding one is In that context “not except” would be reason to discard, or at least modify, the erroneous. rule. Users of the cliché, unaware of its When except (used as a preposition) is true meaning, cite it as authority to keep followed by a personal pronoun, the the rule despite the exception. pronoun takes the objective case: “All Some rules, in grammar and spelling the members voted for it except [other for instance, are not strict and have ex- than] him and me,” not “he and I.” See ceptions. But those exceptions devaluate Pronouns, 10. the rules rather than validate them. Except can have other nuances. (As a conjunction:) “I would stay except that Exclamation point. See Punctuation, [if not for the fact that] my time is 6. short.” / “He never goes out of town except [for any other purpose but] to gam- EXECUTE. To execute someone is to ble.” (As a verb:) “The costs of living are impose capital punishment on him, to not high if you except [exclude] real es- put him to death in accordance with a tate and rent.” sentence legally imposed by a court of When spoken, the verb except(s) can law. When criminals, terrorists, or other be confused with “accept,” and except- lawbreakers kill, it is homicide, if not ing with “accepting.” See Homophones. murder, never “execution.” So it is when political leaders, government officials, or “EXCEPTION PROVES THE police kill outside of the judicial system, RULE.” As it is commonly used, this or when the military kills outside of a cliché contradicts scientific logic. Yet battle in war. See also Crimes, 4. those invoking it assume that it bolsters After Peruvian soldiers had stormed their points of view: an embassy to rescue hostages, a news A book presents a rule that job pro- story reported motion “is determined by pull” and a section headed “An Exception That accusations that military commandos Proves the Rule.” A TV commentator had executed some of the guerrillas stated a rule that caucus winners lose who had tried to surrender. . . . elections and added, “Jimmy Carter, the [F]ormer hostages and military intelli- 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 124

124 exercise and exorcise

gence officers . . . said they had wit- word for outside. The sense of intro- nessed or overheard the soldiers exe- duced from abroad and then the senses cute the rebels. . . . Speculation that of strange and rare branched from that some rebels were executed . . . have original meaning. Later, implications of been increasing. [Emphasis is added.] aesthetics, charm, excitement, or fascination overworked exotic further. Execute(d) is at best a euphemism in That adjective is a frequent eu- such a context, and it can suggest a de- phemism in the field of “adult” (i.e., sex- gree of legal justification that may not ual) entertainment. An “exotic dancer” exist. In the sample, it could well have may have spent her entire life in the been replaced by kill(ed) or slay or slain, United States and not learned any for- with the qualification that the victims eign dance, as long as she is an alluring were captured rebels. young woman who dances partly or Another meaning of execute, an ear- wholly nude. What may explain the lier meaning, is to carry out or put into choice of “exotic” is that it looks so effect (a law, a plan, an order, etc.). much like erotic. See also SLAY, SLAIN, SLEW. EXPECTED. It is hard enough for a EXERCISE and EXORCISE. Ex- reporter just to report the facts without orcise, also spelled exorcize, means to trying to predict the future. Note this drive out (an evil spirit). It should not be front-page headline: “C.I.A. Nominee mixed up with the three-e verb exercise, Expected to Win Senate Backing.” But meaning to exert, perform, do exercises, senators’ opposition to the nomination and so on. Some dictionaries offer the caused it to be withdrawn. Similarly a option of pronouncing the two words story telling what President Reagan was the same; others would enunciate the or “expected” to tell the nation was not in exorcise, a practice that could help to borne out, nor was a story telling how prevent confusion. voters in Washington State were “ex- When one “Jesus Christ Satan—a lo- pected” to vote. cal street character” showed up in court, Expected in such a context (the past jingled bells, and began to speak in participle of the transitive verb to protest against a ruling canceling a spe- expect) means considered very likely or cial election, the judge cut him off. practically certain. Of what value was Thereupon this headline appeared in a that word? And by whom was each newspaper: “J. C. Satan exercised.” Al- event “expected”? though Mr. Satan may have been exercised, in the sense of worried or upset, or Expletives. These amount to verbal possibly had worked out in a gymna- appendixes. They are words or phrases sium, a more likely explanation for the that fill out sentences but have little headline is a copy editor’s trying to be meaning in themselves. clever but not succeeding. In its popular sense, an expletive is an oath or swear word, like hell or damn or EXOTIC. An exhibition of landscape the obscene variety of four-letter word. art elicited a review containing this sen- In a grammatical sense, an expletive is tence: “Another theme that turns up re- a word or phrase that, while not neces- peatedly is the exotic foreign locale.” To sary or even very meaningful, may serve speak of “the exotic foreign locale” is al- a stylistic, rhythmic, or syntactical func- most like saying “the foreign foreign lo- tion. It is and there is (are, was, were) are cale.” Foreign is the original meaning of common expletives. exotic, which comes from the Greek When the pronoun it does not repre- 01-A-E_4 10/22/02 10:29 AM Page 125

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sent a particular noun and the adverb lizard in my living room” but “There are there does not refer to a place, each two lizards in my kitchen.” To say word may start a sentence or clause “There were a cake and two pies on the without being the subject. Examples: “It table” is strictly correct but it may sound is time now to talk business.” / “There’s strange to some ears. Some writers a full moon out tonight.” The real sub- would accept “There was a cake and jects there are time and moon. It and two pies . . . ,” however ungrammatical. there in such sentences are called antici- The dilemma may be resolved by putting patory subjects or dummy subjects. Id- the plural item first: “There were two iom generally accepts them, although the pies and a cake . . .” ideas may be expressed in other ways; It as an expletive is always followed e.g., “Now is the time to talk business” by a singular verb: “It seems they lost or “A full moon is out tonight.” their way.” / “It’s [it is] good we’re to- Many teachers and editors have long gether again.” In a construction like “It objected to expletives, considering their is the showers that bring [not “brings”] use weak, clumsy, or superfluous. Some- the flowers,” the verb following that times it can be so: “There were six other agrees with the real subject (“showers”), specimens found” is better rewritten as not with the dummy subject it. (See also “Six other specimens were found” or, WHO, 3.) The purpose of that construc- still better, as “We found six other speci- tion is to emphasize the subject. An arti- mens.” Writers of impersonal letters are cle said, “It’s their specific traits and apt to write, e.g., “It is thought . . .” to biography—their background, their de- avoid “I think. . . .” meanor—that is supposed to make us Scientists like to write impersonally, tune in.” That are. so it is not surprising that three studies on the same topic (passive smoking) by EXTORTION. See Crimes, 2. different researchers say in summaries, “There was a statistically significant dif- EYE (of a storm). The eye of a hurri- ference . . .” / “There was no evidence of cane or other tropical cyclone is a fairly any trend . . .” / “There was no associa- calm place. It is an approximately circu- tion. . . .” lar area of rather light winds and com- Yet eminent literature contains many paratively fair weather in the center of quotable examples: “It is a far, far better the storm. thing that I do, than I have ever The narrator of a documentary film done . . .” (Dickens). “Behold, there said, “At the eye of the hurricane, the come seven years of great plenty . . .” wind can exceed 200 miles an hour.” He, (Bible, Genesis). “To every thing there is or the writer, was wrong. In the eye, a season . . .” (Bible, Ecclesiastes). It and “winds diminish to something less than there fit the rhythm of many song lyrics 15 knots” (about 17 statute miles per and poems: “It was down in old Joe’s hour), a weather almanac says. barroom . . .” / “’Twas [it was] the night That meteorological term is some- before Christmas . . . When out on the times misused in a figurative way when a lawn there arose such a clatter. . . .” person in the center of a controversy or Note that there may be accompanied furor is said to be “in the eye of the by a singular or plural verb, depending storm.” on the noun that follows. “There is a 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 126

FABULOUS. Fabulous (adjective) speech has so watered down fabulous primarily means pertaining to a fable or that when someone does use the word of the nature of a fable. That which is precisely, we may not know it. mythical, legendary, or imaginary may See also FANTASTIC; INCREDI- be described as fabulous. “Baron Mun- BLE. chausen was a real man, but his tales were fabulous.” FACT. 1. Definition. 2. “The FACT The word came to have an additional that.” 3. Modifiers. 4. Synonyms. meaning, describing something that is real but so marvelous that it would seem 1. Definition imaginary if you did not know it was A fact is a statement that is known to real. “The fabulous notion of a trip to be true or that has been proven to be the moon became reality in 1969.” true, whether by observation, research, In later years it entered popular or reliable testimony. speech as a slang synonym for very Fact, as distinguished from fancy, fal- good, well done, impressive, successful, sity, fiction, or supposition, denotes ac- or any of numerous other terms of ap- tuality, reality, or truth. proval. “The dinner was fabulous.” / “He did a fabulous job.” Such mundane 2. “The FACT that” use has become so widespread that it The phrase the fact that often is used threatens to bury the specific meanings colloquially, and wrongly, for what is of fabulous. not fact. The expression sometimes ap- How is the word used in this sen- pears in serious writing (occasionally tence? without “that”), for instance: “The latest deployment may reflect the fact that On almost every other page, we find a the government is thinking of launching classic California painting, such as a military attack.” It is speculation, not William Alexander Coulter’s horrify- fact. Change “reflect the fact” to indi- ing yet fabulous view—from the cate. Bay—of San Francisco burning in A radio talk show produced this dia- “San Francisco Fire, 1906.” logue:

Whether the writer meant that the scene [Hostess:] If your son made a girl was imaginary or that it was well pregnant, would you help her to get painted is not certain. Contemporary an abortion?

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[Man calling:] I think I would. . . . While I was in the CIA [an ex-agent [Hostess:] I’m surprised by the fact said in a magazine piece] I also helped that he would help a girl of another prepare briefings for Congress for Mr. family get an abortion. Colby. . . . Very few of the facts in these briefings were true. What surprised her was not a “fact” but an offhand response to a hypothetical Then there were very few facts. Either re- question. Leaving out “by the fact” place facts with another noun, like state- would have sharpened the sentence and ments or details; or place an adjective, not relinquished any meaning. like supposed or purported, before facts. A week later another man calling the Such an adjective is almost implied in a program was questioned: popular expression: to get one’s facts (that is, one’s supposed facts) right or [Hostess:] Your source for the fact wrong or straight. that the Russian army is not being fed Fact(s) can be legitimately modified in is what? many ways. One may speak of a surprising fact, a scientific fact, encouraging The very question indicated her doubt facts, all the facts, and so on. that his statement was a fact. 4. Synonyms Fact in some contexts is interchange- 3. Modifiers able with actuality, reality or truth. The In a book about the book business, preposition in may precede any of those we read: nouns, but the meanings are not necessarily the same. For instance, in fact of- It turns out that the researcher pro- ten serves merely to intensify the vided his coauthor with incorrect statement that is coming, whereas in re- facts. ality is more apt to contrast the truth of what is to come with that of a previous No, he provided him with incorrect statement. statements or with misinformation. In Information can be used as a syn- strict usage, there cannot be “incorrect onym for facts, knowledge, or learning. facts” or “false facts.” It is a contradic- It can be used in a neutral way also, to tion. denote something that is told or a telling Superfluous adjectives like “correct” of something, regardless of the truth or or “true” should not team up with facts falsity of what is told. If the information either. is wrong, it can be called misinformation. [A prosecutor, as quoted in a newspa- A statement is an act of setting forth per:] I only want to see the true facts in words; also something stated or said, presented. an account of something. Because it may not be true, it is not the same as a fact. [An ex-senator on TV:] Americans in Truth, the state or quality of being poll after poll, when informed of the true or in accordance with fact or reality, true facts [about Medicare], say “Let’s can pertain to a particular statement fix it.” (“Can you verify the truth of that statement?”) or to a generality (“When war is “True facts” is redundant. A fact is true declared, truth is the first casualty”). by definition. See also DATA. 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 128

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FACTICITY, FACTION, FAC- feature, force, ingredient, or phase. In TIOUS, FACTUAL, etc. See FACT- “Let’s review the factors leading up to words. this crime,” circumstances would be an apt replacement for “factors.” FACTOR. 1. General meaning. 2. Special meanings. 2. Special meanings In biology, factor indicates an antigen, 1. General meaning gene, or substance; the word is com- A medical dictionary says about can- bined in terms such as Rh factor. This is cer: an antigen discovered in red blood cells of rhesus monkeys and most people. There are probably many causative Blood containing it is incompatible with factors, some of which are known: for blood lacking it. example, cigarette smoking is associ- Factor has several commercial mean- ated with lung cancer, radiation with ings. Often it is a person or company some bone sarcomas and leukemia. that makes loans secured by accounts re- ceivable or, sometimes, that purchases “Causative” is unnecessary. A factor is the accounts. An older sense is that of a causative; that is, functioning as a cause. commission merchant, an agent for the “There are probably many factors. . . .” sale of goods. When it is not used in a biological, In mathematics, a factor is one of two commercial, or mathematical sense, a or more quantities that form a specified factor essentially is a cause. It is a cir- product when multiplied together: 5 and cumstance, condition, or element that 3 are factors of 15. A related verb (tran- contributes to an effect or a result. The sitive) is factor, meaning to separate (a meanings of cause and factor overlap, product) into factors. A synonym is fac- but only cause will do if an effect is torize. known to have a single cause; factor im- An obsolete meaning of the noun fac- plies one or more additional causes. tor is one who does or makes something, The general sense of factor is a figura- its meaning in Latin. tive use of its mathematical sense defined in 2. FACT- words. 1. Concerning facts. 2. Factor is stuffed in innumerable sen- Not concerning facts. tences, either unnecessarily or impre- cisely. “Causative” and “causal” are 1. Concerning facts among unnecessary modifiers. Another When an academic said on television, appears in the phrase “contributing fac- “The level of facticity has dropped on tor.” Factors contribute. “We have to the part of both of the candidates,” was think of the cost factor” probably can be she using a recognized word? shortened to “We have to think of the The noun facticity is defined in The cost.” Oxford English Dictionary as “The Touching on the difficulty in unscram- quality or condition of being a fact; fac- bling bad English, an essayist asks tuality.” It dates at least from 1945. rhetorically: “And what about the time So the speaker used a word recog- factor?” Could “factor” not be omitted, nized by the most reputable dictionary, if perhaps replaced by spent or wasted? not by her entire TV audience. A simpler Often factor is used when a more ap- phrasing: “Both candidates are getting propriate word would be circumstance, away from facts.” component, consideration, element, fact, The Oxford lists three related nouns. 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 129

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(The dates represent the dictionary’s ear- boomed when Madison Avenue set liest quotations.) off a factitious demand for the product.” Factitious should not be • Factuality: “The quality of being confused with fictitious, which factual; factualness” (1887). means written as fiction or created • Factualness: “The state of being by the imagination and can, but factual; factuality” (1906). need not necessarily, imply falsity • Factualism: In philosophy, “A and intent to deceive. (In the context predominant concern with facts or of advertising, the confusion would natural consequences, especially in be understandable.) moral matters . . .” (1946). • Factitive (adjective): in grammar, pertaining to a type of transitive The common adjective factual means verb. Its direct object takes a pertaining to, containing, or made up of complement, and typically a making facts; “a factual report.” In some con- or rendering is described. In “They texts it implies that something is real, not made him their leader,” made is a fabricated, at least in essence; “The factitive verb. movie is factual.” A less common adjective is factful: A journalist described a political party well acquainted with facts (said of a per- as “factionalized.” If he meant it was son) or full of facts (said of a literary characterized by faction, either factional work). or factious would have expressed that Faction in the sense of fiction based meaning more economically. on fact is a fairly new noun, not to be confused with its homonym below. FACULTY. A faculty is a staff of an educational institution. It is the entire 2. Not concerning facts body of teachers in a college or univer- Several words that begin with fact- sity (“the faculty of Yale”) or in one of have nothing to do with facts. Let us list its departments (“the mathematics fac- them. ulty”). Some dictionaries broaden the definition to take in any type of school, • Faction (noun): a clique or a and some include administrators as well subgroup of a country, government, as teachers. party, organization, etc.; also conflict The writer of a main article in a uni- or dissension within such an entity. versity newspaper could not decide “The city council has conservative whether the word was plural or singular. and liberal factions. It is hampered In some sentences he made it plural: by faction.” Some faculty . . . fear and loathe • Factional (adjective): pertaining to a student evaluations of their teaching. faction or characterized by faction. . . . Many faculty thought the evalua- • Factious (adjective): producing or tion process was fine as is. . . . Faculty causing faction; also, pertaining to were not given enough research time. or characterized by faction. “This . . . Most faculty are expected to teach factious election campaign is almost the equivalent of four classes per over.” / “The Vietnam conflict was semester. especially factious.” • Factitious (adjective): unnatural, In other sentences, intermingled with artificially produced by effort. those above, he construed the word dif- “Sales, which had been slow, ferently: 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 130

130 fantasia

The survey asked 78 faculty members the movie Titanic. “Only one word can questions. . . . Those faculty members describe it,” he said. Is the word titanic? eligible for tenure . . . must have their No. “It is fantastic.” That meant the ﬁlm teaching evaluated by students. . . . was characterized by fantasy, untrue to Many had feared those faculty mem- life, if he was speaking strictly. He prob- bers might move on to greener aca- ably was not. demic pastures. . . . In music, a fantasia is a free-form composition of nontraditional structure, The plural construction of the ﬁrst set is emphasizing fancy over form. It may ei- not customary. Faculty is usually re- ther stand alone or serve as the prelude garded as singular. “The faculty was not for a fugue. given. . . .” / “Many faculty members Before playing a piano rendition of a thought. . . .” The second set is standard, Bach toccata and fugue on a radio pro- although the inconsistency was worse gram, a musician described some of its than the errancy. technicalities and called it a “fantastic” Faculty is a collective noun compara- piece. In the context in which it was ble to class. No one says “Some class used, the word could have meant charac- drop out” and “The class are many” in- teristic of a fantasia. At the end, how- stead of “Some class members drop out” ever, when he remarked, “It’s a fantastic and “The class is large.” thing,” it became apparent that his use See also Collective nouns; STAFF. of the word was not authentic. (But then neither was the music, which Bach had FANTASIA. See FANTASTIC. composed for the organ.) See also FABULOUS; INCREDIBLE. FANTASTIC. When a state’s education chief called on school districts to FAR. Discussing car thefts, in a radio toughen academic requirements, the interview, a police chief said of the Toy- president of a parent-teacher association ota, “It’s a very popular item as far as commented that “talk about higher stan- stripping the inside of the vehicle.” Strip- dards is fantastic.” And a member of the ping the as far as construction of is con- U.S. House of Representatives said cerned (or another appropriate verb) is about its speaker, “He’s making fantastic unfortunately becoming popular too. efforts on behalf of the American When the meaning is to the extent people.” that or to the degree that, the noun that Were they implying that talk of high follows as far as or so far as must be fol- standards and the House speaker’s ef- lowed by a verb: “As far as cats are con- forts were bizarre, capricious, fanciful, cerned, the law is silent.” / “He is not a grotesque, illusory, imaginary, odd, great actor as far as comedies go.” strange, or unreal? Fantastic primarily The same rule applies to the phrase in- means pertaining to or characterized by sofar as, or in so far as (as it is sometimes fantasy, and it has those associated spelled), also meaning to the extent that meanings. or to the degree that. The noun that fol- The contexts showed that each was lows it must be followed by a verb: “In- using “fantastic” in a nonstandard sense sofar as business grows, dividends will to mean something like admirable, capi- rise.” tal, great, noteworthy, remarkable, When as far as is followed by a noun splendid, superb, or any of dozens of re- representing a place, it may need no lated words. verb: “They rode as far as the border.” A reviewer talked on the radio about Nor does a verb have to follow when as 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 131

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far as or so far as indicates a limit of But the next sentence suggests that the progress: “He went to school as far as reviewer is not to be taken literally. the sixth grade.” (“His allegories . . . are not remarkable As far as or insofar as often can be paintings.”) Evidently he means that the replaced, partly or entirely, by one more Cézanne departed from reality, the small word or another: “As for cats . . .” worse were his pictures. In that case, fur- / “. . . Actor in comedies” / “If business ther should have been used, not “far- grows. . . .” ther.” Two physicians and a congressman In both examples just below, it is made these statements in three broad- clearer that measurable distances were casts: not in the writers’ minds. Each “farther” should be further. As far as frozen embryos, it’s amazing how good they are. . . . Britain . . . had already gone farther than its community partners As far as short-term toxicity, they’ve by withdrawing its entire diplomatic given human beings up to 6,000 mil- staff from Teheran. . . . ligrams every night. But as the would-be rebels were As far as the loan, it raises questions. soon to be reminded, the farther Mr. Kohl is pushed, the more terrible is his None of the three sentences accepts the recovery. “as far as” phrasing. In each, as for makes more sense. Here is an example of a “further” that should be farther. A measurable distance FARTHER and FURTHER. Do is exactly what the writer had in mind. we go further or go farther? Each is a comparative form of far. Each is both Novosibirsk, the largest city in the adjective and adverb. vast expanse of eastern Russia known Many careful writers and speakers as Siberia, is more than 1,500 miles observe a useful rule: Limit farther to the southeast of Moscow and even fur- meaning of more far in the sense of ac- ther west of Vladivostok. . . . tual, physical distance that can be measured (“I live farther from my office Change “further” to farther; or, better, now”). Use further for other, more figu- change “even further” to more than rative meanings (“He went further into 2,000 miles. debt”). Further thus means more distant The superlative forms of far bear the or distantly in degree, quantity, or time. same relationship as the comparative The distinction should be encouraged to forms. Farthest is most far in a literal prevent ambiguities like this one, from sense: “Of the nine planets, Pluto is the an art review: farthest from the Sun.” Furthest is most far in a figurative sense: “Of the paint- The farther Cézanne got from the ings on display, those by Dalí are the fur- object in front of him, the more trou- thest from reality.” ble he had. Those cool to the idea of distinguishing the words point to their interchange- The sentence seems to say that the artist able use at times by prominent writers. It had trouble seeing and could not stand is also a fact that neither word originally too far from the object he was painting. pertained to far. Further once was a 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 132

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comparative of fore and meant more for- See also Dehumanization. ward. Farther came later as a variation of further, having nothing to do with far. FATE. See DESTINY. More far was farrer, which became obsolete and was replaced by farther. FAUN and FAWN. Arthur Fiedler Of the two words, only further is a once conducted a symphony concert ti- verb (transitive), meaning to advance or tled “Pops Family Night at the Zoo.” assist: “They want to further our cause.” The program included Carnival of the Another distinctive sense of further, as Animals, Tiger Rag, Under the Double an adjective, is that of additional: “We Eagle, and Prelude to the Afternoon of a need further help.” Faun. That last selection seemed out of harmony with the zoo theme. Debussy’s FATALITY. A fatality is (1) an occur- faun—not to be confused with fawn, a rence that results in death, or (2) a death baby deer—was an ancient Roman deity, resulting from an unexpected occur- part man and part goat. To the best of rence. The word is misused in the ex- my knowledge, no zoo has ever had one. cerpts below, from news items and (the third) an editorial. FAZE and PHASE. A woman was learning to fly a little airplane and enjoy- Authorities said Patrick P——, of ing the experience, except for one thing. Kalamazoo, became the first hunting She wrote in a book: fatality of the season on Thursday The only thing that phased me was when he accidentally shot himself in a when David [the instructor] demon- cornfield while trying to unclog snow strated that Pegasus [the plane’s from his rifle. name] had pendular stability and could right herself from any twist; he The unfortunate man fell victim to a swung the bar and she dived and hunting fatality, or a hunting fatality soared. ended his life, or he became the first fatal victim of the hunting season. But the Correction: it fazed—not “phased”— man himself could not become a “fatal- her. Faze and phase (verbs, transitive) are ity.” pronounced the same but have different meanings and origins. (See also WHEN, A 58-year-old New York woman WHERE in definitions.) who died of the disorder in September To faze is to daunt, disconcert, or dis- is the first confirmed fatality in the turb one. It is used more often in the neg- outbreak, and several other deaths are ative than the positive. “Winter never still under investigation. . . . fazes the Eskimos.” The word has progressed from American dialect to collo- The driver of the Mercury became quial use, to standard use. It began as a the 26th fatality on Highway 37 in the variation of feeze (or feaze), which came past five years. from the Old English fesian, to drive away (someone or something). In each case, the death was the fatality, To phase is to plan, schedule, or carry not the person who died. Changing “fa- out something in phases or stages or as tality” to victim or fatal victim would be needed. It came from the Greek noun preferable to the present wording, which phasis, appearance or phase of the tends to convert human beings into moon, which itself came from the verb statistics. phanein, to show. 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 133

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To phase in or phase out something is emotion or perceive one’s own condi- to introduce it or eliminate it in phases tion, an adjective follows: “She feels or stages. A phase phrase can be useful, happy,” not “happily”; and “I am recu- but it carries the flavor of bureaucratic perated and feel strong now,” not or corporate jargon. If the idea is to “strongly.” (Feel then serves as a linking gradually introduce or gradually elimi- verb. It links the subject, she or I, to the nate something, it may be better to say adjective, happy or strong.) so. Feel itself is only occasionally modi- Phase as a noun is a state of develop- fied, for example: “We feel strongly that ment or a temporary form of behavior or he is the best man for the country.” an event in a cycle of events. It can also There the adverb strongly is right; be the way the moon, or another celes- “strong” would be incorrect. tial body, or other body whose appear- Some editors and critics have objected ance changes periodically, appears at a to feel in the sense of hold an opinion or certain time. take a stand. That common use need not be wholly abandoned, although feel can FEATURE. To feature (verb, transi- be wishy-washy when the import is “We tive) is to present as a prominent attrac- declare” or “My position is” or “The tion, display conspicuously, or publicize Court finds.” Feel suits an attitude, con- (a person, thing, topic, etc.). viction, or opinion tinged with emotion A music reviewer wrote, “The con- and vagueness, as opposed to reason and cert . . . featured an interminable inter- clarity. mission. . . .” The concert featured a See also BAD and BADLY; GOOD noted pianist. It had or included an and WELL. intermission or, the critic could say, was unduly stretched out by it; but the FELICITOUS. See FORTUITOUS. intermission was never presented as a prominent attraction. (See also INTER- FELONY. See CRIME, MISDE- MINABLE.) MEANOR, and FELONY; Crimes (vari- “The current issue features space ous felonies). travel” is a straightforward use of the verb. Occasionally someone reverses the -F ending. See Plurals and singulars, subject and object, so that “Space travel 2F. features the current issue.” If one is determined to lead off with the highlighted FESTOON, FESTOONED. To fes- topic, a way to do it sensibly is to replace toon (verb, transitive) is to decorate “features” with a passive form, is fea- with, or make into, or join, by means of tured in. a festoon. A festoon (noun) is a garland or string of flowers, leaves, ribbons, etc. FEEL. A businessman admitted that he hanging in a curve or loop between two had made a $300,000 political contribu- points. A representation of such a hang- tion in return for a meeting with the ing garland, say carved in furniture, may president. Thereupon a television com- also be called a festoon. Does either of mentator asked, “How are voters sup- the samples (from a magazine and a posed to feel except incredibly cynically newspaper) describe either kind of fes- about the process?” Cynical (adjective), toon? not “cynically” (adverb), would have been correct. The walls all around Slonimsky’s When feel means to experience an work table are festooned with a 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 134

134 fetus

gallery of ghoulish nonsense—bizarre “because it means less days out of work tabloid headlines, M. C. Escher co- for their employees.” nundrums, a reproduction of an 1853 As a rule of thumb: less goes with a painting. . . . singular; fewer goes with a plural. (Ex- ceptions are coming.) The walls may be adorned, decked, dec- Less means not so much. It is a orated, embellished, or merely covered smaller quantity of a substance (“less he- with those things but are probably not lium”) or type of object (“less fruit”) or truly festooned. (The sentence contains a smaller amount or degree of an ab- two other questionable uses: “ghoulish,” stract thing (“less excitement”) or demeaning fiendish, horrible, or loath- scriptive quality (“less brilliant”). some, to describe the headlines and pic- Fewer means not so many. It is a tures; and “conundrums,” riddles whose smaller number of objects (“fewer co- answers are puns, applied to Escher’s conuts” or “fewer heavenly bodies”) or pictures.) other things that can be counted and that are considered individually (“fewer Mr. Krasilnikov said the city will pleasures” or “fewer challenges”). still be festooned on holidays with cel- See also MANY and MUCH. ebratory slogans and multistory portraits of Lenin. 2. Exceptions Even if a word is in plural form, less Conceivably a slogan could be formed applies if the thing represented is consid- by letters joined on a festoon (although a ered as a unit. We commonly regard an slogan sign pictured with the excerpted amount of money, a period of time, or a news story was not festooned), but it is measure of weight or distance as a unit. difficult to imagine the festooning of In the sentence “The book costs less multistory portraits. than $20,” we think of a single sum, not of individual dollars. In the sentences FETUS. See EMBRYO and FETUS. “She is less than six months old” / “The machine weighs less than nine pounds” / FEWER and LESS. 1. The differ- “The station is less than two miles from ence. 2. Exceptions. here,” we think of a single period of time, a total weight, and a total distance, 1. The difference not of months, pounds, and miles con- “We now have 200,000 less students sidered individually. in the state university system.” A candi- The distinction is not always clear- date for governor said that in a question- cut. Grammatical authorities have not and-answer segment of a television news agreed on where to draw the lines. H. W. show, erroneously using “less” instead Fowler favored “less troops or clothes,” of fewer. finding such plurals “really equivalent to A legal commentator and a network singulars of indefinite amount.” After spokesman made essentially the same er- “less,” his reviser, Sir Ernest Gowers, in- ror in broadcasts. The first said, concern- serted “(or fewer).” ing a criminal trial, “You’re going to see A book on word usage quotes this less and less objections.” The second anonymous sentence and says that said, about a reorganization of his com- “less” should be fewer: pany, “It’s fair to say that there will be less jobs.” “The nation’s traffic death toll . . . An article similarly erred: Employers was 377—thirteen less than the . . . like a hospital’s day care for ill children pre-holiday estimate.” 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 135

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But the anonymous writer had regarded cepted now. If anything, it is weakened the toll as a unit: it “was 377.” Had he from overuse. People toss off “fine” in thought of the human victims repre- conversation when other words—some- sented by that figure and written that times merely all right or O.K.—would “377 people died in traffic accidents,” be more fitting. fewer would clearly need to follow “thir- Among its uses, fine (noun) is a mone- teen.” Perhaps his shortcoming was less tary punishment or (verb) to impose it. grammatical than philosophical. In music scores, fine does not describe See also Dehumanization. the music: it is Italian for the end (and pronounced FEE-nay). Fine once meant FICTITIOUS. See FACT- words, 2. that in English.

FIGURATIVELY. See LITERALLY. Fire. See FLAMMABLE (etc.).

Figures. See Numbers. FIRE (verb). See LAY OFF and LAY- OFF; LET GO. FINALIZE. See -IZE ending. FIRM. Each of these paragraphs, from FINE. 1. FINE, FINELY, and FINE- newspapers, contains a contradiction: TUNE. 2. Other issues and uses. Apple Computer Inc. is expected to 1. FINE, FINELY, and FINE-TUNE unveil its much-heralded “Lisa” per- You may finely chop onions but not sonal computer model today. . . . The “fine” chop them. A news agency made Cupertino-based firm also said Tues- such an error: day that net sales grew 60% for the quarter ended Dec. 31. On May 6, the treaty’s 75 ratifiers are expected to meet at The Hague to In Los Angeles, Northrop Corp. fine tune its management and enforce- spokesman Ed Smith said yesterday ment provisions. that the firm will cut its B-2 bomber task force drastically. . . . The simplest correction is to insert the hyphen that belongs in the verb fine- . . . Maxwell put up $30 million for tune. As an alternative, change “fine an 18 percent share of Teva Pharma- tune” to refine or change “fine” to finely. ceutical Industries Ltd., one of Israel’s Finely is an adverb, meaning in a fine largest and most profitable firms. manner. Fine as an adverb (“She sings fine”) is acceptable in conversation or The contradiction is that each company casual writing but never before the verb. is incorporated—as indicated by “Inc.” Fine is mainly an adjective. Its mean- or “Corp.” or “Ltd.”—but called a ings include tiny (fine particles); thin “firm.” Being a corporation, it is not a (fine thread); sharp (fine edge); subtle “firm.” (fine distinctions); pure or up to a stan- A firm is a partnership. It is “a busi- dard (fine gold); and, colloquially, in ness or professional association of two good health (“I’m fine—how are you?”). or more persons as distinguished from an incorporated company” (Encyclope- 2. Other issues and uses dia of Banking & Finance). Partners of a Fine in the sense of admirable or ex- firm may be sued as individuals if dam- cellent (“a fine poem”) used to draw ages are claimed from the business. That some objections, but it is widely ac- is not so for officers of a corporation. 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 136

136 ﬁscal and physical

The law treats a corporation as if it were (The hyphen is optional.) And, while a separate person. wool is considered flame-resistant, it can News editors, concerned with fitting burn. headlines into cramped spaces, may not welcome that information, inasmuch as FLAUNT and FLOUT. Addressing firm is seven letters shorter than corpora- television cameras, a senator said the tion and appreciably shorter than busi- U.S. administration in its foreign policy ness, company, concern, enterprise, or “has spent seven years flaunting the house. There is less justification for call- law”; a prosecutor said, “No one is free ing a corporation a firm in the body of a to flaunt the tax laws”; and a journalist serious article or talk, particularly one said “She [a hotel owner] thought she purporting to explain matters of busi- could flaunt the law. . . .” All were ness and finance. wrong. Ltd. (as in the third sample) is the ab- To flaunt is to show off. (“He became breviation for limited, used in names of rich and flaunted his wealth.” / “She corporations outside the United States profits from flaunting her body in pub- and in Hawaii. It indicates that the liabil- lic.”) Flout, meaning to show contempt ity of a shareholder is limited to his infor or to scoff at, or flouting (the present vestment in the company. participle), is what should have been (In the second sample, “will” should used by each speaker. The two verbs be would. See Tense, 4.) (transitive) are poles apart. None of the flouters would flaunt their flouting. FISCAL and PHYSICAL. See Con- fusing pairs. FLOCK, FLOCKING. See DROVE.

FISSION and FUSION. See NU- FLOODED. See INUNDATE, IN- CLEAR. UNDATED.

FLAIR and FLARE. See Homo- FLOUNDER and FOUNDER. phones. The main headline in a daily newspaper said, “S.F. kids flounder in math on state FLAMMABLE, INFLAMMABLE, test.” Could the copy editor have been and NONFLAMMABLE. Some- floundering and grasping the wrong f- thing that is flammable can be burned. A word? The story reported that many synonym is inflammable, which used to public school youngsters in San Fran- be a more common word. Those con- cisco had done poorly in the mathemati- cerned with fire safety have promoted cal portion of a statewide academic test. the use of the adjective flammable, be- In other words, they had foundered in cause some people think that the other that part of the test. word means nonflammable or noncom- To flounder (verb, intransitive) is to bustible. The in- in inflammable does not move clumsily, to plunge about awk- mean “not”; the word originates in the wardly, or to speak or act in a confused Latin inflammare, to kindle, the origin of way. Lexicographers are uncertain of its the English verb inflame. origin. Some assume that it came from A manufacturer of woolen products founder. They do not trace it to the fish, stated in a leaflet, “Wool is . . . light, soft, although a snared flounder certainly non-flamable and durable.” The state- flounders; so does a cod, trout, etc. when ment contains errors in spelling and caught, but if the fish helps one to re- fact: Nonflammable, has a double m. member the word, good for it. 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 137

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To founder (verb, intransitive) is to government from privatizing large in- fail, to collapse, or to break down. It can dustries located in Moscow. also mean (for ships) to sink, (for horses) to fall or become lame, or (for buildings Nobody is forbidden “from” doing any- or land) to cave in. Founder (verb, tran- thing. The preposition that commonly sitive) can mean to cause (something) to follows any form of forbid is to. Thus founder. The verb comes from the Old “They forbid us to enter.” / “You’re for- French word fondrer, to sink, which bidden to smoke there” or “Smoking is stemmed from the Latin word fundrus, forbidden there.” / “. . . He forbade the bottom. federal government to privatize large in- There is a noun flounder, besides the dustries. . . .” fish, meaning the act of floundering. The noun founder can mean the act of 2. PROHIBIT; BAN foundering; or soreness in a horse’s foot. The verb prohibit (transitive) is often It has two additional meanings unrelated followed by from: “They prohibited the to the verb founder: one who founds in company from selling the product” (not the sense of establishing (e.g., a college) “prohibited . . . to sell”). and one who founds in the sense of cast- Forbid and prohibit have substan- ing metal. tially the same meaning: to order a person or persons not to take certain action; FLOUT. See FLAUNT and FLOUT. or to make a rule against some action. Prohibit, however, has a ring of legality FLY. See -Y ending. to it. A parent tells a child, “I forbid you to leave the house tonight” or “I forbid FOLLOWING. See AFTER. your leaving the house tonight.” An ordinance “prohibits motorists from park- FOR. See FREE, 1; Guilt and inno- ing” or “prohibits parking” itself or says cence, 5; Prepositions, 2, 3, 4, 7; WAIT that “parking is prohibited” at a certain FOR and WAIT ON; WISH. location. The verb ban (transitive) is similar to FORBID, PROHIBIT, and BAN. prohibit and means to proscribe some 1. FORBID, FORBADE. 2. PRO- action or some thing, especially by law HIBIT; BAN. 3. PROHIBITION; BAN. or religious authority. Ban implies a strong condemnation of that which is 1. FORBID, FORBADE proscribed. “They banned the book.” / A narrator on a national TV “maga- “He was banned from entering the coun- zine” said, “FDA regulations at that try.” time forbid using that blood.” He used the present tense; he needed the past. 3. PROHIBITION; BAN The past tense of forbid is either forbade Ban is also a noun, meaning an offi- (pronounced for-BAD or for-BAYED) or cial disapproval, decree, or sentence, forbad (pronounced for-BAD). aimed at preventing or outlawing some- When a problem with forbid arises, thing. It can be also a condemnation or more often it is not in the verb itself excommunication by church authorities, (transitive) or its forms but in what fol- and it can be a curse. lows it. For example: A noun related to prohibit is prohibition. One speaks of “the prohibition of Luzhkov demonstrated his muscle in alcohol” but “the ban on alcohol. 1994 when he forbade the federal Nouns related to forbid are forbid- 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 138

138 forceful and forcible

ding and, a rare one, forbiddance. A rein large letters, “FORWARD.” No one lated adjective is forbidden, as in “for- literate in English should mix up the two bidden fruit.” It is also the past participle words; their confounding is a blunder in- of the verb: “They have forbidden him deed for an author to make and an edi- to enter the country.” tor to overlook. (Perhaps it is poetic Forbidding has a much different license. The book is a rhyming dictio- meaning as an adjective: repellent owing nary.) to an appearance of danger or unpleas- Another book (this time a cookbook) antness. A music critic wrote of a com- combines part of each word in “FORE- poser’s “distinguished and forbidding WARD.” reputation,” thereby praising and dis- Foreword (noun), a front note in a praising him in the same phrase. book, is made up of two fairly obvious four-letter words. As commonly used, it FORCEFUL and FORCIBLE. See represents a nineteenth-century Angli- Confusing pairs. cization of the German word for preface, vorwort, which combines vor, fore, and FOREVER. The quotation is from an wort, word. author’s account of a flight over Mali. Is It should not be confused with for- anything wrong? “I could ride east from ward (adjective and adverb), whose suf- there for miles, the sands went on for fix is -ward, meaning in a certain ever.” direction. The prefix has the same mean- One problem lies in the adverb “for ing in both words, fore or front, though ever.” It is not the division of for and forward lacks an e. This word descended ever, an older style that is just as valid as from the Old English foreweard. the union of the two components in forever if used consistently. It is that forever, “FOR FREE.” See FREE, 1. or for ever, pertains to time, not space. It means (1) for eternity, for all time (“The FORMER. Former (pronoun) is the universe will last forever”), or (2) inces- opposite of latter. The former refers to santly, continually (“That dog is forever the first of two things—only two—that barking”). The title and title song of the have been mentioned. “Their ham and musical play On a Clear Day You Can eggs are good, particularly the former.” See Forever, an anomaly that alluded to Often it is clearer to repeat a word or a character’s ability to foresee the future, phrase: “particularly the ham.” may have helped to spread the wrong When three or more items are enu- idea. merated—“We saw zebras, giraffes, and The meaning of the quotation can be lions”—former cannot be used. It is best expressed in many ways: “The sands to repeat the first item: “The zebras were went on and on” / “seemed endless” / especially plentiful.” If it is too long, the “stretched to the horizon” / “lay as far first or the first-named or the first of as the eye could see,” et cetera. those are possibilities. (Another mistake in the sample is the Former (adjective) can mean previous, improper fusion of two sentences. Either past, taking place earlier, or coming be- change the comma to a colon or semi- fore in order. colon, or change it to a period and let The meaning is not always immedi- The start a new sentence. See Run-on ately clear. Confusion can enter when sentence, 2.) former refers to something that is mentioned first but came later in time. A FOREWORD and FORWARD. book on international law tells of the The foreword of a small book is headed, founding of the Permanent Court of Ar- 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 139

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bitration in 1899 and a proposal in 1907 tially agreed also on the pronunciation: to supplement it with a Court of Arbitral FOR-mid-a-bull. Justice: In recent decades some users have stretched the word nearly to meaning- The CAJ was . . . designed to . . . coex- lessness, without a trace of its original elist with the PCA. . . . The implication ement of apprehension. It has been used was clear that states would quickly in place of big and impressive. One dic- grow to prefer adjudication over arbi- tionary even gives “admirable” as a tration since the former institution meaning. supposedly more nearly coincided While a television documentary pic- with their vital national security inter- tured Jidda, Saudi Arabia, a narrator ests. . . . commented, “It’s the formidable face of a booming economy.” Impressive? Inasmuch as the 1907 event came later, Handsome? Whatever he meant, aside the Court of Arbitral Justice should have from empty alliteration, omitting been repeated by name, or initials, in- “formidable” would not have hurt. He stead of described as “the former institu- pronounced it for-MID-a-bull, a non- tion.” standard pronunciation heard at other Another temporal problem is illus- times from a U.S. senator and three trated by a sentence from a news item. broadcasters. The statement cannot be true: FORSAKE. The Los Angeles Police Haynsworth was nominated for Department “forsaked its ofﬁcers,” a the U.S. Supreme Court by former lawyer said on television, using a non- President Nixon on Aug. 18, 1969, word. Forsook is the proper past tense of but the Senate later rejected the nomi- the verb (transitive) forsake. nation on a 55-to-45 vote. In the context above, forsake means to abandon or desert (someone or some- No one can be nominated to the thing). It can mean also to renounce or Supreme Court by a “former” president. give up (something). Its other forms: It would be enough to say, “Hayns- “She has forsaken me” (past participle), worth was nominated . . . by President “They are forsaking us” (present partici- Nixon. . . .” Anyone who read the story ple), and “He forsakes you” (present (years after the famous resignation) tense, third person, singular). would almost certainly have known that Nixon was no longer president. If in “FOR THE SIMPLE REASON doubt, the writer could have made it per- THAT.” See REASON, 3. fectly clear by writing, “Haynsworth was nominated . . . by then President FORTUITOUS. Fortuitous (adjec- Nixon. . . .” tive) means coming about by accident or See also Anachronism, 3; ERST- by chance or without plan. WHILE; LATTER. A newspaper article told about a hospital’s new, state-supported program to FORMIDABLE. Formidable (adjec- provide schooling for juvenile patients. tive) originates in the Latin formido, The head of the pediatrics department meaning fear. Dictionaries in the past was quoted. generally stuck to the ideas of (1) arousing fear or dread of any encounter; (2) “This program was fortuitous be- being alarming or forbidding in appear- cause just in the last 30 days we got ance, difﬁculty, strength, etc. They essen- new hospital accreditation guidelines 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 140

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that state that, if we provide treat- steps and doffed his hat just as the boy ment for infants and children, we on the bicycle returned holding up a must provide for their education if tube triumphantly. Never had so they are hospitalized for long periods many fortuitous omens graced us at of time,” E—— said. once.

The administrator was mixed up and the This time “fortuitous” would well be re- reporter probably was too. They may placed by favorable. have confused “fortuitous” with a com- An adverb related to fortuitous is for- bination of felicitous, meaning apt or ap- tuitously. A related noun is fortuitous- propriate, and fortunate, meaning lucky. ness. Either word would have been a better choice than “fortuitous.” FORTUNATE. See FORTUITOUS. That which is fortuitous may be interpreted as appropriate or inappropriate, FORTUNE. See DESTINY. lucky or unlucky. Natural disasters are fortuitous. Like felicitous, it is a four- FORWARD and BACK (time). syllable word beginning with f and end- When daylight-saving time arrives in ing with -itous. It shares the first five the spring, we are advised to move our letters of fortunate. Otherwise fortuitous clocks “forward” one hour; that is, has little in common with the other two move them in the direction in which adjectives. The Latin equivalents and an- clocks automatically move. Turning the cestors of fortuitous and fortunate are clock “back,” say from 2 a.m. to 1 a.m., fortuitus and fortunatus, which in the is what we are advised to do in the fall distant past evidently had a common when standard time returns. The mne- root in fors, chance, luck. monic “Spring forward, fall back” does A book by two scientific writers ap- not help some people, who misunder- pears to suggest that accident and uncer- stand those adverbs and arrive at places tainty pervade the universe. The two hours late or two hours early. components of such a universe could An announcing of a shift in time re- truly be called fortuitous. In the follow- quires caution. The new hour or date ing example, no problem appears up to needs to be stated precisely. the second comma. The manager of a television station decided to start its network programs at For some people, the exceedingly 7 p.m. instead of 8 p.m. A newspaper re- fortuitous arrangement of the physi- ported that she was “moving prime time cal world, which permits the very spe- forward one hour.” cial conditions necessary to human Sometimes forward (as an adjective) observers’ existence, confirms their can indeed mean early: “A forward con- belief in a creative Designer. tingent is on its way.” But forward (as an adverb) can refer also to the future: In this example, felicitous would itself be “From this day forward” / “I look for- more felicitous than “fortuitous.” Fortu- ward to the party.” Similarly, back can nate also would pass muster. suggest an earlier time to some (“Think A similar problem appears in another back to your school days”), a later time book, by a traveler telling about car to others (who may recall the movie trouble in Africa. Back to the Future). If a meeting originally scheduled for Within a few moments, the engine May 3 is postponed, or put off, to May fired. The mechanic danced a few 10, is it moved “ahead” one week? The 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 141

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future lies ahead, but three comes ahead speech. That fact may acquit the tele- of ten. Stating the new date avoids con- caster of verbal malfeasance but not of fusion. verbosity. Obviously $30,000 is a fraction of $250,000. Had he made a calcu- FORWARD and FOREWORD. lation and reported, “It’s a mere 12 See FOREWORD and FORWARD. percent of the $250,000,” at least he would be imparting information. FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS. A press example also deals with Rus- See WHO and WHOM, 1. sia:

FOUNDATION, FUNDAMEN- . . . The total of about 7,000 work- TAL, and FUNDAMENT. All ing churches is only a fraction of the three words stem from the Latin fundus, 54,000 that existed before the 1917 bottom, yet their meanings are not all Bolshevik Revolution. similar. The writer of this sentence did not know that fundament bears only su- A replacement for “is only a fraction of” perficial resemblance to fundamental: might have been “is only 13 percent of” “That event was the fundament of Polish or (if the writer could not handle the nationalism.” arithmetic problem) “contrasts with.” Foundation, meaning base, basis, or Another example is in Gerund, 3A. founding, would have been a better choice of nouns. Fundamental is a basic Fractions. See FRACTION; HALF; principle or (as an adjective) basic or es- Numbers, 4, 5, 8, 10, 11; Verbs, 3 (end). sential. Take away -al and we have fundament, meaning anus or buttocks. FRANKENSTEIN. This error is a hoary one and very widespread. Even a FOUNDER. See FLOUNDER and brilliant scientist-author has made it. He FOUNDER. writes that the public distrusts science, adding: FRACTION. When the anchor man for a television network placed President This distrust is evident in the cartoon Gorbachev’s salary at $30,000 a year figure of the mad scientist working in and remarked, “It’s a mere fraction of his laboratory to produce a Franken- the $250,000 that President Bush stein. makes,” was he saying anything wrong? Strictly speaking, any number below Nobody produces a Frankenstein (ex- one is a fraction. Nine-tenths or even cept, perhaps, Mr. and Mrs. Franken- 99/100 is a fraction and it is not small stein). Frankenstein in Mary Shelley’s and not subject to the modifier “mere” 1818 novel of that name was not the or “only.” (In mathematics, any number monster but its creator, Victor Franken- with a numerator and denominator can stein. The monster, which ultimately be called a fraction, even if it exceeds killed him, had no name. one; for example, 3/2.) On the other The term Frankenstein’s monster or hand, one-twentieth could be described Frankenstein monster may be applied to as a small fraction of something, one- any creation that escapes from the cre- thousandth a tiny fraction. ator’s control and threatens to, or actu- Therefore it is not reasonable to really does, crush him. “Nuclear energy is strict fraction to a small part, a little Frankenstein’s monster,” or “In develop- piece, or a minute fragment. Neverthe- ing nuclear energy, man created a less such use is entrenched in popular Frankenstein monster.” 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 142

142 “freak accident”

“FREAK ACCIDENT.” No news tion “for” makes no more sense with story of a distinctive accident is complete free than with the adverb expensively. unless the reporter drags in this phrase. Whether the illegitimate phrase origi- It is never a freakish or freaky accident, nated in a mistaken analogy with for to use a bona ﬁde adjective, but a nothing or in a conscious attempt at “freak” one. cuteness is not known. Sometimes the happening is not even (The last quoted sentence, while con- very freakish, freaky, or “freak.” For in- taining a surplus word, omits a desirable stance, a network anchor man described word after “boast”: the conjunction “a freak accident” in which a tree was that.) blown down upon a van. And a newspa- See also Prepositions, 7. per reported “a freak accident” in which debris on a highway stopped a truck, 2. FREE and FREELY causing it to be hit from behind by an- Freely is an alternative to free as an other truck. adverb meaning in an unrestrained or unlimited manner. The horses run freely FREE. 1. FREE and “FOR FREE.” 2. or free. To say “The publication is dis- FREE and FREELY. tributed freely” when free of charge is meant can be ambiguous. 1. FREE and “FOR FREE” Free is also a common adjective: a free Two news magazines, which normally country. prize conciseness, ran the following two sentences, each containing a useless FREEDOM. See DEMOCRACY, FREE- word. DOM, and INDEPENDENCE.

Perry planned to lease the planes to FROM . . . TO. See BETWEEN, 3; Jordan for free. . . . RANGE, true and false; Punctuation, 4C. Soldiers, trying to build good will, cut hair for free [in China]. “FROM WHENCE.” See WHENCE and “FROM WHENCE.” “For” serves no purpose in those sentences or in these two, found in newspa- -FUL ending. See Plurals and singu- pers: lars, 2B.

Since Oct. 1, Capital Metropolitan FULL STOP. See Punctuation, 8. Authority patrons have been riding city buses for free. . . . FULSOME. Fulsome fools some people. It means not just full, but dis- The company has grown from 300 tastefully so; offensive to the senses, es- outlets in 1980 in part on its boast it pecially by being excessive or insincere: would deliver the pizza for free if its “Belshazzar’s fulsome feast” / “Castro’s drivers were late. fulsome promises.” Although in Middle English fulsom People are being offered the planes, the meant simply full or abundant, it took haircuts, the bus rides, and the pizza free on a negative connotation. Perhaps ful or free of charge or for nothing, but not suggested foul. Anyway, in modern En- “for free.” Free serves as an adverb, glish it combines the idea of abundance whereas nothing is a noun. The preposi- with the idea of excess or insincerity. 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 143

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One of those fooled was a TV net- For the three months ended June work’s chief anchor man. He said, in de- 30 . . . funds from operations was scribing Robert Dole’s last day in $45,521,000. . . . Revenues . . . were Congress: $62,173,000. . . . Funds from operations for the six months ended June And so the senator leaves the Senate 30 . . . was $85,990,000. . . . Rev- with the most fulsome praise ringing enues . . . were $12,500,000. . . . in his ears. “Funds . . . were,” just as “revenues The broadcaster probably did not intend were.” A singular phrasing would be to describe the praise as excessive or in- “income from operations was sincere, but that is essentially what he $45,521,000.” said. Although some opposing partisans A fund, singular noun, is a supply of may have secretly agreed with such an money set aside for a specific purpose assessment, another expression would (the emergency fund); or a supply of have been preferable, say a lavish chorus something else (a fund of knowledge). of praise. (That corrects the misuse and ties in with the ear-ringing theme.) FUNDAMENTAL and FUNDA- MENT. See FOUNDATION, FUN- FUN. The first time I heard someone DAMENTAL, and FUNDAMENT. say anything like “It’s so fun,” I was in Europe and appreciated that the woman talking to me could speak my language FURIOUS, FURIOUSLY. See at all. But for an American television re- FUROR and FURY. porter to speak of “the career that had looked so fun and so glorious” could not FUROR and FURY. Fury (noun) is be easily condoned. A substitute for “so violent action or violent rage: “the fury fun” would have been like such fun or so of the battle” / “the storm’s fury.” full of fun or so enjoyable. A tabloid headline screamed, “FURY Fun is properly a noun, usually mean- OVER CLAIM IKE KILLED 1M GER- ing enjoyment or merriment, or a source MAN POWs.” The article did not bear of it. “We had fun.” / “This game is out the headline. A book about Eisen- fun.” (As a noun, it is modified only by hower was not met with “fury” (as The an adjective—e.g., “great fun” or “some Satanic Verses was, for instance). How- fun”—not by an adverb. In a sentence ever, on the basis of the article, the book such as “It seems so enjoyable” or “so could be said to have created a mild funny,” so is an adverb, modifying a furor. predicate adjective.) Furor can range in intensity from Fun is partially accepted as an adjec- harmless to violent. It can be a fad, a tive before the noun (attributive adjec- public commotion or uproar, a state of tive). Informally people may speak of “a high excitement, a frenzy, or violent fun trip” or “a fun city.” In a superlative anger or fury. (Furore is a variation in misuse, a departing talk show host said, the sense of a fad. It is mainly British, an “It was probably the funnest two years I import from Italy.) ever spent.” Both words have the same Latin root, furere, to rage. FUND. In the sense of money avail- Furious (adjective) and furiously (ad- able for use, funds is a plural noun. A verb) can mean full of or with fury, im- company reported to stockholders: plying violence; or it can mean fierce(ly) 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 144

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or vehement(ly) without the implication Fused participle. See Gerund, 4. of violence. FUSION and FISSION. See NU- FURTHER. See FARTHER and CLEAR. FURTHER. Future tense. See Tense, 1 and 4. FURY. See FUROR and FURY. 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 145

GAL. See GUY. The word gambling has had disreputable associations; gaming, like games, GAMBIT. A chess maneuver in which sounds clean and recreational. General a player sacrifices a pawn or piece to try dictionaries consider them synonyms. to gain an advantage is a gambit. Usu- ally it occurs at the beginning of a game GAMUT. See GANTLET and GAUNT- and involves a pawn. Gambit or open- LET, 2. ing gambit may be used figuratively, outside of chess, to denote an early con- GANTLET and GAUNTLET. 1. cession, as in diplomacy or business ne- The difference. 2. GAMUT. 3. More gotiation. meanings. Looser uses of that noun in place of opening move, opening remark, maneuver, move, strategy, have become wide- 1. The difference spread, dulling the word. Magazines Confusion between these two words have described a remark to initiate a is rampant. The main use of either is in a conversation as a “conversational gam- common expression. The historian bit” and a move in Congress as a “leg- Francis Parkman wrote: islative gambit.” Those uses omit the main element of a gambit: the sacrifice. They descended the Mississippi, running the gantlet between hostile GAMBLING and GAMING. To tribes. bet or risk money on the outcome of a contest or of a game of chance is gam- A radio newscaster said, referring to gun bling (noun). A euphemism for it is gam- battles between drug dealers: ing, used by those who advocate or play a role in legal gambling. Residents have to run a gauntlet just The word gambling was scarcely used to get to their front door. in an initiative measure to make it easy to put gambling devices and games of And this was in a news agency’s dis- chance on Indian reservations in Califor- patch: nia, but “gaming” appeared hundreds of times. The Nevada Gaming Control [Kenneth Starr] must run a daily gant- Board regulates gambling casinos in that let of reporters and cameras just to state. leave his driveway.

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Is it “gantlet” or “gauntlet”? Ameri- GAUNT-let, and to use the former for can tradition leans toward the former. running and the latter for throwing The latter, a British import, has become down. All sources agree that only the more common in colloquial use. Both gauntlet is thrown down. are corruptions. Originally one ran the gantlope. 2. GAMUT A gantlope, from the Swedish gatlopp, Gamut (noun), which appears in the was used in a punishment of thieves and expression run the gamut, usually means then of soldiers. It consisted of two rows the complete range or extent of things; of men facing one another and holding for instance, “The chefs ran the gamut of such objects as sticks and knotted cords. flavors.” The offender was stripped to the waist It is sometimes confused with the and forced to run the gantlope as the other g-words. This was from a news re- others struck him. port: “Prisoners were forced to run a It was not long before people began gamut.” Gantlet would be right, not confusing gantlope with a then familiar “gamut.” The host of a talk show said, word, gauntlet, a type of glove, of which “Once someone has served as president, gantlet was a variant. The first quotation he has run the full gauntlet of accom- of gantlope in The Oxford English Dic- plishment.” Gamut, not “gauntlet.” tionary is from 1646; fifteen years later “A complete gamut of colors,” a dic- “run the gantlet” appears; afterward we tionary’s example, unnecessarily modi- see both gauntlets and gantlets as well as fies gamut. A gamut is complete. gantlopes. Gamut (from gamma and ut, me- The phrase was used almost from the dieval musical notes) denoted the musi- start in both a literal and a figurative cal scale in medieval times. It has since sense. Today it is nearly always used fig- been applied to the whole series of rec- uratively, meaning to suffer attacks, par- ognized musical notes or, sometimes, to ticularly from two sides; to risk perils; or just the major scale. even to endure any series of troubles. Literally “run the gauntlet” is like 3. More meanings saying “run the old glove.” A gauntlet Gantlet is also a railroad term. It is a was an armored glove of medieval times. section where two tracks overlap, en- A man who cast his gauntlet to the abling a train from either line to pass in a ground was issuing a challenge to fight. narrow place. If another picked it up, he was accepting Gauntlet for glove is not wholly obso- the challenge. The custom gave rise to lete. Certain types of work and dress the expressions throw down the gauntlet gloves and glovelike athletic devices are and take up the gauntlet, meaning to is- known as gauntlets. sue or accept a challenge. To run the gantlet is favored by four GAS. 1. Confusion. 2. Definitions. works on English usage and the manuals of the Associated Press and The New 1. Confusion York Times. It was the preferred term in An automobile company was selling a American dictionaries through 1960. low-pollution van, “powered by natural Later dictionaries have offered both gas instead of gas,” a news agency re- spellings for each sense. The books have ported. never agreed on pronunciation. The sug- On its face, the quoted phrase seems gestion here is to pronounce the words to part with logic. Natural gas is a gas. as they are spelled, GANT-let and No doubt the writer meant gasoline, for 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 147

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which “gas” is a common, colloquial hearted, merry, or mirthful. Chaucer, for American term. Displayed in serious instance, wrote that a pilgrim “iolif writing, it does not fare well. When it is [jolly] was and gay.” It can also mean being contrasted with the real gas, “gas” bright or showy. Tennyson: “when all is is particularly ill-chosen. It can perplex gay with lamps.” Probably of Teutonic those who are unaccustomed to informal origin, the word came to Middle English Americanisms and do not recognize it as from the French gai. the British petrol. The use of gay in the above senses A newspaper article used the phrase dates back at least to 1310, antedating “gas tax” eleven times (counting the Chaucer, The Oxford English Dictio- headline), never once spelling out the nary indicates. Records of its occasional topic: the federal gasoline tax. euphemistic use to mean a man “of loose Even Americans are not always sure and immoral life” begin in 1637; a what is meant by, say, “I smell gas.” woman, 1825. Its use as a euphemism for the adjective homosexual did not be- 2. Definitions come popular until close to 1970, al- Gas is a substance that is neither solid though rare uses dating from the 1880s nor liquid and is characterized by very are documented. low density and readiness to expand and Used in the sense of homosexual, the fill its container. The Flemish chemist J. adjective gay used to be considered slang B. van Helmont (1577–1644), who dis- but now is accepted as standard by all covered carbon dioxide and distin- dictionaries. Gay as a noun, meaning a guished gases from liquids and solids, homosexual person, has been so ac- coined the word, basing it on the Greek cepted by American dictionaries but is khaos, chaos. considered slang by the Oxford. In colloquial use, gas means gasoline; in slang use, empty or boastful talk. 2. The Press Gasoline is a flammable, liquid mix- The publicly sold style manual of The ture of hydrocarbons, obtained in the New York Times disapproves of gay for distillation of petroleum and used as a homosexual, although in 1987 the staff fuel in internal-combustion engines. was told that the adjective was accept- Natural gas is a mixture of gaseous able. (Gay could describe both sexes, but hydrocarbons, mainly methane, found in lesbian was preferred in specific refer- the earth in oil deposits and used as a ences to women.) However: fuel. Petrol, the British term for gasoline, is The noun will continue to be homo- pronounced PET-trull. sexual(s). Thus we’ll write gay author, but not “a gay”; gay men (or homo- GAUNTLET. See GANTLET and sexuals) but NOT “gays.” GAUNTLET. The distinction made grammatical sense. GAVE and GIVEN. See Tense, 5A. If someone can be “a gay,” can someone else not be “a sad” or “a tall”? GAY. 1. History. 2. The press. 3. Two Most of the press had been quicker to meanings. adopt gay in the sexual sense, particularly in headlines, where news essences 1. History must be squeezed into small spaces. Be- Gay is an adjective that, for seven cen- ing able to replace a ten-letter word with turies, has primarily meant joyful, light- a three-letter word pleases a typical edi- 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 148

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tor. So to see a headline in 1990 in a San come to ogle the gay domes of St. Francisco newspaper saying “Homosex- Basil’s Cathedral. ual rights law challenged” was surprising, particularly when the text of the See also HOMOPHOBIA. article said: GENDARME. Americans who use Federal courts have found that gays the word gendarme think it is French for are not protected against bias by the policeman. They are partly right, as right U.S. Constitution. Gov. Deukmejian as a European would be in using “con- vetoed a bill in 1984 to give gays stable” or “sheriff” for an American po- equal rights under state law. [A mis- liceman. placed prepositional phrase produces A movie guide book describes the plot “bias by the U.S. Constitution.” See of the 1963 film Irma la Douce: “A gen- Modifiers, 3.] darme pulls a one-man raid on a back street Parisian joint and falls in love with The same paper ran the headline “A one of the hookers he arrests.” The lead- GAY BASHER ASKS: WHY?” Was he a ing actress recalled in a TV documen- basher who was gay? No, but that sense tary: “I played a prostitute and Jack results from the adjectival use of a noun played a young gendarme who tried to adopted from an adjective. rescue me from the street.” Homosexuals themselves have em- Jack (Lemmon) did not play a “gen- braced gay, as adjective and noun, al- darme.” One French-English dictionary though many originally resisted it. Some defines gendarme as a policeman “in of them annually celebrate “Gay Pride countryside and small towns.” Another Day.” No one has explained why a eu- defines it as a “member of the state po- phemism is needed for that which one lice force,” approximately equal to a takes pride in. “police constable.” It is possible to speak of a Parisian po- 3. Two meanings liceman without dragging in “gen- Harper Dictionary (1985) reported darme.” that only 36 percent of a usage panel of 166 members accepted the modern sense GENDER and SEX. Gender is a of gay. Some expressed anger. Isaac Asi- term of grammar. It is the classification mov: “This use of ‘gay’ has killed a won- of certain words as masculine, feminine, derful word. . . .” Erich Segal: “It robs or neuter. In English those words are our language of a lovely adjective. . . .” nouns and pronouns, the great majority While gay in the traditional sense, that of them neuter, like table, song, it, its. of merry or bright, can at times be mis- Among masculine words are man, boy, understood—“It was a gay party” per- he, his. Among feminine words: woman, mits two interpretations—reports of its girl, she, her. demise have been exaggerated. Anyone In English, gender for the most part is who wants to use the word in that way natural. That is, most words of mascu- has a perfect right to do so but should line or feminine gender represent sexual, see that the context makes the meaning or at least human, qualities. But the clear. It was clear in a 1990 article in the word gender is not synonymous with The New York Times: sex. In various languages it often has nothing to do with sex—or with any- But today the only people walking thing else. in Red Square were tourists who had In the Romance languages, grammar 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 149

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arbitrarily decrees nouns to be masculine coitus or any sexual activity has become or feminine, regardless of any sexual more common. For instance, the mes- qualities. Thus, in Spanish el día, the sage that “We had sexual intercourse” is day, is masculine, while la noche, the more likely to take the form of the “slept night, is feminine. In French la plume, together” euphemism or “We had sex.” the pen, is feminine, while le crayon, the Strictly speaking, all of us have sex all pencil, is masculine. the time. It is either male or female. Even in English, the feminine pronouns she and her are often applied to Genitive (possessive). See Double such neuter things as ships and coun- possessive; Gerund, 4; Possessive prob- tries. His in a phrase like to each his lems; Pronouns, 1, 2, 9, 10A; Punctua- own, while masculine in gender, is used tion, 1. in a neuter sense. In recent decades an increasingly pop- Germanisms. See Adjectives and ad- ular use of gender has been as a eu- verbs, 2; Backward writing, 3; Infinitive, phemism for sex, meaning the 4; Joining of words; ONGOING; OUT- classification of human beings and ani- PUT; PLAY DOWN and “DOWN- mals as male or female. It is not obvious PLAY”; UPCOMING. why sex, in such an innocent sense, needs a euphemism. Gerund. 1. Definition. 2. Errors of Thus, a magazine chart lists library omission. 3. Gerund or infinitive? 4. Pos- visits by demographic categories, includ- sessive with gerund. ing “AGE . . . INCOME . . . EDUCA- TION” and “GENDER.” On another 1. Definition page, an essayist criticizes “double stan- When the -ing form of a verb is used dards that have the effect of . . . pitting as a noun, it is called a gerund. race against race, gender against gen- It serves every function of a noun. It der.” Sex, rather than “gender,” would may be a subject (“Laughing makes me be quite fitting in both instances and in happy”), a direct object of a verb (“Jane the newspaper sentences below. loves kissing”), the object of a preposition (“By oversleeping, John missed the Prosecutors and defense lawyers plane”), or a subjective complement may not bar a potential juror from (“His goal was finding the missing serving in a criminal trial solely be- link”). cause of the person’s gender. . . . Many -ing words are not gerunds. “Reinforcements are coming.” / “The [Under a proposed bill] a man could senator delivered a stinging rebuke.” / sue a woman for a violent attack, ar- “Laughing hysterically, he could barely guing it was based on his gender. resume the broadcast.” In those examples coming, stinging, or laughing is a Not even an editor’s normal penchant present participle. It is a verb form that for short words in headlines overcomes expresses present action (in relation to the squeamishness toward sex. The first the tense of the finite verb) and can serve news story was headed “Potential Jurors as an adjective. Can’t Be Barred Because of Gender, Do not confuse a gerund with a pre- Court Rules.” sent participle. It appears that an editor While gender has increasingly did so in program notes for a recording: usurped the role of sex in genteel use, the A music critic “reproached Beethoven casual use of sex as a noun denoting for the absence of a great vocal fugue 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 150

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considered traditional in every musical, teers.” The result is hardly what the setting of a religious drama. . . .” A writer intended. comma does not belong in musical setting but fits this sentence, in which set- Grateful thanks to the three Muske- ting does act as a present participle: “He teers who carried Mrs. Pride home af- strode inside, setting the statuette on the ter breaking her leg on Wednesday. floor.” (A comma should follow “fugue.” See Punctuation, 3C.) The magazine commented, “Least they could do.” 2. Errors of omission See also Modifiers, 1. One who uses a gerund carelessly and fails to indicate the subject of an action 3. Gerund or infinitive? can create a dangler. The result may be an awkwardly ungrammatical sentence A. Examples and worse: the gerund may link with a Some people who use our language wrong part of its sentence and produce lack a command of idiom. They do not an unintended meaning. always know whether a particular con- This sentence is typical: “The whales struction calls for an infinitive, that is, can be protected only by being ever vigi- the basic form of a verb; or a gerund, lant.” It seems to be calling on the that is, the -ing form used as a noun. whales to take action. The trouble is that The resulting errors are excusable “being” is a dangling participle. Preced- when committed by foreigners who are ing it with our would make it a gerund unfamiliar with English. A Japanese- and indicate the intended meaning. owned jewelry store displayed a sign Although a similar grammatical error that said, “PLEASE GET AN AP- did not obscure the meaning of an edito- POINTMENT BEFORE GO IN.” rial, it is not what the newspaper tradi- When advised that the sign could stand tionally considers fit to print: improvement, especially by inflection of the verb “GO,” the management replaced it. The new sign said, “PLEASE It costs only $500 to provide an ex- MAKE AN APPOINTMENT BEFORE pectant mother with adequate prena- GOING THANK YOU.” tal care. Yet treating a low-weight Such errors are less tolerable when infant can cost $180,000 even before committed by an English-speaking per- leaving the hospital. son, particularly one whose regular job is to communicate information to the “Treating,” a gerund and the subject of public. An example is provided by a “can cost,” seems to take over—sense- news service: lessly—as the subject of “leaving” too because the writer failed to indicate any There were 299 rapes, assaults and other subject. “Leaving” is a dangling murders last year on campuses of the participle. To precede it with a pronoun, UC system, which devotes a fraction “its leaving,” thereby making it a of its $6 billion yearly budget to pro- gerund, would be a correction; it leaves tect students. [See FRACTION.] would be better still. The final example in this section, The verb devote does not go with an in- quoted by Punch of England, originates finitive, such as “protect.” Protecting in a column of personal items. Gram- would be right. The two made-up exam- matically the only subject is the “Muske- ples below will help to explain. 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 151

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• “The university devotes most of its Noun followed by gerund budget to salaries, buildings, and (laughing, winning, etc.) protecting students.” That is, it enthusiasm for, fear of, appropriates funds for certain habit of, hope of, idea of, purposes; each purpose is a noun indulgence in, insistence on, (“salaries, buildings”) or a gerund love for, possibility of, (“protecting students”). Here to resistance to introduces the ultimate recipients of the action. Noun followed by infinitive • “The university’s police try to (to sing, to build, etc.) protect students.” The verb try, ability to, determination to, unlike devote, can go with an duty to, effort to, failure to, infinitive: the police try to do hesitation to, inclination to, something (“protect students”). This obligation to, opportunity to, time to indicates the infinitive. tendency to Verb followed by gerund Erroneous analogies may account for boast of, commit (someone or some misuses. A book says “the something) to, despair of, decision . . . contributed notably to re- dream of, keep (someone or dress the constitutional balance. . . .” something) from, look forward The unidiomatic “contributed . . . to to, object to, prevent redress” parallels served to redress, (someone or something) from, which would be correct. “Contributed” prohibit (someone) from, can stand if the infinitive is changed to succeed in the gerund: “contributed . . . to redress- ing. . . .” Here the to does not indicate an Verb followed by infinitive infinitive; rather it points to that which agree to, dare to, encourage benefited from the action. (someone) to, forbid (someone) There is no general rule, except that a to, force (someone) to, hope writer or speaker needs to be secure in to, neglect to, permit his knowledge of any verb’s properties (someone or something) to, before using the verb. In case of doubt, a persuade (someone) to, pledge dictionary that offers examples of the to, prepare to, presume to, verb’s use may help. refuse to, try to, want to See also Infinitive, 2; POSSIBLE (etc.), 2; TO, 2. Adjective followed by gerund capable of, grateful for, hopeful of, wary of, B. Lists thankful for, tired of, It would be impractical to try to list worthy of all the many other words that could pose similar problems of idiom. Here are Adjective followed by infinitive sixty such words: nouns, verbs, and ad- adequate to, competent to, jectives. Each is followed by the preposi- eager to, glad to, inclined tion that usually goes with it, and each is to, likely to, pleased to, categorized according to part of speech ready to and whether a gerund or infinitive can follow idiomatically. (Other forms that Some words may go with either may follow instead are not listed.) gerund or infinitive, depending on con- 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 152

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text. Examples are the nouns chance (of ...A search and rescue situa- or to) and intention (of or to), verbs fail tion . . . could end up in me [my] being (at or to) and think (of or to), and adjec- charged half a million pounds. tives sorry (about or to) and sure (of or to). He blamed Democrats last year for Susan Smith [Smith’s] drowning her 4. Possessive with gerund two young children in South Car- Just as nearly every noun may be pos- olina. sessed (“He took his suitcase” / “They pledged their love”), so may a gerund: This [Chinese protest to a U.S. visit by “She was shocked at his winning the Taiwan’s leader] is despite Mr Lee money.” His modifies the gerund win- [Lee’s] indicating he would not be ning. It would not be strictly correct to travelling abroad for some time to say “. . . at him winning the money.” come. Not “him” but his winning shocked her. See sharks without it [its] costing an A similar example: “Children’s drink- arm and a leg. ing vexes the councilman.” Note the apostrophe-s. Children’s modifies the Sometimes the possessive form does gerund drinking. “Children drinking not work. We look at three examples vexes . . .” is wrong, the grammarian H. that are technically flawed according to W. Fowler would say: What would be the principles stated above. (Each fused the subject of the sentence, “Children”? participle is emphasized:) But vexes is singular. Making it “vex” would be of no help. The children do not A.“He wouldn’t hear of that being pos- trouble the councilman; only their drink- sible . . .” (Dickens). You would not ing does. Could the subject be “drink- say “that’s being possible.” The sen- ing”? That would leave “Children” tence is best let alone. hanging there without any grammatical B. “I hate the thought of any son of mine purpose. marrying badly” (Hardy). You would Omitting the possessive produces a not say “son’s” or “mine’s.” Besides, form that Fowler condemned for as a colloquial sentence, in a novel, it “rapidly corrupting English style”: a is tolerable. fused participle, “a compound notion” C.“This state’s metropolis undergoing resulting from the fusion of a noun or a chaos is an unhappy sight.” If said pronoun in the objective case and a par- aloud, “metropolis’s” would sound ticiple. He did not invent the concept of like a plural. Anyway, how desirable possessive with gerund, which went are a double possessive and all those back several centuries, but did introduce esses? The sentence needs rewriting. the name for the questionable form (with his brother in The King’s English, In two instances, Fowler’s own cure 1906) and publicize it (in his famous seems worse than the disease: He would Dictionary of Modern English Usage, “deny the possibility of anything’s hap- 1926). pening” and would not mind “many’s The four examples below come from having to go into lodgings.” a book of true adventure, an editorial, Writers on grammar have generally an article from a Hong Kong newspaper, accepted a possessive pronoun with a and an ad for an aquarium respectively. gerund (my being charged) or a proper Corrections are inserted in brackets. noun with a gerund (Lee’s indicating) in 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 153

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a simple sentence. But they have found GIRL. See GUY. numerous exceptions, particularly in complicated sentences. Some grammari- GIVE AWAY and GIVEAWAY. A ans (not quoted here) have justified the printed election poster attacked a local fused participle as a valid alternative in ballot proposition as “The $100 Mil- any sentence. lion-a-Year Give Away!” From a techni- Not even Sir Ernest Gowers, the sym- cal standpoint, it was in error. For one pathetic reviser of Fowler’s dictionary, thing, “Give” and “Away” should have could accept the pure precept. He agreed been united. that “upon your giving” was undoubt- Give away, in two words, is a verb edly more idiomatic than “upon you giv- phrase meaning (1) to present (some- ing.” But he found that a more thing) as a gift; (2) to disclose (informa- complicated sentence could make a pos- tion): “Don’t give away our secret”; or sessive impossible, for example: “We (3) to ceremonially transfer a bride from have to account for the collision of two her family to her husband: “Mr. Green great fleets . . . ending in the total de- gave his daughter away.” struction of one of them.” He would Uniting the words yields the informal waive the possessive also when it was noun giveaway, which means (1) some- possible but “ungainly.” (“Anything’s thing given away or the act of giving happening”?) away: “Vote against the giveaway”; or In literature, the grammarian George (2) that which discloses: “His finger- O. Curme found, the possessive has been prints were a giveaway.” A giveaway (1) most common when the gerund’s show is a quiz program, usually on tele- subject is a pronoun; (2) rendered useless vision, in which prizes are given away. by modifying phrases or clauses (“Have As an alternative, give and away may be you heard of Smith, who used to be hyphenated: give-away. pitcher, being injured?”); and (3) The poster also needed to follow avoided for an emphatic subject (“She “$100” with a hyphen (-) to connect it was proud of him doing it”) or contrast- to “Million-a-Year.” ing subjects (“We seem to think nothing (The ballot proposition, to eliminate of a boy smoking but resent a girl smok- public voting on rule changes for city ing”). employees, lost by three to one despite The final example is drawn from a rel- its opponents’ mistakes in English.) atively recent book about words. Ironi- cally, the author is praising Fowler, who GIVEN and GAVE. See Tense, 5A. railed against just such usage: GLANCE and GLIMPSE. See Con- Too often a name is legendary fusing pairs. without many people knowing about the person. GO. See COME and GO; GONE and WENT. Fowler would have insisted on people’s. You may decide for yourself whether it GOING ON. See ONGOING. would be an improvement. (See also LEGEND, LEGENDARY.) GONE and WENT. “The drug activity has went down in this area dra- GHOULISH. See FESTOON, FES- matically.” A police official in an Illinois TOONED. town said that on nationwide television. 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 154

154 good and well

“. . . Has gone” would have been cor- In the sense of health, “I feel good” is rect. quite informal; “she’s not good” is di- “The child had opened the car door, alectal. One is well or feels well. climbed in, and went to sleep,” a news- A baseball umpire said, in an inter- caster said on nationwide radio. “. . . view on a radio sports program, “We And gone” would have been correct. cover the games pretty good.” Change Has, have, or had does not mix with “good” to well. Here it means properly “went.” Went is the past tense of the or skillfully. (In this context cover is verb go. The past participle of go is gone. modified by well. This time well is used Therefore a correction of the first exam- as an adverb. Cover is a transitive verb. ple is either “The drug activity went “Good,” not being an adverb, cannot down . . .” (in the past tense) or “The modify a verb. Usually good is an adjec- drug activity has gone down . . .” (in the tive, which modifies a noun: good boy; present perfect tense). the food is good.) In the second example, deleting “had” Interviewed on a television “maga- would permit “went to sleep.” Keeping zine,” a designer of military aircraft said “had” requires “gone to sleep.” Some- about one of his planes, “It worked one seemed to have forgotten that “had” as good or better than we expected.” applied to three participles: “opened A partial correction: “It worked as . . . climbed . . . and gone.” well. . . .” (Well, an adverb, modifies See also COME and GO; Tense, 1, 5. worked, an intransitive verb.) A further correction: “as well as or better than we GOOD and WELL. A Polish leader expected” or “as well as we expected or was toasting the American president in better.” See AS, 3. Warsaw. A metropolitan newspaper in An essayist on that program said later, the United States quoted him, in part, referring to a supposed winner of two this way: monetary prizes, “Mary’s doing pretty good.” She is doing well (adverb), not What is more, we were able to meet in “good.” If she were performing charita- a friendly atmosphere. And I believe ble deeds, one could say “She is doing we have felt well together. good.” (Good would be used as a noun. There would be no place for “pretty.”) The defect can easily be forgiven if the Still later, a reporter on the same pro- Pole was speaking in English. It is more gram correctly used both words in the serious if he was speaking in Polish and same sentence: “Before he did well [be- this was an English translation. came successful], he did good [per- A correction: “we have felt good to- formed altruistic acts].” gether,” that is, happy, content, or opti- mistic. In the context of feeling, well GO OFF and GO ON. Occasionally usually pertains only to health. On rare the phrase go off is ambiguous. It can occasions it pertains to touch or the abil- mean the same as go on—even though ity to feel things. off and on are opposites, as anyone who “I feel well” means I suffer no sign of has flipped an electric switch knows. illness. (Feel is not modified by well. Feel Go off can have these contradictory acts there as an intransitive verb, also as meanings: (1) to take place (“The show a linking verb: It links the subject, I, to went off as planned”) and (2) to discon- the verb’s complement, the adjective tinue or go away (“The show went off well. Or, in the sentence “We felt good,” the air”). it links we to the adjective good. See The execution of a prisoner was hours FEEL.) away when the news came that the 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 155

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Supreme Court had agreed to review his write, graffito and graffiti come to us case. A television newscaster announced, from Italian. They used to have archeo- “Prison officials are proceeding as logical and, later, political connotations. though the execution will go off.” Now the words, more commonly graf- Did he mean “as though the execu- fiti, popularly connote the defacing of tion will go on” (or “take place”) or “as structures and vehicles by callow van- though the execution is off” (or “will dals. not take place)? Probably he meant the former, although the “prison officials” GRAZE. A restaurant reviewer tells did not explain what good a Supreme readers: “Graze on skewers of grilled Court review would do if the prisoner food—the list spans 27—in this noisy yet were dead. convivial yakitori bar.” By the way, the newscaster said that Animals such as cows and horses the Supreme Court had issued a “writ of graze. To graze (verb, intransitive) is to certiori.” He left out a syllable. It is cer- feed on growing grasses and similar tiorari (sir-she-a-RARE-ee), an order plants. The verb came from the Old En- from a higher court to a lower, request- glish grasian, from graes, meaning grass. ing the records of a case for review. Sometimes graze is humorously applied to the eating of raw, leafy vegeta- GRAFFITI and GRAFFITO. Graf- bles. Applying it to the eating of fiti is a plural word. It denotes crude in- barbecued meat, however, is far-fetched. scriptions, drawings, or scrawlings, Farmers and ranchers use graze (verb, often on walls, meant to be seen by the transitive) in a variety of ways: to feed public. One such marking is a graffito. on (a type of herbage or the herbage of a The two quotations are from a news particular pasture), to put (animals) out agency’s dispatch and an editorial re- to feed, to tend (feeding animals), and so spectively: on. Graze (verb, transitive and intransi- Stylized graffiti was even scrawled on tive) means also to scrape, rub, or touch a sign—the “z” on the Hollywood lightly in passing. “The bullet grazed his Freezway ice cream parlor—for a hint skin”). The way bees or butterflies skim of hometown believability. along the grass of a field could conceivably have suggested this sense. The city of Dublin is discussing a five-day graffiti-removal program on GREAT. This adjective, of Old En- the theory that the longer graffiti re- glish lineage, primarily expresses magni- mains, the more publicity it gives the tude: being large in size, area, amount, gang that did it. number, importance, or other attributes. The Great Lakes and the Great Plains Both sample sentences are ungrammati- are aptly named. cal in their mixing of plural and singular. That traditional sense of great can The first sentence refers to only one conflict with a newer, informal sense. marking, so change “Stylized graffiti Talking about cars, a syndicated radio was” to “A stylized graffito was.” If host asked, “Why are prices so there had been two or more markings, great?”—leading some of his audience to graffiti were would be correct. A correc- assume that prices were high. His own tion of the second sentence is “The answer was that foreign competition had longer graffiti remain, the more publicity caused prices to be low. They were they give the gangs that make them.” “great”—that is, very good—for the Originating in the Greek graphein, to consumer. 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 156

156 grievous, grievously

GRIEVOUS, GRIEVOUSLY. A the lead sentence of a news story, quoted mistake that some speakers make in here: uttering grievous and grievously is inserting an extra syllable. The words A family member was being held are pronounced GREE-vuss(-lee), not Friday for suspicion of murder in the “GREE-vee-uss(-lee).” Sometimes they wake of a grisly stabbing that left four are misspelled “grievious(ly),” with an other family members dead. . . . extra “i.” A newscaster on a radio network said What fatal stabbing is not “grisly”? a bill to ban certain abortions made an exception “to save the life of the mother 2. GRIZZLED and to prevent grievious harm to her.” Writing in a magazine about the frus- He got grievous wrong. trations of his job, a news reporter com- A congressman said on television, plained that he had become “a cynic” concerning the issuance of rubber checks and “a curmudgeon.” One paragraph by colleagues, “There are some people said: here who may have been grieviously wounded.” Grievously. Another sign I’m become more Grievous (adjective) means (1) serious grizzled, I suppose, is I used to call my or grave; or (2) causing or expressing wife excitedly to tell her I’m on a grief. It has two syllables, not three. breaking story. Now I call and say, Grievously (adverb) means (1) seri- “Damn it, I can’t get away.” ously or gravely; or (2) in a way that causes or expresses grief. It has three syl- If he thought that grizzled meant any- lables, not four. thing like cynical or ill-tempered, he was mistaken. Grizzled (adjective) means GRISLY, GRIZZLY, and GRIZ- gray or streaked with gray, or gray- ZLED. 1. GRISLY and GRIZZLY. 2. headed. A picture of the reporter showed GRIZZLED. a rather young man with an abundance of dark hair. (The sentence is otherwise 1. GRISLY and GRIZZLY defective. “Another sign . . . is” heralds a While pronounced the same (GRIZ- noun or nounal phrase, such as “my re- lee), these two adjectives have different action to a breaking story.” Instead, we meanings and histories. A newspaper ad get the clause “I used to call my wife ex- mixed the words up. Warning against citedly. . . .”) selling a house without an agent, it said, Grizzled is related to the verb grizzle, “The stories are grizzly.” A frightening meaning (transitive) to make gray or (in- story is grisly. (It could possibly be a transitive) to become gray. In British En- “grizzly” story if it dealt with bears.) glish, grizzle can mean to worry or fret. Grisly (from the Old English grislic, terrifying) means gruesome, horrifying, GROUP OF. See Collective nouns. or terrifying. Grizzly (from the Old French gris, GROW. The farmers grow artichokes. gray) means gray or grayish. The grizzly Hilda grows kumquats. Wilbur grew a bear was named for its grayish coloring, beard. As a transitive verb, grow means not for its fearfulness. cultivate or raise (a plant or crop) or The misspelling or misuse of grisly cause (something natural) to arise. Its may be less frequent than its unnecessary object should not be an artiﬁcial object use. Technically it was not used wrong in or abstraction. 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 157

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Although figuratively a house, a town, ers to “Join Judge Wapner in his struggle a business, or an economy can itself to separate the guilty from the inno- grow (intransitive verb), that is, become cent.” The program being promoted was larger, people do not “grow” it. “The People’s Court,” an unofficial imi- The promise by a gubernatorial candi- tation of a small claims court and strictly date “to try and grow this economy”— civil. A small claims judge does not “sep- instead of broaden, expand, or arate the guilty from the innocent” but strengthen it—was an anomaly. So was settles disputes about modest amounts the headline “Netanyahu promises to of money and property. grow West Bank settlements.” A better A network newscaster announced: “A verb was in the story, which said he jury has found Carroll O’Connor not would build there. Other usable verbs: guilty of slander. . . .” He was not re- enlarge, expand. sponsible for it. The trial was civil. Ver- A financial company boasts of “help- dicts of “guilty” and “not guilty” were ing to grow the future of America.” Per- not options. haps people could brighten or insure or secure its future, but the future does not 2. Guilty vs. not guilty “grow.” Under the American system of justice, nobody needs to prove himself innocent. Guilt and innocence. 1. Civil vs. Unless convicted, a person accused of a criminal. 2. Guilty vs. not guilty. 3. In- crime is presumed to be innocent. The nocence presumed. 4. Pleas and charges. prosecution has the burden of proving 5. Some words to watch. him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. If he is not found guilty, the verdict must 1. Civil vs. criminal be not guilty. The latter is no synonym The difference between civil and crim- for “innocent” but means that the prose- inal cases escapes some people who are cution has failed to prove the defendant supposed to inform others about such guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. There matters. is no other verdict. President Clinton showed misunder- Prop. 51, the only initiative on the standing of that legal principle when he ballot, would change court rulings said, “Some of these [aliens] are found that now require someone who is par- guilty and some innocent of the crimes tially responsible for an accident to with which they are charged.” He may pay all the victim’s damages if the have got the idea from news items like other guilty parties have no money. the following. That statement confuses civil and criminal law. The proposition (on the Califor- In an ironic turn of court proce- nia ballot) that the news story cites deals dure, a young man pleaded guilty wholly with civil actions. Nobody is Tuesday to a drug-trafficking charge found “guilty” in civil trials, which in the same courtroom where jurors in mainly settle lawsuits in private disputes. 1988 found him innocent of murder- Guilt is a concept in criminal prosecu- ing his mother. tions, which are meant to enforce public laws by bringing their violators to jus- Three former candidates for Sweetwa- tice. The newspaper writer properly used ter County public offices were found responsible but quickly traded it for an guilty and one was found innocent of incorrect adjective. failing to file campaign financial re- An announcer invited television view- ports in time. 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 158

158 guilt and innocence

Members of the jury had said they 3. Innocence presumed found the former automaker innocent The presumption of innocence is a because they felt government agents principle that some journalists have yet had lured him into illegal activity. to learn. A criminal charge is far from a conviction. A suspicion is further re- Nobody is found “innocent” in Ameri- moved yet. can courts. Nor is there such a plea—except in the news media: In the last 18 months, serious damage has been done to national security by Marine in Spying Case convicted or suspected spies in the Enters Plea of Innocent CIA, the NSA, the Navy’s antisubmarine warfare program and Navy com- Suspect pleads innocent munications and Middle East in deadly shooting spree intelligence operations.

Every “innocent” should be not guilty. Lumping together as “spies” both those Now let us explain the reason for the who have been convicted in court of spy- distortion. ing and those who have merely been sus- A hoary newspaper superstition has it pected of spying, the writers (the story that if anyone ever is reported to be “not has two by-lines) in effect find them all guilty,” terrible things will happen: guilty and declare that all have done “se- Maybe the “not” will disappear or the t rious damage . . . to national security.” in “not” will change to a w, the person (Style fares no better than substance on trial will sue, and the paper will go in that passage. The listed items are jum- out of business. bled. There appear to be five, but it is The odds against such a procession of hard to tell. Inadequate punctuation and events must be huge. The news media perhaps an unnecessary “and” befog the should consider whether the perpetua- series. See Series errors, 7.) tion of that superstition is worth the distorted picture of our judicial system that 4. Pleas and charges it fosters. Two additional points are illustrated (As for the incident reported in the by each of these two samples (each the first sample: was it “an ironic turn of lead paragraph of a fourteen-paragraph court procedure” or “an ironic turn of news story): events” or not very ironic at all? See IRONY, IRONIC, IRONICALLY.) A former soldier from Pearl was What is worse than using an imprecise sentenced to 30 years in prison Mon- term is changing the term in mid sen- day after pleading guilty to kidnap- tence. ping a Jackson teenager and shooting at a police officer who tried to arrest B—— was found innocent of invol- him. untary manslaughter in the deaths of two other patients and not guilty of Michael D—— . . . pleaded guilty five counts of dereliction of duty. yesterday to having engaged in bogus stock transactions with a British bro- Some readers may have wondered about ker to evade Federal laws requiring the difference between being found “in- brokers to maintain minimum nocent” and being found “not guilty.” amounts of capital. 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 159

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First, one does not plead to a crime. One but who was being investigated in con- pleads to a charge of a crime or a count nection with a bombing in a park. The of an indictment. reporter said, “J—— continues to deny Second, in any criminal proceeding, his guilt.” It would have been far better someone is accused of violating the law. to say, “He denies any involvement” or Which law? Neither article tells us ex- “He says he had nothing to do with the actly. The first alludes to two charges (in bombing” and to leave out the name as stating the penalty for “kidnapping” and long as the man was not charged with a “assault”). The second refers to “Federal crime. In the end, he was exonerated and laws” without specifying them. A sum- compensated by news companies for mary of the charge might be something slander and libel. like “violation of the Securities and Ex- The preposition for can appear preju- change Act by failing to maintain ade- dicial in a context like this: “Doaks was quate net capital and by falsifying arrested for robbing the First National records.” Bank on May 1.” The “for” juxtaposed Another news story says, “He has with “robbing” links him to the crime. been charged with setting a dynamite This is impartial: Doaks was arrested on bomb that caused extensive structural a charge of bank robbery. The police al- damage” to an abortion clinic (identified lege . . . (or an indictment alleges . . .). by name and address). That is typical; Some news media justifiably forbid any the story details what the arrested man is combination of for and a legal charge or supposed to have done but not what law complaint. he is charged with having broken. “Police said” and “police reported” A news service report tells about a po- are two of the most common phrases in lice chief who “was arrested for allegedly crime reporting. A multitude of misstate- taking cocaine from the police departments have followed. Such attributions ment evidence room to support his 5- do not shield news media against claims year-old addiction.” The sixteenth and of defamation, particularly if no formal last paragraph says, “If convicted” the charges have been filed. chief “could face more than 20 years in See also ACCUSED, ALLEGED, RE- prison.” If convicted of what crime? The PORTED, SUSPECTED; Pronouns, 5. report fails to say. A possible charge might be “unlawful possession of co- GUNNY SACK. See HINDI and caine,” but a reader must guess. HINDU.

5. Some words to watch GUY. The colloquial word for a man A possessive pronoun can be incrimi- came from Guy Fawkes, conspirator in nating, as in the sentence “Doaks has de- the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. To com- nied his guilt.” The pronoun “his” memorate its thwarting, the English es- juxtaposed with “guilt” seems to imply tablished the holiday Guy Fawkes Day that the man is guilty. (Of course, “her” and each November 5 would display and or “their” would have the same effect.) burn grotesque efﬁgies of him. People Conversely, “Doaks proclaims his inno- called them Guys. Guy became a noun cence” displays an apparent bias in his for an odd-looking or strangely dressed favor. An impartial version is Doaks has man, also a verb meaning to jeer at or denied the charge or Doaks insists that ridicule. In the United States it began to he is innocent. be used in the nineteenth century as a A network television reporter identi- slang synonym for chap, fellow, or man. ﬁed a man who had not been arrested For generations, popular speech dis- 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 160

160 guy

tinguished between guys and gals (or why. It’s the same logic that says even Guys and Dolls, as in the musical women look sexy and cute in a man’s play). TV reﬂected changes: In 1988 the shirt, but did you ever try your silk moderator of a forum informed his blouse on your husband and send him panel, four women, that time was up by to the deli? It’s the same mentality that saying “Gotta go, guys.” In the 1990s a holds that anything male is worthy female doctor asked ﬁve female patients, (and to be aspired toward) and any- “Do you guys believe the [estrogen] re- thing female is trivial. search that is out there?”; and in sit- coms, men said to women, “Hi, guys” Maybe. Or perhaps some women turned and “Come on, guys,” and women said to the male term because it was more to women, “Ready, you guys?” and terse and colloquial than ladies or “Look, you guys.” women and they perceived girl(s) and its Why women would want to take over colloquial variation, gal(s), as taboo by the word got this answer in an op-ed arti- feminist rules. Anyway, it remains unan- cle, “Women Aren’t Guys,” by a woman swered why men would surrender a president of an advertising agency: word that had been associated with males for so long. Why is it not embarrassing for a woman to be called “guy”? We know 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 161

HAD, HAS, HAVE. See HAVE, 2. With ONE HAS, HAD. One and one-half miles (feet, days, 1 etc.) is seen also as 1 ⁄2 miles and a mile “HAIRBRAINED.” See HARE- and a half. A mixture of word and ﬁg- BRAINED. ure, “one and 1/2,” is not standard. Either half of the land or one-half of the land (population, weight, etc.) is cor- HALF. 1. With A. 2. With ONE. rect, although the latter may add a shade of emphasis or precision. 1. With A Half can mean 50 percent of some- A half is right at times, half a at other thing or close to it (half note, half- times; sometimes either phrase is right. moon); or partial(ly) or incomplete(ly) But “a half a” is never right. (half crazy, half asleep). It can serve as A restaurant review said a shrimp adjective, adverb, or noun. plate contained a garnish of shredded See also Verbs, 3. cabbage and carrots “and a half a sliced strawberry.” The “a” before “half” was HANGAR and HANGER. See superﬂuous. Better: “and half a sliced Homophones. strawberry.” Half is part of some terms, like a half HAPPEN, OCCUR, and TAKE brother or a half-life. You do not nor- PLACE. Announced in a network ra- mally speak of “half a brother” or “half dio broadcast: “The Senate vote is ex- a life.” Nor do you put half immediately pected to happen Thursday.” If the vote before an adjective (as in “a half-sliced is expected, it will not “happen.” It will strawberry”) unless half applies to the take place. The latter is preferred when adjective (“sliced”). the action is prearranged or foreseen. An Either half a dollar or a half-dollar is alternative correction is to leave out “to correct; either half an hour or a half- happen”: “The Senate vote is expected hour; either half a portion or a half- Thursday.” portion. Happen usually implies that the ac- When half adjoins a noun, the use or tion has come about by accident or nonuse of a hyphen is often a matter of chance (“Something has happened to personal preference. Some terms are the plane”) or that it is unforeseen usually hyphenated, some usually unhy- (“How could it happen to such a strong phenated; dictionaries differ on others. man?”).

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162 hard-boiled

In the words of an institute’s execu- The two words have different ances- tive, educational monthly programs tries. Hardy is traced to the Old High “have been happening for about a German hartjan, to make hard. Hearty is year. . . .” They have been taking place composed of heart, from the Old English or have been presented. heorte, plus the common suffix -y. Occur often means the same as hap- The sample sentence led an article on pen; that is, come about by accident or condiments in the food section of a large chance. From a broadcast: “The same newspaper. Nothing more was said road work that occurred yesterday after- about football, and just how it was perti- noon is occurring today.” The work was nent is not obvious. planned, so “occurred” and “occurring” are unsuitable. Took place and taking HAREBRAINED. To be harebrained place are possible, but more often work (adjective) is to have or reflect the brains is done or performed. “The same road of a hare (e.g., “a harebrained idea”). work that was done yesterday afternoon Some people mistakenly spell it “hair- is being done today.” brained.” Webster’s Third Dictionary le- Occur usually goes with more infor- gitimates the misspelling, making it an mation than happen. “Find out what entry. happened.” / “The accident occurred at One who displays no more intelli- about 2 a.m. today at Hollywood and gence than that long-eared animal can be Vine.” Occur can apply to a foreseen called a harebrain (noun). event: “The eclipse will occur at 9:17 Hare-brained and hare-brain are op- this evening.” tional spellings. Other senses of occur are to come to mind (“It never occurred to them that HAVE, HAS, HAD. 1. Ambiguity. 2. they were in danger”) and to appear or Corruption. 3. Passive sense. 4. With exist (“This flower occurs throughout TO. the southern states”). 1. Ambiguity HARD-BOILED. See BOIL. The verb have has dozens of meanings. Its particular meaning in a sentence HARDLY. See Double negative, 3; needs to be made plain. How do we in- (-) EVER, 6; THAN, 2E. terpret have in the following sentence of a radio broadcast? HARDY and HEARTY. Hardy means able to resist hardship, robust Half the mothers who have abused (“Astronauts must be hardy souls”), or, children were abused themselves as said of garden plants, able to get through children. the winter without special care. It is used in error here: That “have” can be a synonym for are parents of (if “abused,” a past participle, Cooler weather and football season is construed as an adjective modifying make a perfect time for hardy food. “children”). However, “have abused” can be construed as a verb phrase, as in Hearty is closer to the mark. In the con- the sentence “You have abused your text of food, it means ample, nourishing, power.” (There have functions as an and satisfying (“a hearty dinner”) or re- auxiliary verb, abused as a main verb, in quiring plenty of food (“a hearty ap- the present perfect tense.) The speaker petite”). Food aside, it can mean cordial, should have phrased the sentence better, genial (“a hearty greeting”). perhaps in one of these ways, depending 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 163

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on her meaning: “. . . mothers who have stopped over at the Minneapolis-St. Paul abused their children . . .” / “. . . moth- International Airport,” which could ers with children who have been make it appear that the visitor acquired abused . . .” / “. . . mothers who are re- the disease when he stopped over at the sponsible for the abuse of children. . . .” airport. See Modifiers, 3. The tense Some hasty readers may have been would be wrong, but the tense is ques- fooled by the second “had” in the ex- tionable however the sentence is inter- tract below. preted: “learned [past] he has [present] . . .”? See Tense, 1, 2.) Here is “But I cannot understand how each of one way to rephrase the sentence (omit- these missiles could possibly have cost ting one phrase): anywhere close to what they did, had this been an efficient operation,” Mr. Verhoef was detained Sunday added Percy, who said he had “falsi- when he stopped over at the Min- fied time cards to support his argu- neapolis-St. Paul International Air- ment.” port and Customs officials learned that he suffered from acquired im- The skimmers, interpreting “had falsi- mune deficiency syndrome. fied” as a verb phrase, may have concluded that a senator had admitted (The phrase “who is 31 years old” was falsifying documents. Changing the sec- irrelevant to the essential message of the ond “had” to held or possessed or could sentence. One could wonder what the produce would have eliminated the am- age had to do with the detention. A bet- biguity. (Splitting that unwieldy sentence ter location for that phrase, or for just into two sentences also would have the number 31, was four paragraphs ear- aided comprehension. The second sen- lier in the story, when the man was iden- tence: “He said he held falsified time tified.) cards to support his argument.”) See also TENSE, 5, concerning the The sense of the sample below is eas- perfect tenses, which use have, has, or ier to conjecture than the two previous had as an auxiliary verb. samples, yet the sentence has faults. It deals with the detention of a Dutch visi- 2. Corruption tor with AIDS. Following the auxiliary verb could, may, might, must, should, or would, Mr. Verhoef, who is 31 years old, sometimes the have is wrongly replaced was detained Sunday after Customs by “of”; for instance, “I could of gone officials learned he has acquired im- fishing” and “They would of beaten us” mune deficiency syndrome when he (in place of have gone and have beaten). stopped over at the Minneapolis-St. The misuser may be confusing “of” with Paul International Airport. the contracted have, as in could’ve and would’ve, which is acceptable in collo- Because “has” and “acquired” adjoin, quial speech. they tend to form a verb phrase, as in the In another corruption, the have turns sentence She has acquired money. One into an “a” attached to a helping verb: who knew that AIDS stood for acquired “Sheila shoulda come” and “Monty immune deficiency syndrome could musta seen it” (instead of should have backtrack and reinterpret “has” as de- come and must have seen). noting possession. (Those misinterpret- ing the sentence might be fooled further 3. Passive sense by the placement of the phrase “when he Nobody objects to the causative have, 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 164

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or had. “She had her hair done.” / “The sponsible adult to accompany them company is having the store remodeled.” home. The subjects cause things to happen. What a few critics object to is this: He [President Jefferson] wished, he “They had their house damaged in the said, to have Congress, who “exclu- storm.” / “I’m tired of having my prop- sively” had the power, to consider erty defaced.” The form is the same; it is whether it would not be well to au- active, yet the meaning is passive. The thorize measures of offense. subjects do not cause the action; it is thrust upon them. In the first sentence, omit “to.” In the The passive use of the verb have is not second sentence, omit the second “to.” new; it is found in the writings of Shake- When have is causative—when you have speare and Dickens. An old Webster’s someone do something—“to” does not Dictionary gave as one definition of have follow idiomatically. “I’ll have [or “I (verb, transitive) “to suffer or experience had”] the plumber fix the sink”—not from an exterior source.” Its example “to fix.” / “Have an adult accompany was “he had his leg broken.” Sentences him home.” / “Have Congress authorize like that and “He broke his leg” have measures of offense.” drawn ridicule from pedagogues, news- (The other errors: [1] referring to a paper editors, and some grammarians. singular subject, “Every patient,” with a A critic deplored such use of have as a plural pronoun, “them”; and [2] repre- “counterfeit” of the causative have, senting a thing, “Congress,” by “who.” more feeble than the true passive. See Pronouns, 2; WHO, THAT, and Among “depraved” examples: “The WHICH, 1.) Newark team . . . had six . . . games Have may go with to in other con- rained out last spring.” The suggested texts. “I have a key to get inside” is cor- correction: “Six . . . were rained out”— rect. There have indicates possession and scant improvement. The passive have to indicates purpose. And have to is a has some reputable defenders. One proper phrase indicating obligation or found the meanings clear and the objec- necessity: “I have to [or “She has to”] go tions erroneous and pedantic. Another home.” called the critics “lint pickers” but fa- See also TO. vored the rewriting of any ludicrous sentences. HAVOC. See WREAK and WRECK. A sentence like this does demand rewriting: “While she had her hair done, Hawaii. Hawaii seems to be a foreign she had her car smashed by a truck.” country to the copy editor who wrote a The second had is absurd; although it is headline reading “Amfac [a conglomer- supposed to have a different meaning, it ate] says ‘aloha’ to U.S. divisions to fo- parallels the first had. cus on Hawaii” and a caption reading “Amfac will shed domestic units to stay 4. With TO in Hawaii.” Two sentences, from a folder issued Some people remain unaware that by a hospital and from an essay by a po- Hawaii has been the fiftieth U.S. state litical scientist, each misuse to. (In addi- since 1959, the Aloha State. (Aloha is tion, both err in their pronouns.) Hawaiian for goodbye, hello, or love.) A former kingdom, it was annexed by the Every patient receiving general anes- United States in 1898 and became a U.S. thesia or medication must have a re- territory in 1900. 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 165

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It is composed of the Hawaiian Is- Notwithstanding the one-sided pic- lands, once called the Sandwich Islands, ture presented in travel promotions, a chain some 2,000 miles southwest of Hawaii residents complain of many of San Francisco. Hawaii is the most the same problems that beset other southerly state of the United States. It is Americans: problems concerning the en- not the most westerly; Alaska is. vironment, health, the law, living costs, Hawaii is properly pronounced Ha- population pressures, and so on. Then WHY-ee—never Ha-WHY-uh, which there are some distinctive troubles. some dictionaries condone; and never A volcanic eruption on one of the is- Ha-VIE-ee, which some people mistak- lands was the subject of TV news on the enly believe is authentic. Its main islands mainland. An anchor woman said, are Hawaii; Kauai (cow-EYE); Maui “There is more trouble in paradise (MAO-wee); and Oahu (owe-AH-who), tonight. Another home went up in on which the capital city, Honolulu (ha- flames on the Island of Hawaii.” Isn’t it no-LOO-loo), is situated. odd that a land where lava consumes A person lives in Hawaii, if you are re- houses should remind her of heaven and ferring to the State of Hawaii. One could not of the other place? live on Hawaii, i.e., on what is locally known as “the Big Island,” the largest of HEAD ON and HEAD-ON. See the Hawaiian Islands in area, but it is Joining of words; Punctuation, 4D. better to specify “the Island of Hawaii” to avoid confusion. HEADQUARTERS. Headquarters, Hawaii residents never call themselves meaning a center of operations, usually “Hawaiians” unless they are descen- is treated as a plural noun. Below it is dants of the original Hawaiians, mem- construed as singular. bers of the Polynesian race. (“Race” is not a common word there; the people But already now, even while the prefer “nationality.”) Few pure Hawai- Civic Forum searched for a headquar- ians survive, but many islanders are con- ters and Mr. Adamec looked for new sidered “part Hawaiian.” To call anyone ministers, the faint outlines of the fu- else a “Hawaiian” is to betray one’s un- ture were taking shape. . . . familiarity with the islands. The mainland’s mass media seem incapable of dealing with Hawaii without The article “a” is not necessary. Yet few sticking in the “paradise” cliché. Articles would flatly declare a singular construc- in two newspapers and a magazine were tion of headquarters to be incorrect. typically headed “Hawaii: Pint-size par- What is more disputable is using the adise” / “Debate in Paradise—Who’s word, sans s, as a verb. Nine-tenths of Hawaiian” / “Hawaii: Telecommuting The American Heritage Dictionary us- from Paradise.” age panel rejected “The European corre- The use of that word to describe the spondent will headquarter in Paris” and Hawaiian Islands goes back at least to “The magazine has headquartered him 1888, when a magazine called Paradise in a building that houses many foreign of the Pacific was founded in Honolulu. journalists.” The use of the past partici- (It would last seventy-eight years.) Par- ple has become a fairly common collo- adise means the kingdom of heaven, the quialism, especially in the passive (“is abode of eternal bliss; and understand- headquartered”). ably that scenic, flowery, subtropical kingdom suggested it to some. HE and HIM. See Pronouns, 10. 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 166

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HEARTY. See HARDY and in the United States is the Supreme HEARTY. Court. What are we to make of the following? HEBREW. See JEW, JEWISH, 2; YIDDISH. The state of Missouri appealed the case to the High Court. Helping verbs (auxiliary verbs). See Verbs, 1, 4. . . . The High Court . . . ruled that . . . the Federal Tort Claims HER and SHE. See Pronouns, 10. Act . . . did not protect officials who may have been negligent. . . . HER, HIS. See Possessive problems, 4; Pronouns, 2. Contrary to such writings, there is no American court called the “High HEROIN and HEROINE. The two Court.” It is a term concocted by jour- words are pronounced identically. Ex- nalists in their perpetual search for syn- cept for the e at the end of one, they have onyms. the same spelling. They are similarly Inasmuch as high court is not a real rooted in Greek. But their meanings are name, it makes no sense to capitalize it. vastly different. (A better case can be made for using a A heroine is a female hero or the main capital S in “State of Missouri.”) female character in a work of fiction. It originated in the Greek heroine, femi- HIM and HE. See Pronouns, 10. nine of heros, hero (via the Latin hero- ina). HIMSELF. See Pronouns, 3, 4, 5. Remove the e and we have heroin, a highly addictive narcotic, a derivative of HINDI and HINDU. A dictionary morphine. Once used as an analgesic says, “Gunny comes from the Hindu and sedative, it is now prohibited by the word ‘goni’. . . .” Correction: it is a U.S. government. Heroin began as a Hindi word (meaning gunny sack). German trade name in the late nine- Hindu pertains to Hinduism, the religion teenth century. It was adapted from the that is predominant in India. The lan- Greek stem hero-. Perhaps the coiner guage is Hindi. It is the official language had the original sense in mind, but the of India, a literary language based on a modern perception is that one who takes group of northern Indian vernacular up that drug is less a hero than a fool. tongues, to which the term Hindi some- A weekly paper said a state law “per- times is applied also. mits the use of heroine, LSD and A Hindu is a believer in the Hindu re- methamphetamines” when prescribed. ligion. Westerners used to erroneously Heroin. Webster’s Third Dictionary in- apply that name, or “Hindoo,” to any explicably accepts the wrong spelling Indian. A Hindi, a less common term, is along with the right. a northern Indian whose native language is in the Hindi lingual group. HERSELF. See Pronouns, 3, 4, 5. HIS, HER. See Possessive problems, 4; HETEROPHOBIA. See HOMO- Pronouns, 2. PHOBIA. HISPANIC. See LATIN(-)AMERI- “HIGH COURT.” The highest court CAN. 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 167

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“HISSELF.” See Pronouns, 5. apply “historic” to something that does not even happen may be going too far. HISTORIC and HISTORICAL. 1. The difference. 2. HISTORIC news? HOBSON’S CHOICE. A Hobson’s choice is a take-it-or-leave-it offer. It is 1. The difference the choice of taking either that which is The two adjectives are not synonyms. offered or nothing at all. All three quota- The -al makes a difference. tions misuse the term. An event that is famous or important in history—such as Columbus’s discov- [A news magazine:] King Fahd . . . ery in 1492 or the first trip to the moon, faced a Hobson’s choice: he could go in 1969—may be called historic. Some- it alone, leaving his small and scat- times the word is used more loosely to tered army to answer Iraq’s battle- describe a contemporary event that one hardened troops, or he could call in thinks or hopes will prove historic. the U.S. and lay bare his ties. That which pertains to the topic of history or contributes to the record of [A talk-show host on the choice be- history—a society, a document, etc.—is tween a child and a career:] A lot of historical. So is a book, a show, etc. women have to make that decision based on historic events. Dickens’s story and it’s like a Hobson’s choice, isn’t it? of the French Revolution, A Tale of Two Cities, is a historical novel. However, in [A poll taker, as quoted in a newspa- referring to the academic subject, history per:] “Both candidates appear to be usually serves as an adjective: a history highly flawed. . . . For Democrats, it’s teacher, course, or textbook. a real Hobson’s choice.” When an indefinite article precedes either word, it is usually a, as in “a historic Each statement describes a dilemma, not voyage” or “a historical movie.” See a “Hobson’s choice.” also A and AN. The expression is said to have originated in the practice of Thomas Hobson, 2. HISTORIC news? of Cambridge, England, who died in The word historic is used freely in the 1631. He let horses and required each press. There it often pertains, not to an customer to take the horse nearest the event of long ago, but to a current event, stable door or none. usually one that has been anticipated. See also DILEMMA. A main headline proclaimed a “His- toric Global Trade Pact.” Another, in a HOLD. second newspaper, announced: “His- toric anti-crime bill passed by the Sen- Hey, voters, get ate.” Did the editors possess a deep ahold of yourselves knowledge or sense of history? Or was it just their way of letting readers know Get what? What is that strange amal- that the issues those events resolved—af- gam, displayed prominently in a head- ter prolonged and prominent debate— line on the op-ed page? Could it be a were important? typographical error? No; there it goes The historical importance of a “his- again, in the text of the article: toric” current event is open to argument. This was broadcast: “NASA today It’s time for the American elector- called off an historic space mission.” To ate to get, as they say, ahold of itself. 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 168

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Regardless of what “they say” to the dwellings, hogans, huts, igloos, lake writer and his editor, the proper idiom is dwellings, lean-tos, pueblos, tepees, to get (or catch or lay or take) hold of wickiups, wigwams, yurts, and of course something. It means to seize or grasp it. apartments. On the other hand, a house A hold is (among other things) a grip in which nobody lives is nobody’s home. or an act of holding. Under no circum- On national television one saw flames stances should a and hold be stuck to- consuming houses in Glendale, Califor- gether. nia. Firemen in helicopters dropped To get (or lay or take) hold of some- chemicals on what a voice called thing can also mean to acquire it. “the homes.” They were now hardly “homes.” HOLD UP, HOLDUP, HOLD-UP. See Crimes, 3. Homographs and homonyms. See Homophones. HOME and HOUSE. The first paragraph of an article deals with “homes”; HOMOPHOBIA. The Greek pho- the second, with “houses.” Then bos, a fear, is the origin of the noun pho- “homes” are mentioned several times bia, a morbid, or unhealthy, fear; an more. intense, persistent, irrational dread of a thing, being, or situation. The suffix -phobia is part of many words that indi- Low mortgage interest rates and a cate types of morbid fear, such as acro- smaller supply of homes for sale in the phobia, fear of heights; agoraphobia, last six months helped break what fear of being in a public place; and claus- had been a free fall in Alameda trophobia, fear of being in a confined County home prices. place. Houses in a few neighborhoods A dictionary of psychology defines even increased in values since the last homophobia as (1) “A morbid fear of survey. . . . homosexuality” and (2) “A morbid fear Livermore has a stock of relatively of mankind.” (The combining form smaller and older three-bedroom homo- is from the Greek word homos, homes [and so on]. meaning same; while Homo, the genus including mankind, is from the Latin What is the difference? Not much to the homo, meaning man.) An encyclopedia writer, who has largely accepted the of phobias defines homophobia as “Fear word pushed by real estate people (al- of homosexuality or becoming a homo- though the second paragraph may indi- sexual.” An approximate antonym cate a twinge of journalistic conscience). is heterophobia, “Fear of the opposite They prefer to call a residential house for sex. . . .” sale a “home,” bare and unoccupied The common element in all the defini- though it may be, thereby helping to tions is fear, yet that element is often convey the notion that they sell security, lacking in the current use of the word, as comfort, happiness, and the like. in an editorial: To Edgar A. Guest, there was a good deal of difference between the two Who cares who Ellen is sleeping words. He wrote in his poem Home: “It with? . . . Those rock-ribbed Ameri- takes a heap o’ livin’ in a house t’ make it cans who’d sooner puke than applaud home.” Ellen’s lesbianhood. . . . This show . . . People have made their homes in will just harden their homophobia to other than houses—in caves, cliff tensile strength. 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 169

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When the meaning is a dislike of homo- thing offered). The pronunciations differ sexuals or opposition to homosexual slightly. practices and there is no fear, let alone An op-ed piece about telephone solici- phobia, it is better to explain what is tors said “their ought to be a law.” meant than to miss the mark with homo- Make it there (the adverb), not “their” phobia. If a lone noun is needed, a possi- (the possessive pronoun). Sometimes bility is antihomosexuality (adjective they’re, the contraction of they are, is antihomosexual); another, which would confused with one or the other. fit the editorial, is simply hatred. A movie review said “he crawls into a construction sight. . . .” Site (a place) Homophones. The English language would be right, not “sight” (a view). A contains an abundance of words (or lin- third word that sounds the same is cite, guistic units) that are pronounced or to quote, refer to, or officially summon spelled like other words but have differ- or mention. ent meanings. Let us define three such Forty other groups of homophones categories: are listed below in boldface, a pair or triplet in each paragraph. They are ar- • Homographs, words that are spelled ranged alphabetically and briefly de- alike but pronounced differently fined, many with illustrations of use. (e.g., wind, moving air; and wind, to Additional homophones are dealt with coil or turn). in other entries, listed after this list. See • Homonyms, words that are spelled also Confusing pairs. and pronounced alike (e.g., bear, an animal; and bear, to carry or Ad, a short form of advertisement; “a withstand). classified ad.” Add, to combine num- • Homophones, words that are spelled bers; “to add or subtract.” Ad, Latin for differently but pronounced alike. In to, found in terms like ad hoc (literally to the following examples, writers have this), meaning for this specific purpose; absent-mindedly replaced correct and ad infinitum (literally to infinity), words with their homophones. meaning endlessly. Altar, an elevated place for religious According to a news item, an editor rites; “the couple standing at the altar.” “said he hoped the former aide to Alter, to change or modify; “to alter the Richard Nixon would right an after- pants.” word” for a book by Nixon. Plainly Ante- (prefix), before; antedate, ante- write (to compose sentences) was con- room. Anti- (prefix), against, antifreeze, fused with “right” (which also can be a antitrust. Auntie or Aunty, aunt, an af- verb, e.g., to right a wrong). fectionate or familiar form. A famed lexicographer wrote in a let- Away, in another direction, from a ter that he had sunk “waste deep” in place, from one’s possession; “turned snow in the Alps. He meant waist (the away” / “went away” / “gave it away.” narrow part of the torso), not “waste” Aweigh, clear of the water’s bottom, said (refuse or an act of wasting). of an anchor; “anchors aweigh.” Under a proposal by the president, Bail, a security payment to insure a “overall Federal spending would be held defendant’s appearance in court; “re- constant accept for inflation.” Someone leased on $5,000 bail.” Bale, a large at a newspaper confused except (a bundle, compressed and tied; “a bale of preposition meaning other than) with hay.” “accept” (a verb meaning to take some- Base, a foundation, fundamental in- 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 170

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gredient, headquarters, or starting point; Dual, double, related to two; “dual “paint with an oil base” / “our base of engines.” Duel, a fight, often under tra- operations.” Bass, a low-pitched voice ditional rules; “shot in a duel.” or musical instrument; “The singer is a Flair, a natural ability; “a flair for bass” / “He plays the double bass.” sports.” Flare (noun), a blaze of fire, or a Bazaar, a market place or benefit sale; signal of fire or light, “Rescuers saw the “a Middle Eastern bazaar” / “a church flares”; (verb) to blaze or burst out, bazaar.” Bizarre, strange, grotesque; “a “Tempers flared.” bizarre sight.” Gamble, to risk money on a game of Bough, a large branch of a tree. Bow, chance; “gamble on the lottery.” Gam- a respectful lowering of the head or bol, to frolic, to skip about; “children body; also the front of a ship. gamboling in the garden.” Brake (noun), a device for stopping a Hangar, a structure for housing air- vehicle; (verb) to stop a vehicle. Break planes. Hanger, a frame for hanging (noun), a fracture or pause; (verb) to clothes. fracture or pause. Idle, not active, not kept busy; “idle Breadth, width, extent; “traveling the hands.” Idol, an image of a deity; “a length and breadth of the land.” Breath, Polynesian idol.” air inhaled; “a deep breath.” Lama, a Buddhist priest or monk of Callous (adjective), hardened, insensi- Tibet or Mongolia. Llama, a woolly, do- tive; “a callous attitude.” Callus (noun), mesticated animal of South America. a hardened part of the skin; “calluses on Lesser, smaller, less important or seri- their hands.” ous; “the lesser evil.” Lessor, an owner Cannon, a big gun. Canon, a rule or of property who lets it under a lease to a principle; a body of church law. lessee. Canvas, heavy cloth; “painted in oil Manner, a way of doing; “I am native on canvas.” Canvass (noun), an inspec- here and to the manner born.” Manor, tion or solicitation, “the candidate’s can- a landed estate; “an English manor- vass of the district”; (verb) to inspect or house.” solicit, “to canvass the district.” Medal, a small piece of metal cast or Cession, a formal yielding; “cession of awarded in someone’s honor; “a gold territory under the treaty.” Session, a medal.” Meddle, to interfere in a matter meeting or sitting; “Court is now in ses- that is not one’s business; “Don’t meddle sion.” in our private affairs.” Chord, a combination of musical Metal, a class of hard, elemental sub- notes; “a G-major chord.” Cord, a string stances or alloys such as iron, silver, and or thin rope; “tied with a cord.” bronze. Mettle, quality of character, Council, a group of people serving as spirit, or courage; “Both fighters showed an assembly for advice, legislation, dis- their mettle.” cussion, etc.; “the city council.” Coun- Miner, one who works at extracting sel, advice, “wise counsel”; attorney(s), minerals from the earth. Minor (noun), “defense counsel.” Consul, one who rep- one who is not yet a legal adult; (adjec- resents a foreign government in a partic- tive) lesser, the opposite of major, or (in ular city; “the Danish consul in Seattle.” music) related to a minor scale. (Its first vowel rhymes with Don; that of Passed, the past tense of pass; “I the other two words rhymes with down.) passed the exam.” Past (noun or adjec- Discreet, prudent, acting properly re- tive) time before the present; “remem- served; “a discreet witness.” Discrete, bering the past” / “in the past month.” separate, having distinct parts; “four dis- Peace, absence of hostility; calmness. crete sections of the work.” Piece, a fragment or part. 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 171

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Pedal (noun), a foot-operated lever; former of long experience, or (infor- (verb) to operate such a device, “to pedal mally) a loyal worker. a bicycle.” Peddle, to work at selling Vice, a wicked practice. Vise, a clamp- goods carried from place to place; “to ing device. peddle brushes.” Weather, the condition of the atmo- Plain (noun), a level, treeless region, sphere. Whether, in either event; either; “the midwestern plains”; (adjective) ob- if. vious, simple, unadorned, “plain talk.” See also the following entries: Plane (noun), airplane, carpentry tool, flat surface, or level, “a higher plane”; AFFECT and EFFECT (adjective) flat, “a plane figure.” ALL TOGETHER and ALTO- Pore (noun), a small opening, as in the GETHER (etc.) skin; (verb) to gaze at or study carefully; BLOC and BLOCK “He pored over the volume.” Pour, to let BORE, BORNE, and BORN flow; “pour the tea.” CAPITAL and CAPITOL Rain, water condensed from atmo- COMPLEMENT and COMPLI- spheric vapor that falls to earth in drops, MENT or its falling; figuratively a shower of EXERCISE and EXORCISE anything, “a rain of sparks” / “a rain FAUN and FAWN of blows.” Reign, rule, sovereignty, or FAZE and PHASE dominance; “the reign of George III” / GRISLY, GRIZZLY, and GRIZZLED “a reign of terror.” Rein, a strap for con- HEROIN and HEROINE trolling a horse, attached to a bit in its INCIDENCE and INCIDENT mouth and held by the rider; figurative ITS and IT’S restraint or guidance, or the means LEAD (verb) and LED thereof, “a tight rein on government LOATH and LOATHE spending.” MARSHAL Role, a part in a performance, or a NAVAL and NAVEL function; “to play a role.” Roll (noun), PRINCIPAL and PRINCIPLE something rolled up, a list of names, a Pronouns, 8. small bread loaf, a swaying motion, or a Punctuation, 1B. loud sound; “a roll of tape” / “honor RACK and WRACK roll” / “sweet roll” / “rock and roll” / SHEAR, 1. “roll of thunder”; (verb) to revolve, TO, TOO, and TWO move by repeatedly turning over, or TROOP, TROOPS, and TROUPE move on wheels, or to cause such move- Verbs, 2 (medal) ment; “to let the ball roll” / “to roll the WHOSE, 2 ball.” YOUR and YOU’RE Session: see Cession in this list. Sole (noun), a shoe bottom or a fish; HONORABLE, HONORARY, (adjective) lone, only, “the sole heir.” HONORED. 1. HONORABLE. Soul, human spirit, “bless her soul.” 2. HONORARY; HONORARIUM. Stationary, not moving, not changing; 3. HONORED IN THE BREACH. “stationary equipment” / “stationary 4. TIME-HONORED. philosophy.” Stationery, writing paper and related supplies; “sold in a sta- 1. HONORABLE tionery store.” Honorable, usually in its abbreviated Trooper, a mounted policeman or sol- form, Hon., often precedes the names of dier, or a state policeman. Trouper, a high public officials, despite the dishon- member of a troupe of performers, a per- orable records of some. It is used in let- 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 172

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ters and formal documents in this way: This illustrates a common misapplica- Hon. (or the Hon.) John Doe, secretary tion of the saying. of state. The source is Shakespeare’s Hamlet, It goes with the full name, not with in which Hamlet, the Prince of Den- the surname alone as in “Hon. Doe.” It mark, says, “it is a custom / More is a term of respect, not a true title. Hon. honor’d in the breach than the obser- Senator and Mrs. Richard Roe is right. vance.” The reference is to the custom of “Hon. and Mrs. Richard Roe,” as used wassail, revelry with spirituous toasts to sometimes, deprives him of his title. health. (See also Prepositions, 4, end.) Honorable is an adjective only, literally meaning characterized by, possess- 4. TIME-HONORED ing, or worthy of honor. “Brutus is an “Negative campaigning is a time- honorable man.” (See also REV- honored tradition in this country,” a net- EREND.) The related adverb is honor- work broadcaster said. A story that ably. “You performed honorably.” followed described political mud- slinging since the days of Jefferson, tend- 2. HONORARY; HONORARIUM ing to disparage it. Usually honorary (adjective) describes Perhaps he meant “time-honored” as either (1) a title or position granted as an irony. The practice of defaming one’s po- honor with no payment, duties, or privi- litical opponents is commonly dishon- leges, as honorary chairman, or (2) ored, not honored. To honor (verb, something else given solely as an honor transitive) something or someone is to without any actual utility, such as an treat it or him with honor (noun): es- honorary degree conferred by an educa- teem, regard, respect, or reverence. To tional institution (sometimes to honor dishonor something is to insult it or treat the institution more than the ofﬁcial it with disrespect, as the broadcaster did honoree). to mud-slinging. Honorary originally meant of honor Anyway, “time-honored tradition” or conferring honor, the word’s meaning was redundant. One dictionary’s deﬁni- in Latin; e.g., “The simple crown of tion of tradition is “A time-honored olive, an honorary reward” (in ancient practice. . . .” Time-honored means hon- Greece). ored, observed, or carried on because of A word that sounds similar but has a antiquity or long continuation. much different meaning is honorarium (noun), a voluntary payment to a profes- HOPEFULLY. Nobody denies that sional person for special services when the adverb hopefully can mean in a no fee is set or legally required. hopeful manner, showing hope, feeling hope, or with hope. “Striding hopefully 3. HONORED IN THE BREACH to the betting window, I slapped down A custom or rule that is more honored my twenty-dollar bill.” in the breach than in the observance is However, a controversy goes on be- one for which a person deserves more tween those who would restrict the word honor for breaking than for observing. to its primary meaning and those who A book on English usage says a cer- would allow it to serve as a synonym for tain grammatical rule “is honored now “I hope” / “let us hope” / “it is hoped” / more in the breach than in the obser- or “we can hope.” Such use has become vance.” The intended meaning is that the increasingly popular since the sixties. rule is broken more often than it is kept. A radio newscaster tells of a standstill 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 173

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at the airport and adds, “The fog is lift- have used “how” as a substitute for the ing and hopefully things will be return- fact that (or, the second time, for that). ing to normal.” The “things” are not How can they do it? In a substandard doing any hoping. Then who is? The manner with little thought. newscaster is, but she is not in the sentence. Her “hopefully” modifies noth- HOWEVER. See BUT, 5; (-)EVER, 4. ing. It just dangles there. Hopefully may eventually be admitted HUSH MONEY. See Crimes, 2. to the elite society of absolute constructions, words and phrases that are per- HYPER- and HYPO- prefixes. See mitted to dangle; but its time has not yet Confusing pairs. arrived. See Modifiers, 1D. Hyphen. See Punctuation, 4. HOUSE. See HOME and HOUSE. HYPOTHESIS and THEORY. HOW. How (adverb) means in what Some people use the two words inter- manner or way (“How did the accident changeably, encouraged by some dictio- happen?”), by what means (“I wonder naries. That is how a certain book on how he does that trick”), in what condi- English usage uses the words (emphases tion (“Tell me how she is”), or to what added): amount, degree, extent, etc. (“How expensive and how good a car do you Among the various other theories want?”). It can be used as an intensive or concerning the alphabet are the hy- as part of an exclamation (“How potheses that the alphabet was sweet!”) and colloquially it can amount brought by the Philistines from Crete to why? (“How so?”) to Palestine, that the various ancient One thing it is not, at least in standard scripts of the Mediterranean countries usage, is a substitute for that. Such use of developed from prehistoric geometric “how,” or sometimes the phrase “as symbols [etc.]. . . . Another hypothe- how,” is highly informal or regional. So sis, the Ugaritic theory, evolved after is the phrase “being as how” or “seeing an epoch-making discovery. . . . as how” in place of because or inasmuch as. Among “theories” are several “hypothe- An urban daily newspaper devoted a ses”? Another “hypothesis” is a “the- front-page article to a family’s display of ory”? The writers seem more intent on wooden sheep on a hillside. avoiding repetition of a word than avoiding confusion among readers. It has something to do with how Those who want to be precise or sci- K—— once kept live sheep there and entific distinguish between the two how he and his wife, J——, are ex- words in this way: pecting their second child. A hypothesis is much more tentative. It has much less evidence to support it or The article says nothing about the man- no evidence at all. It is an unproven ner in which he kept live sheep (e.g., proposition, supposition, or plain guess loose on a hillside, watched by a shep- that is accepted tentatively to explain herd) and nothing about the manner in some facts or to serve as the basis for which the couple are expecting their study, investigation, or experimentation. child (e.g., cheerfully with monthly cele- A theory is bolstered by a good deal of brations). The newspaper people seem to evidence and usually is more elaborate. 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 174

174 hypothesis and theory

It is a system of principles to explain cer- ries of relativity—dealing with space, tain phenomena that have been ob- time, mass, energy, and gravitation— served; the principles have been at least have been repeatedly tested in experi- partially veriﬁed. ments and are generally acepted by the The nebula hypothesis and the plan- scientiﬁc community. etesimal hypothesis, for example, are al- In view of the abundance of alterna- ternative, unproven explanations for the tive explanations for the creation of the origin of the solar system. On the other alphabet, hypothesis would seem to be hand, Einstein’s special and general theo- an apt label for each. 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 175

I and i. The letter i should be dotted in [From a lecture:] Mind-body medi- lower case and only in lower case. A cine is an idea whose time has come. capital I should never get a dot. Al- though dotted capital I’s are seen on in- Or, put in the past: numerable homemade signs, they offend the eyes of professional sign painters, [From a book:] But book clubs were calligraphers, typographers, and others an idea whose time had come. sensitive to the letters of our alphabet. In the opening episode of a television It amounts to a fancy way of saying that comedy series, a learned professor the idea is or was popular. (For those chalks the word “HUMANITIES” in taking the cliché literally, questions capital letters on a blackboard. A coed arise: Does every idea, even a trivial one, tells him impudently: “When you write have a “time”? What determines it? the letter I, the dot is supposed to go What about conﬂicting ideas, wrong over the I. They teach you that in the ideas, bad ideas?) ﬁrst grade.” Actually his letters are per- In 1943 a circular from The Nation fectly correct (though nobody putting attributed this sentence to Victor Hugo’s on the show seems to know it). The diary: “There is one thing stronger than episode ends as the professor dots the all the armies in the world; and that is an capital I in “RENAISSANCE”—erro- idea whose time has come.” Its origin neously. was probably Histoire d’un crime by Hugo: “An invasion of armies can be re- I and ME. See Pronouns, 10. sisted; an invasion of ideas cannot.” (Source: The Home Book of Quota- “I COULD CARE LESS.” See tions.) “COULD CARE LESS.” Some still combine Hugo’s thought about the invincibility of ideas with the -ICS ending. See Plurals and singu- timeliness notion. In an article about the lars, 2G. Romanian revolution of 1989, a professor of political science wrote: “IDEA WHOSE TIME HAS COME.” This phrase dates from The luminous courage of [the Rev. 1943 at the latest, and its time should Laszlo] Tokes and his supporters have expired by now. Instead it is going proved, yet again, that no force can strong as a cliché. Example: resist an idea whose time has come.

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176 identical

The particular idea discussed was that of verb identify. All are traced to the late political freedom. In the same year, a Latin identitas, identity. similar idea came to Communist China, In mathematics, an equation that is but lethal force resisted it. satisfied for all values of its symbol(s) is called an identical equation. IDENTICAL. 1. Modifiers. 2. Prepo- In logic, a proposition whose subject sitions. 3. Related words. and predicate amount to the same thing (“Nonexistence is not existence”) is an 1. Modifiers identical proposition. An author describes a visit to a remote In poetry, an identical rhyme uses village in Niger, Africa. words or syllables that have the same sound, such as beat and beet. Looking at the young men, all of pure Identical twins are siblings who devel- blood, I noticed their faces were in- oped from the same ovum and look the deed somewhat identical. same. Identic is an archaic version of identi- “. . . Their faces were indeed similar” cal as well as a diplomatic term. It may would make more sense. “Somewhat be defined as the same in form and sub- identical” is impossible. stance though not the same in wording; Somewhat (adverb) means rather, or for example, identic communiqués is- to a limited extent or degree. Identical sued by the United States and Russia. can mean the very same or exactly alike. Either way, identical cannot be dimin- IDLE and IDOL. See Homophones. ished by modifiers like “a bit” / “rather” / “slightly,” and “somewhat,” any of IDYLLIC. Idyllic means rural, natu- which contradicts it. Some modifiers, rally charming or picturesque, or suit- such as almost or completely, which able for an idyl (also spelled idyll), a leave the second sense at least mostly in- pastoral poem. What is idyllic here? tact (“The two paintings are almost identical”), are acceptable. Identical in . . . His friends believed that the the first sense (“He is the identical man youngest of the Elliotts spent an idyl- who robbed us”) may not be modified at lic childhood: growing up with his fa- all. ther, his mother, Lee, one brother and three sisters in Manhattan. . . . 2. Prepositions If the boy had grown up in, say, the Is this picture identical with that pic- Catskills, his childhood could have been ture? Or is it identical to it? Grammari- described as idyllic. The adjective hardly ans have disagreed. seems appropriate when associated with Theodore Bernstein would accept ei- modern Manhattan. ther preposition. Wilson Follett would An author writes about his experi- not use to: “a thing [has] identity with, ences: not to, another.” That is so, and that is the British tradition, but American idiom The days had been idyllic and made accepts either, and you may choose. for strolling, for sitting at sidewalk cafes, for sipping wine under a 3. Related words canopy. Words related to the adjective identical include the adverb identically, the The author was in Paris, a metropolis of nouns identicalness and identity, and the some two million people and, however 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 177

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pleasant, no more idyllic than New York of ilk, in the Middle Ages, and remains City. its meaning in Scotland, at least in a nar- In response to a suggestion that row way. As an adjective, ilk used to ap- youngsters be taught to ride motorcycles pear in a phrase like this: the ilk night, properly, the host of a talk show said on meaning the same night. television: In modern times, ilk serves mainly to identify someone. It is used in a phrase That’s a great idea in an idyllic world, like Macduff of that ilk, meaning of that but that’s not the way we live. same (name is understood). It signifies that the person has the same name as the Did he really think that motorcycles place he owns or comes from. It is like would improve a pastoral setting? saying Macduff of Macduff. People often use “idyllic” mistakenly In the United States and England too, in place of ideal, a word that would fit ilk is used loosely—The Oxford English all three quotations. Dictionary says “erroneously”—as a The two sentences that follow do have noun meaning class, kind, or family. It is pastoral elements, but they are overwrit- usually meant to be facetious or deroga- ten. tory. A comedian said in an interview, “It’s Still, if The Avalanche [a Texas an unwritten rule among people of the newspaper] mostly reflects an idyllic same ilk.” The same ethnic group? (The rural life style, it’s also a revealing in- “rule” presumably is that they may de- dicator of change. ride their group while outsiders may not.) It [an anti-American poster in Mos- cow] has been replaced by a new ILLUSION and DELUSION. See poster with drawings of a young Confusing pairs. American boy and a young Soviet girl in an idyllic, pastoral scene. IMMANENT, IMMANENCE. See EMINENT and IMMINENT. “Idyllic rural” and “idyllic, pastoral” are both redundant. (“Revealing indicator” is no model of terseness either.) IMMEMORIAL. A candidate had See also BUCOLIC. accused an opposition party of dirty tricks. The leveling of such a charge is “a I.E. (that is). See Punctuation, 2A. method that has been tried since time immemoriam,” a commentator said on IF AND WHEN. See UNLESS AND television. UNTIL. The nonword that came forth seemed to be a mixture of immemorial (the word IF clauses. See Subjunctive; WAS and that he probably was aiming at) and in WERE. memoriam. The former means back in time beyond recorded history or human ILK. A grammar says, “The indefinite memory. The latter is a Latin phrase pronouns are one, someone, anyone . . . used in epitaphs and obituary notices, and others of this same hazy ilk.” meaning in memory. If you must use ilk in that way, at least never do so in Scotland, and leave out IMMIGRATE and EMIGRATE. “same.” Same was the original meaning See EMIGRATE and IMMIGRATE. 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 178

178 imminent, imminence

IMMINENT, IMMINENCE. See the possible exception of minute organ- EMINENT and IMMINENT. isms that enter their systems). Even if a creative commentator could devise a IMPACT. 1. A forceful noun. 2. IM- way in which zebra mussels entered into PACT as a verb. 3. IMPACTED, an ad- a figurative “impact,” that “impact” jective. would not “continue to grow.” An impact does not grow. 1. A forceful noun. The popular press is as accountable as A forceful word is being enfeebled. anyone for the enfeeblement of the Blame the increasingly sloppy and pre- word. These are excerpts from three suc- tentious ways in which people who cessive paragraphs of a news story: ought to know better are tossing it around these days. Other press analysts argued that re- An impact is a violent contact or a porters’ party registration had no im- striking of an object against another, or pact on the fairness of coverage. . . . the force or shock of that contact or Even inside journalism’s most influen- striking together. tial institutions there are sharp divi- Too often it serves as a fancy synonym sions on the impact personal views for effect, importance, influence, result, may have on coverage. . . . He [an edi- or the like. tor] said he feared political affiliations Interviewed on television, an econo- “could have an impact on coverage.” mist was asked about the effect of Mid- western floods on prices. He answered A learned professor of political sci- that it would have “a very small impact, ence used the noun “impact” 100 times almost unnoticed by the consumer.” in an otherwise illuminating, 289-page 1 Strictly speaking, “a very small im- book. He used “impact” 4 ⁄2 times as of- pact” is a contradiction. If an effect is so ten as the combination of effect and in- small that one can hardly notice it, “im- fluence, two words that he could well pact” is not the word to choose. have substituted throughout. Use impact to suggest violence or power in the way things come together. Collectively, they [elements of the en- When a giant meteor struck the earth, vironment] have a substantial impact there was an impact. When two speeding on the Court’s decisions, an impact cars collide head on, there is an impact. that merits examination. . . . It is When a leaf falls gently to the ground, or likely that Congress has exerted a sub- when we talk about an economic effect, tle impact on the Court’s policy there is no impact. choices. . . . Of course this kind of A television reporter made the follow- subtle impact is difficult to ascertain. . . . ing statement. (Emphasis is added to it and the ensuing examples.) An impact is not “subtle.” It is forceful. More examples from the same Zebra mussels have already had a book: great impact on ways of doing business. Until scientists control their We can gain a fuller sense of the numbers, that impact will continue to Court’s impact on society and the grow. forces that shape that impact by looking at a few areas of the Court’s activ- Those passive, immobile mollusks liter- ity. These examples provide reminders ally have no “impact” on anything (with that the Court’s impact is complex. 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 179

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. . . Until the late 1980s it generally superintendent of schools turning the gave them [civil rights laws] expansive word in question into an intransitive interpretations that enhanced their verb. As a teacher, she had tried to tame potential impact. There is evidence an unruly little pupil, and “the time I that the federal laws against employ- had spent with him impacted on the ment discrimination have had a signif- other children.” She may have meant it icant impact on the economic status affected them. It probably did not of black citizens; this impact can squash them. be ascribed primarily to the other This example is from a form letter to branches. bank customers:

And so on and on. From a customer’s perspective, this general decline in interest rates has fa- 2. IMPACT as a verb vorably impacted mortgage interest Now that impact has been weakened, rates, which are at their lowest level in the next step in its ruination is the misuse many years. of it as a verb. Two newspaper examples follow. Does the letter contain metaphor—a vision of interest rates being squeezed So the question on many people’s down—or merely a piece of roundabout mind is how will the downtown/wa- prose? terfront ballpark impact our already congested streets and roadways? 3. IMPACTED, an adjective Impacted (adjective), pronounced im- She expressed concern about how PACT-ed, means jammed together, providing the initial medical treat- packed tightly in, or firmly wedged. It is ment service . . . might impact other used correctly in this sentence from a services at the hospital. book, concerning an airplane flight in northern Africa: Change each “impact” to affect. (In the former sample, also change “mind” to The firmest sand for our runway was minds and the virgule, or slash, to a the impacted Land-Rover track. comma and space.) The writers not only used “impact” in the wishy-washy sense Impacted has technical meanings in but further misused it as a verb. The dentistry and medicine, denoting teeth or noun and the verb express considerably fractured bone ends that are abnormally different ideas and are pronounced dif- wedged, or trapped dejecta. A dentist ferently. may say, “You have an impacted tooth,” Impact (noun), a violent contact, was perhaps speaking of a wisdom tooth that discussed in the first section. It is pro- is firmly wedged in its socket and cannot nounced IM-pact. emerge through the gum. An impacted To impact (verb, transitive) is to condition is an impaction (noun). squash something or to press things to- This is from a book on marketing: gether tightly, the way a garbage truck impacts garbage. It is pronounced im- Any purchase is basically made on im- PACT. pulse, and response levels can be seri- The writers must have gone to school. ously impacted if the potential What accounts for such slovenly En- respondent does not act within a short glish? An article quoted a Massachusetts time span. 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 180

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The author presumably means that sales moval from office and disqualification to may be few if ad readers do not act soon. hold a federal public office, although the Would he advertise a bug killer by say- convicted person remains liable to prose- ing, “Pest levels will be seriously im- cution elsewhere. pacted”? The House of Representatives im- On a radio talk show, a lawyer pre- peached two presidents: Andrew John- sented the type of final argument that he son in 1868 and William J. Clinton in thought the prosecution should make in 1998. The Senate tried both but con- a current murder trial. The hostess re- victed neither. In 1974 President Richard sponded with an adjectival creation, “It’s M. Nixon avoided impeachment, for an impactful statement to have been which the House Judiciary Committee made,” as though the misuse of the i- had voted, by resigning as president. word as a noun and a verb were not To impeach (verb, transitive) in a gen- enough. eral sense is to discredit or impugn (a person or his motives, testimony, etc.). IMPARTIAL. See DISINTERESTED and UNINTERESTED. Imperative. See Mood; Subjunctive, 1.

IMPEACH, IMPEACHMENT. A IMPLICATION. See IMPLY and IN- news announcement on a radio network FER. and a headline in a newspaper reflected a popular misconception that “impeach- IMPLY and INFER. The difference ment” meant removal from office: between these two words is like the difference between saying and thinking. A The Senate impeached him [a federal speaker or writer implies. A listener or judge] on charges stemming from a reader infers. perjury conviction—kicked him off To imply (verb, transitive) is to say in- the bench. directly, to hint or suggest. “The writer implies that the mayor is crooked.” Hatch predicts Senate To infer (verb, transitive or intransi- won’t vote to impeach tive) is to conclude from evidence, to reason on the basis of something known or “Impeached” and “impeach” should assumed. “From the facts in the article, a have been convicted and convict. The reader infers that the mayor is crooked.” Senate does not “impeach” anyone. The At times “infer” is used by mistake Constitution says: when imply is meant. Misunderstanding can result. “He inferred that Charlie was The House of Representatives . . . the culprit” indicates that he drew such a shall have the sole power of impeach- conclusion from evidence. “He implied ment. . . . The Senate shall have the that . . .” indicates that he made a sug- sole power to try all impeachments. gestion that may not have been backed by evidence. To impeach a public official is to pre- The second edition of Webster’s Dic- sent him with official charges of wrong- tionary gave as the (fifth) meaning of in- doing in office. Following impeachment, fer: “Loosely and erroneously, to imply.” he goes on trial. If he is a federal official Webster’s Third substitutes “to give rea- of the United States, the Senate tries him. son to draw an inference concerning: If the Senate convicts him, in a two- HINT.” That is a meaning of imply. Two thirds vote, the penalty cannot exceed re- misuses are quoted, including this from a 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 181

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British weekly: “did not take part in the were Sandy Koufax, Lou Brock and debate except to ask a question inferring Reggie Jackson. that the constitution must be changed.” Implying. Chaucer had no need for “in atten- Something implied or the act of im- dance” when he wrote “A Shipman was plying is an implication (noun). Some- ther” / “A good Wyf was ther,” and so thing inferred or the act of inferring is an on. “About 100 were in attendance at inference (noun). the meeting” can be simplified to A political commentator evaluated “About 100 were there” or “100 at- the performance of Jack Kemp in a so- tended” or “100 were at the meeting.” called vice-presidential debate: “In no way did he buckle Al Gore’s knees or, by IN A WORD. This sentence appears inference, Bill Clinton’s.” Kemp would in a book by a law professor: have involved President Clinton by implication. It would have been up to lis- In a word (though requiring many teners to draw an inference. The speaker qualifications), the laws and policies would be hinting, suggesting, implying. of the federal government are made The listeners would be reasoning, con- by the Congress (even if largely, now, cluding, inferring. on Executive initiative), are carried out and enforced by the President, IN. See DISINGENUOUS and IN- and applied by the courts in particular GENUOUS; EMIGRATE and IMMI- cases. GRATE; EMINENT and IMMINENT; INTO, 1; LIVE, 2; ON, 3; Prepositions, A word? Forty words follow “in a 1, 2, 6; TO, 2. word.” The phrase can make sense when used IN ATTENDANCE. This phrase en- by a person of few words: “How was the ters accounts of meetings and other show?” / “In a word, lousy.” One who is gatherings; for example: verbose can render it ludicrous, as in the sample sentence. (That sentence has an- Responses to a four-page questionnaire other failing: an inconsistent series. Ei- given to those in attendance . . . will ther leave out the second “are” or insert be taken into consideration in de- a third are just before “applied.” See veloping the education reform pack- also Series errors, 9.) age. . . . INCIDENCE and INCIDENT. “In attendance” is not wrong but some- The nouns incidence and incidents what stilted and drawn out. Present or sound alike. They confused a congress- even attending would be crisper in that man, who said, in a widely broadcast example. speech to the Senate, “she related these One writer seems fond enough of the incidences”—instead of incidents. phrase to use it three times in one article: An incident is a particular occurrence or happening, sometimes relatively triv- Those in attendance last night . . . ial (“There was an amusing incident at might have been years removed from work today”), sometimes troublesome the segregated world that Robinson (“A border incident could set off a challenged. . . . [See also MAY and war”). It can also be an episode in a liter- MIGHT.] Branch Rickey III . . . was ary work. (“The final incident in the play in attendance. . . . Also in attendance comes as a surprise.”) Those who use in- 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 182

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cident without qualification as a eu- authors that are incredible,” his inten- phemism for a criminal, violent, or other tion was to recommend their works. “In- unpleasant event (“Opponents booed credible” to him probably meant very the marchers, but there was no inci- good, great, superb, or any of dozens of dent”) may be overstretching the word. synonyms. Yet he was literally condemn- Incidence can mean occurrence in ing their veracity. general or in the sense of extent, range, See also Double meaning (end); FAB- or manner of occurring. (“The incidence ULOUS; FANTASTIC; INCREDU- of the disease is widespread in this area.” LOUS. / “I’m surprised at the incidence of this species so far north.”) It can also mean a INCREDULOUS. Incredulous (ad- falling on or striking, or the way in jective) means skeptical, disbelieving, or which something falls on or strikes unable to believe. That meaning applies something else. (“The angle of incidence only to people. “Despite his aggressive was 45 degrees.”) The word is not usu- sales talk, she remained incredulous.” ally made plural. Incredulous can also refer to something Two adjectives are incident, meaning one does to express disbelief: “With an likely to occur in connection with (“the incredulous wave of the hand, she left dangers incident to a fireman’s life”), the show room.” and incidental, occurring or likely to oc- Incredulous should not be confused cur by chance or as a minor result of with incredible, meaning not believable, something (“incidental expenses”). A re- which applies either to things or to lated adverb is incidentally, meaning in people. The use of incredulous to mean an incidental way, apart from the main incredible is obsolete and now generally matter, or by the way. The spelling inci- considered erroneous. dently is obsolete and now usually con- The defendant in a prominent lawsuit sidered wrong. had just testified. Emerging from the courtroom, a man commented on televi- INCLUDE. See COMPRISE, 2. sion, “It was totally incredulous, everything he said.” Correction: “It was Incomplete sentence. See Sentence totally incredible [or “unbelievable”] . . .” fragment. or “I was totally incredulous about everything he said.” INCREDIBLE. If an announcer The word is barely changed from the shouts about an “incredible offer,” take Latin incredulus, from in-, not, and him at his word and don’t believe it. In- credulus, credulous. credible (adjective) primarily means not See also INCREDIBLE. believable. It is from the Latin incredi- bilis, based on in-, not, and credibilis, INCREMENT. Sharing the first five credible, from credere, to believe. letters of increase and its basic idea as Many people came to use the word in well, increment derives from the Latin a second way, to express not skepticism incrementum, meaning growth or in- but amazement. Thus one might call a crease. The quotations, from newspa- strange story or sight incredible, finding pers, show some skewed uses of our it hard to believe but still believing it. word. Still looser lips have diluted the word to an insipid slang sense, far removed If a horse pays $2.40 for $2 to from that of unbelievable. When a show at the track, the OTB bettor gets broadcaster said, “These are some of the only $2.20 for $2—supposedly a 5 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 183

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percent surcharge but effectively as Undescribable is not wrong, although much as 50 percent because payoffs it is much less common than indescrib- are rounded to the nearest 20-cent in- able. They are paradoxical. It is hard to crement. think of anything that is impossible to describe—perhaps some of the ultimate According to a billing statement inad- secrets of the universe?—yet that is what vertently submitted by Root to the those adjectives mean. Nevertheless, FCC in a Sonrise case, the money pro- when either is used, it is liable to accom- vided for Root would be kept by Son- pany some kind of description. Even “in- rise and parcelled out to him in describable joy” is a description. $1,500 increments as he billed the A synonym is inexpressible, less often firm. unexpressible (adjectives), not subject to expression. An inexpressible (noun) is The first sentence seems to use “incre- something that cannot be expressed. At ment” to mean point; the second, to one time inexpressibles applied to mean installment. Increment (noun) trousers. So did unmentionables (noun), does not mean either. It is an increasing, which denoted underwear also and occa- or something that is added, or the sionally is still so used, in a jocular way. amount of gain, or the amount by which An unmentionable is that which should something is growing. The idea of in- not be mentioned. Unmentionable (ad- crease goes with increment. jective) means unfit to be mentioned. Increment as a verb (transitive and in- Another synonym is unspeakable (ad- transitive) is not used often. A technical jective), meaning beyond speech, unfit to manual says: be spoken, or extremely bad or objectionable. The line feed counter will be incre- See also Verbal unmentionables. mented one count for each line advance. INDIAN (AMERICAN). See MIS- NOMER; RACE and NATIONALITY. The word is used there correctly, although “be incremented” is a round- Indicative. See Mood; Subjunctive; about way to say add. Tense, 1.

INDEPENDENCE. See DEMOC- INDIFFERENT, INDIFFER- RACY, FREEDOM, and INDEPEN- ENCE. See DISINTERESTED and DENCE. UNINTERESTED.

INDESCRIBABLE, UNDESCRIB- INELUCTABLY. See Range, true ABLE. In the wake of a hurricane on and false, 2. the Hawaiian island of Kauai, a television reporter was on the scene. “It really INEVITABLE. It is easy to say about is undescribable,” he said. Somehow he something that has already happened managed to describe it anyway, having that it was “inevitable.” Who can prove been sent there to do so. that it was not? Part of a main story in On another program, a historical doc- an eminent newspaper said: umentary, the narrator said “the storm swept down with a grandeur and power After the legislation had staggered that are indescribable.” She was thereby under its own weight and the wither- describing it. ing attacks of Republicans and insur- 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 184

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ance interests for months, Senator That “inevitable triumph” was condi- George J. Mitchell, the majority tioned upon two variables, those of leader, bowed to the inevitable and “confidence” and “determination.” Yet announced that Congress would not even their fulfillment must not have en- pursue the issue any further this year. sured inevitability; otherwise why was God entreated to “help us”? “The inevitable” seems to have been as- In a historical documentary on televi- cribed supernatural power and station: sion, a narrator made the statement “But One bows to it. The supporters of the American participation in the war bill (dealing with health care) probably [World War I] was inevitable.” In place did not know that it had been doomed of “was inevitable,” came in 1917 or by that mystic force, so they tried for was declared by Congress or almost any months to pass it. The writer would have other pertinent fact would have been saved them all that trouble by informing more informative. them earlier of its fate. During the height of the so-called That which is inevitable (adjective) is Cold War between the United States and certain to take place. It cannot be the Soviet Union, one often heard the avoided, evaded, or prevented. Few sentence “War is inevitable,” anticipat- events in society are like that. ing an atomic war between the two na- An example of the fallacy of attribut- tions. Such a war did threaten on many ing inevitability to past events is a state- occasions, but now that the Soviet Union ment in a paper written by a collegiate is no more, the speakers of that phrase freshman. Upon researching the Populist are proved wrong. Nevertheless, it was a movement of the 1890s, I penned the dangerous phrase, fostering as well as re- vacuous sentence “It was inevitable that flecting a grim fatalism. the farmers would revolt.” Think of all See also DESTINY. the oppressed people of the world who do not “revolt.” INEXPRESSIBLE. See INDESCRIB- Decades later, a network broadcaster ABLE, UNDESCRIBABLE. commented, “It was probably inevitable that Hollywood would team up with INFER, INFERENCE. See IMPLY Michael Jordan.” At least the “proba- and INFER. bly” left some room for doubt, but think of all the sports stars with whom Holly- Infinitive. 1. Definition; description. 2. wood has not teamed up. Gerund versus infinitive. 3. Perfect infini- Applying inevitable to future human tive. 4. Split infinitive. events is especially dubious. (Some schools of thought deny the existence of 1. Definition; description free will, but who can predict the future The infinitive is the basic form of a with certainty?) verb: for instance, know, leave, run, and The word was part of an exhortation stop. to Congress and radio listeners by Presi- The word infinitive comes from the dent Franklin D. Roosevelt on December Late Latin infinitivus, unlimited. The in- 8, 1941: finitive is not limited by tense, person, number, etc. (that is, not inflected). With confidence in our armed forces, It is identical with the imperative with the unbounded determination of form, go or help; also with the form of our people, we will gain the inevitable the ordinary present tense in the third triumph, so help us God. person plural, they speak or they walk, 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 185

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and in the first person singular (except “wish to protect.” Still other nouns for I am), I think or I see. would go with the gerund: e.g., “concern Usually an infinitive is indicated by to: for protecting” / “idea of protecting.” “He wanted to know.”/ “She needs to An infinitive is needed in this sen- leave.” tence, by a news agency: Infinitives without to regularly follow some verbs, such as can, let, may, might, HELSINKI—President Boris N. must, and should (“The man can run” / Yeltsin of Russia yesterday acknowl- “You should try”), and appear in certain edged his failure in winning President constructions (“A crowd watched them Clinton’s promise that no former So- fight” / “I will quit rather than move”). viet republic will ever be allowed to To plus infinitive may act as a noun, join NATO. either in the subject (“To build is a noble art”) or in the predicate (“Maria loves to “In winning” should be to win. A cor- sing”). It may also act as an adjective rect example of the former: “She is en- (“John has an ambition to fly”) or as an couraged by her success in winning the adverb (“They came to help”). tournament.” One to normally suffices for multiple There are no rules pointing to one infinitives of similar construction: “I form or the other. It is a matter of idiom want to finish my work and go home”— and knowing how each verb is used. Dic- the second to is understood. But a subse- tionary examples can be instructive. quent to may be desirable for emphasis: See also Gerund, 3. “I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.” 3. Perfect infinitive The use of to to indicate the infinitive A form that borrows the term infini- (“I want to buy a pig”) should not be tive but should not be confused with the confused with any other use of to, e.g., form defined in 1 is the perfect infinitive. to indicate direction or purpose (“I’m Examples are to have gone, to have going to town to buy a pig”). See TO. made, and to have sung. Using to have See also Verbal, 3; Verbs, 1. and a past participle, it normally expresses action that is, was, or will be 2. Gerund versus infinitive completed before another action or When to use the gerund and when to event indicated in the same sentence. use the infinitive puzzles some writers “I’m happy to have won your confi- and speakers. It is the difference between dence.” / “The office seemed to have seeing and to see, between laughing and been ransacked.” / “They plan to have to laugh. The first is the -ing form of a built the house by the end of the year.” verb when it serves as a noun. The sec- Sometimes the perfect infinitive is un- ond is the basic form of a verb, preceded needed, as in this sentence from a novel: by to. For instance, a broadcaster said: “He would have liked to have hugged his father.” Probably at that moment he Not all dry cleaners share Robin would have liked to hug his father. B——’s enthusiasm to protect the en- Another example of a misuse of the vironment. perfect infinitive: “I planned to have moved.” It reverses the logical time se- A more idiomatic phrasing would be quence. Make it “I had planned to “enthusiasm for protecting the environ- move”; the planning had to precede the ment.” Some other nouns would go with moving. the infinitive: e.g., “desire to protect” / “He wants to be the first to have 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 186

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bought a ticket” can be trimmed to “He melt? The reader has to guess, and he wants to be the ﬁrst to buy a ticket.” ought never to have to guess.

4. Split infinitive In a book on lexicography, a seeming To walk typifies the normal infinitive effort by its authors to avoid a split inform. To quickly walk is a split infinitive. finitive has resulted in something worse: It is an infinitive form in which to and the verb are separated by a modifier (an General lexicographers were com- adverb in the preceding example). monly content to use the Dictionary Grammarians differ on the matter. as a mine, without attempting greatly One writes, “Don’t split your infinitives. to extend its limits, at least until They’d rather remain intact” (Karen E. Richardson and Webster. Gordon). Another writes that “the split infinitive is an improvement of English Did the lexicographers make no great at- expression” (George O. Curme). tempt or did they not attempt a great ex- Split infinitives can be awkward, esp- tension? That is, which verb was the cially when separated by more than a adverb “greatly” meant to modify: “at- word or two. They can also be helpful at tempting” or “extend”? More likely the times in communicating one’s meaning. authors intended the latter but wanted The two quotations that follow con- to steer clear of to greatly extend. They tain awkward splits. A radio announcer could have written “to extend its limits said, about the temperature, “It’s sup- greatly,” if they did not mind giving posed to Sunday night drop lower.” The greatly more emphasis. end of the sentence would have been a better place for “Sunday night.” Worse . . . Linguistic stiffness . . . is a factor yet: in a sentence from a book, telling the [in air accidents] that the NTSB inves- author’s purpose, fourteen words sepa- tigators, because of their own verbal rate to and the verb. (Those two words awkwardness, have been unable quite are emphasized here.) to recognize.

Its main idea is to historically, even The writer of a magazine article failed to while events are maturing, and di- recognize the verbal awkwardness of vinely—from the Divine point of “quite to recognize” instead of “to quite view—impeach the European system recognize.” of Church and States. The style books of The Associated Press and The New York Times call for On the other hand, the fear of split- generally avoiding split infinitives but ting infinitives results in ambiguities like sometimes making exceptions. The latter this: condones “He was obliged to more than Some of the stones . . . failed com- double the price” but forbids “to clearly pletely to melt before they reached the show.” In the following sentence, from a ground. Times article, an infinitive has been justifiably split in the manner of the forbid- It was quoted by Sir Ernest Gowers, den example (emphasis added): whose comment cannot easily be improved upon: A special prosecutor said in court papers made public today that she Did the hailstones completely fail to would urge the Supreme Court to melt, or did they fail to completely quickly overturn a Federal appellate 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 187

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decision Friday that struck down the dant; and substitute also, which is miss- Federal law on special prosecutors. ing. See NOT ONLY. A question of style is whether the twenty-nine words before Where else could the adverb go? “To the comma belong with the seven words overturn quickly . . . a decision” would after.) separate verb from object, in Germanic The splitting of infinitives, by adverbs fashion. “She would urge the Supreme and also by pronouns, goes back to the Court quickly” could be misleading. fourteenth century. A Biblical translation Sometimes a split infinitive is hard to by John Purvey in 1388 said, “It is good avoid: “to half surmise the truth” to not ete fleisch and to not drynke (Robert Browning); “his fortune being wyn.” (The Revised Standard Version jeopardized, he hoped to more than re- says, “. . . It is right not to eat meat or trieve it by going into speculations” drink wine. . . .”) (Theodore Roosevelt); “I’ve heard The practice, not common over the enough to about do for me” (Willa centuries, spurted in the nineteenth cen- Cather). Furthermore, it can contribute tury; it was then that grammarians to poetic rhythm. drummed up opposition to the form. In his grammatical treatise, George O. Their knowledge of the classical lan- Curme devoted five pages to examples of guages of Greek and Latin, in which the split infinitives by such writers as the po- infinitive is a single word, may have in- ets Burns (“to nobly stem tyrannic fluenced them. The term split infinitive pride”), Wordsworth (“to still further came later, near the end of the nine- limit the hours”), and Byron (“To slowly teenth. trace the forest’s shady scene”). Curme The infinitive was a single word in said that inserting an adverb between to Old English. It was a verbal noun (what and the infinitive was a six-century-old the gerund is today), indicated by the practice that “cannot even in the strictest suffix -an (or -ian); for instance, “Ongan scientific sense be considered ungram- he writan”: he began to write. The to go- matical.” Yet he drew the line in some ing with the infinitive originally meant cases: “Almost everybody, however, puts toward. Thus to do in the sentence not before the to of the infinitive. . . .” “Anger drove him to do it” would be For example, “He promised not to do it construed as toward the doing of. again,” rather than “to not do it again.” Nowadays the to that goes with the His explanation: not is felt as modifying, infinitive, while categorized as a prep- not the verb, but the infinitive phrase as osition, often is not felt as a preposition a whole, to do it again. and serves merely as a signpost pointing One writer seemed unable to decide to the infinitive word or phrase. Yet between splitting and not splitting nega- many consider it to be part of the infinitive infinitives, so she split the difference: tive. The reality today is that the unsplit Once called the loneliest man in infinitive remains the norm, and doubt- America because of his agreement to less there are more than a few people not only integrate the major leagues who find the split kind somewhat dis- but agree not to lash back at those comforting. But you need not avoid who assailed him, he knew the impor- splitting an infinitive if you have good tance of his task. reason to split it. A good reason is that it either expresses your meaning more Make it “not only to integrate.” (In ad- clearly or sounds more natural. dition, omit “agree,” which is redun- Bear in mind that a phrase like “to be 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 188

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adequately financed” or “to have slightly transitive) is to introduce something new misjudged” is not a split infinitive. It is or change that which is established. not wrong for an adverb (adequately) to separate an auxiliary verb (be) from a IN NO WAY, IN NO WISE. See main verb (financed). Grammatical au- NO WAY. thorities agree on that. An excessively finicky British official IN ORDER TO. See TO, 2 (end). wrote, “They appeared completely to have adjusted themselves to it.” He had IN PERSON. See PERSON, 2. evidently put the adverb in that abnormal position in the belief that “to have INSECT. The word insect properly completely adjusted” would split an in- applies only to a minute animal with six finitive. It would not. The infinitive legs in the class Insecta. A book on first would have been split by “to completely aid uses it loosely when it says: have adjusted.” Insect bites and stings are not usu- INFLAMMABLE. See FLAMMA- ally dangerous except from the black BLE, INFLAMMABLE, and NON- widow spider, the brown recluse spi- FLAMMABLE. der, and the scorpion.

Inflected and uninflected forms. A spider, scorpion, tick, or mite is an See Infinitive, 1. arachnid, in the class Arachnida; each has eight legs. INFORMATION. See FACT. Popular speech often lumps all tiny creatures together as “insects” or INGENIOUS, INGENUOUS, and “bugs.” A news magazine reported, un- DISINGENUOUS. See DISINGEN- der an article titled “INSECT ASIDES,” UOUS and INGENUOUS. that “all sorts of bugs are making news.” Its first example concerned Japanese -ING form of verb. See Gerund; Par- panic over an infestation of spiders— ticiple. arachnids. A bug is a crawling insect or, more Initials. See Abbreviation. specifically, a type of crawling insect with a mouth adapted for piercing and IN MEMORIAM. See IMMEMO- sucking. RIAL. INSIDE. See INTO, 1. INNOCENT. See Guilt and innocence. INSOFAR AS, IN SO FAR AS. See FAR. INNOVATION. When a radio announcer said “There’s been a lot of new INSTINCT. A book by a lexicogra- innovation in the area of laser surgery,” pher says, “We can all, by instinct, con- she was using a redundant new. All inno- struct sentences more or less vation is new. effortlessly.” By “instinct”? Although Innovation (noun) is something that is definitions vary, most sources agree that newly introduced; a change in method, what the term instinct concerns is essen- device, or mode of doing things; or the tially inborn rather than learned. One act of innovating. To innovate (verb, in- learns a language. Perhaps this is what 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 189

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the author meant: “We can all construct believe that even the universe will end sentences without much conscious ef- eventually. fort.” The word can be extended to mean Instinct is often loosely used when ap- unending for practical purposes (“the titude, impulse, intuition, reflex, skill, or sun’s interminable energy”) or seeming the subconscious is meant. to last forever (“the country’s inter- The Random House Dictionary ably minable fiscal troubles”). However, it defines instinct primarily as “an inborn does not make sense to apply it to some- pattern of activity or tendency to action thing that plainly has an end, as a college common to a given biological species.” teacher did: A migratory pattern of a bird or a mating pattern of a fish may be termed an in- Moving up the state’s presidential stinct. The tendency to act in such a primary would only lengthen the al- manner or even the presumed force be- ready interminable period of presi- hind that tendency is also at times called dential selection. an instinct. The choice of behavior is in- nate, although environmental events Logically, that which is interminable may trigger it and modify it. cannot be lengthened. Anyway, to apply Related words are instinctive (adjec- that word to a period of presidential se- tive) and instinctively (adverb). A news- lection is absurd. The period terminates paper article said: on the day that a president is elected. A critic called a film a “brain- numbing barrage . . . that lasts nearly The driver of the Redman car in- two hours,” and he ridiculed a scene at stinctively braked when he saw the “the end of this interminable picture.” It boulder flying toward them. . . . terminated after nearly two hours. “The end of this interminable picture” is a “Instinctively” should have been contradiction. dropped or perhaps changed to reflex- A music reviewer wrote of a sym- ively. A reflex is an involuntary response phonic concert with “an interminable in- to a stimulus. termission.” The conductor “filled the second half of the concert with . . . extro- INSURANCE and ASSURANCE, verted tone painting. . . .” Inasmuch as INSURE and ENSURE. See AS- the concert had a second half, the inter- SURE, ENSURE, and INSURE, 1. mission was not interminable. See also ETERNITY. INTER- and INTRA- prefixes. See Confusing pairs. IN TERMS OF. 1. Legitimate and illegitimate uses. 2. Need for another INTEREST, INTERESTED. See preposition. 3. Need for rewriting or re- DISINTERESTED and UNINTER- thinking. ESTED. 1. Legitimate and illegitimate uses INTERMINABLE. Interminable The phrase in terms of is encountered (adjective) literally means not ter- often in speech and writing, and usually minable, unending, lasting forever. Few it is empty verbiage. It has a legitimate things last forever, if anything does. One use; it introduces a translation to an- could strictly speak of the interminable other language, jargon, or way of speak- universe, although some cosmologists ing: 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 190

190 in terms of

“The buyer must beware—or, in In the first and third sentences, they terms of Latin, caveat emptor.” / “In could have replaced “in terms of” with terms of baseball, our fund drive enters as; in the second sentence, with as ex- the ninth inning and to win we need a changes of. Again, there are valid uses home run with the bases loaded.” / “To for in terms of. The authors explain win back her love, you have to start talk- forces and fields in terms of quantum ing in terms of endearment.” electrodynamics. More often its use is either a slovenly Occasionally all one needs to do is way of tying together two dissimilar leave words out. A medical researcher is ideas or a pretentious substitute for a explaining the close relationship be- simple word or phrase that is more to tween human immunodeficiency virus the point. Frequently one of these will do and simian immunodeficiency virus: the job better than “in terms of”: about, as, as for, as to, by, concerning, of, and “In terms of the target cells they en- regarding. Even the three-word phrases ter, in terms of the known modes of with regard to and with respect to may transmission, and in terms of the dis- be preferable. ease caused, they are very similar.”

2. Need for another preposition Except for the first “In,” the emphasized Expressing something in other terms words could be scrapped with no sacri- through mathematical equation is what fice to the message. science does continually. Yet the loose use of “in terms of” is not absent from 3. Need for rewriting or rethinking scientific writing. Sometimes no first aid will help; the In a book on contemporary physics, sentence must be recast or the ideas must the authors use “in terms of” three times be rethought. This newspaper sentence in as many pages. (Emphasis is added to concerns a breaking and entering at a the excerpts.) political campaign office in Washington, D.C.: Though we have described the process of electron scattering in terms of Last night’s “vandalism,” the word the exchange of a single photon be- preferred by Martin D. Franks, ex- tween two charged particles, there is ecutive director of the committee, also the possibility that two, or more, according to Mr. Johnson, was so in- photons will be exchanged. substantial, in terms of what were termed “sensitive files” that remained locked in undisturbed cabinets, that These [nuclear] forces each have their the committee denied permission to- associated fields, which can be de- day for photographs. scribed in terms of messenger particles, analogous to photons. “. . . In terms of” is bad enough. “. . . In terms of what were termed” compounds The existence of similar descrip- the trouble. The sentence could have tions of all three forces—electromag- been patched up by replacing “in terms netic, weak and strong—in terms of of” with inasmuch as and throwing out messenger particle exchanges has en- the first “that.” Other faults would re- couraged the belief that a common main, however. (The story mentions unified description of the forces might “Mr. Johnson” four times, never saying be found. who he is. Moreover, by the placement 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 191

internecine 191

of the phrase “according to Mr. John- tence from the biography could be son,” it tends to apply only to the “word rewritten this way: preferred” phrase. And the clause about photographs is almost a non sequitur.) The prosecutor’s arguments did not So the story was revised for a later edi- foreshadow his future philosophy. tion: There seemed to be nothing in the controversy about. . . . “Vandalism” was the word preferred by Martin D. Franks, executive director of the committee, to describe The latter quotation from the book is last night’s incident, according to unwieldy and obscure, somehow tying Mark Johnson, the campaign com- professional memberships to the cliché mittee’s press secretary. . . . about success and tacking on a quota- What he described as “sensitive tion with still another idea. A rescue at- files” were still safely under lock and tempt would be futile. key, he said. INTERNECINE. Internecine (pro- The revised story (saying nothing about nounced inter-NIECE-sin, among other photographs) is an improvement. (But ways) is a useful adjective in the sense of “What he described as” is unnecessary, mutually destructive. It comes from the inasmuch as “sensitive files” is in quota- Latin internecinus, meaning murderous. tion marks and the sentence ends with A word so derived should be expected to “he said.”) bear the concept of deadliness. Indeed The passages below are from a biog- internecine originally meant character- raphy. Nothing but thorough recasting ized by bloodshed or slaughter. of the sentences could help them. It came to mean deadly to both adversaries in an armed conflict. This is a use- In terms of the prosecutor’s future ful interpretation, for no other single philosophy, there seemed not to be word expresses the idea. one word in the controversy about the Still later, it was given another twist. freedom of the press provided under Evidently assuming that the first six let- the First Amendment. ters came from internal, some began applying internecine to internal conflicts, In terms of professional memberships, e.g., “America’s internecine struggle of moreover, nothing succeeded like suc- the 1860s.” cess, as Black himself noted in an in- Now we often find the element of terview published after his death—“I deadliness, the essence of internecine, was trying a lot of cases against cor- slighted or forgotten altogether and the porations, jury cases, and I found out word serving merely as a synonym for that all the corporation lawyers were internal in connection with verbal, polit- in the Klan. . . .” ical, or other harmless disagreements within a group. Sticking an “in terms of” into a sentence In a TV forum, a newspaper publisher is no replacement for clear thinking. No was discussing South Africa’s leadership: one can be expected to speak in terms of a future philosophy or otherwise foresee the future. (Besides, there cannot be one Botha and his successor, de Klerk, are word about press freedom; it takes at apparently having internecine war- least two words.) The first sample sen- fare. 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 192

192 interrogative sentence

They were not actually shooting at each into. (“Put the dishes in [or “into”] the other; they simply disagreed on policy. cupboard.”) But idiom dictates the com- This is from a prominent newspaper: panionship of the verb place and in. (“Place the dishes in [not “into”] the The prospect of a Warner defection in cupboard.”) two years could shatter the party Into can also mean against (“The unity . . . and throw Republicans into truck crashed into a utility pole”), to a an internecine war. certain form or condition (“The vase broke into little pieces” / “Matter can No weapons would be discharged in the change into energy”), to an occupation so-called war, only words. (“She is going into real estate”), or To adapt that distinctive and powerful toward (“We must look into the fu- adjective to such unexceptional uses is ture”). like resorting to a pistol to dispatch a cockroach. 2. IN TO and INTO When in, serving as an adverb, comes Interrogative sentence. See (-)EVER; in contact with the preposition to, a Punctuation, 9. writer may erroneously unite them. The resulting “into” can grossly distort the INTO. 1. IN and INTO. 2. IN TO meaning. and INTO. 3. Slang use. Such a mistake could cause alarm. “The ship came in to the pier” simply 1. IN and INTO means that it docked. “The ship came The preposition in indicates position, into the pier” means that it crashed. location, or condition. Among its vari- The mistake could cause just mirth. ous senses, it means inside; within the “A man wanted as an army deserter for area or confines of (the house, the city, fifteen years turned himself into the sher- the deal, etc.). iff’s office last night.” Unless the reporter The preposition into indicates mo- was describing a magical transformation, direction, or change in condition. It tion, the in and the to should have been often means to the interior of (a place); separate. from the outside to the inside of (the place). 3. Slang use “The children are jumping into the “Fred is in sales” indicates that selling pond” clearly indicates their movement is his occupation. “Fred is going into from the banks to the water. “The chil- sales” indicates that he intends to enter dren are jumping in the pond” is less that occupation. The era of “flower chil- clear; they may have already been in the dren” and “Do your own thing” water when they started jumping. brought the use of into in the sense of a “We walked into the house” clearly continuing participation in a vocation or indicates that we entered the house. “We avocation. One would say “I’m into walked in the house” is less clear; we painting,” instead of “I do painting” or may have already been in the house simply “I paint.” when we decided to tour the place. The term persisted, and a daily paper Some contexts in which into is right said a designer of science exhibits was allow in as an option. “They let him into “so into tornadoes” that his contribu- [or “in”] the country.” / “Throw the peel tion to a testimonial dinner was a choco- into [or “in”] the trash can.” late tornado. “Into” was a columnist’s The verb put goes with either in or slangy substitute for absorbed in, con- 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 193

inundate, inundated 193

cerned with, enthralled by, interested in, tionary’s usage panel approved of the or taken by. Prepositions are not nor- popular use of the verb. On the liberal mally modiﬁed, yet “so” was forced to side, Roy H. Copperud called such use modify “into.” “well established . . . despite carping by some pedants.” INTRA- and INTER- preﬁxes. See These are excerpts from a book by the Confusing pairs. editors of a news magazine:

Intransitive and transitive verbs. What made Gorbachev a truly in- See Verbs, 1. triguing Man of the Year was that . . . so little was known about him. . . . INTRIGUE, INTRIGUING. Did This reassuring rhetoric was in- the writer of this headline (ten years after triguingly . . . similar to what liberal the Watergate scandal) intend to convey Western strategists had accepted as a double meaning? “Why Nixon Is Still conventional wisdom for decades. . . . Intriguing.” But Gorbachev’s choice [of a con- Intriguing can mean plotting intrigue. stituency] was intriguing. . . . Eco- Intrigue as a noun means secret or un- nomic stagnation and political torpor derhanded scheme or scheming. It can [under Brezhnev] seemed to hatch also denote a secret love affair (one thing corruption and intrigue in the highest that Nixon was not accused of). The places. verb intrigue, in its most settled meanings, means (intransitively) to engage in Following the contestable use of intrigu- intrigue and (transitively) to plot, to ing twice and intriguingly (adverb), fi- cheat, or to achieve or get through in- nally intrigue is used strictly in the last trigue. The present participle is intrigu- quoted sentence. ing. Commonly the verb intrigue (transi- INUNDATE, INUNDATED. tive) is used as a synonym for enchant, While television cameras focused on a excite, fascinate, interest, make curious, huge fire in southern California, a re- mystify, puzzle, or perplex; intriguing as porter called attention to some houses an adjective meaning enchanting, excit- “just about to be inundated by the ing, fascinating, etc. Such use is not ac- flames.” Not burned, consumed, or de- cepted by all. stroyed, but “inundated.” His choice of H. W. Fowler pooh-poohed it as a verb could hardly have been further Gallicism (it came from the French tran- from the mark. To inundate is to flood, sitive verb for puzzle, intriguer) “confus- to cover with water in the manner of an ing the sense of a good English word.” overflowing river. Drought and water His reviser, Sir Ernest Gowers, wrote shortage had contributed to the fire dis- that a reason for its popularity was that aster. it could convey the meanings of two Inundated can equal deluged, flooded, words at once; he cited puzzle and fasci- or swamped. Used figuratively, any of nate. “But,” he went on, “it is still true those words is drenched with metaphor. that intrigue is often used in place of a When the moderator of a forum said, simpler and better word. . . .” “At this point in time, the American Theodore Bernstein found the verb people are completely inundated with turned into “a fuzzy, all-purpose word” polls,” he overdid it. Scratch “com- in place of various precise words. Just 52 pletely.” (See also “AT THIS POINT IN percent of The American Heritage Dic- TIME.”) 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 194

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The pronunciation is IN-nun-date(d) IRONY, IRONIC, IRONICALLY. or, less often, in-NUN-date(d). 1. Contrast essential. 2. SARCASM, SATIRE. Inversions. See Backward writing. 1. Contrast essential INVERTED COMMAS. See Punc- Upon reporting that a maritime colli- tuation, 10. sion had cost a company a vessel, a newscaster told the television audience: INVITE and INVITATION. When a boy in a situation comedy said, “I got a Ironically it’s the same company special invite [pronounced IN-vite] that lost a boat in a collision ten years tonight to a dance at Hamilton High,” ago. he was perfectly in character. The word is most informal though. Its use was There was nothing ironic (adjective) questionable when a broadcaster on a about it. The two incidents were parallel. specialized news program boasted of an Contrast is the essence of irony (noun). “exclusive invite” to a TV wedding. Ironically (adverb) would have been an A courteous request for a person to appropriate word if, for example, the attend an event or to participate in an maritime company had been known for activity is an invitation. So is a note used ads promoting safety afloat but then in extending it. To extend an invitation is caused a collision. to invite (someone), pronounced in- Irony can be a noteworthy incon- VITE. gruity of events, a glaring contrast between what one could have reasonably INVOKE. See EVOKE and INVOKE. expected and what actually happens. Irony is also a literary style, a rhetorical Iran. A factual error mars this passage, figure, or a humorous device. The con- from a newspaper: trast then is between the apparent meaning of words that are written or spoken The [Persian Gulf] crisis has shaken and a far different meaning beneath the the Mideast regional power balance. surface. Egypt has moved to the forefront, and Syria and Iran have moved toward the 2. SARCASM, SATIRE Arab mainstream. Sarcasm is similar to irony in the contrast between literal meaning and in- Iran is not “Arab.” Its official and pretended meaning, but sarcasm implies dominant language is not Arabic but overt ridicule or taunting; irony is milder Farsi, which uses the Arabic alphabet and subtler. Related words are sarcastic plus four additional letters. Formerly (adjective) and sarcastically (adverb). Persia, this sizable southwest Asian “This is a fine time to be telling me!” is a country has its own culture and tradi- sarcastic remark. tions. It does share the Muslim religion Satire (noun) is a literary or dramatic with the Arab countries, like Egypt and style using irony to attack or ridicule Syria, although Iranians mostly belong something held to be wrong or foolish. to the Shiah sect whereas the Sunni pre- Related words are satirical (adjective) dominates in most Arab countries. Iran and satirically (adverb). A writer of clas- is pronounced either ih-RAN or, more sic satire was Jonathan Swift, best authentically, ee-RON. known for Gulliver’s Travels. 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 195

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“IRREGARDLESS.” See REGARD- words in manuscripts that they want to LESS. be italic. Thus this is a sample becomes this is a sample. IS, AM, ARE (etc.). See BE, AM, IS Among other functions, italics indi- (etc., cross-reference). cate that a word is not playing its usual role, that of contributing to meaning, IS and ARE. See Verbs, 3. but is being considered as a word. For instance, this book discusses me and I. It -ISE ending. See -IZE ending, 2. deals also with and and but. Names of books, dramatic works, IS IS. Many a speaker follows is with works of art, publications, and genera an echo of the word, as though he has and species go in italics: Moby-Dick by forgotten that he just uttered it. Melville; The Glass Menagerie by A double is can be deliberate. “What- Williams; Leonardo’s Mona Lisa; ever is, is right” appears in the works of Mozart’s opera The Marriage of Figaro; Dryden and Pope and is also attributed an article in Time; the lion, Felis leo. (See to the Greek philosopher Democritus. also Punctuation, 10.) Dryden wrote also, “Whatever is, is in Italics serve also to distinguish foreign its causes just.” The poet Ella Wheeler words or phrases that are not also con- Wilcox wrote that “whatever is—is sidered part of English, such as semper best.” This is a translation from Hegel: fidelis and et tu, Brute!; introduce new “Everything that is, is reasonable.” A terms: “Automatic speech recognition more recent example is President Clin- (ASR) is developing . . .”; and enumerate ton’s reply to a question in testimony, “It points, principles, or questions that an depends upon what the meaning of the author wishes to stress. word is is.” Italics call attention to a particular Usually, however, as the following word or phrase. It may be one that quotations from television suggest, the would be emphasized if the sentence echoed word is not the product of were spoken: thought. A member of Congress: “The fact is is that there’s nothing there” (in “When I use a word,” Humpty an investigation of the president). An as- Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tronomer: “The problem is is that we’ve tone, “it means just what I choose it got an enormous amount of work to get to mean—neither more nor less.” done right now.” An appraiser: “The good news is is it’s worth three to five The highlighted word may be one that is thousand dollars.” A writer and TV pan- not usually emphasized, as in this exam- elist: “The fact of the matter is is that he ple from a book on economics: [the president] is in deep trouble.” Each second “is” was superfluous. The discovery that man needs stimu- lation as well as comfort is not new. ISRAELI. See JEW, JEWISH. After all, the ancient Romans clam- ored for bread and circuses. Italic(s). Italic type, or italics, is a form of printing type or lettering, used for em- It may be an unexpected word: “Are the phasis and special purposes. The letters wages of sin wealth?” Or two words slant to the right (and use fewer serifs may be contrasted: “If he will not do it, than roman, the common book type). she will.” Writers and editors underline those Italics are effective when used in mod- 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 196

196 it, anticipatroy

eration. A few writers overdo them, itali- “. . . They shouldn’t have the right to cizing passages here and there in efforts decide the future of the lion or risk it’s to gain readers’ attention. extinction.” The word italic (adjective and noun) is so named because it ﬁrst appeared in . . . Shareholders may now treat a an Italian book (an edition of Virgil portion of the distributions paid by printed in Venice in 1501). The word the Fund as interest income from obli- italics (noun) is often construed as plu- gations of the United States and it’s ral, sometimes as singular. possessions. . . . Styles of italic go with the various roman styles. When a word in an italic pas- The example below (from an ad in a sage needs emphasis, it may be printed in trade magazine) shows the opposite er- roman. Another device for emphasis is ror: the omission of a necessary apostro- the heavy form of type known as bold- phe. “Its” should be it’s. face. Italics and boldface are sometimes combined in boldface italics. Ask any talent agent or A&R person. They’ll tell you that, without the right IT, anticipatory. See Expletives. production values, its hard to make great music stand out in a world of “IT GOES WITHOUT SAYING.” mediocrity. See OF COURSE, 3. (Another mistake is the use of a plural IT IS I (HE, SHE) and IT’S ME pronoun, “They,” with a singular an- (HIM, HER). See Pronouns, 10D. tecedent. See OR; Pronouns, 2. What about “mediocrity”?) IT IS I (YOU) WHO. See WHO, 3. See also Punctuation, 1B.

IT, ITS, neuter pronoun. See Pro- ITSELF. See Pronouns, 3, 4. nouns, 2B. “IT STANDS TO REASON.” See ITS and IT’S. Its, the possessive, as in REASON, 3. “The cat licked its paws,” has no apostrophe. I WHO. See WHO, 3. It should not be confused with it’s, the contraction. Like every contraction, this -IZE ending. 1. Excessive use. 2. -ISE. does have an apostrophe. It’s is usually a contraction of it is, as in “It’s a good 1. Excessive use day”; sometimes a contraction of it has, The practice of using the sufﬁx -ize to as in “It’s been a long time.” make verbs goes back to the Middle An apostrophe was erroneously in- Ages. Both nouns and adjectives are serted in each of the four passages that turned into verbs by tacking on the suf- follow (from newspapers and a notice to ﬁx. shareholders). “It’s” should be its. Hundreds of legitimate words have -ize. At some time, most of us empha- “It would be more racism showing size, memorize, recognize, and sympa- it’s ugly head again.” thize. Finance leads many to amortize, equalize, itemize, and minimize. Some We would also like to applaud the people professionally criticize, organize, cafe for it’s non-smoking policy. specialize, and theorize. Miscreants bur- 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 197

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glarize, scandalize, terrorize, and victim- “Prioritize” is no fist-pounding verb. ize. Substances energize, fertilize, neu- Among stronger choices would have tralize, and vaporize. been make our top priority (if that is Nevertheless, the practice has long what he meant), emphasize, and stress. been overdone. H. L. Mencken wrote in A local legislative body argued in sup- The American Language: port of a ballot measure: I reach into my collection at random By allowing less than prevailing wage and draw forth such monstrosities as standards . . . the City can maximize to backwardize, to fordize, to belgium- scarce job training funds. ize, to respectablize, to scenarioize, to moronize, to customize, to featurize, Did “maximize” exceed extend, pro- to expertize, to powerize, to sanitize, long, spread, or stretch in clarity or just to manhattanize and to colonize; I in pomposity? suppose I could dredge up at least a Clarity may not have been uppermost hundred more. in the mind of a business executive on a Colonize is accepted now as a standard news telecast as he tried to justify a gov- word. Customize, featurize, sanitize, and ernment subsidy for his prosperous cor- manhattanize have reached acceptance poration: at least as jargon. Mencken later, in the first supplement to his work, listed forty When they [U.S. officials] want an in- more that had been coined “in recent dustry to succeed, they incentivize it. years.” By then, he had learned that -ize words dated to the Middle Ages, and he A physician sought to tell a huge TV no longer called them “monstrosities.” audience that some health plans were But we can be glad that few of them sur- harming patients’ health; that holding vive. Those on his list that have been down doctor costs, à la merchandising, generally accepted (excluding trade was replacing the practice of ethical names) are glamorize and publicize; two medicine. What he said was: others, finalize and moistureize (now without the first e), have reached the sta- We are being commoditized and our tus of jargon. patients are being commoditized. Many seem attracted to -ize because it appears impressive, official, or technical. Perhaps unaware of the verb meta- But it is often weak and unnecessary, and morphose—to transform (something) or the multiplication of -ize verbs adds be transformed, as by magic or meta- monotony to the language. morphosis—a journalist said a politician “Finalize,” for instance, serves more who changed jobs had “metamorpho- often as a bureaucratic and pretentious sized.” synonym for complete, finish, or end See also FACT- words, 2 (end). than as a necessary verb. “Moisturize” essentially says dampen or keep moist, 2. -ISE although it can imply the use of a com- In Britain the American -ize, the origi- mercial product. nal British spelling, usually is spelled -ise A candidate for district attorney said (after the modern French practice of in an election statement: changing the Greek -izo to -iser). For instance, the American realize is spelled re- We must prioritize the prosecution of alise. The Oxford English Dictionary violent, repeat offenders. finds no good reason for -ise, “in opposi- 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 198

198 -ize ending

tion to that which is at once etymologi- compromise, demise, despise, devise, en- cal and phonetic.” terprise, excise, exercise, improvise, re- Some verbs (not part of the Greek tra- vise, supervise, surmise, surprise, and dition) always end in ise though possess- televise. Advertise and merchandise are ing the ize sound. Among them are infrequently spelled advertize and mer- advise, apprise, arise, chastise, comprise, chandize. 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 199

JELL-O. As a brand of gelatin dessert, We don’t endorse anti-Semitism of Jell-O is a trademark and should not be any kind, and we’re not happy about used in lower case, the way a manual of some of Jackson’s racial slurs and in- English for newcomers uses it: “Wait- sensitivity toward Jews. ress: You have your choice of pudding, ice cream, or jello.” In the first sample, the objectionable If that particular brand is meant, use word is “race.” (A good substitute capital J, hyphen, and capital O. Other- would have been people.) In the second wise gelatin (or gelatine) is likely to de- sample, the word “racial” should have scribe the jellied dessert, salad, or mold been scrapped. in mind. A cold dish of meat, fish, veg- When there are African Jews, Chinese etables, or fruit in gelatin is an aspic. Jews, and Jews of just about every race, it makes no sense to refer to Judaism in JEW, JEWISH. Jew denotes either a racial terms. Contrary to Hitler’s doc- descendant of the Hebrews or one who trine, there is no Jewish race. adheres to the Judaic religion, whether The point made in the book about the through birth or conversion. The name separateness of Israeli and Jewish is comes from the Hebrew yehudi, origi- valid. It is incorrect to speak of the Is- nally a member of the tribe of Judah. raelis as “the Jews,” the way some ad- Two critiques, in a reference book versaries of Israel have done. Only and an editorial, bear criticism them- about 30 percent of the world’s 14 mil- selves. Each contains an unacceptable lion Jews live in Israel, and about 18 word. percent of the Israelis—that is, the citi- An author objected to careless use of zens of the State of Israel—are non- the terms Jew and Jewish in connection Jews, mostly Moslems. with Israel: Jew is a noun only (e.g., “Jesus was a Jew”). The related adjective is Jewish Although that nation is closely identi- (“a Jewish temple” / “a Jewish fied with the Jewish race and religion, woman”). Using “Jew” in its place is the expressions Israeli and Jewish are derogatory. not interchangeable. Hebrew is the name of a language and an ancient people. It is not “in mod- An “Editorial Board” expressed ern usage interchangeable with Jew,” reservations about a presidential candi- contrary to a dictionary’s statement. date that it was endorsing: See also YIDDISH.

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JOBLESS. The average newspaper ed- look like mistakes and stop the reader itor is unlikely to put unemployment momentarily. compensation in a headline when he can Because two words often go together, save space with “jobless pay,” even the writer may think they are wedded. though “jobless” misses the mark in that The phrase damn yankee has been so phrase. An unemployed person can be common in the South that some people called jobless; it is not the “pay” that have thought it is a single word. lacks a job. Joblessness is comparable to Printed works can be inconsistent in unemployment, but the press does not their choices of words to unite. This is use the former often; it saves only one from an autobiography: “We were intro- letter. duced to the great military thinkers and “Jobless” has branched out from the their ideas—Mahan on sea power, headlines into the bodies of news stories Douhet on airpower. . . .” and into newscasting. A news agency re- Another author practices ortho- ported: graphic discrimination by writing, in a book of reminiscences, “Blackamericans Blue-chip stocks fell in subdued are different from white Americans.” trading Tuesday as investors stood on Phrases that have been published in the sidelines waiting for Friday’s key fused form include these thirty-five: ad jobless numbers for September. writers, auto maker, best seller, break even, business folk, cab driver, care A TV newscaster announced a “jump in givers, catch phrases, child care, com- jobless claims.” Another reported that mon sense, decision making, dining “the number filing jobless claims room, down payment, drug war, face dropped. . . .” Still another: “California’s down, front lines, full text, fund raising, jobless rate has also dropped slightly.” good will, hard cover, home care, house So far the word has not entered the cleaning, job seeker, market share, news vernacular. A laid-off worker is likely to writers, night watchman, park land, say, “I got my unemployment [not “job- phone book, round trip, trap doors, less”] check today.” word games, word play, work force, working women, work station. Joining of words. Some writers feel The innumerable “-person” and compelled to join pairs of words that are “-people” monstrosities can be added to perfectly comprehensible when left sepa- the list. See PEOPLE as a suffix; PER- rate. The result can be misleading. A SON. newspaper item said an ex-president had Sometimes hyphenated adjectives like thanked “the secret serviceman credited cold-blooded; head-on; hour-long, with saving his life after an assassination month-long, etc.; long-time; short-lived; attempt. . . .” Although an intelligence small-town; and worn-out are divested agent in the armed services could possi- of their hyphens and jammed together. A bly be described as a “secret service- restaurant announces “HOMESTYLE man,” the recipient of the thanks was a COOKING” on its sign and “Home Secret Service man. Style Cooking” on its menus. The adjec- Usually the reader is unlikely to be active is home-style. A headline, “Barry tually misled by unwieldy fusions, such Goldwater Is Dead at 89; Conservatives’ as “Assemblymember” for Assembly Standardbearer,” omitted the hyphen in member, “autoworkers” for auto work- the noun standard-bearer. (See also ers, or “eightmillion” for eight million. Punctuation, 4D.) More likely such behemoths will just The combining of moderately sized 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 201

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words to build giant words may be JUDICIAL and JUDICIOUS. See proper in the German language. Any ad- Confusing pairs. vantage of imposing such a system on English, other than the saving of a JURIST. A jurist is one who is well minute amount of space, fails to come to versed in the law. He may be a judge, a mind. lawyer, a legal scholar or writer, or none In many instances the first word is not of the above. The popular press gener- emphasized, so sound is no rationale for ally misunderstands. joining the words. Each of these nine phrases gives somewhat more emphasis . . . The incident raised questions to the second word; joining the two about whether K—— had violated a words obscures that fact: best seller, judge’s rule that says a jurist “should common sense, down payment, front not lend the prestige of his office to lines, full text, good will, night watch- advance the private interests of oth- man, round trip, and trap doors. In each ers.” of the nine hyphenated adjectives, both syllables get emphasis. The rule applied to a judge; it said noth- It is true that a long-range trend to- ing about a “jurist.” Evidently the reward the solidification of phrases and porter, thinking it was a synonym for hyphenated compounds has been ob- judge, used “jurist” to avoid repeating served. That any need exists to hasten “judge.” the process has not been shown. In another newspaper, a columnist ap- Consult the entries below for notable peared to do the same thing: examples of wrongly joined phrases. . . . The Senator, himself a former ju- Some of the phrases are supposed to be- rist, wondered out loud if Judge Bork come single words at times; others are was really a true conservative. . . . not. If the senator is a “former” jurist, he ALL RIGHT must have forgotten what he knew ANY about law. A WHILE and AWHILE Here is a similar example but with a BACK(-) prefix and pairs little puzzle: who is the “jurist”? CHECK OUT and CHECK-OUT EVERY DAY and EVERYDAY Neither California nor U.S. judicial EVERY ONE and EVERYONE rules of misconduct appear to apply HOLD to a questionable $1 million legal fee INTO, 2 awarded lawyer E—— W—— by a LAY OFF and LAYOFF San Francisco judge before the jurist’s LOT appointment to the federal bench. NEVER MIND Either man could be a “jurist.” The con- ON, 3 (end) text verifies that the judge was the one. PICK UP and PICKUP There is nothing wrong with “the judge’s ROUND UP and ROUNDUP appointment.” If the writer found the RUN AWAY and RUNAWAY prospect of repeating a word too dread- SET UP and SETUP ful, he could have written “the latter’s appointment.” A reappearance of “the JOKE, JOKINGLY. See QUIP, jurist’s,” six paragraphs later, could eas- QUIPPED. ily have been avoided: 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 202

202 juvenile language

. . . The time limit to investigate a The examples above come from gen- matter of alleged impropriety for a sit- eral newspapers. One might think that ting judge is six years prior to the start the staff of a newspaper for the legal of the jurist’s current term. profession would know better than to run anything like “Review Calendar Replace “the jurist’s” with his. (And Forces Jurist to Do Double Duty” (head- make those “judicial rules of miscon- line) and “the assignment has passed to duct” the Code of Judicial Conduct.) several jurists” (text underneath). The Another story indirectly quoted a article was about a judge. So why not judge on the reinterpretation of princi- say judge? ples by “successive generations of jurors.” The writer probably knew the Juvenile language. See ALSO, 1; difference between judges and jurors, COOL; MOM, MAMA, MA; NEAT; members of juries, but mixed up his j- STOMACH; WEIRD; WHEN, WHERE words. in deﬁnitions. 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 203

KIND OF. 1. Combined with plural. of the amalgam of kind of and plural: 2. Improperly used with A or AN. 3. “This is still common colloquially, Properly used with A or AN. 4. Replac- though considered grammatically incor- ing RATHER or SOMEWHAT. 5. Used rect.” The Random House Dictionary, “vulgarly.” pointing out the objections to that form, offers the historical explanation that 1. Combined with plural kind once was an unchanged plural Kind (noun), meaning class, sort, or noun like sheep and that the s-plural de- variety, is singular. To qualify it with a veloped later. plural word is not generally accepted as The usage panel of The American correct. An example, “These kind of Heritage Dictionary rejected “Those birds live . . .” instead of Birds of this kind of buildings seem old-fashioned” kind live or This kind of bird lives. (90 percent) and “that kind of buildings Kind itself may be made plural, in seem” (75 percent) for formal writing representing more than one class or vari- but approved “What kind of books are ety: Many kinds of fruit grow / All kinds these?” (76 percent). A question begin- of tools are sold. In these examples, fruit ning with what or which is a more ac- is regarded as an abstract category; tools ceptable deviation. are regarded as concrete items. Although the second edition of Web- The grammarian H. W. Fowler for- ster’s Dictionary said kind of was used gave irregular uses of kind of just “in with a plural “incorrectly,” Webster’s hasty talk.” Confusion is common, even Third accepts the disputed forms within more careful use. A U.S. president out qualification or mention of any ob- spoke publicly of “those kind of tests,” jections. instead of tests of that kind. What is said about the singularity of To use a word like all, many, some, kind of goes for class of, sort of, and these, or those with kind and a plural type of. See TYPE. noun and verb used to be generally ac- See also THEM and THOSE. ceptable. Wyclif wrote: “. . . Alle kynd of fishis gedrynge” (gathering); Shake- 2. Improperly used with A or AN speare: “These kind of knaves I know” Another source of criticism is the in- and “To some kind of men . . .”; and trusion of a or an in “That kind of a Flatman: “Such kind of Pamphlets work song” or “this kind of an apple,” where wonders with the credulous Multitude.” kind means variety, class, or the like. The Oxford English Dictionary says The indefinite article does not belong

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204 kiss of death

there, inasmuch as song or apple stands The same is done to the of in sort of, for a category (of which kind is a subdi- producing “sorta” and so on. vision), not just one specimen. (But see also 3.) These follow the acceptable KISS OF DEATH. See WHICH. form: “She likes that kind of plant.” / “This is my kind of meal.” / “It’s a rare KNOT. When a mariner speaks of a kind of stone.” ship’s going, say, forty knots, he is indi- The same principle holds for class of, cating speed, not distance. A knot is one sort of, and type of. “A gnu is a type of nautical mile per hour. antelope.” Television narrators said, over films of ships, “The cruising speed is fifty knots 3. Properly used with A or AN per hour” and “The Starship will do Kind of in another sense may go with twenty knots an hour on the open a. Being a kind of or a sort of critic, poet, ocean.” With knots, “per hour” or “an vagabond, or something else can be the hour” is superfluous. A phrase like “fifty same as being something of a critic etc. It nautical miles per hour” would be ac- often implies that the person possesses ceptable—at least for landlubbers. the characteristics of the specified class A nautical mile, also known as a geo- to a certain extent but not fully. “She’s a graphical, sea, or air mile, is used by kind of butterfly.” / “George is a sort of ships and aircraft. It equals one minute expert.” of a great circle of the earth, about 6,076 The same goes for kind of a (or an) or feet, or about 1.15 statute miles. A sort of a (or an). “My boss is kind of a statute mile, also known as a land mile, tyrant.” / “They say Fred is sort of an is the ordinary mile, about 5,280 feet. animal at home.” Either way, a second indefinite arti- KODAK. Kodak is a trademark, origi- cle—“a kind of a” or “a kind of an”—is nally the name of a popular camera, now redundant. (It does appear in old writ- more often associated with camera films ing: “. . . my master is a kind of a and photocopying machines. knave,” Shakespeare; and “I thought Old dictionaries contain two words myself a kind of a monarch,” Defoe.) derived from the camera’s name: the verb kodak, to take a snapshot, and the 4. Replacing RATHER or SOMEWHAT noun, kodaker, one who takes snap- Kind of is used colloquially (as an ad- shots. H. L. Mencken called them, along verb) to mean rather, somewhat, in a with kodak fiend, “familiar derivatives.” way, or to some extent: “We were kind All are now obsolete. He repeatedly used of surprised by the news.” / “The Kodak and other trade names in lower weather is kind of brisk today” / “I kind case, but they should be capitalized. of miss her.” George Eastman coined the name of Sort of is used similarly. Neither is the camera he invented, registering it in suitable for careful writing. 1888. He said the name was arbitrary. It has not been tied to Kodiak island or the 5. Used “vulgarly” Kodiak bear. The K probably came from The of in kind of is “vulgarly” slurred his mother’s maiden name, Kilbourn. (the Oxford’s label). The result may be spelled “kind o’ ” / “kind a’ ” / “kinda” / KUDOS. This noun originated as “kinder,” or otherwise. Dickens put Greek for glory and fame. It can convey “Theer’s been kiender a blessing fell that meaning or a shallower sense: credit upon us” in a character’s mouth. or acclaim for a particular act or achieve- 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 205

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ment. Its life as an English word began as The second edition of the Random British university slang, and when used House Dictionary granted the misbegot- casually to signify a transitory compli- ten “kudo” the status of an entry, lead- ment, it retains a sophomoric air. ing a reviewer to ask whether one An editorial said that a competing pa- instance of pathos would now be a per, impressed by the mayor’s housing “patho.” policy, had given him a compliment— The first syllable of kudos is empha- “perhaps the first such unadulterated sized and pronounced CUE or COO; kudo” since he took office. “Kudo” is the second syllable is pronounced doss not a legitimate word. The editorial or dose. writer probably thought of kudos as plu- Let no one confuse that word with ral. It is singular. A movie reviewer on kudu (KOO-doo), an African antelope, television similarly erred when he said, or its plural, kudus (KOO-dooz). “The greatest kudos go to Martin Lan- dau.” It goes to him. 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 206

LAID and LAIN. See LAY and LIE. ally left in the traditional order (Mao Tse-tung), but names of Japanese are LAMA and LLAMA. See Homo- usually reversed (Akira Kurosawa). phones. Most immigrants to the United States adopt its customary order of names. LARCENY. See CRIME, MISDE- MEANOR, and FELONY; Crimes (vari- LATIN(-)AMERICAN. 1. LATIN ous felonies), 3. AMERICA and SPANISH AMERICA. 2. LATINO, HISPANIC, SPANISH, LAST (in a series). See LATTER. MEXICAN, and CHICANO.

LAST NAME and SURNAME. In 1. LATIN AMERICA and SPANISH a newspaper article with a Budapest AMERICA dateline, a sentence said: A columnist criticized the U.S. invasion of Haiti for, among other reasons, A Hungarian named Laszlo, who its lack of approval by “Spanish- declined to give his last name, earns speaking” countries of the Western 10,000 forints a month in his govern- Hemisphere. “So much for ‘Latin Amer- ment job as a repairman. . . . ican’ support,” he remarked. What do Spanish speakers have to do Laszlo is his last name. What we do not with Haiti? The Haitians speak French. know is his surname, or family name. In Latin America is by no means syn- Hungary a citizen’s surname comes first; onymous with Spanish America. The his given name comes last. If that fact former includes those countries of the surprises some people who know some- Western Hemisphere south of the United thing about Hungary, it is because writ- States where Spanish, Portuguese, or ers in English switch the names around. French is the official language. The latter For instance, the composer known as excludes Brazil, where Portuguese is Béla Bartók was really Bartók Béla. The spoken, and French possessions as well practice is so pervasive, it may be futile as Haiti. Neither term should be applied to try to change it. Just do not call his to the countries of Belize and Guyana, surname his “last name.” where English is the official language, In China and Japan too the surname and Suriname, where Dutch is the offi- comes first, then the given name. In En- cial language. glish writing, names of Chinese are usu- A person from Latin America is a

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Latin American, with no hyphen. Used parable term for the ﬁrst of the two is the as an adjective, as in Latin-American former. country, the term takes a hyphen. Latter is used correctly as a comparative adjective in this way: After two 2. LATINO, HISPANIC, SPANISH, choices have been offered, one might say, MEXICAN, and CHICANO “The latter choice is more practical.” Or, Latin(-)American used to be colloqui- if one has been asked to choose between ally shortened to Latin. This has given two paragraphs: “I prefer the latter para- way to a use of the Spanish word latino, graph.” capitalized. In Spanish it primarily The word is used incorrectly to refer means of the Latin language (adjective) to the last of three or more things. Fur- or a scholar in the Latin language thermore, its use can have other draw- (noun). It is often used in the United backs. States to mean a person here with any An article enumerates six local politi- ethnic tie to Latin America. It is used cal meetings that took place in one night also as an (attributive) adjective, “this and adds: “It was the latter event that country’s Latino population,” an un- drew the most political luminaries.” Spanish form. (Spanish would say la Last, not “latter,” would be grammati- población latina.) cally correct; so would last-mentioned or Another popular term, older and last of those events. But any of the terms somewhat more formal, is Hispanic. As could slow down readers by sending an adjective, it has long meant Spanish, them back to ﬁnd out what it pertains to. in the sense of pertaining to or originat- Although the writer did not need to re- ing in Spain. In the popular use of His- peat the thirty words used to describe panic, the adjective includes Spanish the particular event, he could have made America and the word serves also as a a capsule reference to it: “The birthday noun, meaning a person with ties to ei- dinner drew the most political luminar- ther place. ies.” A Spanish person is one from Spain The “latter” device, aimed at verbal and nowhere else, although a Spanish- economy, sometimes brings verbosity. speaking person may be from anywhere This passage is from a book on comput- else. It is incorrect to use the adjective ing: “Spanish” in lieu of Mexican, although such use has sometimes been quietly en- If you’re looking for an inexpensive couraged by Americans of Mexican ori- printer, your best bet is an HP gin as a response to discrimination. In DeskJet, which is small, light, and recent decades they have more promi- whisper quiet. The latter attribute nently used Chicano to describe them- may not seem very important un- selves (from an elision and dialectal less, like me, you once had your pronunciation of Mexicano, meaning nerves . . . shattered daily by the jack- Mexican); however, some Mexican- hammer clanking of a dot matrix or Americans object to the term. daisy wheel printer.

LATTER. 1. As adjective. 2. As pro- Last instead of “latter attribute” would noun. 3. With number. be correct but still roundabout. If the author had replaced “latter attribute” with 1. As adjective quietness, he would have been correct, The latter refers to the second of two saved a word, and avoided a conspicu- things or persons mentioned. The com- ous circumlocution. 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 208

208 latter

This passage is from an article in a fi- If there are three principles, the third is nancial newspaper: not “the latter” but the third, or the last or the last of those or something similar. The quarry gang was the macho Among the items kept there are the crew. They never wore shirts, vied for diary of Nazi propaganda chief the deepest tans, walked with a dis- Joseph Goebels, an X-ray of Adolph tinctive “strut,” and clinched their Hitler’s skull and the first edition of belts unbelievably tight to accentuate Pravda, the newspaper of the Soviet a “Scarlett-O’Hara”-type waistline. Communist Party. (This latter habit the camp physician The latter is so rare that even Soviet believed to be at least partially re- officials don’t have an original; they sponsible for the four cases of appen- had to photocopy the Hoover Institu- dicitis during the year I spent at tion’s edition. Henryville.) Change “latter” to last or last of those Changing “latter” to last would improve or—best of all—newspaper. (Two names the third sentence but not completely fix are misspelled: Goebbels and Adolf. And it. A “habit” is a noun, whereas the pre- “edition” at the end should be copy.) vious sentence enumerated a series of Latter is commonly used—or mis- verbs. Better: “The camp physician be- used—to avoid repeating something. lieved the belt-tightening habit to Many journalists are averse to repeti- be. . . .” tion. But repetition is not necessarily Latter can also mean later, in time or bad. There is nothing wrong with re- sequence. It should not pertain to an ear- peating a word or short phrase to be lier event. There should never be any clear or grammatical. doubt what latter refers to. See FOR- MER. D’Amato owns [?] the Republican, Conservative and Right to Life lines, and the latter got more than 130,000 2. As pronoun votes in the 1978 gubernatorial elec- The latter may be used without a tion, displacing the Liberals as the noun; so may the former. An illustration fourth strongest party in the state. of correct usage (though bad poetry): “Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a Replacing the erroneous “latter” with pail of water. The former fell down and last-named or the like would correct the broke his crown, and the latter came error. A better solution is to turn the sen- tumbling after.” tence into two sentences. End the first Latter denotes the second of two with “lines.” Start the second: “The things. It should not be used in the man- Right to Life Party got. . . .” ner of the following passages. The writer of the next sample seems baffled by grammar as she switches In ensuing weeks, Mr. Momper chaotically between the comparative and won from the environmentalists an the superlative in a book on calligraphy: agreement on three basic principles— the presence of the allies, legal ties to It [vermilion] is obtainable in sev- West Germany and the government’s eral shades—in vermilion, scarlet ver- monopoly on the legal use of force. milion, orange vermilion and Chinese The latter was a singularly West vermilion; this latter, being the deepest Berlin issue. shade, is considered the more reliable. 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 209

lay off and layoff 209

Change “latter” to last and “more” to MONY; Twins; UNLESS and UNTIL; most. VENUE; Verbs, 1C; WARRANT; WITH PREJUDICE and WITHOUT 3. With number PREJUDICE. Use of the latter implies the existence of the former, in the same category. If LAY and LIE. You lay your pen you speak of the latter choice, you are down. You lie in bed. implicitly distinguishing it from the for- The verb lay is transitive. (That is, it mer choice. Similarly, if you speak of the transmits the action from subject to ob- latter three (days, games, etc.), there ject; and the object is essential for the must be the former three. verb to have full meaning.) This passage, from a news article, The verb lie is intransitive. (It does not contains an illogicality: transmit the action. Just the subject par- ticipates in the action.) . . . He [President Bush] would permit Thus a U.S. president spoke ungram- abortion only in cases in which a con- matically when he declared that “a new tinued pregnancy would threaten the world of freedom lays before us.” It lies life of the mother, or when a preg- before us. A manual said incorrectly that nancy results from rape or incest. But envelopes “should lay ﬂat.” They should he has also said that he opposes the lie ﬂat. A newspaper columnist was use of federal funds in the latter two wrong to write, “I was laying on my cases. back. . . .” She was lying on her back. Lying was needed also in radio and TV “The latter two cases” would be proper reports of a truck “laying there on its if one could speak of “the former two side” and a crime victim “laying in the cases,” but only three categories are street.” mentioned altogether. The writer would There are a few exceptions to the rule have done well to grit his teeth and re- that lay is a transitive verb. A hen can lay peat three words: “in rape or incest and a sailor can lay aft, for example. But cases.” lie is always intransitive. The past tense of lay is laid; the par- LAUDABLE and LAUDATORY. ticiples are laid (never “lain”) and lay- See Confusing pairs. ing. Examples: I laid my pen down yesterday. I have (or had) laid it down Law, courts, legal terms. See AC- often. I am laying it down now. CUSED, ALLEGED (etc.); ATTORNEY Lie becomes lay, lain (never “laid”), and LAWYER; CHIEF JUSTICE; CIR- and lying. Examples: I lay down last CUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE; Confus- evening. I have (or had) lain on the bed ing pairs (judicial, prosecute); CRIME, occasionally. I am lying on it now. MISDEMEANOR, and FELONY; “He lied down,” a radio host said in- Crimes (various felonies); EVIDENCE correctly. He lay down. Lied is the past and PROOF; EXECUTE; Guilt and intense of lie (verb) in another sense: to tell nocence; “HIGH COURT”; JURIST; a lie, a falsehood. LIGATION and LITIGATION; Num- bers, 9; PAROLE and PROBATION; LAY OFF and LAYOFF. “. . . Man- Pronouns, 2A; PURSUIT of HAPPI- agement still planned to layoff Teamster NESS; Quotation problems; REGULA- delivery drivers”; so said an article (by TION, STATUTE, and LAW; Reversal two writers quoting “sources” quoting a of meaning; REVERT; RULE, RULING; union representative quoting a manage- SAID; TESTAMENT and TESTI- ment negotiator). It was in error: man- 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 210

210 lead (noun)

agement would not “layoff” anyone. Pretty soon people would be toss- The correct verb is lay off, two words. ing their oat bran in the trash and Layoff as a single word is a noun only, chewing on No. 2 pencils. for example: “The layoff of workers will start next week.” The verb (transitive) At a time when warnings about lead and has two words: “The company will lay health are common, the first sentence off workers starting next week” or leads us to thoughts of the metal. Only “Workers will start being laid off next when we read to the last word of the sec- week.” ond sentence do we realize that the To lay off someone is to suspend or writer had a different “lead” in mind. discharge him from employment for an (Among shortcomings is an inconsis- impersonal economic reason. tency in mood. Either change “come . . . To discharge, dismiss, or fire an em- claims . . . is” to came, claimed, and was ployee is to stop employing him, usually [subjunctive], or change “would” to will for cause, such as performance on the [indicative]. See Mood; Subjunctive. By job. In that sense, fire is an informal the way, why would people necessarily verb, probably originating in a humor- pick the No. 2 pencils? I prefer the No. ous analogy with discharge; both also 1.) mean to shoot a gun. See also LEAD (verb) and LED. A layoff used to occur typically during LEAD (verb) and LED. An other- a slow period for an industry or at a wise tightly written novel contains this troubled time for a particular company, sentence: “Pierce Bascomb lead the way and it was often temporary. Now its only up a slight hill and then down another.” reason may be to save money, and it is Bascomb “led the way.” usually permanent. The past tense of the common verb When not describing lingerie, pink lead—pronounced LEED and meaning slip is a colloquial term for a notice of to direct, go first, or be the head of—is layoff, dating from the 1920s. led and only led, pronounced LED. The See also LET GO. same goes for the past participle: She has LEAD (noun). While the television led the cause for years. He had led the screen depicted a group of miners at army to defeat. work, an announcer remarked that for a An article in a legal newspaper quotes century “Idaho has been producing lead a lawyer as telling the Supreme Court for pencils or whatever else lead is used that “jurors could be mislead by the for.” He thereby publicly announced his anti-sympathy instruction.” Evidently a ignorance of the difference between a thought of lead, the metal, pronounced pencil’s graphite, a form of carbon that is LED, misled the writer. colloquially called “lead,” and the real There is an uncommon verb lead, pro- lead, a metal used in alloys, bullets, pip- nounced LED and meaning to put lead ing, printing type, and so on. Both are in or on; or, in traditional printing, to elemental substances and both are pro- create spaces by placing lead strips be- nounced LED, but the similarity ends tween lines of type. Its past tense and there. past participle is leaded. A writer for a metropolitan newspa- See also Homophones; LEAD (noun). per also confused the two: LEAP, LEAPED, LEAPT. A music What if they come out with a study critic, reviewing a symphonic perfor- that claims the best way to fight mance of a Bartók piece, wrote that “the cholesterol is to pump more lead in middle Elegy lept into prominence.” Al- your diet? though it may be pronounced LEPT, the 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 211

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verb he needed is spelled leapt. It is a cannot always be sure whether a user is variant of leaped, past tense of leap: to talking about fact or ﬁction. spring, bound, or jump. Another way to A book (which purports to clarify pronounce leapt is LEEPT, the same way words) tells us that “Too often a name is leaped is pronounced. legendary” while few people know about the person. The same book says: LEAVE and LET. See LET, LET’S, 1. It was a legendary television talk- LECTERN and PODIUM. The show host who once said of his stand for a speaker’s notes or papers is a nightly performance, “I just keep talk- lectern. In a broadcast, an autobiogra- ing until I have something to phy, and a grammar, it was confused say.” . . . The British upper-class stam- with something else seen in an audito- mer (or traulism) is a legendary man- rium: nerism.

We want to return to the podium for Does “legendary” imply that the person, this evening’s featured speakers. the story, and the stammer are of doubtful authenticity? Or is “legendary” sim- . . . When I walked into the audito- ply the author’s synonym for famous? rium . . . to meet the press for the first time, I noticed that the thirty or so mi- 2. Before and after crophones on the podium left me no In the BC era—before corruption— room for my notes. legendary (adjective) primarily pertained to a legend (noun): a traditional story, . . . The new audio-visual system self- usually about a famed personage, that destructed while the CEO stood help- was popularly believed to have a factual lessly at the podium. basis but could not be accepted as historical fact. It might be partly true or A podium is a small platform on wholly fictional. Examples are the leg- which the conductor of an orchestra ends of Don Juan, Saint Nicholas, and stands. King Arthur. Longfellow wrote: “Listen The roots of the two words, shared by to this Indian legend / To this Song of Hi- lecture and podiatrist, are Latin and awatha!” Greek for read and foot respectively. Then someone was described as being so famous that he was “a legend in his LED. See LEAD (verb) and LED. own time.” A strikingly fresh phrase at first, it became a cliché. After a while “in LEGATION and LIGATION. See his own time” began to be dropped. LIGATION and LITIGATION. When a baseball player changed teams, a big headline said “A legend de- LEGEND, LEGENDARY. 1. Ambi- parts.” A blurb for a book on science guity. 2. Before and after. 3. Other called one of its authors “a teaching leg- meanings. end,” and the author wrote that “legendary chefs of the past have gone to 1. Ambiguity thirteen doublings” (of dough in making The trouble with the contemporary noodles). The introduction of another practice of applying “legend” or “leg- science book said, “Stephen Hawking endary” to real people or activities is was a legend even then.” On TV news: that it has created ambiguity and threat- “His [David Packard’s] story is leg- ened a distinctive pair of words. Now we endary and it all began here. . . .” A mag- 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 212

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azine said, “Senator Robert Byrd . . . is ousted from their jobs is euphemistic. legendary for directing wasteful spend- See also LAY OFF and LAYOFF. ing in West Virginia.” To another maga- The main standard meanings of let go zine, “ ‘Louie, Louie’ . . . is one of the are to release from conﬁnement (“Let most legendary songs in music history.” my people go”), to release one’s hold And a newspaper told “a story that be- (“He let go [or “let go of”] the rope”) came an instant Broadway legend” and to abandon or relinquish (“Ah, take (about a Sondheim show). the cash and let the credit go”). The language has plenty of synonyms for famous and famous person. It cannot LET, LET’S. 1. LEAVE and LET. 2. afford to lose legendary and legend. “LET’S DON’T.” 3. With pronouns.

3. Other meanings 1. LEAVE and LET A legend is also an inscription on an The chorus of a once-popular song object like a coin or monument; a tablet presents the words “leave me alone” a or identification accompanying an ex- dozen times. It reflects a widespread us- hibit or picture; or a key to symbols used age. To leave one alone commonly in a map or chart. means to refrain from disturbing the per- Legend, not preceded by an article, son. But some strict writers and speakers denotes a body or collection of popular apply let alone to such a sense. For them, stories handed down from earlier eras; the meaning of leave alone is to go away or myth or traditional story in general; and leave one in solitude. or popular belief as distinct from fact or To say, for instance, “She wants to be scholarship. left alone” instead of “let alone” is not In the distant past, a legend was sup- incorrect, but it can be ambiguous. Does posed to represent historical truth. It was she want to be alone or does she just a medieval story of the life of a saint; a want to be undisturbed? Unless the con- collection of stories about saints or other text makes it clear, distinguishing be- admirable figures; or in general an ac- tween let and leave (or left, its past tense count or history of a person’s life. and past participle) can be useful. Leave, aside from its companionship LENIENCY. See MERCY and PITY. with alone, should never be substituted for let in the sense of allow or permit. “LEPT.” See LEAP, LEAPED, LEAPT. “Leave” is improper in such sentences as “Let us be merry” / “Let me go” / “Let it LESS. See FEWER and LESS. cook” / “Let John speak.”

LESSER, LESSOR, and LESSEE. 2. “LET’S DON’T” See Homophones. A letter to the editor of a ﬁnancial newspaper was headed “Let’s Don’t En- LET GO. As a verb phrase meaning to danger the Truth.” To demonstrate why terminate employment, let go suits infor- “Let’s Don’t” is bad English, we expand mal contexts, unlike an article in a news- the contractions, producing “Let Us Do paper’s normally staid ﬁnancial section. Not.” The editor who wrote the head- It reported that the news division of a line could have either omitted the broadcasting company, to cut costs, “let “Let’s” (“Don’t Endanger the Truth”) or many senior people like Mr. P—— go.” changed the “Don’t” to Not (“Let’s Not Obviously they did not want to go. To Endanger the Truth”) without endanger- say they were “let” go when they were ing the English language. 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 213

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Sometimes the first two words are Likely does mean probable or proba- switched around: “Don’t let’s take a bly going (to be, do, have, happen, etc.). chance.” It suits only casual conversa- It does not in itself suggest unpleasant- tion. Let us not or let’s not is the pre- ness; its context may or may not. Likely ferred phrase. is more general than liable or apt and can often substitute for either. 3. With pronouns Apt is similar to liable. It suggests not No one is likely to say, “Let I decide.” only that unpleasantness is likely but Mistakes are liable to enter when an- also that a bent or characteristic of the other noun or pronoun is introduced. subject is contributing to the outcome, After the verb let, any personal pronoun and it carries a hint of apprehension by has to be objective, not subjective (nomi- the speaker. “He’s apt to pick a fight” native): “Let Agnes and me [not “I”] fin- but “She’s likely to receive a big ova- ish it.” / “Let you and him [not “he”] tion.” / “The old tire is apt to blow out make the arrangements.” / “Let him and soon” but “This new tire is likely to last her [not “he and she”] know.” See also for years.” Pronouns, 10. These are right: “Let us walk” / “Let’s LIBEL and SLANDER. An untrue walk” / “Let you and me walk” / “Let’s communication about someone that in- all walk.” But “Let’s you and me walk” jures his reputation or holds him up to and “Let’s all of us walk” are redundant hatred, contempt, or ridicule is a sentences. defamation. When the defamation is expressed in writing or print, it is libel. LIABLE. This adjective primarily When it is spoken, it is slander. means legally bound or responsible, or Journalists should know all that. Yet a obligated by law: “One who lies under newspaper headline read, “Hughes ru- oath is liable to prosecution.” / “The ined me—Maheu tells libel jury.” The jury found the driver liable for Smith’s jury found that Howard Hughes had de- injuries.” / “Parents are liable for the famed his former assistant in a news support of minor children.” conference conducted by telephone. The In addition, liable means susceptible suit was not for “libel” but for slander. to something undesirable; or likely to See also ACCUSED, ALLEGED (etc.); do, experience, or be exposed to it. “Ac- Guilt and innocence, 5; Quotation prob- cidents are liable to occur in this storm.” lems, 1. / “Your house is liable to be flooded.” / “We’re liable to get complaints.” LIE. See LAY and LIE. In its first edition, The Random House Dictionary said, “LIABLE should LIFE EXPECTANCY and LIFE not be used to mean ‘probable’ ” in SPAN. It is a fairly common miscon- place of “the true meaning, susceptibility ception that a long life span is a modern to something unpleasant, or exposure to phenomenon and that in past centuries risk.” The second edition says “LIABLE people did not live to ripe old ages. A is often interchangeable with LIKELY . . . statistical misunderstanding and a con- where the sense is that of probability.” fusion of terms both appear to be at the Its example is “The Sox are liable (or bottom of it. likely) to sweep the series”—but liable It is written that two centuries ago the would be wrong on the basis of the re- average life expectancy, at least in some striction in the first edition; likely would countries, may have been in the thirties. be right. Some forget that such an average in- 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 214

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cludes a high infant mortality rate and means an act of binding, a state of being deadly childhood diseases. One who sur- bound, or a thing that binds. In medicine vived the ﬁrst decade might expect a it is the application of a ligature, LIG-a- half-century more of life. Some individu- choor, any material that is tied around a als lived even longer. In the ﬁfth century blood vessel or other structure to con- B.C. the Greek writer Sophocles lived to strict it. To so tie the part is to ligate it, about ninety when the average life ex- LIE-gate. Tubal in the context of ligation pectancy was probably in the twenties. pertains to the Fallopian tubes. This passage by a prominent writer of A word that looks similar is legation, popular science, who must have under- lih-GAY-shun, a diplomatic establish- stood the statistics, uses the term “life ment in a foreign country, below the sta- span” loosely: tus of an embassy; also a mission on which an envoy of the pope is sent. . . . Until the coming of modern medicine human beings did not have a LIGHTENING and LIGHT- long life span on the average. Most NING. See Confusing pairs. people, even in comparatively good times, were dead of violence or infec- LIGHT YEAR. What is wrong with tious disease before they were 40. . . . this statement (by a national press ser- . . . The average human life span vice)? has reached 75, in many parts of the world. . . . On Aug. 23, the telescope’s faint- object camera took an image of super- Change “span” to expectancy. Students nova 1987a, a star that exploded of longevity distinguish between life ex- about 160,000 light years from Earth pectancy and life span. in February 1987. Life expectancy is the number of years that a newborn or an individual of a The latter half of the statement is impos- given age in a particular population is sible. It takes about 160,000 years for expected to live, based on statistical light to reach us from that distance. If probability and the likelihood of mortal the “star . . . exploded” in 1987, nobody illness or trauma. would know about the explosion until Life span is the maximum number of approximately the year 161,987. It is years that a human being or animal can more likely that 1987 was simply the live under ideal conditions, in the ab- year in which telescopes picked up the sence of illness or trauma. The human event. In that case, it must have occurred life span is not known, but one authority about 160,000 years before, in approxi- estimates it to be 120. mately the year 158,013 B.C. See also Numbers, 10E. A light year, or light-year, is the distance that light travels through space in a LIGATION and LITIGATION. A year, at its speed of about 186,000 miles woman calling a radio talk show said per second: about 5.878 trillion (5.878 × that mothers on welfare should be 1012) miles. forced to have “tubal litigation.” Litiga- tion, pronounced lit-ih-GAY-shun, is a LIKE. 1. Ambiguity. 2. Incomparabil- legal action or the carrying on of legal ity. 3. Sense and senselessness. action. Although intending to sic the doctors, not the lawyers, on the hapless 1. Ambiguity mothers, the caller put an extra syllable The meaning of sentences combining in ligation. Pronounced lie-GAY-shun, it not and like can be uncertain; for exam- 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 215

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ple: “Farnsworth is not a lawyer, like his Now one force is likened to another. An predecessor.” Was his predecessor a alternative: “Asteroid hit Earth with lawyer or a nonlawyer? Depending on force / of 10,000 megatons of TNT.” the answer, one might either (a) change A large daily almost gets it right but “like” to unlike or (b) place “Like his appears to go astray: predecessor” first, followed by a comma. An alternative way to correct the exam- Like most of the other successful ple is to change the comma to a period farmers on formerly Mfengu land, he and start a new sentence: “His predeces- struggled at first and later was disor was. . . .” See also NOT, 1C, E. vorced by his wife during the hard A fear of misusing like leads occasion- times. ally to an ambiguous use of as. See AS and LIKE, 1. It is right through “he struggled at first.” End the sentence there—unless most of 2. Incomparability the man’s colleagues were divorced by Like primarily likens one thing to an- their wives too—and start a new sen- other. The things need to have a similar- tence: “His wife divorced him. . . .” ity, albeit not the equivalence of a See also AS and LIKE, 2; UNLIKE. mathematical equation. A weekly’s review of a recording pur- 3. Sense and senselessness ports to equate a voice with certain Like, while a legitimate word, is per- people: haps used more often in a slang sense or senselessly. Like all great hip-hop MCs, Keith’s In standard usage, like, as a preposi- voice has natural personality. tion, means similar to (“She’s like a doll”), similarly to (“He worked like a It seems to say that the man’s voice is like horse”), in the usual manner of (“It’s just masters of ceremony. They are not com- like him to joke about it”); desirous of patible ideas. Change one or the other; (“I feel like eating”), or indicative of (“It for instance: looked like rain”). Like, as an adjective, means equal or similar (“three pounds of A. “Like the voices of all great hip- potatoes and a like amount of carrots”); hop MCs, Keith’s voice has natural as a noun, something similar (with the: personality.” Here voice is like voices. “squirrels, chipmunks, gophers, and the B. “Like all great hip-hop MCs, like”); or, as a verb, to be fond of (“I like Keith has a voice with natural person- Mike”). ality.” Here person is like persons. Like, the preposition, can also mean for example, for instance, or such as. A news story of a (revised) theory by Sometimes it is redundantly used with two geochemists about a prehistoric col- one of those expressions. A columnist in lision is headed: a television panel spoke of the weighty issues that the president was attending Asteroid once rocked Earth to, “like, for instance, the poison gas like 10,000 megatons of TNT treaty.” Either like or for instance would have been enough. The headline seems to say that what an While not a conjunction in strict us- extraterrestrial body did (verb) equaled age, like often is casually used in place of an explosive force (noun). The ideas are as or as if. A correction is inserted in at odds. Among possible corrections: each of these remarks: “Like [as] I told “Force of asteroid crash was / like . . .” the team, ‘Keep gnawing at ’em. . . .’ ” / 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 216

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“It was like [as if] she had been picked [A man praising a car for a commer- up and put there.” The distinction is cial:] You are [able to go] from zero to covered in AS and LIKE. like sixty in no time. Like figures in various informal expressions: “like a bat out of hell,” very [A mother calling a radio psychologist fast; “like crazy,” wildly or violently; about a baby:] She was getting up like “like hell,” never, not at all, strongly, or four or five times a night. . . . She’s rapidly; “like a hole in the head,” not at waking up like a lot. all (needed); “like a million bucks,” very good (looking); “like there’s no tomor- [A woman calling a general talk row,” avidly; and so on. show:] Cars think that I’m like a tar- On a still lower level, it substitutes for get. approximately (“It lasts like three hours”), for example (“They have like LIKELY. See LIABLE. steaks there”), perhaps (“They went, like, to the store”), and unfortunately (“I LIMERICK. One word does not be- accidentally, like, broke the dish”). The long in the following sentence, from a word serves also as a verbal crutch, in book: the manner of a pause or a grunt. (“Mary doesn’t want to, like, come.” / Gelett Burgess, who invented the “He was, like, terrific.”) word “blurb” and was the creator of Like undergoes further maltreatment the limerick about “the purple cow,” in a faddish replacement of I think, I once tried to smuggle “huzzlecoo,” a thought, she said, he said, etc. An actress word he coined, into English. displayed minimal artistry when script- less in a television interview: “The Purple Cow” by Burgess is a qua- train, a verse, a nonsense poem—but not I just came from a big dinner and I’m a “limerick.” Here it is: like I shouldn’t have had that wine. . . . He said, “How much?” I’m like okay. I never saw a purple cow, I never hope to see one; And a university student showed limited But I can tell you, anyhow, grasp of his language in a magazine in- I’d rather see than be one! terview: A limerick is not just any humorous There are days where I’m like, “Oh, verse, but one with five lines and a strict my God, I’m so happy I’m living the form. Many are ribald. This one is not: life I’m living.” . . . And I’m like, “What if they offer me this job?” . . . A flea and a fly in a flue To my dad, I’d be like, “I gotta find Were imprisoned, so what could they myself. . . .” do? Said the flea, “Let us fly!” “Like” could have been removed Said the fly, “Let us flee!” from each of the following remarks So they flew through a flaw in the flue. without any loss of meaning: (Technically, the first, second, and fifth [The student again:] OK, like, here’s lines of a limerick have three feet each; the deal. . . . Like, how can I start the third and fourth lines have two feet working when I don’t know who I am each. The rhyme scheme is usually A, A, yet[?]. B, B, A.) 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 217

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Dating from the early eighteenth cen- rals and singulars; Prepositions, 7; Re- tury, limericks were popularized by Ed- versal of meaning; Series errors (princi- ward Lear, English humorist and artist, ples of listing); Spelling; Twins. in The Book of Nonsense (1846). The word limerick is said to have developed LITERALLY. Picture the amazing late in the century from a communal sight described by this headline: nonsense song that included the words “come up to Limerick [Ireland].” Literally waltzing on air Jesse Winchester comes to town LIMITED, LTD. See FIRM. A television commentator described LIMP. To limp (verb, intransitive) is to another weird phenomenon. walk unevenly, haltingly, or as one walks with a lame leg or foot: favoring the We’ve seen in this election Ronald other. Reagan literally change his spots in The first time some writer tried out front of our eyes. the word in describing a disabled ship or airplane, it may have been an effective Maybe Mr. Reagan’s special-effects de- metaphor. Now that innumerable craft partment was responsible for that. Any- have been limping about in the press for way, as president he discovered that decades, it has turned into a lame cliché. people were starving in national parks. A newspaper’s use is typical: When we took office, we found that Later, planes limped back from a . . . the funding for the maintenance dozen secret arms drops inside and upkeep of our parks had been lit- Nicaragua on one engine, with smoke erally a starvation diet. and oil spewing behind. One day a gunman invaded the Senate In the following passage, from a book and demanded the approval of stopgap of true adventure, the word is turned funds before midnight. A senator was into a transitive verb. quoted as saying on the Senate floor:

. . . As I hurtled along at full power We are literally here today with a gun into lift-off, the motor spluttered and to our heads. one cylinder conked out. . . . We limped the plane back to the apron. The senators acquiesced and were spared. But another culprit (we learn (It is not clear whether the plane was still from TV news) was not at all merciful. flying when they “limped” it.) . . . He literally made a killing in oil Linking verbs. See BAD and BADLY; and real estate stocks. Complement; FEEL; GOOD and WELL; Pronouns, 10D; Verbs, 1F. How he perpetrated the deed was not spelled out. Possibly he smothered his Lists. See BACK(-) prefix and pairs; victim in a mound of stock certificates. CAN and MAY (example); Clichés; Con- Because all those things happened lit- fusing pairs; DRAMA (etc.), 2; General erally, you could see them actually hap- topics (near the front); Gerund, 3B; Ho- pen. No metaphor was intended. No mophones; Introduction (to the book), imagination was shown. Words were Wounded Words; Joining of words; Plu- used in their strictest senses. 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 218

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Had people been speaking poetically but can live in it. Correction: “place I’ll or metaphorically or with imagination, ever live in” or “place in which I’ll ever they would not have said literally. And, if live.” they had any concern that their figura- The verb live is intransitive in the tive statements would be taken as literal sense of reside and in most other senses. truth, they might have explained that It is transitive when it means to spend they meant “figuratively a starvation (one’s life) in a particular way or to carry diet” or “figuratively here today with a out (something) in one’s life: “He lived a gun to our heads” or “figuratively made celibate life” / “They live their religion.” a killing.” Poets do not require such explanation LIVID. Bluish in the shade of a bruise for their metaphors, like this one: “Life’s or in any other dull hue is the primary but a walking shadow, a poor player / meaning of livid, just as it was of lividus That struts and frets his hour upon the in Latin. stage.” Shakespeare had no need for fig- Some people mistakenly identify livid uratively or, heaven knows, for “liter- with another primary color, red, and the ally.” second Random House Dictionary rubber-stamps that misunderstanding. This LITIGATION. See LIGATION and odd distortion of recent years may have LITIGATION. come about in these steps: from blue to grayish-blue, to gray, to pale-faced, to “LITTLE MUCH.” See MUCH. pale with anger, to very angry, to flushed with anger, to red. Livid in the sense of very angry is LIVE. 1. Adjective: LIVE and ALIVE. termed colloquial by The Oxford En- 2. Verb: LIVE with IN. glish Dictionary. It is common in the news media. A four-word paragraph in a 1. Adjective: LIVE and ALIVE newspaper: “Environmental groups The adjective live (rhyming with dive) were livid” (when Congress refused to is not interchangeable with alive, al- support a desert preserve). A quotation though both primarily mean possessing from a recording-academy president, in life. “These are live flowers” but “The another paper: the trustees “were just flowers are alive.” In that sense, live goes livid about the situation” (the discovery before the noun; alive goes after the that a prize-winning duo did not sing). noun. In certain, technical senses, live may LOATH and LOATHE. A com- either precede or follow the noun: “This puter magazine was discussing desktop is a live broadcast” or “The broadcast is publishing programs: live,” meaning it is being made now, not transmitted from a recording. “It’s a live PageMaker users who find their pro- wire” or “The wire is live,” meaning it is gram to be simple will be loathe to carrying electric current. tread in new waters.

2. Verb: LIVE with IN “Loathe” was wrong. Adding e to loath This section deals with the verb live, (presumably by the article’s two writers) rhyming with give. An editor wrote, “So was a mistake. it might be the one place I’ll ever live that Loath (adjective) means reluctant, un- hasn’t been ‘discovered.’ ” You do not willing. You should be loath to add an- live a place. You cannot live Chicago other letter to it. (Sometimes a letter is 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 219

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taken away: loth is found in some old lit- To use “loot” as slang for money or erature.) valuables is not advisable, unless in pri- To loathe (verb, transitive) is to hate vate conversation. The owner may ob- intensely, to abhor, to detest. This one ject to seeing or hearing what he owns has the e—as in enemy. associated with a word for stolen goods. The words appear to have in common The noun loot, acquired directly from an ancient, Teutonic root meaning to Hindi, originally meant the booty or hate. spoils of war or pillaging. Now it can also be any goods or money stolen or ap- LONGSHOREMAN. See STEVE- propriated dishonestly: “The burglars DORE and LONGSHOREMAN. hid their loot in the cellar.” It can also be the act of plundering: “He was accused LOOSE and LOSE. The (transitive) of the loot of the treasury.” verbs loose and lose sometimes are con- Loot is also a verb (transitive and infused. The former, pronounced LOOS, transitive), meaning to plunder. “The means to let loose, to release, or to make army looted the town.” less strict. “Did he loose the boat from its moorings?” The latter, pronounced LOSE. See LOOSE and LOSE. LOOZ, means to suffer the loss of, to be deprived of, or to be defeated. “Don’t LOT. 1. Meaning MANY or MUCH. lose your ticket.” 2. Two words. A passage from a book about books is followed by part of a testimonial for a 1. Meaning MANY or MUCH gymnasium in a published ad: Using a lot (of) to mean much or many used to be generally considered A bright, colorful, attractive cover can just colloquial, and some writers still only increase the sales of a publica- avoid it in serious writing, although oth- tion. A poorly designed cover will ers use it without hesitation. The same is loose sales. true of lots (of), a synonym. A reporter said on national television, I always wanted to loose weight and alluding to statements by Republican become stronger. election campaigners:

“Loose” is almost the reverse of what A lot of people is saying, “We’re talk- both excerpts need: lose. ing about matters of trust.” The past tense and past participle of loose is loosed; of lose is lost. A verb sim- “People is saying”? The reporter would ilar to loose is loosen, meaning (transi- probably not announce that “many tive) to make looser; past tense and past people is saying.” A “lot” is not speak- participle: loosened. (The three verbs ing; people are. In that context a lot (of) have intransitive senses also.) means many. A lot (of) can mean much. “A lot of LOOT. A radio report said, regarding money is invested in the project.” The the theft of money from a truck wrecked verb is singular because “money” is sin- in an accident, “Attempts are ongoing to gular. identify others who helped themselves to Similarly, lots (of) can mean many or the loot.” To the money. It was not much. “loot” before it was stolen. (See also In other senses, a lot is a piece of land; ONGOING.) an object used for random choosing, as 02-F–L_4 10/22/02 10:30 AM Page 220

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in, “We’ll draw lots”; and a number of After three appearances of the bar- people or things considered as a group, barism, it becomes apparent that the re- as in “They’re a sorry lot” and “How porter did not know any better. If an much for the lot?” One’s lot is one’s for- editor examined the copy at all, he did tune in life. not know enough to correct it. Possibly a vague memory of the word allot (verb), 2. Two words meaning to apportion, had played a part “There’s no need for ice or a glass, in the muddling. The interviewed man you can buy it almost anywhere, and would deserve sympathy if he were not it’s the kind of thing you want to an advertising executive who probably drink alot of,” Sousa added. welcomed the free publicity for his client, notwithstanding a lot of errors.

The ﬁrst time you see that four-letter LTD., LIMITED. See FIRM. anomaly in a newspaper, you can dismiss it as a typesetter’s error. Perhaps he for- LUNCH. See DINE. got to put a space between the a and lot in a lot. But in the next paragraph, it ap- LUXURIANT and LUXURIOUS. pears again, twice: See Confusing pairs.

“Although wine is also cheap, if -LY ending. See Adjectives and ad- you drink alot of wine, you are called verbs. a wino; but if you drink alot of beer, you’re just a big macho,” Sousa said. 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 221

MA. See MOM, MAMA, MA. in the main election, those with the two highest totals compete in a run-off. MAGNETIC POLE. See NORTH POLE and MAGNETIC POLE. 2. Singular or plural? A network’s chief anchor man was re- MAJORITY. 1. MAJORITY and porting from South Africa, using a verb PLURALITY. 2. Singular or plural? inconsistently: The vast majority of black students “is” undereducated. The 1. MAJORITY and PLURALITY majority of blacks “are” under twenty- An error in word usage can amount one. “Is” is incorrect. Are is correct. to a factual error, as in this passage from If majority signifies a particular num- a local newspaper: ber or a numerical superiority as such, it gets a singular verb. “The majority was All that was needed to win the elec- only three votes.” tion to replace Horcher was a simple If majority signifies the larger of two majority and, according to tallies, the groups, the verb may be singular or plu- top vote-getter was Republican Gary ral. It depends on what the speaker or Miller, who will take office immedi- writer has in mind. When the group’s ately upon certification of the elec- unity is emphasized, the verb is singular. tion. . . . “The majority stands solidly behind the Miller . . . garnered 18,304 votes, bill.” But when majority refers to most or 40 percent, in the field of six candi- individuals in a category, the verb is plu- dates. ral. “The vast majority of black students are undereducated.” If Miller won with 40 percent, he did This passage is from a special article not have a “simple majority”—or any in a financial newspaper: other majority. He had a plurality. A majority is at least half of the votes Many middle-ranking Chinese offi- cast plus one. If three or more candi- cers have expressed fears of a civil dates run and none gets more than 50 war because recent events have in- percent of the total vote, the highest creased the divisions within the army. number of votes is a plurality. But the majority believes that the re- Under many election laws, a plurality sult will be not an army split, but an is enough to win. Others require a ma- army controlled by the hard-lin- jority to win, and if no candidate gets it ers. . . .

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222 mama

Change “believes” to believe. “Many . . . bad, gave rise to several circumlocutions. officers” foresee a split. But more officers They pollute the language to this day. foresee no split. “The majority” refers to One of them has been to substitute other most individuals in a category, not to a words, no matter how unidiomatic or lu- unified group. dicrous the result. See also Collective nouns. Taking politic license, a book reviewer wrote: MAMA. See MOM, MAMA, MA. It’s a visiting firefighter type that -MAN-, MAN. The combining form drew understandable derision from -man- means human being. It is found in Safer and other correspondents sta- words like mankind and manslaughter, tioned in Saigon at the time.... as a prefix; and freeman and woman, as a suffix. The plural of the suffix is -men. Woman came from the Old English “Firefighter” stands out embarrassingly. wifman, from wif, meaning female or Although that word may be an accept- woman, and man, meaning human be- able job title, the expression that the re- ing (the meaning of manu in Sanskrit). viewer corrupted is visiting fireman. It The other meaning of man, that of an means a visitor who is catered to because adult male, developed later. of his importance or money. The sense of man as human being or Some have chosen to change mankind humanity is reflected in the Biblical line to the windier humankind, unaware that human derives from the Latin homo, So God created man in his own meaning man or a man. image . . . male and female created he Another circumlocution has been to them. drop -man: to give a chairman the name of a piece of furniture, a “chair.” (See and in a passage by the philosopher CHAIR.) David Hume: Then there are the “person” and “people” monstrosities, in which the of- There is in all men, both male and fe- fending monosyllable in almost any male, a desire and power of genera- word is replaced with a disyllable. For tion more active than is ever example, manhole gets corrupted to universally exerted. “personhole,” airman to “airperson,” and congressmen to “congresspersons” Similarly, Jefferson’s line in the Declara- or “congresspeople.” (See PERSON; tion of Independence that “all men are PEOPLE as a suffix; SPOKESMAN.) created equal” refers to all people. Turning woman into “woperson” has Man retains that meaning to this day. even been suggested. Unfortunately for Man cannot live by bread alone. Man’s male-haters, person has a -son. A few inhumanity to man. Man’s best friend. choose to misspell woman “womyn,” as The dawn of man. God or man. Man or if to fool the English-speakers of the beast. Man overboard! world. That millennia-old syllable was The words virtual, virtue, and virtu- threatened in the sixties and seventies oso do stem from the Latin word for a when a radical movement arose to fix male, but thus far there has been no what was unbroken and break what was movement to resist them. See VIRTUE. fixed. The mistaken belief that -man- meant male, coupled with the perverse MANNER and MANOR. See Ho- notion that masculinity was ipso facto mophones. 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 223

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MANSLAUGHTER. See Crimes, 4. cover the cost of production. A producer in that situation operates marginally (ad- MANY and MUCH. “You won’t verb). get much extra sales if you throw in a Writers and speakers in the popular pencil with every purchase of a car,” says media often use “marginal(ly)” when all a book on marketing. Change “much” they mean is small, slight(ly), a little—or to many: “many extra sales. . . .” any of numerous synonyms. Perhaps Use much when you talk about a large they think that it has a more learned ring amount of something (“much money”) to it. A columnist wrote: or a large degree (“much wisdom”) or a large extent (“much devastation”). It Mr. Marchais has presided over a de- goes with a singular noun. cline of the French Communists’ vote Use many when you talk about a large by well over half, from a powerful number of things (“many trees” / “many force that blocked alternating politics people” / “many sales”). It goes with a to a marginal role on the national plural noun. scene. Occasionally, in a more or less poetic vein, many is followed by a or an and a If she meant a small, slight, or modest singular noun. “And many an eye has role, she could well have said so. danced to see that banner in the sky.” Here is a part of a news dispatch from The meaning of many remains the same: Luxembourg: a large number of things, though represented by one thing. . . . Appreciation of the United States In that construction, any verb should is overshadowed these days by ner- be singular, e.g., “has danced.” The nar- vous talk of sabotage and snubs in rator of a travel series on television erred this bucolic land, which is marginally in saying, “Many an amusing anecdote smaller than Rhode Island. have been born” on a railway. It has been born. In a more common construc- “Marginally smaller” is better changed tion, the verb is indeed plural: “Many to “somewhat smaller” or “a little amusing anecdotes have been born” / smaller.” A still better way is to be spe- “Many brave hearts are asleep in the cific: “18 percent smaller.” deep.” A report said that ten staff members See also MUCH. of a university had found a management training program to be “a beneficial ex- MARGINAL, MARGINALLY. In perience, but only marginally so.” That general, marginal (adjective) pertains to roundabout wording—apparently laud- a margin (noun). A margin is an edge or atory at first but reversing course mid- border of something. It can be literal, as way—could perhaps have been boiled the margin of a page; or figurative, as a down to “a slightly [or “barely”] benefi- margin for error or the line between be- cial experience.” ing able or willing to carry out an activity and not. MARIJUANA. Marijuana, some- The terms are used in various ways in times spelled marihuana, is a complex business and economics. We may regard drug produced from the Cannabis sativa margin as the line between being in the plant and used illicitly, usually by smok- black and being in the red. A marginal ing, for its intoxicating effect. It consists business barely meets its costs. The re- of any part of the plant that has been ceipts for a marginal product barely prepared for smoking, primarily by dry- 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 224

224 marshal

ing. Containing at least 426 compounds, an oil base (under the trade name Mari- it produces thousands more when nol) and its dispensation by prescription burned. to cancer patients unresponsive to con- These headlines distorted the facts: ventional antiemetics.

U.S. OK’s marijuana pills MARSHAL. This word traces to the Old High German marahscalh, meaning Legal marijuana capsules on way horse servant. Originally a marshal was to 4 cancer victims a groom, one who took care of horses. Later marshal was applied to the master The first story described the contents of of horses in a medieval royal household, the pills as “synthetic marijuana,” which then to the official in charge of military is impossible. The second described the affairs for a sovereign. In various coun- contents as “federally grown mari- tries today, a marshal is the highest juana,” which was erroneous. The pills ranking military commander or a com- contained no marijuana. Their active in- mander of a particular military branch. gredient was synthetic THC (delta-9- In the United States, officers of different tetrahydrocannabinol). THC is the kinds bear the title marshal: one who principal mind-affecting ingredient in carries out federal court orders; a munic- marijuana but it is just one of the 426 ipal functionary, such as a fire marshal; compounds. and the head of a parade. Headlines like these went further in The verb marshal means (transitive) disseminating misinformation: to arrange in order (“marshal the troops”); to direct as a marshal; to lead, Pot—a New Prescription for Cancer? someone, ceremoniously; to enlist and organize for action; or (intransitive) to Pot for cancer available take up positions in proper order, particularly in military formation. The past “Pot,” which is slang for marijuana (as tense or past participle is marshaled and is “grass” / “weed” / “dope” / “herb” / the present participle is marshaling. The “tea” / and “Mary Jane”), does not cure British prefer marshalled and mar- or ameliorate cancer and never has been shalling. used to treat cancer. Its smoking pro- Whatever the meaning, the noun or vides no medical benefit that is recog- basic verb marshal is properly spelled nized by the medical profession or the with one l and should not be confused federal government and, according to with the name Marshall (as borne by thousands of scientific studies, causes two Supreme Court justices, a vice- many injurious effects. These effects in- president, and a general and statesman). clude transportation accidents, lung ail- Confuse them is what Webster’s Third ments, and probably cancer. Dictionary has done, indicating that the Marijuana cigarettes and, more often, spelling is “also marshall.” It is if you are synthetic THC in capsule form were a grade-F speller. tried out as an antiemetic, a drug for Marshal is pronounced the same as curbing nausea and vomiting, in some martial, warlike or related to war. This patients taking anticancer drugs. The adjective derives from the Latin mar- THC was found to be effective. In 1986 tialis, of Mars, the god of war. the federal government approved the commercial production, not of mari- MASTERFUL and MASTERLY. juana, but of the encapsulated THC in When a political party spokesman told a 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 225

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television audience that the president To say “He may have won all four” “has handled this crisis in a very master- tournaments, as a golf authority said of ful fashion,” he was saying in effect that the late Ben Hogan, is tantamount to the president had acted in a very dictato- saying “I’m not sure if he won all four or rial, arbitrary, domineering fashion, as a not.” The intended meaning was “He master acts toward a servant. Being of might have won all four” had he played the same party as the president, the in them. spokesman would not have uttered such The opposite error enters this sen- a verity on purpose. Perhaps, had he tence (from an article): known better, he would have used the word masterly, meaning like a master of Those in attendance last night, as well a skill or discipline; possessing or ex- as a national cable audience, might hibiting the ability, knowledge, or skill have been years removed from the of a master. segregated world that Robinson chal- Centuries back, masterful and mas- lenged in such a public, yet lonely, terly were both used in either sense. The fashion. distinction between the two was a useful development, but there has been retro- “Might” should be may, expressing gression. Now “masterful” is mistaken what is possible. for masterly so often that modern dictio- These two sentences illustrate correct naries have rubber-stamped the misuse uses of may and might with have: and accepted it as a secondary meaning without comment, thus contributing to • “I may have attended the meeting, confusion rather than to clarity. but I don’t remember if I did.” It Masterful is an adjective; masterfully discusses a question of fact, is the related adverb. Masterly is both an something that could have adjective and an adverb. happened. From an autobiography: “He gave a • “I might have attended the meeting masterful speech, greeted by a thunder- if my health permitted.” It deals ous ovation.” Beﬁtting a foreign dictator, with the hypothetical, presenting a the sentence actually was meant to supposition contrary to fact. praise a U.S. president (another one). See also Subjunctive. MATERIAL and MATERIEL. See Confusing pairs. 2. Other distinctions These are some other distinctions be- MAXIMIZE. See -IZE ending, 1. tween the two words (used as auxiliary verbs): MAY and MIGHT. 1. Fact versus supposition. 2. Other distinctions. A.May, expressing permission in the present tense, as in “The boss says we 1. Fact versus supposition may take the holiday off,” becomes A comment by a government ofﬁcial might in the past tense: “The boss said that “The accident at St. Louis may have we might take the holiday off.” been prevented” was a mistake on its B. May, expressing possibility in the preface. May have deals with fact, with sent tense, as in “The Browns say they what was possible. The speaker needed may buy a house,” becomes might in might have to express what was hypo- the past tense: “The Browns said they thetical, a supposition contrary to fact. might buy a house.” 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 226

226 mayhem

C.Might can be used to express possibil- of two figures. The mean of 56, 36, and ity in the present tense: “She might 34 is 42. sue him.” When it is used in that way, A statistical term in which the middle it is less forceful than may: “She may point is essential is median. It is a figure sue him”; the likelihood is greater midway in a set of figures arranged in or- here. der of size. In the set of three just above, D.May can express a purpose or result, the median is 36. (When the number of in a clause beginning with that or so items is even, the median is the mean of that: “I work hard so that my children the two figures in the middle.) Techni- may be cared for.” Might expresses a cally, the mean and the median are both more forlorn hope: “We struggle that averages. someday our people might be free.” E. Might in a courteous request as in ME and I. See Pronouns, 10. “Might I say something?” is weaker and hence more humble than may. ME and MYSELF. See Pronouns, 3, 4.

MAYHEM. See Crimes, 4. Measures, quantities. See AMOUNT and NUMBER; Collective nouns, 3; MEAN (adjective). Mean in the FEWER and LESS; MANY and MUCH; sense of inhumane, malicious, or unkind Numbers; Verbs, 3. often gets a tail these days, as in this snip from a movie review: “She is a mean- MEDAL and MEDDLE. See Ho- spirited, dishonest, highly judgmental in- mophones; Verbs, 2. dividual. . . .” Followers of the fad would not be satisfied to call Simon MEDIA and MEDIUM. 1. Mass Legree mean; he was “mean-spirited.” MEDIA. 2. Other MEDIUMS. The “-spirited” is not wrong, just often unnecessary. 1. Mass MEDIA So far the appending has not extended Radio is a medium of mass communi- to mean in the sense of humble, low- cation. Television is another such grade, paltry, or petty. medium. So is the newspaper. So is the magazine. They are media of mass com- MEAN (noun). Three books on munication—and people in those media word usage misleadingly define the sta- should know that, but not all of them tistical term mean as “the midpoint” or do: “the middle point.” In addition, a book on press style calls mean “a figure inter- [Radio:] They pulled it off secretly mediate between two extremes.” It gives [setting a killer free on parole]. No 45 as the “mean temperature” between a media was on hand. high of 56 and a low of 34. In a general sense, the noun mean does [Television:] How well does the news denote a middle point or medium. In a media cover the story? statistical sense, a mean, also known as an arithmetic mean or arithmetical [Newspaper:] However, in this gener- mean, is what people commonly call an ation, the media is not so meek. average. It is the sum of a set of figures divided by the number of figures in the set. [Magazine:] While the argument that The definitions coincide only for a set the media has become too powerful is 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 227

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plenty convincing . . . a majority of ceased. “She is superstitious and has the public (54 percent) believes the gone to fortune-tellers and mediums.” media is fair.... The use of media rather than medi- When bitten, the media has a habit ums is more common in designating of biting back. agencies of mass communication. A medium is also a means or instru- The quoted sentences may be corrected mentality through which an effect is pro- as follows: “No media were on hand” or duced; an environment in which “No news medium was on hand.” / something exists and functions; or a nu- “How well do the news media cover the tritive substance in which organisms can story?” / “. . . The media are not so grow. On a television news program, a meek.” / “. . . The media have become physician tried to use the word in that too powerful . . . the media are last sense. fair . . . the media have a habit of biting back.” It’s the water in the ear that makes a Media is a plural of medium. Except nice media for bacteria to grow. in sentences like that one and this one, media is improper in the singular. There “Media” should have been put in the is no such word as “medias.” singular: “a nice medium.” Agencies of mass communication A medium is also something that is in- have become known as the mass media. termediate between two extremes. It is Those agencies in general, or at times like the more common medium (adjec- just the news media, are colloquially tive—the others are nouns), meaning in- called the media. termediate or average, as in “small, A talk show host used media wrong medium, and large sizes.” The last two and right in the same sentence when a mediums resemble the Latin medium, listener complained about excessive in- meaning middle, which English adopted. terest in O. J. Simpson. MEDIAN. See MEAN (noun). To some extent the media is responsible, because they’re covering all of MEMORANDA and MEMO- this. RANDUM. A U.S. senator at a hearing kept referring to a written record as Make it “the media are responsible. . . .” “a memoranda.” It was a memorandum. They’re is correct. A participant in a television forum This sentence appears in a book, an- said, “North drew up memoran- other mass medium: das. . . .” They were memoranda or memorandums. Direct marketing is not restricted to Because memoranda is plural, “a any one media. memoranda” and “memorandas” are wrong. There cannot be “one media.” Make it “one medium.” MERCY and PITY. Heavy rains had swelled streams and caused widespread 2. Other MEDIUMS ﬂooding. When the deluge subsided, a Mediums is another plural of medium banner headline across a newspaper’s and the only plural of the word when front page read, unidiomatically: used in the sense of a person claiming the “Rivers take mercy.” It looked as though power to communicate with the de- a confused editor had combined a part 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 228

228 metal and mettle

of two common phrases: take pity and of speech in which one thing is likened to have mercy. Sometimes a creative writer another. Often a concrete object (e.g., departs from idiom, but a serious head- the sea) is used to describe an abstraction line calls for communication more than (trouble). creativity, and the humanizing of rivers If that poet’s main trouble is a is literary license enough. drought that has dried up his vegetable Mercy and pity are not synonyms, garden, his metaphor is compromised— though aspects of each are related. Often or it does not hold water, to use another mercy is more active. It can suggest (1) metaphor. If it stirs mirth in his listeners an extraordinary act of kindness, possi- or readers, he has defeated his purpose. bly toward someone whom one is in a Thus one needs to think of the literal position to harm; (2) compassionate meaning of a metaphor before using it treatment, such as the relief of suffering; for a particular purpose. or (3) an inclination to be kind, to for- A newspaper story about health risks give, or to pity. Often pity (noun) is less in restaurants pointed out that “a diner active. It denotes a feeling of sorrow, does not always know how long food sympathy, or compassion for another’s has been sitting unrefrigerated” and it misfortune or suffering. It may imply an quoted thus a Food and Drug Adminis- attitude of condescension toward some- tration spokesman: “If it’s lukewarm, one considered inferior or weaker. they’re just playing with fire.” Calling Some words associated with mercy for a vision of lukewarm fire, the are charity, alms-giving, benevolence, or metaphor fizzled. tolerance in judging one; clemency, a re- A news story about the tunnel under prieve or lenient act by someone in au- San Francisco Bay bore this lead: thority; and leniency, mildness in “BART will pull out all the stops today dispensing justice or administering rules. to try to locate the spot where water is Some words associated with pity are still leaking into the trans-Bay tube at the compassion, sorrow for one’s suffering rate of eight gallons an hour.” It made with a desire to help; commiseration, a one want to dash into the offices of the feeling or expression of sympathy with a Bay Area Rapid Transit and shout, person in distress; condolence, an ex- “Wait! Don’t pull out the stops! Do you pression of such sympathy; and sympa- want to flood the tube?” thy, an understanding of and a sharing in The topic on a national TV news pro- one’s grief, pain, or other feelings. gram was skin cancer. A physician said, when asked about the safety of the tan- METAL and METTLE. See Homo- ning salon: “If people use it, they should phones. use it with their eyes open.” The interviewer missed a chance to ask: METAMORPHOSE. See -IZE end- “Wouldn’t people be safer using it with ing, 1 (end). their eyes closed?” Metaphors can be single words, just Metaphor. See BEGET; BIG TIME; as they can be phrases. The same admo- Cliché clash; Double meaning; LITER- nition applies. The task may be harder, ALLY; Metaphoric contradiction; SIRE. inasmuch as the words are often used without regard to their literal meanings. Metaphoric contradiction. Instead A few examples: of saying “What bad luck I’m having!” a poetically minded person might say “I • Bottleneck—“The biggest bottleneck am drowning in a sea of trouble.” The in housing” fails as a metaphor. Its statement would be a metaphor, a figure purpose is to describe the worst 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 229

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problem, so an analogy would be the bly was a meteorite and it probably fell narrowest, most constricting into the ocean.” bottleneck, not the biggest. Meteorites are not seen in the sky. A • Breakdown—“The breakdown of meteorite by definition is a body from patients by . . . departments . . . space that has survived the trip to earth. should be strictly followed.” / “The While it was traveling through the houses should be broken down into earth’s atmosphere, it was a meteor. The types.” Nobody is accused of term is applied also to the luminous promoting patient breakdowns in a streak produced by the meteor’s friction hospital or broken-down houses in with the atmosphere. the real estate business, but Before reaching the atmosphere, the classification or classified would object was a meteoroid, a small body have been preferable. that travels through outer space. A • Depression—A board was urged to newspaper’s science writer was imprecise promote industrial development in writing: before “a depression . . . arises.” Literally a depression is a sunken More precise radioactive dating area; to arise is to move upward. A methods have fixed the age of the old- related contradiction is the use of est meteorites orbiting the Sun at “as much as” together with “less.” about 4.53 billion years. See Numbers, 2 (end). • Inundate—Someone or something Those bodies are meteoroids, not “mete- may be figuratively inundated, or orites”—except in the loosest of lan- flooded, but not by flames. See guage, unbefitting a science column. INUNDATE, INUNDATED. • Spawn—A newspaper reported that MIDNIGHT. See A.M., P.M., NOON, one conference had “spawned” (that MIDNIGHT. is, prolifically given birth to) others throughout the state. The MIGHT. See MAY and MIGHT. conferences dealt with the prevention of teenage pregnancy. See MILE. See KNOT. Double meaning. MILLIARD. See BILLION. Two metaphoric words or expressions that are close by may contradict each MIND. See NEVER MIND. other, even if they are individually satisfactory: “This is a virgin field, pregnant MINER and MINOR. See Homo- with possibilities” (a pregnant virgin?). phones. “We must not allow ourselves to be stampeded into stagnation” (no place MINIMIZE. To minimize something for a stampede). is to reduce it to a minimum (“We must Additional examples of ludicrous minimize our cost”) or to place it at the metaphors are in BEGET; Cliché clash; lowest or smallest estimate (“I mini- LITERALLY. mized my estimated tax”) or to make it appear as small or trifling as possible METEOR, METEORITE, and (“Smith, the attorney, minimized his METEOROID. A television news client’s responsibility for the accident”). man described sightings of a blue, scintil- Minimize (verb, transitive) is an abso- lating object in the sky, attributing to the lute term, several authorities agree. It is National Weather Service that “it proba- not properly qualified by adverbs like 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 230

230 mischievous, mischievousness

considerably, greatly, or somewhat. They MISINFORMATION. See FACT. can qualify a verb such as belittle, diminish, reduce, or underrate, none of which MISLEAD and MISLED. See is the meaning of minimize. LEAD (verb) and LED. Even when used properly, the word can be misunderstood. In isolation, this MISNOMER. A guest on a TV inter- press sentence permits two interpreta- view show said that Henry Kissinger was tions: born in the United States, not in Ger- many as many people thought. “It’s a In his session with the Tower com- common misnomer,” he said. mission, McFarlane said he had ac- An incorrect idea may be a misbelief, quiesced in a White House effort to a misconception, or a mistake, but it is minimize the president’s role in the af- not a “misnomer.” A misnomer is a fair. name or epithet that is wrongly or inappropriately given to a person or thing; or Was the effort (1) to make sure that the an error in a name, particularly in a legal president would play as small a role as document. possible or (2) to make the president’s For instance, the term Indian when past role appear as small as possible in applied to an aborigine of the New the eyes of the public? The context World could be called a misnomer. shows that it was the second. Columbus was said to have used it for A related adjective is minimal, the natives of the Bahamas in the erroneous least possible (cost, tax, role, etc.). belief that he was in India. (As for Mr. Kissinger’s country of MISCHIEVOUS, MISCHIEVOUS- birth: ﬁve reference books say Germany.) NESS. Discussing a case of sexual harassment on the job, the host of a na- Misquotation. See Clichés; Quota- tionally televised talk show said, “It tion problems, 1. really seems that it went from a kind of mischeviousness to a much more mali- MISQUOTE. See QUOTE and cious acting out.” QUOTATION. “Mischevious” or “mischeviousness,” with the emphasis on the second sylla- MISS, MR., MRS., MS. See Plurals ble, is not a legitimate word. It is a dis- and singulars, 2H; Titles, 2. tortion of the proper word mischievous (adjective) or mischievousness (noun), Modiﬁers. 1. Dangling. 2. Extrane- pronounced MISS-chuh-vuss (ness). ous. 3. Misplaced. 4. Piled up. 5. Restric- Mischievous means causing mischief; tive. 6. Senseless. mischievousness, the inclination to cause mischief. Mischief is vexing action or 1. Dangling conduct, or its result. Depending on the context, it can vary from a child’s imp- A. Dangling participles ishness to destruction or violence by a miscreant or nonhuman agent. A related Although widely used by the men, word is mischievously (adverb), in a mis- Bashilange women were rarely al- chievous way. lowed to smoke cannabis.

MISDEMEANOR. See CRIME, One might think that the topic was fe- MISDEMEANOR, and FELONY. male abuse rather than drug abuse. The 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 231

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sentence, from a book about cannabis, by spray. Just before that, the newscaster literally says that the women were had announced that it was a seemingly “widely used by the men.” drunk man who had been pepper- It is an example of a dangler, a phrase sprayed. Change the opening phrase to that does not fit the rest of a sentence “After hitting the man with the spray” and does not accomplish what the writer or “After the man was sprayed.” thinks it does. It may apply to the wrong A newspaper example follows. The person or thing or to nothing. writer had escaped an earthquake. As a rule, modifiers adjoin the words they modify. (See Modifying.) In the ex- Now, finally, overlooking the Golden ample above, the writer wanted a phrase Gate Bridge, tears started to fall, tears at the beginning of the sentence to mod- of gratitude. ify the word at the end, “cannabis.” The placement of the phrase and its lack of This seems to say that the falling tears subject and verb encourage its bonding overlooked the bridge, a senseless state- with the nearby subject of the sentence, ment unless “tears,” the subject, is a “Bashilange women.” Here is a possible metaphor for rain. Change “overlook- correction: “Bashilange women were ing” to as we overlooked, or else change rarely allowed to smoke cannabis, al- “tears started to fall” to we started to though it was widely used by the men.” shed tears. In each of the four examples coming A dangler can appear at the end of a next, the noun that is supposed to be sentence. The example is from an article modified is not even there; it exists only about alcoholic policemen. in the mind of the writer or speaker. The dangling phrase affixes itself to the sub- Termination is recommended if found ject that is there. drunk on the job. A news report on national television about a car accident included this sen- The subject is “Termination,” which of tence: course cannot be “found drunk” though the sentence literally suggests otherwise. Severely burned and nearly an invalid, After “if,” insert an officer is. her lawyer expects that any agreement The examples above illustrate what with General Motors will require se- textbooks and teachers call the dangling crecy. participle and have derided for generations. Whoever coined the term evi- If any who heard it sympathized with the dently visualized a participle dangling lawyer, blame the opening phrase. precariously from a sentence. H. W. Grammatically it applies to the subject, Fowler called them unattached partici- “her lawyer.” The description could ples. As he saw them, they were not even have been placed in another sentence: dangling. They have been called also “The girl is severely burned and nearly confused, disconnected, misrelated, susan invalid. Her lawyer expects....” pended, and wrongly attached partici- This was on the radio: ples. (See Participle for a definition.) After being hit by the spray, the officers called the fire department and an B. Some other danglers ambulance. The problem goes beyond participles. Danglers come in different varieties, Anyone who had just tuned in could rea- such as adjectival, adverbial, and nounal sonably gather that officers had been hit phrases. Examples follow, first a caption 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 232

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that appeared under a picture of a car- called the journalistic dangler. It is a de- toon character. scriptive noun phrase that comes at the end of a sentence and bears no grammat- At 52, the feisty little black duck’s star ical relationship to the rest of the sen- may finally be on the rise. tence. Often it deals with a precedent or a record. It may follow a dash. Five illus- The subject is the duck’s “star,” which, trations from the press follow. we are literally told, is 52 (young for an astronomic object). If that is the duck’s By the time the last valve is in place, age (an advanced age for a fowl), one the tunnel’s price tag is expected to to- way out of the dangling would be to tal $5 billion—the most expensive scrap “At 52.” A sentence could be project financed by the city. added after “rise”: Daffy Duck is 52. (That pile-up of adjectives is dubious The phrase following the dash does not too. Commas would help: “The feisty, connect with anything. One expects it to little, black duck’s. . . .”) modify “$5 billion,” for it immediately This was broadcast on a national ra- follows it. Now “$5 billion” is an dio news program: amount, a cost, or a sum, but it is not a “project.” Change the phrase to some- Travelers checks may protect you thing like this: “—the highest sum for against thieves while on vacation. any project ever financed by the city.”

It seems to imply that traveler’s checks, if Sister Francis Russell has co- not thieves, are on vacation. After founded a home for needy men, “while,” insert you are. women and children, resettled Cam- Up to now, the examples all have con- bodian refugees in Denver, Cubans in tained phrases applying to the wrong Cheyenne, and recently received the words. But sometimes a phrase just dan- Social Worker of the Year award from gles there, applying to nothing in the rest the National Association of Social of the sentence. This example is from a Workers—the first recipient to have restaurant review: been active in the anti-nuclear movement. More culinary independence was shown with what the menu called The phrase following the dash ought to “Pork, Chicken and Veal Spiedini” modify the “award,” but “the first recip- ($7.50) with Polenta. Basically a ient . . .” does not do it. Either make the grilled brochette, there was no phrase a separate sentence (“She is the chicken anywhere in sight. first recipient of the award . . .”) or rephrase it (“—the first such award pre- The latter sentence makes no sense. The sented to someone active in . . .”). By the first part of it has nothing to do with the way, the sentence has other faults, in- second part grammatically or logically. cluding a bad series and confusing punc- Splitting it into two sentences helps to tuation. (Omit the comma after correct it: “It was basically a grilled bro- “Denver” and substitute and. Change chette. There was no chicken anywhere the commas after “children” and in sight.” “Cheyenne” to semicolons. See Punctua- tion, 11; Series errors.) C. Journalistic danglers There is a similar type of dangler, so For a while it appeared that the common in newspapers that it might be parties would simply be canceled, 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 233

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a multibillion-dollar disaster for common, and nobody will think that the Tokyo’s hotels and restaurants. stomach is speaking. “Let’s play one more game, winner take all.” There the What does “a multibillion-dollar disas- unconnected phrase comes at the end. ter” modify? Nothing visible. Preceding “The storm having ended, we set sail on it with a verb, say causing, rescues the the third of May.” / “My secretary being sentence. ill, I hired a temporary employee.” That A newspaper and a news agency cov- form is well established, though considered the same event, and the lead para- ered artificial by some. One difficulty is graphs of both stories contained that someone may be tempted to insert a journalistic danglers of similar wording: comma, incorrectly, after the first noun (storm or secretary). Residents of Sacramento, Calif., Absolute constructions include ad- voted Tuesday to shut down their util- verbs, such as admittedly, conceivably, ity’s only nuclear power plant, the first happily, and thankfully; participles, as- time voters have decided to close a suming, barring, concerning, consider- working reactor. ing, failing, following, given, granted, judging, provided, and regarding; par- Residents of the capital area have ticipial phrases, all things considered, devoted to shut down the trouble- pending on, generally speaking, and plagued Rancho Seco nuclear power speaking of; and other phrases, after all, plant, the first time such a facility has by and large, on the whole, in the long been closed by voters. run, in the final analysis, to be frank, and to be honest. What does “the first time” modify? Not This is acceptable: “Considering the the nearest noun, “plant”; not “Resi- era, it was a remarkable accomplish- dents”; not anything obvious. Again, the ment” Considering is not connected dangling phrase may be placed in a sepa- with the subject. But this is a dangling rate sentence, for instance: “This is the participle: “Considering his merits, my first time. . . .” Or else: “For the first cat deserves to win the contest.” The cat time, voters have decided to close a seems to be engaged in an intellectual working nuclear reactor. Residents of pursuit. the Sacramento area voted Tuesday to shut down. . . .” (It was the first time E. Danglers that dangle where?—in the world, in the U.S.A.? Let us end our discussion of danglers Neither story explained.) with a couple of sentences from news stories (about the Amazon Basin and D. Absolute constructions Kennedy Airport) in which things are Some expressions resemble danglers, said to really dangle. yet they have won the right to exist alongside their grammatical cousins. As the boats swerved among They are absolute constructions. A word palms, rosewood and wild fruit trees, or phrase in that category is not gram- the rescue team kept ducking to avoid matically connected with the sentence it vines and aerial roots, dangling like appears in. Referring to no specific thing dangerous nooses overhead. or person, it modifies a thought in a general way. Here are some examples: “Strictly A cigarette dangling from his mouth, speaking, the stomach is an organ of di- he said he wanted to sit down with gestion.” The opening phrase is very the Port Authority management to 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 234

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discuss his “plan” to legalize Smarte facts are related: “Murphy, an amateur Carte hustling. astronomer, discovered a comet last year.” / “A corporate executive, he is To keep the rescue team from “dan- well to do.” gling,” make it which dangled. And to See also HAVE, HAS, HAD, 1; WHO, avoid equating the man at the airport 2. with a dangling cigarette, precede the latter sentence with With. 3. Misplaced See also Gerund, 2 (more dangling participles). A. Ludicrous placement This sentence appeared in a restaurant 2. Extraneous “guide” in a neighborhood newspaper: The newspaper article quoted below is referring not to four governors (the Enjoy Scallops Provencal or fresh diminutive governor, the conservative salmon cooked to order while watch- governor, etc.), but to only one. ing football.

Mr. Mecham’s decision . . . pro- If the fish’s last request is to see the Super voked a constitutional confrontation Bowl on TV, the phrase “while watching between the Legislature and the first- football” is in the right place. More term Republican Governor.... likely, it belongs at the beginning of the After his statement, the 63-year-old sentence. Governor agreed to answer questions A modifier tends to bond with a posed by the committee. . . . nearby word or phrase. When the modi- The diminutive Governor arrived fier is placed too far from what it is sup- at the hearing dressed in a powder posed to modify, the result can be blue suit. . . . ludicrous, like the example above or the The recall campaign and a boycott four examples that follow. of the state by many convention The moderator of a television forum groups began almost as soon as the ended the program by saying, “Thank conservative Governor took office. you all for watching very much.” Was he thanking people for watching very much This illustrates a peculiar journalistic television? More likely the phrase “very practice. Instead of devoting a sentence much” was misplaced, belonging imme- or paragraph to a description of a per- diately after “all.” son, the writer sticks in descriptions at Interviewed on television, a lawyer irrelevant places. told families of homicide victims: Sometimes an extraneous modifying phrase interrupts a sentence: “Marceca, You have the right to recover, the a civilian Army employee, refused to tes- same as if someone ran over your little tify at a Senate hearing Friday.” At times girl in the street who was drunk. it starts a sentence: “Born in . . . Aus- tralia . . . , Mr. Mitchell served as a Royal He was not implying that they would Canadian Air Force pilot. . . .” / “A give their small daughters booze. Again, West Point graduate from Bridgeport, the final phrase was misplaced. Here is Conn., Mr. Mucci ran unsuccessfully for where it should have been: “. . . the Congress. . . .” Neither of the forms rep- same as if someone who was drunk ran resented by the quotations is necessarily over....” wrong. Either is acceptable when the A heading in a postal brochure reads: 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 235

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Let everyone know you’re headline said he had learned from TV moving ahead of time. that the President had announced his dismissal as a staff member of the Na- Literally it says to announce a premature tional Security Council. The phrase from move. To make it say what was in- TV needed to modify learned, not tended, put “ahead of time” ahead of “fired.” “you’re moving.” “Torture Is Depicted in Turkey” im- This message seems to be a fixture on plies that someone in Turkey has de- so-called noncommercial television: scribed the matter in pictures or words. Actually the description took place in With twelve billion dollars in annual England, where a group (Amnesty Inter- sales, your broker knows McKesson. national) had issued a report that accused Turkish authorities of harming No doubt he would love to do that much political prisoners. “Torture in Turkey Is business. The phrase preceding the Depicted” would have been right. The comma belongs after “McKesson.” phrase in Turkey needed to modify Tor- Excerpts from a newspaper and a ture, not “Depicted.” magazine are reminiscent of Groucho “Children gather to celebrate life at Marx’s tale of the time “I shot an ele- Mount Zion Hospital” boosts the hospi- phant in my pajamas.” tal. But the story said that former patients in the intensive care nursery had Police said he was convicted . . . of a attended a party “to celebrate the gift of misdemeanor . . . after he was stopped life,” not life at the hospital. The head- by police in a stolen truck. line’s last four words need relocation, as in this version: “Children gather at Face and hands greasepainted gold, . . . Mount Zion Hospital to celebrate life.” he collects a hefty amount of money from European tourists in a gold can. The rest of the city relies on Staten Is- land mainly as a garbage dump; more Groucho wondered what the elephant than three-quarters of the city’s was doing “in my pajamas.” We can garbage is disposed of in a vast landfill wonder what the police were doing “in a on the island known as Fresh Kills. stolen truck” and what the European tourists were doing “in a gold can.” A reader might wonder: is “the island B. Ambiguous or misleading placement known as Fresh Kills” off the coast of As absurdly as the above examples are Staten Island, or did the writer put the worded, their meanings are nonetheless phrase “known as Fresh Kills” in the understandable. The six press quota- wrong place? A possible editing: “. . . a tions below illustrate that separating a vast landfill, known as Fresh Kills, on modifier from what it is supposed to the island.” modify can obscure or transform the This excerpt deals with a concert in message. We start with three headlines; Prague: in each the modifying phrase was wrongly placed last. Mr. Neumann, who conducted Readers of the headline “North with a large Civic Forum button in his learned he was fired from TV” could lapel, was joined on the stage after the reasonably deduce that North had last movement, the “Hymn to Joy,” worked in TV. But the story under the by Vaclav Havel, the playwright who 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 236

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is the Forum’s leader and presidential 4. Piled up candidate. The practice of piling up modifiers on top of a noun is a journalistic practice Havel would not have appeared to get that results from an effort to be terse. In credit for a Beethoven composition if the a typical example, a press item identified sentence had begun, “After the last a man as “South Oklahoma City Cham- movement, the ‘Hymn to Joy,’ Mr. Neu- ber of Commerce executive vice presi- mann. . . .” dent Jim Crosby.” The standard This one deals with health records of construction would be “Jim Crosby, ex- nuclear weapons workers: ecutive vice president of the South Okla- homa City Chamber of Commerce.” Last month, the Department of En- The writer’s purpose seemed to be to ergy halted an agency letter from be- save the space of of, the, and a comma. It ing sent to the group that officially can get more confusing, as in this item denied its request. from a magazine:

What was O. J. Simpson white knight Taken alone, the sentence seems to say Johnnie Cochran doing popping into that a certain “group that officially de- the fraud trial of Robert Maxwell’s nied” a certain request of the depart- sons in London recently? [Emphasis ment almost received some kind of letter. added to modifiers.] A study of the context suggests this reinterpretation: At first the item seems to be about Simp- son. While the style saves a minute The Department of Energy had pre- amount of space, it may waste a bit of pared to send the group a letter that the reader’s time by obliging him to officially denied its request, but the reread a passage to understand it. department decided last month not to Seven words, a figure, and an initial- send it. ism intervene between “purchase” and “buses” in this sentence from a newslet- This version, bringing the letter and its ter: message together, would have averted the confusion (and left no one wonder- In January 1996, the Golden Gate ing what an “agency letter” was and Bus Transit Division got the go ahead how it differed from any other letter). to purchase 30 newly designed Motor Coach Industries (MCI) “Commuter C. Unidiomatic placement Special” buses. [Emphasis added.] Adverbs can get misplaced in unnecessary efforts to avoid split infinitives or A neater and clearer sentence would get the division of verb phrases. See Adjec- to “buses” sooner, deferring part of that tives and adverbs, 2; Infinitive, 4; Verbs, description (and putting a hyphen in go- 4. ahead). To avoid a mere two-letter word, D. Intrusion between THE and noun someone writes, “Police arrested him on The, the definite article, pertains to receiving stolen goods charges,” instead what is already known. A common de- of “charges of receiving stolen goods.” fect in the press is to intrude an adjective Then there are the strings of hyphenated with new information between the and nouns used as adjectives, such as “the its noun. See THE, 2C. workers’ 50-cents-an-hour wage- 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 237

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increase demand,” instead of “The Of the several special-education stu- workers’ demand for a wage increase of dents aboard the bus, only one suf- 50 cents an hour.” fered minor injuries from flying glass. See also Nouns, 5; Prepositions, 6; Ti- tles, 1; UNLIKE, 1. A person who had tuned in late and heard that sentence alone might reason- 5. Restrictive ably wonder: Did the others suffer major This is the last paragraph of a crime injuries from flying glass? Minor injuries story distributed by a national news ser- from other causes? Major injuries from vice: other causes? The problem lay in the modifiers of the noun “injuries” that the After Mr. L—— was arrested, he telecaster had jammed into the sentence. confessed to the Monday burglary. Those modifiers, “minor” (adjective) and “from flying glass” (prepositional On reading the sentence above, one phrase), tended to restrict the meaning. might wonder if there was a Sunday bur- One who had heard the whole piece, of glary, a Saturday burglary, and so on. which the above excerpt is the final sen- Slipping in the word “Monday” tends to tence, might guess that this message was restrict the meaning. It implies that bur- intended: glaries were committed on more than one day but that the arrested man con- . . . Only one suffered any injuries. fessed only to the one on Monday. That They were minor wounds, caused by is not the case; only one burglary was flying glass. under investigation. The essential fact is that the man confessed it. Here each fact is isolated, not confused Four paragraphs above, the story by any other fact. mentions that the man was arrested on a Tuesday. That might have been a good 6. Senseless place to make known that the arrest Announcements like this make one came a day after the crime. Instead, the want to talk to the television set: writer waited until the end to stick the fact about Monday in a place where it We will be back two weeks from did not belong. tonight. Until then, this is Dan Rather. Here is a similar example, by a newspaper writer: Who will you be then, Dan? “Until then” made no sense and could easily The patient was reported in stable have been left out. condition after the 7:30 a.m. opera- Phrases of that sort often conclude tion. broadcasts, their purpose evidently being to connect sentences and provide The qualifier “7:30 a.m.” could make a smooth transitions. They have little or reader wonder if there was, say, a noon no meaning. operation or a 6:45 p.m. operation too. Radio disc jockeys typically utter lines Three paragraphs earlier, the story says like this: “You’re listening to KAZOO, that the operation lasted more than six Zanyville, where the time is 7:39 a.m.” hours. That would have been an ideal What time is it elsewhere in town? place for the time. Two variables becloud the sentence Modifying. To modify in grammar is below, broadcast on network television. to qualify or limit or alter the sense of (a 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 238

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word or group of words). In “the red mood is just a variation of mode. It mill,” for instance, the adjective red shows the mode, or manner, in which a modifies the noun mill. In “They run speaker or writer wants to represent an fast,” the adverb fast modifies the verb action, whether factually, command- run. ingly, or otherwise. A modifier is a word or word group Grammarians call the moods indica- that modifies another word or word tive, imperative, and subjunctive. group. It may be an adjective, an adverb, By far, the most frequently used one is a participle, a phrase, etc. See Modifiers the indicative mood. It is the ordinary for a catalogue of misused varieties, such verb form. It suggests that one is present- as danglers. ing a fact or asking a question about fact. Every sentence in this entry up to MOISTURIZE. See -IZE ending, 1. now is in that mood. In the imperative mood, one gives a MOM, MAMA, MA. Mom origi- command or tells someone to do some- nates in baby talk. It is short for mama, thing. Examples of sentences in that also spelled mamma and momma, which mood are “Come here” / “Stop, look, is a doubling of ma. Ma is an infantile and listen” / “Friends, Romans, country- utterance that is common internation- men, lend me your ears.” ally. The subjunctive mood is for various Such terms are expected in children’s statements or questions in which the ac- vocabulary and among the appellations tions are doubtful, hypothetical, condi- by which adults address their mothers. tional, or otherwise not factual. It is the They appear increasingly in other collo- mood that is used least often. See Sub- quial speech. Except in quotations, none junctive. of them has any place in more formal speech or writing, particularly in an oth- MORAL and MORALE. See Con- erwise solemn piece like an obituary: fusing pairs.

K——’s mom said he loved to surf MORE and MOST. It is a rather so much that he will have a surfer’s fu- common error to use “most” in place of neral with an ocean ceremony off more. A news article produced the ex- Stinson at sunset on Friday.... Ser- ample. vices will be held at 4 p.m. Friday at his father’s house in Stinson Beach. Foreign analysts here are undecided over which version [of events in Note that the quoted obituary does not China], the ofﬁcial or the foreign, is say “his pop’s house” or his “papa’s” or most believed. “dad’s” or “daddy’s” house. “Mom” stands out conspicuously and undigni- “Most” should be changed to more, be- ﬁedly. Only one word takes its place: cause only two versions are mentioned. mother. The rule is that when just two things are compared, more (comparative) is the MONKEY. See APE and MONKEY. word to use; and when three or more things are compared, most (superlative) Mood. The word mood as used in is the word. grammar is a set of verb forms. It does See also Comparative and superlative not have anything to do with the happy degrees; MORE with COMPARATIVE; or sad type of mood. The grammatical MOST with superlative. 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 239

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MORE THAN and OVER. See There is a way to empower your chil- OVER and MORE THAN. dren and make them far more better and powerful students. MORE THAN ONE. Although a ...You have canker sores and that’s logical case could perhaps be made for its going to let the organism get in a little plurality, the phrase more than one is more easier. usually treated as singular. “More than one union claims jurisdiction.” / “There In the first quotation, omit “more.” In is more than one way to skin a catfish.” the second, relocate it (“far better and (One draws the next word, the subject more powerful”). In the third, keep it noun [union or way], into its singular but change “easier” to easily (“a little sphere of influence; and the predicate more easily”). verb [claims or is] agrees with the noun.) More and the -er ending, which It is different when the phrase more means more, are redundant together. than one is split up. “More unions than One speaking standard English does not one claim jurisdiction.” / “There are normally say “more sweeter” / “more more ways than one to skin a catfish.” better” / “more easier,” and so on. (The plural implication of more makes (Speakers of Hawaiian pidgin do say the subject noun that follows it [unions such things.) or ways] plural; the predicate verb [claim “More preferable” is another redun- or are] agrees with the noun.) dancy. “More” is usually superfluous, In the journalistic sample below, the because preferable is a comparative trouble transcends the question of singu- form. lar versus plural. See also Comparative and superlative degrees; MOST with superlative. More than one out of five Hispanics in HISD [Houston Independent MOST and MORE. See MORE and School District] drops out of school. MOST.

If the statement had said that “one out of MOST with superlative. An article five Hispanics in HISD drops out . . . ,” it about selecting meat appeared with this would not be arguable. But the “more mistake (or shall we say “mis-steak”?): than one” phrasing is an absurdity. More “The filet mignon, he said, is the most than one person is at least two persons; tenderest but also has the least flavor.” you cannot have, say, a person and a half. You may say that something is the Presumably the writer meant not two (or most tender or the tenderest but not that she would have said so) but something it is the “most tenderest.” Most (as an like “22 percent of Hispanics” or “more adverb) does not go with any word con- than one-fifth of Hispanics.” taining the suffix -est, which means the same as most. Someone can be the most MORE with comparative. More clever or the cleverest, the most happy or does not go with the comparative form the happiest, the most silly or the silliest, of any descriptive word. The radio and so on. speakers who slipped up as follows Certain superlatives take only the probably knew that elementary rule. most form. Most regularly precedes adjectives and adverbs of three or more syl- Sometimes it [purple asparagus] can lables (such as astounding and terribly) be a little more sweeter than the green and sometimes those of fewer syllables asparagus. (such as dreadful and aptly). 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 240

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Some other adjectives and adverbs don’t depend much on the government” take only the -est form (for example, few is synonymous with “We don’t depend and fast, which become fewest and greatly on the government.” fastest). Still others are irregular (good Much can be an adjective (“It gives and less becoming best and least). me much pleasure”). It can also be a See also Comparative and superlative noun, meaning a large amount or quan- degrees; MORE with comparative. tity (“Did you find much”?) or a great thing (“The job is not much”). MOTHER. See MOM, MAMA, MA. MUNCH. Dictionaries do not agree MUCH. 1. “A BIT MUCH.” 2. on how munch originated. Some say it “MUCHLY.” was an imitation of chewing. Others say it came from the French manger, to eat, 1. “A BIT MUCH” plus the English crunch by way of the The contemporary cliché represented Middle English munchen. To most of by these press excerpts seems a bit con- them, munch suggests the sound of tradictory: “His IRA penalties seem a bit chewing. The chewing is at least ample much” / “Houseman says the success of and vigorous and perhaps steady. Is his S-B ad has become a bit much” / munching really going on in the press ex- “The Government began to fear that the amples below? reaction was a bit much.” When “bit” and “much” are juxta- Wednesday evening at the Opera posed, the idea of smallness or modera- House, Dance Theater of Harlem in- tion clashes with the idea of largeness or vited the community to munch on a notableness. bit of birthday cake. [Only “a bit of” Such a clash occurred also when “a cake for the whole community?] little” became the modifier, in a television forum: “To be shocked that this is The streets of the city still are filled going on [charging people money to dine with people of money munching bran with the president] is a little much.” muffins as they push their way Too much means an excessive through the crowd. [A strange por- amount, degree, or extent. That amount trait of San Francisco.] etc. may be only slightly excessive: a little too much or a bit too much. To omit Too late for a prime table, they the too is to create a contradiction. seemed to be happy in a tiny corner In the first example, a headline, there spot[,] munching on steak sandwiches is also a conflict between the plural and beer. “penalties” and the singular “much.” See MANY and MUCH. You munch raw carrots and crisp toast, not a typical, fluffy birthday cake. A 2. “MUCHLY” bran muffin is not likely to be munched Occasionally someone attaches a su- either. Sandwiches on toast may require perfluous -ly to much, either mistakenly munching, but how on earth does any- or facetiously (“Thank you muchly”). one munch beer? H. W. Fowler dismissed “muchly” as worn-out humor in 1926, and it has not MURDER. See Crimes, 4. grown funnier since then. Centuries back it was used seriously and deemed proper. MUST HAVE and “MUSTA.” See Much is now the standard adverb. “We HAVE, HAS, HAD, 2. 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 241

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MUTUAL. The adjective mutual de- tual friend” is that the adjective com- scribes a relationship between two per- mon, connoting “low” or “ordinary,” sons or things in which there is an would be a stigma. But a friend in com- interaction or exchange: mutual admira- mon would not. If Jack and Jill like tion, mutual assistance, mutual fear. climbing hills, they have a common— An old use of the word to describe not “mutual”—interest. something held in common was popularized by the Dickens novel Our Mutual MYSELF. See Pronouns, 3, 4. Friend. A dictionary’s rationale for “mu- 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 242

Names of products. See Trade- nanus, which came from the Greek marks. nanos. The words mean dwarf. See also BILLION. Names, plural. See Plurals and singulars, 2H, K. NATIONALITY. See RACE and NATIONALITY. NANO- prefix. Nano- is a combining form meaning billionth (in the NATURAL GAS. See GAS. American sense: one part in 1,000,000,000). It is used in scientific NAUSEATED and NAUSEOUS. contexts. A nanocurie is one billionth of The title “Feeling Nauseous” flashed on a curie. A nanogram is one billionth of a the television screen several times to an- gram. A nanometer is one billionth of a nounce a forthcoming report on motion meter. A nanosecond is one billionth of sickness. Nauseated was needed. “Nau- a second. Although it is a theoretical seous,” although common in conversa- unit and brief beyond perception, it has tion, is improper for more formal use. been seized by nonscientists for displays Nauseated (adjective) means suffering of verbal extravagance. from nausea (noun), a feeling of sickness A journalist said, in a TV forum, that in the stomach. “I feel nauseated.” a political adviser had worked for a can- That which is nauseous (adjective) didate, not for a day or a week, but “for produces nausea. “It’s a nauseous gas.” a nanosecond.” The host of a radio talk A synonym is nauseating. show said, “Anyone who can think for A person can be nauseated without more than a nanosecond knows how being nauseous in the same way that a specious that whole line of argumenta- person can be endangered, periled, or tion [for natural birth control] is.” A poisoned without being dangerous, per- headline in a full-page, full-color maga- ilous, or poisonous. zine ad for an employment service read, To nauseate (verb, transitive) some- “Opportunity Knocks Every Other one is to produce nausea in the person. Nanosecond In Silicon Valley.” Perhaps “The gas nauseates me.” / “The rough the company felt that “Every Nanosec- sea has nauseated us.” Less common rel- ond” would be overdoing it. Still, a hint atives are nauseation and nauseousness of 500 million jobs every second depre- (nouns) and nauseatingly and nau- ciated the ad’s credibility. seously (adverbs). Nano- was drawn from the Latin All those n-words come from the

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Greek nausia, meaning seasickness. It prison” was an escape or not. As for lis- stems from naus, ship, the origin of our teners: oral reports have no punctuation. word nautical. There are better ways to express the idea of a narrowly averted air accident, NAUTICAL MILE. See KNOT. or other mishap, as in the following examples. An article was headed, “Planes NAVAL and NAVEL. Three food Just Miss Collision Over Sea.” One sen- stores sold “NAVAL” oranges. So indi- tence of the text said, “Both crews cated a newspaper advertisement, a win- planned to file official near-collision re- dow sign, and sales receipts. None of the ports with the F.A.A.” The Dole story stores suggested any connection between said that a plane carrying her “was in- the navy and the oranges. (For instance, volved in a near-collision with another “These vitamin-rich fruits are good for aircraft.” the high C’s, a sweet treat for the fleet!”) Hence we can assume that they all mis- NEAT. Nothing is wrong with a neat spelled what should have been NAVEL. home, desk, or person—one that is A seedless orange that bears a depres- spick-and-span, orderly, uncluttered. A sion resembling a navel is called a navel neat trick or job is performed with orange. The navel (noun) is the mark on adroitness, deftness, precision. And if the abdomen representing the place you drink whiskey neat, undiluted, you where the umbilical cord was connected can get drunk quickly. to the fetus. Naval (adjective), as in On the other hand, “neat” in the juve- naval officer, pertains to a navy. If you nile sense is slang: like “cool,” an all- need a memory aid, you can think of the purpose adjective of approval, a’s in anchors aweigh. synonymous with “keen,” “groovy,” and “swell” from earlier eras. Adults NEAR MISS. “Canadian Jet in Near- have been perpetuating the childish use Miss,” a headline said. The incident may of “neat.” be described as a near-accident, a near- In response to a news report of a disaster, or a near-tragedy, but it was an robot designed to save lives by destroy- actual miss. ing land mines, a young woman at a TV When near is tied to the noun with a anchor desk made this penetrating com- hyphen, it implies that the accident, dis- ment: “That’s pretty neat.” aster, tragedy, or other incident almost On the same day, also on TV, a noted occurred. It came close to occurring critic expressed his discerning appraisal but was barely avoided. The miss was of the Theremin, the electronic musical not avoided. What should have been instrument: “It sounds neat.” avoided was the hyphen—or, better yet, A book instructs computer users that the whole phrase. a certain program “has a neat way to What about these two headlines, with change text” and that “you can do all no hyphen?—“Near Miss for Elizabeth kinds of neat things with headers....” Dole” and “Near Miss Reported in See also COOL. Smoke.” Near can also mean narrow. As an example, at least four dictionaries NEE. Nee or née, pronounced NAY, give “near escape.” So we cannot con- means born, as it does in French. It is demn whoever wrote those two head- used to introduce the maiden surname of lines. But why use an expression that can a married woman, for instance “I am be confusing? Some readers may not Gladys Goldman, née O’Brien.” In strict know whether a “near escape from use, it is not followed by the woman’s 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 244

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given name, only by her name at birth: “nor” are followed by different parts of her family name. speech. A legend under a published photo- The simplest way to fix the sentence is graph identified a governor with “Mrs. to exchange the positions of “neither” Thomas Pattinson, nee Marcy Taylor,” and “cater to,” thereby equating noun who under her original name gained and noun: “. . . Pravda would cater to celebrity for a valorous act. Formerly neither conservatives [noun] nor radicals would have been preferable, because the [noun]. . . .” Another way is to exchange given name needed to be mentioned but “neither” and “cater” and add another did not properly go with “nee.” to to the “nor” side, thereby equating See also BORN with name. prepositional phrases: “. . . Pravda would cater neither to conservatives nor NEEDLESS TO SAY. See OF to radicals. . . .” COURSE, 3. Neither does not go with “or.” How- ever, if nor introduces two closely related Negatives. See “AIN’T”; “AREN’T nouns, or may connect them: “Neither I?”; AS, 4; BECAUSE, 1; BUT, 6; Con- Bennett nor Johnson or his wife was in tractions, 2; Double negative; Ellipsis; the house when the fire broke out.” FLAMMABLE (etc.); Infinitive, 4; LIKE, See also NOR. 1; NEITHER; NEVER MIND; NO CHOICE; NO WAY; NONE; NOR; 2. Negativity NOT; NOT ABOUT TO; NOT ONLY; Neither without nor means not either NOT TO MENTION; PROOFREAD (adjective) or not either one (pronoun). (etc.); REALLY (end); Reversal of mean- Respective examples: “She selected nei- ing, 1; THAT, ALL THAT; TOO, 1; ther suitor” and “She selected neither.” TO SAY NOTHING OF; UNLIKE; Inasmuch as neither carries a negative WHICH, 1; WILLY-NILLY. meaning, it is wrong in a sentence like this, which has another negative: “I NEITHER. 1. Equation. 2. Negativ- didn’t go neither.” Use either to avoid a ity. 3. Number and person. double negative. Two dialogues from a situation com- 1. Equation edy follow. Each response has two Neither . . . nor must connect two words, both wrong. equal things. So must either . . . or and similar forms (correlative conjunctions). [Elaine:] I haven’t been eating any- One side must be grammatically parallel thing different. to the other. If a verb follows neither, a [Jerry:] Me either. verb follows nor; if a noun, a noun; and so on. This quotation is aberrant: [Mother:] I’ve never seen your arm move like that. In a news conference, the Pravda [Father:] Me either. editor, Ivan T. Frolov, also vowed that under his direction Pravda would nei- The negative does not carry over from ther cater to conservatives nor radi- the first speaker to the second. The latter cals. . . . needs his own negative, whether neither or another n-word. Among correct re- The sentence is not logical. It says sponses that could have been put in the that Pravda would neither “cater” (verb) script are “I neither” / “Neither have I” / nor “radicals” (noun). “Neither” and “Nor have I” / Jerry: “I haven’t either” / 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 245

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Father: “I’ve never seen it either.” (“Me constitutionally defeat action by the either” might at best be defended as an rest of the government to meet the ellipsis, or a short form, for a sentence country’s responsibilities abroad. that nobody would be likely to utter: “Me haven’t been eating anything differ- When nouns that immediately follow ent either” or “Me have never seen it ei- neither and nor are singular, the verb is ther.” Maybe Tarzan could get away singular: “Neither Jim nor Al earns with “Me” instead of I for the subject of much money” (not “earn”). When both a sentence, but native speakers of English nouns are plural, the verb is plural: should know better. See Pronouns, 10.) “Neither gems nor precious metals were found in the wreckage.” 3. Number and person When the nouns differ in number, Neither without nor is construed as should the verb be singular or plural? If singular. A verb that follows must be sin- the plural noun is nearer to the verb than gular: “Only two of the suits are left and the singular noun, the verb should be neither fits me” (not “fit”). plural: “Neither his wife nor his sisters Any object of the verb also is singular like his politics.” But if the singular noun if it would normally be singular for an is nearer, a problem arises. In the sen- individual subject. This is from a news tence, “Neither his sisters nor his wife article: ———his politics,” some authorities would allow likes, others like. The ad- Neither of the women, who were said vice here is to place the plural noun to be babysitting the children, was (“sisters”) second, as in the former ex- wearing seat belts. . . . ample, or to recast the sentence, e.g.: The verb, “was wearing,” is correctly “His wife and sisters dislike his politics.” singular; but the object is inconsistently Any possessive pronoun that follows plural: “seat belts.” Neither was wearing nor also must agree in number with the a seat belt. (The material between the verb: “Neither Charles nor Susan owns commas is irrelevant to the main his or her own home” (not “their”). thought and belongs in another sen- A final puzzle concerns the verb fol- tence.) lowing a personal pronoun. An author- Neither without nor pertains to only ity lets the nearer subject govern the two things or two persons, not to three verb: “Neither he nor I am at fault.” / or more. “Neither of the two boys” / “Neither I nor he is at fault.” But revi- “neither of the couple” / “neither of the sion may be better: “He is not at fault, pair” are correct. “Her feelings were and neither am I.” very hurt that neither of the three of us See also EITHER. showed up” (said by a caller to a radio psychologist) is incorrect. See NONE, 1. NEVER MIND. A weekly’s front The neither . . . nor construction page contained the headline “Never- sometimes applies to more than two mind the English” (referring to competi- things or two persons: “Neither snow, tion from New Zealand in popular nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night music). In a column in a daily, one read, stays these couriers. . . .” Note that nor “Nevermind that I had repeatedly been is repeated for each item. This excerpt warned . . .” (not to lean too far back in from a book is not idiomatic: a chair). Never mind is a phrase of two words: . . . Neither the President, Congress as the adverb never, meaning at no time or a whole, nor either of its houses may not at all; and the verb mind, meaning to 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 246

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pay attention to or care about someone one may refer to Japanese immigrants, or something (transitive) or to take no- children or grandchildren of Japanese tice or be concerned (intransitive). immigrants, or Americans of Japanese The journalists were probably unfa- ancestry. miliar with the song “Never Mind the Why and Wherefore”—stressing mind— NOBEL PRIZE. Two scientists at the from Gilbert and Sullivan’s H.M.S. University of California School of Pinafore. Medicine were being honored for a discovery concerning cancer cells. “Today NEVERTHELESS. See BUT, 5. they won the Nobel Peace Prize for Medicine,” a newscaster announced on NEW RECORD. See RECORD. television. She was confused. The Dalai Lama of Tibet won the Nobel Peace NICKEL. The metallic element sym- Prize that year. His activities had nothing bolized by Ni is nickel. The five-cent to do with medical discoveries, and the piece is a nickel, after one of its metals. research of the scientists, Bishop and Both end in -el only. Varmus, had nothing to do with the pro- In defining “nickle,” Webster’s has motion of peace. been fickle. It was a local British term for The peace prize is decided and “the green woodpecker” in the second awarded in Norway; the prize in dictionary. Webster’s Third ignores the medicine or physiology, in Sweden along bird and calls “nickle” a “var of with separate prizes for accomplish- NICKEL,” instead of the misspelling it ments in chemistry, economics, litera- is. ture, and physics. A bequest of Alfred B. Nobel, Swedish chemist and the inventor NIL and NILL. See WILLY-NILLY. of dynamite, established the Nobel Prizes in five fields. They were first NISEI. A biography harks back to awarded in 1901. The Bank of Sweden World War II and added the economics prize in 1969. Win- ners get money and medals. the case of the 112,000 Nisei, over 75,000 of them native-born American NOBODY. See Pronouns, 2C. citizens, who were removed from their homes on the West Coast and NO CHOICE. A restaurant may of- sent to “relocation centers” in the fer no choice of soups. A dictatorship mountain states. . . . may offer no choice in an election. But “I had no choice”—or “We have no Those who were born in Japan should choice” or a variation on that theme—is not be called “Nisei.” An immigrant to also a hoary excuse for gory acts. the United States from Japan is an Issei; Hitler said, on launching World War the word is Japanese for first generation. II, “I have no other choice” than to fight Nisei, meaning second generation, refers Poland. In the United States, “We have to a U.S.-born child of those immigrants. no choice” was Theodore Roosevelt’s ra- A U.S.-born grandchild of the immi- tionale for the nation’s asserting its grants is a Sansei, which means third power abroad. generation. Each term may be used un- At a time of supposed peace, a na- changed as a plural, or s may be added: tional newspaper reported that U.S. Isseis, Niseis, and Sanseis. planes had attacked Serbian planes. Its If all of that looks too complicated, explanation was that the Serbs had 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 247

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flown contrary to the United Nations’ or not a single one may be a stronger wishes, leaving the Americans “little way to make the point. Unquestionably choice but to blow them out of the sky” none is singular when it means not any (a non sequitur). “Little choice”? The amount or part: “None of the merchan- Americans had the choice of not blowing dise is domestic.” / “She says none of the them out of the sky; the choice of talking advice helps her.” instead of shooting; the choice of going None may be plural when it means home. Life presents most of us with in- not any (people or things): “Of all the numerable choices, and national leaders people in our town, none appear more generally have more choices than the rest industrious than the Lees.” At times it of us. must be plural: “None of these con- A local newspaper reported that tenders have much fondness for one an- the mayor “felt he had no choice but to other.” Using “has” would conflict with fire almost his entire Library Commis- “one another,” which is plural. “None sion. . . .” The headline read, “Jordan of the troops were completely prepared Didn’t Have Choice in ‘Massacre.’ ” But for their mission abroad.” Nobody as a city’s chief executive, he had the would be speaking of one “troop.” choice of not doing it. By the way, to At times none may be regarded as ei- quote a politician’s self-serving blather is ther singular or plural. “Of the models excusable; to headline it without attribu- advertised, none suits me” or “none suit tion, thus presenting it as fact, is not. me.” Singularity is possible in this sentence: “None of the houses is for sale.” Nominative case. See Pronouns, 10. But “houses are” has fewer s’s, a consideration if the sentence is to be spoken. Nondefining clause. See THAT and Whichever construction is selected, WHICH. any related verb and pronoun must agree in number. “None of the machines NONE. 1. Number. 2. Other uses. still works as well as it used to” or “work as well as they used to” / “None 1. Number of the men has his orders yet” or “have None (pronoun) may be construed as their orders yet.” (See also Pronouns, 2.) singular or plural or either, depending on Whether you deem none to be singu- its meaning in a sentence. A pedagogic lar or plural in a particular sentence, and journalistic rule has long held it to stick with your decision. The quotation be singular only. Indeed its original ver- is from a short story in a magazine. sion, in Old English, nan, meant not one: it was a fusion of ne, not, and an, one. None of these players was over 18, Yet most authorities accept both con- and they were trying too hard either structions, and literature records both. for the $100 prize or to impress the In the Bible we find both “trouble is near girls gathering behind them. and there is none to help” and “none come to the appointed feasts.” Dryden Were should replace “was,” which is wrote that “none but the brave deserves inconsistent with “they were” and the fair” and Tennyson, “I hear a voice, “them.” but none are there.” None meaning not any applies to None may mean not one, emphasiz- three or more people or things, not to ing singularity: “I asked each person, two. The phrase “none of the three cats” and none was aware of the problem.” is right but “none of the two cats” is Instead of none, however, using not one wrong. See NEITHER, 3. 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 248

248 nonesuch, nonetheless, none too, etc.

2. Other uses NOR. 1. How it is used. 2. NOR and None (adjective) meaning no is an ar- OR. chaic use that survives in the phrase none other. “The winner was none other 1. How it is used than my sister.” Nor (conjunction) often serves as the A paragon, someone or something negative version of or. It is most com- without equal, may be called a nonesuch mon in the construction neither . . . nor: (noun). “Caruso was a nonesuch among “This is neither fish nor fowl.” In such a singers.” construction, nor is always right. It is no None, as an adverb, appears in the more correct to say “neither . . . or” than following expressions: to say “either . . . nor.” Nor, like or, links alternatives. When • None the less. The phrase none the the alternatives make up the subject of a less or word nonetheless means sentence and each alternative is singular, nevertheless or however. “Small in the verb too must be singular. Example: stature, he was none the less [or “Neither Dan nor Tom speaks French” “nonetheless”] skilled in (not “speak”). When the alternatives are basketball.” plural, the verb is plural. When the alter- • None the plus comparative. In a natives differ in number, complications sentence like “They were none the arise. See NEITHER, 3. wiser,” none means not at all or to A sentence without neither may still no extent. take nor. Example: “The telephone has • None too. In its understatement, this not rung, nor has any mail arrived.” phrase serves as mild sarcasm. It can Such a sentence contains two thoughts, mean not sufficiently: “This horse is or ideas, and the negative force of the none too fast.” Sometimes it is not would not carry over to the second ambiguous, meaning either barely thought without help. Nor furnishes that enough or not quite enough: “We help. (Some may find this construction arrived none too soon.” See also difficult to master or too formal for their TOO. tastes. The second clause may be expressed in other ways, e.g., “and no mail NONESUCH, NONETHELESS, has arrived.”) NONE TOO, etc. See NONE, 2. “Will you condemn him . . . who shows no partiality to princes, nor re- NONFLAMMABLE. See FLAM- gards the rich more than the poor . . . ?” MABLE, INFLAMMABLE, and NON- In that Biblical example, the no unaided FLAMMABLE. would have no effect on the idea about the rich and the poor. Nor negates the “NO NOTHING.” See Double neg- action of the verb regards. “Or” would ative, 1. not do it. See also NEITHER, 1, 2. Nonrestrictive clause. See THAT and WHICH. 2. NOR and OR A rather common error is to use NOON. See A.M., P.M., NOON, “nor” redundantly in place of or. Gener- MIDNIGHT. ally you use or when (1) the sentence is a simple one (that is, it has essentially one NO ONE. See ONE as pronoun, 3; thought) and (2) the negative word or Pronouns, 2C; Reversal of meaning, 1. phrase fits each item. 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 249

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A book says a little airplane “didn’t because the late President Harding did have a rudder, nor a tailplane.” Many not know any better. grammarians would disapprove of the sentence, considering it to contain a dou- The Oxford English Dictionary traces ble negative. (Literally neither . . . nor normalcy to a mathematics dictionary amounts to a double negative; neverthe- published in 1857—eight years before less it is well established.) A better phras- Harding was born. ing is “didn’t have a rudder or a It is the persistent objection to nor- tailplane.” The sentence is simple, and malcy, not the use of the word, that is the one negative (“didn’t have”) fits each based on ignorance. The word is a valid item (each aeronautic part). alternative to normality, but be advised An alternative phrasing is “didn’t of that objection. have a rudder, nor did it have a tail- The statement below was uttered in plane.” The sentence no longer is a sim- 1920 by the man who occupied the ple one (a clause has been added), and White House from 1921 to 1923. It is no longer does the one negative cover it technically impeccable, perhaps too all. Under those circumstances, nor is the slick; it has the earmarks of a speech conjunction to use. writer. In another book we read: “His son’s literary success would never cheer Lord America’s present need is not heroics Auchinleck nor improve relations be- but healing, not nostrums but nor- tween them.” Change “nor” to or. The malcy, not revolution but restoration. sentence is simple, and the first negative (“never”) fits each item (“cheer” and NORTH POLE and MAGNETIC “improve”). POLE. At a national meeting of math- Some grammarians would condone ematics teachers, a salesman was selling the use of nor in each excerpt as a way of compasses. “These compasses draw cir- stressing a difference between the two cles; they won’t point to the North items. It conforms with the practice of Pole,” a columnist wrote. some past writers, including Shake- The magnetic compass, the type of speare and Shaw. Except for those who compass that he probably was alluding fancy themselves in that class, the safest to, does not point to the North Pole. It course is to follow the rules. points to the North Magnetic Pole (or See also OR. Magnetic North Pole). The location of the latter varies from time to time, but atlases published in the 1990s place it NORMALCY. A myth that “Presi- amid the Queen Elizabeth Islands in the dent Harding coined ‘normalcy’ from ig- waters of northern Canada, some 800 norance of ‘normality’ ” has been miles from the true North Pole. (There is perpetuated since the twenties. Two au- another type of navigational compass, thors of a handbook for writers repeated the gyroscopic compass, used on large it (in the above quotation). So did a his- ships, which does point to the true tory teacher of mine in high school. It North Pole, although no one would ex- dates at least from 1929, when a writer pect it to be for sale at a teachers’ con- alleged in a tract of the Society for Pure vention.) English: Just as the earth has two poles, north and south, it has two magnetic poles, If . . . ‘normalcy’ is ever to become an north and south. Either end of a magnet accepted word it will presumably be also is called a magnetic pole. 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 250

250 not

NOT. 1. Ambiguity. 2. Problems of not excessively fancy. The colloquial placement. meaning is that they are not sufficiently fancy. 1. Ambiguity Fred, a farmer, says, “We haven’t had The use of this adverb requires care. too much rain this year.” (Of course -n’t Usually not is definite in its meaning: is a contraction of not.) He could be ei- negation, refusal, in no way, to no de- ther pleased or displeased by the gree, no. Yet in some contexts, as indi- weather. If rain was excessive last year cated below, not can permit widely and flooded his farm but has been nor- varying interpretations. mal this year, Fred may be speaking literally and expressing his relief. On the A. NOT ALL and ALL . . . NOT other hand, if there is a drought, Not all . . . are is different from “haven’t had too much” may be his way all . . . are not. The latter invites confu- of saying “haven’t had enough.” sion. Normally the place for not is im- See also TOO. mediately before the word or phrase that it qualifies. C. NOT with AS These two sentences do not have the It can be confusing to follow not with same meaning: as, in the manner of this example: “Columbus was not the first European • Not all lawyers are truthful. to discover America, as many people be- • All lawyers are not truthful. lieve.” Do “many people” believe that he was or that he was not? Rephrase it. The first means that some are untruth- Depending on meaning, you might either ful. The second means that all are un- begin with the phrase “Contrary to pop- truthful; that is the literal meaning, ular belief, . . .” or end the sentence with although it may not be the intended “America” and add a sentence: “Many meaning. people now believe that other Europeans The problem is essentially the same arrived earlier.” when not is separated from every plus See also AS, 4. noun, everyone, or everything. “Not every applicant is qualified” (some are unqualified) is far different from “Every D. NOT with BECAUSE etc. applicant is not qualified” (literally, all Whether not applies just to the next are unqualified). word or to more can be a puzzle. The A book says (about writing an arti- sentence is apt to include because. cle): “Everything that will go into it is “He was not hired because of his not in your notebook.” The authors background.” Was he hired for another meant: “Not everything that will go into reason? Or was he turned down, and, if it is in your notebook.” so, was the reason something in his background? In either case, rephrasing is B. NOT TOO desirable. For example: “He was hired, The standard meaning of not too is not because of his background, but be- not excessively. It can be confused with a cause . . .” or “He was not hired, and colloquial meaning: not sufficiently. the reason was his background.” If a “That chinaware is not too fancy for a sentence has two ideas, they should be holiday dinner,” says Gertrude. Does she clearly distinguished. approve or disapprove of the dishes? An explanatory phrase without be- The standard meaning is that they are cause can create a similar ambiguity. 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 251

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“The bill was not introduced for politi- House “does not” what? The writer has cal reasons.” / “We did not file at Grant’s left out a necessary verb. request.” Does “not” modify all that fol- See also Ellipsis. lows or just the verb (“introduced” or “file”)? 2. Problems of placement See also BECAUSE, 1. Referring to the two sides in a labor dispute, a television reporter said, “They E. NOT with LIKE have been not making any progress.” This is a problem similar to that of The statement is clear, but “have not not with as, though less common. “Alice been making” would be more idiomatic. is not married, like Betty.” Is Betty mar- Perhaps he was under the erroneous im- ried or single? pression that splitting a verb pair, like See also LIKE, 1; UNLIKE, 1. have been, was wrong. Putting not in the wrong place can F. Omission of NOT throw a sentence out of kilter; witness The fear of omitting not leads the this complex example from a newspa- press to misrepresent legal proceedings. per’s front page: It usually reports pleas and verdicts of not guilty as “innocent.” Not is infre- It was an attempt not to change quently forgotten; Reversal of meaning, President Bush’s mind, which the or- 1, gives examples. ganizers of the march consider im- See also Guilt and innocence, 2. probable if not impossible, or to persuade Congress to pass a law, G. Superfluous NOT which they deem unnecessary. In a complicated sentence, not is sometimes introduced unnecessarily, Better: “It was not an attempt to producing a double negative. change. . . .” Thus not modifies “was an “. . . He had found nothing to make attempt.” The news writer misplaced him doubt that H—— was not rightly “not,” modifying “to change”; a reader convicted.” In other words, he firmly be- could at first think the organizers at- lieved that the person was wrongly con- tempted to avoid changing the presi- victed. That is the opposite of the dent’s mind. The “which” clauses (with intended meaning: Actually he believed unclear antecedents and four negatives, that the conviction was justified. But a including a second “not”) contribute to not was erroneously slipped into the sen- the muddiness. tence, canceling the negative effect of When a sentence has multiple verbs, it doubt and reversing the meaning. Omit may not be clear which one not modifies. not, or rephrase the sentence; for in- It takes some effort to interpret this press stance: “. . . He had found no reason to example correctly: question H———’s conviction.” See also Double negative. Defense attorney Nancy G—— asked the court to dismiss that charge H. Uncompleted NOT because the ruling involved a third Sometimes it is unclear what not per- party who struck a pregnant woman, tains to. Whatever that is has been omit- not the mother herself [emphasis ted. added]. “The Senate’s current version calls for spending $2.6 billion for drug enforce- Does the emphasized phrase contrast ment that the House does not.” The with “involved a third party” or with 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 252

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“struck a pregnant woman”? A reader at was curious to find it displayed promi- first could reasonably think it refers to nently in a reputedly sophisticated publi- the latter, because “woman” immedi- cation representing a city where that ately precedes “not.” However, the story expression was alien. suggests that the other interpretation is The standard meaning of about to is correct. It would be less ambiguous to ready to or soon to (do something). In say that “the ruling involved, not a preg- the negative, the encroachment of the nant woman, but a third party who nonstandard meaning brings problems struck a pregnant woman.” (The writer of ambiguity. “He is about to leave for encouraged confusion by following home” is fairly clear. “He is not about to “pregnant woman” with “the mother,” leave for home,” as broadcast nationally, instead of repeating “pregnant woman.” is ambiguous. Does it mean that he will One could take them to be two people, not leave soon (the standard meaning) or for a pregnant woman is not necessarily that he is determined not to leave at all a mother. See Synonymic silliness.) (the nonstandard meaning)? A fad based on a disconnected “not” Even when the meaning is clearer, the appears to be fading away, fortunately. nonstandard phrase is not appropriate in Someone first makes an outlandish state- writing, unless the writer’s intent is to re- ment; for example, “The President has produce colloquial, regional speech; and ditched his wife and moved in his girl it can be risky. In the press sample below, friend.” After a pause, the single word a foreign correspondent used the phrase “not” follows, supposedly canceling the in the nonstandard way (the context in- fib. If a listener does not stick around for dicates), using it inappropriately and— the “not” or fails to recognize it when so as it turned out—inaccurately: grossly misplaced, a rumor can take wing. But the reaction by the authorities Not goes before the to of an infinitive: indicated that the Czechoslovak “She swore not to reveal their secret,” [Communist] leadership is not about instead of “to not.” See Infinitive, 4. to take the path chosen in East Ger- Among entries dealing with not are many. BECAUSE, 1; BUT, 6; Contractions, 2; Double negative; NOT ABOUT TO; The leadership in Czechoslovakia was NOT ONLY; NOT TO MENTION; indeed “about to take the path chosen in PROOFREAD, PROOFREADING (ex- East Germany.” Four weeks after the ar- ample); Reversal of meaning, 1; THAT, ticle appeared, it resigned. ALL THAT; WHICH, 1 (example). NOT ALL THAT. See THAT, ALL NOT ABOUT TO. The subtitle of a THAT. magazine article about hotel maids was a long one: “NOT HARDLY.” See Double negative, 3. If they were going to clean rooms, they were going to be well paid—so NOTHER. As a legitimate variation they struggled for their union. And of other, nother is obsolete. It is now di- they’re not about to give it up. alectal and nonstandard. A radio announcer, advertising The phrase “not about to” in the sense recorded products, said, “Video is a of determined not to or unwilling to (do whole nother thing.” Correction: “Video something) is colloquial and regional. It is a whole other thing,” or, better, 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 253

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“Video is another thing entirely.” An- The franchise buys not only train- other equals an other. The n is needed ing but also a recognized brand name. only when the indefinite article adjoins the o. See A and AN. Now noun matches noun, and also (adverb) announces an addition. (The NOT JUST, NOT MERELY, NOT comma is not necessary.) “The franchise not only buys training SIMPLY. See NOT ONLY. but” would be acceptable if followed by another verb and its object, e.g., “buys a NOT ONLY. In using the phrase not recognized brand name also.” only, watch out for three pitfalls. This The next (newspaper) example prop- sentence (from a book on marketing) il- erly contains “also,” but it too misplaces lustrates them: “not only,” producing a grammatical imbalance. The franchise not only buys training, but a recognized brand name. The fact that the army fired on Chi- nese citizens not only shocked the 1. Misplacement of not only. The word Chinese people but also large seg- only tends to attach itself to whatever ments of the army.... immediately follows. In the sample, the word following “only” is “buys.” Again “not only” is followed by a verb The writer did not intend to empha- and its object (“shocked the Chinese size “buys,” but that is what he has people”) whereas “but” is followed by a done. He meant to emphasize “train- noun phrase (“large segments of the ing.” (See also ONLY.) army”). The sentence may be corrected 2. Grammatical imbalance. Not only most simply by interchanging “not and but also are sister (correlative) only” and “shocked”: conjunctions. The grammatical structures following them must match. In . . . shocked not only the Chinese the sample, the phrase following “not people but also large segments of the only” is a verb and its object (“buys army. training”) whereas what follows “but” is a noun phrase (“a recognized This way, noun matches noun. brand name”). The phrases do not Occasionally not only does not need match grammatically. to be followed by but or by also (or syn- 3. Omission of also (or a synonym). A onym): sentence like the following does not need also (or a synonym): “Today I • But is unnecessary if the contrast choose not steak but lobster.” An item that it expresses is indicated in is substituted for another. However, another way; for instance: the next sentence needs the also: “To- “Protecting the environment is not day I choose not only steak but also only good public policy: It can be lobster” (or “but lobster too” or as good business too.” well or in addition). An item is added • Also (or synonym) is unnecessary to another. when what follows the but does not add something substantial but We correct the quotation by inter- merely intensifies what came before; changing “not only” and “buys” and by for instance: “He was not only a inserting also: poet but a great poet.” 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 254

254 notoriety, notorious

The principles that apply to not only hammed Farah Aidid, the Somali fac- apply also to similar phrases, like not tion leader who humiliated the United just, not merely, and not simply. “What States in 1993, was a naturalized helps agriculture beneﬁts not just farm- American citizen, not to mention a ers but the nation as well.” United States marine.

NOTORIETY, NOTORIOUS. A Another oddity is the expression “not to person who is notorious (adjective) is mention.” If one is not to mention some- well known for something bad or objec- thing, why does one mention it? tionable. “The accused is notorious for At times the phrase is a colloquial his drug dealing.” / “He’s a notorious substitute for and by the way (which liar.” The condition of being notorious is would have suited the first example) or notoriety (noun). let alone. At other times its purpose is A Wall Street analyst was introduced unclear; the item or point that it intro- on television as “one man who has duces might better be joined to the main achieved some notoriety for his predic- idea by and or or. The second example tions.” Fame, prominence, or repute could have said the son “was a natural- would probably have expressed the ized American citizen and a United meaning intended by the host, without States marine.” A book on word usage insulting his guest. says of an adverb: The featured words should not be confused with other words beginning . . . Where may also be a pronoun or a with not-: A person of note has achieved noun (not to mention a conjunction). some notice or notability (nouns), that is, distinction, eminence, or importance, How about “a pronoun, a noun, or a but not “notoriety.” The person is no- conjunction”? table or noteworthy (adjectives) but not See also TO SAY NOTHING OF; “notorious.” Verbal unmentionables. The implication of badness may or may not apply to inanimate objects: “a NOT TOO. See TOO. notorious gambling house” / “a notori- ously [adverb] soft metal.” Nouns. 1. Definition. 2. Noun cre- NOT REALLY. See REALLY. ations. 3. Number. 4. Omission. 5. Us- ing nouns as adjectives. NOT THAT. See THAT, ALL THAT. 1. Definition A noun is the name of something or NOT TO MENTION. Should we someone. These are the main kinds: mention this expression at all? It was used as follows in a telecast and a news- • Proper noun (also called proper paper: name)—the name of a specific person, place, or thing, spelled with These were bikers [motorcyclists] for an initial capital (Gertrude, Chicago, Dole, not to mention it was a great Acme Laundry). day to go biking. • Its opposite: common noun (also called common name)—a name that One of the many oddities in this bat- represents no specific thing, place, tered capital is that a son of Gen. Mo- person, etc. but rather a category 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 255

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with multiple specimens (antelope, ness or cleanliness properly or a ten- planet, noise). year-old to know the noun intensity. • Abstract noun—the name of an idea, However, a radio psychologist should quality, or state (patience, length, know politeness. She advised a caller to merriment). “Just turn on the polite.” And a stand- • Its opposite: concrete noun—the up comedian should know humility name of an object that one’s senses (even if he does not practice it): He called can perceive (apricot, robin, Parisians arrogant and added, “If you telephone). want humble, go to Paris, Kentucky.” • Collective noun—the designation of Those who put on situation comedies a group of things or people (team, are guilty of similar distortions, such as a gang, army). comedienne’s comment, “It’s not about cute. It’s about pitiful.” Could she and Besides being single words, nouns her writers all have been ignorant of the may be hyphenated words or groups of nouns cuteness and pitifulness? Another words (will-o’-the-wisp, human being, comedienne said, “I think there are dif- scarlet fever). ferent types of pretty”—instead of pretti- Among other uses, nouns may be sub- ness or beauty. Her counterpart on jects (“Rain is falling”), objects (“He hit another show instructed sonny in the the target”), complements (“That lady is different types of “proud.” She needed her mother”), and appositives (“Jim, the pride. A supporting actor on still an- guide, has arrived”). An appositive is a other show said, “If you want common, word or group of words in apposition, you name a kid John.” The noun is com- i.e., placed beside another to identify or monness. explain it. (Guide is a noun in apposition Clean, intense, polite, humble, cute, with Jim. See also Punctuation, 3A, on pitiful, pretty, proud, and common are commas.) all adjectives, modifiers of nouns but not Some words, like love and set, are nouns themselves. Some words that are classified both as nouns and verbs. Other primarily adjectives legitimately double words, although not classified as nouns, as substantives; the nouns they would can serve the function of nouns. In the modify are understood: a commercial sentence “I love eating,” the last word is (announcement); a musical (comedy); a gerund, a verb form acting as a noun. the rich and the poor (people). One may (See Gerund.) A word or group of words speak of the humble, but not of wanting that serves the function of a noun, “humble.” whether it is a true noun or its equiva- The nouns are ripped more painfully lent, is called a substantive. from some adjective-noun phrases, including classified ads, personal ads, and 2. Noun creations gay man; and the adjectives are dubi- Using an adjective as a noun in place ously made plural: “classifieds” / “per- of a legitimate noun is a contemporary sonals” / “gays.” (See also GAY, 3.) fad, illustrated as follows. News people create some nouns of A commercial for a shampoo said, their own. In traffic reports, “the road- “You really can feel the clean.” Asked way is blocked by an overturn” (instead what an R movie rating meant to him, a of overturned vehicle) and “we do have child said, “It means in some ways more a stall on Highway 24, eastbound” (not intense. We like intense.” a place for a horse but a substitute for Perhaps one cannot expect an adver- stalled vehicle). tiser to care about using the noun clean- “There are more layers of pretend in 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 256

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‘Waiting for Guffman’ than in most • Individuals that constitute a subject movies,” a critic wrote. “Pretend” is a may possess something in common: verb. Pertinent nouns include pretense, “The Smiths had a lease.” / “Agnes pretending, and make-believe. and John met at their college.” Nouns are sometimes forced into ver- • If what is possessed is not a concrete bal roles. See Verbs, 2. item but an abstract quality, the singular will do: “The cars gained 3. Number speed.” / “The boys’ anger An elephant has a trunk. Two ele- subsided.” phants have two trunks. Who could disagree? Yet the choice between singular Propriety of number is more than a and plural nouns seems to baffle some matter of tidiness. It makes a difference people, who figuratively attempt to force whether Tom and Mary are looking for two elephants to accept one trunk. For apartments or an apartment. example: A grammar rightly points out a bad shift in pronouns: “. . . A [job-seeking] Both were from Central America and person who interviews a company is had a visa, but they didn’t have a more successful . . . than one who waits work permit. for a company to interview them.” This is given as correct: “. . . People who inter- A newspaper erred. Two visitors would view companies are more successful . . . not share one visa or one work permit. than those who wait for a company to in- They had visas. They lacked work per- terview them.” But the second “commits. The thing possessed would be sin- pany” should be made plural too. gular if the subject of the sentence were Two statements on the radio exem- singular; for instance: “Each man had a plify an occasional mistake: “We can visa but neither had a work permit.” An- provide that [neutering] service for dog other paper made a similar mistake: and cats.” / “Doctors have more bag of tricks. . . .” Dogs and cats. Bags of SEG Technologies Inc. in Philadelphia tricks. Making the final noun plural is even invites people to watch their PC not enough. being assembled. See also Collective nouns; ONE OF, 3.

Just one “PC” for all to share? Make it 4. Omission “their PCs.” A number of people have a In a complicated sentence telling of number of the devices, which are, after multiple actions, sometimes it is not im- all, personal computers. mediately clear who or what is perform- A newscaster said, “Cats seem to have ing one of the actions. The writer or a mind of their own.” There is no collec- speaker has left out a subject (the doer of tive feline mind. “Cats seem to have an action), either a noun or a pronoun, minds of their own” or “A cat seems to leaving a disconnected predicate (the have a mind of its own.” part of a sentence or clause that tells An author believes that “editors about the subject). should be required to write a novel.” A TV network’s anchor man spoke of They would not all collaborate on the an explosion on a train in Pakistan: same novel. Either “editors should . . . write novels” or “an editor should . . . Pakistan said it has proof Indian intel- write a novel.” ligence agents planted the bomb and The rule that plural subjects possess linked the attack to tensions over nu- plural things has exceptions: clear testing. 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 257

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Who did the linking? The sentence seems winning her concession on a point of En- to say the agents, but the speaker proba- glish usage. bly meant Pakistan. A noun (e.g., Pak- In popular use, “No way” often sub- istan) or pronoun (it) should have stitutes for a more straightforward nega- preceded “linked.” (And “has proof” tive like no or not. At times it stands should have been “had proof.” See alone as an interjection. At other times it Tense, 2.) is stuck onto sentences crudely—often See also Pronouns, 6. inaccurately as well, for frequently there is a way. 5. Using nouns as adjectives The form in which the expression Nouns often serve as adjectives: ﬁre reached my ears at the start of the seven- insurance; snow removal; spring clean- ties was “in no way.” Before long, the ing. Such use is not necessarily objection- “in” was being dropped and the uttering able. What can be criticized are uses like of “no way” became a fad. The example these: is from a restaurant review:

• “The Senate consent to the treaty No way am I hungry after this and its rejection of four meal; not for at least 8 hours. amendments . . . was a disappointment to An improved version, “In no way am I conservatives . . .” (from a news hungry after this meal for at least 8 dispatch). “Senate” should be hours,” adds in and deletes “not.” (See possessive—Senate’s—just as its is Double negative.) A still better version possessive. “Senate consent” is scraps “no way” and relocates three headline language. words: • “She displays both dramatic and music skills.” Dramatic ought to be I am not hungry after this meal for matched by musical. A standard at least eight hours. [Most publica- adjective does not mix well with a tions spell out the digits.] noun-adjective. • “. . . Exotic species invasions” / “the The following sentence opens a news biggest selenium discharger” / “a brief: multimillion-dollar aid package” (by two men of science and a news There’s no way Reagan will accept service). Better: invasions of exotic an invitation by leaders of South species / discharger of selenium / Africa’s neighboring black states to package of aid. visit the region in an attempt to end the violence. See also Modifiers, 4; Prepositions, 2, 4. To keep the first three words but make the sentence minimally grammatical, ex- NOW. See Anachronism, 2; PRES- tra words are needed to connect the noun ENTLY. phrase “no way” to the verb “accept”; for instance: “There’s no way in which NO WAY. Years ago I asked a former Reagan will accept . . .” or “There’s no flame if she cared to renew our relation- way to get Reagan to accept. . . .” But ship. “No way!” she exclaimed. I re- was there truly no possible condition un- sponded, “Where there’s a will, there’s a der which he would accept? The best so- way.” She amended her answer: “No lution might be to toss out the first three will.” At least I had the satisfaction of words and insert not: 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 258

258 nuclear

Reagan will not accept an invita- NUCLEAR. Nuclear is pronounced tion by leaders of South Africa’s NOO-klee-urr. Sometimes it is mispro- neighboring black states. . . . nounced “NOO-kyuh-lurr,” and some of the mispronouncers are people who Unless no way is used to mean not a should know better: a secretary of de- proper way—“This is no way for a lady fense was heard uttering it the latter way to behave”—its unqualified use should seventeen times in one interview. Presi- be reserved for impossibilities: “There is dent Eisenhower was said to have habit- no way to travel faster than the speed of ually given the word the same twist. light.” (Maybe there ought to be a law saying An even clumsier opening than that nobody shall have any control over “There’s no way” is “No way there’s,” weapons that he cannot pronounce.) heard in a TV report: Nuclear, in the sense of pertaining to weapons and energy, its predominant No way there’s enough money in the sense, is now more common than its syn- education budget to pay for all this. onym, atomic, the original term. Basi- cally nuclear (adjective) pertains to a It is simpler and neater to say, “There’s nucleus (noun): a center or core around not enough money....” which things are collected. The nucleus, The columnist who wrote the sample in biology, is a body of protoplasm sentence below (on how a comedian within an animal or plant cell that is es- tried to help a New York mayoral candi- sential to such functions as growth and date) seemed hell-bent on using the reproduction. In chemistry and physics it phrase, at the cost of a confusingly con- is the central part of an atom, includes voluted sentence with two double nega- protons and neutrons among its parts, tives. and makes up nearly all the atom’s mass. Either nuclei or nucleuses serves as a plu- No way he wouldn’t say something ral. offensive and no way it wouldn’t be Two terms that look and sound rather picked up, set aside and then repeated similar but have significant differences just when it would hurt the most. are nuclear fission, the principle of the atomic bomb and civil atomic energy, This is simpler and clearer: and nuclear fusion, the principle of the hydrogen bomb. In fission, the nuclei of He would say something offensive atoms are split; in the process, part of and it would be picked up, set aside, their mass is converted to energy. In fu- and then repeated. . . . sion, the nuclei of atoms fuse into heavier nuclei (e.g., tritium, or heavy Noway or noways is an old adverb, hydrogen, into helium), but the total meaning in no manner or by no means mass is less and the balance is converted and pronounced with stress on no-. The into energy. Thermonuclear, pronounced two-word version either stresses way or thur-mo-NOO-klee-urr, pertains to the gives the two words about equal stress. fusion process, which is conducted at These are correct examples from The high temperatures. Thermo- means heat. Oxford English Dictionary: “They were tied up and could noways appear” NUMBER and AMOUNT. See (1702). “I have lived a virgin and I AMOUNT and NUMBER. noway doubt I can live so still” (1875). A synonym of noway is nowise or, more Number (grammatical). Number in commonly, in no wise. a grammatical sense is mainly (1) the dis- 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 259

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tinction between singular and plural more, was she referring to the total num- words; that is, between words that apply ber of permits or to the total of esti- to one thing or person and words that mated costs? We do not know. The “six apply to more than one; or (2) a form of point eight percent” hinted at a precision a particular word or phrase that indi- that was not there. cates such singularity or plurality. Tree, When comparisons are made, it must woman, and this are in the singular be clear what is being compared to what. number, whereas trees, women, and When totals are presented, it must be these are in the plural number. A subject clear what items have been added up. and its verb must agree in number; for See Comparison, 1. instance, “A tree stands in the yard” but A man saw “between four and five “Two trees stand in the yard.” hundred people” at a place. What was Among entries dealing with number the smallest number of people he saw in a grammatical sense are the following: there at any time? It is plausible that if he AMOUNT and NUMBER; BE- was the fifth to arrive, he saw four there TWEEN, 2; Collective nouns; Contrac- at first. The context, in a biography, indi- tions, 1; COUPLE; EACH, EACH OF; cates that the writer meant four hundred EACH OTHER; EITHER, 1, 2; EVERY- but omitted hundred. BODY, EVERYONE, 4; EVERY ONE This was heard on television news: and EVERYONE; Expletives; FEWER “Estimates range from 250 to 400,000.” and LESS; LATTER; LOT, 1; MAJOR- This time we cannot figure it out. We ITY, 2; MANY and MUCH; MORE must guess. It is likely that the speaker THAN ONE; NEITHER, 3; NONE, 1; meant 250 thousand but omitted thou- NOR; Nouns, 3; ONE OF; OR; PER- sand. SONNEL; PLUS; Pronouns, 2; STAFF; To save one word, the author and the TOTAL, 2; TRIO; Verbs, 3; news man each risked misinterpretation. See also Plurals and singulars with references listed in 2L. 2. Contradiction The entry Numbers concerns figures It is a serious problem when numbers and statistics. contradict their interpretation, as in the two press examples that follow. NUMBER OF. See Collective nouns, 2. . . . The southwestern neighborhoods rejected the ballot measure 9,323 Numbers. 1. Ambiguity. 2. Contradic- votes against to 17,251 in favor. tion. 3. Division between lines. 4. Im- possibility. 5. Inaccuracy. 6. Inanity. 7. The number of marriage licenses is Incomparability. 8. Incompleteness. 9. also down in Louisiana, the only In lawsuits. 10. Misinterpretation. 11. other state that requires premarital Spelling out. AIDS testing. In the first quarter of 1988 776 marriage licenses were is- 1. Ambiguity sued in New Orleans, the only parish “Building permits were down six monitored by the State Department of point eight percent in October,” a news- Health, as against 628 the previous caster announced. “Down” from what? year.... Were they down from what they had been in September, or were they down In the first excerpt, the figures contradict from what they had been in October of “rejected.” The second excerpt shows the previous year? The newscaster, on the figures going up, not “down.” (It has network television, failed to say. Further- three lesser flaws: For one thing, running 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 260

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two successive figures risks confusion; Although the final example does not this year could have replaced the date. leave us readers puzzled, the way it is ex- Then too, “the previous year” is not usu- pressed may be questioned. ally used for last year. Anyway, it lacks a qualification, like during the correspond- In addition, Mr. Dukakis’s adminis- ing period.) tration announced last week that tax It is equally troublesome when two revenue would be as much as $77 mil- numbers contradict each other, as in the lion less than anticipated, creating a next two extracts. potential deficit in the nearly $11 bil- An article attributes a number to “in- lion budget for 1988. dustry analysts” and a second number, ten paragraphs later, to “some esti- “As much as” lifts us. “Less than antici- mates”: pated” drops us. That roller-coaster effect could have been avoided, for They estimate, however, that there instance by changing “would be as much are fewer than 20,000 fax machines in as” to could fall to or by simply chang- American homes. . . . ing “much” to little. By some estimates, there are more than 20 million people working at 3. Division between lines home with a facsimile machine.... When a figure and a word together represent a number, particularly a dollar The two estimates differ by a factor of amount (like $3 billion), both elements more than 1,000. Yet we are offered no should go on the same line, unlike these explanation of that remarkable discrep- two examples: ancy (let alone how 20 million people can share “a facsimile machine”—see By last month, more than $2 Nouns, 3). million of this fiscal year’s $2.5 Where was the copy editor when the million overtime budget had already following passage went into the paper? been paid out. . . .

A 31-year old man fell six stories . . . He does not know how from a window ledge down a light much of a subsidy the east hotel well while attempting to gain access would get but it would not be to his apartment early yesterday. “signiﬁcantly less” than the $17 San Francisco Police said that million awarded to the Hilton. T—— G——, 27, of 250 F—— Street either locked himself out or had been Separating “$2” or $17” from “million” locked out by his roommate. is likely to impede readers. See also Division of words. The four-year discrepancy is glaring, granted that a harrowing experience can 4. Impossibility age one. (By the way, a hyphen is missing The statements quoted below cannot after “31-year.” And we may wonder literally be true. They imply calculations why a news story has to begin with such that are impossible. First an excerpt an insigniﬁcant detail, particularly when from a news article: the very next sentence includes that detail. A far more important fact, the vic- ...Tests of apple products from tim’s “guarded condition,” was two education department ware- relegated to the third paragraph.) houses showed that they contained 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 261

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levels 400 times lower than federal else, a professional writer can get a fact limits. or figure wrong. Usually a copy editor . . . Some tests showed the products reviews his work, but errors do sneak by, at 1,000 to 10,000 times lower than particularly those that cannot be cor- allowable limits. rected without specially researched background information. Inasmuch as one time lower is zero, The cause of a mistake may be absent- “400 times lower” defies the imagina- mindedness, carelessness, faulty mem- tion, let alone “1,000 to 10,000 times ory, haste, ignorance, inadequate lower.” Could the levels (of a pesticide) research or thought, miscalculation, mis- found in the tests have been one four- understanding, repetition of another’s hundredth of the limits, one thousandth error, slip of the keyboard, or a combi- of the limits, and so on? nation of the foregoing. It may be “just A magazine ad for a computer com- one of those things” and truly “everyone pany (not Apple) makes a similarly im- makes mistakes,” as we often say. What- possible claim: ever the reason, it does not justify infect- ing readers with misinformation, which . . . Our latest microprocessor tech- can be passed on to others in viral fash- nology requires each transistor to be ion. 100 times thinner than a human hair. A news service circulated a factual mistake far and wide: The statement is corrected by a caption elsewhere in the ad: “1/100th the thick- Syria, along with Egypt and Jor- ness of a human hair.” dan, lost territory to Israel in the 1967 A book on science says that a film of seven-day war and was known to oil was “on average ten or twenty times have adopted a hard line on getting thinner” than gold leaf. One-tenth or the lost ground back. one-twentieth as thin? Later the spacial separation of atomic layers of gold is The Israelis fought the war in six days, judged to be “two dozen times less than hence the well-known appellation the the minimum thickness we found so eas- Six-Day War. (On the seventh day they ily for an oil film upon water.” One rested.) twenty-fourth as large? (The consistency The same news service reported this of “on average” [a mean?] and “ten or startling intelligence: “Seven out of every twenty” [a range?] is a lesser question.) ten married Italians commit adultery.” It A well-known anchor man an- based its report on a survey of 1,000 nounced to the nation the incredible families by the weekly magazine L’Euro- news that “U.S. farm exports declined pea showing that “49 percent of the men more than 300 percent last year” (pre- and 21 percent of the women” admitted sumably from the year before). If farm the sin. The service was wrong, even if exports had declined 100 percent, all we assume that the survey was reliable, farm exports would have ceased. Could that it represented all Italians, and that someone have typed an extra zero in the half of them were men and half women. copy that he read? Adulterers then would make up 35 percent of married Italians, or seven out of 5. Inaccuracy twenty. Evidently someone had simply What we see in print is not necessarily added 49 and 21, forgetting that 100 so. Most of us know that and still tend percent of each sex made up only 50 per- to trust the printed word. Like everyone cent of the total. 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 262

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A newspaper item told of nuns with a 7. Incomparability convent at the scene of the former The quoted sentence, from a well- Auschwitz death camp, “where they known work, purports to compare the pray for the thousands who died in the incomparable. Nazi Holocaust.” How could any writer or editor on the staff of a large Among the browsers, for example, metropolitan daily be ignorant of the was the Diplodocus carnegii, which fact that the Nazis murdered millions? measured eighty-four feet in length. The sentence below is extracted from The Brachiosaurus was still more an earlier issue of the same newspaper. colossal—it had a live weight of about What the writer apparently lacked (and fifty tons! his copy editor failed to provide) was not factual knowledge but the ability to di- We could compare the two dinosaurs in vide sixty-five by six. length if we knew how long the Bra- chiosaurus was. We could compare them There are about six phones per 100 in weight if we knew how much the persons in the Soviet Union, which is Diplodocus weighed. All we have is the less than one-fifth the American ratio length of one and the weight of the other, of 65 per 100. and how can these be compared? In the following example, from a But then they probably surpassed us in press article, the problem may lie in the arithmetic. writing, rather than in the data. See also 10B. . . . U.S. postal employees handle an average of 190,000 pieces of mail per 6. Inanity year, compared to just 50,000 pieces Some writers can find no other way to of mail per employee in West Ger- compare figures than to state the obvi- many. ous. The first example deals with Nicaragua. It appears that U.S. pieces “per year” is being compared with German pieces . . . The country’s per capita gross “per employee.” A year and an em- domestic product has fallen to ployee are incomparable. Probably the roughly $300 a year. That figure is less writer intended to compare the number than the comparable figure of $330 a of mail pieces per U.S. employee per year year for Haiti, long the hemisphere’s with the number of mail pieces per Ger- poorest nation. man employee per year. But he did not say so. Industrial accidents in the Soviet When numbers are to be compared Union killed 14,377 people last year. with one another, it must be made clear . . . That’s more than the 13,833 that they are in the same category. One troops the Soviets say they lost in should not assume that the reader or lis- eight years of fighting in Afghanistan. tener will make the proper assumptions. See also AS and LIKE, 2; Comparison, 2; Can there possibly be any reader who LIKE, 2; UNLIKE, 2. does not know that $300 is less than Anyhow, the 190,000 cannot be com- $330 or that 14,377 is more than pared “to” the 50,000. See COM- 13,833? PARED TO and COMPARED WITH, See also FRACTION. 1. 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 263

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8. Incompleteness ways sharply cuts the amount sought in Percent, or per cent, as it is also writ- the complaint. ten, or %, as it is symbolized, means News reporters and editors generally parts of 100. In any pie chart, or its do not know this. They tend to rate the equivalent in prose, all 100 parts must importance of a suit according to the be accounted for. Someone in an edito- sum of money requested. So ordinarily rial office should have performed a little the best way for a lawyer to get a suit in simple arithmetic: the news is to ask for absurdly exorbi- tant damages. The amount of the suit Already 76 percent of Bergen’s land will appear in the opening sentence of is covered by private and public devel- the story—each of the sample sentences opment. With 15 percent preserved as below—and often in the headline as golf courses and public parkland, only well. 5.9 percent, or 9,000 acres, remains in private hands, still open to either de- Dr. Sam Sheppard’s former wife has velopment or preservation. filed a $10 million lawsuit against the National Broadcasting Co. over the Those percentages total 96.9. Nothing is television network’s dramatization of said about the remaining 3.1. her husband’s murder trials. (The paragraph is otherwise unclear. “. . . Only 5.9 percent . . . remains in pri- A Marina service station operator vate hands” produces confusion. Part of filed a $20 million damage suit the 76% is land in private hands too. against Texaco Inc., accusing the oil This may be what the writer meant: “. . . company of coercing him into selling Only 5.9 percent, 9,000 acres in private only Texaco products. hands, remains open to either development or preservation.”) Financier J. William Oldenburg has An editor doubtless did not intend to filed a $400 million suit against three put a misleading headline on a front newspapers . . . alleging libel. . . . page: “ ‘Friendly fire’ killed 1 in 5 GIs in gulf war.” It suggests that about 100,000 Real estate investor Richard of the approximately half a million U.S. Traweek, his legislative attempts to servicemen in the war died at the hands convert 720 apartments to condo- of their comrades. It fails to indicate that miniums blocked, filed a $800 million “1 in 5” is a fraction of U.S. battle lawsuit against San Francisco yester- deaths, said to total 148. This is one of day. [See also A and AN.] many possible amendments (taking up no additional space): “U.S. fire hit 1 in 5 The point here is not that any suits are GIs slain in gulf war.” unjustified or justified but that journal- The ranking of entities as first, second, ists are dupes for lawyers. ninth, and so on can be too short of explanatory facts. See Comparison, 1. 10. Misinterpretation

9. In lawsuits A. Percentage of increase In ﬁling lawsuits, lawyers routinely in- An editorial said, erroneously: ﬂate the damages. They do not seriously expect to win the full amounts re- Carousel expenditures will soon go quested. They know that a judgment for up 400 percent. . . . The 25-cent ticket the plaintiff or a settlement almost al- would be eliminated for children, who 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 264

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would pay the same dollar fare as . . . The Bush proposals would re- their moms. quire the Warsaw Pact to destroy eight times more planes and four When an item costing a quarter doubles times as many helicopters [as NATO]. in price, it rises another quarter, or one time, or 100 percent. When it triples in The proposals called for the destruction price, it rises 50 cents, or two times, or of 4,850 and 577 planes respectively. 200 percent. A 25-cent ticket that in- One bloc would destroy 7.4 times more creases to a dollar goes up 75 cents, or planes than the other, or roughly seven three times, or 300 percent—not “400.” times—not “eight” times. The helicopter (Incidentally, the writer seems uncertain part was correct. whether it “will” [definitely] or “would” More means greater in number, [maybe] go up. See Mood; Subjunctive. amount, etc. Thus X “times more See also MOM, MAMA, MA.) planes” deals only with the times that The same erroneous percentage ap- are greater than one time. In the example peared in a periodic column: above, the 577 NATO planes amount to one time. The first 577 planes of the The current fee for a basic, minimum other side are numerically the same, not plumbing permit is now $15.75. The “more,” so they should not be counted. fee, starting Sept. 4, will be $65.25, As many implies that the larger num- and up—a 400 percent increase. ber has been divided by the smaller number. A proposed NATO destruction of When a fee of $15.75 goes up $49.50, 419 helicopters goes into the other side’s the increase is 314 percent—not “400.” figure of 1,700 about four times. So the latter would indeed destroy “four times B. Comparison as many helicopters” or four times the Henry earns $500 a week. Wendy number of helicopters or would be earns $1,500. These are two ways in bound to a fourfold destruction of heli- which one may compare the two num- copters compared with NATO’s obliga- bers: tion. An advertisement for a silver medal- • Contrast the totals, figuring the lion said: number of times $500 goes into $1,500. (“Wendy earns three times The standard American Eagle weighs as much as Henry earns” or “His merely one troy ounce. . . . “Silver Ea- earnings are a third of hers.”) gle” is an astonishing 16 times heav- • Emphasize the difference, $1,000. ier . . . (16 Oz. Troy . . .). (“Wendy earns two times more than what Henry earns” or “Her Correction: 16 times as heavy but 15 earnings are 200 percent higher times heavier. than his.”) The moderator of a television forum said, and it was simultaneously dis- X times more or bigger, higher, played on the screen, that Indonesia was greater, etc. (than) is not the same as X “Three times bigger than Texas” in land times as many or as big, as high, as area. Correction: Indonesia, with about much, etc. (as). Either type of description 741,000 square miles, is about 1.8 times is valid if used consistently and accu- bigger than Texas, with about 267,000 rately. The defective example below is square miles. Indonesia is about 2.8 from a newspaper’s main story. times as big as Texas. 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 265

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This sentence, from a book of popular The probability of all the gas mole- astronomy, is inconsistent in its terms cules in our first box being found in (and contains several other errors): one half of the box at a later time is many millions of millions to one, but Uranus is 15 times as far from the it can happen. sun as the Earth; Neptune, 17 times; and Pluto is 50 times farther. The probability of winning the state lottery is one (chance) in millions. The The sentence uses “as far as” twice and probability that the sun will come out then switches to “farther.” Is there a rea- tomorrow somewhere in the world is son for the switch, or is the writer simply many millions of millions (of chances) to unaware of the distinction? A reader one (chance that it will not)—the same cannot tell. (Anyway, all the numbers are as the probability of gas molecules being wrong. On the average, the three planets in both halves of the box. are 19, 30, and 39 times as far from the The meaning in the sentence below is Sun as the Earth is. An is after “Earth” is harder to discern. First of all, the sen- desirable to clarify that only distances tence makes no sense grammatically. from the outer planets to the Sun, not to Changing “were” to at would help the the Earth, are being compared. An “is” grammar. But something more is wrong. after Pluto is superfluous when no “is” follows Neptune. See also Series errors, He [a state criminalist] also testified 9; STAR and SUN.) that the combined test results put the odds that the blood on socks found in C. CHANCES, PROBABILITY, Simpson’s bedrooms [sic] was not that ODDS of his ex-wife were 21 billion to 1, up Does the retired general who is from the 9.7 billion to 1 odds Cotton quoted here approve or disapprove of gave last week. the operation? Odds means probability, likelihood, or I would have rated Desert One’s chances of a given event happening or a chances of success at a hundred to given thing being. If the chances of the one. . . . blood not being his ex-wife’s were “21 billion to 1” (chance of its being his ex- He seems to be estimating a hundred wife’s), it would seem to be almost cer- chances of success to one chance of fail- tain that the blood was someone else’s. ure. But the sentence concludes by call- Contrasted with previous testimony, it ing the chances would mean improved odds for Simp- son. But the source of the figures was tes- foolhardy odds for a military opera- timony for the prosecution, and the tion. headline read “State’s odds against O.J. keep growing.” Here is one way to revise He meant to have rated the chances of the sentence: failure at a hundred to one (chance of success), or the chance of success at ...Test results put the likelihood about one in a hundred. that the blood . . . was not that of his The context in the following sentence, ex-wife at only one chance in 21 bil- by a scientist, explains what he had in lion—less than half of the one chance mind, although literally the sentence says in 9.7 billion that Cotton estimated the opposite. last week. In other words, the proba- 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 266

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bility that the blood came from the by words, when by figures? To answer murdered woman appeared even that question and others, the press has greater now. style rules that aim at consistency, but their mindless enforcement can lead to The chances, probability, or odds of inconsistency. This is from an account of one’s misunderstanding numerical infor- a baseball game: mation of this sort are high enough to warrant a cautious treatment by the Twenty-seven Dodgers came up, 27 writer or speaker. Dodgers went down. There were 17 groundouts, five strikeouts, two foul D. The superlative outs, and only three fair balls hit out It pays to think twice before describ- of the infield. ing a number by a superlative, like the biggest, the smallest, or the highest. It seems that the Dodgers came up as Adding a modifier like “ever” or “of all words but went down as figures. The ex- time” is especially risky. Too often some- planation lies in an age-old press rule: one comes along to point out something Do not start a sentence with a figure. No bigger, smaller, higher, etc. rationale for that rule is ever advanced. A main headline described an action Headlines often start with figures; for ex- in the House of Representatives: “As- ample: “36 hours of work piled on aver- sault Weapons Ban OKd By the Narrow- age desk.” est of Margins.” The narrowest of The second “27” and the “17” are ex- margins would be one vote. The story re- pressed in figures, the remaining num- ported a tally of 216 to 214. Thus the bers in words, because of another style winning margin was two votes—twice as rule, common among newspapers: It re- large a margin as the “Narrowest.” quires figures for numbers above nine (except at the start of sentences) and E. AVERAGE words for numbers of nine and under. Average in a numerical sense does not The rule includes both cardinal numbers mean typical. Average (noun) is the com- (nine planets, a family of 10) and ordinal mon term for what is, more precisely, a numbers (the fourth dimension, the 18th mean (also called an arithmetic mean or hole). Exceptions are made for decimal arithmetical mean): the result of adding numbers (a 3.7 average), sums of money two or more quantities and dividing the ($8), statistical tables, and so on. sum by the number of quantities added. Book editors often follow The It does not necessarily resemble any Chicago Manual of Style, which calls for individual quantity. If four employees figures for 100 or more but also rejects out of five are paid $25,000 a year each them at the start of sentences, giving no and the fifth is paid $100,000, the aver- reason. age (adjective) or mean salary is When spelled out, compound num- $40,000, an amount unlike the salary of bers through ninety-nine and fractions any employee in the company. That sta- commonly take hyphens: “Three hun- tistical reality is not always grasped by dred forty-seven residents” / “About those interpreting numerical facts. two-thirds of all animals.” See also See also LIFE EXPECTANCY (etc.); HALF. MEAN (noun). When a hundred or a thousand serves as an adjective—“a hundred yards” / “a 11. Spelling out thousand clowns”—it should be spelled When should numbers be represented out. “A 100” or “a 1,000,” as writers 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 267

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sometimes put it, is the equivalent of “a Twenty-seven Dodgers came up. one-hundred” or “a one-thousand.” Twenty-seven Dodgers went down. Apart from the use of numbers, the ﬁrst sentence of the baseball quotation is (There is still another inconsistency in defective. It contains the makings of two the passage. While “groundouts” and sentences (two independent clauses) “strikeouts” take one word each, two divided by a comma, an inadequate words are allotted to “foul outs.” In an punctuation. (See Run-on Sentence, adjoining box, tabulating the statistics of 2.) Below, we ﬁx the punctuation, the game, it is “foulouts.”) strengthen the message by expressing it in parallel sentences, and still observe the initial-number rule: 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 268

Object(ive) complement. See Com- theft, although it may be bad, wrong, plement. evil, vicious, or vile. In the pair of examples below, “ob- Object, objective case. See Comple- scene” and “obscenely” are made to ment; Prepositions, 1; Pronouns, 10; deal with people’s ingestion of sub- Verbs, 1, 5. stances. To a food writer, being “obscene” seems to be a good thing: She OBSCENE, OBSCENITY. While credited an intensified flavor and sweet- the courts have labored over the precise ness of homemade jam to “the obscene meaning of obscenity and the definition amount of sugar that goes into its mak- has determined whether people are sent ing.” In a discussion of vitamins, a radio to jail, the mass media, some public offi- doctor asked, “Are we doing any good cials, and others have been stretching by taking obscenely large amounts of their constructions of the word to the the chemicals?” point of inanity. A television exposé of fake going-out- A banner headline proclaimed “An of-business sales included this comment: ‘obscene’ state deficit.” The story under- “What made it a sham was that the sale neath quoted a state treasurer: “The ‘ob- ran an obscene length of time, almost scene surplus’ I spoke of four years ago eleven months.” has turned into an ‘obscene deficit’. . . .” The o-words have nothing to do with An interviewer asked people on the money, consumption, or time. Obscen- street for “An Example of Obscene ity (noun) is that which is obscene (ad- Wealth.” A legislator said that revenues jective): offensive to generally accepted should not accumulate to “obscene lev- standards of modesty or decency; in par- els.” A columnist wrote of “obscene ticular, filthy, disgusting, or indecent in profits” from drugs, and another colum- representing sexual or excretory parts or nist wrote that “total compensation of functions by word, deed, or illustration. top execs at some corporations is so Obscenely (adverb) means in an obscene large it borders on the obscene.” way or to the point of obscenity. Exactly In the examples above, “obscene” where the lines are drawn and what is was forced to serve as a general pejora- placed within them and by whom are up tive for a variety of monetary condi- to the judiciary. tions. But money or the lack of it is not You can be accused of “obscenity” “obscene” (even though people may even if you do nothing. The verbal man- speak of “filthy lucre”). Nor is, say, handling took this form in a bookstore’s

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newsletter: “We’re shocked, saddened, sense. It came from the Latin obsessus, and generally PO’ed by the obscenely past participle of obsidere, to besiege or low turnout of voters in U.S. elec- beset. tions. . . .” Ironically the quoted sen- The noun is obsession: the action of tence itself bordered on obscenity: “PO” obsessing (someone) or the state of being did not stand for post office. obsessed; or the influence of the persis- Two nouns associated with obscenity tent idea etc.; or the idea etc. itself. “His are vulgarity, meaning coarseness, poor obsession with presidential politics en- taste, impropriety, or an act or expres- dured for decades.” / “Fashion obsession with those characteristics; and pro- sions afflict many girls.” fanity, strictly speaking, irreverence to that which is sacred, or an instance of OCCUR. See HAPPEN, OCCUR, such irreverence, popularly used as a and TAKE PLACE. synonym for obscenity. OCTOPUS. See Plurals and singulars, OBSESS, OBSESSED, OBSES- 1. SION. To obsess someone is to besiege, beset, dominate, haunt, or trouble OCULIST, OPHTHALMOLO- the person. Nowadays it always pertains GIST, OPTICIAN, and OP- to the way a persistent feeling, idea, TOMETRIST. All are concerned thought, or the like can act on the mind. with eyes. Oculist is an old term for an Often it is in the passive voice: ophthalmologist, a medical doctor who “Gertrude was obsessed with guilt.” / specializes in treating eye disorders. An “Edison was obsessed by the vision of optometrist is not a physician but a per- his lamp.” It may be in the active voice son holding the degree of Doctor of Op- too, as in this press example: tometry (O.D.) who tests the eyes for vision problems and prescribes eye- . . . The show looks at how the con- glasses. An optician makes or sells opti- cept of stardom can inspire or obsess cal products. A dispensing optician deals an artist. . . . in prescribed eyeglasses. The Greek word for eye, ophthalmos, One thing the verb obsess may not be gave rise to numerous technical terms. is intransitive, as it was forced to be on Medical dictionaries contain more than two national television programs: fifty of them, including ophthalmia, severe inflammation of the eye; oph- [News:] BBC viewers are obsessing thalmic, pertaining to the eye, e.g., the about something else [besides the Bea- ophthalmic nerve; ophthalmology, the tles: Princess Diana]. science and medical specialty of the eye and its diseases; and ophthalmoscope, [Drama:] It’s that dog he’s been ob- an instrument for examining the interior sessing about. of the eye. Note that all have at least two h’s. (A few, like the twenty-letter disease Change “obsessing about” to obsessed ophthalmoblennorrhea, have three h’s.) by or with. The verb is transitive. Some- The first one was missing from ophthal- thing obsesses one, or (more often) one mologists in an op-ed article of mine. is obsessed by or with something. One The editor had knocked the h out of it. does not “obsess” any more than one “besieges.” OD. Probably not everyone under- Obsess once meant besiege in a literal stood him when a newscaster on a na- 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 270

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tional radio network mentioned a cer- up to one’s main point: “He made his tain actor’s “OD’ing on cocaine at his discovery in 1776, which of course was home in Malibu.” The strange-sounding the year of our Declaration of Indepen- word, the lack of a complete sentence, dence.” / “Of course, you shouldn’t put and the failure to place Malibu in Cali- all your eggs in one basket. Farnsworth fornia all detracted from easy compre- did so and this is what happened to hension. him.” OD (noun or verb, which looks odd Using of course in that way tells the but is pronounced OH-DEE) means reader or listener, “You’re smart enough overdose in police and medical jargon, to know this, but it is helpful to the dis- not in standard English. OD’ing means cussion if I mention it anyway.” overdosing. The Random House Dictionary oddly 2. Drawback fails to include any definition under Occasionally, instead of avoiding in- overdose (which it dates from the seven- sult, the use of “of course” produces it. teenth century); instead it refers readers A listener asks a speaker a question; the to OD (1955 to 1960) and defines that. answer should be “yes,” but the speaker OD as an abbreviation (often with answers “of course,” as though to say: dots) can stand for many things, includ- “You’re a dummy for asking.” Or a ing doctor of optometry, officer of the writer attaches an “of course” to an ob- day, Old Dutch, ordnance department, scure fact or arguable proposition, outside diameter, overdraft, overdrawn, thereby implying to a number of readers and the right eye (from the Latin oculus that they are dolts for not knowing what dexter, used on prescriptions). the writer knows. The three quoted statements that fol- -ODD. See SOME. low, from three books, are scarcely the epitome of everyday conversation. None -O ending. See Plurals and singulars, gives any clue as to why it warrants “of 2J. course.” First, a traveler describes an Al- gerian repast of which he partook: “We OF. See COMPRISE; HAVE, HAS, started with dates, of course, and drank HAD, 2; OFF and “OFF OF”; ON, 3; milk.” (Why must a meal start with Prepositions; SUPPORTIVE. dates?) A musicologist tells the general public, “. . . Berlioz, of course, made lib- OF ANY, OF ANYONE. See ANY, eral use of the instrument,” the harp. 1, 2. (Why is that presumed to be an obvious fact?) Last, a cosmologist writes about a OF COURSE. 1. Benefit. 2. Draw- theory of multiple universes: back. 3. Other expressions. Only in a small number, with conditions and parameters like our own 1. Benefit universe, will it be possible for intelli- Sometimes a statement seems obvious gent life to develop and ask the ques- but needs to be stated anyway. The com- tion, “Why is the universe as we mon phrase of course lets us state the ob- observe it?” The answer, of course, is vious without sounding pedagogic or that if it were otherwise, there would preachy or insulting anyone’s intelli- not be anyone to ask the question. gence. What is stated may be a fact or truism It is unclear why that answer should be that puts things into perspective or leads accepted as a matter of course. Maybe 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 271

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the question could be answered in an as- “Off of” is a substandard phrase. tronomic, rather than philosophic, way. “Of” is superfluous; its sense is included Possibly celestial events could have made in off. The “of” intrudes often in conver- the (or a) universe “otherwise” but still sations and at times in broadcasting and observable. This is a deep matter. Must print. discussion be cut off so soon? A reporter on a TV network said, “Moving people into jobs and off of wel- 3. Other expressions fare demands that there be jobs to go There are some other phrases that are to.” The “of” was wrong; off welfare similar to “of course” in patronizing would have been right. character but less useful, if indeed they The mistake glared in a front-page should be used at all. One of them ap- headline: “Gingrich wants wealthy re- pears in a renowned book. (Emphasis is tirees off of Medicare.” Off Medicare added to the excerpts below.) needed no “of.” Nor should “of” have intruded in this sentence, from a dis- The English, as everyone knows, usu- patch by a news agency: “That [infusion ally put a comma after the street num- with carbonate grains] would have hap- ber of a house, making it, for pened during the impact that knocked example, 34, St. James’s Street. the meteorite off of Mars.” Off Mars. The four extracts below from newspa- If everyone knew it, would the author pers all contain the same error: “Mar- have felt it necessary to give the exam- tinez’s car hit the rear of one car, glanced ple? Related phrases are “as everybody off of it and struck another car.” / “That knows” and “as is well known.” limits the number of objects off of which Another expression in a similar vein is radar energy can bounce.” / “Mr. found in a widely used manual for au- Courter’s campaign, coming off of a thors and editors: tough primary . . . , suffered from poor It goes without saying that author- organization. . . .” / “The Department . . . date citations in the text must agree added staff to help General Assistance exactly with the list of references. clients get off of local welfare rolls. . . .” In every instance, off is enough: If something really “goes without say- “. . . glanced off it . . .” / “. . . objects off ing” or, to use a related expression, is which . . .” / “. . . coming off a tough “needless to say,” why say it? What the primary . . .” / “. . . get off local welfare manual says, however, seems worth say- rolls. . . .” ing. See Verbal unmentionables. The final example, from a column, is a Two other expressions of a compara- bit different: “Gabbert broadcasts off of ble, patronizing character are “for the Mount San Bruno south of The City. . . .” simple reason that” and “it stands to Change “off of” to from. (And insert a reason.” See REASON, 3. comma after “Bruno.” As for the capital T in “The,” not the writer but a quirk of OFF and “OFF OF.” A talk show his newspaper was to blame.) host objected to giving driver’s licenses to anyone illiterate in English. What if OFF and ON. See GO OFF and GO you can’t read the signs on the freeway ON. and “don’t know what exit to get off of?” In his comment, he displayed less than full proficiency in English himself. “OLDEST PROFESSION.” This The “of” should have been at. bromide is liable to be dragged into any 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 272

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popular discussion of harlotry and ac- State court Judge Lawrence Weiss cepted without thought as though it Friday sentenced Mr. B—— to 10 were established wisdom. It made typi- years in state prison. . . . cal appearances in announcements of two television programs to be shown “On Friday” would clarify that “Fri- and in an argument by the host of a ra- day” is not the judge’s last name. The dio talk show: “plus a new look at the sentence would read still more smoothly world’s oldest profession, prostitution” / if it began “On Friday....” On would “a provocative look at the world’s oldest suit the start of the following press sen- profession . . .” / “The idea of trying to tence too. outlaw the world’s oldest profession is ridiculous.” His first day as principal of South Is there any truth in the “oldest pro- Boston High School, Jerome W—— fession” cliché? First of all, prostitution, received a poetic greeting from white the selling of sexual services, is not a pro- residents opposed to desegregating fession in the standard sense: a vocation their neighborhood’s school. requiring much advanced study and training, in the practice of which one is The meaning is clear, but it would be relied on for one’s knowledge and judg- more idiomatic to say “On his first ment. The professions once meant theol- day. . . .” Without the on, the reader ogy, law, and medicine. could start out on the wrong track, ex- That leaves the question, What is the pecting something like “His first day as oldest vocation or occupation? Writings principal was exciting.” in anthropology suggest that the earliest On does not always need to precede a beings that walked upright subsisted by day or date, but it cannot hurt. “He scavenging, gathering, and hunting. came Thursday” or “He came on Thurs- Fishing and animal husbandry entered at day.” / “The fiscal year ends June 30” or some points, tillage later. Prostitution “The fiscal year ends on June 30.” was not in the running. Anyway, could A faddish expression at this writing is prostitutes have gone into business if “Get a grip.” A grip on what (on a prob- there were not men who had earned the lem? on oneself?) is not explained. It is money to pay them? literally telling someone to obtain a suitcase. ON. 1. Missing. 2. Superfluous. 3. Uni- 2. Superfluous diomatic. The needless appearance of “on” plays a part in contemporary slang. Up 1. Missing often gets “on” added when up would The preposition on gets pushed be enough by itself. around: left out when it should be in, put A column of letters to the editor was in when it should be out, and over- headlined “U.S. Should Stop Beating Up worked when another preposition on Cuba.” And this was said in a tele- would do a better job. vised documentary: “Orson constantly To omit on, as newspapers are apt to picked up on those things [reports of his do, can make a sentence unclear: “He genius] and accepted them as true.” In met Billy Sunday.” / “He hired his man each case, on could have been dropped Friday.” If we are referring to days and with no detriment to the meaning. (See not people’s appellations, precede each also PICK UP and PICKUP, 2.) day with on. A press example follows. When a congressman sought a presi- 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 273

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dential panel to restudy veterans’ com- Ex-Klansmen to Take plaints of illness, a news item said “more Classes on [in?] Civil Rights than 75 House members signed on to his letter. . . .” They signed his letter. There Space limitation only partly explains was no need for “on to.” the press’s fondness for on. In print it is A witness was quoted: “He was wait- slightly longer than of and in, two ing on every second for the police to ar- prepositions that it sometimes supplants. rive. He couldn’t wait to see them.” Reliance on on seems to be habitual with Dropping on would help the ﬁrst sen- some copy editors, easier than having to tence. (But if “he was waiting,” how is it select the best preposition. Equally unid- that “He couldn’t wait”?) iomatic “on” phrases are sometimes Seeking a home for a cat, a humane found in other media. This is from a society ran an ad that began, “Cat lovers scholarly book: should count on their blessings.” Count their (our, your, etc.) blessings is the ex- [E]vans said its [a dictionary’s] pur- pression. “On” was ill chosen. To count pose was to give the reader help on on is to depend on (something or some- spelling, pronunciation, and the one). meaning and proper use of words.

3. Unidiomatic Would we not want “help in spelling” et On has become a highly popular tool cetera? of the press, usurping functions that To stand or wait on line is a regional most of us would reserve for other idiom of New York City, seen in writing prepositions. In headlines it is nearly an produced there. Most of the country all-purpose preposition. Take this head- speaks of standing or waiting in line. line, across a page: A certain actress “has never before been ‘butt naked’ onscreen,” an article said. On and screen do not require Shelley backs off on Brown’s ballot union. (And buck [stark] naked is the measure colloquial expression.) See also 2 (end); GO OFF and GO Off and “on” seem contradictory. A ON; ONGOING; ONTO; Prepositions, more normal preposition with back off 7; SPEAK TO, TALK TO; WAIT FOR (meaning to retreat) is from. and WAIT ON. Here are five more headlines (with possible replacements in brackets): ONE ANOTHER. See EACH OTHER. U.S. to take Russia to task on [for?] Chechnya ONE as pronoun. 1. The indefinite ONE. 2. The I ONE. 3. Some other RUSSIA TELLS NATO ONEs. IT ACCEPTS OFFER ON [OF?] A FORMAL LINK 1. The indefinite ONE One serves as a pronoun, most often Wilson backs floor legitimately, sometimes less so. It is ac- fight on [over?] abortion ceptable to let one stand for a person in general or any of us or an average per- Ruling lets activists pursue son: “One must earn a living.” / “One warning on [of?] mercury fillings needs to watch one’s weight.” In this use, 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 274

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which we may call the indefinite one, in- person); or “when you receive one or consistency is a problem that crops up two . . . you really begin to think” (sec- fairly often. A sentence written for a ond person). The indefinite one does not newspaper by a dietitian will illustrate: suit this sentence, which uses one in another sense (“when one receives one”). . . . When one is occupied with good See 3 (end). food, you don’t miss some of the See also Pronouns, 7. foods you thought you would. 2. The I ONE The “one” that appears early in the sen- A less legitimate use of the pronoun is tence soon shifts to “you.” Inasmuch as what we call here the I one but could as “you” shows up three times, the simplest well call the coy one. Some people treat correction would be to change “one is” the word as a substitute for I, out of coy- to you are or you’re. Anyway, keeping ness, modesty, evasiveness, or affecta- the first “one” would require “one” tion. Its other forms are “one’s” in place three more times (“one doesn’t miss” of my and “oneself” in place of myself. etc.) and the sentence would look stilted. A few quotations with translations: A sentence from a magazine article “His accounts . . . are the best one has also shifts from “one” to “you”: seen”—the best I have seen. “. . . One’s efforts will now be more fully and It [Vancouver] is compact and one has adequately supported”—my efforts will. little need of a car if you are staying in “. . . One was almost beside oneself with one of the downtown hotels. joy . . .”—I was almost beside myself with joy. It should all be either in the second per- This mannerism is associated mainly son, “. . . and you have little need of a with British writing, although it is not car if you are staying . . .”; or in the third rare among Americans. A “presidential person, “. . . and one has little need of a spokesman” was quoted as saying: car if one is staying. . . .” If the latter is chosen, another improvement would be We have not solved problems re- to change “one of the downtown hotels” lated to discrimination in the work- to “a downtown hotel.” It is not just a place and sometimes one wonders matter of conciseness: When the indefi- whether those who advocate abolish- nite one is used, it is best to avoid one in ing affirmative action understand that another sense. clearly. An excerpt from an op-ed article about telephone solicitors contains a Which “one” wonders? The forthright glaring error and two subtle defects. course would be to say “I wonder . . .” or “the president wonders.” But to be Such calls were always intrusive, but forthright is not the function of a presi- when one receives one or two of them dential spokesman. almost daily (or nightly), I really begin to think, “Their ought to be a law.” 3. Some other ONEs The pronouns anyone, everyone, and “Their,” of course, should be there. An- someone need to be distinguished from other mistake is the shift from third per- the phrases any one, every one, and son to first person—“one . . . I.” A better some one. way would be either “when I receive one The three pronouns refer only to or two . . . I really begin to think” (first people and mean any person, every per- 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 275

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son, and some person. (“Anyone can en- toms.” / “Only one in a thousand wins a ter the building.” / “I wish everyone a prize.” happy holiday.” / “Someone is at the See also MORE THAN ONE. door.”) Each of the three phrases is made up 2. ONE OF THE, IF NOT THE, etc. of an adjective and the pronoun one, can The desire to avoid repetition is at the refer to either things or people, and em- root of this problem, an example of phasizes a single item or person. (“Any which goes: “She was one of the best, if one of the jurors can thwart a convic- not the best, teacher I had.” It takes tion.” / “Every one of the envelopes con- many forms, such as the form of this tains a bill.” / “The check is in some one quotation, attributed to a medical inves- of the drawers.”) tigator: “It is one of the, if not the[,] No one does not present such a prob- most egregious case I’ve ever seen.” lem. It is always a two-word phrase. If the parenthetical phrase in each ex- The common reflexive form of the in- ample is removed, neither sentence definite one is oneself, with only one s makes grammatical sense. The “one of and no apostrophe (“College study is a the” part does not go with the singular way to advance oneself”), although one’s noun: “one of the best . . . teacher” / self is its meaning and its variation. “one of the . . . most egregious case.” The pronoun one can represent a per- Making the singular noun plural would son or thing of a kind or group men- add no sense; the pronoun and first verb, tioned or understood. “Sing one of the both singular, would not go with it: “She songs.” / “I’ve seen those machines and was . . . the best teachers.” / “It is . . . the plan to buy one.” / “That one should fit most egregious cases.” you.” / “Give me the blue one.” / “Is this This is a solution: Tell what group the the one you want?” individual or item is “one of,” before See also ANY, 2; EVERYBODY, EV- you consider that one as a lone superla- ERYONE; EVERY ONE and EVERY- tive. And do not worry about a little rep- ONE; Pronouns, 2C. etition. “She was one of the best teachers, if not the best teacher, I had.” / ONE IN EVERY. See ONE OF, 1. “It is one of the most egregious cases, if not the most egregious case, I’ve ever seen.” Even limiting the parenthetical ONE OF. 1. ONE OF EVERY, ONE phrase to “if not the best” or “if not the OUT OF, etc. 2. ONE OF THE, IF most egregious” would be preferable to NOT THE, etc. 3. ONE OF the original version: It is easier for some- THE . . . WHO etc. one to mentally extract a part of a word that has been mentioned (teacher from 1. ONE OF EVERY, ONE OUT OF, etc. teachers, or case from cases) than to “One of every four persons in this imagine something that is not there. state have been hit hard by the flood- Another option is rewriting; for in- ing,” a governor said on television. stance, “This case is as egregious as any Change “have” to has. The essential I’ve seen in ten years, perhaps more so.” subject is one, which is singular. One re- The rewritten version might be an im- mains singular even when it represents provement. Those “if not” sentences can millions. get repetitious themselves. Similarly: “About one out of every six adults is a college graduate.” / “One in 3. ONE OF THE . . . WHO etc. every forty children displays the symp- The question here is whether singular 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 276

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or plural words go with phrases like one network TV news) can be interpreted of the, one of a, one of those, and one of whimsically. six (or another number). Such a phrase gives no trouble in a simple sentence: She [the princess] is one of the few “One of the women wears a hibiscus in Japanese women who will have her her hair.” But when it appears in a sen- husband home for dinner at night. tence with a clause, usually a clause containing who or that, people often go Does she know about the others? astray (as a newspaper did): See also Nouns, 3; Verbs, 3 (“is among senators who”). . . . The son is now a Senator from Connecticut himself and one of a ONE OUT OF. See ONE OF, 1. handful of Democrats who has not said how he will vote. . . . ONESELF. See ONE as pronoun, 3; Pronouns, 3. That senator is one of those Democrats who have not said how they will vote. ONGOING. Several dictionaries de- Who pertains to the people just men- fine ongoing as an adjective that means tioned, not to “one.” Ask the question progressing, evolving, or growing. More What is he one of? The answer: “a hand- often it is used as a synonym for continu- ful of Democrats who have not said how ing, as in “the ongoing operation.” they will vote. . . .” Ongoing or on-going came out of the Similarly, in each of the three exam- nineteenth century. It appeals to those of ples below (from a radio feature, a biog- our contemporaries with taste for bu- raphy, and a TV documentary) a reaucratic jargon. Use it if you will (as an singular verb is erroneously used in place adjective before the noun), but not as a of a plural verb: “He’s one of the five substitute for going on, in the Germanic [Polish conspirators] who gets away.” / manner in which it was used below (as a “One of the few Gilbert diaries that sur- verb following an auxiliary verb). vives is of this year.” / (This pride of lions is) “one of six prides that lives here.” [A metropolitan mayor:] It [an inves- Change “gets” to get, “survives” to sur- tigation] is ongoing as we speak. vive, and “lives” to live. What is the man one of? “. . . The five who get away.” [A journalist in a TV forum:] There’s What is the diary one of? “. . . The few a Justice Department investigation Gilbert diaries that survive. . . .” What is ongoing. the pride one of? “. . . Six prides that live here.” [A newspaper:] . . . He said negotia- An obituary opens with a singular tions with the developer were ongo- noun that should be a plural noun: “Ju- ing. dith Somogi, one of the first women to become a conductor, died . . . Wednes- [A news service:] . . . Poindexter sev- day morning.” She was not the first eral times misled him by asserting that woman to become a conductor but “one the Iran arms operation had been of the first women to become conduc- closed down, when in fact it was on- tors.” going. Here is a similar error, the failure to use a plural pronoun and noun: their Changing “ongoing” to going on would husbands. The erroneous sentence (from fix all four examples. An alternative in 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 277

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the fourth example is continuing; this D.He sells watches only in town. (He would particularly suit the sentence be- sells them nowhere else.) low (from a TV news report): Only is classiﬁed as (1) an adjective, That sort of construction is going to meaning sole or single one in a category; be ongoing for a number of years. (2) an adverb, meaning merely, solely, or exclusively; and (3) a conjunction, An idiomatic replacement for “ongo- meaning but or except that. Some dis- ing” in this sentence (from a radio news parage that third function; 85 percent of report) is being made: The American Heritage Dictionary’s usage panel found this sentence unaccept- Attempts are ongoing to identify oth- able in writing: “They would have come, ers [who stole money]. . . . only the automobile broke down.”

Still better: “The police are attempting 2. Misplacement to. . . .” A sign in a window of a clothing store A folder issued by a utility company announced: “Large Assortment of 100% on the effects of magnetic ﬁelds con- silk ties only 2 for 14.90.” It seemed to tained the subheading “Research Is On- be emphasizing that customers could going.” The text said research studies have “only 2” ties (not three or four) at were under way, which would have been that price. Most people probably under- an ideal substitute for “Ongoing.” stood the offer, despite the misplacement Related noun forms, all little used, are of “only”; but “2 for only $14.90,” on-going, the action of going on; on- clearly emphasizing the price (with the $) goings, goings on or doings; and on- would have presented it better. goingness, the quality or condition of A developer planned to turn a historic going on. farm into a village in Princeton Town- See also Backward writing, 3. ship, New Jersey, a newspaper reported.

ONLY. 1. In general. 2. Misplacement. However, Princeton zoning permitted only houses on three-acre sites on the White Farm. 1. In general Normally only affects the word or phrase that immediately follows. “Only The sentence says zoning allowed no time will tell.” / “The only thing we have structures other than houses on those to fear. . . .” (When exceptions will arise, sites; but was that the intended mean- “God only knows.”) ing? More likely the writer was referring The meaning of a sentence can hinge to the required acreage for each prop- on the location of only. To illustrate, let erty. In that case, only belonged else- us put it in different places in four other- where: “. . . permitted houses only on wise identical sentences. three-acre sites. . . .” The wording could be still clearer: “However, on the White A.Only he sells watches in town. (No- Farm, Princeton zoning permitted body else sells them here.) houses only on sites of [at least?] three B. He only sells watches in town. (He acres each.” does not make or ﬁx them.) The writer of an opinion piece told C.He sells only watches in town. (They newspaper readers that he would have are his sole merchandise here.) loved Ronald Reagan if the president 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 278

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had kept all of his campaign promises of children throw a ball on the roof, they 1980. may be up there themselves; they are not if they throw the ball onto the roof. During his campaign he promised us Onto is unequivocal. lower taxes, limited government and Among the early uses of onto was this an administration that would only by Keats, 1819: “Please you walk forth spend the money it collected. Onto the terrace.” Since the sixteenth century, the preposition had been treated To say that the administration would as two words, on to, a use that persisted “only spend” the money seems to imply in Britain into the modern era. that it would never save any of the money. Interchange “only” and 2. ON TO and ONTO “spend.” The proper phrase does appear When on, serving as an adverb, ad- elsewhere in the piece: “If Reagan had joins the preposition to, the two words stuck to his promise to spend only what should not be joined. These are correct government collected, we would not examples: “I walked on to the next vil- have a $4.1 trillion debt today” (empha- lage.” / “Take one copy and pass the rest sis added). on to your neighbor.” / “Hold on to the The problem in the press example be- rope.” / “We’ll fight on to victory!” In low is not ambiguity but absurdity. each instance on is an adverb, closely related to the verb. New York is only one of two states This is an erroneous use from a con- in the nation that now rely exclusively temporary book of essays: “I’d given this on the S.A.T. to determine eligibility company, a bank, all my money to hold for their state-scholarship programs. onto for me until I needed it.” Make it “hold on to for me . . .” or simply “hold Obviously New York is “only one” state. for me . . .” Make it “one of only two states. . . .” To be on to something like a plot or See also NOT ONLY. scheme is an informal term meaning to be aware of it. The Oxford English Dic- ONLY TO. See TO, 2. tionary quotes an old editorial comment as an example of an erroneous joining of ONTO. 1. ON and ONTO. 2. ON on and to: “It is a very pretty game, gov- TO and ONTO. ernor, but the people are onto it.” Two other dictionaries present that term as 1. ON and ONTO “onto” without identifying it as a mis- The relation between these two spelling. prepositions resembles that between in As separate words, on and to get and into. about equal stress. Onto stresses the first On indicates position or location. syllable, on-. Among its many senses, it means in contact with (a surface), e.g., a fly on a wall; OPHTHALMOLOGIST. See or above and supported by (a surface), a OCULIST, OPHTHALMOLOGIST dish on a table. (etc.). Onto signifies motion to a position on (a surface). A frog hops from a tree onto OPINE. Once used in serious writing, the grass, then hops along on the grass. opine now usually serves journalistic Sometimes on can fill the role of onto writers seeking to be mildly funny or without confusion (Snow dropped on facetious. Opine (verb, transitive and in- our heads); at other times, it cannot. If transitive) is an economical way to say 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 279

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express an opinion. Nowadays it tends Whenever or links plural alternatives to make light of the opinion expressed. in a subject, the verb is plural. It gets Thackeray wrote in the 1850s, “He complicated when the alternatives differ opined that the rich should pay.” An ar- in number. See EITHER, 1. ticle in a daily paper praises a work of Using or, like using nor, shows us print and television even though it some limitations of English. Which form of the verb goes in the following sen- “pours fuel on the smoldering elec- tence? “Settle your quarrel before you or tion-year rage of the middle class,” Joe get[s] hurt.” Both “you . . . gets” and USA Today opined. “Joe get” are ungrammatical. A number of grammarians tolerate whichever verb A magazine article says of a performer’s goes with the nearer noun or pronoun, supposed bodily insecurities: in that example “gets.” If the sentence is to be written, one can usually rephrase “I think . . . she looks in the mirror it, evading the dilemma; e.g., “Settle and sees a girl with big thighs,” opines your quarrel before you get hurt or Joe [the] Striptease director.... does” / “. . . before someone gets hurt” / “. . . before you two get hurt.” Rephras- On those infrequent occasions when ing may be the best option. opine is uttered orally, it is pronounced Instead of an alternative, or may in- oh-PINE. troduce an appositive, an explanatory word or phrase. When it does, a comma OPTOMETRIST and OPTICIAN. precedes or: “The bird is a rock dove, or See OCULIST, OPHTHALMOLOGIST pigeon.” (etc.). See also NOR; Series errors, 6.

OR. A columnist criticized passive ORAL. See VERBAL. verbs, remarking: ORDINAL NUMBERS. See Num- If your doctor or lawyer write that bers, 11. way to other doctors or lawyers, fine. ORDINANCE and ORDNANCE. If a writer uses a singular subject with a See Confusing pairs. plural verb in a column on word usage, it is not so fine. Change “write” to OSCILLATE and OSCULATE. writes. See Confusing pairs. Whenever the subject of a sentence or clause consists of two or more alterna- OTHER. See ANOTHER; NOTHER. tives—that is, words or phrases linked by or or nor—and each alternative is sin- OURSELVES. See Pronouns, 3, 4, 5. gular, the verb too must be singular. Example: “Either Mary or Jane has OUTPUT. The noun output is more the key”—not “have.” It is held by one or less technical. It means the quantity of person, either this one or that one. The a product turned out in a given period of subject expresses oneness, and so must time, or the amount of energy or power the verb express it. that a device can produce, or the data Any related pronoun also is singular: that come out of a computer. “Abe or Charles, whichever one goes, The verb output flowered in the four- will have to pay his own way”—not teenth to seventeenth centuries with sev- “their.” eral general meanings, and it persisted as 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 280

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jargon for produce or put out: “to out- OVAL. Oval (adjective and noun) put coal” or to “output some 1,200 tons originates in ovum, Latin for egg. En- of flour per day.” Computer technology glish adopted ovum in the sense of egg assigned output another sense: to give cell, female reproductive cell. From the out, print, or transfer processed data. foregoing, one could reasonably assume No one objects to the technical use that oval has something to do with eggs, of a technical term. Adapting such a and so it has. Oval means (as an adjec- term to general use, however, may not be tive) egg-shaped, whether solidly or necessary. A common word or phrase planely; or (as a noun) an egg shape. may bring out the meaning as well or What is the shape of an egg? Anyone better. who has ever seen a common hen’s egg is A boy doing poorly in school was de- probably aware that it is rounded and scribed, in a newscast, as handicapped in somewhat elongated, with one end “his ability to output the information” broader than the other. The disparity be- he was taught. To express it? To recall it? tween egg ends is likely to be impressed To write it down? on the minds of those who have read Let that Germanic-sounding verb re- Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels and recall the main a technical term in computing and violent ideological conflict in the empire industry, not replacing common words of Liliput: It pitted the Big-Endians, the or phrases like put out. If we are lucky, heretics, who broke their eggs at the big nobody will ever “output” a fire, “out- ends, against the Little-Endians, the or- put” a batter, “output” to sea, or “out- thodox egg-breakers. put” the cat. Oval may be distinguished from ellip- See also Backward writing, 3. tical (adjective) and ellipse (noun). An ellipse is an elongated circle, the shape of OUTRAGEOUS, OUTRA- the numeral 0. (More technically, it is a GEOUSLY. The adjective outrageous symmetrical closed curve, the path of a (and its adverbial relative outrageously) point that moves in a way that the sum can mean disgraceful(ly), harmful(ly), of its distances from two fixed points is immoral(ly), indecent(ly), offensive(ly), constant.) A planet’s orbit is sometimes shocking(ly), or violent(ly). Those mean- called its ellipse, inasmuch as the plane- ings apply to criminal or other antisocial tary orbits are approximately elliptical. deeds. (“We’ve got to curb that drug An American football is an ellipsoid, a lord’s outrageous activities.”) Does a sin- solid object whose plane sections are all gle one apply to the event described be- ellipses or circles. The adjective is ellip- low? soid or ellipsoidal. More often than not, the public con- More than 17 million visitors were fuses an oval and an ellipse. Usually an attracted to the 1939 Golden Gate ellipse is called (an) “oval.” Occasionally Exposition, held on man-made Trea- it is the other way around. A number of sure Island, dredged from the Bay bot- modern dictionaries have legitimated the tom to house the outrageously misemployment, thereby contributing spectacular exhibition. . . . further to it. A national TV “magazine” broadcast Just why the writer thought he was im- a portrait of a tycoon in the chicken in- proving on “spectacular” is murky. dustry. After visiting the White House, The producer of a computer show advertised “OUTRAGEOUS DEALS UN- he redesigned his office to look like DER ONE ROOF!!” Was that a the president’s. But instead of “oval,” warning? he calls it “egg-shaped.” 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 281

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That is exactly what oval means. (Ex- “A Little Blacklist of Literary Faults,” actly what the shape of each office is, we and one item was “Over for More do not know.) than.” He gave an example, “A sum of Scientists do not necessarily use the over ten thousand dollars,” but no rea- terms with any more precision than lay- son for his stricture. men. The quotation is from a book on Bierce also damned such uses as cosmology and pertains to a theory of “Over for About, In, or Concerning” cosmic history. (e.g., “Don’t cry over spilt milk” and “He rejoiced over his acquittal”) and Other regions, which did not happen “Over for On” (“The policeman struck to pick up a rotation, would become him over the head”), uses that are gener- oval-shaped objects called elliptical ally accepted. galaxies. Although Bierce did not say anything about over in the sense of across (“Let’s walk over the bridge”), some others It contains a contradiction. If the galax- have condemned it. The Oxford, again, ies are elliptical, they are not “oval,” at supports such use, offering quotations least in strict usage—and if a scientist is dating from the ninth century. not strict in his usage, who is? Anyway, For better or worse, over has numer- “shaped” is redundant; it is part of the ous meanings and it has had them for meaning of the adjective oval. centuries. The Random House Dictio- nary gives sixty-one definitions of the OVER and MORE THAN. “Over word, as preposition, adverb, adjective, 50 years in business,” says an ad for an noun, verb, and interjection (in radio auto painting company. Is the phrase communication, as in “Over and out”). “over 50 years” correct? People who work in the mass media OVERLY and OVER- words. 1. Is frequently avoid over in that sense. An OVERLY unnecessary? 2. Misuse of editor of mine insisted that over could OVERLY. only mean above in a literal, geometric sense: “I see the balloon over the build- 1. Is OVERLY unnecessary? ing.” (He expressed no such objection to Several grammarians have objected to under.) Many an editor, despite a pen- any use of overly as superfluous, con- chant for conciseness, will omit the word tending that the over- words have taken over in a sentence like “Over 2,000 at- its place. They would, for instance, say tended” and change it to the two-word overcautious and reject “overly cau- phrase more than. More than is perfectly tious.” proper, but it has been one of the mean- The Random House Dictionary lists ings of over since the Middle Ages. The about 1,500 over- words. The Oxford Oxford English Dictionary offers eight English Dictionary has 83 pages of over- quotations, from the fourteenth century words, many of which it prefers to hy- on, to illustrate that over can mean “In phenate, over-cautious, for instance. excess of, above, more than (a stated Such a word is a little more concise than amount or number).” an overly phrase and usually just as What caused the odd aversion to good. phrases like over a ton, over a million, Overly is an “Americanism” to and over 50 years after all those cen- Britons, although the Oxford traces it turies of use? The only visible answer is a back to A.D. 10. (It was oferlice in Old little book from 1909 called Write it English.) Before burying the word, let us Right by Ambrose Bierce. He subtitled it consider two points: 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 282

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• The language is full of synonyms. Overly is an adverb, a word that mod- That the same idea may be expressed ifies an adjective, a verb, or another ad- in two ways is not a strong reason to verb. It cannot modify a noun, such as discard one of them. Overly means “weight.” excessively (a word preferred in (The anecdote was leading to a histor- British English), yet the critics are ical sketch: The portly one could not not advocating the latter’s bend enough to tie his shoe; he would elimination. not have faced such a problem when the • On a few occasions overly can region was a ranch and men wore lace- contribute to clarity or grace. It less boots.) outdoes over- in this sentence: “The fight was over money and OWING TO. See DUE TO. overbrutal.” Overly overt beats “overovert,” although too overt OXYMORON. A panelist in a politi- may be the best choice. And a cal discussion on television probably in- behemoth like overgesticulative tended this question to be rhetorical: “If or overindividualistic may not suit a ‘paid volunteer’ is not an oxymoron, a particular sentence, speaker, or what is?” writer. In a poem titled “The Second The answer is that an oxymoron is a Voyage,” Kipling wrote: “Yet caring figure of speech in which contradictory so, not overly we care / To brace and words or ideas are intentionally com- trim for every foolish blast.” Was he bined. The striking effect produced by expected to force “overcare” into his the juxtaposition of incompatibles is de- iambic pentameter? signed to make a point. Some popular examples are agreeing to disagree, deaf- 2. Misuse of OVERLY ening silence, and killing with kindness. Overly is not misused often, but a The oxymoron was a favored device in columnist did wrongly insert it in an Latin and Greek literature. The word en- opening sentence: tered English from the Greek oxumoron, literally meaning pointed foolishness. When an overly weight man came If the contrariness of the terms is acci- into my office wanting a notary I no- dental or unintentional, other words can ticed his shoe was untied. describe it. If a bureaucrat comes up with a phrase like “paid volunteer”; a The phrase “overly weight” is wrong. novelist writes that “they had found in- Change it to overweight or some other creasingly little to talk about”; or a over- adjective. Alternatively, to keep diplomat remarks, “The situation in Iraq “overly,” change “weight” to an adjec- is clearly very confused,” there may be a tive referring to the man’s avoirdupois: contradiction, an incompatibility, or a overly heavy, overly stout. (The sentence paradox. The word oxymoron should be also could use a comma after “notary.”) reserved for the figure of speech. 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 283

PACHYDERM. See Synonymic silli- Maui, Hawaii, by a travel editor: ness, 1. “White-haired old men and women return from their taro paddies, their legs PADDY. Paddy is rice. It comes from spackled with mud.” The people work the Malay padi, meaning rice in the in taro fields. Taro is an edible plant that husk, and in the strictest sense paddy de- has nothing to do with paddy. (More- notes such rice, whether it is growing or over speckled is misspelled and “old” is has been harvested. By extension, the superfluous editorializing.) word can also mean rice in general. Used loosely, it means rice field. PAIR. Pair (noun), like couple, con- Describing an Egyptian oasis, a book cerns two of the same kind. Pair, how- explains that the growing of rice there is ever, often stresses their close forbidden for fear of malaria, because association, perhaps their mutual depen- “mosquitoes thrive in paddy fields.” dence: a pair of pants, a pair of scissors. Paddy is used admirably. On the con- Pair, like other collective nouns, may be trary, these press samples show no un- either singular or plural. It depends on derstanding of it: which gets the emphasis: the group as a unit or its individual members. Across the rice paddies, several If you say, “A blue pair of pants does hundred men from leftist organiza- not go with a brown pair of shoes,” you tions carried red banners. . . . are emphasizing the oneness of each pair. But “A pair of soldiers were guard- The dilapidated brick villages and ing the entrance to their post.” To say bright green rice paddies in this cor- “was guarding . . . its” post would be ner of southern China sometimes ridiculous. When pair refers to people, it seem as American as chop suey. is normally plural. A nature film depicted two dangerous Many Cambodian houses are built animals of Africa, the cape buffalo and on stilts near the rice paddies that line the hippopotamus. The narrator said, the road. “When the pair clashes, the outcome is uncertain.” The two clash. They could “Rice paddies” is redundant. Change all not do so if they were one. Besides, pair the “paddies” to fields, or at least omit has special meaning when applied to an- “rice.” imals: it denotes two that are either Rice is totally absent in a piece about mated or yoked for labor.

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A news story said: “In a rare finding, a A paragraph may have one sentence, pair of twins has been shown to have dif- if its message stands alone; or multiple ferent fathers.” Make it either “have sentences, if they all go together in se- been shown to have different fathers” or quence. But it should not have too many. “has been shown to have two fathers.” A secondary purpose of a paragraph is That which is one unit cannot differ to give the reader a momentary rest, a from itself. chance to absorb a particular point be- See also Collective nouns; COUPLE. fore moving on to the next point. Some- times a paragraph, though properly Pairs of words. See BACK(-) prefix homogeneous, is too long. It may then and pairs; Confusing pairs (with lists); need to be divided more or less arbitrar- Homophones (with lists); Joining of ily, for the brain can weary of overlong words; Twins. blocks of writing. An extreme example is seen in Webster’s Third Dictionary, PALPATE and PALPITATE. One where paragraphs reach lengths of some physician spoke about another on a tele- four thousand words (take and turn). vision “magazine” program and made Newspapers often go to the opposite what may have been a slip of the tongue: extreme. Journalists know that the usual “The doctor palpitated a mass, but noth- newspaper column, being narrow, does ing was done to rule it out.” The “it” not lend itself to long paragraphs. Many that the speaker referred to was cancer, turn nearly every sentence into its own but he should have ruled the “-it-” out of paragraph, thinking that they are fur- “palpitated.” The word he needed was thering readability. They are hindering it, palpate, to touch a part of someone’s failing to fully organize the material, and body for medical diagnosis. defeating the main function of a para- To palpitate, said of the heart, is to graph. beat unusually fast or intensely or with abnormal flutter. PARAMETER and PERIMETER. The two words have a relationship. See Confusing pairs. They come from different forms of the Latin verb palpare, to touch. PARANOIA, PARANOID. Para- noia (noun) is a psychosis characterized PANTS. See PAIR; Plurals and singu- by a delusion of persecution or grandeur lars, 1; Verbal unmentionables. or both. Usually the delusion centers on one theme that is elaborated with logic, PARADISE. See Hawaii. and the person is otherwise rational and intelligent. Paragraph. Almost every piece of Paranoid (adjective) means character- writing is divided into paragraphs. They istic of, relating to, or exhibiting the psy- are orderly collections of sentences. The chosis. Often “paranoid” and sometimes main function of a paragraph is to group “paranoia” are used loosely to refer to a related points, ideas, or statements. feeling or showing of worry, fear, dis- A new paragraph says in effect, “Here trust, or suspicion. Who among us has comes something a bit different.” The never had real cause for such thoughts? eye recognizes it because each paragraph A book says to “trust your agent— starts on a new line and is commonly in- don’t get paranoid if you don’t receive an dented (begun a little distance in from instant response.” Was distrustful or the margin), except that publishers often fearful meant? You are unlikely to lose do not indent the first paragraph of a your mind from a delayed letter or call. book chapter, magazine article, etc. “You are paranoid,” a physician con- 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 285

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ducting a syndicated talk show on radio examples of use: “The city has fallen to told a caller who had expressed the view the rebels.” / “He was hit by a thrown that breast implants were unsafe. Was he ball.” / “I see a falling star.” / “They’re diagnosing her as psychotic on the basis throwing darts.” of one statement? No, he too was using General dictionaries customarily list a “paranoid” in the loose way. verb’s infinitive, past tense, past participle, and present participle, in that order, Parentheses. See Punctuation, 7. e.g.: ring, rang, rung, ringing. If the past tense and past participle are the same, PAROLE and PROBATION. A they parsimoniously allot one word be- woman had been convicted of murder- tween them: make, made, making. ing a well-known singer. Jurors now Occasionally participles are ambigu- were deliberating on the penalty. “They ous. An article about gambling on In- could decide on a penalty ranging from dian reservations was headed “Cheating parole to life in prison,” a radio news re- Indians.” Did the present participle de- port said. “Parole” was wrong. Proba- scribe Indians who were cheating or tion would have been right (from the mean that some people were cheating In- standpoint of English usage). The dians? (Probably the latter.) penalty, by the way, turned out to be life Combining have with a past participle in prison. sometimes creates an ambiguity. A news Parole is the conditional release of an report dealt with “mothers who have imprisoned convict. One who is on pa- abused children.” Did it mean simply role must exhibit good behavior and fol- that the mothers were parents of abused low certain rules during the period of children or was it alleging that the moth- parole. ers themselves have abused children? See Probation is the conditional freedom HAVE, HAS, HAD. that sometimes is allowed a convicted The combination of having and a past person instead of imprisonment. The participle forms a perfect participle. sentence of someone on probation is sus- “Having done the work, I went home.” pended as long as he behaves well and Among entries that consider partici- fulfills any conditions that the court sets. ples are BEGIN, BEGAN, BEGUN; A parolee or probationer is under the COME and CAME; DO, DID, DONE; supervision of his parole officer or pro- Gerund, 1; GONE and WENT; Infini- bation officer and may be imprisoned for tive, 3; LAY and LIE; Modifiers, 1A violation of his conditions for freedom. (dangling participles); SLAY, SLAIN, Laws governing parole differ from SLEW; TEAR, TORE, TORN; Tense, 5; state to state. A term of parole may be THINK, past participle; Verbs, 1B. fixed and follow each completed prison term; or it may be determined by a pa- PASSED and PAST. See Homo- role board, vary with each convict, and phones. reduce prison time. Passive voice. See Active voice and Participle. A participle is a word that passive voice. is derived from a verb, has the properties of both verb and adjective, and can go Past tense. See Tense. with an auxiliary—has, had, is, was, or the like—to indicate tense. PAY. An exhibit of ceramics at a college Two types are past participle, such as tells viewers, “These exhibition cases fallen and thrown; and present partici- were . . . payed for with funds donated ple, such as falling and throwing. Some by the artist.” 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 286

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A friend writes that he is working for The Official Handbook of the Not- the government and “Though I have Terribly-Good Club of Great Britain.) next to nothing to do, I am well payed for that.” PEOPLE and PERSONS. An article Paid is the past tense of pay (verb, on labor problems in London said, transitive and intransitive) in the sense of “More than 150 people were injured, compensate for services or goods. The mostly police officers, and 67 persons writers of the quoted sentences forgot were arrested.” Why were the injured the irregularity and followed the pattern called “people” and the arrested called of played and prayed. “persons”? Either one would have been Pay has nautical senses (transitive): to acceptable, but using both raises that let out (a line) and to coat with a water- question. proof material. The past tense in those When in doubt, you will probably not senses is payed. go wrong using people as the plural of person. Persons, especially popular with PEACOCK. “Why do peacocks— lawyers and journalists, can seem stilted male peacocks—have such beautiful at times, although it has a proper use. tails?” A radio host asked listeners that Persons emphasizes individuals. It ap- question, as part of a short discussion of plies to a specific but not large number: natural selection. “Male peacocks” is a “The group honored seven persons.” redundant phrase. The peacock is male. People can be used in that way too; but, It is a male peafowl (plural peafowl or of those two words, only people is cor- peafowls), a type of pheasant of either of rect in referring to human beings in gen- two species, native to southern Asia but eral, or in a large group, or indefinitely. widely domesticated. The female is a No one should remark that “persons are peahen, which lacks the peacock’s spec- funny,” speak for “the American per- tacular tail. sons,” or sing about “persons who like A vain person may be called a pea- persons.” cock, and sometimes the word is used as a verb (intransitive): to peacock is to display oneself vainly. PEOPLE as a suffix. People is a word, a noun. It is not a suffix, though it PEDAL and PEDDLE. See Homo- has been rudely forced into that role of phones. late. Some of the outlandish creations are less informative than the legitimate PENCHANT and PENSION. A words they replace. book describes a Briton’s sculptures of Two reviews on one tabloid page re- the royal family: Art lovers admired his ferred to “waitpeople” at restaurants, rendering of the queen’s expression but not saying whether they were waiters or found the figures to be dressed like waitresses or both. tramps, for “his pension did not run to A national-parks functionary seeking the sort of garb in which Royalty is nor- funds was quoted as saying, “I hope mally kitted out.” Instead of “pension,” people will write their congresspeople.” the word should be penchant, a persis- There are no such officials. The members tent liking or a strong inclination. Pen- of Congress are senators, in the Senate; sion is a retirement benefit or a and representatives, in the House of European boarding house. (We should Representatives, unofficially known as not be too critical of the book, inasmuch congressmen. as it is The Incomplete Book of Failures: See also PERSON. 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 287

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PER CAPITA. In English, per capita A prerequisite (noun) is a prior condi- is a statistical term meaning for each per- tion that must be fulﬁlled before some- son. It came from Latin, in which the thing that one desires is available. “A same phrase means by heads. In English high school diploma is a prerequisite of it expresses an average: a total number college admission.” Prerequisite (adjec- or amount divided by the number of tive) means required in advance. “Latin people in the population being consid- 1 is prerequisite to Latin 2.” Note that of ered. For instance, “The state’s income follows the noun and to the adjective. per capita last year was about $14,000.” A news story described Suharto’s new A radio reporter said that San Fran- cabinet, including a tycoon friend with cisco’s transit system was transporting “a lot to lose if Indonesia adopts strin- some 700,000 riders a day, “more per gent economic reforms to satisfy the capita than any other city. . . .” Substi- perquisites of the IMF’s 50-point, $43 tute population for “capita.” Obviously billion bailout package.” Prerequisites. the number was not an average but a total. PERSECUTE and PROSECUTE. See Confusing pairs. Percent, per cent. See Numbers, 1, 4, 5, 8, 10. PERSON. 1. As a sufﬁx. 2. Meanings.

Perfect infinitive. See Infinitive, 3. 1. As a suffix Articles told of “a first baseperson for Perfect tenses. See Tense, 1, 5. the Cubs” and “university freshpersons” and said “most of the cost goes to the Period. See Punctuation, 8. middlepersons.” A national column referred to “the clergyperson at the wed- PERPETRATE. “He joined with ding festivities,” and a local column Chief Justice Warren and perpetrated a mentioned people who subsisted “from revolution in the fifties and the sixties.” their salespersonship.” Most of us The intention of a TV moderator was would hesitate to substitute those cor- probably to honor Justice Brennan, not rupted forms for the correct nouns first to condemn him. Yet one could draw the baseman, freshmen, middlemen, clergy- opposite conclusion from “perpetrated.” man, and salesmanship. To perpetrate (verb, transitive) some- Few words so innocuous have figured thing is to commit or carry it out; usually in as much linguistic pollution as person. it is a felony or immoral deed, but it can The harm is done when the word is be a repugnant action that is not felo- tacked to some other word, usually out nious or immoral, say a blunder or hoax. of ignorance. Misunderstanding of the Although a descendant of the Latin per- origin and meaning of -man has led to petrare, to accomplish, perpetrate is not various circumlocutions, of which a neutral word and no vehicle for praise. -person is one. See -MAN-, MAN. So far, it appears, nobody has sought to re- PERQUISITE and PREREQUI- place the -son in person. SITE. A perquisite (noun) is a benefit A columnist criticized a candidate for that goes with a job in addition to “congressperson from the Fifth Dis- money, or a privilege expected by virtue trict,” and a big ad protesting against a of one’s office. “Use of a mansion is a foreign leader said to write “Your Con- perquisite of the governorship.” A collo- gressperson.” There is no such official. A quial short form is perk or perq. member of Congress is either a senator 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 288

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or a representative. Each state has two Old French, from the Latin persona, lit- senators in the Senate. Each local, con- erally a mask used in Roman drama, gressional district has a representative in also a character or role. the House of Representatives, often un- The sense of a mask did not make it officially called a congressman. into English, but that of character or role An editor’s normal drive for concise- did. The import of person has varied ness was not evident in this headline: “A from one of distinction to one of inferi- Handyperson’s Guide to Reducing Haz- ority. Person was used contemptuously ards.” A caption described an electric for some time. It stood for a lower-class hammer to “GIVE YOUR HANDY- man (“a person in the trade”) and for a PERSON A BANG,” and a columnist young woman. It has also denoted a liv- chose to call himself “MR. HANDY- ing body or bodily form, appearance, or PERSON.” The rest of us can use the presence. correct word, handyman. Person has had special meanings in re- A news item said two financial estab- ligion, where it is one of the three mani- lishments were “held up by female gun- festations of the Trinity; in philosophy, a persons” and “a male gunman” held up rational being or human personality; in a store. Presumably males did not qual- law, an individual or an organization; ify as “-persons.” and in grammar, a classification of pro- A column referred to the “hostessper- nouns and corresponding verb forms. son” at a restaurant, in case anyone See ONE as pronoun, 1; Pronouns, 7. might think the hostess was not a per- In person, meaning physically pre- son. sent, can be a useful phrase. In “The ac- Among other clumsy and needless tor will appear in person,” it emphasizes combinations seen in print have been that the appearance will be bodily, not these: “airperson” / “anchorperson” / pictorial. But it is probably unnecessary “draftsperson” / “foreperson” / “for- in “The president cannot attend in per- eignperson” / “newsperson” / “pressper- son.” Attendance is in person. son” / “salesperson.” Some are See also PEOPLE and PERSONS; perversions of well-established words, PERSONAL. such as airman, draftsman, foreman, and pressman. Some might pass as phrases. PERSONAL. Personal (adjective) Foreign person makes sense unjoined. means of or pertaining to a certain per- News person or sales person is more un- son; private; intimate; bodily; or like a gainly and no less insipid when joined. person. Would Arthur Miller have written Death A book on English usage reproves the of a Salesperson? use of personal to qualify words that can A classified ad seeking a “WAITER/ be nothing else: mainly charm, friend, WAITRESS” was followed by one for a and opinion. Yet elsewhere it says, “The “WAITPERSON.” No normal restau- comments in this article reflect a per- rant patron is likely to say to his waiter, sonal opinion. . . .” One can assume that “Waitperson, we’re ready to order.” the writer’s opinion is personal. See also CHAIR, 1; PEOPLE as a suf- A “personal opinion” may occasion- fix; SPOKESMAN, 1. ally be valid in distinguishing it from an official opinion. So may “Personally, my 2. Meanings view is. . . .” However, the adverb is su- Person now is a bland synonym for perfluous in “I cannot attend person- human being, but its ancestral meaning ally.” See also PERSON, 2. had little humanity in it. It comes, via Some publications with personal ads 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 289

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turn them into “personals.” See Nouns, vice and equally reputable, though dis- 2. paraged by John Ruskin as the “pathetic fallacy.” A prose example is the caption PERSONALITY. Strictly speaking, of a cartoon by James Thurber: “It’s a personality is an abstract noun that usu- naive domestic Burgundy without any ally pertains to a person’s pattern of breeding, but I think you’ll be amused by traits or to one’s character: “a dual per- its presumption.” sonality” / “her pleasant personality.” Those devices are less honored in mat- To say “She has personality” without deter-of-fact writing or speaking. A news scribing it is a colloquial use, not very in- photo showed private vehicles using a formative except to imply that the lane meant for buses; meanwhile, a cap- speaker likes her personality. Everyone tion said, “One bus chose to use an adja- has it. cent lane.” The power of choice In a news story, the word served as a belonged to the driver, not to the bus. nondescript tag for a television per- News stories telling of the suffering of former: vehicles or buildings in mishaps are disputable too. See SUFFER; SUSTAIN. A . . . The evening’s host, “Entertain- woman tells what cars think, in LIKE ment Tonight” personality Mary (last quotation). Sympathetic rivers are Hart, presented 14 distinguished ser- headlined in MERCY and PITY. vice awards for Holocaust remem- To apply the pronoun she or her to a brance in the performing arts. . . . country or ship is a traditional personification. It or its is an acceptable alterna- Using personality as a job title is quite in- tive. What is unacceptable is mixing formal and not suitable for a straight those treatments: “Japan . . . accepts re- news account of a rather somber ban- sponsibilities . . . which it cannot aban- quet. If the writer did not know the don; her frontier is no longer the sea.” woman’s function on the show (co-host), Change either “it” to she or “her” to its. he could have written “Mary Hart of ‘Entertainment Tonight.’ ” (It would PERSONNEL. 1. Number. 2. PER- have improved the awkward form too. SONAL and PERSONNEL. See Modifiers, 4; Titles, 1.) 1. Number Person (grammatical). See ONE as Personnel does not pertain to an indi- pronoun, 1; Pronouns, 7. vidual or individuals. It is a collective noun denoting a body of people who Personification. In his poems, the work in a business or organization. poet Shelley asks questions of Earth, A law professor used it wrong on the Star, Moon, Wind, Sea, and Skylark. radio when he explained an action by They do not answer, but he does carry the judge in a prominent criminal trial: on a two-way conversation with Sleep; Dawn instructs her children, the Hours; Probably he was going to have a court Indignation answers Pity; and a crowd personnel go along [with the lawyers vows allegiance to Anarchy as it rides by, to another court for a special proce- crowned and sceptered. dure]. To regard nonhuman things as people is a time-honored poetic device. Their in- Changing “personnel” to officer would vestment with human attributes but not repair the sentence. full human status is a closely related de- One could also object to a fire com- 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 290

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missioner’s reference to “our 1,500 per- PETROL. See GAS. sonnel.” Whether any number goes with personnel is debatable. Better: “our de- PHASE. See FAZE and PHASE. partment’s 1,500 members.” Personnel may be construed (1) as a PHENOMENA and PHENOM- unit, taking a singular verb (“Our per- ENON. A phenomenon is (1) an ob- sonnel is ready to serve you”), or (2) as a servable occurrence or circumstance, (2) collection of individuals, taking a plural a scientifically notable natural event, or verb (“Personnel of this company have (3) an extraordinary, prodigious, or mar- varied backgrounds”). velous thing or occurrence. Phenomenon The word may also, as a noun, denote is singular. Of Greek origin, it has a a department or office concerned with Greek plural, phenomena. “Earthquakes employees (“Mr. Carey is the head of and tsunamis are related phenomena.” personnel”) or, as an adjective, refer to Two talk show hosts on a radio sta- employees or the managing of employees tion used the wrong form: “I don’t know (“Please get me these personnel files”). if this [fading interest in disasters] is uniquely American or if this is an international phenomena. . . .” / “The Ameri- 2. PERSONAL and PERSONNEL can Revolution was in large part a Personal (adjective), meaning private minority phenomena.” On television, a or pertaining to a particular person, gerontologist, a journalist, and a news- should not be confused with personnel caster respectively did likewise: “It’s the (adjective), referring to employees or most complex biological phenomena their managing. The first is pronounced that we know.” / “We had this strange PER-son-null, the second per-son-NELL; phenomena of the president speaking and note the second n and second e in but his mike turned off.” / “Geologists personnel. Sometimes the two words are say that what they see is a new phenom- indeed confused, even by those who ena.” Every “phenomena” should have should know better, and the fact that been phenomenon. both come from the Late Latin person- Phenomenons is an alternative plural alis, meaning personal, is no excuse. of phenomenon in the third sense (ex- A woman sought a personnel job with traordinary thing etc.). The adjective a community college. A student on a hir- phenomenal commonly applies to phe- ing committee said to her, “Tell me nomenon in that sense. about your personal experiences.” She See also Plurals and singulars, 2E. assumed that he was inquiring about her experiences in the personnel field, not PHOBIA. See HOMOPHOBIA. her religious or sexual experiences, “otherwise I could have sued them for ha- Phrase. See Sentence fragment. rassment.” PHYSICAL and FISCAL. See Con- PERSONS and PEOPLE. See fusing pairs. PEOPLE and PERSONS. PICK UP and PICKUP. 1. Confu- sion of verb with noun. 2. Unneeded hy- PERSPECTIVE and PROSPEC- phen and preposition. TIVE. See Confusing pairs. 1. Confusion of verb with noun PERSUADE. See CONVINCE and To pick up, as in “Pick up the trash,” PERSUADE. is a compound verb. No one should con- 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 291

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fuse it with the noun pickup, as in “This new fashion trends.” Picking up is car has good pickup.” That is what the enough. The “on” serves no purpose, ex- writer of a promotional pamphlet did. cept perhaps to demonstrate that a writer can pick up new trends in slang. These mics will not pickup as much See also ON, 2. noise and radio frequency interference (RFI) as high impedance microphones PITY. See MERCY and PITY. will. . . . Microphones pickup everything, to PLACE (verb). See INTO, 1. greater and lesser degrees, within their directivity patterns. PLAIN and PLANE. See Homo- phones. Change each “pickup” to pick up. In the context of recording or broad- PLANET. See STAR and SUN. casting, to pick up is to take sound or light into the system, for conversion into PLAY DOWN and “DOWN- electrical energy. Pickup is the process or PLAY.” To play down something is to the apparatus. make little of it or to minimize its impor- The primary meaning of pick up is lift tance. “The press played down the up. It has several other meanings, among event.” them to accelerate, to acquire or learn A Germanic-sounding inversion of it casually, to improve, and to stop for and is “downplay,” which probably origi- take along. nated in telegraphic messages between Pickup has about as many meanings: correspondents and editors. By reversing acceleration, the act of picking up pas- and combining two words, a journalist sengers or objects, a phonograph arm, a saved the cost of a word. Such jargon pickup truck, and special senses in the was not intended for use in any newspa- jargons of agriculture, broadcasting, per story: “Hospital ofﬁcials down- journalism, and music. In slang, it is a played the investigation.” / “The stranger met casually with the aim of counties also allege the industry fraudu- lovemaking. lently misled the public . . . by down- (Two minor points: The logic of playing the potential health risks.” shortening microphone before spelling it Nor was it meant for a broadcast in- in full is obscure. And the pet name is terview: “The Administration had better spelled mike, if it is to rhyme with downplayed any real prospects” (of Rus- like and not tic.) sia’s agreeing to an expansion of NATO). Or a forum: “I don’t want to 2. Unneeded hyphen and preposition downplay what they’re doing” (referring Sometimes a hyphen is placed be- to academics’ criticism of the news me- tween pick and up. For the noun, it is dia). Or an almanac: “Over time . . . fas- unnecessary, though not objectionable: cist elements were downplayed” (in the “This car has good pick-up.” For the Franco regime). verb, it is erroneous. A sign in a national John Chancellor, the late broadcaster, park tells people to “pick-up” their and Walter R. Mears, journalist, wrote dogs’ dirt. They should pick up the stuff. that “the news business has coined its See also Punctuation, 4C (near end). share of dreadful nonwords. Take An article in a Mississippi newspaper ‘downplay.’ . . . It does not save words, said about high school dress codes: and it ought to be banned.” We need not “Some schools are already picking up on go so far as to criminalize nonwords, but 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 292

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a case can be made for putting that one In dealing with plurals and singulars, on the most-unwanted list for speakers affixing the wrong ending is one pitfall; of English. another is omitting the right ending. The opposite of play down is play up, When “The Ultimate Pant” flashed on to emphasize the importance of some- television screens, it was not referring to thing, to give it prominence. “The news someone’s last gasp. It purported to ad- media played up the scandal.” So far it vertise a particular brand and style of has not been Germanized. pants. The word has no singular when See also Backward writing, 3. applied to an article of clothing. People have been known to omit the PLAY UP. See PLAY DOWN and plural endings of calves, corps, hooves, “DOWNPLAY.” measles, and summons, thinking that “calv” / “corp” / “hoov” / “measle” / PLEAD. See ADVOCATE. “summon” are singular. Appendix (a singular whose plural is appendices or PLEONASM. See Tautology. appendixes) has been turned into “ap- PLURALITY. See MAJORITY, 1. pendic.” Other nonstandard colloquialisms are Plurals and singulars. 1. Errors. 2. singulars used as plurals (“many bushel” Principles and problems. / “foot” / “mile” / “pair” / “year”) and plurals used as singulars (“a woods” / 1. Errors “grounds” / “stairs” / “ways”). A circus menagerie included lions, tigers, and “rhinoceri,” a radio reporter 2. Principles and problems said. And at a zoo “the approach of the rhinoceri did give us a start,” a TV host A. Basic said. Perhaps they deemed an “i” ending The principle is simple for most for rhinoceros an elegant Latinism. They nouns: To turn a singular into a plural, were wrong. The plural is rhinoceroses add s or es. Add the es if the word nor- or just rhinoceros. The word came from mally ends in a sibilant (a ch, j, s, sh, x, z, rhinokeros, Greek for nose-horn. or zh sound). Some swear that the plural of octopus The s is voiceless after a voiceless is octopi, in Latin fashion. But not all sound (cats) but pronounced z after a Latin -us singulars change to -i plurals, voiced sound (dogs). The es is pro- and anyway the word came originally nounced iz (as in foxes). from Greek, in which oktopous meant Problems lie in the minority that are eight-footed. One is on firmer ground irregular nouns. using octopuses or, to be fancier, oc- topodes (pronounced oc-TOP-a-deez), B. Compounds even though dictionaries condone the What to do about hyphenated words, misconception. like mother-in-law, or sets of words, like A common mistake is to use an exotic consul general, is a common puzzle. The plural as a singular: e.g., “a criteria” / “a traditional principle, increasingly disre- memoranda” / “a stimuli.” Another mis- garded, is to assign the plural ending to take is to add s to one of them, produc- the part that is normally a noun; or, if ing a double plural: “criterias” / there are two nouns, to the more impor- “memorandas” / “stimulis.” In a re- tant one. gional idiosyncracy, s or es is added to Thus these are plurals: adjutants gen- common plurals: “folkses” / “lices” / eral, aides-de-camp, attorneys general, “oxens” / “sheeps” / “geeses.” daughters-in-law, men-of-war, mothers- 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 293

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in-law, consuls general, courts martial, foreign languages they were derived notaries public, sergeants major, and from. As in Latin, the singular words ad- tugs of war. The noun goes first in each dendum, alumnus, datum, genus, minu- of those; it goes second in these: judge tia, ovum, stimulus, and stratum change advocates, lieutenant generals, major to the plural addenda, alumni, data, gen- generals. Many compounds that do not era, minutiae, ova, stimuli, and strata. As end in nouns get simple s endings, partic- in Greek, analysis, criterion, ellipsis, phe- ularly if they are single words: break- nomenon, and thesis change to analyses, throughs, forget-me-nots, knockouts, criteria, ellipses, phenomena, and theses. ne’er-do-wells, takeoffs, and words end- Other words adopted from foreign ing in -ful, like cupfuls and spoonfuls. languages present a choice between the original plural and an Anglicized plural. C. Creatures; peculiarities Beau may become either beaux (French) English has a variety of peculiar or beaus. Cactus: either cacti (Latin) or changes to perplex newcomers. Louse cactuses. Carcinoma: either carcinomata and mouse change to lice and mice. (Greek) or carcinomas. Cherub: either Blouse and house become blouses and cherubim (Hebrew) or cherubs. Curricu- houses, but the s sound in house changes lum: either curricula (Latin) or curricu- to a z sound in the plural. You have one lums. Formula: either formulae (Latin) goose or two geese, but mongoose be- or formulas. Index: either indices (Latin) comes mongooses, and moose remains or indexes. Libretto: either libretti (Ital- moose. ian) or librettos. Matrix: either matrices Fish remains fish for individual speci- (Latin) or matrixes. Nucleus: either nu- mens but becomes fishes for different clei (Latin) or, occasionally, nucleuses. types. Many fishes and beasts have sim- Opus: either opera (a possibly confusing ple s plurals, but sometimes the singular Latinism) or opuses. Radius: either radii is treated as a plural, particularly by fish- (Latin) or radiuses. Virtuoso: either vir- ermen and hunters: two flounders or tuosi (Italian) or virtuosos. flounder; three pheasants or pheasant. Other creatures are unchanged in the F. -F ending plural, except for different types or vari- Words that end in the f sound in the eties. John buys two salmon or studies singular may have a -ves ending in the the different salmons of North America. plural. Calf, half, knife, leaf, life, thief, I saw two deer and wondered which self, wife, and wolf become calves, deers inhabit this region. Coffee, fruit, halves, knives, leaves, lives, thieves, silk, steel, tea, wheat, and wool are selves, wives, and wolves. But wharf may treated as singular except when different become either wharfs or wharves and types or varieties are considered; then s is hoof either hoofs or hooves. Roof be- affixed and it becomes plural. An or- comes only roofs. And still life becomes chard produces lots of fruit and five dif- only still lifes. ferent fruits. G. -ICS ending D. -EN, -REN Words that end in -ics may be con- The -en and -ren forms are descended strued either as singular or as plural. It from Old English. They turn brother, depends on meaning. child, ox, man, and woman into Considered as sciences, subjects, or brethren (the archaic version of broth- occupations, acoustics, acrobatics, ath- ers), children, oxen, men, and women. letics, ethics, mathematics, physics, poli- E. Foreign derivations tics, statistics, tactics, and so on are Some words preserve the forms of the usually treated as singulars. Considered 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 294

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as qualities or activities, they are usually in s add es: Barnes—the Barneses. treated as plurals. Thus “mathematics is Davis—the Davises. Jones—the Joneses. emphasized at that school” but “my mathematics are rusty.” / “Accoustics L. Other entries has become his business,” but “The ac- Among entries dealing with plural coustics here impress me.” and singular matters are these: BACTE- RIA and BACTERIUM; COHORT; H. Mr. and Mrs. CRITERIA and CRITERION; DATA; Mr. and Mrs. use the French in the EMERITUS; GRAFFITI and GRAF- plural: Messieurs and Mesdames respec- FITO; HEADQUARTERS; KUDOS; tively, abbreviated Messrs. and Mmes. MEDIA and MEDIUM; MEMO- and pronounced MESS-errs and may- RANDA and MEMORANDUM; DAM or may-DOM. Miss becomes NONE, 1; Nouns, 3; PHENOMENA Misses or misses (with no name). Ms. and PHENOMENON; Pronouns, 2; has no plural. (See Titles, 2.) Punctuation, 1H (apostrophe); RAVI- OLI; RUIN and RUINS; Verbs, 3; VER- I. No plurals TEBRA and VERTEBRAE; WAY and Most words that represent abstrac- “A WAYS”; -Y ending, 2. tions, generalizations, or qualities, rather See also Number (grammatical) with than concrete items, are singular only. a list of references. Examples are amazement, courage, eating, fondness, happiness, ignorance, PLUS. Plus is not always a synonym learning, nonsense, and vindication. for and. The sentence “Talent plus luck accounts for his success” correctly has a J. -O ending singular verb. But “Talent and luck ac- Add s to any word ending in o after a count for his success” correctly has a vowel: patios, radios, stereos, studios plural verb. Plus, meaning added to or and tattoos. increased by, is a preposition, like with. Most words ending in o after a conso- It is not a conjunction, a connecting nant also take s (altos, egos, pianos), but word, like and. several take -es (echoes, heroes, pota- “Four plus three equals seven” is toes, tomatoes). Several others go either right. Each number is construed as sin- way: buffaloes or buffalos, cargoes or gular, so the total is singular. In that con- cargos, dominoes or dominos, zeroes or text and is synonymous with plus. “Four zeros. and three equals seven” is idiomatic. “The potato plus the apple costs ﬁfty K. -S ending cents,” but “The potatoes plus the apple Some nouns that normally end in s cost a dollar.” In the latter sentence, the may be considered either plural or singu- verb, cost, is plural because potatoes is lar: alms, barracks, corps, forceps, plural, not because of the plus. means, scissors (also pair or pairs of scis- That brings us to an item about a fa- sors). Some other nouns that end in s are ther’s concern that his son is close to plural in form though singular in mean- driving age. ing: blues (music), checkers, overalls, measles, pants, remains, tongs, trousers. The Vice President’s Observatory Hill Chess, kudos, and news are singular mansion grounds have private roads only. The plural of lens is lenses. The on which the teen-ager can learn to plural of gallows is either the same or, drive. “Plus you have a police car in occasionally, gallowses. Names ending front,” Quayle said, “and a concrete 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 295

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wall around the place and an ambu- The Populist party nominated lance following behind. . . .” James Weaver of Iowa for president in 1892.... Four years later the Populist Usually “plus” does not start a sentence party fused with the Democratic or clause, except in the most casual party.... speech. Better: in addition, furthermore, or and. The party was the People’s Party. A sup- Plus can be also an adjective (“a plus porter of that party, but not the party it- sign” / “the plus side of the account” / “a self, was called Populist. Weaver, for grade of D plus”) and a noun (“This is a instance, was a Populist. The farmer’s plus: +” / “The contract is a plus for our movement of that era was known as the company”). Populist movement or Populism.

P.M. See A.M., P.M., NOON, MID- PORE and POUR. See Homo- NIGHT. phones.

PODIUM. See LECTERN and Positive degree. See Comparative and PODIUM. superlative degrees. POINT OUT. To point out is to direct one’s attention to (certain informa- Possessive problems. 1. Can a thing tion or a particular situation). The possess something? 2. Multiple posses- phrase is not impartial. It suggests that sives. 3. Possessive or not? 4. Possessive what is pointed out is true. pronouns. 5. Various questions. Unless the information is clearly factual (“He pointed out a defective leg of 1. Can a thing possess something? that chair”) or you are prepared to A grammatical tradition has it that vouch for its truth (“Let me point out the possessive ending in ’s applies only to my client’s long record of altruism”), use animate beings. An extreme view re- a more neutral word or phrase. serves the ’s possessive to human beings, A TV newscaster’s announcement with few exceptions. Thus a grammarian that a utility company “points out that holding that view rejects “Florida’s gov- Proposition 9 is not needed” in effect ernor.” It would have to be the governor supported the company’s position. Re- of Florida. Presumably the governor’s placing “points out” with says or con- signature would be acceptable. tends would have maintained the But the exceptions that have become impartiality of the television station. standard are many and getting more numerous. They are in innumerable com- POOL. See BILLIARDS and POOL. mon expressions: a day’s work; for heaven’s sake; in harm’s way; my mind’s POPULIST. A minor factual error is eye; my wit’s end; a stone’s throw; to- found in the following passage from a day’s paper. Literary uses abound: A book by a chief justice. The same error is Midsummer Night’s Dream / “the made by an encyclopedia and a dictio- dawn’s early light . . . the twilight’s last nary. gleaming” / “the pangs of despised love, the law’s delay” / “the wheel’s kick and The Farmers’ Alliances joined to- the wind’s song” / “The world’s great gether with other splinter factions to age begins anew.” put the Populist party on a national The extreme view is not recom- basis in 1892. . . . mended here. Nevertheless, the use of ar- 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 296

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tificial possessives in the news business Building. Note that it is never “United has long been rampant. Some, like the State’s” or “General Motor’s.” nation’s capital in place of the national The names of organizations are highly capital, have become familiar. Others are variable in their use or nonuse of the unidiomatic combinations such as apostrophe. It is the Boys’ Clubs of “Spain’s King Juan Carlos” instead of America but the Girls Clubs of America; King Juan Carlos of Spain, designed to the International Backpackers’ Associa- save minute amounts of space. One typi- tion but the National Campers and Hik- cal paragraph in a news magazine con- ers Association; the Sheet Metal tains phrases like “the group’s new Workers’ International Association but leader . . . the group’s founder . . . Jihad’s the Transport Workers Union of Amer- representative in Tehran warning that ica; the National Sheriff’s Association Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Intelligence but the Music Teachers National Associ- believes. . . .” ation. Let inanimate objects or animals pos- The apostrophe is necessary in Chil- sess things, if they can do so gracefully. dren’s Aid Society and Women’s Chris- Few will complain about “The town’s tian Temperance Union. Without an only theater” / “The value of Apple’s apostrophe, it makes no sense to add an stocks” / “a dog’s age” / “horses’ hoofs.” s to children or women. The same is true But let no one speak of “the century’s for any other word that is plural without turn,” write that “I’m having my life’s an added s. time,” or wish anyone the “morning’s The apostrophe is traditional in top.” phrases like ten years’ imprisonment and thirty days’ notice. Some critics would 2. Multiple possessives omit the apostrophe in such phrases. No “Your and my boss are friends” and one would want possession in such vari- “My and her children play together” ations as a thirty-day notice or notice of sound strange, because in each instance thirty days. It would be a thousand dol- the first possessive pronoun is separated lars’ worth or, in figures, $1,000 worth. from the noun. Placing one possessive pronoun before the noun and the other 4. Possessive pronouns after the noun solves the problem: “Your Let nobody tamper with a word like boss and mine . . .” / “My children and hers, his, our, ours, your, or yours. It hers. . . .” If we have something in com- takes no ’s, no apostrophe. It is already mon, there is no problem: “our build- possessive. Sometimes “her’s” and ing” / “our country.” “our’s” and “your’s” are seen, and they How to make two nouns possessive are wrong (although they were deemed depends on whether possession is sepa- correct centuries back). So is “his’n” or rate (“The plaintiff’s and the defendant’s “hisn,” a dialectal version of his, which attorneys”) or joint (“Laurel and is heard or seen in some regions. Hardy’s films”). See Punctuation, 1E. A word like his, hers, etc. may be regarded as a personal pronoun in the pos- 3. Possessive or not? sessive case. There are two types: Whether a noun is possessive or merely acting as a modifier can be a sub- • The type that goes before the noun tle distinction. One can write about the (e.g., “This is her house”). It takes in United States’ population and a new the singular words my, your, his, her, United States citizen or about General and its and the plural words our, Motors’ plants and the General Motors your, and their. 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 297

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• The type that goes after the noun when the possessive is a pronoun: “a col- (“This house is hers”): the singulars league of mine.” See Double possessive. mine, yours, his, hers, and its and What is the genitive case? It is the pos- the plurals ours, yours, and theirs. sessive case, the form of a noun or pronoun that indicates someone’s or (Words of the first type are known something’s possession, characteristic, also as possessive adjectives. Some gram- product, etc. See also Pronouns, 10A. marians assign that name to my, your See Punctuation, 1, the apostrophe, his, her, etc. because they go before for problems such as the confusion of nouns, as adjectives do: “This is a fra- possessive forms and contractions (B), grant flower.” But adjectives too follow omitted and superfluous apostrophes (C nouns: “This flower is fragrant.”) and D), possessives of possessives (F) The indefinite pronoun is a class of and sibilant endings (G). pronoun that can be made possessive, See also Gerund, 4; Pronouns, 1, 2, 9. e.g., anybody’s, anyone’s, either’s, everybody’s, everyone’s, nobody’s, one’s, POSSIBLE, POSSIBLY, POSSIBIL- somebody’s, and someone’s. ITY. 1. Meaning of POSSIBLE. 2. Preposition with POSSIBILITY. 5. Various questions Is this correct? “I have Elisabeth 1. Meaning of POSSIBLE Schwarzkopf, the soprano’s, records.” Possible (adjective) means capable of What is made possessive when an appos- being, doing, or happening. It is possible itive, or an explanatory word or phrase, for an imprisoned burglar to be elected follows a person’s name? The appositive president on a platform of legalized is. That example is correct, and so is this crime; not likely, highly improbable, just one: “They showed Douglas Fairbanks, possible. Were broadcasters talking Jr.’s, first film.” But “records of Elisabeth about the realm of possibility when they Schwarzkopf, the soprano” and “the made the following statements? first film by Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.” are [Woman:] Public TV stations need smoother ways to express the same your support. thoughts. [Man:] Support that makes pro- How is a compound noun like broth- grams like Nightly Business Report ers-in-law and attorneys general made possible. possessive when it already has a plural s? Add an apostrophe and another s. The Fresh Grocer is made possible “Guess what my brothers-in-law’s occu- by Lunardi’s Market. pations are.” / “He spoke at the attorneys general’s meeting.” Express Traffic [is] made possible Which is right, “They ask for our first by the California Lottery. name” or “names”? The latter; we have separate names. But “John and Agnes Monetary contributions finance the are selling their house,” if they own it public TV programs. The radio pro- jointly. See Nouns, 3. grams are sponsored by the market and Is it “the painting of my daughter” or the lottery. All of those programs were “the painting of my daughter’s”? It is the possible before the stations went seeking first if the picture shows her; the second contributions or sponsorship. The con- if it was painted by her. Some critics find tributors and sponsors help materialize the double negative illogical, however or make feasible or sustain that which is old and established. Nobody objects to it possible. 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 298

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Journalists often misuse possible in earlier in the same capacity. The oppo- this way: “He suffered a possible broken site word was needed: successor, one leg.” If it were impossible, no one would who succeeds another. “My successor” suffer it. Better: “He may have suffered is the person who will take my job when a . . .” or “It is possible that he suffered I leave. a . . .” or “He possibly [adverb] suffered a....” Predicate. See Clause; Complement; A less frequent journalistic misuse ap- Nouns, 4; Prepositions, 4; Sentence frag- pears in crime stories. “Police arrested a ment, 1; Verbs, 1D. possible suspect. . . .” Omit “possible.” They arrested a suspect. A suspect is pos- Predicate adjective. See Adjectives sibly the culprit. and adverbs, 2; Complement. See also APPARENT, APPARENTLY. Predicate noun (predicate nomina- 2. Preposition with POSSIBILITY tive). See Complement; Nouns, 1. When possibility (noun) is followed by a preposition, it is of. Then comes a Prediction. See EXPECTED; NOT gerund, an -ing word used as a noun. ABOUT TO; Reversal of meaning, 1. This sentence was part of a statement to the voters of a city from its legislative PREFER. See THAN, 2D. body: Prefix. See BACK(-) prefix and pairs; Every time San Franciscans face the BI- and SEMI- prefixes; CIRCUM- pre- possibility to enact candidate spend- fix; FACT- words; NANO- prefix; PRE- ing reform, hired gun campaign con- prefix; Punctuation, 4D (hyphenated sultants and weak-willed candidates forms); SELF- prefix; Spelling, 3; UP, 3. try to snow the voters. PREJUDICE. See WITH PREJU- “The possibility to enact” is not id- DICE and WITHOUT PREJUDICE. iomatic. Make it “the possibility of en- acting. . . .” (And insert a hyphen after Prepositions. 1. The ABC’s of prepo- “candidate.”) See Gerund, 3. sitions. 2. Ambiguity. 3. Ending with a preposition. 4. Insufficient prepositions. POUR and PORE. See Homo- 5. Misplacement. 6. Omission. 7. Selec- phones. tion of a preposition. 8. Superfluous preposition. PRACTICABLE and PRACTI- CAL. See Confusing pairs. 1. The ABC’s of prepositions The preposition is a deceptive part of PRECEDE and PROCEED. See speech, simple on the surface while trou- Confusing pairs. bling to learners of English and sometimes to native speakers as well. It is PREDECESSOR and SUCCES- everywhere; it appeared in the last sen- SOR. A magazine publisher, leaving to tence five times. It includes some of the take another job, wrote to his readers, shortest words—at, by, in, of, on, to, “I . . . know you will be as kind and up—but properly choosing and using it thoughtful to my predecessor as you can be illogical, dictated by idiom. were to me.” Someone’s predecessor is A preposition shows the relation of a one who preceded him, one who served word or phrase in a sentence to a noun 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 299

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or pronoun in that sentence. In the sen- sound.” / Under that tree is a good place tence “She lives in Providence,” the to rest.” The phrases are acting as ad- preposition in relates the verb lives to the verb, adjective, and noun respectively. noun Providence. In “The cat came to me,” the preposition to relates the verb 2. Ambiguity came to the pronoun me. One might expect the little preposi- A preposition may relate an adjective tions of and for to be clear in meaning, to a noun (“young at heart”), one noun and usually they are. But each has many to another (“the sound of music”), one meanings and can become cloudy in cer- pronoun to another (“Are you with tain contexts. him?”), and so on. “ ‘They have a valid complaint,’ said The choice of a preposition can deter- Dawis of the squatters.” Was Dawis one mine the meaning of a sentence. “He ran of the squatters? “Of” could mean from into the building” and “He ran from the or belonging to. However, the context (a building,” though differing by only one news story) indicates that about was word, have opposite meanings. meant; it would have been a more suit- In many cases idiom, not meaning, able preposition. dictates which preposition to use. “Visi- A book on words mentions tors are forbidden to enter” but “prohib- “achthronym, a word H. L. Mencken ited from entering.” (See FORBID, used for an ethnic slur. . . .” Those unfa- PROHIBIT, and BAN; Gerund, 3.) miliar with the combining form -onym, Depending on how it is used, the same used in classifying words and names, word may go with different preposi- could get the idea that the writer tions. “Twelve is equivalent [adjective] Mencken used the word as a slur against to a dozen” but “Twelve is the equiva- an ethnic group. “For” could give that lent [noun] of a dozen.” / “I agree to the impression. To mean or to denote, a deal” but “I agree with you.” (The first verb, would be more precise. agree means to give approval; the second An almanac says that Boris Yeltsin means to concur.) More examples ap- urged fast reform and “championed the pear in 7. cause for national reconstruction. . . .” Prepositions are not all tiny words; Was “the cause” reform? It was proba- they include against, around, between, bly “national reconstruction,” but the during, through, toward, without, and for is ambiguous; it could mean in the in- some that comprise more than one terest of. “. . . The cause of” would be word, such as according to, because of, clearer and more idiomatic. by means of, in regard to, and on ac- The headline “Guards Use Rifles in count of. Quentin Killing” suggests that prison The noun or pronoun (or other sub- guards shot someone to death. Actually, stantive) that the preposition pertains to one inmate stabbed another, whereupon is called the object of the preposition. A a guard fired at and wounded the at- pronoun that serves as the object takes tacker. The copy editor evidently had a the objective case. “The town stood be- peripheral role for “in” in mind; instead, hind him,” not “he.” (See Pronouns, it drags the using of rifles smack into the 10.) “Killing.” He probably avoided any- The preposition plus the object (and thing as straightforward as “San any modifier of it) is a prepositional Quentin Inmate Is Fatally Stabbed” be- phrase, e.g., behind him in the last exam- cause a competing paper got the news ple and the following emphasized words: first. “Violin with guitar makes a pleasant See also 6. 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 300

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3. Ending with a preposition wife’s alleged unfaithfulness.” The next The word preposition, a relative of one, from a telecast, has one correct the Latin praepositus, meaning placed in preposition but lacks a second: front, should not be taken literally. Sometimes a preposition goes at the end He was treated and released from a of a sentence. nearby hospital. A newspaper quotes an eyewitness as saying on Israeli radio: “Everybody was Released goes with from but “treated” hysterical, and nobody knew where the does not. A person is treated at or in a bullets would come from.” There is hospital, not “from” a hospital. This is nothing wrong with the quoted sentence one possible correction: “He was treated (as long as it was quoted and translated at and released from a nearby hospital.” correctly). Better: “He was treated at a nearby hos- Anyone who says you cannot end any pital and released.” sentence with a preposition does not Two similar sentences, from newspa- know what he is talking about. He pers, are likewise inadequate: would probably change the foregoing to “. . . does not know about what he is Another victim was transported to St. talking.” Francis Memorial Hospital, where he The notion was called by H. W. was treated and released for minor in- Fowler a once “cherished superstition” juries. and by Winston Churchill “an arrant pedantry up with which I will not put.” It originates in the Latin language. Mike K——, 38, was treated and Placing a preposition at the end may released from Marin General Hospital weaken a sentence, strengthen it, or do for smoke inhalation and first- and neither. It depends on the sentence. second-degree burns on his head. . . . “. . . Nobody knew from where the bullets would come” is a weakened version The first sentence of that pair says the of the opening sample. victim was “released for” injuries, an ab- Many great writers have ended sen- surd juxtaposition. Here is a correction: tences with prepositions. Shakespeare “Another victim was transported to St. wrote: “It is an honor that I dream not Francis Memorial Hospital, treated there of” (Romeo and Juliet) and “It would be for minor injuries, and released.” spoke to” (Hamlet). In the second of the pair, “treated” Prepositions end various common ex- does not go with “from” and, again, “re- pressions, such as to have or not have “a leased” does not go with “for.” Try this: leg to stand on” / “to be reckoned with” “Mike . . . suffered from smoke inhala- / “that’s what ——— are for” / “where I tion [etc.]. . . . He was treated at Marin come from.” General Hospital and released.” H. W. Fowler called attention to what 4. Insufficient prepositions he labeled “CANNIBALISM,” a sad One preposition may or may not be practice in which “words devour their enough for a compound predicate; that own kind.” For instance: is, a predicate with more than one verb. (The predicate is the part of a sentence The most vital problem in the etymo- that expresses the action.) One preposi- logical study of English place-names is tion is enough in this compound sen- the question as to what extent per- tence: “He ranted and raved about his sonal names occur in place-names. 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 301

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“As to” and “to what” need separate second, somewhat in the manner of a to’s, but one to is missing—swallowed mathematical equation. See also BOTH, by the other one, as Fowler would say. 1; EITHER, 1; NEITHER, 1; NOT A sentence by Fowler himself evi- ONLY. dences a swallowed preposition: 6. Omission . . . It means, beyond a doubt, a cus- The casual speaker or writer some- tom that one deserves more honour times omits on and of when they are for breaking than for keeping. . . . needed and sticks them in when they are not needed. “On the ﬁrst day” and “a A for has been swallowed, so to speak, couple of kids” are typical phrases in immediately after honour (the British which prepositions are subject to omis- spelling of honor). If for for is not to sion, contrary to idiom. See ON, 1; one’s liking, an alternative correction is COUPLE, 4. to change “that” to for which. (See also This sentence, from a book of travel HONORABLE [etc.] 3.) adventure, omits another idiomatic More examples appear in TO, 1. preposition:

5. Misplacement Mid-afternoon we passed a ruined An adjective and a preposition that hamlet of stone and shortly after it commonly go together, like similar to or reached an ancient and revered different from, should not be split apart. mosque. This sentence, from a computer book, splits them apart: It would improve the sentence to start it with In. Adverbs representing times of . . . The Toolbox has its own title day do not usually open sentences. (An- bar and System menu, with similar other improvement would be to drop properties to the publication title bar “it,” which tends to fuse with and System menu. “reached.”) A similar omission impairs a sentence A correction is “properties similar to the by a food critic: publication. . . .” (The sentence needs more fixing, for it compares unlike Multiply your weight times 13 to get a things. Make it “properties similar to rough idea of how many calories you those of the publication. . . .”) can consume a day. Divide the total Prepositions are liable to be misplaced by 4, and that’s how many fat calories in sentences containing correlative con- you can handle. junctions like both . . . and and either . . . or. “The bill has been passed You can “consume a day” repairing both by the Senate and the House of your house or operating your computer. Representatives.” Make it by both. “He As for the sample sentence, it would be has no faith either in the Democrats or improved either by “how many calories the Republicans.” Make it in either. you can consume in a day” or by “how Now in each sentence the preposition many calories a day you can consume.” (by or in) affects both nouns, not just the An a or an may be enough when sand- first; and we uphold the rule of correla- wiched between the nouns denoting tive conjunctions: The same grammati- units and time. But the preposition in cal form that follows the first should precede a when units and time conjunction of the pair must follow the are further apart. The statistical preposi- 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 302

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tion per fits either context: “calories per tude for; capacity of means the most that day” or “calories you can consume per can be contained in. Compare to means day.” to liken to; compare with means to con- Prepositions, especially of, are often trast with. (See COMPARED TO and omitted in efforts to be concise. The re- COMPARED WITH, 1.) Concur in sult can be ambiguity. “A small sculpture means to express approval of (an opin- collection” could mean either “a collec- ion or joint action); concur with means tion of small sculptures” or “a small col- to agree with (someone). Correspond to lection of sculptures.” A more means to match; correspond with means complicated example: “The curbing of to exchange letters with. Differ from public meetings and the publication of means to be unlike; differ with means to newspapers eliminated most opposition disagree with. In behalf of means in the to the regime.” As it stands, “the curbing interest of; on behalf of means as the of public meetings” and “the publication agent of. Liable for means responsible of newspapers” may appear to be paral- for; liable to means apt to. (In) sympathy lel factors. But if “curbing” controls the with means in agreement with; sympa- latter phrase (a more likely assumption), thy for means compassion for. Wait for is precede the phrase by of: “The curbing to be inactive and in anticipation of; wait of public meetings and of the publication on is to serve (someone food or drink). of newspapers . . .” (See WAIT FOR and WAIT ON.) If the meaning is clear, omission of Even when the meaning does not prepositions is tolerable in headlines, change much, the preposition may vary such as the following, which appeared in with context. A conversation between one newspaper edition: “Police seek Ne- two people is a conversation among tanyahu indictment” / “Oil industry three. (See BETWEEN, 1.) A patient is fights gas additive ban” / “Group urges cured of a disease but cured by a treat- tough rules for hydrofluoric acid use” / ment. One is grateful for a benefit but “Panel OKs flood aid package.” In texts, grateful to a person. One may intervene clarity and grace call for “. . . indictment in a dispute but intervene between those of Netanyahu / “. . . ban on gas addi- disputing. A buyer is in the market for a tives” (or, better, “gasoline additives”) / product; a product is on the market. “. . . use of hydrofluoric acid” / Someone gains mastery of a skill or sub- “. . . package of flood aid.” ject; a ruler or regime gains mastery over a country or people. A report of an acci- 7. Selection of a preposition dent appears in the paper; the govern- Learning which preposition goes with ment submits a report on the economy. each verb, adjective, noun, or pronoun is One may speak on a subject but speak to a daunting task for the foreign student of a person. (See SPEAK TO, TALK TO.) English, sometimes for the native In the press on often assumes func- speaker too. The choice of preposition tions that would be better served by often depends on idiom, rather than other prepositions. (See ON, 3.) In news logic. The same word may go with two items about arrests, for can be prejudi- prepositions, depending on meaning: cial. (See Guilt and Innocence, 5.) Agree to means to consent to or ap- An occasional error in the choice of prove something; agree with means to be prepositions goes like this (numbers of the same opinion as, or to be suitable added): “He will be in the best possible for. Belong to means to be a member of; position for [1] getting the most out of belong with means to deserve being clas- the land and of [2] using it to the best sified among. Capacity for means apti- possible advantage.” Although for 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 303

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would apply to both 1 and 2, the writer See also ADVOCATE; FREE, 1; OFF chose to precede the second phrase with and “OFF OF”; ON, 2; WHENCE and an extra preposition to be clearer; but in- “FROM WHENCE”; WISH; WITH. stead of repeating for, which would make sense, he carelessly copied “of,” PRE- prefix. The prefix pre- means the last preposition he saw. before, beforehand, early, in advance of, See also 1, 2; DIFFERENT, 1; or in front of. An example appears in the Gerund, 3B; INTO, 1; RALLY; WITH noun prefix itself (originating in the PREJUDICE (etc.). Latin prae-, before, and figere, to fix). Other examples are adjectives, such as 8. Superfluous preposition preadolescent (youngsters), precancer- A newspaper ran the headline “Regu- ous (lesions), prefabricated (houses); lators’ beef with selling milk for cheap.” verbs, to predominate, to prejudge; and The “for” was unnecessary and unid- more nouns, prescription, preview. iomatic. “. . . Selling milk cheap” (or If such a meaning is obvious without cheaply) is enough. You do not say it, pre- is probably unnecessary. These “moving for quick” or “coming for sentences are redundant: “Advance pay- soon.” ment of the initiation fee and the first That is an example of a superfluous year’s dues is a precondition of member- preposition, one that is used unnecessar- ship.” / “We won’t begin operations ily with a particular word. Some promi- without careful preplanning.” / “On nent examples include “for” before free, January 2 all students must preregister “of” after off, and “from” before for courses.” / “Before buying the car, whence. have a mechanic pretest it.” A series may be marred by an extra Radio commercials for two respected preposition, as in this extract from a automotive brands have offered “pre- news story: owned models” and “certified preowned automobiles.” The merchandise is what Its history has been reconstructed most Americans call used cars. A sign at from ticket stubs found on the floor, a bookstore: “PREVIOUSLY READ dressing room graffiti and from inter- BOOKS & MAGAZINES.” views with older black residents of When the prefix pre- is followed by e, Athens. . . . many publications separate the two e’s The first “from” covers all the three with a hyphen. It indicates that the long items enumerated. The other “from” is vowel sound in pre- (PREE) is followed superfluous, inasmuch as no preposition by a short vowel sound: pre-eminent, precedes the second item, “dressing pre-emption, pre-existing. (Pre- has a room graffiti.” See also Series errors, 9. short vowel in some words, including In numerical ranges, prepositions are preliminary and preserve.) A hyphen is liable to pile up: “A high temperature of necessary when the second element from 70 to 75 degrees is forecast.” Omit starts with a capital letter: pre- from. “The gadget is priced at between Columbian. The Associated Press hy- $40 and $50.” Omit at. phenates pre-convention, pre-dawn, and This example is similar in its causes to any combinations that are not in a cer- the one at the end of 7: “It could be done tain dictionary. without unduly raising the price of coal or of jeopardizing new trade.” Omit the PREREQUISITE and PERQUI- second of; no preposition belongs there SITE. See PERQUISITE and PRE- at all. REQUISITE. 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 304

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PRESCRIBE and PROSCRIBE. Even now or a synonym is often un- An article says a federal law “proscribed necessary in sentences that are in the pre- that the tax on capital gains be the same sent tense. Delete “presently” from the as the top rate on incomes.” The sen- three press quotations and it remains ob- tence says the opposite of what its writer vious that the time is the present. intended. “Proscribed” should be pre- Now or a synonym is useful for em- scribed. To prescribe something is to es- phasis or for contrasting the present tablish it as a rule. To proscribe with the past or the future. “Now she something is to outlaw it. The law estab- tells me!” / “He’s sorry now, but what of lished that tax rule; it did not outlaw it. the future?” / “I used to be married, but I’m not at present.” PRESENTLY. The meaning of presently seemed to slow down over the Present tense. See Tense. centuries. It used to mean now until that meaning became obsolete, except for di- PRESS (verb). See ADVOCATE. alects, some three hundred years ago. Later it came to mean immediately; still PRESUMPTIVE and PRESUMP- later, soon. “The queen is expected to ar- TUOUS. See Confusing pairs. rive presently.” / “The small gathering presently grew into a huge crowd.” Preterit, preterite (past tense). See The original meaning, now, has been Tense. revived. But several authorities prefer to restrict presently to the meaning of soon, PREVENT. To prevent (verb, transi- before long, or in a short time, so as to tive) is to avert or thwart; to keep (some- avoid any confusion from a second one or something) from doing meaning. They would not look with fa- something; or to keep (something) from vor on these press uses: “[His] yearly happening. salary is . . . presently the highest in the All of these constructions are id- country. . . .” / “. . . The group is iomatic: (1) “Run the water slowly to presently about $30,000 in debt.” / prevent overflowing”; (2) “. . . prevent it “Presently, a few Monterey from overflowing”; (3) “. . . prevent its pines . . . grow on the block-long site.” overflowing.” In those sentences “presently” plainly What is unidiomatic is “to prevent it means now, but the meaning can be overflowing.” From or a possessive form blurred: “I believe presently the venture (see Gerund, 4) should precede the -ing will be profitable.” Does “presently” reword. Neither of them does in this press fer to the speaker’s belief or to the fu- sentence: ture? One can sidestep the issue, saving two The challenge facing the two sides syllables at the same time, by replacing in South Africa is to find a formula “presently” with now when that is the which incorporates some of these ele- meaning. Those who scorn now because ments into a constitution which will a little monosyllable does not seem im- prevent South Africa going the same portant enough can draw upon cur- way as the rest of Africa. rently, at present, or at this time. For those wishing to drag it out still further, It should be “prevent South Africa from a phrase associated with Watergate is going . . .” or “prevent South Africa’s available: See “AT THIS POINT IN going. . . .” (For more clarity, the first TIME.” “which” should be that; it is used restric- 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 305

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tively. Whether the reporter meant to use mary, primal. (Note the -al ending in the second “which” in the same way is both primal and principal.) uncertain. See THAT and WHICH.) PRIORITIZE. See -IZE ending. PRIMATES. A caption under a photograph of two chimpanzees says, “Pri- PRIOR, PRIOR TO. Using “prior mates are much more vegetarian in their to” as a genteel synonym for before, in diet than humans,” which is something the manner of this press example, serves like saying that rodents run faster than no useful purpose: “Officer Malcom mice. M—— said prior to last month, the last Humans are primates. Primates is an vehicle to go over the cliff was in order of animals, the most highly devel- 1978....” oped order. It comprises man, ape, mon- In formal writing, prior to (adverb) key, lemur, loris, and tarsier. As a may be used to emphasize that one event taxonomic order, Primates is capitalized, is a prerequisite to the other: “Citizens singular though ending in s, and pro- must register prior to voting.” nounced pry-MAY-tease. A member of Prior (adjective) without the to is the order is a primate, pronounced PRY- more useful. It can mean preceding in mate. importance, in order, or in time: “a prior An item deals with a “toddler who fell consideration” / “his prior choice” / “my into a Chicago zoo’s gorilla pit and was prior appointment.” rescued by a 160-pound primate. . . .” (As for the press sentence: “said that” The last word is neither wrong nor pre- would be clearer, unless the officer said it cise (I have been a 160-pound primate “prior to last month.” See THAT, 2. The myself) but a synonym obviously chosen month should have been stated; the story to avoid repeating gorilla. appeared on the first.) See also APE and MONKEY. PRISTINE. A television screen de- PRINCIPAL and PRINCIPLE. A picted a suburban park. Now it is “pris- political consultant was quoted as say- tine” wilderness, but it used to be the site ing, “It was a credible message, based on of explosives manufacturing, the narra- very broad philosophical principal.” The tor said. He was nearly contradicting last word amounted to a misquotation. himself. If it was an industrial site, it is A newspaper reporter had heard it right no longer “pristine,” although it could but spelled it wrong. have returned to a state of wilderness. One speaks of a philosophical princi- Pristine (adjective) describes an early ple (except in some rare instance of a period, predating the touch of man; or school principal who is a philosopher). an original, unspoiled condition. It This noun denotes a law of nature, a ba- comes from the Latin pristinus, former. sic truth or postulate, a cause to which On a radio talk show, a commentator one is dedicated, an essential element or on popular culture spoke of television’s quality, or a rule of conduct. (It might “very pristine image” of the police and aid one’s memory to note the -le ending “pristine image of doctors.” Perhaps he in both rule and principle.) thought it meant pure. A TV newscaster The noun principal denotes the head may have had that idea too; he said the of a school, or a main participant, or the study of Lake Tahoe began four decades amount of a debt or investment without ago when the water was “relatively pris- the interest. As an adjective, principal tine.” To qualify pristine with “very” or means first in rank or importance, pri- “relatively” is dubious; something either 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 306

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is pristine or it is not. In each instance it At The New York Times, a creditable was not. standing rule has been “Do not use [probe] for inquiry, investigation or in- Probability. See Numbers, 10C. vestigate.” The rule does not prevent specialized use, as in space probe. PROBABLE, PROBABLY. See AP- PARENT, APPARENTLY. PROCEED and PRECEDE. See PROBATION. See PAROLE and Confusing pairs. PROBATION. PROFANITY. See OBSCENE, OB- PROBE. A probe is an instrument SCENITY. used by physicians in examining wounds, cavities, or sinuses. Often made PROFESSION. See “OLDEST PRO- of silver, usually thin and flexible with a FESSION.” blunt end, it serves to determine the depth and direction of those depressions. PROGNOSIS. See CONDITION. To probe (verb, transitive and intransitive) is literally to examine with a probe. Progressive tenses. See Tense, 1. Originating in the Latin probare, to test (the origin of prove), the English PROHIBIT. See FORBID, PRO- noun dates at least to the sixteenth cen- HIBIT, and BAN. tury; the verb, to the seventeenth. A figurative meaning of the verb, to search into PROLIXITY, PROLIX. See Ver- with the aim of exploring or discovering, bosity. developed almost at the same time as the literal. The sense of interrogating closely Pronouns. 1. Ambiguity. 2. Disagree- came out of the nineteenth century. ment in number. 3. Lack of reflexive. 4. In the mid-twentieth, probe became Needless use of -SELF. 5. Nonstandard associated with congressional hearings. -SELF or -SELVES words. 6. Omission. Headlines used it freely, as both verb and 7. Shift in person. 8. Superfluous apos- noun; the thirteen letters of investigation trophe. 9. Superfluous pronoun. 10. could not compete with the five letters of Wrong case. probe. Though inquiry was not much longer, it never caught on. Writers and 1. Ambiguity speakers too adopted that headline word A pronoun is a word used in place of for general use. a noun. For instance, “Stand beside her Within several days, the national TV and guide her” substitutes for “Stand be- audience heard on a newscast that the side America and guide America” in a Senate planned “to launch a widespread famous song. Pronouns are handy de- probe of voter fraud” in Louisiana; on a vices, enabling us to avoid having to re- news feature program that a “task force peat names, words, or whole phrases all conducted a lengthy probe” into cus- the time. (See also Pronouns’ classifica- toms corruption; on one discussion pro- tion.) gram that the Louisiana election was Usually, if a pronoun is not to do “now being probed” and an indepen- more harm than good, it must be clear dent counsel was needed “to probe the just what it is replacing. Because of de- White House scandal”; and on another fective phrasing or organization, it can discussion program that “Hillary was be unclear which noun a given pronoun the central figure in a probe. . . .” represents (i.e., which is its antecedent) 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 307

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or the pronoun can literally apply to the A report on the origin of Arabian aid wrong noun. Sometimes it is better to for the Nicaraguan Contras quoted the use no pronoun and repeat the noun. president, described a congressional in- The first sample statement is by a vestigation into the matter, and followed well-known reporter on a TV “maga- with excerpts from the testimony of zine” program. It is not clear which per- Robert C. McFarlane. Emphasis is son was “he.” added to the questionable pronoun, at the end. When P—— was hired by H——, he had a criminal record. Sen. William S. Cohen (R-Me.) said he was troubled by “the definition of The following sentence, a paragraph solicitation” of funds. in itself, is from a news agency’s dis- Although he has talked of Reagan’s patch. meeting with Fahd, McFarlane on Wednesday refused to term any dis- Another witness, Drazen E——, cussion of the contras’ needs a solici- testified that he had participated in tation of aid. the slaughter of up to 1,200 Sre- “It seems to me that we have been brenica Muslims in one day. engaged in this exercise of trying to define how many foreign leaders can It seems to say that the witness admitted be made to dance on the head of the participating in the crime. But the con- President’s contra program without text indicates that “he” was meant to calling it a solicitation,” he said. apply to someone else, an army general identified earlier in the story. Read in iso- Who said? Since McFarlane was the last lation, the sentence defames the witness. name mentioned, a reader can reason- Its only subjects are the proper noun and ably assume that McFarlane is the man the personal pronoun. Hence it is rea- now being quoted. But the essence of the sonable for a reader to assume that the message has changed. Actually “he” is pronoun represents the noun. Instead of Senator Cohen. (I wrote to him and he “he,” the general or the general’s name confirmed that he made the statement.) should have been used. It would have avoided confusion to in- The succeeding illustrations come terchange the first and second para- from newspapers in five cities. graphs. The existing order presents a confusing “he” in the second paragraph Rules were changed to open up the too: A reader may at first take it to be nominating process after the 1968 Senator Cohen, the person last men- convention, in which Chicago Mayor tioned, but that “he” is McFarlane. Richard Daley and other bosses deliv- Here is an excerpt from a news story ered the nomination to Hubert about speeches made by Jesse Jackson Humphrey while his police beat heads during his second campaign for the outside the convention. Democratic presidential nomination:

In “his police,” to whom does “his” re- He termed Mr. Dukakis’s proposals fer? The meaning suggests that it refers “very conservative, very cautious, to Daley, but the “his” tends to cling to very inadequate.” “Humphrey” because they are so close. Today Mr. Jackson said, in refer- The sentence would be improved by ence to Mr. Dukakis, “a cautious ap- changing “his” to the mayor’s. proach without commitment will not 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 308

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satisfy our basic needs.” About his The writer should have discarded the proposals, he added, “Democrats in first two pronouns and used nouns, per- Atlanta will rejoice at this budget.” haps in this manner: “And while the lobbyists insist that the statutes were Whose proposals are “his” proposals? designed to protect Christian Scientists Since “Mr. Dukakis’s proposals” were from. . . .” mentioned just two sentences ago and since the story says Mr. Jackson is speak- The W——s are the Long Island ing “in reference to Mr. Dukakis,” it is couple cited by Eugene police last plausible to assume that “his” refers to month after they offered University of Mr. Dukakis. Yet it would not make Oregon students money to engage in sense for a candidate to predict rejoicing sex with Nancy W——, 44. over a rival’s proposals, unless the candidate is speaking ironically. The context Because “they” soon follows “police,” a indicates that “his” probably means reader may think that “they” represents Mr. Jackson’s. If so, the confusion could “police,” although further reading of the have been avoided by the insertion of a article will correct such an interpreta- three-letter word: “About his own pro- tion. Instead of a muddy pronoun, the posals. . . .” couple’s surname should have been re- This is from an article on the prosecu- peated. tion of parents who depend on faith healing for their children: Meeting reporters later after changing out of her prison clothes, Morgan Over the years, Christian Science said her daughter was better off than lobbyists have succeeded in either she was when her mother started the drafting or playing a significant role in jail term. the wording of religious exemption statutes in the child welfare codes of Was “Morgan” imprisoned along with 47 states. her mother? The parallel phrasing of And while they insist that the “her daughter” and “her mother” seems statutes were designed to protect them to suggest that. However, the full story from exactly the legal nightmare they says nothing about a grandmother being now face, prosecutors argue that the locked up. Probably “her mother” laws do not cover manslaughter or means “Morgan,” but another “Mor- other serious crimes. gan” would be awkward. The best solution is to rephrase part of the sentence: Who are “them” and “they”? If the sec- “. . . better off than she had been when ond paragraph is considered alone, those the jail term began.” pronouns seem to stand for “prosecutors,” but such an interpretation would By noon, Rosie—surrounded by not be reasonable. The first “they” could her mom and dad . . . —had her mare. reasonably apply to the “lobbyists” And this morning when she wakes up, mentioned in the previous paragraph, she can run out to her own corral and but “them” and the second “they” could watch her own horse in her new not; the lobbyists would not be likely to home. argue that the statutes were designed to protect the lobbyists. “Them” and the In “her new home,” who or what is second “they” probably apply to no- “her,” Rosie or the horse? “Her” evi- body mentioned in either paragraph. dently is Rosie the first four times, so no 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 309

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reader can be blamed for assuming that is you” would be grammatically correct. it is Rosie the fifth time. Nothing is said Yet the excerpt is part of a paragraph in the article about Rosie’s moving, how- that uses we, us, or our twenty-one ever, so the fifth “her” seems to be the times; a version consistent with all the horse. It would have forestalled the con- plurality is this: “But the only persons fusion to put the horse in the neuter gen- [or “the only ones”] who can give us der: “its new home.” that permission are ourselves.” (Still Ambiguity in the use of relative pro- more proper: “are we.” See 10D.) nouns comes up in THAT and WHICH; Further examples are taken from a WHICH, 1; WHO, 1. How misunder- book about English words, a state’s tax standing can occur when such a pronoun form, and two news articles: (that) is not placed immediately after its antecedent is illustrated in Modifiers, 3B For the dedicated dictionary (end). browser a new edition is a great joy, but sometimes their pleasure in dis- 2. Disagreement in number covering new words is tempered by the loss of the old. A. An individual gets a singular pronoun Did you live with any other person This is all about grammar. A who claimed you as a dependent on spokesman for a group supporting what their income tax return? it called a woman’s right to choose (abortion) was quoted in the press as The study . . . found that the older saying, “This is all about an individual’s a person is, the faster their infection right to make a choice about their indi- progresses to AIDS diseases. vidual lives.” Plainly “an individual” is singular. What can be more singular? It . . . if a suggestion is made to an does not agree with “their . . . lives,” anesthetized patient to make a specific which is plural. It would, however, agree gesture in an interview days later, they with her . . . life, which is singular. Hav- will probably make the gesture, al- ing erroneously associated “individual” though they will not be aware what with “their,” the speaker proceeded to they have done or why they have done give that individual a number of “lives.” it. Disagreement between a noun (such as “individual”) and a pronoun pertain- Changing “their” to his would correct ing to it (such as “their”) is a common the first three examples. In the fourth, mistake in grammar. Usually the mis- change “they” to he four times and taker tries to represent a singular noun “have” to has twice. Singulars will then by means of a plural pronoun. A book of match singulars. popular psychology says: A browser, a person, or a patient is singular, as is an aviator, the dentist, It’s as if we’re waiting for permis- Aunt Fifi, an infant, the president, Cap- sion to start living fully. But the only tain John Smith, a thespian, a zoo person who can give us that permis- keeper, or anyone else. sion is ourselves. Their is plural. So is they or them. Each of those th words pertains to more A “person” is not “ourselves.” One is than one person or thing. singular, the other plural. “But the only It is a long-standing rule of grammar person who can give you that permission that a pronoun referring to a singular 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 310

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noun must be singular; a pronoun refer- The alternative to night school: Week- ring to a plural noun must be plural. end College. The least disruptive way Personal pronouns referring to one for a working man or woman to re- person, aside from you and me, are he turn for their degree. and she (in the subjective case); him and her (in the objective case); and his, her, A “man or woman” is singular. (See and hers (in the possessive case). It and OR.) Thus “their” should be his or her its are considered in B. See also ONE as or simply a. (We will overlook the lack pronoun. of a complete sentence.) What if we do not know if the person While English has riches, it has some is male or female, or what if the sex does shortcomings; it lacks, for instance, a not matter? He, him, or his then repre- multipurpose possessive pronoun like sents a person of either sex. the Spanish su. (In Britain, as Shake- The editor and grammarian Patricia speare indicates, some used an unac- T. O’Conner writes in Woe Is I that she cented a or a’ in lieu of he, she, they, it, cringes when she hears a sentence like or I.) Nevertheless, for anyone who in- “Somebody forgot to pay their bill” insists on reading sexual signiﬁcance into stead of “pay his bill.” She perceives his pronouns, there is always the option good intentions but bad grammar. “The of rephrasing a thought, e.g.: for dedi- pronouns he and his have been used cated dictionary browsers / on an in- since time immemorial to refer to people come tax return / the faster an infection in general.” progresses / the patient will probably That a pronoun in the masculine gen- make the gesture, without being aware der can represent any person when sex is of it / pay the bill. It is a better answer to immaterial or unknown has been long the limitations of our language than established in law as well as grammar. childish barbarism. Black’s Law Dictionary says he is “usu- The errors can be droll. A book on ally used . . . to include both sexes as ﬁrst aid warns of danger from the black well as corporations” and his too “may widow spider, brown recluse spider, and refer to a person of either sex.” Oxford’s scorpion, and it says: A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage says: If a person is bitten by any of the three, have them lie down and not walk. . . . The traditional view, still to be observed in the most formal contexts, is But what if the creatures don’t want to that the masculine pronouns are lie down? generic, comprehending both male and female. Thus cumbersome pairs B. IT, ITS: pronoun in the neuter such as he or she and his or her are gender usually unnecessary. A book of travel adventure says:

Such a pair can be unwieldy in a sen- If one has never seen a grand African tence with several pronouns (like the one river their beauty comes as a wonder- about the anesthetized patient). And it ful surprise. can be conspicuous unless the matter of sex is pertinent or, as in the example be- River is singular. “Their” is plural; it low, both male and female are men- should be its (preceded by a comma). tioned. A college advertised: As a rule, an inanimate, nonliving, or 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 311

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abstract thing takes the singular, neuter An alternative correction would start out 1 pronoun it or its. Traditionally she and plural: “1 ⁄2-year-olds know a lot. . . .” her have been applied to a ship or coun- (In either case, change “or” to and; that try—“Aye, tear her tattered ensign will produce a plural to agree with down”—but it and its will do for either. words. See OR.) In an article, quoted below, a com- It or its applies also to an animal, un- pany is regarded, correctly, as singular. less its sex is known and material. Five paragraphs later, it becomes plural A radio physician advised a caller, and then turns singular again. (Emphasis “Take the dog to the doctor and give is added.) them the penicillin.” The dog has no choice, but what if the doctor resists? Procter & Gamble Co., the Cincin- nati-based consumer products con- C. (-)ONE words and phrases; -BODY cern, has begun shipping diamonds words; EACH; EVERY with its soap powder.... A school principal might be expected The promotion is unusual for to know the grammatical rules that are P&G, although the company may taught to children. One principal said, in have put pearls in their bottles of Prell a speech acknowledging his winning of shampoo once. . . . The company ex- the title of “educator of the year,” it is pects this promotion to do very well. the job of educators to insure “that every one of those children know more than In American usage, company is singular. they knew the year before.” This educa- Do not speak of “their” bottles instead tor may not be up to the job, unless he of its bottles—if you are not prepared to knows more than he knew at the time of say “The company expect. . . .” that speech. Here is an example of the singular in- Obviously one is singular. So is any correctly used instead of the plural: a can phrase ending in one, including any one, labeled “PINEAPPLE CHUNKS IN ITS each one, every one, and no one. So is OWN JUICE.” The chunks have their any word ending in -one, including any- own juice. (The possessive cannot apply one, everyone, and someone. So are the to “PINEAPPLE,” which is serving as an -body pronouns: anybody, everybody, adjective. If the label said “CHUNKS nobody, and somebody. We say “Every- OF PINEAPPLE,” then “PINEAPPLE” body knows,” not “know”; and “Every- as a noun could possess “ITS OWN one is here,” not “are.” Each also is JUICE.”) singular, particularly as a subject. (See It or its may be used for a baby, par- EACH, EACH OF.) A possessive that ticularly if it represents babies in general: refers to any of the pronouns just men- “A newborn needs its mother.” tioned should be singular, just as the re- An article about children’s learning of lated verb should be singular. Similarly language quotes a linguist: the adjective every makes what it modi- 1 Dr. C—— concludes that “a 1 ⁄2- fies singular. year-old knows a lot about containers Examples: “Is anyone missing his and surfaces, but they don’t know the keys?” / “Everyone must buy her own words ‘on’ or ‘in.’ ” dress.” / “I see everybody brought his or her spouse.” / “Somebody sends her re- 1 “A 1 ⁄2-year-old” is singular and conflicts gards.” / “Every man for himself.” / “To with “they,” which is plural. The final each his own.” (Nobody sings “To each clause may be corrected this way: their own.”) “. . . but it doesn’t know the words. . . .” Two news stories and a book about 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 312

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English (quoted earlier) display the same offending “their” in place of his or was kind of mistake: he afraid to correct the boss? (The publisher added a pledge that the paper The state Elections Code requires would continue to adhere to its tradi- anyone who raises more than $500 to tional “high standards of journalism and disclose their finances. business.” Its standards of grammar used to be high too.) Everybody had their moment. . . . See also EVERYBODY, EVERYONE, 4; EVERY ONE and EVERYONE; ONE To quiz someone was to make fun as pronoun. of them. . . . 3. Lack of reflexive Change “their” to his in the first two A pronoun misses the mark in each of sentences. Change “them” to him in the these passages (by a lawyer, an anchor third. man, and two journalists respectively): A congressman being interviewed on television was partly right and partly “I ultimately refused to go, thereby wrong: depriving me of the ability to partici- Each candidate has to make his or her pate. . . .” own decision on how they play this [the issue of impeachment]. What did one man do to land him in court? He recognized the singularness of “each candidate” by correctly saying “his or Mr. McCain, for example, must stand her own decision” but failed to follow for re-election . . . giving him less time through: “on how he or she plays this.” to recover. If he wanted to express the same message more concisely, he could have said A . . . motorist . . . lost control of her “his own decision on how he plays this.” car and slammed into two oncoming Sometimes there is disagreement in cars, killing her instantly.... number even when the subject is plainly female or male. In an editorial column, a Change “me” to myself, each “him” to sentence appeared that should have been himself, and the second “her” to herself. deemed unfit to print. A new publisher Each of the emphasized words is a re- had just taken over the newspaper, and flexive pronoun. The action that the sub- here was his first statement. Referring to ject performs is done to the subject; it his predecessors—his grandfather, uncle, reflects back onto him or her. The suffix and father—he wrote: -self or -selves indicates reflexiveness. Other pronouns of that type are the Each of these men, in their message singular words itself, oneself, and your- upon being named Publisher, quoted self and the plural words ourselves, the pledge Mr. Ochs made when he themselves, and yourselves. took the helm of the Times: To give Often a -self pronoun is used when it the news impartially, without fear or should not be. “Myself,” in place of me, favor, regardless of any party, sect or is the most common one. See 4. Some- interest involved. times a nonstandard form, like “theirselves,” is used. See 5. (In the third Had the copy gone unedited? If it had example, “stand” is dubious. See RUN been edited, did the copy editor miss the and STAND.) 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 313

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4. Needless use of -SELF sessions with himself and other black Many people are reluctant to use the leaders. simple word me, possibly fearing that they will be considered ungrammatical Change “himself” to him. There is no or immodest. Their concern may hark reason for the “-self”: it has no effect on back to school days and a confusion the subject of the clause in which it ap- about “I” versus “me.” So they use “my- pears. That subject is “they,” referring to self,” thinking wrongly that it is a safe plans for the classes. word. Two books furnish our ﬁrst pair A TV news correspondent in Moscow of examples: was reporting on a violent revolution and an author was describing an African In late 1965, the Chicago Zoologi- trip: cal Park . . . sent an expedition to Mexico consisting of myself and pho- Myself and other members of the tographer Alan ———. press were pinned down. . . .

Special tools were cut by myself [to Henry, Ann, myself and Joseph bind a book]. were in the little Renault 12 station wagon. “Myself” should be me in both excerpts: “consisting of me” and “cut by me.” In If no one else had been present, neither the latter instance, “I cut special tools” narrator would say “Myself was pinned would be still better. down” or “Myself was in the little Re- The suffix -self or -selves in a pronoun nault.” Each would say “I was.” Bring- serves either of these two functions: ing in others as part of the subject makes 1. It makes the pronoun reflexive. A reno difference in the use of the pronoun. flexive pronoun turns the action back Change each “myself” to I. upon the subject (the performer of the action). Examples: “She talks to 5. Nonstandard -SELF or -SELVES herself.” / “The boy doesn’t know words what to do with himself.” / “We gave In California a man and a woman ourselves raises.” / “The cat is wash- were injured by explosives and then ar- ing itself.” / “I cut myself.” / “They rested on suspicion of illegal possession blame themselves.” / “Do yourself a of (the same) explosives. A TV news- favor.” caster reported the happening and 2. It gives emphasis to the subject. “In- named names. “Police said ——— and stead of calling the plumber, Agnes ——— built the bombs theirselves,” she fixed the sink herself.” / “He called announced. Later the two were released for law and order when he himself for lack of evidence, notwithstanding was a crook.” / “Jack himself says he’s what “police said.” Aside from other unqualified for the job.” / “No one misfortune, they had been subjected to helped, so I did it all myself.” the indignity of being defamed with atrocious English. The “-self” in the following sample “Theirselves” is not a legitimate serves neither function. word. The proper pronoun is themselves. It is the plural of himself or her- Dr. Lowery said plans for the self. classes were not finished but they . . . Some illegitimate relatives that occa- would probably include two one-hour sionally pop up are “hisself” / “theirself” 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 314

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/ “themself” / “ourself.” They are not ac- quires its own subject, either noun or cepted as English words. The plural of pronoun. The comma does not help; it myself is properly ourselves. just sets up another barrier. In the next two samples, the meaning may be easier 6. Omission to ﬁgure out, but why stint pronouns?

A. Isolation of verb In 1983 he sued The Review for libel In a complicated sentence it may not after it published an article criticizing be clear who is performing some of the him, but dropped the suit two years action. A verb seems to lack a subject. later. The forty-five-word sentence below offers a good illustration. Grasping all of He was foreclosed from the Bush its meaning calls for more than the usual ticket because both men have a Texas effort by the reader. voter registration, and probably hoped that Bush would clear the A party spokeswoman, Brigitte decks for the next GOP generation by Zimmerman, told reporters that an- choosing an older running mate. gry citizens recently tried to storm the secret police offices in the city of Er- Better: “. . . but he dropped . . .” / furt to keep documents from being “. . . but he probably had hoped. . . .” taken away, and warned of “anarchy (See BUT, 1; Tense, 5B.) and chaos” from “people taking the See also Nouns, 4; Punctuation, 3E. law into their own hands.” B. Synonym instead of pronoun Who “warned”? That verb lacks an ob- It is a journalistic mannerism to use a vious subject. We need to figure it out. synonym for the subject instead of a per- The previous action in the sentence was sonal pronoun; for instance: “Mr. Gore’s by the “angry citizens,” so they seem to opponents had criticized the Tennessee be the subject. But it would be out of senator about the secrecy surrounding character for them to issue a warning of the loans. . . .” Although readers who “anarchy and chaos.” We skip back- did not know that Mr. Gore was “the ward. “A party spokeswoman, Brigitte Tennessee senator” could probably guess Zimmerman,” evidently was intended to it, him would be clearer and more natu- be the subject of “warned.” ral. See also JURIST; Synonymic silli- Inserting one little pronoun would ness; THE, 2B. have forestalled all that effort. Make The avoidance of pronouns in that it “. . . and she warned. . . .” Better manner can produce outright confusion. yet, start a new sentence with “She See Synonymic silliness, 2, for examples. warned . . .” (after changing the third comma to a period and omitting the 7. Shift in person “and”). Much as a ball player must have a It needs to be obvious who or what is particular position, a writer or speaker the subject of a verb; that is, who or needs to express a sentence from a par- what is performing the action. That sub- ticular standpoint—the first person, the ject may not be obvious when a clause second person, or the third person. intervenes between it and the verb and Straying could mean bungling a play, or when the clause’s subject (“angry citi- a thought. zens”) threatens to take over the verb A rather common error is the mixing (“warned”). In such a case, the verb re- of the indefinite one with “you” or an- 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 315

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other personal pronoun. This is typical: The tradition of oracles and prophets is “One loses track of the time when you’re that of hedging their bets, not “my” having fun.” One errs when one tries to bets. have it both ways. Either change “One A syndicated radio host said to a loses” to You lose (second person) or caller, “Jeff, you are somebody who change “you’re” to one is (third person). doesn’t like to pay your taxes.” Some- See also ONE as pronoun, 1. body—third person—doesn’t like to pay A radio psychologist said, in reply to a his taxes. Why would somebody want to mother who had caught her small pay Jeff’s taxes? daughter drinking beer, “I would just A news story about a senator’s ouster keep your eyes open.” The psychologist from a committee contained the sentence did not mean that she would literally below. It swings from third person to keep someone’s eyes open; the trouble first person and back again as the quota- was her switch from first person to section marks come and go. ond person. The pronouns are consistently in the first person in this sentence: “Life goes on,” he said drily, “I would just keep my eyes open” (if I adding, “I have a fair amount of were you). Alternatively, the second per- things I’ve been following for 1,000 son could be chosen: (You should) “Just years” to keep him busy. keep your eyes open.” Within a single paragraph, a book’s A sentence must hold together grammat- point of view shifts wildly from “we” to ically, even if part of it is a quotation. “ ‘I “one” to “you” and to “my.” (Emphasis have . . . things’ . . . to keep him busy” is added to the pronouns:) literally means that I will keep someone else busy. If the second quotation was To look more intimately at sand as obscure enough to require an explana- a substance, we may seek the aid of a tion, the writer would have done well to magnifier.... Under the lens one can paraphrase it all. (A paraphrase might see black grains, pink grains, and have avoided “amount of things” in- clear, whitish grains. Here and there stead of “number of things.” See you can notice even at a distance that AMOUNT and NUMBER. By the way, waves and wind have somewhat drily is a variation of dryly. Just how illu- sorted the diverse grains of sand by minating was its use?) motion on a larger scale than in my hand. 8. Superfluous apostrophe Its, the possessive (“Our team did its Although the meaning is understand- best”), should not be confused with it’s, able, the vacillating style can be unset- the contraction of it is or it has (“It’s tling. only a penny” / “It’s been fun”). And A book deals with the future of the your, the possessive (“Is that your universe: house?”), should not be confused with you’re, the contraction of you are . . . The present density is very (“You’re looking well”). People continu- close to the critical density that ally mix up each homophonic pair, often separates recollapse from indefinite inserting apostrophes in the possessive expansion. . . . So I am in the well- words, incorrectly. established tradition of oracles and The pronouns hers, ours, theirs, and prophets of hedging my bets by pre- yours have no apostrophes. (“The dicting both ways. money is hers.” / “It’s ours.” / “It’s 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 316

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theirs.” / “It’s yours.”) Often someone Case is the form of a pronoun or noun sticks an apostrophe in. that expresses the word’s relation to See also Possessive problems, 4; Punc- other words in a sentence; mainly it tuation, 1; ITS and IT’S; WHOSE, 2; marks the word as a subject or object. YOUR and YOU’RE. The pronoun I in the sentence “I and my kids live in a dormitory” is correct be- 9. Superfluous pronoun cause it is part of the subject; that is, the Occasionally a sentence contains a su- doer(s) of the action. Hence it is in the perfluous pronoun, a word that con- subjective case (also called the nominative tributes as much to meaning as a benign case). I is strictly subjective, and so are the tumor to bodily functioning. The first pronouns we, he, she, they, and who. example is from the press. In the sentence “They evicted me and my kids,” me is correct because it is an . . . No one foresaw the firestorm object; it (along with my kids) is the re- of . . . criticism . . . that would descend ceiver of the action of the verb, evicted. on Oakland—the last school district Hence it is in the objective case (also left in California where a majority of called the accusative case). Me is strictly its students are black. objective, and so are the pronouns us, him, her, them, and whom. Better: “. . . the last school district . . . You can be either subjective or objec- where a majority of students are black.” tive. The unneeded word is “its.” It is plain (If you think the rules are fussy now, from “the last school district . . . where” hark back to about 1150–1500. that the “students” are its. Whereas we have only you for the sec- The chairman of a political party said, ond person, speakers of Middle English when queried about allegedly illegal do- had the subjective forms thou, singular, nations: and ye, plural; and the objective forms thee, singular, and you, plural. Making it If you’ve done something you can’t more complicated, during that period do that, I don’t want you part of my the use of the plural ye or you as a polite responsibility. singular developed; thou or thee became the familiar singular.) “That” serves no purpose. (Another Another case is the genitive (or pos- fault of the sentence is its apparent il- sessive) expressing the ideas of posses- logic: How can you do something you sion, origin, characteristic, measure, etc.; can’t do? Either change “can’t” to e.g., George’s shirt, their novels, the shouldn’t or insert legally before “do.”) voice of the turtledove, a friend of hers. (See 1, 2, 9; Double possessive; Gerund, 10. Wrong case 4; Possessive problems; Punctuation, 1.) Case is used in a wholly different A. “Me and them”—right or wrong? sense in upper case, meaning capital let- A teacher competing in a TV quiz ters, and lower case, small letters. The contest said, “Me and my kids live in a terms come from the cases in which the dormitory. . . .” Can “me and my kids” old-time printers kept their type. or “me and them” or “me and him,” or the like, ever be right? The answer is yes, B. “And I” or “and ME”? although it was wrong in the example. At some time in the dim past, many of The contestant chose the wrong case for us said something like this: “Jimmy and the pronoun representing himself. It me are going to the park.” A correction should have been I. followed: “No, no. You should say 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 317

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‘Jimmy and I are going.’ ” The lesson • An indirect object (which tells for must have been incomplete or indi- whom [or for what] or to whom [or gested. Its upshot is sentences like these: to what] the action is done), for instance, “has given Judy and me the [From a magazine article:] Being privilege.” (Some consider these forced to operate “differently” has forms a separate case, the dative.) given Judy and I the privilege of pub- • An object, or goal, of a preposition: lishing whatever we enjoy reading. “for Jill and me” / “to you and me” / “for you or me.” [From a situation comedy:] I just • An object of a verbal: “Jack loves know things got better for Jill and I. visiting her.” / “The court trying him has adjourned.” / “The doctors want [By a TV weather man:] This weather to test me.” (Gerunds, participles, comes as a surprise to you and I. and inﬁnitives are verbals. See VERBAL, 3.) In every instance, “I” should be me. No one would have erred if “Judy” / “Jill” / C. “Between HE and . . .” or “between or “you” had been excluded. No one HIM and . . .”? would have said “. . . has given I the Just as an unmastered grammar lesson privilege . . .” / “. . . things got better for of long ago could have led to the “and I” I” / or “. . . comes as a surprise to I.” It error shown above, it could explain would have sounded too bad. The extra overgrammatical efforts of the “he” or person in each sentence seemed to steer “she” kind. each speaker or writer off course. Per- Nobody would be likely to say “I haps the phrase “and I” acted as a false gave he the key” or “They elected she,” beacon, although the linking of the pro- instead of him or her respectively. Con- nouns by or instead of and did not pre- fusion arises with more complicated sen- vent a similar error, by the hostess of a tences, particularly when the pronoun is radio talk show: linked with someone or something else. Let us quote a television newscast and a There are only about ﬁve minutes left newspaper caption. for you or I, Robert. Rose said he was glad that all legal ac- Again “I” should be me. Her competitor, tion between he and the league was a host on another radio station, erred the over. other way: The legal action was between “him and We have revised the plan, just you and the league.” They are objects of the me. preposition between.

It should be “you and I,” merely The Princess of Wales, with Henry A. rephrasing the subject, “We.” A similar Kissinger and Gen. Colin L. Powell, mistake, though a more obvious one, was undeniably the center of attention was made on TV by a prominent critic: last night at a reception following an awards dinner honoring she and the Halfway into this screenplay even you retired general. and me had questions. The awards dinner honored “her and the The objective case includes not only a retired general.” They are objects of the direct object of a verb, but also: participle honoring. 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 318

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The newscaster and writer would say, Such usage is far from new. A ten- “It’s just between us,” not “we” / “Stop dency in popular speech to use the harassing her,” not “she” / “Helen objective case for a pronoun that com- works for him,” not “he” / “Pay them,” plements a linking verb “has persisted not “they.” The pronoun would have to since the sixteenth century,” George O. be in the objective case. That the object Curme wrote. He found examples even has an extra component should not among “good authors of serious style.” make any difference in the choice of He quoted Churchill: “It is not me he case: “It’s just between us and the misjudges.” Jonson: “Here be them haue league.” / “Crowds kept surrounding beene amongst souldiers.” Shakespeare: her and her family.” / “John gave the “And damn’d be him that first cries, packages to him and his wife.” / We pho- ‘Hold, enough!’ ” Marlowe was quoted tographed them and the neighbors.” (elsewhere): “Is it him you seek?” and “ ’Tis her I esteem.” D. “It’s I” or “It’s ME”? / “HE” or Despite literary examples to the con- “HIM”? trary, most authorities advocate follow- A traditional rule of grammar decrees ing the rule in formal writing. But Roy that the subject of a linking verb and any H. Copperud says flatly: “The nomina- pronoun linked with that verb be in the tive (‘It’s I’) is stilted and thus avoided.” same case. The linking verb (called also a copula) most often is a form of the verb E. “Than I” or “than ME”? be, and the problem usually boils down A pair of reviewers rejected a movie, to something like this: Which is right, although, one of them said on television, “The winner was he” or “The winner “Roger liked it a little more than me.” was him”? The traditional answer Literally the remark was tantamount to would be he, on the grounds that the saying, “Roger liked the movie a little pronoun represents the same entity as more than he liked me.” That may have the subject. Actually it depends on been Roger’s sentiment, but more likely whether the statement is to be written or the other reviewer was comparing their spoken. attitudes toward the movie. Thus he When your friend or relation re- should have said “more than I.” It sponds to your knock with “Who’s would be an elliptical, or shortened, ver- there?” you will probably not reply, “It sion of “more than I liked it,” in which I is I.” You are more likely to respond, would be the subject of the clause “I “It’s me”—and so you should. Gram- liked it.” He would never say “more marians are on your side. than me liked it.” Understandably, new- A phrase like It wasn’t me being collo- comers to the language sometimes make quial, “such a lapse is of no impor- the mistake of using the objective case as tance,” H. W. Fowler wrote. Sir Ernest a subject, e.g., “Me Tarzan.” Native Gowers, his reviser, went further: In col- speakers of English lack their excuse. loquialisms like that and It’s me, the use The context may have made the of me is “perhaps the only successful at- meaning clear to all the television watch- tack made by me on I”; moreover, That’s ers, but in some similar constructions the him has won “the status of idiomatic wrong choice of case can change the spoken English.” Wilson Follett wrote meaning or render it ambiguous. “Do that writers and others devoted to sound you see Jack more often than I?” asks grammar were “firm in believing that the whether you see him more often than I colloquial It’s me is acceptable in speech do. “Do you see Jack more often than and in writing when the tone is not ele- me?” asks whether you see him more of- vated.” ten than you see me. 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 319

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The principle is the same in this exam- 1. Demonstrative pronouns point out. ple: “Helen loves chocolate as much as They include this and that, these and he” means they are equally fond of it. those. “This is the forest primeval.” / “Helen loves chocolate as much as him” “These are the times that try men’s means her affection is divided. souls.” (See THIS; THESE and THOSE.) F. “WE people” or “US people”? 2. Indefinite pronouns represent no par- The preamble to the Constitution ticular person or thing. “Everybody starts out, “We the people of the United loves a baby.” / “Take it easy.” / “One States. . . .” Perhaps with that phrase in never knows.” Among them are all, her mind, the wife of a presidential can- another, any, anybody, anyone, any- didate told a gathering in New Hamp- thing, each, everything, everyone, few, shire that her husband stood for “more many, most, nobody, no one, none, freedom for we the people.” Change several, some, somebody, someone, “we” to us. An object of the preposition and something. (See ANY; EACH, for, the pronoun should be in the objec- EACH OF; EVERY ONE and EV- tive case. “We the people” is not an im- ERYONE; ONE as pronoun; Pro- mutable phrase. In the Constitution we nouns, 2C.) essentially is the subject. The phrase the 3. Intensive pronouns end in -self or people of the United States is in apposi- -selves and give emphasis to personal tion to it (that is, explains it). A comma pronouns. “I built it all myself.” / “He often precedes appositive phrases (“Mr. himself has said it.” (See Pronouns, 4, Wilson, the chairman . . .”) but not nec- 5.) essarily. 4. Interrogative pronouns ask questions. Similarly “we” should have been us “What did the president know?” / when a radio announcer said, advertis- “Whose undergarments are these?” ing a wine, “This name is not too diffi- Which, who, and whom are others. cult for we Americans to say.” (See WHO and WHOM; WHOSE.) A teacher in North Carolina publicly 5. Personal pronouns represent particu- objected to “pay that is not encouraging lar persons, sometimes things. “I now to we people who have decided to stay in pronounce you husband and wife.” / education.” Again change “we” to us. It “You don’t scare me.” is an object of the preposition to. She Personal pronouns change form could have got by with we as the subject depending on case (subjective, objec- of a sentence, like this one: “We people tive, or possessive); gender (mascu- who have decided to stay in education line, feminine, or neuter); number need the encouragement of better pay.” (singular or plural); and person (first, The reverse error used to appear in second, or third). ads showing a man supposedly saying, Personal pronouns in the subjective “Us ——— smokers would rather fight (or nominative) case are I, you, he, than switch.” As the subject of the sen- she, and it, singular; and we, you, and tence, we, not “us,” would be grammati- they, plural. Pronouns in the objective cal. The advertising agent who wrote the case are me, you, him, her, and it, sin- slogan probably knew that. gular; and us, you, and them, plural. See also WHO and WHOM. (See Possessive problems, 4, on the possessive case. See Pronouns, 2, on Pronouns’ classification. Pronouns number; 7 on person; and 10, mainly are customarily classified in eight cate- on the subjective and objective cases.) gories. (See Pronouns for an enumera- 6. Reciprocal pronouns show ex- tion of problems.) changes. “The three brothers joshed 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 320

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one another.” / “Romeo and voted with the majority at conference Josephine despise each other.” (See when they see the draft Court opin- EACH OTHER.) ion. 7. Reflexive pronouns bounce the actions taken by subjects back on the “The proof of the pudding is in the eat- subjects. Like intensive pronouns, ing.” That is all there is to the proverb. they end in -self or -selves. “Hortensia Proof means test in that context. A hurt herself.” / “Make yourselves at good cook tastes and hence tests his home.” (See Pronouns, 3, 4, 5.) food. See also “EXCEPTION PROVES 8. Relative pronouns commonly include THE RULE.” that, which, who, whom, and whose. “The creature that lives there is a “PROOF POSITIVE.” English syn- bandicoot.” / “This cheese, which tax calls for the adjective first, noun sec- comes from Belgium, smells delight- ond, as in positive proof. Nevertheless, a ful.” network anchor man said the Nixon Generally a relative pronoun (a) tapes offered “proof positive that he stands for a particular noun (creature knew there was a widespread criminal or cheese); (b) connects the noun to a conspiracy.” And an article in a health dependent clause that modifies it magazine contained this sentence: (“that lives there” or “which comes from Belgium”); and (c) introduces The fact that Asian populations eat a that dependent clause, serving as the great deal of soy foods and have lower subject of its verb (lives or comes). rates of breast cancer is not proof pos- (See THAT and WHICH; WHO, itive that soy is protective. . . . THAT, and WHICH.) The reversal may stem from a series of cigarette ads and commercials in the PROOF and EVIDENCE. See EVI- days when they were broadcast. A com- DENCE and PROOF. pany claimed to offer “proof positive” of the salutary benefit of its product, PROOF OF THE PUDDING. The thus turning truth as well as syntax proverb about proof and pudding per- topsy-turvy. plexes people. Some, it seems, would See also Adjectives and adverbs, 2. search through the pudding for the proof, however messy it would be to do PROOFREAD, PROOFREAD- so. A senator, contrasting the president’s ING. The fact that proofread and promises and performance, said, “The proofreading are each spelled in two dif- proof’s in the pudding.” A TV reporter, ferent ways in the excerpts below (from summarizing a city official’s remarks a book that purports to instruct writers about proposed transit improvements, in self-publishing) is not the main prob- said, “The proof will be in the pudding.” lem. The author evidently did not know No, the proof is not in the pudding. what the terms meant. Nor is it in anything as complicated as the following. A chief justice was writing . . . Rough grammar or duplication about the problems in drafting a of information . . . can be corrected Supreme Court opinion: later during the proof reading session. ... Here again, we do the best we can, . . . Allow someone else to proof recognizing that the proof of the pud- read it. This someone should not be ding will be the reaction of those who overly familiar with his subject and 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 321

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who will not be affraid to be biased in verb (transitive and intransitive), mean- their opinion. . . . ing to predict, is prophesy, pronounced Once you have finished all the PROF-ih-sy. proof-reading of this draft copy and Sometimes the spellings are erro- made any changes you wish to make, neously reversed. Webster’s Third Dic- you should retype your draft copy.... tionary accepts the misspellings as Now, finish writing your book and legitimate alternatives. proofread it. . . . PROSCRIBE. See PRESCRIBE and A proof is a test print of material that PROSCRIBE. has been set in type and is to be published. It permits one to correct typo- PROSECUTE and PERSECUTE. graphical errors before the material goes See Confusing pairs. to press. To proofread is to check the proof against the manuscript, that is, the PROSPECTIVE and PERSPEC- pages from the writer and editor, and to TIVE. See Confusing pairs. make any corrections on the proof. One who works at proofreading is a proof- PROSTATE and PROSTRATE. reader. It is not necessarily wrong to spell See Confusing pairs. each term as a hyphenated word or as two words, provided that the chosen PROVE. See “EXCEPTION PROVES style is used consistently. THE RULE”; PROOF OF THE PUD- Proofreading differs from copy- DING. editing (also spelled copy editing and copyediting), which is done before type PRY. See -Y endings. is set. To copy-edit (sometimes spelled copyedit) is to edit copy, that is, any PUDDING. See PROOF OF THE manuscript to be published, making cor- PUDDING. rections or otherwise preparing the copy for typesetting. One who does such edit- Punctuation. 1. Apostrophe. 2. ing as a livelihood is a copy editor (some- Colon. 3. Comma. 4. Dash and hyphen. times spelled as one word). In newspaper 5. Ellipsis. 6. Exclamation point. 7. offices the task is often called copyread- Parentheses and brackets. 8. Period. 9. ing and the editors copyreaders. Those Question mark. 10. Quotation marks. who read copy there also write head- 11. Semicolon. 12. Virgule. lines. (The sample could have stood some 1. Apostrophe copy-editing. The second paragraph alone has six defects: Change “proof A. Apostrophe’s purpose read” to copy-edit or edit; omit “who”; The apostrophe (’) is a widespread change “will” to should; omit the extra source of confusion. Many people have “f” in “affraid”; change “biased” to un- little or no idea of what it is for. We see biased; and change “their” to his.) evidence of that fact constantly in homemade signs, notes, and other writings Proper nouns (names). See Nouns, throughout the country. Even profes- 1. sional writers sometimes misuse this mark, sticking it in where it does not be- PROPHECY and PROPHESY. long and leaving it out where it does be- The noun, meaning prediction, is long. prophecy, pronounced PROF-ih-see. The Notwithstanding all the misuse, the 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 322

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proper use of the apostrophe is not usu- extra s: “the Twin Cities’ finances” / ally very difficult. The mark has two “the doctors’ offices.” See G for main purposes: words ending in s, a complicated topic. • It indicates possession—for nouns mostly. Usually an apostrophe and s C. Forgotten apostrophes are added to a singular noun or to A national newspaper promised to an irregular plural, e.g., girl’s, Jack’s, run, among other information, “Each men’s. Only an apostrophe, no s, is teams first pick. . . .” Team’s, possessive, added to a plural noun that ends in needs an apostrophe. s, e.g., birds’, friends’. (See also Another prominent newspaper later Possessive problems.) omitted a needed apostrophe from a plu- • It takes the place of a missing letter ral noun in a main headline: or letters when a word or phrase is shortened in a contraction, e.g., CANDIDATES CLASH can’t for cannot and that’s for that OVER TRADE ISSUES is. (See also Contractions.) HEADING INTO VOTE

B. Common types of confusion The ﬁrst word should have been CAN- It’s, the contraction of it is as in “It’s a DIDATES’. Without the apostrophe, boy,” is often mixed up with the posses- “CLASH” is read as a verb—“CANDI- sive its as in “The bird has spread its DATES CLASH / OVER TRADE IS- wings.” There tend to be similar mix-ups SUES”—and the third line does not of who’s, the contraction of who is as in make sense. With the apostrophe, Who’s Who, with whose as in “Whose “CLASH” would be read as a noun and car is this?”; and you’re, the contraction the third line would be comprehensible. of you are, as in “You’re welcome,” with The same publication described the your, as in “Bring your lunch.” (See also coconut industry of the Philippines as ITS and IT’S; Possessive problems, 4; “one of the countries largest.” This time, Pronouns, 8; WHOSE, 2; YOUR and a plural, “countries,” erroneously re- YOU’RE.) placed the possessive, country’s. (See Many who understand the possessive also Ellipsis.) function of the apostrophe are uncertain An apostrophe is omitted also in a whether to put it before or after the s. book about marketing problems: This is the procedure: The ﬁrm encountered additional • When a singular noun that does not problems in Italy when it tried to in- end in s is made possessive, the troduce the ladies electric shaver. apostrophe always goes before the s, never after. An ad for “One of the Logically it should be “the ladies’ electric citys’ 10 best restaurants” misplaced shaver.” The masculine equivalent the apostrophe. City’s is the right would be the gentlemen’s or men’s (not way. A plural that does not end in s “gentlemen” or “men”) electric shaver. also gets an apostrophe followed by And one would speak of children’s (not s: “the children’s hour” / “the geese’s “children”) toys. wings.” • When a plural noun with an s D. Intrusive apostrophes ending is made possessive, it is Some people seem to think that any followed by an apostrophe and no word ending in s gets an apostrophe. 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 323

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Even press professionals, who know bet- G. Sibilant endings ter, sometimes put apostrophes in simple Most words or names ending in s are plurals. made possessive by adding an apostro- A headline over a man-in-the-street phe and s: boss’s, James’s, duchess’s, column asked, “Tell About Parent’s By Gladys’s. An older practice was to add Their Kids?” and one answer began, only an apostrophe. Some publishers “Kid’s are usually a lot different than continue that practice, particularly for their parents.” Let “Parent’s” be Parents poetry and multisyllabic words: and let “kid’s” be kids. One could justify duchess’, Gladys’. Either way, when the leaving a mistake intact in a quotation word is read aloud, the s sound is pro- (“different than” instead of “different nounced twice. If a final s is silent, most from”) but not adding a mistake. On the publishers will add s: Arkansas’s, Illi- next day, an article in the same newspa- nois’s. per said, “As a matter of public policy, Those who prefer to add s will not attorney’s have a higher duty to the usually do so when two s or z sounds client’s cause. . . .” A possessive form precede the apostrophe: princess’, was erroneously used instead of the plu- Moses’, Jesus’. Similarly, plural words ral. Make it attorneys or, better yet, the ending in two s or z sounds get an apos- attorney has. trophe only: misses’ and dresses’. Excep- tions are made also for some expressions E. Multiple possessives in which the word following the apos- In making two or more words posses- trophe begins with s: for goodness’ sake, sive, here is a rule of thumb: If there is for appearance’ sake. When pro- joint possession, use an apostrophe and s nounced, such an expression usually gets only after the final word: “Black & only one hiss. Decker’s factory” / “Tom and Jerry’s an- By any standard, an s belonged after tics” / “Peter, Paul, and Mary’s music.” the apostrophe here: If possession is separate, however, use an apostrophe and s after each word: “Rus- • 23 percent believed Marx’ phrase, sia’s and China’s representatives” / “From each according to his ability, to “men’s and boys’ clothing” / “Carson’s each according to his need.” and Leno’s comedy.” It is Marx’s phrase. Although Marx F. Possessives of possessives sounds like Mark’s, an x does not replace To have consecutive words with the an s. possessive s can be awkward and usually An apostrophe without an S made no is avoidable. “Jack’s mother’s friend” is more sense in a leading tabloid’s main better rephrased “a friend of Jack’s headline that screamed about “LIZ’ mother.” This was in a news story: HUBBY’S DRUG BUST.” LIZ’S would be right. A Z does not replace an S. (From the standpoint of the tabloid, But Francis ———, president and maybe the only S that counts has two chief operating officer . . . , filed a re- lines through it.) port with the network’s affiliate’s board president. . . . H. Special uses The apostrophe is used with s to make Either “the network affiliate’s” or “the plurals of letters, numbers, and symbols: board president of the network’s affili- The Oakland A’s; two SOS’s; three B-2’s. ate” would be an improvement. Omitting the apostrophe and using just s 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 324

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in such cases is now preferred by many. In the second category, the colon can When the meaning is unmistakable, as in put the reader on notice that an elabora- the 1700s or in her 50s, it is acceptable. tion or explanation is coming (as in sub- But in some cases it can be confusing to heading A); or it can separate a set of omit the apostrophe. For instance, an one-two punches: When a statement apostrophe is needed in A’s to keep it consists of two parts, and the first leads from turning into the word As. to the second, a colon may well separate The plural of a word cited for its the two. In that function it substitutes grammar, typography, or the like, takes for e.g., i.e., or viz. or the equivalent, for apostrophe-s. For example, “Some writ- example, that is, or namely respectively. ers stint in their and’s.” If, however, the (Incidentally, the letters stand for the meaning of the word is important, use Latin words exempli gratia, for the sake only s and no apostrophe: “The policy of example; id est, that is [to say]; and has too many buts.” videlicet, to see is permitted.) The two examples below, both I. The other APOSTROPHE proper, come from a book on economics. The word apostrophe is used in an- (In the first, the colon separates an inde- other sense: words addressed poetically pendent clause and a phrase. In the to a person, thing, or deity as a digres- second, the colon separates two indepen- sion in a speech or literary piece. See 6. dent clauses.) 2. Colon In addition, our economy provides A. Functions: mechanical and optional a much more powerful antidote to the Essentially, the colon (:) gives notice rule of the rich: the economies of to the reader to expect something. It has scale. both cut-and-dried uses and optional Here we have a dilemma: we must uses. choose between pleasure at some sac- In the first category, it follows a for- rifice of comfort and more complete mal salutation in a letter (Dear Sir:); it comfort at the sacrifice of pleasure. punctuates clock times and racing speeds (8:30 p.m. and 3:59); it divides a main ti- In the latter example, the two clauses tle and a subtitle in a reference to a book could be two wholly separate sentences, or other work (Words: The New Dictio- but the colon clearly relates the first to nary); and it introduces quotations, espe- the second. Views differ on whether or cially those that are relatively long (as not the second statement should start shown throughout this book), and lists with a capital letter if it amounts to a (as illustrated below). complete sentence. It is a matter of style. The lower-case “we” is valid, though the Combine in a skillet: book you are reading would use We. (So 1 ⁄4 cup olive oil would The Associated Press and The 1 tablespoon curry powder New York Times. The Chicago Manual 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce of Style would allow the “we.” But it fol- 1 ⁄8 teaspoon cayenne lows a colon with a capital letter when the colon introduces more than one sen- If the victim is conscious while you tence, a formal statement, a quotation, wait for help to arrive: or a speech in dialogue.) a. Keep the victim warm . . . and lying down. B. Interrupted sentences b. Give the victim nothing to drink or Unless a sentence is meant to be inter- eat. . . . rupted, a colon should not separate a 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 325

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verb from its object or complement. A thought interest in movies would newsletter and a newspaper do interrupt quickly fade. He began marketing his their sentences: own projector in 1896.

We’re pleased to welcome: Lynn Using colons instead of verbs is not B . . . Margaret H . . . Vivian K necessarily wrong, but it can be over- [etc.]. . . . done. The device appears in three successive paragraphs of a Sunday magazine The nine inductees are: Donald section. Are and is are the words that B . . . Maurice C . . . Dick M [etc.]. . . . have been replaced by colons.

A writer probably would not insert the The villains: The out-of-towners, a colon if only one name followed. “We’re Newport Beach suburban ofﬁce devel- pleased to welcome: Mary Richards.” / oper.... “The inductee is: John Tyler.” / “They The victim: Robert D . . . sailor and call me: Mimi.” The additional names idea man who three years ago. . . . should not matter. And the mystery man: Arthur An interruption may be appropriate if C . . . physician and swing vote on this the ensuing enumeration or quotation is question. . . . long or formal; if it goes in a separate paragraph or paragraphs; or if the intro- Some 110 words go by with three sub- duction heralds the approach of the ma- jects and no predicates. The style is ques- terial. “The president’s four main points tionable. (So is the capitalized “T” in the are the following:” / “The text of the an- second “The,” inasmuch as only a frag- them goes as follows:” / “The ten lead- ment of a sentence follows the colon.) ing companies in the ﬁeld are these:” / “The pope’s full statement said:” 3. Comma

C. Verbless writing A. Department of commas The use of sentence fragments in The comma (,) provides a bit of sepa- which colons take the places of verbs is a ration or a brief pause. Some uses are technique associated with journalism, mechanical: “New York, NY” / “July 4, particularly news magazines. One of 1776” / “$4,507,000.” Many uses are them ran this paragraph: discretionary, helping to make sentences clear. Year Edison and his aide invented the The modern trend is to use fewer Kinetoscope: 1889; reason Edison commas. In 1789 this was high style; the was slow to develop the technology: commas would not have been used to- He thought interest in movies would day: “The enumeration in the Constitu- quickly fade; year he began marketing tion, of certain rights, shall not be his own projector: 1896 construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.” But in modern It takes the same number of words to times an abundance of writing without convey the same message in complete needed commas suggests that the trend sentences: may be going too far. Commas can be indispensable for Edison and his aide invented the Kine- clarity. Take this sentence: “Jack, said toscope in 1889. Edison was slow to Sam, took the money.” Removing the develop the technology because he commas changes the meaning com- 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 326

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pletely: “Jack said Sam took the money.” When a subordinate clause opens a And “Fruit, trees, and flowers” are not sentence, a comma normally follows: “If the same as “fruit trees and flowers.” you have a loss, check the box that de- And it might be confusing to read this scribes your investment.” Many phrases one without commas: “According to my are treated similarly: “Having delivered brother, George, Washington apples are this blow, he departed on the pacific cru- best.” sade. . . .” Commas separate many other Commas have many functions. They clauses or other parts of sentences, par- set off attributions, definitions, explana- ticularly when they diverge in meaning: tions, elaborations, and identifications. “He has eyes, yet he cannot see.” / They divide three or more items in a se- “Make love, not war.” ries. (See Series errors, 7.) Often they When a series of adjectives modify the separate phrases. And they indicate same noun, commas may or may not fol- pauses in thought. low them. They do if each adjective has Their function of setting off part of a an equal effect on the noun, as in “the sentence resembles that of dashes and dark, threatening sky” or “a soft, sweet, parentheses. (See 4, 7.) In general, com- juicy fruit.” The test is whether and can mas least interrupt the flow of the sen- sensibly go between each adjective; if so, tence. a comma can. One can say, for instance, When the set-off matter comes amid a “the dark and threatening sky.” But in sentence, as in this very sentence, a pair “a gray alley cat” or “a pleasant mas- of commas is needed. “They moved to querade party” the adjectives are un- Charleston, West Virginia, last month.” / equal; and or a comma would not go “At last, men felt, the ranks of diplo- between them. The first adjective macy were broken. . . .” The second (“gray”) modifies the second adjective comma of such a pair should not be combined with the noun (“alley cat”), overlooked. Sometimes it is overlooked, two words that function together as a particularly in attributions: “Soon after noun. midnight, police said the blast took When used in place of a colon or place.” If that was when it happened, dash, a comma can be misunderstood: not when they said it, commas are “He received a dollar, a half and two needed both before and after “police quarters.” The total he received could said.” have been either $1 or $2. If “dollar” is a A comma or pair of commas sets off a total and not just an item in a series, a which clause or a nonrestrictive who comma is not the right mark to set it off. clause. “Sam’s Restaurant, which was Commas in place of semicolons can be my favorite, has gone out of business.” / misunderstood too: “We met Harris, the “Do you know Edith Bunker, who used chairman, the treasurer, and the secre- to work here?” (See THAT and tary.” How many did we meet? If three, WHICH, 1; WHO, THAT, and change the second and third commas to WHICH, 2.) A comma or pair of com- semicolons. mas can indicate whether a category has A comma does not belong between only one member or more than one two independent clauses; that is, what member: “I’m taking my daughter, could be two complete sentences: “I Matilda” implies that I have just one haven’t heard any objections, nobody daughter; the name is incidental to the here has complained.” The comma does main message. “I’m taking my daughter not do an adequate job of either separat- Matilda” implies that I have more than ing the clauses or uniting them in that one daughter; the name is an integral published example of what is called a part of the message. comma fault or a comma splice. A pe- 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 327

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riod (followed by a capital N) would If the plasma cells and not just the cancer separate them into two sentences. A cells are “forming hybrid cells,” insert a semicolon or a colon would properly comma after “cancer cells.” unite them. (So would a conjunction, The lack of a comma can result in am- and, but the passage is quoting some- biguity when words meant to be sepa- one.) rate form unexpected units. See also 2, 8, 11; Run-on sentence, 2. Four days into the hearing the real B. Missing commas: ambiguity estate agent and co-defendants The lack of a comma sometimes dis- reached an out-of-court settlement torts the meaning of a sentence. When with buyers paying an undisclosed the comma’s job of separation is not per- sum and taking back the house. formed, separate thoughts may appear to be one thought. Who paid the sum and took back the An epilogue is summing up the main house? “. . . Buyers paying” suggests themes of a book: “In the third essay on that it was they. But if the writer ne- mapping the world, another theme en- glected to put a comma after “buyers,” ters.” It seems to imply that three essays it was the other parties that acted. on mapping the world have been pre- From the context, the latter seems to be sented. Actually the third essay is the so. The defendants reached a “settle- only one on that subject. There needs to ment with buyers, paying an undisclosed be a comma after “In the third essay,” sum. . . .” indicating that “on mapping the world” is separate information and not part of the first phrase. C. Missing commas: pauses skipped In each of the two press quotations Hundreds of uses of the comma can below, the absence of a comma restricts be summarized this way: It indicates a the meaning. The result probably was slight pause. It tells the reader, whether not intended by the writer. reading silently or aloud, to hesitate or slow down a trifle. Thus it helps communicate the writer’s meaning. Let us list a House Democrats who’ve pushed few of the normal points of pause. The through $93.6 billion in income tax illustrative sentences, from books and hikes vowed to fight for some of those newspapers, lack commas and are fol- provisions over the weekend. lowed by corrections.

Did only those House Democrats who • After an initial phrase that is did the pushing do the vowing? That is absolute or contrasting: what the sentence suggests now. If the writer regards all the House Democrats . . . Neither of us being expert we as a unit, the sentence needs a pair of were well splattered. commas: “House Democrats, who’ve pushed through $93.6 billion in income Somewhat cruel and ambitious he tax hikes, vowed to ﬁght. . . .” (The was nevertheless a strong leader.... “who’ve” instead of who have is questionable too. See Contractions.) Commas after “expert” and “ambitious” would be desirable. Some plasma cells join to cancer cells forming hybrid cells able to reproduce • Where the main thought meets a indeﬁnitely. participial phrase: 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 328

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[A critic] reproached Beethoven . . . Some researchers believe a baby forms for the absence of a great vocal fugue concepts about the world and then considered traditional. . . . matches the words it hears to those concepts. Others think a baby hears . . . The Postal Service still turns a the words ﬁrst then matches concepts slight proﬁt making daily deliveries. . . . to those words.

...I hauled on my paddle and the in- The latter sentence needs a comma be- fant did his part back paddling with a fore “then”; the former does not, be- broken blade. cause a conjunction, “and,” bridges the gap. Put a comma after “fugue,” after “profit,” and after “part” (and hyphen- • Before and often after a ate “back paddling”). A comma in the parenthetical identification, second sentence would have avoided the explanation, or appellation. false phrase “profit making.” “Don’t be scared baby.” • Before a phrase of negation or contradiction: . . . Payne, a legal consultant for Risk Management said . . . the state . . . Scarce resources . . . are rationed could reduce the need to pay for judg- not by price . . . but by [corrupt] offi- ments. . . . cials. . . . Put a comma after “scared,” just as you . . . This is only bad prose not bad would put one in “Won’t you come pollution. home, Bill Bailey?” One comma is enough when the set-off matter ends a Insert commas after “rationed” and sentence; otherwise a pair of commas is “prose.” necessary, just as a pair of parentheses is. The latter sentence lacks the second • After a phrase ending in a negative. comma of the pair, after “Manage- ment.” Adding to the new government’s problems is the confusion about what D. Needless commas is state property and what is not fol- Unnecessary commas occasionally lowing 10 years of secretive Sandin- produce as much confusion as the ab- ista rule. sence of necessary commas can. The commas do so by isolating words or A comma after “not” would keep it phrases that should not be isolated. This from fusing with the next word. example is from a column:

• Where the scene abruptly shifts, Although they produced solid evi- often just before then: dence that some Temple members, and others who lived outside the city, He was suspended for 30 days with- had voted, it was never proved that out pay then dismissed after he re- their votes made a difference in the quested a transfer. outcome.

A comma should follow “pay.” And Two commas set aside “and others who note this pair of sentences: lived outside the city,” tending to distin- 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 329

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guish that group from the Temple mem- Nor should a comma follow the sub- bers. If both groups were outsiders, clar- ject of an absolute construction. “Man- ity requires removing those commas. (A goes, being cheap, I bought a bunch of better treatment would be rewriting. them.” Delete the first comma. See Mod- “Although they produced solid evidence ifiers, 1D. that people who lived outside the city, Normally two items in a series of two both Temple members and others, had in a simple sentence need not be sepa- voted. . . .”) rated by a comma. (See Series errors, 8, Unnecessary commas can make a por- for the rules in longer series.) Delete the tion of a sentence appear to be unessen- commas in these two samples, from tial when it is really essential. A noted news stories: book on language says: Police said the dead were four con- Two years earlier the Scottish physi- struction workers, and the driver of cian, Alexander Hamilton, traveling the school van. along the Hudson, found an immense number of colonels. Hungarians were denied jobs, and arrested in inordinate numbers. The comma after “the Scottish physician” makes the ensuing name seem just Those commas are just unnecessary, an elaboration, unessential to the previ- slightly impeding communication. Occa- ous phrase. The implication is that Scot- sionally such a use can mislead. A memo land had only one physician. Removing says, “Joe: Tell Fred to draw up the con- the comma distinguishes the Scottish tract, and see me in my office.” If Fred is physician Alexander Hamilton from all the one to visit the office, the comma is the other Scottish physicians. (But see unwanted; it seems to herald an indepen- THE, 2A, end.) dent clause, in which “see me” is an or- A comma generally should not be der to Joe. A more complicated version placed between a subject and its verb. of that problem comes from a magazine Delete the commas in the two press sen- article, which advises parents: tences: . . . Insist that your child never give out personal information—home ad- . . . The seller’s only obligation with- dress, phone number, school name— out a written warranty, is to sell you a on-line without first asking your car that is capable of providing basic permission, and never agree to meet transportation. . . . someone in person without a parent being present. . . . The established way to prove a statistically significant improved sur- At first, the comma may seem to divide vival rate in the patients who have the sentence into two independent taken the drug, is for a certain number clauses, in which you, the parent, are in the control group to die. told to (1) “insist that . . .” and (2) “never agree to. . . .” Actually, “never To place a comma immediately after is in agree” is not an imperative but a present either of those sentences (and thereby subjunctive; it is subordinate to “insist separate the auxiliary verb from the rest that your child,” just as “never give out” of the verb phrase) would also be a mis- is. Readers can figure out the meaning, take, yet some make such a mistake. See but the comma is momentarily mislead- Verbosity (artist) for an example. ing. (For emphasis and clarity, the main 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 330

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points could be numbered or even given (And “from 1966–79” is a faulty mix- their own paragraphs.) ture. See 4C.)

E. Too few and too many I have almost total recall, every face is Missing and needless commas are not there, every hill and tree and color, mutually exclusive. Each of the follow- and sound of speech and small scenes ing passages (from three newspapers and ready to replay themselves in my a book) calls for a comma or two while memory. containing an uncalled-for comma. A comma fault follows “recall.” (See 3A, Sometimes, the snow swirls low end.) The third comma would be better across the road drifting in from the after “scenes.” (And scene and itself [in forests. The world is pine and white lieu of “themselves”] would agree with prairie, entirely. “every . . . is . . . every.”)

A comma is lacking after “road,” if it is 4. Dash and hyphen the snow that drifts in and not the road. A. The difference The commas after “Sometimes” and The public often confuses the dash “prairie” are unnecessary. (—) and the hyphen (-). Occasionally the press mixes them up too. Both punctua- The Senate passed the bill, but later tion marks are horizontal lines, but a hy- passed another version requiring that phen is very short; a dash is longer. fewer palladium coins be minted. When a typewriter or word processor is used, one stroke of the key to the right of That one lacks a comma after “version,” the zero (unshifted) makes a hyphen. preceding a separate thought. The Two strokes of that key make what rep- comma after “bill” tends to isolate the resents a dash. subject, “The Senate,” from the second They have largely opposite functions. verb, “passed.” (See also Pronouns, 6.) A dash separates words. A hyphen unites words, although it may separate sylla- The former self-proclaimed em- bles of a word. peror, who ruled this landlocked dia- In the sentence below, from the press, mond-rich black African state from dashes would have been appropriate. In- 1966–79, returned home unexpect- stead, hyphens were used by mistake. edly, in October 1986.... The Egyptian army has been trying In stringing together a series of four ad- hard-albeit unsuccessfully-to prevent jectives without a comma, did the writer PLO terror squads from crossing the intend to restrict the sentence so much Sinai into Israel. (distinguishing this state only from non- landlocked diamond-rich black African Hyphens are found in words like hard- states)? If not, commas are lacking. A boiled and lean-to. The hyphens in the reasonable punctuation gives us sample sentence unite words that should “. . . landlocked, diamond-rich, black have been separated and create the mon- African state . . .” (treating three adjec- strosities “hard-albeit” and “unsuccess- tives equally but “African state” as a fully-to.” It makes more sense this way: unit). While withholding commas from the adjectives, the writer used an unnec- The Egyptian army has been trying essary comma after “unexpectedly.” hard—albeit unsuccessfully—to pre- 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 331

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vent PLO terror squads from crossing the ﬁrst compound (“one- and ﬁve- the Sinai into Israel. dollar bills”).

The phrase “albeit unsuccessfully” is a B. Problems with dashes thought within a thought. The two Sometimes a writer squeezes too dashes set off that phrase. much stuff between a pair of dashes, and Dashes resemble commas (,) and it may not even be pertinent to the rest of parentheses ( ) insofar as they all set off the sentence. Writers at times treat words and phrases. Dashes tend to give dashes as handy devices to dispose of them prominence, however, whereas facts that they don’t otherwise know commas often play them down and what to do with. parentheses play them down further. In the following sentence, from a Parentheses always come in pairs, newspaper, the use of dashes is not whereas a comma or dash may be used wrong per se, but the twenty-nine-word singly when the set-off material ends a clause flanked by the two dashes awk- sentence. wardly separates the subject (“dinner”) A dash or a pair of dashes may set off from its verb (“was described”). an explanation or expansion of the pre- Dinner—where they were joined by ceding thought: “. . . Tchaikovsky omit- Mr. Marvelashvili; Georgi Gordodze, ted the bass instruments—cellos, double who heads the board of the Ministry basses, trombones, tuba—as well as of Trade in the Georgian capital of trumpets.” / “The Gothic—early, mid- Tbilisi; an interpreter and two Ameri- dle, and late—extended over cen- cans—was described to the visitors as turies. . . .” Or it may set off a contrast a “typical Russian dinner,” complete or contradiction: “People wanted to with folk music and dancing. laugh, and weep—and could do neither.” Or a summary of a series: “Rare, It would be better to dispense with the medium, or well done—these are such dashes and place the information now personal preferences. . . .” And dashes jammed between them in a second sen- may serve mechanically in lists: tence: “They were joined by....” In the excerpt below, from a law Originally, the four main castes seem book, the material sandwiched between to have been: the dashes below is even longer, fifty- The Brahmins—the priests and four words. It adds a confusing element: teachers; separate sentences within a sentence. The Kshatriyas—the warriors; The Vaisyas—herdsmen, money- There have been at least five other lenders. . . . perplexing constitutional questions— Who can start a war? When is a war Hyphens, besides uniting certain “over,” and who is to end it? What words (e.g., left-handed, five-and-ten, are the war powers of Congress, and Spanish-American War), mark the divi- to what extent may they be delegated sion of words between lines (see E), indi- to the President? How independent of cate combining forms (-ing, anti-), the Supreme Court are courts-martial simulate stuttering or halting (“K-K-K- and presidential military commis- Katie”), and suggest the spelling of sions? What are the President’s pow- words letter by letter (“M-i-c-k-e-y”). ers in conquered areas?—that the When two hyphenated compounds are Court has been begged to answer with used together, a hyphen suspends part of some show of finality. 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 332

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The first ten words, “There have been at writers, it is like too much of any good least five other perplexing constitutional thing. questions,” appear to complete a A dash may adjoin the words it sepa- thought. So after five complete sentences rates—in this manner. But some publica- go by, the reader is utterly unprepared tions, especially newspapers, will for the tail end: “that the Court has been sandwich a dash between two small begged to answer.” The divided sentence spaces — thus. should first be connected, then the five A hyphen never needs space around it. questions introduced. You cannot keep a Often someone will type a hyphen with sentence going if another sentence stops space to the left and right, in the mis- it. taken notion that to do so makes the hy- To avoid confusion, no more than one phen a dash. Such an error was made in single dash or one pair of dashes should a newspaper and a magazine: be used in a sentence (except for special purposes; see C). Dashes, like other The couple got $17,000 for the forms of punctuation, should help to bungalow - $20,000 more than the bring out meaning; the four dashes in the asking price. passage below do more to obscure it. . . . Hassam began . . . among his The Republican Party was created most important late works - a unique out of the remnants of the old Whig series of powerful, patriotic images. Party and the dissenters from the . . . Hassam created around 30 flag Democratic Party who called them- paintings in prints, oils, and watercol- selves Independent Democrats. ors - all set in mid Manhattan.... It was the first party which, for half a century, proclaimed—and cam- Corrections: “. . . bungalow—$20,000 . . .” / paigned on—a body of “principles,” “ . . . late works—a unique series . . .” / and its victory in 1860 marked it as “. . . watercolors—all set. . . .” the first—and the last—new party Elsewhere a peculiar headline looked which has won a presidential election. like this:

The second sentence would benefit by Rosh Hashana- the Jewish (among other things) a slicing into two New Year is a time for new or more sentences and an isolation of beginnings each main point; specifically, the firsts should not be confused with the later The hyphen (peculiarly adjoining a word history. A possible revision: to the left and a space to the right) needs to be a dash. But one dash is not enough The Republican Party was the first to set off a thought amid a sentence. It party to proclaim and campaign on a should be Rosh Hashana—the Jewish body of “principles”—which it did New Year—is. . . . for half a century. Its victory in 1860 The usual computer keyboard has ev- marked it also as the first new party to ery important punctuation mark except win a presidential election—and it has a dash. Some programs enable the user been the last new party to do so. to evoke a dash by means of a special code. Otherwise it is necessary to type “The dash,” as a professor of mine two successive hyphens to simulate a used to say, “is a dashing form of punc- dash, the way one does it on a type- tuation.” Overused, as it is by some writer. 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 333

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C. Types of dashes ened form, in which “from . . . to . . .” is Compositors and printers have tradi- implied. Anyway, the latter sentence is tionally had a variety of dashes besides better expressed fully: “from 1940 to the ordinary dash, or em dash (—), dis- 1948.” cussed above. The en dash has another, subtle func- The two-em dash is used to indicate tion. It is used in a compound adjective missing or omitted letters: “She blurted (that is, an adjective made up of multiple out, ‘Oh s——!’ ” It may also suggest words) in which at least one element unﬁnished sentences or conspicuous consists of two or more words or a hy- pauses: phenated word. Examples: “He grew up in the post–World War I era.” / “She de- Mr. Dawson: You’re referring there to scribed her half-Hawaiian–half- the backgrounders that Poindexter Caucasian background.” and Regan have in advance of the Contemporary writers do not usually November 18—— follow a dash with a comma. This shows Mr. McFarlane: I believe that’s right. an exception: “ ‘But——,’ he started to say. . . .” (To follow a dash with what- “Does——the one——that wins ever punctuation would be there in the ——get the crown?” she asked, as absence of a dash is an older style, fa- well as she could, for the run was vored by H. W. Fowler. An example: “If putting her quite out of breath. I have caused a problem—and I may have—, I am sorry.”) The three-em dash indicates absent words: “Police said ——— and ——— D. Problems with hyphens built the bombs. . . .” In a bibliography Hyphenation has some rules, al- it means the author is the same as in the though many exceptions exist. In case of preceding paragraph. doubt, consult a general dictionary. Bet- The shortest dash, shorter than the em ter yet, consult two; dictionaries do not dash, is the en dash, used between dates, always agree. One says vice-president times, and page numbers. For example, and co-worker while another says vice “1914–17” stands for “from 1914 to president and coworker. When that hap- 1917 (inclusive).” The shortened form is pens, you take your choice. mainly suitable for lists, tables, notes, “. . . A German-born immigrant . . . and parenthetical mentions. A mistake built the 14-room mansion.” The sen- associated with it is illustrated by these tence illustrates a correct use of the hy- two excerpts from articles: phen: to join the components of a compound adjective. It appeared in a In six decades, Horowitz had four New Mexico newspaper. Note that the periods when he gave up public con- phrase New Mexico does not get a hy- certs: from 1935-38, 1953-65, 1969- phen, because it is an established unit as 72 and 1983-85. two words. Some compound expressions are established in hyphenated form. Ex- Wyman and the former president amples are cold-blooded, law-abiding, were married from 1940-48. one-horse (town), and ten-gallon (hat). Such expressions may have multiple hy- The mistake of both sentences is not the phens: out-and-out, dyed-in-the-wool, use of the hyphen, a common substitute will-o’-the-wisp. when the en dash is not available. It is A phrase may or not be hyphenated, that “from” does not go with the short- depending on its position in a sentence. 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 334

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“It was a head-on collision” but “The performs two roles, united by a hyphen; collision was head on.” / “I like small- but secretary general, which amounts to town life” but “I like life in a small general secretary, is a single role. A con- town.” / “The state set a 55-mile-an- struction such as “vice president-general hour limit” but “The state set a limit of manager” is confusing; replace the hy- 55 miles an hour.” / “Why is an upside- phen with and. down car in the street?” but “Why is a In the phrase “Japanese American sol- car upside down in the street?” Hyphen- diers of the 442nd and the 100th” (from ated before the noun, the same phrase an article) a hyphen is missing: it is gets no hyphen after the noun. Japanese-American. A combination of Hyphens are never affixed to adverbs ethnic labels, used as either an adjective ending in -ly, regardless of position. Thus or a noun, normally calls for a hyphen “The happily married couple possessed a (although sometimes an exception is closely guarded secret.” Adjectives com- made for French Canadian as a noun). bined with participles are hyphenated— Meaning can depend on a hyphen. A “a funny-faced comedian” / “the chance to make a sizable profit may be a shy-looking girl.” That is so even for ad- big business opportunity, whereas a jectives that end in -ly: “that heavenly- chance to deal with large corporations sounding music” / “a costly-looking may be a big-business opportunity. A car.” While -ly adverbs derive from ad- beneficial activity by the federal govern- jectives (happy, close), -ly adjectives de- ment may be a good government pro- rive from nouns (heaven, cost). gram, whereas an organization’s plan to Certain prefixes normally adjoin hy- reform official abuses may be a good- phens, in compounds such as all- government program. powerful, ex-mayor, great-grandson, The hyphens in many compound ad- no-fault, post-bellum, and self-made. jectives, such as man-eating, are neces- Suffixes that adjoin hyphens appear, for sary to prevent ambiguity or, at least, example, in president-elect, mother-in- absurdity. A newspaper that resisted the law, thirty-odd, and show-off. use of hyphens ran a headline that said, A hyphen is essential in re-form, “Man eating piranha sold as pet fish.” It meaning to form again, to distinguish it prompted The New Yorker to ask, “Did from reform, meaning to correct defects. he look like a fish?” Similarly, a hyphen distinguishes Similarly, two words need to be joined re-creation, to create again, from by a hyphen in each of the two examples recreation, playing. that follow, from a newspaper and an While not essential, a hyphen is useful encyclopedia. in a word like co-operate or de- emphasize or anti-intellectual and is pre- David was born without any infection ferred by a number of publications and fighting blood cells and is suffering writers. It keeps the two like vowels from from Severe Combined Immunity De- appearing to fuse into oo or ee or ii. ficiency. Typically a publication nowadays To avoid suggesting that an infection closes up a word like antiterrorist or should be fighting blood cells, hyphenate progovernment but hyphenates, say, “infection” and “fighting.” The sentence anti-European or pro-American to sepa- will read: “David was born without any rate the lower-case prefix and the capi- infection-fighting blood cells. . . .” talized name. Some writers prefer to hyphenate both forms. They are not The order contains two families; the wrong, just using an older style. small rodent like pikas . . . ; and the A person who is a secretary-treasurer rabbits and hares. 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 335

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Is “the small rodent” one of the families hyphens. Writers are known to insert and “pikas” an example of that family? them unnecessarily too. No, “pikas” is the family, but someone In an article about educational de- neglected to make that fact clear by plac- cline, two writers decried “a seeming re- ing a hyphen between “rodent” and luctance by educators to tackle the “like.” A correction: “the small, rodent- problems head-on.” It should be head on like pikas. . . .” (The comma clarifies (an adverb, modifying the verb tackle). that small and rodent-like equally mod- Compare it with “The cars were in a ify pikas. See 3A.) head-on collision.” (Here head-on is an Half a loaf may be worse than none adjective, modifying the noun collision.) when it comes to hyphens. A newspaper Hyphens are unnecessarily stuck into reported that the secretary of state, visit- two-word verbs in the two press exam- ing Bolivia, had condemned what he re- ples that follow. garded as “anti-civilized society.” The target of his rebuke was not a society They almost never picked-up the that was anti-civilized but an action that phone to tell a supervisor’s office what defied civilized society: a bombing. they thought about a law.... Therefore the phrase needed a second hyphen: “anti-civilized-society.” The writer of that sentence had never Using a hyphen or hyphens is not the picked up the correct verb. The related way to join phrases. A news story re- noun is pickup. Neither has a hyphen. ferred, twice, to “the Christian Demo- (See also PICK UP and PICKUP.) cratic-Free Democratic” coalition running West Berlin. The writer did not Voters . . . turned-down the idea of intend to suggest that the coalition was demolishing the freeway.... free of democracy, but the hyphen tended to do so by joining the words It should be turned down, with no hy- “Democratic” and “Free.” Extra hyphen. phens would not help here. An en dash A book describes someone as a in place of the hyphen would clarify the names of the two parties, although a bet- soft-spoken man who did not mince ter solution would be to recast the his words and could put them on pa- phrase, perhaps in this manner: “the per in a literate, easy-to-read-and- coalition of the Christian Democrats and digest style. the Free Democrats.” The press sometimes is inconsistent in Soft-spoken is correct. The problem lies its use or nonuse of hyphens, as in this in the five-word compound, which is example: properly punctuated but awkward. All that information does not have to pre- The Travelodge, near the Dallas cede style; an alternative: “a literate style Market Center, began its 24-hour that was easy to read and digest.” flexible check-in and checkout at the beginning of the year after a three- E. Use of hyphens to divide words month test. The most common use of the hyphen is to indicate the division of a word be- Inasmuch as check-in has a hyphen, it is tween two lines in printed material. hard to justify the omission of the hy- A word of two or more syllables that phen in its parallel, check-out. (See also is too long to fit on a line is apt to be di- CHECK OUT and CHECK-OUT.) vided. The line ends with a syllable and So much for the omission of necessary hyphen together (sam-). The line below 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 336

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begins with the next syllable (ple). See The Fourth Amendment protects Division of words. “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches 5. Ellipsis and seizures. . . .”

A. Its legitimate use It can be perplexing at times to pursue The function of the three dots known those distinctions. Whether it is worth as an ellipsis or ellipsis points ( . . . ) is to the effort is up to you. show that a writer has left something out Other authorities call for a period at of a quotation. the end of your sentence, full sentence As an example, here is an unabridged or not. “The only thing we have to quotation from a governmental report: fear....” “Despite disagreement—both within the If you are quoting multiple sentences, Administration and with the Congress— the ellipsis can mark an omission of any the policy continued apace.” Now here intervening matter, whether phrases, sen- is an abridged version: “Despite dis- tences, or paragraphs. Each of the first agreement . . . the policy continued two ellipses below represents the omis- apace.” The three dots indicate an omission of whole sentences (from a passage sion of words from the original sentence. in Hamlet); the third ellipsis represents What if your sentence ends with such the omission of the latter part of a sen- an omission? It is a common procedure tence. (followed by this book) to add a fourth dot, a period, to mark the end of the sen- Be thou familiar, but by no means vul- tence. “We hold these truths to be self- gar.... Give every man thy ear, but evident, that all men are created few thy voice. . . . Neither a borrower equal. . . .” The dot following the last nor a lender be. . . . word is the period. An alternative, when an ellipsis comes An ellipsis may open a sentence, indi- at the end of your sentence, is to use just cating that some preceding matter ap- the three dots and no period: “We hold peared in the original sentence: these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal . . .” Several authorities in the four-point “. . . Government of the people, by school present optional refinements. the people, and for the people shall They call for just the three dots if your not perish from the earth,” said Lin- sentence ends with a quotation that is coln. grammatically incomplete. Here is that quotation preceded by an at- Amendment IV: “The right of the tribution. Some authorities would omit people to be secure in their persons, the ellipsis. (A colon may be used instead houses, papers, and effects, against of a comma for more formality.) unreasonable searches and seizures . . .” Lincoln said, “. . . Government of the people” [etc.]. A further refinement prescribes a period if your own words blend with the quoted What precedes the quotation, notably fragment to make a grammatically com- that, may make the ellipsis unnecessary plete sentence. by blending with the quotation: 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 337

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Lincoln said that “government of the derstanding. An example is if necessary people” [etc.]. instead of if it is necessary. That topic is covered under Ellipsis. Any other punctuation found in the original quotation may be placed before B. Varieties of abuse or after the ellipsis. “Was this the Ellipses are abused in a variety of face . . . ?” A period would be excessive ways. The examples presented here ap- in addition to the question mark. An- peared in print with the ellipses that are other example is the following verbatim shown. excerpt from an official report; the colon A feature article quotes a foreign offi- and dash are unnecessary, though not cial. He was asked to provide a picture wrong. (The ellipsis is in the report.) of his flag so that it could be copied and displayed: “At this meeting, Mr. McFarlane, as instructed by the President, stated “Well . . . I’m not sure I can do that, that: . . . —the U.S. could under no but we bring Byelorussian constitu- circumstances transfer arms to Iran in tion. Flag described there!” exchange for hostages.” Seeing the ellipsis in that quotation, we Any number of dots other than three assume that something has been omit- or four, such as . . (used by the Oxford ted. Has it? Later in the article, a sen- English Dictionary) or . . . . . , is non- tence that is not a quotation starts out standard, except that in poetry the omis- the same way: sion of any lines of verse is indicated by a line of dots, about the length of a printed Well . . . it was just a thought. line of verse. An ellipsis should not be broken at the Too many writers use the ellipsis end of a line of type, although an ellipsis thoughtlessly as all-purpose punctua- may be separated from a period. Some tion. In the two sample sentences above, printing fonts and computer fonts have it replaces what should be a comma (,). ellipses as units. In the one below, it replaces what should In printing, small spaces may separate be a comma or dash (—). the dots, or asterisks, from the words or any adjoining punctuation or each other. Decisively, Mr. Bush said he sup- Occasionally three asterisks are used, ported it . . . with reservations. rather than three dots. Again from the report (ellipses unchanged): “I think it Here the ellipsis usurps the function was * * * the 18th * * * ” Asterisks go of a dash (—): above the line, dots on the line. A very short quotation that is obvi- Binoculars, camera, compass and ously incomplete needs no ellipsis: map, field guides to flora and fauna, pedometer, walking stick, telescoping Washington warned his countrymen fishing rod, portable games . . . all against “permanent alliances.” these things can make your outing more enjoyable. The word ellipsis is also used in a general sense to mean the omission of words One writer seems to think that the that would be part of a fully expressed purpose of an ellipsis is emphasis. The sentence but that are not essential to un- dots bog down his sentence. 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 338

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But here in a glass-fronted grotto A manual for authors and editors con- off Columbus Avenue, the damned ig- dones the use of ellipses, even in quota- nored nature to find exhilaration tions, to indicate “faltering speech” with in . . . coffee. “confusion or indecisiveness.” Such advice invites indecisiveness by writers and Using italic or boldface type would be a confusion by readers, who may be un- wiser means of emphasis than separating able to tell whether a quotation is com- a preposition from its object with a mis- plete or not. Commas and dashes can applied punctuation mark. handle the task without creating the am- Some newspaper columnists use el- biguity. lipses to separate unrelated items placed Some writers omit parts of direct quo- in a common paragraph instead of indi- tations without inserting the necessary vidual paragraphs. “Three-dot journal- ellipses. They seem to think that it is ism” is what one of them called it. enough to insert their own words in The purpose of the ellipsis in the pas- parentheses or brackets. It is not. See 7B. sage below is obscure. A simple period or a new paragraph would do. 6. Exclamation point The exclamation point (!) exclaims. It Mr. Wagner, the former Pentagon screams. It symbolizes emotion, excite- official, said another reason for the ment. It may climax a cry of pain or Administration’s inaction was a ten- shock, a fervent demand, or an uproari- dency to focus on what turned out to ous laugh. be a much lesser problem, assuring An exclamation point can change the supplies of plutonium for new character of a word or phrase. “No” bombs . . . Plutonium, a radioactive may just be providing information, metal, decays very slowly; tritium de- whereas “No!” may be expressing shock cays at a rate of 5.5 percent a year. or vehement refusal. “Oh” may just be acknowledging information; “Oh!” may Merely eliminating the ellipsis would be indicating surprise. “How big?” make the next sentence smoother: merely asks a question; “How big!” expresses surprise or awe, and it would Few low[-]budget publications in make no sense to end such a phrase with the history of American journalism a period. have approached its effective- We use a play by Shakespeare to illus- ness . . . or its popularity. trate some defensible uses of the exclamation point: in an apostrophe, a The article in which it appears uses el- hailing, a dictate, an alarm, an excited lipses three times more, in quotations announcement, an expression of grief, like this one (set off, as explained in 10): an outcry, and an urgent entreaty. You know when you start writing a book at 78.... O valiant cousin! worthy gentleman! . . . All hail, Macbeth! hail to At first, the ellipsis suggests that the quo- thee, thane of Glamis! . . . Methought tation was cut short. But the context I heard a voice cry ‘Sleep no more! . . .’ suggests another interpretation: that the Awake, awake! . . . Murder and trea- speaker did not finish the sentence. The son! Banquo and Donalbain! Mal- writer should have used a long dash, in- colm! awake! . . . Our royal master’s stead of an ellipsis (and a comma after murder’d! . . . Woe, alas! . . . Fie, my “You know”). lord, Fie! . . . Lay on, Macduff, and 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 339

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damn’d be him that first cries, ‘Hold, beling the notice “unprofessional.” It is enough!’ sloshing gold paint over the lily. Authors vary markedly in their readi- H. W. Fowler sought to restrict the ex- ness to resort to the exclamation point. clamation point to “what grammar rec- F. Scott Fitzgerald was quoted as telling ognizes as exclamations”: interjections his ladylove, “Cut out all those exclama- (“Golly!”), sentences with the exclamation points,” as he deleted them from a tory what or how (“What a difference it radio script that the public would never makes!”), wishes (“God forbid!”), emo- see. “An exclamation point is like laugh- tional ellipses and inversions (“If only I ing at your own joke.” At the other ex- could!” and “A fine friend you have treme, a theoretical scientist employed it been!”), and apostrophes (“You little fifty times in a 198-page book. Some ex- dear!”). He would not permit the mark cerpts follow: in statements (“You surprise me”), questions (“How dare you?”), and com- To their great surprise, they found mands (“Don’t tell such lies”). they were exactly the same! . . . Our Most authorities today do not set sun, for comparison, is a mere eight such strict limits but leave the use of ex- light-minutes away! . . . The farther a clamation points to the writer’s judg- galaxy is, the faster it is moving ment. Nevertheless, they would away! . . . Things always tend to go probably agree that writings of the im- wrong! . . . We have had false dawns mature or inexperienced are likely to before! . . . Four years later, a possible overuse the mark. The writer imposes it solution, called “supergravity,” was on an unexciting sentence in the belief suggested! . . . Presumably, he knew that it adds excitement, or he appends it what he intended when he set it to a joke (with or without the “ha ha”) up! . . . We shall not bridge that gap lest the reader fail to recognize it as such. with particle accelerators in the fore- He does not realize that understatement seeable future! can be a stronger device than overstatement. Sometimes we find parentheses, which A presidential candidate tried to make tone down a statement, combined with himself seem more exciting by putting an an exclamation point, which amplifies it. exclamation point after his name, but “Lamar!” failed to excite the voters. The (It is very difficult to make a mark in musical show Oklahoma! did excite the experimental physics these days un- public, but it probably would have done less you are already at the top!) . . . so without the punctuation. (A lot of prizes have been awarded Some have the notion that using mul- for showing that the universe is not tiple exclamation points, side by side, as simple as we might have thought!) multiplies the excitement. A real estate . . . (Of course there would be no one ad advertises “RICHMOND DESIR- left to observe it!) . . . (One has only to ABLE DEVELOPMENT SITE!!” A sign stop making repairs around the house in the window of a restaurant says, to see that!) . . . (We are, in any case, “TRY OUR IRISH BREAKFAST!!!” unlikely to be able to build a larger Electric signs at train stations flash, detector!) . . . (I know, because I have “ATTENTION SAN FRANCISCO- been around the world!) BOUND PASSENGERS!!!! NO DI- RECT SERVICE . . . ON SUNDAY.” The exclamation inflation did not harm Appending those extra points is like la- the book’s popularity any. It was a best 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 340

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seller. For those of lesser prominence, re- The use of brackets cannot substitute straint is advisable, to afford the mark for any part of a direct quotation. If full value in the relatively few cases in something is left out, an ellipsis ( . . . ) which it is needed. Overuse can amount must be put in its place. A quotation to a frivolous cry of “wolf!” must always be accurate apart from any See also 9D. matter in brackets. Parentheses do not go inside paren- 7. Parentheses and brackets theses, and brackets do not go inside brackets. When you need a parenthetical A. Functions of these marks word etc. within a pair of parentheses, Parentheses ( ) are dropped into a sen- place it in brackets. For example: “(The tence to set off an explanatory or inci- Pittsburgh [Pa.] Press).” When you need dental word, phrase, notation, figure, or the parenthetical matter within a pair of abbreviation. brackets, place it in parentheses: “[The Dashes or commas may be used in- Pittsburgh (Pa.) Press].” stead for that purpose. Dashes, though, The British have different terminol- tend to give prominence to the inserted ogy. Sir Ernest Gowers used the term word etc. whereas parentheses play it parenthesis to include any of the four de- down. Commas are intermediate in vices for inserting extra matter into a prominence. sentence: commas, dashes, “round Brackets [ ] serve the same function as brackets” ( ), and “square brackets” [ ]. parentheses but are used inside direct quotations. The use of brackets indicates B. Mishandling of quotations that the person doing the quoting, not Four pairs of brackets appear in the the one who is quoted, has inserted the press quotation below. All but the sec- word or phrase. ond pair are obviously misused. The first example indicates the correct use of parentheses and brackets. This “The public is so panicked that and the examples in the next section are [government] is trying to take away all quoted precisely; nothing has been their means of defense that they are added. buying nationwide in record numbers,” Kohn said. “I’ll probably lose a Sen. David Pryor (D-Ark.), chair- considerable percentage of business man of the Senate Aging Committee, [because of the ordinance], but that’s said in a letter to King that “a lengthy not involved here. [The city] is tram- delay [in halting collection of the pre- pling on the rights of law-abiding citi- miums] will create a firestorm of zens for emotional appeal and protest.” political mileage.” Alan C——, an NRA member who “D-Ark.” (Democrat from Arkansas) is repairs guns at a Van Nuys shop, said in parentheses. The writer’s explanation he will defy the new law because “I of what is meant by “delay” is enclosed think what [the city] did was illegal.” by brackets because it is inside a quotation. Using four sets of brackets in four suc- A pair of parentheses or brackets is cessive sentences may be overdoing it. used to append something to a sentence. More important, the writer has obvi- Being an appendage, the enclosed matter ously tampered with the speakers’ does not replace any part of the sen- words, discarding some and substituting tence. The sentence must be complete his own words three times. When we without it and in no way depend on it. omit what he has appended, someone is 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 341

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quoted nonsensically as saying, “The brackets.” What follows are forty-four public is so panicked that is trying to pairs of parentheses: “(14) . . . (36) . . . take away their means of defense”; a (13)” and so on. It is obscure whether sentence begins “is trampling on the the editor who put the list into print was rights”; and another reads, “I think British and neglected to make the correc- what did was illegal.” If the speakers did tion for American readers or was Ameri- not say “government” and “the city,” can and just did not know any better. what did they say and why are their The main part of a sentence must be words omitted? And why are there no el- grammatically independent of any par- lipses at the points of omission? (See 5.) enthetical matter. A general dictionary Some newspapers go a step further in erred in this definition of vivisect: the mishandling of quotations by avoiding brackets entirely. To dissect (an animal) while living, with a view to exposing its physiolog- “At no time did the consulate- ical processes. general approach the (Foreign Min- istry) with a request to send an “Its” lacks an antecedent in the main envoy,” said Iaan Basson, a spokes- part of the sentence; instead it refers to man for the consulate-general. “an animal,” which is a mere parenthetical phrase. (The sentence is additionally If he did not say “Foreign Ministry,” defective in containing a dangler: It is what did he say and why was it left out? only “while living” that one does any- And, again, why is there no ellipsis at the thing. “. . . While an animal is living” point of omission? would fix both defects. See Modifiers, 1, The quotations below do not have about danglers.) words missing. They may have words The parenthetical material should be added. in a particular sentence for a good reason. In the next sample, the statement in “I must acknowledge that when I parentheses is irrelevant. The writer evi- look at those figures (tax increases), I dently did not know where else to put it. see that some of those businesses are going to have to restructure,” said Napoleon’s conversations with Glenn Davis, district director in Bertrand and Moncholon (it is unfor- Kansas City for the Small Business tunate that there are several misprints Administration. . . . in the book) are a skillful blending of “The small businessman is in a vi- record and pastiche. cious Catch-22,” Jameson said. “If you eat it (the tax increase), the busi- A parenthetical insert may fit ness has a very slow and painful smoothly into the rest of the sentence or death.” be a virtual sentence itself. If it is the latter and the insert is too long or too far- Using parentheses instead of brackets fetched, it may tear the message asunder within quotations raises uncertainty and make readers backtrack. Below, the whether the parenthetical words belong narrative is interrupted by the abrupt to the speaker or the writer. quotation in parentheses in addition to the parenthetical matter between the C. Other errors commas. A New York publisher, in listing a series of art booklets, indicates that the It is now an accepted fact that Taney, reader will find “Volume numbers in old and worn as he was, or perhaps 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 342

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because he was old and worn and had fore a closing quotation mark: “Let our little to fear (“I was ever a fighter, drums strike.” In Britain, a period—or so—one fight more, the best and the full stop, as it is known there—goes after last!”), went from Washington to Bal- a closing quotation mark: ‘Let our timore for the specific purpose of en- drums strike’. See 10. tertaining Merryman’s application. Periods are not used in isolated titles, headlines, and subheads, except in the Three messages intervene between manner of the 8 at the head of this sec- “Taney” and “went.” Putting them into tion. another sentence or two might have im- No additional period is needed when proved them all. one used in an abbreviation or initialism Parentheses and brackets should al- ends a sentence. Two dots do not nor- ways come in pairs. The use of one mally go together. parenthesis is not standard, except at the Periods are customarily used in some Internal Revenue Service: initialisms, particularly when they spell words without the periods (U.S., A.D., You must include in your income dif- A.M.). The trend, however, is away from ficulty-of-care payments received for them (NY, AMA, YMCA). They are more than: used in abbreviations (Dr., Mr., Lt. Gen., 1) 10 children under age 19, and Rt. Rev.) but not in acronyms (AIDS, 2) 5 individuals age 19 or older. DOS, NATO). (See Abbreviation, 2.) When part of a sentence appears in A comma or semicolon that coincides parentheses or brackets and it ends the with a parenthetical or bracketed pas- sentence, the period goes after the clos- sage follows the closing parenthesis or ing parenthesis or bracket, not before. bracket: “Although Mercury’s year is The period is misplaced here: “Peanut only one-fourth the length of ours (88 oil . . . often can be used for flavoring (I earth days), its day is 59 times as long as prefer it for stir frying.)” Reverse the or- ours.” See also 8. der of parenthesis and period: “. . . stir frying).” 8. Period The period goes before the closing The single dot called a period (.) goes parenthesis or bracket when the paren- at the end of nearly every sentence that thetical or bracketed passage forms an does not end with a question mark (?) or independent sentence: “Peanut oil . . . of- an exclamation point (!); those two ten can be used for flavoring. (I prefer it marks have built-in periods. (Infre- for stir frying.)” quently a sentence ends with a dash, indicating an unfinished sentence. See 4C.) 9. Question mark Periods go only at the end of sentences (or sentence fragments), except in abbre- A. Missing viations or initialisms. Within a sen- What is missing in the following sentence, even a complete thought gets no tence (from a New York newspaper)? period: “I think perhaps—it’s just speculation—he was advised that maybe some The artist had a show in the spring of the money was being diverted.” at Farleigh-Dickinson University in If four dots follow a sentence, the first Madison, and 20 of the Empire State dot is a period; the next three make up Buildings are on display in, where else, an ellipsis. See 5A. the lobby of the Empire State Building In the United States, a period goes beat Fifth Avenue and 34th Street. 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 343

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The answer is—what else?—a question B. Needless mark after “where else.” The phrase is a When a direct question is affixed to a question, so the mark (?) must follow. statement, the question gets the mark: (However, the question would be set off “ ‘What is in the box?’ she asked the better by dashes or parentheses than by spirit.” Or “She had to know—What is commas.) in the box?” But a statement that pre- Although the question mark com- sents a question indirectly does not get a monly goes at the end of a sentence, it question mark: “She had to know what may be more appropriate elsewhere. was in the box.” When a question ends before the end of Thus the song title “I Wonder Who’s its sentence, the mark can go at the end Kissing Her Now?” should not have the of the question; it should not be left out, question mark it was given (although as it was in the excerpt below from a the title phrase got no question mark in book of criticism. the text of the song). It is making a statement, not asking a question. A question would be “Who’s kissing her now?” How are computers going to make The noun question has several mean- craniums smaller—unless, of course, ings besides a query or interrogation, they turn the brain into a recessive or- which is a sentence or phrase that tends gan. to call for a reply. Question can denote an issue, a point under consideration, a Insert a question mark after “smaller.” problem, a proposal to vote on, a query (See also OF COURSE, 1.) expressed indirectly, a subject for debate, A rhetorical question is still a ques- or uncertainty. Calling an expression of tion, albeit meant to emphasize a point, any of these other meanings a question not to obtain information. The two quo- does not make it one in the sense of an tations above and the one following il- interrogation. A book relates a historical lustrate that type of question. A column episode: on an editorial page quotes an official on a goal of U.S. foreign policy and says: During the court-martial, Flipper’s “What’s wrong with a goal like that.” attorney had put the question What’s wrong with the sentence is the squarely: “Whether it is possible for a lack of a question mark instead of the colored man to secure and hold a po- period. sition as an officer of the Army?” “But the sentences can be understood,” someone will say, and it is so. But unsweetened lemonade can be The clause in quotation marks is a sum- drunk; it is about as complete and satis- mary of a question in the sense of a fying as sentences like those. problem or an issue. It should get no Sometimes meaning hinges on the question mark, inasmuch as it is a presence or absence of a question mark. declarative statement, not an interroga- “Throw it away” gives instruction. tion. It would be an interrogation if it “Throw it away?” seeks instruction. began Is it instead of “Whether it is.” “This is a comedy” gives information. To use more than one question mark, “This is a comedy?” expresses doubt. side by side, does not make a phrase or “What?” asks for information. “What!” sentence any more of an interrogation. It expresses surprise. does make it amateurish. A magazine ad Question mark is sometimes called infor a computer company bore this head- terrogation mark or interrogation point. line: 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 344

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?????? Should - Should Not ...... “Do you choose to run?” they asked. Invest in a Computer ?????? A few others approve of this form: All twelve question marks could not turn that phrase into a proper question, such “Do you choose to run?,” they asked. as “Should I, or should I not, invest in a computer?” (Nor could the spacious hy- Some sentences may be followed ei- phen or the sextet of dots contribute ther by question marks or by exclama- anything, neither being bona ﬁde punc- tion points, depending on the meaning tuation.) to be conveyed. If an answer is sought: “How common is that mistake?” If the sentence is exclamatory or rhetorical: C. Two opposing views “How common is that mistake!” Does a request or statement in the The writer of a music textbook made form of a question call for a question a choice between the two marks, in de- mark? Grammarians differ. scribing Beethoven’s attitude toward H. W. Fowler argued the afﬁrmative. Napoleon: Among his examples: “Will you please stand back?” and “Will it be believed A conqueror himself—did he not once that . . . ?”—presenting an incredible fact declare, “I too am a king!”—he un- of sizable length. Because each is in the derstood the Corsican. grammatical form of a direct question, each should end with a question mark, The author chose the exclamation point. even though it is equivalent in sense to a He attributed it to Beethoven, for it lies request or statement. within the quotation marks. Thus the Theodore M. Bernstein took essen- author’s question is left without punctu- tially the opposite view, that no question ation. It would have been preferable to mark should be used when an answer is omit the exclamation point and add a not expected or when the writer is question mark: merely making a request. He gave as respective examples: “May we have the . . . Did he not once declare, “I too am pleasure of hearing from you soon” and a king”? . . . “Would you please send us a duplicate copy of your invoice.” If the author knew that the exclamation Fowler would stick question marks at point was part of the quotation and the end of those two. So would I. They deemed it important, both marks could look incomplete, and a writer of each have appeared: would want a response, though not a yes or no answer. The Chicago Manual of . . . Did he not once declare, “I too am Style wants no question mark at the end a king!”? . . . of any “request courteously disguised as a question.” But why give up the dis- Note that the question mark follows the guise—and the courtesy—prematurely? closing quotation mark when the question is that of the writer. D. With other punctuation When a question mark does not end a 10. Quotation marks sentence, may a comma follow? Most Quotation marks are primarily used authorities think not. They approve of to quote what people say or write. this form: “Well, I’m not a crook.” / “Hail to thee, 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 345

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blithe Spirit!” The words enclosed in A reader’s ﬁrst impression is that “me” the marks are expected to reproduce the refers to Mr. Dole. That interpretation original words exactly; otherwise the would not ﬁt the context, however. Inte- marks should be omitted. Anything left rior quotation marks should have been out is replaced by an ellipsis ( . . . ). See 5. inserted as follows: Anything inserted goes in brackets [ ], not parentheses ( ). See 7. “He said ‘Dave Keene called me a lap A magazine is interviewing a painter. dog,’ ” said Mr. Dole. . . . Amid a long paragraph devoted entirely to a direct quotation of his, this sentence When a comma or period is needed at appears: the end of a direct quotation, the conventional American practice is to put it She read me Malory’s “Le Morte inside the quotation marks. (“But,” he d’Arthur” and made it understand- said——) This is done for an aesthetic able. reason, whether or not the comma or period is part of the quotation. Some choose, on logical grounds, to put it out- The entire passage is enclosed, correctly, side the quotation marks unless it is part by double quotation marks (“ ”). There- of the quotation. (“But”, he said——) fore the marks around Le Morte That practice is common in Britain. d’Arthur should be single quotation When a colon or semicolon is needed at marks (‘ ’). If the magazine were pub- the end of a direct quotation, placing it lished in London, instead of New York, after the closing quotation mark is gen- the procedure would need to be re- erally favored by both nations (“. . . my versed: single quotation marks would go land”; it is——), although a few publica- on the outside, double quotation marks tions have rules to the contrary. on the inside. It is wrong to put double A quotation that goes into more than marks within double marks, or single one paragraph gets an opening quota- marks within single marks. tion mark at the beginning of each para- Customarily the names of long liter- graph; a closing quotation mark goes ary, dramatic, or artistic works go in ital- only at the end of the entire quotation. ics, also called italic type. This is it. These are typical mistakes: On an edito- When that type is unavailable or not de- rial page, an isolated quotation is two sired for some reason, it is not wrong to paragraphs long and the second para- put the names in quotation marks in- graph lacks an opening quotation mark. stead. (See Italic[s].) Elsewhere, an article begins by quoting In quoting someone who is quoting three lines of a song in three paragraphs, someone else, use double quotation of which the second and third lack open- marks for the main quotation and single ing quotation marks. quotation marks for the interior quota- We do not add quotation marks to the tion. (In Britain reverse the procedure.) If examples that are set off typographically the interior quotation marks are left out, in this book and so are obviously quota- the meaning may be unclear, as in the tions (often the longer ones). We do add following press passage. “He” refers to the marks to quotations that run in the the vice president. main text, to words and phrases taken from those quotations, and to typical “He said Dave Keene called me a sentences that illustrate usage. In addi- lap dog,” said Mr. Dole, referring to tion, quotation marks go around certain one of his campaign aides. words or phrases to indicate that the en- 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 346

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closures, though used, are nonstandard B. Strong comma or questionable. Examples are the entry Offering a stronger division than a titles “AIN’T” and “LET’S DON’T.” comma, the semicolon is particularly Newspaper copy editors in the United useful in dividing a sentence into cate- States follow the British tradition in one gories when the sentence already has respect: using single quotation marks for commas. quotations in headlines. Even when a conjunction connects in- (What Americans call quotation dependent clauses, a writer may choose marks, the British call inverted commas, to put a semicolon between them to a term that is not precise. In a traditional show the division clearly. It is particu- type style, with curved quotation marks, larly desirable to do so when a clause only the opening mark of a pair of single contains a comma or is lengthy. This is a quotation marks looks like an inverted correct example from a book on world comma [‘]. The closing mark looks like history: an apostrophe, which can be described as an elevated comma [’]. Typewriters To many authorities it appeared at have straight, vertical quotation marks; first incredible that a sub-man with a in this respect, most computers are no brain no larger than that of an ape improvement.) could manufacture tools, crude in- See also Quotation problems; deed but made to a fairly standard QUOTE and QUOTATION; Tense, 3; and recognizable pattern; but the THAT, 4. newest evidence leaves little room for doubt. 11. Semicolon In that sentence, what follows the comma is parenthetical; what follows A. Weak period the semicolon is a main thought, and the Do not take the name literally. The semicolon so indicates. semicolon (;) is not half of the colon (:), Not only clauses benefit from the nor does it have anything to do with the semicolon. It is needed to separate items colon. At different times, the semicolon in a series when any item is subdivided acts as a weak period and a strong by a comma. “The club elected George comma. Watkins, president; John Anthony, vice- Just as a period does, the semicolon president; and Theresa Jennings, secre- can end a complete thought. However, it tary-treasurer.” links that complete thought—an inde- The lack of semicolons jumbles the se- pendent clause—with another, closely re- ries below, from an autobiography. lated in meaning or form. “Three men Readers could have trouble associating went to bat; three men went down the names with the descriptions. swinging.” / “Money itself is not a root of evil; the love of money is.” / “He John Major greeted me, my executive came; he saw; he conquered.” assistant, Colonel Dick Chilcoat, the In that way, the semicolon performs British secretary of state for defense, the linking function of a conjunction, Tom King, and my counterpart, like and or but. A writer might choose to British chief of defense staff, Marshal use no semicolon and instead insert a of the Royal Air Force Sir David conjunction (“He came, he saw, and he Craig, in a sitting room at 10 Down- conquered”) or to use neither and make ing Street. each independent clause a separate sentence. (“He came. He saw. He con- Replacing the first, third, and fifth com- quered.”) mas with semicolons (and inserting the 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 347

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after the sixth) would have made the writing. It is less suited to general prose sentence more readily understandable. than the marks of punctuation discussed in preceding sections. C. Inconsistency The virgule is an alternative to a hori- Newspapers are liable to be inconsis- zontal line in separating the two parts of tent in their use of semicolons in a series, a fraction, such as 13/16. It replaces per and this is an example: in such terms as miles/hour and feet/second. In science and medicine, mg/km, Among the Americans at the for instance, is an economical way to ex- Moscow forum were Norman Mailer, press milligrams of dosage per kilogram Gore Vidal and Bel Kaufman, the of body weight. When lines of poetry are writers; John Kenneth Galbraith, the written in regular text, the virgule indi- economist; Gregory Peck and Kris cates each new line: “On a battle- Kristofferson, the actors; several sci- trumpet’s blast / I fled hither, fast, fast, entists, including Frank von Hippel, a fast, / ’Mid the darkness upward cast.” Princeton physicist, and more than a This book uses virgules to separate quo- dozen businessmen. tations when they are run successively in regular text. After the third semicolon, the system The mark often represents or, notably ends, permitting two chances for misun- in the term and/or, meaning either and or derstanding. Literally the message con- or as the case may be. Lawyers make use veyed is that “several scientists” include of it. A typical contract uses the term this all those mentioned thereafter. Dismiss- way: ing businessmen from the scientific ranks, the reader could plausibly place Company and/or its insurer shall have “a Princeton physicist” in a separate cat- the right to select counsel and to settle egory. If patient, the reader might suc- any claim upon the terms and condi- ceed in deciphering the confused list, tions it and/or its insurer deems satis- maybe even in diagnosing the problem: a factory. missing semicolon after “physicist.” The writer is not to blame; an inexpli- A computer manual contains such cable rule of his newspaper (shared by headings as “Paper Size/Type” and various other papers) has instructed him “Short/Long Document Names,” in to use a comma where the final semi- which the virgule presumably means ei- colon belongs. But a comma does not ther and or or. perform the function of a semicolon. If A computer program has an option the writer, economist, actor, and scientist called “Move/Rename File,” in which categories need to be separated from one the virgule substitutes for or. The pro- another by semicolons, does not the sci- gram also has a table explaining that if entist category need to be separated the user presses “Up/Down Arrow” from the businessman category by a (meaning either the up arrow or the semicolon? down arrow), the curser will move to “The top/bottom of the screen” (mean- 12. Virgule ing the top or bottom of the screen re- This / is a virgule (pronounced VUR- spectively). gyool). It is also known as a slash or This \ is a back slash, or backslash; it solidus (SOL-uh-duss). Sometimes it is is used for certain computer commands, called a slant, diagonal, bar, or shilling. and so is the regular slash. The mark has specialized uses, partic- In business, the mark in a combina- ularly in technical, legal, and business tion like vice president/labor relations 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 348

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can replace in charge of. For the general Students [range] from kindergartners public, the full term is more widely un- to fifth graders. . . . The school . . . derstandable. [encourages] students to think across Virgules have been increasingly subject lines. . . . Students play with used of late instead of traditional punc- board games and puzzles [and so on]. tuation and even instead of words. The substitution may be no improvement: “Students” should have been pupils in Take “secretary/treasurer” instead of each instance. secretary-treasurer or “bacon/tomato A child attending school used to be sandwich” instead of bacon-tomato called a scholar. Now a scholar usually is sandwich. An original use of a virgule in an advanced academic specialist or a lieu of a verbal description can even be person who is learned in the humanities. ambiguous: Diners cannot be sure Sometimes a school child is described as whether the virgule means and or or in a “a good scholar” or “a bad scholar.” menu’s “steak/lobster plate.” Schoolboy and schoolgirl are sometimes Some general writers seem to find used, less often than they used to be. the virgule stylish. One dispenses with commas and conjunctions to describe someone as a “writer/painter/photogra- PURPORT, PURPORTED. 1. An pher” and later writes, “She has this odd verb. 2. Other uses. phobia/quirk/fatal flaw. . . .”

PUPIL and STUDENT. An elemen- 1. An odd verb tary-school child is a pupil. Anyone who Purport is a strange verb, for two rea- takes personal instruction from a teacher sons: also may be called a pupil. “Beethoven was Haydn’s pupil.” • Although it has the form of an active One who attends an institution of verb, it has the meaning of a passive learning above elementary school is a verb. It means is—or are or was or student. A student is also anyone who were—supposed (to be) or studies or investigates a particular sub- represented (to be). The sense of is ject, perhaps “a student of prehistory” etc. is built into purported, and or “a student of the drug problem.” therefore is etc. should not be used A news story said: with it. It is wrong to say, “The signature on the letter is purported The alleged victims [of abuse] were to be genuine.” Change “is two boys, ages 3 and 4, both students purported” to purports. at the S—— . . . Pre- & Elementary • Its subject normally is not a person. School. . . . A sentence like “He purported to tell investigators the whole story” is Three- and four-year-old “students”? It wrong. Changing “purported” to was not explained just what they would professed, or another appropriate or could be studying. Elsewhere a photo verb, corrects the sentence. (One depicted a cluster of diminutive moppets may say, “Miranda purports to for whom the designation of “Students protect a constitutional right.” at the primary school in Portalesa, Although a subject may not be a Brazil” hardly seemed ﬁtting. And an ar- person considered as such, the ticle about an Indiana elementary school subject here really is a thing, a legal used the unsuitable noun a dozen times: rule named after a person.) 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 349

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The three excerpts below fall short on PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS. Mil- both scores. Each uses “is” or “was” lions listening on radio and television with “purport” and makes a person the heard a prosecutor in a murder case tell subject. The first two are from books. the jury that he had read the Constitu- tion the previous night and it said the . . . Jackson is purported to have said, two victims had the right to liberty and “John Marshall has made his deci- life and more: “It said they had a right to sion; now let him enforce it.” the pursuit of happiness.” Not so. Earlier, an anchor man wrongly stated Wellington is purported to have writ- on a television network: “The Constitu- ten to the British Foreign Office in tion guarantees us life, liberty, and the London: “We have enumerated our pursuit of happiness.” Had he substi- saddles, bridles, tents and tent poles.” tuted property for “the pursuit of happiness,” he would have been right. The A replacement for each “purported” true word would have been irrelevant could be supposed or believed. In the for the prosecutor. sentence below, from a news story, “pur- The Fifth Amendment to the United ported” could be changed to professing States Constitution says that no person or pretending. shall be deprived of “life, liberty, or property” without due process of law. Mr. Brucan said also that he had The Fourteenth Amendment echoes that learned for the first time this after- principle, prohibiting any state from de- noon that Mr. Munteanu was pur- priving any person of “life, liberty, or porting to speak for the council on property” without due process of law. Monday mornings. . . . The Constitution says nothing about happiness or its pursuit. 2. Other uses The document that does mention it is Purport is also a noun. It denotes the the Declaration of Independence, whose supposed significance or meaning of second sentence reads: something: “the purport of his speech was that. . . .” Purported may be used as We hold these Truths to be self- an adjective, meaning supposed. evident, that all Men are created Purport and purported—verb, noun, equal, that they are endowed by their and adjective—do not confirm or deny Creator with certain unalienable the authenticity of anything (for exam- Rights, that among these are Life, Lib- ple, a document or antique) but mildly erty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. question it. Without this element of modest doubt, purport (ed) is not the While of historical, philosophical, and word to use. literary interest, the Declaration of Inde- Some people use “purport” (noun) pendence has no legal significance. instead of purpose or purview. They do so either mistakenly, thinking that the PUSH. See ADVOCATE. similarity of sound carries over to the meaning; or intentionally, seeking a PUT. See INTO, 1. fancy synonym. That some dictionaries support the confusion should be no sur- PUTSCH. See REVOLT and REVO- prise. LUTION. 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 350

Q-TIPS. See VASELINE. good” describe a superb show or a fairly enjoyable one? Quantities, measures. See AMOUNT Used strictly, quite means completely, and NUMBER; Collective nouns, extremely, or really. Used informally or 3; FEWER and LESS; MANY and casually, it means somewhat, rather, or MUCH; Numbers; Verbs, 3. considerably. In the casual vein, quite followed by a or an can suggest an indef- QUESTION. See Punctuation, 9B. inite number or amount (“quite a few”) or something notable (“quite an array”). Question mark. See Punctuation, 9. If quite is interpreted in the strict way, “quite complete” is redundant and QUIP, QUIPPED. An impromptu, “quite similar” is contradictory. Few witty remark may be called a quip critics insist on strictness under informal (noun). To make it is to quip (verb, in- circumstances. In a more formal con- transitive). text, a vague quite can be deadwood. It is probably rare that real wit or hu- A book uses it strictly at ﬁrst: mor needs to be labeled as such, but the press seems to disagree. In typical fash- The viola is not an outsize violin. Its ion, a reporter added “he quipped” to a proportions are quite different and its judge’s remark, about how people mis- tone is quite distinctive. pronounced his name; and a columnist quoting a talk by a mayor explained that Then casually. See whether “quite” one remark was made “jokingly” and makes any useful contribution here: another was “quipped.” None of the quotations displayed recognizable wit or There are quite a number of falla- humor, and the labels failed to rescue cies regarding musical design which them. Crack(ed), gag(ged), jest(ed), and need to be exploded. joke(d) are among the terms that have been so used. Quotation marks. See Punctuation, 10; Quotation problems. QUITE. This adverb can be ambiguous: “He was quite truthful.” Was he Quotation problems. 1. Accuracy scrupulously truthful or just generally and inaccuracy. 2. Inconsistency in per- so? “The place is quite big.” Is it im- son and tense. 3. Unnecessary quotation mense or just sizable? Does “quite marks. 4. When is the quotation over?

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1. Accuracy and inaccuracy Court has said that it can be libelous— Quotations, particularly direct quota- that is, false and defamatory—if it “re- tions—those in quotation marks—are sults in a material change in the meaning supposed to present what people have conveyed by the statement” (1991). said or written. But not all writers and For the misquoting of sayings, see editors are scrupulous about quotations. Clichés; THAT and WHICH, 4. See also A linguistics professor in Arizona LIBEL and SLANDER. compared twenty-four newspaper articles with tape recordings of interviews, 2. Inconsistency in person and tense meetings, and speeches. Only 8 percent Quotation marks are presumed to en- of 132 quoted sentences came out com- close the exact words that someone has pletely right. Most were compatible with used. The exact words quoted in this the original, but some were dead wrong: passage from a historical book are un- “People from Spain” turned into “Mexi- likely to have been uttered: cans” and “He has so impressed all ﬁve of us” became “He has so impressed us A Senator . . . was so overwhelmed by as interim county manager.” Stories the implications of the crisis that he written by reporters who used tape “feels that the Executive has not gone recorders were not more accurate than so far as to justify” the attack on Pen- those by reporters who just took notes. sacola. Few American journalists know short- hand. Delivering a speech in the Senate, he Inaccurate quotations may represent probably did not say “I feels.” He is unintentional error, inadequate skill or more likely to have said “I feel.” Even memory, lack of respect for quotation so, the sentence shifts awkwardly from marks, doctoring of statements suppos- past tense to present tense. The non- edly to improve them, or outright fabri- quoted and quoted parts need to ﬁt to- cation. The Columbia Journalism gether: Review quoted three New York reporters who admitted making up quotations. Instead of interviewing parents [Example:] A Senator was so over- whose children had died, “I made the whelmed by the implications of the quotes up,” one said. Another put words crisis that he said, “I feel that the Ex- in the mouth of a baseball manager. A ecutive has not. . . .” third pretended to quote a bystander at a parade. Six others knew of imaginary If the exact words of the speaker are un- quotations in newspapers and maga- certain (perhaps the author is quoting a zines. contemporary account of the speech in A writer or editor is not obligated to the third person), it is best to omit the quote anyone directly. A quotation that quotation marks: is important enough to use but improper, too long, poorly worded, or otherwise [Example:] A Senator was so over- unsuitable as it is may be reworded, in whelmed by the implications of the whole or part, without quotation marks. crisis that he said he felt that the Exec- Editors have been known to put such in- utive had not. . . . direct quotations in quotation marks. It is a hazardous practice. See also Pronouns, 7 (end); Subjunc- Deliberately altering a quotation can tive, 3 (teen-age lingo); Tense, 3; THAT, not only be unethical: the Supreme 4. 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 352

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3. Unnecessary quotation marks the speaker’s own words have resumed, Quotation marks are often used un- especially if they cannot see him. Even to necessarily. When nobody is being a viewing audience, the transition may quoted, the marks can cast doubt upon a not be obvious if the speech is read from word or phrase. Four examples follow. a paper or a prompting screen.

[Magazine:] First we’ll separate the QUOTE and QUOTATION. Quote volunteers into two groups: a treat- is properly a verb (transitive and intran- ment group and a “control” group. sitive). To quote is to repeat someone’s words, usually acknowledging that they [Newsletter:] Our goal at any given are another’s words. You might quote a time is to strive continually to be “the sentence, quote (a passage from) a book, best”. quote (words of) Shakespeare or the pope, or quote from a magazine or a [Notice at a bank:] . . . we will close speech, saying “I quote.” our “teller counter service” at 5 p.m. Although it may pass in informal speech, using the verb as a noun is not [Picture captions in an ad for a cos- appropriate in more formal media: “A metic surgeon:] “NOSE” BEFORE . . . frontispiece quote set the tone: ‘All “NOSE” AFTER wholesome food is caught without a net or a trap.’ ” / “Drexel liked the quote so Control is a legitimate word, and the much that one of its investment bankers best is a legitimate phrase; neither framed it.” / “Reporters simply go out needed quotation marks. The marks did and lazily round up quotes to fit the poll not express confidence in the bank ser- results. . . .” vice. And there was no doubt that a The newspaper, news service, and woman pictured in the surgeon’s ad had news magazine quoted above should a nose. (The second example follows a have used the noun quotation or quota- closing quotation mark with a period, in tions. Use of “quote” to mean quota- British style, although the publication is tion, or “quotes” to mean quotations or American. See Punctuation, 10. See also quotation marks, is part of the jargon of CONTINUAL[LY] and CONTINU- editors, reporters, and writers. OUS[LY].) The jargon includes “unquote,” often used by speakers in lieu of end of quota- 4. When is the quotation over? tion. It was created as an economical A congressman made a speech in form in telegrams from news correspon- which he read a quotation. As heard on dents, not as a bona fide word. the radio, the quotation seemed to go on A book publisher protested on na- and on. Finally it became plain that he tional television that a magazine had had finished his quoting but failed to say published a derogatory “misquote” and “end of quotation” or “so said ———” that to do so was sloppy. A neater word or “the words of ———” or even the is misquotation. dubious “unquote.” (See QUOTE and Occasionally a quotation is accompa- QUOTATION.) nied by an incomplete phrase, in this Whichever term is chosen, a speaker manner: “ ‘It’s not true,’ the Governor who quotes someone or something was quoted.” It should be “was quoted should indicate when the quotation has as saying.” ended, unless it is well known and short. See also Punctuation, 10; Quotation Otherwise listeners may not know when problems. 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 353

RACE and NATIONALITY. 1. 2. Races of the U.S.A. The difference. 2. Races of the U.S.A. 3. Citizens of the United States share a Who is colored? common nationality while comprising many national origins and several races. 1. The difference Three leading racial divisions of the Race (noun) has often been mixed up world are represented in this country: with other terms, including nationality. the Caucasoid, Negroid, and Mon- Race is a category of mankind distin- goloid. Members of the first two groups guished by physical characteristics that are commonly known as white or black, are genetically transmitted, such as skin respectively (nouns or adjectives), al- color, shape of head, type of hair, and fa- though nobody has skin that is really cial features. Nationality concerns the white or black. They are informal terms nation one belongs to and is based on and need not be capitalized. politics, geography, or culture. Racial A somewhat more scientific alterna- and national (adjectives) mean pertain- tive to white is Caucasian, though tech- ing to, or based on differences in, race or nically there are brown-skinned Cauca- nationality. A newspaper confused the sians. The corresponding term for black terms: is Negro, which fell out of popularity in the late sixties but survives in the United Negro College Fund. (The word should All along the border the population always be capitalized and pronounced is a strange mix of people and like KNEE-grow, even though Webster’s tongues: Polish, German, Czech, Third Dictionary enters “negro” and Hungarian, Romanian, Ukrainian condones the rather derogatory NIG- and Russian—typical of the racial ruh. Eighteen of its entries use “nigger.” mix that Russia has throughout its Insulting terms of that sort appear with far-flung country. the qualification “usu. taken to be offensive.”) Black, which had been consid- “Polish, German, Czech,” etc. do refer ered derogatory, became the accepted to “people and tongues,” that is, nation- word. In the eighties African-American alities and languages. None of them are caught on as a formal term. It has less racial groups, so they are not “typical of utility, covering only Americans; it the racial mix” in Russia, which extends would not include, say, a black Con- to the Orient and does contain different golese. Nor would it include a natural- races. ized American who was one of the

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nearly 200 million nonblack natives of black. A large headline over a newspaper Africa. story about suburban minorities an- Mongoloid or Mongolian to denote a nounced “Greener Pastures for People of racial division that includes Chinese, Color.” An article in another paper Japanese, Koreans, Mongolians, Ti- about a tribute to Jackie Robinson re- betans, and others is usually restricted to ferred to the “obvious presence of such scientific writing. Yellow used to be the people of color. . . . ” Users of that term popular adjective, even though no one is should explain why they do not regard really yellow. It was supplanted by Ori- any tint of pinkish tan as a color. ental. Then Asian took over (its syn- Here is a paradox, brought up by a onym, Asiatic, is offensive to some), even physics professor and later by the host of though the Indian subcontinent and the a radio talk show: From the standpoint Middle East are part of the Asian conti- of physics, black is colorless, being the nent and Japan is not. absence of light, while white contains all Indian has long been used to refer to frequencies of light. Therefore, if any any aboriginal group of the Americas. Its people were literally black, they would use is said to date back to Columbus, be devoid of color; and if any people who mistook San Salvador Island for In- were literally white, they would be as dia. Those in the United States are Amer- colored as anyone could get. ican Indians. In recent years that term has come to trouble some people (mainly RACK and WRACK. In writing that non-Indians—many American Indian “the Palestinian uprising . . . had groups call themselves that), who foster wracked the occupied lands since 1987,” “Native American” as a synonym. Users did a writer mean to say that it had ru- of that term exclude most native-born ined them? Probably the right word Americans and several indigenous peo- would have been racked, without the w. ples under the American flag: Aleuts, Es- To rack (verb, transitive) is literally to kimos, Hawaiians (see Hawaii), torture (someone) on the rack; more Samoans, and aboriginal inhabitants of broadly to torture or torment with phys- other U.S. island possessions. American ical or mental pain, or to strain, espe- Indians used to be commonly considered cially by violence or oppression. The the red race, although of brown skin, not rack was a medieval instrument for tor- red. turing people by stretching their bodies. In summary, styles in racial designa- Two expressions are racked with pain tion come and go, and few of them make (or illness etc.) and rack one’s brains (or total sense. See also 3. memory etc.). It suffices to use a term that many To wrack (verb, transitive) is to de- members of a group prefer. Not all mem- stroy, ruin, or wreck (something). It is bers agree on any given term. archaic and poetic. Wrack (noun) is violently caused damage or destruction, or 3. Who is colored? wreckage of a ship cast ashore. The main The term “colored” is nearly obsolete, use of the noun nowadays is in the ex- though it survives in the National Asso- pression (to bring to) wrack and ruin. ciation for the Advancement of Colored Think of wreck, which also has a w. People. It is odd that some who would Rack and wrack are pronounced the consider it backward to call someone a same. They come from separate Middle “colored” person now have no qualms English words, which in turn may be about calling him a person “of color.” It traced to separate Middle Dutch words. can be a euphemism for nonwhite or for See also WREAK and WRECK. 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 355

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RAGAMUFFIN. An obituary of a and relaxation tours, inside and outside rather prosperous “bag lady” quoted an the kingdom.” Reporting from Arabia, a acquaintance: “She looked like a little newspaper got the expression R and R rag muffin, like she didn’t have a dime to right but its meaning wrong. It is not her name.” “rest and relaxation.” Neither is it “rest Ragamuffin is the term, and it has and recreation,” a popular interpreta- nothing to do with muffins. It does have tion. something to do with rags. The word By U.S. Army regulations, it stands comes from Ragamoffyn, the name of a for rest and recuperation. That is the def- demon in a fourteenth-century religious inition of R & R in all the U.S. armed play, Piers Plowman, attributed to services, the Dictionary of Military Ab- William Langland. Demons often were breviations says. described as ragged, in the sense of Another general writes in an autobi- shaggy. ography: At first ragamuffin referred to a man who was disreputable as well as ragged. Soon after I joined the headquar- It came to describe any poorly clothed ters staff, I flew to Hong Kong for rest and dirty person. Now it is usually re- and recreation. For some GIs, R and served for an ill-clothed, unkempt, or R in this indulgent city meant wall-to- dirty child. wall sex. For others, Hong Kong meant a shopping spree. RAIN, REIGN, and REIN. See Ho- mophones. An enumeration of his purchases follows. RALLY. Was a TV panelist’s use of rallies right? “When he sees one of his Range, true and false. 1. As a noun, friends is in trouble, he rallies around numerical and other senses. 2. As a verb, that person.” numerical sense; RANGE or RANG- The verb was right. The preposition ING used. 3. RANGING implied. 4. was wrong. Make it “he rallies to that Stale expression: “EVERYTHING person.” Two meanings of the verb rally FROM.” (intransitive) were mixed up. It can mean to come to help, the meaning the 1. As a noun: numerical and other panelist intended; or it can mean to get senses together for a common purpose, some- The numerical sense is what mainly thing one person cannot do: “Let’s rally concerns us first. In statistics a range is round the flag, boys.” the difference between the highest and The same verb can also mean to re- lowest in a set of figures. If the highest is cover from a setback (“The patient ral- 15 and the lowest is 5, the range is 10. lied” or “Stocks rallied on Wall Street”) In ordinary use, it is the extent to or, in tennis, to exchange several strokes. which a series of numbers vary: “The Rally (transitive) means to call together price range is $10 to $20.” / “The range for a common purpose (“He rallied his in their ages is 13 to 17.” troops”) or to bring back to activity An appraiser said of an antique chair, (“She rallied her strength”). “We would value it to be in the $3,000 RAN and RUN. See Tense, 5A, B. range.” As he used it, “range” had no meaning. No other figure was given. R AND R. A U.S. Army general “said Range would be meaningful if he had he was trying to arrange ‘R and R,’ rest placed the value, for instance, “in the 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 356

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$2,000-to-$4,000 range.” The value of a a bottom. It is clear how they vary. But single figure can be expressed in many what is the nature of the limits in the ex- ways; for instance, “We would value it ample below, and in what way do items at about $3,000.” vary within them? A range (noun) can also be an extent or scope of activity or existence (“the They [items auctioned] ranged from range of our weapons” / “the range of unpublished pinup-style photographs possibilities”), a region in which an ani- of Marilyn Monroe, taken in 1945, mal or plant lives (“the range of this before she became a movie star, to a species”), an open area for livestock gold record awarded the Beatles in (“home on the range”), a place for the 1964 for the million-selling single “I test firing or flying of weapons or rockets Want to Hold Your Hand.” (a rifle range, a missile range); or the variation in pitch of a musical instru- From the context, we cannot say that the ment or voice (“She has a range of three items “ranged” in age or “ranged” in octaves”). value between the photographs and the record. Then what was the essence of the 2. As a verb, numerical sense; RANGE limits and how did the items range or RANGING used within them? We can only guess. In a numerical sense, the verb range To complicate the guessing game, (used intransitively) is strictly expressed writers will often add a third supposed in the following pair of examples: limit, or more.

Women’s cycles also tend to be less ex- . . . For months the company had con- pensive than men’s, ranging from sidered more than 200 new names, $1,000 to $4,000. . . . ranging from U.S.S.A. and Amcor to Maxus. The Communities’ list of languages to foster ranges from Ladin, a neo- Do U.S.S.A. and Amcor together consti- Latin spoken by about 30,000 moun- tute some limit? Or is Amcor some no- tain Italians, to Catalan, which has table landmark on the way to Maxus? If around 7 million speakers. the names extended, say, from “Amcor to Zilch,” the range would be clear. Now Used in that manner, to range means to it is muddy. vary within specified limits, or extremes. Extra limits may appear on the “to” The limits may be, for example, prices of side: $1,000 and $4,000; about 30,000 and 7 million speakers; 147 and 160 pounds; These [problems] have ranged from first and sixth grades; Maine and high costs to traffic problems, a lack Florida; adagio and vivace—or more of police cooperation, antiquated subjective ones: equipment and a dearth of studio space. Chicken dishes range from satisfying—morsels sautéed with garlic and Or the limits may be equally divided be- wine—to dreadful, such as the special tween the “from” and “to” sides: chicken with sausage and peppers in a gelatinous sauce. . . . The company began a program to teach workers English—a step also The limits in that sentence are “satisfy- taken by many other employers ranging” and “dreadful.” There is a top and ing from nursing homes and resort 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 357

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hotels to insurance companies and Since East Germany’s founding, ad- manufacturers. vancing in the party hierarchy has meant access to a variety of privileges Or any extra one may get its own “to”: denied average citizens.

Taking part . . . are prominent At this point, a phrase like These have church ﬁgures from many countries, included or Among these have been ranging from top Vatican ofﬁcers to would be useful. Instead, the old “range evangelist Billy Graham to the Arch- from” device is trotted out (in the wrong bishop of Canterbury. tense and with other peculiarities).

If things or people “range,” ask how? These ranged from special housing, The last ﬁve preceding examples, from special stores where higher quality press articles, leave us wondering. The goods and foodstuffs were sold at monstrous sentence below, from a book, lower prices to party members and seems to give the reader ﬁve pairs of lim- Western goods could be ordered by its to puzzle over. What makes any of mail, freedom to travel abroad, as them a “range”? well as use of Western luxury cars. As one examined the impressive range By the end of the sentence, the beginning of Nixon’s initiatives—from his ap- of the sentence is forgotten. We are never propriation of the war-making power told what anything ranges to. to his interpretation of the appointing power, from his unilateral determina- 3. RANGING implied tion of social priorities to his unilat- The word “range” or “ranging” often eral abolition of statutory programs, is left out but implied by “from . . . from his attack on legislative privilege to . . . ,” as in this sentence from a schol- to his enlargement of executive privi- arly book: lege, from his theory of impoundment to his theory of the pocket veto, from The eighteenth century was an age of his calculated disparagement of the dictionaries—dictionaries of all kinds, cabinet and his calculated discrediting from horsemanship to mathematics. of the press to his carefully organized concentration of federal management How do “all kinds” of dictionaries go in the White House—from all this a “from horsemanship to mathematics”? larger design ineluctably emerged. Dictionaries normally go from A to Z.

What if one could not examine that He used references from Michael “range,” because its limits were hope- Jackson to the Sundance Kid. . . . lessly obscure? Then, I guess, the larger design would not ineluctably (inevitably) Why those two? Or does it mean that he emerge. (the president) quoted Michael Jackson If what follow “from” and “to” are referring to the Sundance Kid? arbitrary, if it is not obvious how things or people “range” within them, the de- Vice Mayor Han Boping told a vice has no reason for being. Often it can news conference that prices of 1,800 easily be replaced by a term like such as non-staple foods from canned goods or including or among them and a series to steamed dumplings will rise. of examples. Such usage would have suited the second sentence of the news- If any government decreed that “foods paper passage below. from canned goods to steamed 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 358

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dumplings shall rise in price,” there Within a twelve-day period, six writ- would be chaos in the land. ers (three on one newspaper) wrote: Three variations follow. ...A long list of speakers criticized His commercial work . . . has ap- everything from the party leadership peared in reproduction in just about to the organization of the conference. every graphic form imaginable, from billboards and calendars to album . . . Correspondents prepare stories on covers and playing cards. everything from Soviet tank battal- ions to the roots of the Russian Or- He [Aristotle] wrote on almost all thodox church. subjects, from physics to literature, from politics to biology. They are factories producing everything from industrial ceramics to toys. Would it make any less sense if the ﬁrst . . . said “billboards and album covers to calendars and playing cards” and the . . . Contracts . . . have been put on second said “from physics to politics, hold temporarily, as have purchases of from literature to biology”? everything from magazine and newspaper subscriptions to television sets, Almost all seeds of economic impor- recreation equipment, lawn mowers tance to man—from corn to cabbage and furniture. to cowpeas—sit frozen in the Na- tional Seed Storage Laboratory’s New age . . . [is] a catchall category room-sized freezer vaults. encompassing everything from alternative life styles and alternative thera- The function of the third “to” and pies to tarot cards and books about whether only those seeds beginning with abductions by aliens in ﬂying saucers. c are deemed of economic importance to man are among the questions raised by The special airlift aboard the C-5As that journalistic aberration. also brought equipment and supplies—everything from photocopiers 4. Stale expression: “EVERYTHING to desks, from crockery to light bulbs. FROM” . . . Once upon a time, a writer wrote a sentence like this: Meanwhile a U.S. president said in an address: They dined on everything from cru- dites to cream puffs. These microcomputers today aid the design of everything from houses to It did not make sense—could you list cars to spacecraft. “everything” between them?—but it was cute. “Everything from . . . to . . .” got to That should cover everything. be a cliché, no longer cute and still senseless. A variation might appear; according to a dictionary of English usage, jazz RAPE. See Crimes, 1. “used attributively . . . may be applied to anything from language to stockings” (but not to words from a to k and t to z?). “RARELY EVER.” See (-)EVER, 6. 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 359

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RASSLE, RASSLING. See WRES- deed, serving as an intensive: “It has TLE, WRESTLING and RASSLE, really been a pleasure.” Advertising RASSLING. makes liberal use of it. A pants maker has a farmer say: “They fit really good, RATHER. See KIND OF, 4; THAN, feel really comfortable, and work really 2D. hard.” It does not use really wrong, just puffily. (What is bad is “good.” See RAVIOLI. Ravioli are stuffed, cooked GOOD and WELL.) casings of noodle dough, usually square. Those with modest vocabularies find Upon consuming some for dessert (not the word useful, sometimes in tandem. customarily the course in which they are In a radio program, a restaurant reserved), a restaurant reviewer wrote that viewer said about a cheese cake: “It’s the “exquisite apricot raviolis and really really light. It’s really really good.” poppy-seed ice cream invariably hook The phrase not really can be meaning- you for a revisit.” Drop the s in “ravio- ful, contrasting reality with semblance: lis.” The noun ravioli already is plural. It “It’s not really a lake that you see. It’s a comes from an Italian dialect in which mirage.” It can also be misleading ver- ravioli is the plural of raviolo, meaning biage: Jack asks, “Has the package ar- little turnip. rived?” Jill replies, “Not really.” All she Inasmuch as people do not commonly may mean is no, but the response can buy, cook, or even eat just one of them, sound equivocal. the singular is not needed often. If it is See also FACT, 4 (reality, in reality, needed, a piece of ravioli is preferable to etc.). “a ravioli.” Spaghetti, a plural word, should be treated similarly. REALTOR, REALTY. Realtor is pronounced REE-ul-tur. Realty is pro- RAZE. See DEMOLISH. nounced REE-ul-tee. In the three quotations, from television and telephone, REALLY. The adverb really deserves those words are transcribed as heard: respect. It has a real meaning: actually, in “We lobbied the Board of REAL-a- fact, in reality, in truth. Instead, it was turs.” / “Today REAL-a-tur Bill Adams treated as an empty locution in a Sunday has more business than he can handle.” / travel article about a place in Thailand. “Hello, this is Carl ——— of ——— REAL-a-tee.” It’s another world really—a misty, A Realtor is a particular type of real mountainous and mysterious land of estate broker, one who is an active mem- hill tribes, rice paddies, superb arti- ber of a real estate board affiliated with sans, opium, flowers and beautiful the National Association of Real Estate women even Thais find remote and Boards. enchanting. As a trademark, Realtor ought to be Adding “really” to an obviously untrue capitalized, although some dictionaries statement ruined what would have been and newspapers give it in lower case. Of- a passable metaphor. Another world ten we do not know whether a writer or really is a quarter-million miles away at speaker is using the designation the strict the closest and not yet a topic for travel way or loosely as a synonym for real es- writers. Besides, is any of the enumer- tate broker. The difference can be signifi- ated features too exotic for the world we cant, inasmuch as an objective of the all know? (See also PADDY.) association is the protection of the public Informally, really can substitute for in- from dishonest practices. 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 360

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Taken from the noun realty, meaning Omitting “the reason . . . is” from that real estate, or landed property, Realtor sentence (rather than inserting another was coined by C. D. Chadbourn, of that) is best. “. . . They have been taught Minneapolis, and adopted by the associ- that so few Germans intervened . . . be- ation in 1916. cause. . . . ” (The colon is unnecessary.)

REASON. 1. Adding “BECAUSE.” 2. The reason the prominent land-use Other redundancies. 3. “SIMPLE . . .”; lawyer withdrew . . . was because of “IT STANDS TO. . . . ” 4. Superﬂuous his potential conﬂict of interest. “REASONS”? Leave out either “because of” or “The 1. Adding “BECAUSE” reason . . . was.” The latter correction Because means for the reason that. begins, “The prominent land-use lawyer “The reason is [or “was”] because . . .” withdrew . . . because of. . . . ” says, in effect, “The reason is [or “was”] for the reason that. . . . ” Four newspa- The main reason the tabloids no pers provide six examples. longer deal with . . . disturbing subjects is because 90 percent of those The third reason for doubting re- buying the tabloids are women. . . . ports of successes is because changes in the way cancers are recorded may “The main reason . . . is that . . .” or be exaggerating the apparent gains in “The tabloids no longer deal with . . . survival rates. disturbing subjects mainly because. . . . ” President Bush said during his cam- She said one reason that Sonrise paign for reelection: wanted to list her as the general manager was because she is a woman. The reason we’re going to win is because the American people have a In that pair, change each “because” to clear choice. . . . that: “The third reason . . . is that changes . . .” / “. . . One reason . . . was He was wrong—in the way he said it that she. . . . ” and also, as it turned out, in what he said. The reason she no longer smokes it, See also BECAUSE. she said, is because as a lawyer in the public eye the penalties against her 2. Other redundancies would be complicated by political Why primarily means for what reason considerations. or the reason for which. Therefore a case can be made against pairing “reason” Either change “because” to that or leave with why. It is like saying “the reason for out “the reason . . . is.” The latter correc- the reason for which.” An example tion begins, “She no longer smokes it, comes from a television forum. she said, because. . . . ” That’s one of the reasons why Dole . . . They have been taught: that the might have plateaued out a bit. reason so few Germans intervened to stop the Holocaust is because the vast “Why” can be replaced with that: “That’s majority of Germany [sic] knew noth- one of the reasons that Dole. . . . ” ing about it. Often there is a choice. If you prefer 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 361

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to use the reason, it can be accompanied Nor can we read any Indo- by that. “What is the reason that you European writings, for the simple rea- sent me a new bill?” (not “the reason son that not a scrap exists. why”). / “Tell me the reason that she left so soon” (not “the reason why”). If you Although the explanation is “simple” in prefer to use why, “the reason” has no its brevity, the fact presented may not be place: “Why did you send me a new obvious to the reader. Later the book bill?” / “Tell me why she left so soon.” says: Dictionaries differ on this point, and so do grammarians. While some consider English grammar is so complex and “the reason why” redundant, some oth- confusing for the one very simple rea- ers call it an accepted colloquialism with son that its rules and terminology are a long history. But inasmuch as the phrase based on Latin—a language with is not essential to the expression of any which it has precious little in com- thought, it can easily be discarded (except mon. in quoting those who have used it). In his poem “The Charge of the Light This time the reason, though twice as Brigade,” Alfred Lord Tennyson may long as the last one, is “very simple”; but have unwittingly encouraged the use of the information is no more obvious. the phrase by writing: “Theirs not to Another dubious expression is “It make reply, / Theirs not to reason why, / stands to reason.” With “that” added, it Theirs but to do and die.” Note that he introduces the writer’s or the speaker’s used reason as a verb, meaning to think opinion. It will sit well with the readers through logically; not in the question- who agree with the opinion. To others, it able way, as a noun, meaning explana- can appear arrogant. tion or justification. See also OF COURSE, 3. “The reason why . . . is because” compounds the redundancy. Example: “The 4. Superfluous “REASONS”? reason why I can’t go to work today is “I am resigning for personal reasons” because of my back injury.” Omit “The is a satisfactory sentence. reason why” and “is.” “The staff is being reduced for econ- Other redundant “reason” phrases omy reasons” is less satisfactory. Unlike are “the reason is due to” and “the rea- personal, an adjective, economy is a son is on account of.” Examples: “The noun; and although a noun can serve as reason for the price increase is due to an adjective if it has to, “for reasons of higher costs” (omit either “The reason economy” would be a more normal ex- for” or “due to”) and “The reason that pression. Moreover, reasons is not essen- the game was called was on account of tial; the sentence makes sense without it. rain” (omit either “The reason that . . . A comparable example: “We are was” or “on account of”). keeping this information confidential for national security reasons.” Better: 3. “SIMPLE . . .”; “IT STANDS TO . . . ” “. . . for reasons of national security.” “For the simple reason that” is a ques- Still better: “. . . for national security.” tionable phrase. It may be unnecessary (Our concern here is only style, not sub- for those who find the reason obviously stance.) simple. Yet the “simple” can offend someone who did not know the reason, REBUT and REFUTE. To rebut is implying “You’re a dope for not know- to oppose a statement or argument with ing this.” A book on language says: contrary evidence or argument. “The 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 362

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chair will allow the lady five minutes to Reflexive pronouns. See Pronouns, rebut the gentleman’s statement.” Using 3, 4, 5. rebut (verb, transitive and intransitive; pronounced rih-BUT) does not imply a REFLEX, REFLEXIVELY. See IN- judgment of who is right or wrong. STINCT. To refute something is to prove it wrong or false. “The Ptolemaic theory of RE-FORM and REFORM. See Punc- Earth as the stationary center of the uni- tuation, 4D. verse was refuted by Copernicus and Galileo.” Using refute (verb, transitive; REFUTE. See REBUT and REFUTE. pronounced rih-FYOOT) declares in effect that the original statement, belief, or REGARDLESS. When we consider allegation has been proven wrong or that generations of teachers have been false. An almanac misused the word: instructing youngsters that regardless is correct and “irregardless” is incorrect, The “character issue” stemmed from even illiterate, it is somewhat surprising allegations of infidelity, which Clinton to find an occasional educated person ultimately refuted in a television inter- using the substandard word. view in which he and Hillary avowed A physician said on a television news their relationship was solid. program, “We’re obligated to do that biopsy irregardless of the physical find- It may reasonably be said that he rebut- ings.” Of course regardless was the word ted the allegations but not that he “re- to use. futed” them. In that interview, he denied A minister said on a radio talk show, a woman’s statement that they had en- about a sectarian movement in the news, gaged in an affair. Six years later, in “We have to voice our opinion, irregard- sworn testimony, he admitted having less of some of the positive things that had an affair with the woman. are going on.” Regardless. “Irregardless” should be shunned for RECOMMIT. See COMMIT. good reason. It has two negatives. The prefix, “ir-,” tends to cancel out the suf- RECORD. “You’re well on your way fix, “-less.” See Double negative. today to setting new records,” a televi- Nowadays regardless is commonly sion quizmaster told three contestants, used as an adverb. Often, with of follow- who had amassed substantial scores. ing, it means without regard for or in If records will be set, we can assume spite of. This sentence is typical: “I will they will be “new” records. One might have it regardless of the high cost.” It speak of a new record when comparing would not be wrong to end that sentence it with an old record. with regardless if the high cost was un- “All-time record” is often redundant, derstood from the context. although it might be apt in contrast Regardless as an adjective is found in with, say, “a modern-day record” or “a old literature. It might mean showing no record for the century.” regard, heedless, or careless; for example, “With a book he was regardless of RE-CREATION and RECRE- time” (Pride and Prejudice by Jane ATION. See Punctuation, 4D. Austen). It might also mean paid no regard, that is, no notice or attention; or REDUNDANCY, REDUNDANT. shown no regard in the sense of consid- See Tautology. eration or respect. 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 363

remuneration and renumeration 363

REGULATION, STATUTE, and RELATE. To relate, as a transitive LAW. Although a governmental regu- verb, is to tell (“She related an anec- lation and a statute both have the force dote”) or to bring into a reasonable as- of law, they should not be confused, as sociation (“He related ancient history to they were in an article: current events”). As an intransitive verb meaning to ...A Federal Communications have a connection or relationship (to Commission regulation . . . says any- something), relate goes back about four one in a region where an area code centuries. (“The critic eye . . . examines overlay exists is required to dial the bit by bit: How parts relate to parts, or area code for all local calls. . . . It is they to whole”—Pope.) What is rather not surprising that Nynex is itself new, and questionable, is the popular seeking relief from an onerous statute. adoption of a jargonistic use of the intransitive relate. To psychologists and If it is an FCC regulation, it is not a social workers, it has meant to get along, statute. The first is a rule issued by a interact, have similar ideas, and so on. public administrative agency. The sec- (“Alice does not relate well with her ond is a law enacted by Congress or a classmates.”) state legislature and approved by the A newspaper column described an er- president or a governor. A statute may roneous change made in an author’s present the basic principles of a law and work and commented, “Not pointing leave the fine details—regulations—to a any fingers, but your columnist can re- particular agency. late.” To end there, without indicating The Food and Drug Administration the relationship, is to be parsimonious adopted a regulation (to be enforced by with information. states) that required identification for to- REMAP. To map an area, feature, or bacco purchasers looking younger than journey is to represent it or chart it on a twenty-seven. A newspaper reported the map. To remap it is to map it again. It is news without telling of a new regulation. a word that the general public has little The text called it an FDA “crackdown.” need for. Headline writers need it as a The headline said, “Teen Smokers Strike synonym for reapportion or reappor- Out Under New Law.” Neither was tionment. wrong in essence, but neither was pre- It has slopped over into the bodies of cise. articles. A political report said state sen- To speak of a law is customarily to ators of one party wanted “to keep the speak of a statute, rather than a regula- legislative primary in June, when the tion. There are both federal and state new remap plan would be ready” (rather laws; a municipal law is called an ordi- than switch to March and run in old dis- nance. tricts, favoring the other party). Law or the law may be used in a gen- Except for headlines, there is no ex- eral sense to mean the official rules that cuse for remap instead of reappor- govern people. The law of the United tion(ment). The two are not the same; as States consists of the Constitution, acts any cartographer knows, changing a of Congress, treaties, and court rulings. map need have nothing to do with The law of each state is its constitution, changing the distribution of legislative legislative acts, and court rulings. seats. Regulation may be used in a general sense to mean governmental direction or REMUNERATION and RENU- control (e.g., “regulation of utilities”). MERATION. During an investiga- 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 364

364 repetition and its avoidance

tion of political favoritism in a federal that Mr. Graham teaches boys and Miss department, a congressman asked a for- Harrison teaches girls. Without respec- mer subordinate of the secretary of tively one could suppose that each housing and urban development: “Are teacher teaches both boys and girls. Re- you saying or are you not saying that spectively indicates that each one in a se- you think he received renumeration in ries pertains, in the same order, to a any way, financial?” (Answer: not say- particular one in another series. ing.) It was the wrong noun. In a column on presidential politics, Remuneration, pronounced re- two series that are supposed to jibe “re- myoon-uh-RAY-shun, is compensation, spectively” do not: reward, or pay for work, service, loss, etc. A related adjective, remunerative, Earlier, senators Estes Kefauver and means providing remuneration, prof- Eugene McCarthy and Robert Ken- itable. Think of money. nedy helped retire Harry Truman and Renumeration, re-new-muh-RAY- Lyndon Johnson, respectively, with shun, a word that is seldom used except primary fights. by mistake, means a new numeration. A numeration is a numbering, counting, or The first series contains three names. The calculation, or a system of numbering. second series contains only two. Those Think of numbers. who are not versed in the appropriate political history cannot know how to Repetition and its avoidance. See match them. The sentence should have Ellipsis; FORMER; IS IS; LATTER; been reworded, without “respectively,” Numbers, 1; ONE OF, 2; Pronouns, 1; perhaps like this: SAID; Series errors, 1, 6; Synonymic silliness; Tautology; THAT and WHICH, 3; Earlier, Senator Estes Kefauver helped Twins, 2; Verbs, 4, 5; WHICH, 2; WHO, retire Harry Truman with a primary 2; WITH, 1. fight, and Senators Eugene McCarthy and Robert Kennedy did the same to REPORT, REPORTED, REPORT- Lyndon Johnson. EDLY. See ACCUSED, ALLEGED (etc.). The sentence below would make sense without respectively. It makes no RESPECTABLE and RESPECT- sense with it. FUL. In a network telecast from New Hampshire, a news reporter said, “The The first quarter and third quarter re- Cuomo campaign has got to break into spectively are the best seasons for tele- the double digits to be respectful.” The vision response, just as they are for last word should have been the adjective print and mail. respectable meaning worthy of respect or having a good reputation. What the author (of a book on market- The other adjective, respectful, means ing) meant to convey is obscure. The showing or characterized by respect or quarters seem to be equated. deference. “The boy was respectful to Nor does respective serve any clear his elders.” function in the next sentence, uttered by a mayor. RESPECTIVE, RESPECTIVELY. Respectively is useful in this sentence: This is a private-public partnership, “Mr. Graham and Miss Harrison teach benefits to flow to each one of the re- boys and girls respectively.” It tells us spective parties. 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 365

reverend 365

Writers sometimes use respectively the names of public officials. Neither (adverb) or respective (adjective) when word is properly a noun. Just as a public the respectiveness is obvious: “Michael official is not an “honorable,” a clergy- and Alice will play the parts of Romeo man is not a “reverend.” (See also and Juliet respectively.” / “The ambas- HONORABLE, HONORARY, HON- sadors from Britain and France returned ORED, 1.) A magazine and a newspaper to their respective countries.” were wrong: Examples of more informative use: “Mr. and Mrs. Palmer serve as the chair- The reverend spoke only for a mo- man and treasurer respectively.” / “The ment. . . . But the reverend himself in- two defense attorneys are conferring sists the young candidate . . . is now with their respective clients” (not collec- on his own. tively). The only person who offered him any RESTAURATEUR. A restaurant re- help was a big-bellied reverend. . . . viewer on the radio described two men The New York Post ran a front-page as “a wonderful restauranteur” and “a photograph of the roly-poly reverend legendary restauranteur”; a column and under a hair dryer. a news story each told of misfortune be- falling a “restauranteur”; a national quiz Call him a churchman, a clergyman, a show flashed a query about a “RESTAU- cleric, an ecclesiastic, a minister, a pastor, RANTEUR” on the video screen; and a a preacher, a priest (if he is Catholic or radio announcer invited listeners to call Episcopal), or any of several other desig- in questions on “restaurants and restau- nations, depending on his faith, but do ranteers.” All slipped. not call him a “reverend” if you want to A person who owns or manages a be proper. restaurant is not a “restauranteur” or In referring to him, use Reverend or, “restauranteer” but a restaurateur, with- better, the Reverend, only with a full out n. Some dictionaries condone the name or title; for example, the Reverend first misspelling as a variant, but the style Joseph Cole, not “the Reverend Cole.” manuals of The Associated Press and We would not speak of a senator as “the The New York Times permit no n. Honorable Adams,” nor would we ad- Restaurateur comes unchanged from dress him as “Honorable Adams.” In French. It originated in the Latin for rewriting, the Rev. may be used as an ab- store. breviation. After the first mention, it is correct to Restrictive clause. See THAT and use the Reverend (or the Rev.) Mr. Cole WHICH. or the Reverend Dr. Jones (if he is a doctor of divinity) or simply Mr. Cole or Dr. REVENGE and AVENGE. See Jones, for instance. He may be addressed Confusing pairs. as Mr. or Dr. Some clergymen may be referred to and addressed as, e.g., Father REVEREND. Mister is a title, a Williams or Pastor Robinson. noun. Reverend is a description, an ad- It was improper to say that “the Rev- jective meaning worthy of reverence. Of erend Jackson has been able to broaden course, not all clerics are so worthy, but his base” or to write that “he disputed we traditionally give them the benefit of the time frame recalled by the Reverend the doubt. Sparks. . . . ” Correction: “the Reverend Reverend is comparable to the Hon- Mr. Jackson” and “the Reverend Mr. orable (or Hon.) that is often affixed to Sparks.” Another correct way is exem- 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 366

366 reversal of meaning

plified by a New York Times article that The sentence affirms a “right to be de- referred to “The Rev. Jesse Jackson” the prived of liberty.” To invoke the Fifth first time and “Mr. Jackson” the next and Fourteenth Amendments, insert not seven times. before “to be deprived.” The television interviewers and mod- A court of appeals reversed a decision erators addressing “Reverend Jackson” in a civil case, and then a newspaper re- know not what they do. What is wrong versed the appellate decision by leaving with “Mr. Jackson”? The minister who out one word: tells us, “I’m Reverend Brown,” instead of, “I’m Mr. Brown, the minister,” or In finding that The Post did commit “I’m Pastor Brown,” lacks both humility libel, the court rejected a number of and (worse yet) verbal propriety. arguments raised by Mr. Tavoular- It distressed a pastor’s wife that eas’s lawyers. people addressed him too informally in their correspondence. She wrote to a “Did commit” should be “did not com- syndicated etiquette columnist, who admit. . . . ” (The mistake was not crucial, vised using note cards printed with the inasmuch as the headline and lead para- heading “The Reverend and Mrs. graph summarized the decision. See also William Smith.” But that would be NOT, 1F.) wrong, for Mr. Smith’s title would then In a statement attributed to an Egyp- be left out. “The Reverend Mr. and Mrs. tian official, a positive form is mistaken William Smith” or “Pastor and Mrs. for a negative form. He promotes popu- William Smith” would suit a letterhead. lation control, but some citizens are une- Being an adjective, Reverend properly ducated: has no plural, unlike the noun Mister or Mr., whose plural is Messrs. Disregard “Revs. Brown and Smith.” “So what I propagate falls on deaf ears. . . . We have a problem with the Reversal of meaning. 1. Negatives. literate and semi-literate.” 2. Other examples. 3. Reasons. The quotation has him saying in effect 1. Negatives that those who read and write pose a Sometimes a writer, speaker, or editor problem. No doubt “literate” should be does not say what he intended to say. He illiterate. The speaker may have had dif- may say the very opposite. ficulty expressing himself in English. The Negatives—too many or too few—are reporter could well have paraphrased among the sources of danger. the statement and corrected it, unless the A news agency’s dispatch from Cleve- error escaped him too. land, about an indictment of guardsmen That a reporter quoted someone accu- in an infamous case, appeared this way rately is no excuse for the publication of in print: a topsy-turvy statement. Regardless of origin, it reflects on both the quoter and The grand jury charged the eight the quoted. defendants willfully assaulted and in- If one is not careful, something and timidated the student demonstrators nothing can be confused. A radio physi- by firing weapons in their direction, cian said that anyone with back trouble violating their constitutional right to should have a physician diagnose it be- be deprived of liberty without due fore seeking “alternative” treatment, be- process of law. cause infrequently the back reflects 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 367

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serious disease, like cancer. He asked more negatives in a sentence is treated in rhetorically: Double negative, 2. These are some other hazards: Isn’t that why you go to a doctor, to make sure that small chance that it’s • “And” instead of but following a nothing awful? negative. See BUT, 1. • As with a negative. See AS, 4. The simplest correction would replace • But with “that” or with a negative. “small” with large or good. Better: See BUT, 2, 3. “. . . to exclude that small chance that • Not with another negative, e.g., not it’s something awful?” or un-. See NOT, 1G; PROOF- The next sentence was part of a stock READ, PROOFREADING. market report on the radio: • Which used vaguely following a negative. See WHICH, 1. No one appeared panicky, predicting this is just a small glitch in a bull mar- 2. Other examples ket. A congressman is indirectly quoted here on the subject of drugs in public No one is the subject of both appeared housing projects. (verb) and predicting (present participle). The speaker literally reported “No However, Representative Charles one . . . predicting. . . . ” Better: “No one B. Rangel . . . said many drug dealers appeared panicky. The prevailing view were known to the tenants but were was that. . . . ” (Aside from the problem intimidated by them. of the negative subject, “predicting this is” is dubious. To predict is to foresee the As published, the statement says the future, not to describe the present.) drug dealers were intimidated by the ten- The ﬁnal example in this section is a ants. Changing the end of the sentence rhetorical blunder by Mayor Richard yields a more plausible message: Daley of Chicago. After a riot near the “. . . but intimidated them” or “. . . but Democratic national convention, he held the tenants were intimidated by them.” a press conference to defend the police A newspaper headline said, “Assem- against allegations of brutality toward bly barely defeats bill easing water pollu- protesters. tion.” In announcing that a majority of state assemblymen had declined to alle- The confrontation was not created by viate water pollution, the headline re- the police. The confrontation was cre- versed the meaning of the news story ated by the people who charged the underneath it. The defeated bill would police. Gentlemen, get the thing have relaxed a statute against polluters straight, once and for all. The police- of state waterways. “Assembly barely man isn’t there to create disorder. The defeats bill to ease pollution law” would policeman is there to preserve disor- have been accurate (and ﬁt the space der. available for the headline). This sentence was part of a report He probably wanted to say “preserve or- from Jerusalem credited to a news der.” Instead he emphasized the wrong agency: word and repeated the negative “dis-.” The possibility of reversing one’s Arafat was also angered by Ne- meaning inadvertently by using two or tanyahu’s refusal so far to meet him 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 368

368 reverse

and to place Israeli troops in Hebron, lessness, haste, inattention, lack of the only West Bank Town still under thought, misunderstanding, or a mis- occupation. chievous goblin? The first section deals with trouble- If the Israeli prime minister had refused some negatives. The second displays to place troops in Hebron, would the three patterns. First, a passive verb is Palestinian leader object? Following confused with an active verb. Then a “and” with decision would make the crucial noun is left out: law or decision. statement true. Last, ignorance of the views of a person- To write a headline saying “Cuomo age, Buckley or Dole, is displayed. Can Blame America’s New Slavery On Some comparable sources of trouble the Republicans’ Neglect of the Poor,” and the titles of entries that deal with an editor probably had to be (1) igno- them are listed below. rant of who William F. Buckley was and (2) unable to grasp irony and mockery. • Expressions open to opposite (Let us charitably discount the possibil- interpretations. Ellipsis; FORWARD ity of bias.) In answering a pro- and BACK (time); GO OFF and GO Democratic speech delivered at ON; GREAT; SCAN. Gettysburg, Buckley asked rhetorically • Pairs with opposite meanings. See in a column: Confusing pairs (energize and enervate, hyper- and hypo-, and Whose fault is the new slavery? sanction and sanctions); You guessed it: It is the fault of the Re- DISINGENUOUS and publican Party. From which it follows, INGENUOUS; EMIGRATE and does it not, that if Abe Lincoln were IMMIGRATE; PRESCRIBE and alive today, he would be a Democrat? PROSCRIBE. After stating the neglect-of-the-poor • Misunderstood terms. See charges, most of the column presented CREDITOR and DEBTOR; WILLY- statistics meant to show the poor im- NILLY; WITH PREJUDICE and proving economically. Changing “Can” WITHOUT PREJUDICE. to Can’t and putting quotation marks • Misused tense. See Tense, 5E. around “New Slavery” would have • Special cases. See Series errors, 2 patched up the headline. But proper por- (end); ZERO IN. trayal of the columnist’s views required a rewrite, such as this: “Poor People Are Ambiguity and misunderstanding are Faring Better, Despite Cuomo’s ‘New treated in many other entries. Consult Slavery’ Talk.” the cross-reference Ambiguity. Television showed a demonstration against Senator Dole during his presi- REVERSE. See Verbs, 1C. dential election campaign. A newscaster said the protesters objected to “Dole’s REVERT. This verb (intransitive) backing of a ban on assault rifles.” A means to turn backward, figuratively. Its factually correct version would have grandfather was the Latin revertere, a been “Dole’s backing of a bill to repeal product of re-, back, and vertere, turn. the ban on assault rifles.” Back is implied in revert. To revert to old ways, a former belief, a past situation, or 3. Reasons a topic that came up before is to go back To offer a general explanation for to it. In law, revert applies to property or such reversals would be guessing. Are money; it means to go back to a former they caused by absent-mindedness, care- owner. 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 369

romance language 369

In television programs, a member of a overthrow that is sudden, unexpected, panel and an interviewer had these ques- and brought about by a small military tions: “What’s going to happen when group; and putsch (pronounced some- Hong Kong reverts back to China?” thing like push but with a t in the mid- And when youths go home to hostile dle), an attempted coup d’état. lands after camping together, “Don’t they simply revert back to who they RHETORICAL QUESTION. See were?” Revert(s) without “back” would Punctuation, 9. have been enough each time. RH FACTOR. See FACTOR. REVOLT and REVOLUTION. When Boris Yeltsin ordered the Russian RHINOCEROS. See Plurals and sin- parliament disbanded, some members gulars, 1; Series errors, 5. and sympathizers rebelled and were crushed by forces loyal to Yeltsin. A “RICE PADDY.” See PADDY. newspaper’s main headline read, “Bloody end to latest revolution in Rus- RIGHT confused with WRITE. sia.” See Homophones. “Revolution” was the wrong word. A revolution is an overthrow of a political “RINGING OFF THE HOOK.” system, or a forcible replacement of a These press excerpts all raise the same ruler or ruling group, or the seizure of question: “. . . His phone was ringing off power by a militant group, in each case the hook.” / “. . . Bugakov’s telephone by forces within the country involved. was ringing off the hook with congratu- (In a broader sense, any great social lations.” / “Businesses have been ringing change may be called a revolution; for the phone off the hook to inquire. . . . ” / example, the industrial revolution.) The “Her telephone was ringing off the hook French Revolution, the American Revo- yesterday with inquiries from journal- lution, the Russian Revolution (in ists. . . . ” / “And the phones rang off the 1917)—those were indeed revolutions. hook at CBS.” Power was seized; the old regimes were How can a phone ring when it is off overthrown; new governments were set the hook? up. In Russia in 1993, rebels failed in RIVET. See Spelling, 1; UNIQUE. their attempt to overthrow Yelsin’s rule, therefore no “revolution” took place. To ROBBERY. See Crimes, 3. be sure, there was a revolt, a rebellion, an insurrection, an uprising. Each noun ROLE and ROLL. See Homo- denotes a violent attempt to overthrow phones. a government. (Those terms, most commonly revolt, are used at times to ROMANCE LANGUAGE. The describe nonviolent opposition move- host of a television program of inter- ments. “California’s Proposition 13 rep- views dealing with romantic encounters resented a revolt by taxpayers.”) Of was talking about the French language. course, any such violent attempt at an “It’s a very romantic language, French, overthrow may succeed; at that point the Spanish, and all those romantic lan- revolt, rebellion, etc. may be called a rev- guages,” he said, confused. French and olution. Spanish—along with Italian, Portuguese, Two related words are coup d’état Rumanian, and several regional tongues (pronounced coo-day-TAH), a violent —are known as Romance languages. 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 370

370 round up and roundup

Romance language has nothing to do would be an acceptable metaphor. An al- with romance or any romantic quality of ternative to ruin in the more abstract these languages. It has to do with their sense is ruination. Roman origin. They all came mainly Ruin is pronounced either ROO-in or from Latin. English adopted its adjective ROO-n. Romance from the French romance, See also DEMOLISH. meaning the Roman language. RULE, RULING. In a legal sense, to ROUND UP and ROUNDUP. rule is to decide judicially, and a ruling is When cowboys round up cattle, they an official decision by a court or judge or bring the animals together in a herd. an authorized body. The words are used Round up in two words is a verb. inappropriately in the excerpts below. The process or act of herding the cat- This is from a daily newspaper: tle is a roundup. (In ranching, the herded cattle also are called a roundup, and so The city attorney ruled that the are the cowboys and horses used in the council could not be bound in the fu- process.) Roundup in one word is a ture by its current intent to put char- noun. ter reform on the . . . ballot. The terms are not limited to ranch activity. The police may round up suspects. A weekly in another city asked whether Legislators may be rounded up for vot- the city attorney there would ing. Any act of rounding up animals or people could be called a roundup. receive a vote of confidence despite his In writing a headline saying “Israelis recent high-handed . . . rulings?. . . . flatten guerrilla base; roundup Shiite [He] has ruled in seemingly contradic- males in Tyre,” a copy editor wrongly tory ways at various times. [And so chose the noun, “roundup,” instead of on. “Ruled” or “ruling(s)” appears the verb, round up. six more times.]

RUIN and RUINS. Ruins can usu- Unlike a judge, an attorney for either a ally be seen. They are the remains of public or private entity does not “rule” something that was built but now is de- or make “rulings.” He gives opinions. A stroyed or decayed. “They discovered court may rule otherwise. the ruins of an ancient temple.” / “The Some commissions rule too, but their temple is in ruins.” staffs do not. A dispatch by a news The singular, ruin, may describe the agency began loosely: same thing as ruins, that which is de- stroyed or decayed. “The town is now a The staff of the Federal Communi- ruin.” / “The mansion has gone to ruin.” cations Commission ruled in favor of Often, though, it is used in a more ab- CBS yesterday on a complaint by ﬁve stract sense. Ruin can refer to the cause major Protestant churches. . . . (“Fire was its ruin”) or to the action, condition, or process (“They witnessed The next paragraph summarized what the ruin of the economy”). was ﬁtly termed a “staff opinion.” The singular would have been more Rule (verb, transitive and intransitive) idiomatic in a column: “. . . Both [sena- can also mean to decree, govern, or tors] had good reputations[,] now on the dominate. verge of ruins.” Make it ruin. If the destruction were complete, “now in ruins” RUN and RAN. See Tense, 5A, B. 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 371

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RUN and STAND. One who seeks are illegitimately paired, neither separate to be elected to any governmental office nor properly joined. They should be ei- in the United States runs for election. In ther granted full independence as two the United Kingdom, one who seeks sovereign sentences or united by means election to office stands for election. Yet of due punctuation. A semicolon (;) or a a story in American newspapers said dash (—) would unite them properly. about Democrats in the Senate: Separated: “They build more than computers. They build relationships.” / . . . Several of their members who will “PLEASE HOLD ON. SUDDEN stand for re-election next year were STOPS NECESSARY.” (Better: “SUD- elected with the support of traditional DEN STOPS ARE NECESSARY.”) black liberals. Joined: “They build more than com- It would suit a British paper. The Ameri- puters; they build relationships.” Or can verb is run, not “stand.” Unless the “They build more than computers—they writer was new to the United States and build relationships.” A colon (:) could be unfamiliar with its idiom, her motivation used for punctuation instead. Any of for a usage so strange to American eyes those marks would fit the transit notice. and ears is obscure. See also Pronouns, 3. 2. Comma faults A common form of run-on (which RUN AWAY and RUNAWAY. A some classify as a separate defect) is the newspaper’s TV guide listed, among comma fault, also known as the comma scheduled programs, “Runaway With splice. It purports to make a comma the the Rich and Famous.” If the program punctuation between two independent had dealt with a child fleeing from home, clauses. A comma cannot handle the job. runaway (noun) might be right. How- It neither separates nor joins the two ever, inasmuch as the program urged clauses adequately. The first example is watchers to run away (verb), the two from a main news story: words should have been kept separate. In 1949 Gov. Alfred E. Driscoll, a RUN-OFF. See MAJORITY, 1. Republican, offered him a seat on the New Jersey Superior Court, he grate- Run-on sentence. 1. Classical run- fully accepted. ons. 2. Comma faults. One way to correct the example is to 1. Classical run-ons change the third comma to a period and A computer company climaxed a make the last three words a separate sen- magazine ad in this way: “They build tence. A second way is to change that more than computers they build rela- comma to a semicolon. A third way is to tionships.” substitute a conjunction, namely and. Signs throughout vehicles of a city’s Similarly, the comma is inadequate in transit system say, “PLEASE HOLD ON this snippet from a magazine article: SUDDEN STOPS NECESSARY.” Those are run-on sentences. A run-on Catholics didn’t sing, everyone knew sentence is like two (or more) sentences that. glued together, end to end. Each is an independent clause; that is, it has a subject Split it into two three-word sentences or and verb and could stand alone as an in- swap the comma for a semicolon or dependent sentence. Right now the two dash. 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 372

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The failure to stop a sentence properly This time, though, it is not the sin- can produce ambiguity: gle insect that is the Wonder, it is the collectivity. “I just can’t stand the noise, from seven in the morning until quitting Because the first thought leads into the time it’s driving me crazy,” said second, a colon would be an additional Dee. . . . option here. “. . . It is not the single insect that is the Wonder: it is the collectiv- Start a new sentence (or insert a semi- ity.” colon or dash) either after “noise” or af- The following excerpt is abridged, but ter “time.” It depends on which meaning the full sentence has fifty-two words and the speaker intended to express. five clauses, with four separable ideas. Anyone sensitive to English might ob- Why would the writer want to make it ject to being quoted faultily. A book edi- any more complex than it has to be? tor had the mixed fortune to be helped in publicizing one of her books but to be . . . She could not comment on any saddled with two comma faults in one specific cases, “but we have been article. working together for 14 months with the subcommittee, clearly we are concerned any time there is a allegation of . . . The news about astrology “is serious wrongdoing. . . . ” certainly the most titillating of this amazing account, that’s what whetted It should be “. . . with the subcommittee. the public appetite. . . . The Reagans Clearly we are concerned” etc. (And “a are noted for their skill in handling allegation” should be “an allegation.” the media, now their tactics are some- But whose error was it? See A and AN.) how being turned on them in the The final quotation is a translation of a media.” speech by a foreign leader:

A school principal could be displeased So let us develop democracy and by the comma fault (and the omission of glastnost, let us be attentive to the a second in?): needs of every nation and people, minorities included, let us ﬁnd the ways “I deal with kids in trouble, these of resolving their problems. . . . kids were not trouble.” Let us change the ﬁrst and third commas An extract from a book of essays is to semicolons. next. (Six other quotations are from a See also FOREVER; Punctuation, 2A, single, prominent newspaper.) 3A, 11A. 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 373

SAFE-DEPOSIT BOX. Deposits in lands), imposed on a particular feature this box are safe. So it is a safe-deposit to distinguish it from others of its kind. box, a metal box for storing valuables in It never had a special name. Sahara a vault. These press excerpts are wrong: means desert in Arabic. (Arabs stress the sa or ra, depending on regional dialect. Barlow would keep the certiﬁcates in We stress the ha.) a safety deposit box and turn them Inasmuch as most of us English over to the county for renewal. . . . speakers consider it just a name and few of us know Arabic, “Sahara Desert” should not offend many ears or eyes. No Police accidentally discovered that one seems to object to “Gobi Desert,” safety deposit boxes in a Lithuanian though gobi is a Mongolian term for a bank were stuffed with four tons of desert. But those who wish to be scrupu- radioactive material. . . . lous in referring to the Sahara—or the Gobi—may omit “Desert.” Similarly, Make it safe-, not “safety.” Safe (adjec- “River” and “Mountains” may be omit- tive) describes the deposit, not the box. ted from mentions of the Rio Grande The writers may have been thinking of and the Sierra Nevada in recognition of safety pin or safety belt, in which the Spanish terms. (Río: river. Sierra: “safety” (a noun serving as an adjective) rocky mountain range.) And “Mount” directly describes the hardware. need not preface Fujiyama, in Japan, though Mount Fuji will do. SAHARA. “When I awoke we were Sometimes sahara, in lower case, above the Sahara Desert,” an author means a desert in general: “If the soil is wrote. Another wrote, “. . . Imagine not cared for, fertile farm land can turn yourself engaged in an amateur archaeo- into a sahara.” Used in that way, sahara logical dig somewhere in the Sahara is certainly enough. Desert.” That is the popular name that See also DESERT and DESSERT. speakers of English give to the largest desert on earth, comprising 3.5 million SAID. As an adjective, meaning men- square miles in northern Africa. It is not tioned or named before (“said property” a serious lapse to use the phrase, though or “said witness”), it is legal jargon and some ﬁnd it redundant. should be restricted to legal or business Sahara is not a typical geographical documents. Synonyms are aforemen- name, like Bering (Sea) or Falkland (Is- tioned and aforesaid, formal words that

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374 sanction and sanctions

are a shade more usable in nonlegal con- (intransitive). To scold (verb, transitive texts. and intransitive), rhyming with told, is Nonlawyers use said as an adjective in to criticize adversely and angrily. the belief that they are being jocose. A A scald (noun) is an injury caused by columnist wrote, after quoting a literary scalding. A scold (noun) is one who passage: “This is a joke. However, said scolds often. joke did not survive the ministrations of the proofreaders. . . . ” The adjectival SCAN. Using and interpreting scan said had been classified as “WORN- (verb, transitive) requires caution, for it OUT HUMOUR” by H. W. Fowler has two contradictory meanings. Its some seventy years earlier. It can usually strict meaning is to examine closely, be replaced by the: “However, the carefully, and systematically; to scruti- joke. . . . ” nize. This is correct: As a verb, said, or say or says, is normally a good, unbiased word, an indis- Astronomers scanning the sky pensable tool of celebrated writers. Some through the Hubble Space Telescope writers, especially journalists, strive un- have detected and photographed an necessarily to avoid he said or she said or object far beyond our solar system the like by substituting such verbs as an- that appears to be a runaway giant nounce(d), assert(ed), aver(red), de- planet. . . . clare(d), disclose(d), maintain(ed), note(d), observe(d), report(ed), and A modern, popular meaning of scan is state(d). Each is a proper word when to look at or read quickly and superfi- chosen to express its particular meaning, cially: “I bought the paper, but I’ve only not arbitrarily as a synonym. Some sub- had time to scan the headlines.” That is stituted phrases may even suggest bias. one meaning of skim (verb, transitive See ACCORDING TO; FACT; POINT and intransitive). Perhaps whoever OUT. started using scan in that way was confusing the two words. SANCTION and SANCTIONS. Trouble can arise when the context See Confusing pairs. does not indicate which meaning of scan is intended: “Harris, scan this report and SARCASM, SATIRE. See IRONY tell me what you think of it.” Whether (etc.). the boss wants his employee to study the report or glance at it is not clear. SAVING and SAVINGS. See Con- The strict meaning of scan harmo- fusing pairs. nizes with a technical sense: to beam electrons, light, or sound in a systematic SAW and SEEN. See Tense, 5A. pattern for transmission, reproduction, or reflection. Scan also means to analyze SAY, SAYS. See SAID. the meter and rhythm of verse. That is the oldest sense of the word; pertinent SCALD and SCOLD. In a television quotations in The Oxford English Dic- program on rescues, a policeman told of tionary begin with one from 1398 using “a child who had been scolded by hot scanne. (In those last two senses, the water.” Sorry, Officer; you got it wrong. verb can be transitive or intransitive.) The child was scalded. The Oxford does not recognize the To scald (verb), rhyming with called, newer, popular use. Webster’s Third is to burn someone with hot water or does. Its two illustrations are “read sev- steam (transitive) or to be burned by it eral and scan the rest” / “scanned the 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 375

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film advertisements.” But could one not SEEN and SAW. See Tense, 5A. scrutinize film advertisements? “SELDOM EVER.” See (-)EVER, 6. SCARCELY. See THAN, 2E. SELECTION. See Verbs, 2. Scientific writing. See Active voice and passive voice. SELF- prefix. Hundreds of hyphenated words are formed with self-, a com- SCRIP and SCRIPT. See Confusing bining form that has to do with the pairs. self, oneself, or itself. A few legitimate examples are the nouns self-control, SEARCH AND SEIZURE. See self-defense, self-government, self- Warrant. preservation, and self-service; and the adjectives self-confident, self-conscious, SEASONABLE and SEASONAL. self-employed, self-reliant, and self- See Confusing pairs. taught. When pertaining to inanimate objects, as in self-cleaning, self-closing, SECOND. A second of time is a 60th self-locking, self-loading, and self- of a minute or a 3,600th part of an hour, sealing, the combining form means auto- strictly speaking. One learns not to take matic or by itself. that noun literally all the time, perhaps Self- is sometimes superfluous, after someone on the telephone has is- notwithstanding dictionary definitions. sued an order to “hold on a second.” It contributes nothing to the meaning Using the word for a moment, a short when a man is described as “a self- while, minutes, or hours can be absurd, confessed war criminal.” Omit “self-” particularly when a more exact unit of and see if anything is lost in self- time is specified. In a TV discussion, this collected, self-conceited, self-poise, was said: “Apparently at the last second, and many other combinations, some of hours before the [scheduled] announce- them absurd: “His clan elders [in Soma- ment, the president changed his mind” lia] . . . selected the same 33-year-old (about giving needles to drug addicts). son . . . to become the new president of The panelist would have done well with- Mr. Aidid’s self-proclaimed republic.” If out “at the last second.” it was proclaimed by Mr. Aidid, it was not “self-proclaimed,” i.e., proclaimed SEEING EYE. Seeing Eye is a trade- by itself. mark and therefore should be capitalized. Often it is not; a syndicated column -SELF, -SELVES endings. See Pro- refers vaguely to “an outfit that trained nouns, 3, 4, 5. seeing-eye dogs. . . . ” The only outfit that has ever trained SEMI- and BI- prefixes. See BI- and Seeing Eye dogs is The Seeing Eye, Inc., SEMI- prefixes. of Morristown, New Jersey. That institution is the best-known trainer of dogs to Semicolon. See Punctuation, 11. lead blind people. If a dog has been trained elsewhere for -S ending. See Plurals and singulars, the job or if you do not know whether 2A, K; Punctuation, 1G. such a dog is a Seeing Eye, then call it a guide dog or a dog guide or any doggone SENILE, SENILITY. A history book thing that describes it except “seeing-eye says of Samuel Adams, among the sign- dog.” ers of the Declaration of Independence, 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 376

376 sentence fragment

“He was fifty-four, an advanced age in Turning those phrases into complete sen- this group, near senility.” Whether the tences (e.g., “It is a lamentable day”) writing is cutely archaic or benightedly would weaken, not strengthen, them. out of date is hard to say, but the use of But most of Shakespeare’s writings ad- “senility” calls for discussion. here to the norms of English sentence Senior and seniority stem from the structure; and that is usually the best Latin senex, old. So do senile and senil- course for a writer, particularly in infor- ity, and in past centuries they merely mative prose. meant aged and old age; moreover, they In general, nonfiction writers should could be used approvingly: Writers re- strive to be clear, not to be literary. The ferred to “senile Maturity of Judge- information must flow smoothly from ment” (1661) and “vigorous senility” author to reader. An aborted sentence (1822). cuts off the flow. In the mid-nineteenth century, dis- Sometimes newspapers and more of- eases of lung, heart, and head began be- ten newscasters use pieces of sentences, ing prefixed with senile: for instance, either through slovenliness or intention- senile dementia. Eventually senile (adjec- ally for some kind of effect. The effect tive) and senility (noun) took on a pejo- usually is to hinder, not help, the reader rative cast, pertaining to the infirmities or listener. This is from a daily: thought to inevitably accompany old age, particularly mental incompetence. About a half-hour had passed Today it is known that different indi- when police finally noticed that the viduals age differently, that senility in the paddy wagon was empty. Except for a sense of mental deterioration is not an fifth guy who just sat there staring at inevitable concomitant of aging, that the hole. some so-called senile behaviors are re- versible, and that some younger people First we read that the wagon was suffer symptoms associated with aging empty—period. Then comes a sentence that some extremely aged individuals do fragment telling us, in effect, that the not. George Bernard Shaw and P. G. previous message was untrue. The two Wodehouse were writing plays and nov- pieces sorely need unification: “. . . the els respectively in their nineties. The co- paddy wagon was empty, except for. . . . ” median George Burns lived to 100 and Normally a complete sentence has was entertaining the country nearly to a subject (the doer of the action) and a the end. predicate (what the subject does). But a subject and predicate may not be enough to make sense. A pair of authors wrote Sentence fragment. 1. In writing. 2. in an instruction manual for a computer Verbless newscasts. program:

1. In writing Whereas the Exactly as typed option Isolated phrases can be effective at will save the word exactly as you in- times, particularly in belles-lettres and put it. Selecting Remove takes the dis- drama. This is from Romeo and Juliet: played word out of the dictionary.

O lamentable day! . . . O woful Again two pieces cry for union. The time! . . . Accursed, unhappy, opening fragment makes no sense alone; wretched, hateful day! . . . O woe! O the conjunction “whereas” indicates woful, woful, woful day! that a more or less contrasting passage 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 377

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will follow later in the sentence. Change murder three years ago, murdered him- the ﬁrst period to a comma and continue self in a Wisconsin prison.” The an- with “selecting. . . . ” nouncement was momentarily puzzling, A sentence fragment is also known as raising the question of how someone a phrase (particularly when it lacks a could murder himself. The newscaster subject or a predicate), an incomplete (or writer) had left out was or has been sentence, and a cut-short sentence. It is before “murdered”; it took over as an roughly the opposite of a run-on sen- active verb, creating an absurdity. tence. Whereas the writer of the run-on See also Punctuation, 2C (colons and does not know when to stop, it seems verbless writing). that the writer of the fragment does not know enough to go. (See Run-on sen- SENTIMENT and SENTIMEN- tence.) TALITY. See Confusing pairs.

2. Verbless newscasts Sequence of events. See Tense, 5B. Each of these four excerpts from radio newscasts has the same fault: “On Wall Series errors. 1. AND shortage. 2. Street the Dow Jones up. . . . ” / “An un- Confusion and distortion. 3. Inconsis- manned rocket set to lift off at the Cape tency, unrelated to conjunctions. 4. La- Canaveral Air Force station this beling. 5. Multiple paragraphs. 6. OR evening.” / “A Fairfield police officer shortage. 7. Punctuation. 8. Repeated clinging to life after five hours of conjunctions. 9. Superfluous word. surgery.” / “A hostage situation continuing in the San Bernardino area.” 1. AND shortage Each lacks a verb, at least an auxiliary. (See Verbs.) The thoughts as broad- A. Illogical shift cast are incomplete; listeners may be What is out of place in this series? A, thrown off track, prepared for such B, C, 4. Finding such a question on an completed sentences as these: “An un- intelligence test, most writers and editors manned rocket set to lift off at the Cape would have no problem with it. Yet we Canaveral Air Force station this evening constantly read or hear series just as il- has burned up”; or “A Fairfield police logical as that one. Take this sentence, officer clinging to life after five hours of from a syndicated column: surgery has lost his fight.” Numerous additional examples of sloppy, verbless She studied English, Yiddish, He- newscasting could be cited. brew, and married a man who had A simple is would rescue each of the money. four samples from fragmentation: “. . . The Dow Jones is up. . . . ” / “An That is typical. The writer enumerates a unmanned rocket is set. . . . ” / “A Fair- series of nouns (such as languages that field police officer is clinging. . . . ” / “A someone studied) and then—without hostage situation is continuing. . . . ” properly concluding the series—switches Other verbs could strengthen those abruptly to a verb (an action of hers). sentences: “the Dow Jones rose . . .”; the Sometimes a series of adjectives shifts to “rocket lifts off . . .”; the “officer clings a verb, or a series of verbs shifts to a to life . . .”; the “hostage situation con- clause, or a series is inconsistent in some tinues. . . . ” other way. A newscaster announced on a radio Let us define a series as an enumera- network: “Jeffrey Dahmer, convicted of tion, a list, or a set of grammatically 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 378

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equal words or phrases. (The plural enumerating punishments (nouns), then form of the word is the same: many se- switched to what a judge did (verb). To ries.) Within a sentence, a conjunction, keep the final part of the original sen- like and, commonly appears before the tence, the series of nouns must be duly final item in a series. When we read or concluded: “. . . 10 years in state prison listen to an enumeration of items, and and 18 months in county jail. . . . ” (See leads us to expect one more item. also ON, 1.) Thus, the sample sentence is corrected The derailment of a series ranks high in this way: “She studied English, Yid- among the most common errors found dish, and Hebrew and married. . . . ” in print. The main cause of it is the fear The added and ties the languages to- of repetition, even the repetition of so in- gether. They make up a series of nouns. offensive a word as and. The little con- More precisely, the nouns may be conjunction intimidates many writers. They sidered a subseries; the main series con- seem to think they are rationed to one sists of the verbs “studied” and and per sentence. Just what cataclysmic “married,” linked together by the sec- events do they think would ensue if they ond “and.” (The marriage part remains transgressed that limit? irrelevant, but at least the sentence now Repetition in the pursuit of clarity is is grammatical. The third comma be- no vice. The detriment from avoiding the comes superfluous.) and far outweighs any conceivable ad- This is a warning on cigarette pack- vantage. A disorderly series is as discom- ages: forting as an ill-fitting garment. What is worse: it can be confusing, as we will see Smoking Causes Lung Cancer, Heart in 2. Disease, Emphysema, And May Complicate Pregnancy. B. More shifts of nouns Four more examples of a nouns-to- The notice enumerates three maladies verb switch (from another prominent (nouns) that smoking causes. Seeing newspaper) follow below. The simplest “And,” we expect a fourth and last mal- way to repair the sentences is to replace ady, e.g., “Complications of Pregnancy.” each comma with and. Instead, the verb “May Complicate” appears. It can stay if we end the series of . . . He has brought shame to himself, nouns right: “. . . Heart Disease, And scandal to his industry and shattered Emphysema. . . . ” (Why All The Capi- the legend of a man whose financial tals?) skills seemed invincible. This is from a prominent newspaper: Mr. Itsuki . . . has sold 20 million State court Judge Lawrence Weiss singles, 4 million LP’s and has a Friday sentenced Mr. B—— to 10 15,000-member fan club. . . . years in state prison, 18 months in county jail and fined him more than . . . One must do 20 pull-ups with the $46,000. . . . feet never touching the ground, 80 sit- ups in two minutes with the feet held The “and” leads us to expect that one down and run three miles in 18 min- more comparable item will follow: utes. “. . . 10 years in state prison, 18 months in county jail, and a fine of more than Below we have a shift from one cate- $46,000. . . . ” The writer started out gory of nouns to another. “And” already 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 379

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appears twice. The thought of a third To correctly complete the enumera- may be too much for an and-fearing tion of things that the subject is or was, writer. insert and before “dull” in the example above; in the four below, replace each . . . The report was based on informa- comma with and. The and needed to tion from archives in the United connect the adjectives has nothing to do States, Yugoslavia and “submissions with the existing “and” that connects and documents provided by Mr. the verbs. Waldheim.” He was jobless, strapped for cash and The main series consists of “information owed $12,000 to friends and rela- from archives . . . and ‘submissions and tives. documents. . . . ’ ” Neither “and” has anything to do with the and needed in ...Ameche is charming, gracious and the subseries ensuing from “archives in.” still sports the pencil-thin moustache. The subseries is “the United States and . . . Yugoslavia.” Amid the 1,550 largely impeccable . . . It was modern, very well con- pages of a general dictionary, under past structed and enjoyed a panoramic Bay participle, we ﬁnd the sentence below, in view. . . . which a series of nouns shifts to a prepositional phrase. The meaning is clear, but The weapon is six inches long, bat- the lapse stands out in a dictionary that tery-powered and can deliver a charge normally is strong in matters of grammar. of up to 40,000 volts.

It is used as a verbal adjective in D. Skewed verb series phrases such as finished work, baked One phrase is out of place in this sen- beans, and with auxiliaries to form tence (from a New York newspaper): the passive voice or perfect and pluperfect tenses in constructions such as The House provisions would re- The work was finished and She had strict American nuclear tests, baked the beans. weapons production, ban anti- satellite tests in space and curb money Replace the first comma with and. The for the President’s ‘Star Wars’ research second comma may then be deleted. program. . . .

C. Shift of adjectives to verb The three verbs, “restrict . . . ban . . . curb,” all pertaining to “would,” are in- He’s capable, honest, intelligent, dull consistent with the noun “weapons pro- and tries too hard. duction.” The noun hangs there senselessly, although it was meant to per- That press example and the four below tain to “restrict.” Either insert a verb— display the same, incorrect form. There e.g., “hold back weapons production” is a series of two verbs: an auxiliary verb —or insert an and to complete the sub- (“is” or “was”) and an active verb (e.g., series “nuclear tests and weapons pro- “tries”). They are connected by “and.” duction.” In addition, “American” is The ﬁrst verb goes with a subseries of illogically applied to only one item; any- adjectives (“capable” etc.), which way it is unnecessary in a story about abruptly shifts to the second verb. bills in the American Congress. (The 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 380

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quotation marks around “Star Wars” to separate passive verbs from an active should be double. Single marks would be verb. right in a British publication. See Punctu- ation, 10.) He will make “Biko” . . . about the In each of the examples below (from controversial black leader (Steven the same newspaper and two books), an Biko) who was arrested, imprisoned enumeration of verbs abruptly shifts to and subsequently died in jail. an independent clause (that is, a part of a sentence that could be a sentence itself). “Was” applies only to “arrested and im- Place and in front of “pays” and “bank” prisoned.” The and needed to join that and the ﬁrst “put.” subseries of two passive verbs has nothing to do with the “and” linking it to the The job of mayor carries little in active verb, “died.” the way of patronage, pays only Verbs, 5, deals with a shortage of ob- $5,000 a year and the incumbent . . . jects, which may be accompanied by a is always under political pressure. shortage of conjunctions, in a verb series. To stay alive, you have to be able to hold out against equilibrium, main- 2. Confusion and distortion tain imbalance, bank against entropy, and you can only transact this busi- It [epinephrine] is employed therapeu- ness with membranes in our kind of tically as a vasoconstrictor, cardiac world. stimulant, and to relax bronchioles.

He [Johnson] read these [books], un- If a lay reader of that excerpt from a derlined words, put initials in the medical dictionary concludes that two margins as cues, and his copyists put purposes for the drug have been enumer- the words and the sentences in which ated, it is understandable. The writer they occurred on slips of papers. should have replaced the first comma with and, omitting the second comma. Again, the single “and” is not enough. Using a comma instead of a needed con- Its only function is to connect the inde- junction can make it appear that the sec- pendent clause (beginning “the incum- ond item is part of or explaining the first bent is” or “you can only transact” or when it is really separate from the first. “and his copyists put”) to the rest of the In the next quotation, the lack of an sentence. Another and is still needed to and in the right place distorts the mean- complete the series of things that “the ing. The phrases in question are all job of mayor” does or that “you have to nouns. be able to” do or that Johnson did. The next sentence begins enumerating Without mentioning Democratic pres- verbs and suddenly shifts to nouns: idential nominee Michael Dukakis by name, Bush attacked his opponent’s . . . The metal can damage the central lack of foreign policy experience, op- nervous system, cause hearing loss, position to a missile defense program lowered intelligence, and irritabil- and U.S. aid for anti-communist in- ity. . . . surgencies, such as the Nicaraguan Contras. The main series comprises “damage . . . and cause. . . . ” By logic and grammar, the sentence The final example in this section fails seems to be saying that Bush attacked 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 381

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Dukakis’s aid for insurgencies. One who Terminology may vary slightly, but had not been following the issues could the news dimensions/attributes are have so concluded with good reason. Af- generally agreed to be timeliness, ter all, a conjunction heralds the end of a proximity, prominence, impact, con- series, and here is an and just before the flict, magnitude, oddity and visual. last of three grammatically equal items, all apparently coming under “his oppo- Following seven nouns, from timeliness nent’s.” Actually, there are only two to oddity, the adjective “visual” is out of main items: (1) “Lack of foreign policy place. Instead, a noun, such as color or experience” and (2) “opposition to a pictorialness (or whatever the writer had missile defense program and U.S. aid. . . . ” in mind) would have been appropriate. Place and between those two main items See also 5. to rescue the sentence. For extra clarity, you could elaborate: e.g., “and 4. Labeling Dukakis’s opposition both to a missile It should be unnecessary to point out defense program and to U.S. aid. . . . ” that when a series is numbered (1, 2, 3, The next example is inconsistent in etc.) or lettered (A, B, C, etc.), the same more than one way. In attempting to system must be followed throughout. avoid repetition at all costs, the writer Yet here is what a TV network news became mired in confusion. man said on a radio talk show; he was stating his objections to Republican ef- Between 1983 and 1985, the town forts in Congress to balance the federal fined Ocean Spray $7,800, $6,600 in budget: 1986 and will receive a a bill for $10,000 for 1987. A, they’re moving too fast; and second, they’re meddling in social issues. A correct sentence could say: “The town fined Ocean Spray $7,800 between 1983 5. Multiple paragraphs and 1985 and $6,600 in 1986 and will Sometimes the items in a series are give the company a bill of $10,000 for listed in separate paragraphs. When they 1987.” Presumably that is the meaning. are, no conjunction is needed. A mark The context provides no reason for the precedes each paragraph, unless a num- town’s giving the company money. Fur- ber or letter precedes it; the mark usually thermore, starting the sentence with the is a bullet, a black circle or square. The phrase “Between 1983 and 1985” leads example below, from an article, is defec- one to expect that it will carry over to tive. other parts of the sentence. “The town,” the sentence’s subject, is what ought to The film features more than 12 carry over to other parts, specifically to a minutes of computer effects from series of two verbs: one telling what the ILM . . . including: town did—“fined”—and the other telling • A stampede of three-dimensional what it “will” do. Under “fined” comes a elephants, rhinos and zebras. . . . subseries: “7,800 . . . and $6,600.” • A playful band of monkeys messing up the kitchen of a . . . mansion. . . . 3. Inconsistency, unrelated to conjunc- • The mansion is also invaded by a tions snarling lion and a thundering herd In the example below from a quar- of rhinos. terly journal, the trouble does not lie in a conjunction. An enumeration of nouns is The three bullets indicate three items in marred by the introduction of an adjec- the series. As in any series, all of its items tive. must be grammatically alike. The writer 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 382

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has set out to list various computer ef- 7. Punctuation fects included in a film; the word “in- In a series of two, the items are not or- cluding” needs to fit each item. It does fit dinarily separated by a comma. In a the first two items, which are noun longer series, you will find the last two phrases, but not the third item, which is items sometimes separated by a comma, a complete sentence. “Including” would sometimes not. It depends on what you fit the third too if it said, for instance: are reading. The Chicago Manual of “An invasion by a snarling lion and a Style, used by book editors, favors the thundering herd of rhinos.” To make the comma and so does this book. The style second item more compatible, begin it of nearly all newspapers is to leave out with a noun representing the action, the comma, on the grounds that a con- comparable to “A stampede,” for injunction takes its place. The book style stance: “A messing of the kitchen of goes “blood, toil, tears, and sweat.” The a . . . mansion by a playful band of mon- newspaper style goes “blood, toil, tears keys.” and sweat.” The argument for omitting the comma 6. OR shortage is disputable, for both theoretical and What applies to the conjunction and practical reasons. A comma and a con- in earlier discussions can apply to the junction have different functions. A conjunction or. This is from a book comma separates items; a conjunction about the book business: joins them. If it is important to separate blood and toil and tears from one another, . . . Not all authors are promotable, it should be just as important to separate well spoken, or have books that lend tears and sweat from each other. The themselves to promotion. comma does so. The conjunction does not; it links all the four items into a series. A related practice of many newspa- After “promotable” insert or. (And omit pers is odder yet: After using one or the commas.) The “or” that joins the more semicolons to separate some items verbs, “are . . .” and “have . . . ,” has in a series, a writer turns to a comma to nothing to do with the or needed to join separate the last two items. Just as a the adjectives, “promotable” and “well comma does not have the function of a spoken.” conjunction, it does not have the func- The following sentence is more com- tion of a semicolon. plicated. It is from a government circular Both practices can lead to confusion. explaining that names, titles, and short Consistent punctuation is indispensable phrases may not be copyrighted. in a complicated series. It enables readers to mentally separate the different cate- This is true even if the name, title, gories and place everything in the right phrase, or expression is novel, distinc- category. tive, or lends itself to a play on words. An article deals with “spies in the CIA, the NSA, the Navy’s antisubmarine The sentence has three series. The first, warfare program and Navy communica- consisting of four nouns, is perfectly tions and Middle East intelligence opera- proper. There is also a series of verbs, tions.” After “NSA” the boundaries get consisting of the second “is . . .” and murky. To clarify them, follow “pro- “lends. . . . ” Under the second “is,” a gram” and “communications” with subseries of two adjectives needs to be commas and delete the first “and” (as- joined by a conjunction: “novel or dis- suming that five items are listed). tinctive.” See also Punctuation, 3, 11. 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 383

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8. Repeated conjunctions amples of verbs and a preposition that For emphasis or extra clarity, a con- are superﬂuous in series. junction may follow each item of a series. Excerpts from the Magna Carta SERVE and SERVICE. See Confus- (with emphasis added) will illustrate. ing pairs.

No freeman shall be taken, or im- SET and SIT. The sun, cement, and prisoned, or disseized, or outlawed, or setters set. People, courts, and most ob- exiled, or in any way harmed . . . save jects sit. by the lawful judgment of his peers or “Set” in place of sit is dialectal and by the law of the land. . . . nonstandard—with some exceptions: . . . For the sake of God, and for clothing and setting hens set or sit. There the bettering of our realm, and for the is no exception in the sentence below, more ready healing of the discord from an article: which has arisen between us and our barons, we have made all these afore- Are your mirrors secured to the said concessions. . . . wall, or are they setting on a bureau leaning against the wall ready to come 9. Superfluous word down in a shower of glass? The problem with the sentence below, from a computer book, is not that it needs an extra conjunction but that it Change “setting” to sitting. (And insert contains an extra article. commas after “bureau” and “wall” to make it clear that the bureau is not lean- Given the indicators in the status bar, ing against the wall and the wall is not you can tell the document number, ready to come down.) page number, line number, and the position of the cursor. SET UP and SETUP. Set up is a verb (transitive) meaning to establish, begin, The “the” just before “document num- create, assemble, or place (something or ber” covers all the four items enumer- someone) in a high or upright position. ated. Omit the “the” just before “He set up the business ten years ago.” / “position of the cursor.” “Can you set up the tent?” Informally it An unneeded pronoun, the second means to make (someone) appear guilty. “she,” appears in the next sentence, by a “The police set him up.” news agency. The first she is the subject Setup is a noun designating a plan, ar- for all the verbs. rangement, or organization or the way in which something is set up. “The dia- She stood alone in backing the gram describes the setup of our agency.” 1986 U.S. bombing raid on Libya; fol- Informally it denotes a supposed contest lowed Washington out of UNESCO in in which the outcome is known in ad- 1985; was the first to deploy U.S. vance. “This fight is a setup.” cruise missiles in Europe in 1983; and A note printed on software envelopes last year, when the superpowers says, “You may setup your software on agreed to remove the missiles, she put your new computer if you delete it from aside her reservations and gave the your old computer.” Change “setup” to deal a ringing endorsement. set up.

See also IN A WORD; Numbers, 10B SEWAGE and SEWERAGE. See (end); Prepositions, 8. They contain ex- Confusing pairs. 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 384

384 sex and gender

SEX and GENDER. See GENDER the king says: “Far be the thought of this and SEX. from Henry’s heart, / To make a shambles of the parliament-house!” It was SEXY. Sexy is a colloquial adjective probably a fresh metaphor in Eliza- that means arousing sexual desire or in- bethan times. tended to arouse it. So when a network The meaning of a literal slaughter- news program announced that the house is obsolete. If you wish to use Democrats had found “an issue more shambles in its purest extant form, you sexy than deficits,” many viewers must can still use it to describe a scene of have been disappointed to learn that the widespread bloodshed. For instance, issue was ethics and corruption. If the “Tribal enmity has made Rwanda a story had any sexual angle, it was not shambles.” Whether you will be under- made clear. stood is uncertain, for casual use has wa- The word has commercial value. Ads tered down the word’s common function promoted “The Sexy European,” not a to the point of triviality. The element of human being but an automobile. An- bloodshed is rarely present anymore. other car drew praise on the cover of an Sometimes the word is applied to exten- automotive magazine for being sive destruction. More often it is used to “Smooth, Strong, Silky, Sexy.” The whys describe mere disarray or confusion, in and hows of the supposed auto eroticism the manner of the following examples. were not explained, nor was it specified whether the machines were male or fe- [From a news agency:] The apartment male. was a shambles, with drawers open, clothes strewn around, “all the flat- Shakespeare. See AS and LIKE, 1; ware on the floor, all the silverware BORE, BORNE, and BORN; Clichés; out. . . .” DISCOMFIT and DISCOMFORT; HONORABLE, HONORARY, HON- [A music review:] The second move- ORED, 3; KIND OF, 1, 3; LITERALLY; ment in “Jupiter” is outlandishly fast, Possessive problems, 1; Prepositions, 3; while the finale is reduced to a manic Pronouns, 2A; Punctuation, 5A, 6; Sen- shambles as the players audibly strug- tence fragment, 1; SHAMBLES; THAT, gle to get in all the notes. 4; THIS, 1; VITAL; WEIRD; WHERE- FORE and WHEREOF; WHO and [A form letter:] . . . The Enforcement WHOM, 2; WILLY-NILLY. Division—perhaps EPA’s most important arm—is a shambles. SHALL. See Tense, 4. [A headline:] His life a shambles, De SHAMBLES. At one time a shamble Lorean faces a maze of legal troubles was a table for the sale of meat. The Old English scamel had originated in the There is no bloodshed, no destruction. Latin scamellum, small bench. Applied to those scenes, even ruin would The word took on the meaning of a be an extravagance. They might display slaughterhouse. Usually s would be chaos, confusion, disarray, or disorder, added at the end, but the word might be but is there “a shambles” anywhere? construed as either singular or plural. To Sir Ernest Gowers, using “sham- By extension, shambles became a bles” to describe a “mere muddle and scene of carnage or extensive bloodshed. disorder that is wholly bloodless is a In Shakespeare’s King Henry VI, Part III, SLIPSHOD EXTENSION emasculating 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 385

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the word.” More grammatical authori- indicated that frozen water from a leaky ties condone the looser uses than con- lavatory might be the reason that the en- demn them. But you may choose. gine had fallen off or severed. But “shear off” can perhaps be misleading in a story SHE and HER. See Pronouns, 10. about an air accident, suggesting wind shear, a sudden change in wind, as the SHEAR. 1. SHEAR and SHEER. 2. cause. SHEAR OFF. SHIMMER and SHIMMY. To 1. SHEAR and SHEER shimmer is to shine with a quivering or In reporting that a bank “has sheered ﬂickering light. It evolved from the Old its permanent employee roster by a English scimrian (spelling varied), which chunky 11,000,” a weekly paper showed probably originated in Greek. that it was just as capable of mixing up To shimmy is to wobble or shake ab- words as a daily was. The verb that normally or to do the shimmy, a dance should have appeared was sheared. popular in the 1920s. Also called the To shear is to cut (something) with shimmy shake, the dance featured rapid shears or as if with shears, to cut from, shaking. Shimmy is a corruption of or to remove by cutting. To sheer is to chemise, a woman’s undergarment. swerve, to deviate, to turn away from a A travel writer, telling about a course (“The ship sheered off its course volcano, wrote: “Heat rays wavered, to rescue the survivors”), or to cause to making the distant trees shimmy incan- swerve or deviate. descently.” The wavering heat rays and The two verbs (each transitive and in- the adverb “incandescently” imply that transitive) are pronounced the same; and she had seen the trees shimmer, not wob- sheer may have begun as a form of shear, ble or dance. which goes back to Old English. Nowa- days, however, you do not sheer and SHOULD HAVE and shear alike. “SHOULDA.” See HAVE, HAS, See also Homophones. HAD, 2.

2. SHEAR OFF Sibilant endings. See Plurals and sin- It is an aging cliché of the news busi- gulars, 2A, K; Punctuation, 1G. ness. A reporter is apt to choose “shear off” before cut off, detach, sever, tear off, SIGHT confused with SITE. See or fall off. And it is seldom a sheep that Homophones. is sheared or shorn. A television reporter said, twice, that SILICON and SILICONE. A scene branches were “sheared off” in a in a situation comedy portrayed a steam Louisiana hurricane. Another reported bath and the thoughts of a female bather. that an aviation mishap in New York Spying another who seemed to possess had “sheared off one of the aircraft’s en- unnaturally gigantean breasts, the for- gines.” mer thought, “Look who’s here: Silicon Using the verb in an odd, intransitive Valley.” The joke was on those who put way, an article dealt with the inability of on the program. Bodily implants have an airliner’s pilots to know—until the been made of silicone, not of silicon. plane landed, safely, in Florida—that A talk show host made the opposite one of the three engines “had sheared off error when referring, seriously, to “Sili- and plummeted 35,000 feet.” Evidence cone Valley.” It is Silicon Valley, which is 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 386

386 simple and simplistic

not a real geographic name but a nick- Put aside any doubts about the name given to a region at the southeast- metaphor and the image it conjures of ern end of San Francisco Bay, California, someone shaking the jewels and gilding where many electronic and computer off a royal crown. The main problem lies companies burgeoned in the 1970s and in the choice of the word “sired.” Any of 1980s. these would have been a better choice: Silicon is the basic material in semi- gave birth to, bore, bred, brought forth, conductor devices used in computer cir- produced. cuits and various electronic products. To sire is to father. It usually applies to Pronounced SILL-lick-con and symbol- four-legged animals. A stallion or bull is ized by Si, it is an element: that is, a basic a sire; the opposite parent is a dam; and substance, not dividable into any other applying any such word to the queen of substance by normal means. It is the sec- England is a dam shame. ond most plentiful element on earth, al- See also BEGET. though not found in pure form. The only element more plentiful is oxygen, which SIT and SET. See SET and SIT. is combined with silicon as silica (SiO2) in sand, rocks, and quartz. SITE confused with SIGHT. See A silicone, pronounced SILL-lick- Homophones. cone, is a compound: that is, a substance composed of elements that are chemi- SITUATION. The noun situation is cally combined and so lack individual not always necessary when used in the identities. Silicones make up a large sense of a state of affairs or a set of cir- group of synthetic, polymeric com- cumstances. For example, a booklet de- pounds of silicon, oxygen, and hydro- scribes six crises: gen. (A polymer is a huge compound characterized by numerous duplicates of In this they were similar to numerous an ordinary compound, linked together.) instances over the years in which Pres- They are used to manufacture adhesives, idents have sent U.S. armed forces electrical insulators, liquids for hydraulic overseas without congressional au- systems, lubricants, paints and var- thorization, in crisis situations. nishes, prostheses, and synthetic rubber. Forms of silicone that can be injected The sentence could end in crises. It does into the body have been used for breast not need “situations.” Similarly, the use augmentation. of “situation” (twice) seems superfluous in the excerpt below from a study in a SIMPLE and SIMPLISTIC. See quarterly journal. Confusing pairs. In this study of college student mo- SIMPLE and SIMPLY. See Adjec- tivation, the author investigated the tives and adverbs. influence of a mastery goal situation versus a competitive goal situation. Singulars and plurals. See Plurals and singulars. See if the first four words are needed in this sentence from a book for prospec- SIRE. Promoting a forthcoming pro- tive teachers: gram about Queen Elizabeth II, a woman announced on television, “She In a play situation, a student is manip- sired children who have shaken the ulating various toys and objects in a crown of England to its very core.” room. 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 387

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Consider “A student is playing with var- Sneaked should have been used in each ious toys. . . . ” instance. It is the proper past tense and Situation is more useful in this con- past participle of sneak (verb, transitive text: “What is the political situation in and intransitive), meaning to move Iran these days?” The word can imply quietly and stealthily so as not to be ob- trouble or crisis: “The Cuban situation served, or to act in a secret or under- was grave.” It can mean location: “The handed manner. town’s situation amid the peaks permit- One dictionary describes “snuck” as ted spectacular views.” It can also mean chieﬂy dialectal, another as nonstan- job: “I seek a promising situation in the dard. If chosen at all, it should be re- computer industry.” stricted to a frivolous context.

SKIM. See SCAN. SOCIALIST, SOCIALISM. The president was quoted in support of eco- SLANDER. See LIBEL and SLAN- nomic reforms in noncapitalist coun- DER. tries:

SLASH. See Punctuation, 12. “Even the Socialist world is beginning to see that Socialism isn’t just another SLAY, SLAIN, SLEW. A book al- economic system—it’s the death of ludes to the shooting of a duck for din- economics. . . . ” ner: “The shell was fetched, the duck Mr. Bush went further in his speech slayed.” To slay, meaning to kill, usually today, saying that reform efforts in the violently, is an acceptable verb in the Soviet Union, China and other Social- context. No “slayed” exists, however. ist countries were part of “an exciting The past participle of slay is slain: trend. . . . ” “. . . the duck [was] slain.” The past tense of slay is slew: “Little A capital S does not belong in “Social- David was a shepherd boy / Who slew ist” or “Socialism” unless it is part of the Goliath and jumped for joy.” The verb name of a party or movement (e.g., the comes from Old English. Socialist Party) or is in a title. The capi- From Irish Gaelic we get slew, also talized term needs to be distinguished slue, a colloquial noun meaning a large from general references to an economy number or amount. Slue, also slew, or a political idea: socialist or socialism, means (verb, transitive and intransitive) with a lower-case s (a socialist economy). to rotate and (noun) rotating. Its origin The Soviet Union was run by Com- is uncertain; it has a nautical history. munists, with a capital C, who consid- Both spellings are pronounced SLOO. ered their economic system to be socialism or a socialist system. It is a sys- SLEW, SLUE. See SLAY, SLAIN, tem in which the means of production SLEW. and distribution are owned and controlled by the state. In their theory (and SMELL. See AROMA. it was theory in the most hypothetical sense) socialism would ultimately de- SNEAKED and “SNUCK.” From velop into communism (adjective com- TV accounts of an attempted coup in munist), an ideal system of economic Moscow and rescues from the Polish equality in which the state became un- ghetto: “Gorbachev and his son-in-law necessary. snuck into a closed room . . .” / “a friend Under any theory, the regime could be snuck him in to see the children.” described as Communist, with a capital 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 388

388 so far as

C, in the sense that it was led by Com- 2. SOME PLACE and SOMEPLACE munists: members of the Communist Someplace (adverb) means at, in, or to Party. The type of regime actually in ef- some place. It is more informal than fect under Communists could be called somewhere, which has the same mean- Communism, with a capital C. ing. Some critics scorn someplace in writing even when it is used correctly. An SO FAR AS. See FAR. editor used it incorrectly:

SOFT-BOILED. See BOIL. Is it possible for someplace peaceful and nice and affordable . . . to be pre- SOLE and SOUL. See Homophones. served from greed and speculation . . . ?

SOME. 1. Before a number. 2. SOME Correction: “for some place that is PLACE and SOMEPLACE. 3. SOME peaceful and nice and affordable” or TIME and SOMETIME. “for some peaceful and nice and affordable place.” 1. Before a number If someplace is acceptable at all, it is Some in front of a round number interchangeable with somewhere, as in means approximately or about. Thus “Let’s go out someplace.” Somewhere is “some 5,000 people” implies a rough no substitute for “someplace” in the count, above or below the exact total. press quotation. “Some” does not go with a number that The American Heritage Dictionary is or appears precise, as in this sentence: termed someplace informal, and 83 percent of its usage panel rejected as a writ- . . . The company, in a newspaper ad- ing sample “an unspeciﬁed target vertisement, promoted a supposed someplace between Inchon and Seoul.” $149 fare to London from New York in type size some 136 times larger 3. SOME TIME and SOMETIME than the note, which indicated that Distinguishing some time, an adjec- the fare was “each way” of a required tive and noun, from sometime, an ad- round-trip purchase. verb, can be confusing.

Omit “some.” A phrase like “some 100 • Some time usually means an times” would be a normal place for it. indefinite period of time: “They plan But the number 136 is or appears to be to spend some time in Nepal.” exact. • Sometime means at an indefinite Odd is a similar term, when con- point in time: “Come up and see me nected to a round number, except that it sometime.” / “He lived sometime indicates only an excess, never a short- during the Tang Dynasty.” age. “I estimate that 500-odd people were present.” Remember the hyphen, However, some time can have the sec- unless you are describing “odd people.” ond meaning when next to certain Some and -odd should not go together words: “I’ll come back at some time in (“some 40-odd executives”). Neither is the future.” / “The troupe appeared here necessary if a figure is described in some some time ago.” other way as an approximation or an es- As a test, omit some time or some- timate. Finally, some or -odd goes with a time: If the sentence makes no sense, use sizable number, not with a small digit. the phrase. If it still makes sense, use the 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 389

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single word (or a synonym, such as at grapes gave rise to the expression. A fox some time or other). desired some high-hanging grapes but As an adjective, meaning occasional, failed to reach them in several leaps. He sometime or sometimes is uncommon walked away, remarking, “They are and disparaged by a number of critics: sour!” Translations from ancient Greek “his sometime[s] occupation.” disagree on whether the fox spoke in jest Sometimes means occasionally or or in seriousness, and they disagree on now and then. “Sometimes I’m happy.” what the moral was. It may modify an adjective: “this sometimes deadly ailment.” SPANISH AMERICA and LATIN AMERICA. See LATIN(-)AMER- SOMEBODY. See Pronouns, 2C. ICAN.

SOME ONE and SOMEONE. See SPAT and SPATE. “A spat of wet ONE as pronoun, 3; Pronouns, 2C. weather is causing problems. . . . ” It was said on a TV news program. SOME PLACE and SOMEPLACE. The noun spat has several meanings: a See SOME, 2. minor quarrel, a partial shoe covering, a sound like that made by rain, and an im- SOMETHING OF. See KIND OF, 3. mature oyster. None fits the quotation. Spate is the noun that was needed. It is a SOME TIME, SOMETIME, and sudden, heavy rain; or an unusually SOMETIMES. See SOME, 3. large rush or outpouring of something; or, in Britain, a flash flood. SOMEWHAT. See KIND OF, 4; Conceivably a couple frustrated by in- IDENTICAL. ability to play golf or tend a garden could engage in “a spat of wet weather,” SOONER. See THAN, 2E. but that was not the televised story.

SORT OF. See KIND OF; TYPE. SPEAK, SPOKE, and SPOKEN. See Tense, 5A. SOUR GRAPES. After spending $28 million of his own money in an unsuc- SPEAK TO, TALK TO. To “speak cessful campaign for a Senate seat, a can- to” a motion, meaning to comment on didate futilely tried to undo the election it, is part of the jargon of parliamentary on grounds of electoral fraud and irregu- procedure. larities. A newspaper editorial attacked To adapt it to general use introduces his claims as “an expensive case of sour an element of ambiguity to the language. grapes.” It makes a good deal of difference Something that a person would like to whether “The president will speak about have but pretends to dislike because he Congress” or “to Congress.” Besides, cannot have it is sour grapes. The term the little preposition to is overworked can also apply to the disparagement of enough as it is. the prize. Inasmuch as the losing candi- Nevertheless, an anchor man said, date had nothing ill to say about the of- “House members stayed open all night fice of senator, “sour grapes” was not to speak to this issue,” the flag. A coun- relevant. A rewrite: “the last resort of a terpart of his found a presidential debate sore loser.” “talking to issues the people wanted to The Aesop fable of the fox and the hear about.” A flowery newspaper story 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 390

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about a tribute to a late baseball player cule”), mobile (“mobil”), prerogative said, “And Ralph Branca and Joe Black (“perogatives”—several times), and war- could speak to the vulnerable yet un- rant (“warrentless”). bending man who lived a career so com- Headlines in several other newspapers pelling” (etc.). Could they really “speak have contained these misspellings: to” him? He was dead. achieve (“acheives”), catastrophic (“cat- Generally, you speak or talk to a per- astropic”), indecisiveness (“indecicive- son or to a group. You speak or talk ness”), minuscule (“miniscule” again), about issues or matters, sometimes of or optometrist (“optomitrists”), psychiatric on them: “The House members spoke (“psyciatric”), scrapping (“scraping”), about flag burning.” / “We talked about and sufferers (“suffers”). A banner reads the weather.” / “Speak of the devil.” / “Protestors want officers fired,” using an “ ‘The time has come,’ the Walrus said, old “-or” variant instead of the custom- ‘to talk of many things. . . . ’ ” / “The ary protester(s). See WHOSE, 2, for a professor will speak on the importance worse mistake. of good English.” Apologize (“apoligize”), delegate (“delagate”), ingenious (“ingenius”), SPECIE and SPECIES. See Confus- and prosthesis (“prothesis”) have been ing pairs. misspelled in books dealing with the music industry, famous people, English us- Spelling. 1. Errors. 2. Irregularity and age, and medicine, respectively. A tradition. 3. Principles. cookbook misspells four words: cayenne (“cayene”), coarsely (“coarsley”), fore- 1. Errors word (“foreward”), and pomegranate Vice President J. Danforth Quayle (“pomegranite”). See also FOREWORD was responsible for the most prominent and FORWARD. A book instructing misspelling of an English word in recent would-be book publishers misspells four history when he miscorrected a school other words: afraid (“affraid”), bulge child’s spelling of potato by placing an (“buldge” twice), rivet (“rivit”), and “e” at the end. The plural, potatoes, has simplest (“simplist”); and it disconnects the e, not the singular. Similarly a tomato a fifth: whatever (“what ever”). It also becomes tomatoes in the plural. confuses lose with “loose.” Spelling in English is hazardous. Er- A lexicographer misspells resistible rors appear in books, periodicals, and (“resistable”) in a book dealing with the the best newspapers. English language. Some copies of two One newspaper in that category hap- general dictionaries misspell millennium pened to misspell expel in its main story (“millenium”) and vichyssoise (“vichy- on the front page: “Keep the foreigner soisse”). away from your holy shrines so we Webster’s Third Dictionary gives sev- will all stand as one to expell the dark- eral misspellings as variants, thereby ness. . . . ” (Saddam Hussein of Iraq was tending to encourage the errors. It con- being quoted. Americans have often condones spelling harebrained as “hair- sidered him a villain, but making him brained,” marshal as “marshall,” nickel out a bad speller as well may be going as “nickle,” prophecy and prophesy as too far.) each other, restaurateur as “restauran- The same paper has also printed mis- teur,” and therefore as “therefor.” spellings of such words as advisory (mis- Writers are not always responsible for spelling it “advisery”), interference the misspellings that appear under their (“interferance”), minuscule (“minis- names. Editing and typographical mis- 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 391

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spellings occur, especially the latter. Ty- transmogrify (“transmorgrify”) pographical misspelling may reflect the vegetarian (“vegeterian”) pressing of wrong keys or the transposi- wait (“wate”) tion or omission of letters. Some out- weird (“wierd”) landish combinations are obviously errors and the easiest to notice before In the collection for this book, the publication. (At first I typed “thekr” in- most common spelling mistakes are stead of their in the first sentence of this the substitution of letters (e.g., an “i” for paragraph.) Mistakes by writers or edi- the first u in minuscule) and the omission tors tend to be more plausible; often the of letters (a c and an m in accommoda- misspelling can be pronounced the same tion). Less common mistakes are the ad- as the correct word. Someone simply dition of letters (a “t” in pastime) and spelled it wrong. the transposition of letters (the e and l in On many occasions, words that I coarsely). Those four kinds of error are spelled correctly in my copy turned up in further illustrated respectively in the en- print misspelled, usually by a typesetter, tries SHEAR; LEAP, LEAPED, LEAPT; sometimes by an editor. For instance, MARSHAL; NICKEL. framers (of the Constitution) came out Misunderstanding of words and use “farmers” and pastime was changed to of deviant forms come up in the entries “pasttime.” See also OCULIST (etc.). ALL RIGHT; BEGET; COMPLAIN- Here is an alphabetical list of other ANT; DETERIORATE; DUM-DUM words that I have found to be publicly BULLET; GRIEVOUS, GRIEVOUSLY; misspelled, mostly in newspapers but HAREBRAINED; IMMEMORIAL; also on the television screen and in cor- KUDOS; MISCHIEVOUS, MISCHIEV- porate and governmental printings. The OUSNESS; RAGAMUFFIN; RESTAU- style of the examples above is repeated; RATEUR. first the correct spelling appears, then in The main problem in the pairs of parentheses the misspelling: words listed in Confusing pairs, such as adverse and averse, is not misspelling as academy (“accademy”) such but the mixing up of words, which accommodations (“acomodations”) can amount to misspelling. acquiescent (“acquiscent”) Likeness of sound in a pair such as alley (“alee”) right and write or accept and except ac- bawdy (“baudy”) counts for some lapses. See Homo- benefiting (“benefitting”) phones. cabaret (“caberet”) A few contractions are confused with commitment (“committment”) possessives and vice versa. See ITS and competitive (“competative”) IT’S; WHOSE, 2 (confused with who’s); deceit (“deceipt”) YOUR and YOU’RE. See TILL and depositor(s) (“depositers”) “’TIL” for a word that is mistaken for a entirety (“entirity”) contraction. ideology (“idealogy”) A is wrongly attached to a few words. irreverent (“irreverant”) See A WHILE and AWHILE; HOLD; nonsense (“nonsence”) LOT, 2. observer(s) (“observors”) The tendency to unite phrases and hy- phonetically (“phoneticly”) phenated terms is considered in Joining repetition (“repitition”) of words. See (-)EVER, 1, for an exam- stretched (“streched”) ple of the breaking up of words, a rarer supersede(s) (“supercedes”) phenomenon. 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 392

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See also FLAMMABLE (etc.); -IZE, glish in North America reflects to some 2; PAY; Plurals and singulars; -Y ending. extent the aboriginal, immigrant, and Latin-American traditions. 2. Irregularity and tradition Since the nineteenth century, move- Critics of English spelling complain ments have arisen to reform spelling and about its irregularity, its many ways of thereby make learning easier for children representing a sound. For instance, the a and improve the spelling of the general sound in day appears also in aim, public. They won the support of such lu- cabaret, exposé, gauge, great, lake, mat- minaries as Charles Darwin and Alfred ing, nee, obey, veil, and weigh. The sh Tennyson. Andrew Carnegie financed a sound in ash is also in appreciate, simplified-spelling board, which faded crescendo, machine, motion, ocean, pas- away. George Bernard Shaw’s will cre- sion, schnauzer, and sure. ated a new alphabet, of forty letters, Approaching it from a language like which never caught on. The Chicago Tri- Spanish, with almost entirely regular, bune once attempted innovations like phonetic spelling and one basic sound “telegraf” and “frate” but then returned per vowel, English may seem totally to customary spellings. Readers may chaotic. But compared with written Chi- have thought the phonetic spellings were nese, which has no alphabet and thou- mistakes. sands of characters to learn, written “Words should be spelled as they English is tolerably phonetic. Its twenty- sound,” many people have said, un- six letters do represent sounds, at least in aware of hazards. A rapid and radical combination. It has its rules for spelling, change to a wholly phonetic system and most spellings follow regular pat- might quickly render obsolete centuries terns. Unfortunately, the rules all have of literature and considerable knowl- exceptions, and many of the irregular edge. Some books would be revised, but words are frequently used. Good spellers the mean techniques of much modern keenly sense how words sound and (to book manufacturing might not permit handle irregularity) how they look. them to endure. It could be confusing if, Spelling in English reflects a multicul- say, the homophones sew and sow were tural history and includes patterns of spelled the same as so. And if speech de- Old English, French, Greek, Latin, and termined spelling, speakers of English other languages, mainly the Romance. from different places might have trouble To begin with, English had fewer charac- reading one another’s writings. ters than sounds, requiring combina- In England, a request of mine for ditions of letters to represent many sounds. rections to Bath was met with a stare un- The written language failed to keep up til I thought to pronounce it BAHTH. with sound changes, such as the silenc- Much earlier, an old record on which a ing of the k and e in knave. Significant baritone sang of a place where flying episodes included respelling by French fishes PLY and the dawn comes up like scribes after the Norman conquest; thunder out of China ’cross the BY gave changes by early printers, many of them me my first lesson in Australian English. foreign, who often justified (evened) American pronunciations too vary by re- lines by adding or subtracting letters; gion. Take the word court, which a New and a sixteenth-century fashion of imi- Yorker or Bostonian is apt to pronounce tating Latin and Greek forms—even, for CAUT and a Southerner COAT while instance, putting the s in i(s)land, a word many to the west say CORT. of Old English origin, in the misbelief Minor reforms are feasible. Ameri- that it came from the Latin insula. En- cans accepted those by the lexicographer 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 393

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Noah Webster (1758–1843), who pening, but an exception is handicap, changed the British -our and -re endings handicapped, handicapping. (as in honour and centre) to -or and -er A final l is retained before a suffix be- (honor and center). ginning with l: cruel, cruelly / formal, formally / national, nationally. Other- 3. Principles wise, suffixes do not usually double l endings in America (dial becomes dialed, A. The best rule dialing and marvel becomes marveled, The rules of spelling and their excep- marveling) but do in Britain (dialled, ditions are so extensive that we can only alling and marvelled, marvelling). Al- hint at them here. most conversely, -ll endings stay double Many spellings have to be learned, in America when prefixes are added one by one. Rules will not help in distin- (roll, enroll) but are made single in guishing the words ending in -able such Britain (enrol). And double letters in as peaceable from those ending in -ible combat(t)ing, worship(p)ing, and other such as feasible. Nor will rules help in words are more common in Britain. segregating -ant words (defendant) from In America, affixing a prefix does not -ent words (dependent); -or words (in- usually vary the spelling of the parts, spector) from -er words (invader); or even when the last letter of the prefix words with -seed sounds from one an- and the first letter of the root word are other (precede, proceed, supersede). the same: Mis- plus state gives misstate. When in doubt, look it up. That is the Over- plus run gives overrun. (A prefix is best rule. a word part affixed to the beginning of a basic word to alter the meaning.) B. Doubling; suffixes; prefixes A word ending in c requires the addi- The last letter of a word is often dou- tion of k before an e, i, or y suffix if a bled when a suffix is added: for example, hard pronunciation of c remains: mimic, fit becomes fitting and begin becomes be- mimicked / panic, panicky / traffic, traf- ginner. (A suffix is a word part affixed to ficking. In music, musician and toxic, the end of a basic word to alter the toxicity the pronunciation of c becomes meaning.) At the end of a one-syllable soft. word or a word accented on the last syllable, a single consonant is apt to be C. I before E? doubled before a suffix starting with a The misspeller of achieve seems to vowel. In the two examples above, the have forgotten the old pedagogic suffixes added are -ing and -er. Other ex- mnemonic, or memory aid, “I before E, / amples are bag, baggage / deter, deter- Except after C.” Unfortunately, the mis- rent / remit, remittance / ship, shipped. speller of weird seems to have remem- The last letter of the basic word, or bered it. root word, is not doubled if adding the Scores of words use ei, including caf- suffix shifts the accent to a previous syl- feine, counterfeit, either, foreign, forfeit, lable: con-FER, CON-fer-ence and pre- height, heir, leisure, neither, plebeian, FER, PREF-er-ence (but con-FERRED, protein, seize, stein, and veil; various pre-FER-ring, etc.). -ing words like being and seeing; and At the end of a word accented on a words with the prefix re-, like reinstate syllable besides the last, a single conso- and reiterate. Even the exception in the nant is usually not doubled before a suf- rhyme has exceptions: Conscience, fi- fix starting with a vowel. Examples are nancier, omniscient, prescient, science, develop, developing and happen, hap- and species are all cie words. 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 394

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Some have been taught an extra verse been devised by human beings, they are to the mnemonic, “Or when sounded not infallible even within their province. like a / As in neighbor or weigh,” which One popular program disapproved of may be more useful than the main verse. ads, em, exposé, and wracked; approved of checkouts but not checkout and D. Silent E coworkers but not coworker; and sug- The silent e generally makes a short gested that afterword be “afterward,” vowel sound long; for example, turning temblor be “tumbler,” backdoor be can into cane, rot into rote, and sit into “bookstore,” and obvious be “obi” (a site. Japanese sash or a type of sorcery). The silent e is usually omitted before a suffix starting with a vowel: adore, ador- SPINSTER. See BACHELOR and ing; debate, debatable; mate, mating; SPINSTER. quote, quotation; write, writing. Among the exceptions are some words that Split infinitive. See Infinitive, 4. would be transformed if the e were removed: dye, dyeing / hoe, hoeing / shoe, shoeing / singe, singeing. Many words SPOKE and SPOKEN. See Tense, that end in -ce or -ge are exceptions too 5A. when the e preserves the soft sound: change, changeable / encourage, encour- SPOKESMAN. 1. “-PERSON.” 2. agement / grace, graceful; but i suffixes “-WOMAN.” are an exception to the exception and do drop the e: changing, encouraging. 1. “-PERSON” The e is usually retained before a suf- Those who are squeamish are well ad- fix starting with a consonant: careless, vised to avert their eyes. We are about to lately, statement. But some words ending quote the s-word. in -le do drop the e before the suffix -ly In the course of a day’s work, a (gentle, gently and simple, simply). columnist for a metropolitan newspaper tapped out the following sentences on E. Spelling checkers his computer keyboard: Most word-processing programs for computers have features to help users A spokesperson for the Dallas verify and correct the spelling of words Police Department acknowledged in their documents. They are called that the matter is “under investiga- spelling checkers, spell checkers, spellers, tion.” . . . or the like. Useful devices, they often A spokesperson for Cruise told save the users from mistakes in spelling Page 2 that the idea of Spielberg di- or slips of the keyboard by highlighting recting “Rainman” was always pre- words considered wrong and suggesting sented to Tom as a possibility. . . . alternatives. According to a Jovan spokesper- They will not rescue slips in grammar son, the fragrance company was put or word selection as long as every word “through a hoop” over Lyne’s work. typed is a recognized word. They will “They cut out a shot of a lady in a find nothing wrong if you type bake in- wet slip and toned down a shower stead of brake, complement instead of scene,” said the spokesperson. . . . compliment, loathe instead of loath, “They cropped that to an above- phrase instead of phase, or them instead the-waist shot,” said the spokesper- of theme (a mistake I made). And having son. 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 395

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Although most writers do not display the reporting period on Sept. 30, said such voracity for bad language, that Steven M. ———, spokesman for clumsy barbarism, “s——,” is polluting the Committee to Conserve the the English tongue. Courts. . . . A radical weekly uses it regularly But Janet ———, spokesperson for along with a grotesque plural version: Crime Victims for Court Reform and Californians to Defeat Rose Bird, said Spokespeople for most of the momentum is on the side of the anti- groups he attacks agree that his fac- Bird campaign. tual research is often . . . accurate. One of each pair is a “-man” and the The correct word, of course, is other is a “-person”? Nonsense. Each is spokesman, plural: spokesmen. A a spokesman. spokesman, i.e., one who speaks for another or others, may be either male or fe- 2. “-WOMAN” male. See -MAN-, MAN. Some journalists and broadcasters The three sample sentences below all who cannot abide the gracelessness and use the correct word. The first (referring ignorance represented by that illegiti- to Mrs. Clinton) is from a television fo- mate word are drawn to another three- rum on PBS. The other two are from The syllable word: New York Times. In Washington, the State Depart- She’s no longer a national spokesman ment’s spokeswoman, Margaret for him [President Clinton]. Tutwiler, said Kohl was “responding to the deepest aspirations of his Kathy Pherson, a spokesman for people for German unity.” the C.I.A., refused in a telephone interview to confirm or deny the C.I.A.’s “The Sandinistas . . . realize their involvement in training or advising brand of communism is bankrupt and the Honduran police and army. obsolete,” said the State Department spokeswoman, Margaret Tutwiler. Justice Brennan, 82 years old, hit his head and received stitches to close the If you consider it necessary to describe wound, said Kathy Arberg, a the Brontë sisters as “authoresses” and spokesman for the court. “poetesses,” you will probably want to use “spokeswoman.” The Times and Associated Press style Modified in the manner of the final manuals instruct staff members not to example however, it could be mislead- use “spokesperson.” ing: The two passages below, from other papers, are embodiments of illogic: . . . Some outsiders have also said that as the chief spokeswoman, she rein- At its Tuesday/22 general meeting, forced the image of the White House the club will host White Panther as a preserve of the young and inexpe- spokesman Tom ——— and a rienced. spokesperson for the mayor. “Chief spokeswoman” could suggest . . . Only $400,000 worth of that ad- that she was the chief only of the White vertising was aired before the end of House’s female spokesmen. The in- 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 396

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tended meaning probably was that she galaxy, with its 100 billion suns, is inde- served as the chief spokesman for the pendent and self-sufficient. . . . ” White House; that is, the person in In both instances, stars would be charge of speaking for the president. preferable to “suns.” A star is a celestial The Associated Press manual con- body that emits its own light. A sun is a dones “spokeswoman.” The Times man- star that is the center of a system of plan- ual says to use spokesman for both men ets, the way the Sun, the star closest to and women. us, heads our solar system. (The Sun is often spelled with a lower-case s: “The STAFF. A recording tells callers to a sun suddenly emerged from the clouds.” city library, “All of our staff are helping In an astronomical context, a capital S others.” It is not wrong, though it has a may be appropriate.) British flavor. Staff is would be the more A planet is a large celestial body that customary way in the United States. is illuminated by reflected light from a Staff is a collective noun meaning the star and revolves around it. employees, assistants, or officers who carry out the work of a particular enter- STATEMENT. See FACT. prise or organization. The plural in that sense is staffs. STATIONARY and STATION- A staff is also a flagpole, walking ERY. See Homophones. stick, or rod; or the set of five parallel lines that music is written on. In those Statistics. See Comparison, 1; FRAC- senses, the plural is either staffs or TION; LIFE EXPECTANCY and LIFE staves. A musical staff is sometimes SPAN; MEAN (noun); Numbers; Range, called a stave. true and false, 1, 2. An informal term for a member of a staff is a staffer. Regarding that word, STATUTE, LAW, and REGULA- The New York Times tells its own staff, TION. See REGULATION, STAT- “Do not use for staff member(s) or mem- UTE, and LAW. ber(s) of the staff.” See also Collective nouns, 1; WHO STATUTE MILE. See KNOT. and WHOM, 1. STAVE(S). See STAFF. STAND and RUN. See RUN and STAND; Pronouns, 3. Stealing. See CRIME, MISDE- MEANOR, and FELONY; Crimes, 3.

STANDARD. See CLASSIC. STEREOTYPE. See Clichés. STANDARD-BEARER. See Joining STICK UP, STICKUP, STICK-UP. of words. See Crimes, 3.

STAR and SUN. The discovery of a STEVEDORE and LONGSHORE- distant galaxy prompted a news agency MAN. The awkwardness of the sen- to issue this dubious statement: “The tence to be quoted here, from a book on core apparently contains at least 30,000 language, is not the main point. One closely packed suns. . . . ” word particularly interests us. No more precision characterizes a discussion of galaxy clusters in a book of Clipped forms [such as ad and popular astronomy: “But not even our gym] . . . have much common use, 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 397

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from stevedores to executives, in our viewer wrote that a character resented spoken language and informal written that he had to “share his woman with language. that baby in her stomach.” The stomach is an organ of digestion. The intended meaning is that those Unless each woman had been emulating forms are often used by people of all the dining behavior of a mythological classes, including laborers and execu- monster, the anatomical reference in tives. That is not the literal meaning. A each instance was misplaced. If neither stevedore is a type of executive. Many the radio man nor the movie reviewer people, lexicographers among them, had the stomach for womb or uterus, misconceive him to be a laborer who each could have got by with abdomen, loads and unloads ships. That is not the belly, or middle. Of those three nouns, way a stevedore is likely to use the word. abdomen, the part of the trunk between He sees himself as a contractor who ar- the chest and the pelvis, is the most sci- ranges the loading and unloading of entific; middle is the vaguest. Belly is a ships. He does not do the actual labor- standard word, but much of the public ing; he hires men to do it. The working- feels that it is unrefined. Tummy is baby men call themselves longshoremen. talk for stomach. Note the difference between the As a synonym for the abdomen, names of the companies, such as Steve- “stomach” is suitable only for casual doring Service of America and conversation, if that. It is best to avoid Metropolitan California Stevedore Co., using one organ as a synonym for an- and the names of the labor unions: the other organ, particularly when talking to International Longshoremen’s Associa- one’s physician. tion (in the East) and the International An old saw has it that “the way to a Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s man’s heart is through his stomach.” If Union (in the West). you believe it, don’t think of being a surgeon. STINT. “Quayle says he’s healthy now despite two recent stints in the hos- STRAIGHTFORWARD. See Ad- pital,” a newscaster announced over a jectives and adverbs. radio network. The former vice president did not become a hospital worker; STUDENT. See PUPIL and STU- he was a hospital patient. The broad- DENT. caster wrongly used “stints” when stays would have been a better choice of Subject. See Clauses; Complement; words. Nouns, 4; Pronouns, 4, 6, 10; Sentence A stint (noun) is usually an allotment fragment, 1; Verbs, 1A, 3. of work or piece of work. For instance, “He finished his daily stint at the fac- Subjective case. See Pronouns, 10; tory.” A stint can be also a limitation, of- Pronouns’ classification. ten an undue limitation. To stint can mean to limit or restrict Subject(ive) complement. See Com- one (verb, transitive) or to limit or re- plement; Verbs, 1F. strict oneself, to get along on a trifling al- lowance (verb, intransitive). Subject-verb agreement. See Verbs, 3. STOMACH. The host of a radio talk show spoke of a woman’s “carrying that Subjunctive. 1. Among the moods. 2. baby in her stomach.” And a movie re- Forms of the subjunctive. 3. Mistakes. 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 398

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1. Among the moods tive. (They resemble and therefore are Of the three moods, the subjunctive named after tenses in the indicative mood is used least frequently. For gener- mood, but the term tense would be mis- ations, writers on language have been leading in the subjunctive, which lacks declaring the subjunctive “moribund” / clear time distinctions.) We list the three “almost disappeared” / “just about verb forms (A, B, and C) followed by a dead.” As long ago as 1860, a writer number of common auxiliary verbs that found “good reason to suppose that it also express the subjunctive mood (D). will soon become obsolete altogether.” A. The so-called present subjunctive While the subjunctive has declined over uses the root, or basic version, of a verb. the centuries, it stubbornly refuses to ex- It appears in clauses following the pire. verbs advise, ask, beg, demand, insist, Most English-speakers handle the order, recommend, request, require, sug- subjunctive at some time or other. Every- gest, urge, warn, and so on. Often such a one does who has scrawled “Wish you clause contains the word that. “The boss were here” on a postcard; sung “If I ordered that she work late tomorrow.” / Were a Rich Man” or used a variety of “The committee recommended that the other sentences containing if; uttered or bill pass.” / “Is it necessary that the office understood such idioms as be that as it be closed?” / “We request that the audi- may, come what may, heaven forbid, and ence remain standing.” / “I suggest he perish the thought; or attended formal think twice about it.” meetings, which commonly make use of Clauses containing lest use that form. expressions like “I move that members “We must strengthen the levee, lest the be notified. . . . ” river flood us again.” Whereas the indicative mood deals The same form is found in many Bib- with facts or supposed facts and the im- lical passages, like the following. (Sub- perative mood directly commands a sec- junctive verbs are emphasized.) “. . . I fear ond person, the subjunctive mood him, lest he come and slay us all. . . .” / essentially concerns ideas. It presents an “For there is hope for a tree, if it be cut action or state of being as a mental con- down, that it will sprout again. . . . ception, not as a fact. More specifically, Though its root grow old in the earth, it expresses contingencies, desires, ex- and its stump die in the ground, yet at hortations, hypotheses, impossibilities, the scent of water it will bud. . . . ” orders (indirectly), prospects, requests, B. The so-called past subjunctive uses suppositions, and wishes. what in the indicative mood would be The subjunctive (from the Late Latin the past tense. But the verb be takes were subjunctivus) was so named because it for all persons. Often would appears in was considered suitable for subjoined the sentence. clauses; that is, subordinate clauses. To The past subjunctive appears in subjoin is literally to append. clauses that follow the verb wish. “I See also Mood. wish I had a million dollars.” / “She wishes she lived in Paris.” It is also found 2. Forms of the subjunctive in poetic sentences expressing the mean- The subjunctive mood may be compli- ing of wish in other ways: “Would God I cated in some respects, but its conjuga- were the tender apple blossom.” / “O, tion of verbs is simple: A verb does not that I were a glove upon that hand. . . . ” change with the person, whether first, It appears also in many conditional second, or third, singular or plural. sentences: those sentences in which one Verbs have three forms in the subjunc- action depends on another. Such sen- 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 399

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tences may contain if and would. The if- wish I was in Dixie” and “I wish I was clause may be contrary to fact, hypothet- an apple”—demonstrate a common de- ical, impossible, or unlikely: “If George viation from subjunctive form. We will Washington returned today, he would be not try to revise those famous old songs. shocked.” / “I wouldn’t do that if I were Just be aware that to say “I wish it was you.” better news” or “I wish I was in his posi- A conditional sentence in which the if- tion”—instead of “it were” and “I clause expresses a possibility may use were”—may be judged at best colloquial that pattern (although it does not have and at worst illiterate. to): “If an emergency arose tomorrow, Furthermore, the meaning can hinge we would be ready.” / “Would you keep on the choice of mood. The consequence it confidential if I told you a secret?” As of choosing the wrong one can be misun- an option, such a sentence may be cast in derstanding. Let us illustrate through the simple future tense of the indicative two similar sentences. mood. “If an emergency arises tomor- A. “She suggested that he attend row, we will be ready.” / “Will you keep meetings regularly.” Using the subjunc- it confidential if I tell you a secret?” tive, the sentence means that she sug- C. The past perfect subjunctive is the gested (proposed) his presence at the only one of the three forms to pertain to meetings. time. The time is the past. Resembling B. “She suggested that he attends the past perfect tense of the indicative meetings regularly.” Using the indicative, mood, it uses had and a past participle. the sentence implies that he goes to the Its use implies that what is said about meetings already, a fact disclosed by her a past action or condition is contrary to suggestion (hint). fact. “If he had run just a bit faster, he The following two examples come would have escaped.” / “I wish that from a book of travel reminiscences. Wintergreen had won the election.” / (They are taken out of context deliber- “Had we bought the land then, we ately to demonstrate the grammatical er- would be rich today.” rors in both.) Both use the past tense D. Various auxiliary verbs can also when they should use the present sub- express the subjunctive mood. Among junctive. them are could, ought, may, might, must, should, and would. I suggested we flew along. . . . The action or condition that one of those auxiliary verbs pertain to may be But he had insisted they tried again. either contrary to fact or possible. “I . . . could have danced all night.” / “She ought to have said no.” / “The dog may Each sentence seems to say that the sub- be a biter.” / “It seemed for a while as ject made a factual statement about though the argument might get violent.” something that had already happened: / “You must have been a beautiful that we had flown along and that they baby.” / “If you should get lost, give me had tried again. The context shows the a call.” / “We would need to pay more.” meaning that was intended; in each case See also MAY and MIGHT; WAS and the subject was making a proposal for WERE. future action: “I suggested [proposed that] we fly along. . . . ” / “But he insisted 3. Mistakes [urged that] they try again. . . . ” (The The Stephen Foster song “Dixie” and “had” was unwarranted.) the folk song “Cindy”—which say “I The sentence below, from an autobi- 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 400

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ography, contains a similar error in the If an adult picks up their lingo, “teen- choice of verb form, although the mean- agers would consider it contaminated ing is not compromised. and stop using it,” Chapman says.

...I got a call from Senator Sam Change “picks” to picked. (An alterna- Nunn’s secretary telling me to make tive is to change “would” to will but ex- sure that on the next afternoon I clude it from the direct quotation: “If an watched C-Span, the cable TV chan- adult picks up their lingo, teen-agers will nel. . . . ‘consider it contaminated. . . . ’ ”) The appended attribution, “Chapman says,” It should be “to make sure that . . . I does not affect the main thought. watch C-Span. . . . ” The secretary was The error in the following example is recommending future action, not bring- a superfluous word. ing up past action. Each of the following three sample It’s recommended that the elderly and sentences, from news reports, seems to those having trouble should stay in- be part subjunctive and part indicative. doors. Such switching of moods within a thought will not do. Omit “should.” Alternatively, keep “should” but omit “It’s recommended OTS Director Ryan imposed mild that.” restrictions that would apply to Bush Using the subjunctive in place of the if he again becomes a director of a indicative is a relatively uncommon er- bank or savings and loan. ror, one that is found in a book on word usage. President Clinton made his opposition clear and the measure would face It’s in the very nature of oral com- almost certain veto if it passes the Sen- munication between human beings ate in its present form. that much of it be tentative, inexact, finding its way. Newly elected Prime Minister So- suke Uno said today that he was The statement is presented as a fact. It deeply concerned that China could be has none of the elements that call for the isolated internationally if it does not subjunctive. Change “be” to is, thereby move to end the violence. recasting the sentence in the indicative mood. In the first sentence, change “becomes” After the auxiliary verb could, may, to became. In the second sentence, might, must, should, or would, some- change “passes” to passed. (As an alter- times the have is erroneously replaced by native, make each sentence wholly in- “of.” See HAVE, HAS, HAD, 2. dicative: “restrictions that will apply to See also Tense, 4C. Bush if he again becomes . . .” and “the measure will face almost certain veto if it SUBSEQUENT TO. See AFTER. passes. . . . ”) In the third sentence, change “does” to did. The following sentence contains es- Substantive. See Nouns, 1 (end). sentially the same error: disagreement in mood. The fact that part of it is a quota- SUCCESSOR. See PREDECESSOR tion makes no difference. and SUCCESSOR. 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 401

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SUCH. 1. Adjective, adverb; SUCH A. 3. SUCH AS 2. Pronoun; AS SUCH. 3. SUCH AS. The phrase such as precedes an example. It is superfluous to add “for example” / “for instance” / “and the like” / 1. Adjective, adverb; SUCH A “and so on.” A book says, “The power This sentence is correct: “There is no bases in the music business aren’t con- such thing as a ghost.” After no such, the centrated in any one group (such as, for article “a” or “an” is not needed. example, the major agencies . . .).” Such is usually an adjective, as in the Delete “for example” and the two com- preceding example. It has acquired an mas. adverbial use too. “I never before saw Such as normally introduces a noun, such tall peaks” and “saw peaks so tall” not a preposition: “They have per- are now equally idiomatic. formed in leading cities of Europe, such Some people use such adverbially in as in Paris and Rome.” Delete the second sentences like this one, which to others in. may seem incomplete: “I had such a Another faulty use goes this way: “I good meal at that restaurant.” It be- brought only such tools that I needed for comes complete when we add, for in- the job.” Make it such . . . as or change stance, “that I intend to go there again “such” to the. Modern idiom rejects the tomorrow.” pairing of such with “that” (or “which” or “who” or “where”) in that type of 2. Pronoun; AS SUCH construction. But such that is proper The use of such as a pronoun is re- here: “The rigors were such that most sisted by grammarians, though it goes contestants failed to finish.” In the first back centuries. Among Biblical uses: instance, such precedes the noun; in the “and of such [livestock] shall be my hire second, such follows the noun and a [wages]” and “Now Moses in the law linking verb. commanded us, that such [any adulter- ess] should be stoned. . . . ” SUFFER. That which lacks feeling The critics are vague in scorning cannot suffer. Only a living person or “Such is life” or “They serve pizza, creature can suffer. Despite that truism, spaghetti, ravioli, and such.” One finds it we hear on the news: too casual, another too formal. The strongest objection is to such in place of A nuclear submarine has suffered ordinary pronouns, particularly personal some kind of accident in the Norwe- pronouns. Accordingly in “I have all- gian Sea. spice and often use such in cooking,” change “such” to it. In “We have a cat A vessel, even when moving and called and a dog and love such,” change “she,” is not animate. Find a substitute “such” to them, or perhaps just add ani- for “suffered” (such as been in or had) mals, depending on meaning. or restructure the sentence. (“Some kind This is one of two uses of as such: of accident has happened to . . .” or “The situation is a hot potato and we “has befallen. . . . ”) should treat it as such.” Some critics From the North Atlantic theater, we would replace “as such” with one or move to northern California, where a that. Others would accept it as id- victim of earth movement “showed city iomatic. As such is unquestionably an id- engineers the damage his house has suf- iomatic phrase when it means in itself, as fered” and a temblor struck two play- in “He craves power as such.” houses: 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 402

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. . . [The] Geary Theater suffered SUPPORTIVE. Supportive has been earthquake damage when plaster fell an established adjective. It means pro- from its proscenium and a lighting viding support or help; e.g., a supportive grid collapsed. . . . The Golden Gate group. Now we hear the faddish phrase Theatre suffered damage to a stair- “supportive of.” well. A mayor of New York wrote, “I have always felt very supportive of civil Proper wording (“. . . the damage to his rights.” Before such a circumlocution be- house” and “The earthquake dam- came a popular habit, he might have aged . . .”) would not require us to sus- written simply, “I have always supported pend our disbelief in the suffering of civil rights.” inanimate objects. The phrase is wishy-washy at best and See also SUSTAIN. grammatically dubious. It is like “Lord, be helpful of us” instead of “Lord, help Suffix. See Adjectives and adverbs (-ly); us.” More illustrations follow. Gerund (-ing); -IZE ending; Participle; PEOPLE as a suffix; Plurals and singu- John A—— . . . called the book “a lars; Pronouns, 3, 4, 5 (-self, -selves); pioneering effort. I’m very supportive Punctuation, 4D (hyphenated forms); of the book.” Spelling, 1, 3; UP, 3; -WISE ending; -Y ending. John should have ended with “supportive” and left out the rest. SULTRY. Oppressively hot, swelter- ing weather, days, or air may be de- McCarthy . . . was supportive of scribed as sultry, particularly if humid. this proposal. Sultry is applied also to figurative heat, such as feverish passion or temper. That adjective serves loosely in other ways, . . . The rest of the board of direc- such as a euphemism for sexy. A movie tors . . . has been supportive of Mr. reviewer so used it: “Jessica . . . looks A——. and sounds so sultry . . . that Roger and Eddie find her equally alluring.” . . . The editor of the Hindustan A restaurant reviewer turned to it for Times, a paper generally supportive of help in expressing her fervor for an Ital- the Government, said. . . . ian appetizer: “The sultry eggplant was especially good with the fresh sourdough Tightened versions would say, “Mc- bread dipped into the marinade.” A Carthy supported this proposal” / flowery writer might metaphorically pic- “. . . The rest of the board of direc- ture some Mexican or Asian foods as tors . . . has supported Mr. A——” / “a sultry, but the bland eggplant? paper generally supporting the Govern- ment.” SUN. See STAR and SUN. Possibly using “supportive of” as a model, some writers have brought forth SUP. See DINE. the abnormity below.

Superlative. See BETTER and BEST In Baku . . . one historian who took (etc.); Comparative and superlative depart in a meeting with Dr. Sakharov grees; MORE and MOST; MOST with was dismissive of the physicist and superlative; Numbers, 10D. Nobel Peace Prize winner. 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 403

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Weinberger’s antagonist, George marked, “I’m sure it’s not gonna turn Shultz, was dismissive of Cap’s ap- out to be anything, but you always want proach. to be sure.” His “sure” was not so sure as hers would be. If he was really sure of Change “was dismissive of” to dis- her symptom’s benignity, there need not missed. have been any “but.” Uttered by loose lips, “sure” can SUPREMACY, SUPREMACIST. amount to little more than guessing. A community had prohibited a demon- Whether it is used strictly or frivolously stration by a racist group and a come- may not be apparent, so enfeebled has dian was proposing a compromise: “Any the word become from misuse. To em- white supremist who wants to enter the phasize certainty, a more reliable adjec- square should first be able to spell the tive may be certain, which implies that word ‘supremist.’ ” The trouble with his one’s conviction is based on evidence or joke was that no such word existed. He experience. If it is based on faith, con- needed the word supremacist. sider using confident. A supremacist is one who believes in Sure and secure both originate in the the supremacy of one race or social Latin securus, free from care, safe. group or either of the sexes. A common example is that of the white supremacist, SURNAME. See LAST NAME and a believer in white supremacy; that is, SURNAME. the leading role of the so-called white race. SUSPECTED. See ACCUSED, AL- Changing one letter in supremacist LEGED etc. gives us suprematist, an adherent of suprematism, an artistic movement em- SUSTAIN. To sustain a loss or injury phasizing abstract, geometric forms. The is to endure it or experience it. An inani- Russian painter Kazimir Malevich mate object does not endure or experi- started it in 1913. He was best known ence anything. Therefore “sustained” for his painting “Suprematist Composi- does not suit this sentence: tion,” consisting of a white square on a white background. Except for the coinci- Hundreds of San Francisco build- dental emphasis on whiteness, ings may have sustained hidden dam- supremacists have nothing to do with age in Tuesday’s temblor. . . . ” suprematists. Better: “. . . may have received” or SURE. Being sure (adjective) means “Hidden damage may have been done to having no doubt that something is true hundreds. . . . ” or will come about. Thus it was a con- Some authorities shun sustain, even tradiction for a national TV reporter to for people, in the sense of suffering a spe- say (about the possibility of lawsuits that cific injury. “He sustained a broken claim discrimination based on looks), “I arm” is a modern, journalistic locution. hope we don’t have these lawsuits, but They would reserve sustain for a special, I’m sure we will.” If he was sure that traditional meaning: to bear up under, to something would happen, how could he stand against without yielding; e.g., “An reasonably hope that it would not? explorer had to sustain hardship.” / “His A woman called a radio doctor to ex- troops sustained the siege for a month.” press fear about possible thyroid cancer. Accordingly, to “sustain” an injury is Recommending an examination, he re- contradictory when it is fatal. 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 404

404 swamped

Sustain (verb, transitive) has other Similarly, “bigger” does not appear to senses: to maintain, prolong, support, or differ substantially from “larger” in that uphold as valid; e.g., “She sustains my excerpt, from a magazine article. faith in humanity.” / “I had no desire to sustain the conversation.” / “He sustains On the East Coast, cocaine supplies himself by odd jobs.” / “Objection sus- are dwindling and prices are jumping. tained.” On the West Coast, the white powder See also SUFFER. is readily available but prices have rocketed. SWAMPED. See INUNDATE, IN- UNDATED. In a story about precipitation in the winter, “the white powder” may be snow. In the excerpt above, it is probably cocaine. SYMPATHY. See MERCY and PITY. The writer just could not bear to repeat the word. Note too that on the East Synonymic silliness. 1. “Elegant Coast prices jump, while on the West variation.” 2. How it causes confusion. Coast they rocket.

1. “Elegant variation” Hernandez said all ivory revenue H. W. Fowler called it “elegant varia- must go toward the conservation of tion,” probably in sarcasm. Usually elephants and development programs more silly than elegant, it is a conspicu- for communities whose crops, homes ous introduction of synonyms, stemming and lives are threatened by the world’s from the misbelief that repetition per se largest land mammal. is undesirable and repeating a word in a sentence or paragraph (or other unit) is The writer’s substitute for elephant(s) an evil. It is characteristic of journalists was “the world’s largest land mammal,” but not restricted to them. Six newspa- but he could have used them. (Some pers, a magazine, and a book supplied writers’ favorite elephant substitute is the examples in this section. “pachyderm,” a term that includes the hippopotamus, the rhinoceros, and Fifth-seeded Todd Martin beat other thick-skinned beasts.) 10th-seeded Mark Philippoussis 6–3, The paragraph below is the fifth in a 7–5. . . . Sixth-seeded Michael Stich news story about Suffolk County, New overwhelmed Andrei Medvedev 6–4, York. 6–1. . . . Defending champion Jana Novotna ousted Anke Huber 6–4, At a news conference here, Mr. 6–4. Halpin said that the bill would cost the county on eastern Long Island In the absence of any clear-cut distinc- businesses millions of dollars for addi- tions among the beating, the overwhelm- tional worker benefits—principally ing, and the ousting, we must conclude for eye care—and that it had already that the three tennis victories were func- discouraged many new companies tionally equal. from settling in Suffolk and made several existing ones consider relocating. As concert halls became bigger, and audiences larger, music became gradu- The writer had used the name “Suffolk” ally more and more difficult to under- three times. He wanted to refer to Suf- stand at first hearing. folk businesses but felt that he simply 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 405

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had to find a substitute for Suffolk. So he “a little.” The phrases are almost oppo- found it, a phrase of six words, and sites. heedlessly stuck it into a sentence that In broadcasts, Hawaii has repeatedly would be long and complex even with- become “paradise”; the John F. Kennedy out it. “Suffolk” appears later in the sen- household, “Camelot”; Mars, “the red tence anyway. If the writer had inserted planet”; Microsoft, “the software gi- his six-word synonym there, it might be ant”; the New York Stock Exchange, tolerable. As it is, the readers read that “the big board”; Elvis Presley, “the “the bill would cost the county on east- king”; and the U.S. Supreme Court, “the ern Long Island businesses,” and they high court.” soon have to retrace their steps. 2. How it causes confusion Rabies caused the death of a 13-year- The drive to avoid repetition and find old boy, the first human in San Fran- a synonym at all costs can result in more cisco to die of the rare disease in than just ungainly expression. The dan- nearly half a century, health officials ger of confusing the reader or listener is have reported. far more serious than the danger of bor- The victim . . . died Dec. 15 but ing him. was not diagnosed as having the rare In telling what is new, if the writer disease until several days later. . . . varies not only that which changes but also that which remains constant, the The writer wanted to avoid repeating readers may have trouble grasping what “rabies” but seemed to have no qualms is new. Three press examples follow: about repeating “the rare disease,” which is more conspicuous than the Shorter work shifts for young doctors name of the disease and probably unnec- replaced the customary 36-hour shifts essary, given the frequency. for medical interns and residents. Similarly, in the passage below, “AIDS” conspicuously becomes “the Did hospitals replace “medical interns deadly disease” twice and then “the fatal and residents” with “young doctors” disease.” when reducing the work shifts? Probably not; one phrase is probably the writer’s CHICAGO—Companies must ed- synonym for the other. But if the staff ucate employees about AIDS to pre- members did not change, why change vent “groundless hysteria” when a what we call them? It was not even nec- co-worker contracts the deadly dis- essary to use nouns twice. A pronoun ease, the U.S. surgeon general said would have worked: “Shorter work Tuesday. . . . shifts for medical interns and residents Koop said company education pro- replaced their customary 36-hour gram should tell employees how the shifts.” deadly disease is spread. When a topic is unfamiliar or exotic, The fatal disease has no cure. readers (or listeners) may not realize that two terms are supposed to mean the A book of popular science asks, in re- same thing. A news story about the dis- ferring to the change in weight of a ra- covery of an enzyme in the stomach con- dioactive object, “Would not its surface tains this sentence: dust off a little, or corrode that much?” The (two) authors appear to have intro- People have higher blood levels of al- duced “that much” to avoid repeating cohol when the substance is injected 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 406

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into the blood than they have when servatives face a parliamentary elec- they drink the same amount of alco- tion as the underdogs. hol. The story never explains outright that It is reasonable for readers to think at the Liberal Democratic Party is the “rul- first that “the substance” is the enzyme. ing conservatives.” American readers But the context indicates it is alcohol. who are uninitiated to Japanese politics The writer was just synonymizing and and unaccustomed to finding liberals de- never thought to use the pronoun it. scribed as conservatives may be excused This is about an election in Japan: if they mistake them for two different parties. It also is the first time since the Liberal Democratic Party came into SYSTEMATIC and SYSTEMIC. existence in 1955 that the ruling con- See Confusing pairs. 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 407

TABLE as verb. See CHAIR, 2. to what Europe can do,” as though distinguishing them from infinite limits. TAKE and BRING. See BRING and That last quotation illustrates another TAKE. meaning of tautology: the unnecessary repetition of a word, phrase, or sen- TAKEN and TOOK. See Tense, 5A. tence, or its meaning; or an example of such repetition. A synonym is redun- TAKE PLACE. See HAPPEN, OC- dancy (noun). That which is unnecessar- CUR, and TAKE PLACE. ily repetitious is redundant (adjective). A term with similar meaning is pleonasm, TALK TO. See SPEAK TO, TALK the use of more words than are neces- TO. sary to express an intended meaning; or an example thereof. (The words are Tautology. The country had heard pronounced taut-TOL-uh-gee, re-DUN- many tributes to the late Justice Thur- dense-see, re-DUN-dent, and PLEA-uh- good Marshall but nothing else quite nazm.) like a statement by the moderator of a Repetition per se is not wrong; it can television forum: “His funeral this week be beneficial when it aids clarity. More marked the end of his life.” confusion results from efforts to avoid It was a type of tautology, a statement repetition than from repetition. that is undeniable but uninformative Here, however, we consider unneces- and usually characterized by the repeti- sary repetition. It may be obvious: “This tion in essence of a thought. It may con- evening ABC will have a special Prime tain contradictory elements, as in a Time special.” Usually it is somewhat sentence from a well-known book: more subtle. “This uncertain change toward warmth When a participant in a televised talk may go on or it may not.” show called a detective in a murder case An American general exhibited tauto- racially prejudiced, the host jumped in, logical mastery. As secretary of state, he informing all, “It’s an alleged allega- addressed the Organization of American tion.” No one asked him, “What other States and imparted this intelligence kind of allegation is there?” about the Falkland Islands: “It is quite Interviewed on television about a kid- clear that the crisis has reached a critical naping, a policeman said, “We’ve had a point.” Later, in a so-called presidential canine dog in the area, trying to locate debate, he said, “There are finite limits the suspects.” The interviewer failed to

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ask him, “What other kind of dog is See also Twins; Verbosity; and the there?” cross-reference Repetition and its avoid- An anchor woman announced in a ance. national news program, “Washington has been expecting Russia to expel an TEAM OF. See Collective nouns. American diplomat, but so far that hasn’t happened yet.” The sentence did TEAR, TORE, TORN. A hurricane not need both “so far” and “yet.” in Florida was being described for a na- In a report on a straw poll at a con- tional radio audience: “There were roofs vention in Florida, a TV man said, completely tore up.” “Each one of those votes cost him [Sena- “Tore” was wrong. It is standard En- tor Dole] about $1,800 apiece.” Either glish only as the past tense of the verb “Each one of” or “apiece” could have tear: “He tore the book.” The past par- been discarded. ticiple of tear is torn, which should have This is from a newspaper: “The legal been used: “There were roofs completely defense group’s report said women in torn up” (or, better, “Roofs were com- particular are being singled out for ha- pletely . . .”). Other examples: “He has rassment” (in the military). They “in torn the book” and “The book is torn.” particular” are being picked on if they are being “singled out.” TEMBLOR and TREMBLER. A Another newspaper said the “Party of temblor is an earthquake. A trembler is the Democratic Revolution . . . will likely someone or something that trembles. To choose . . . its two-time presidential also- tremble is to shiver or quake, so the ran in 1988 and 1994” to run for mayor words are close enough to be easily con- of Mexico City. The paper could have fused. left it to the readers to add one and one. In commenting on a terrorist attack Still another paper said a man was on U.S. servicemen in Saudi Arabia, a convicted of making a “false misrepre- panelist on a television forum sought a sentation in the sale of a security”—as picturesque metaphor. U.S. forces were distinguished from a true misrepresenta- “in a deep fault between the twentieth tion? century and the eleventh century,” he Three hosts of talk shows on a radio said. “This was a trembler.” He meant it station uttered these remarks: (In sup- was a temblor. port of car travel rather than public tran- Both words seem to have originated in sit to save time:) “Forty-five minutes is the Latin tremulus, trembling. But tem- forty-five minutes.” (On commitments blor came via Spanish, in which it means made by news media:) “Off the record is a tremor or shiver; while tremble(r) off the record.” (Of the president and his came via French, in which trembler aides:) “To the extent that they should means to tremble. be held accountable, they should be held accountable.” Tense. 1. Definitions. 2. Don’t swap Most of us, authors included, are oc- tenses in the middle of a sentence. 3. Fit casional tautologists. A book about quoted and nonquoted parts together. 4. books tells us, “Every book is a book yet Look to the future grammatically. 5. Per- each one is an individual combination of fect your perfect tenses. 6. Tell the story author, content, publisher, timing” (etc.). in the past or present, not both. It is indisputable that a book is a book, a rose is a rose, boys will be boys, business 1. Definitions is business, a deal is a deal, and that’s Tense is a form of a verb that indicates that. the time of an action: past, present, or 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 409

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future. It usually says something also whether or not it has already started. about the completion or continuation of (“The staff will have totaled all the the action. receipts by tomorrow noon.”) Mistakes in tense are rife in print, let alone speech. We will turn to illustrations E. The progressive tenses (or pro- in later sections, headed by suggestions gressive forms). They indicate that an for the orderly use of tenses. Here we list action was, is, or will be continuing. the main tenses and some typical uses. (“I was running.” / “The Lees are visiting us.” / “He will be singing.” A. The past tense (also called the preterit or preterite). It indicates that Some general principles, quotations, an action occurred in the past (“She and commentary follow. The discussions went home an hour ago”) or that a here concern the indicative mood; that state or condition existed in the past is, the ordinary verb form for communi- (“It was the best of times”). cating information. For other forms, B. The present tense. It indicates consult Mood; Subjunctive. The basic that an action occurs now (“The earth form of a verb is discussed under Infini- revolves around the sun” / “He is tive, which includes 3, the perfect infini- here”) or occurs customarily (“I go to tive. See also Verbs. work daily”) or that something exists now (“The house still stands”). 2. Don’t swap tenses in the middle of a C. The future tense. It indicates sentence that an action is going to take place. It seems that the writer of the follow- (“A courier will deliver the letter.” / ing sentence, a columnist, could not de- “I’ll be there.”) cide whether to tell his story in the past D. The perfect tenses. Perfect in tense or the present tense, so he used grammar indicates when an action both. was, is, or will be completed. Three are as follows: He then took off at breakneck speed and as I zoomed down the road at 60 • The past perfect tense (or mph this guy pulls alongside and pluperfect)—the action was points at the laundry. completed before a given time in the past or before a certain other The passage is fairly clear but untidy. It occurrence. (“They had fled is as though the writer wore one black Germany by the time the war shoe and one white. He should have cho- started.”) sen one tense or the other and stuck to it, • The present perfect tense—the action at least for the duration of the sentence. is completed now. This tense links (A comma after “60 mph” would have the past with the present. It may helped also.) refer to an action or actions that The quotation below should have began in the past, continuing or been entirely in the past tense. It is not recurring until the present. plausible the way it stands. (“Business has been good.” / “Man has hunted since prehistoric times.”) ...William Lowe, president of Or it may refer to a past action that I.B.M.’s entry systems division, said affects the present. (“They have earlier this year that the company is given the police clues.”) investing as much in future RISC- • The future perfect tense—the action based products as it has put into its will be completed in the future, PS/2 personal computer line. 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 410

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“Earlier this year,” when he talked about books’ so that no one thinks “their” then current spending, he “said . . . that refers to “the chain store.”) the company was investing” as much Here an adverb pertaining to the pre- in the future products “as it had put sent purports to modify a verb in the into” the personal computer line. We do past: not know what the company “is investing” now or has invested since “earlier Currently, 30 people on Death Row this year.” nationwide committed murder when Such shifting from past to present or they were under 18. to future is common in the popular press, and it is not always a product of Opening the sentence with “currently” ignorance. On one newspaper, the city sets the scene in the present for the editor told us staff members that it was whole sentence. Therefore the main verb considered ungrammatical to write that cannot be “committed” or any other way, but he instructed us to do it any- verb in the past. Place “currently” after how. “people,” or else revise the rest of the In a normal sentence, if the main verb sentence. One possible revision adds two is in the past, the verb of a dependent words: “Currently, 30 people who com- clause also goes in the past. “He said mitted murder when they were under 18 [main verb] that he did [dependent are on Death Row nationwide.” verb].” In the present, “He says that he An attribution, like he said or she does” is correct. “He said that he does” said, parenthetically inserted in a sen- is incorrect and illogical. tence, usually does not affect the other A book mixes the past and the pre- verbs. This excerpt is acceptable: “To- sent: ward that end, she explained, DHS is working with . . . universities. . . . ” Supper of desert survival rations, de- While generally favoring consistency hydrated stew and rice, was delicious in tense, most authorities would make when you’re hungry. an exception for supposed timeless truths: “He said that the universe is fi- “Was” clashes with the contracted are in nite,” rather than “was finite.” / “It “you’re.” Make it either “is delicious showed that crime does not pay,” rather when you’re hungry” or “was delicious than “did not pay.” Some, more conser- when you were hungry.” vative, would not make that exception. The following passage adds an awk- You may decide for yourself. ward mixture of plural and singular to See also 6; Anachronism, 2. its shift from past to present. 3. Fit quoted and nonquoted parts to- But all five books became best sell- gether ers. And while the chain stores even- Parts of a sentence must fit together tually jumped aboard the sales grammatically, whether or not some of it bandwagon, it was independent is a quotation. bookstores that are responsible for In the second sentence below, the their success. quoted part does not match the nonquoted part. The passage is from a his- Better: “. . . it was the independent tory book. bookstore that was responsible . . .” or “independent bookstores were responsi- No one, Tory or Whig, could design a ble. . . . ” (And change “their” to the British victory out of what had hap- 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 411

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pened at Lexington and Concord. obsolete in the United States and even Nor had the peasants “ran for their disappearing in England, prescribed lives.” shall for the simple future in the first person and for determination, obligation, The two halves of the second sentence inevitability, etc. in the second or third do not jibe. It starts out in one tense person. Will was used the other way: for (pluperfect) and finishes in another the simple future in the second or third (preterit). You may not say the peasants person and for determination etc. in the “had . . . ran. . . . ” A change like this first person.) would put the whole sentence in one tense, yet keep the quotation intact: B. Dependent clauses Two types of recurrent mistakes con- Nor was it true that the peasants “ran cern a dependent, or subordinate, clause: for their lives.”

An alternative would be to keep the first • Repeating will in a dependent clause half of the sentence but change the quo- instead of using the present tense. tation, making it indirect: “The administration of Mayor Harris will end at noon tomorrow Nor had the peasants run for their when John Bradley will take office as lives. mayor.” The second “will” is superfluous. Change “will take” to The quotation marks must be removed takes. because the quotation no longer is exact. • Using will in a dependent clause (Anyway, the book fails to indicate who when the main verb is in the past is being quoted.) tense. “Edison predicted that he will perfect the incandescent lamp.” 4. Look to the future grammatically Inasmuch as predicted is in the past tense, will has to go in the past tense A. WILL and SHALL too; its past tense is would. “Edison The modern use of the future tense is predicted that he would. . . . ” It is fairly easy. Will with an infinitive usually the future from his standpoint, years does the job. “When will they ever ago. “Will”—the future from our learn?” / “I will be there with bells on.” / standpoint—makes no sense. “You will do fine.” In colloquial speech Similarly, “. . . Smythe . . . was told only half of will may be needed: “I’ll be that he will be sent back to . . . Maze seeing you.” The present can indicate the Prison” needs correction: “was told future in some constructions: “He per- that he would be sent back.” forms here tomorrow.” So can a progres- The same principle holds when sive tense: “He will be performing here” the future is suggested in other ways: or “He is going to perform here” (which “K—— said he plans to present the becomes, in loose colloquial speech, case to the district attorney.” / “He’s gonna perform . . .”). “M—— said she plans to fight the Shall usually implies determination or denial in court if necessary.” Change legal requirement. “We shall overcome.” “plans” to planned. We know their / “It shall be unlawful to. . . . ” Now and plans at the time they were then shall is otherwise needed: “Shall we interviewed, but their plans may dance?” / “Shall I draw up the papers?” have changed by now. Expect, (The formal use of the two words, now forecast, intend, look forward to, 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 412

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and predict are among other verbs Sapoa they will present the govern- that suggest the future. ment with a list of prisoners that they had wanted liberated yesterday. C. Conditional sentences Another problem concerns the condi- To be compatible with “said,” which is tional sentence: a sentence in which a fu- in the past tense, “will” should go in the ture action depends on something else past tense: would. “Will” says some- happening. The problem takes two thing is going to happen. In actuality, the forms: presentation of the list may be completed already. A further correction (this • Mixing “will” and some verb in the foreshadows section 5) is to omit “had.” past subjunctive, which are It wrongly implies that the directors’ de- incompatible: sire for a liberation preceded the Sapoa event, five days ago, and then ended. But the assistance will be sus- The tenses below are so badly con- pended late in November if any of founded that the time of the main action the major Congressional commit- is not apparent. tees dealing with the money objected to its continuation. Upon completion of that term, [Judge] Jackson put him on super- Either change “objected” to objects vised probation for a year, meaning or change “will” to would. The that he must report regularly to a pro- latter gives us the subjunctive mood. bation officer and be subject to peri- (See Mood; Subjunctive.) Such use of odic drug tests. would should not be confused with would as the past tense of will in the It seems to be saying that two events oc- indicative mood, the ordinary verb curred in the past; that after the convict form. finished serving his term, the judge put him on probation. That is not the in- • Mixing the subjunctive “would” and tended meaning. The phrase “Upon some verb in the indicative, which completion of that term” should have are incompatible: been followed by a clause like this, in the future tense: “he will be on supervised The government estimates that probation.” Instead, the phrase is fol- Hong Kong . . . would lose as lowed by the irrelevant clause “Jackson many as 20,000 jobs if Bush put him . . . ,” which falsely unites with doesn’t extend the trading agree- it. ment. 5. Perfect your perfect tenses This time, “would” should be will. An alternative is to change “doesn’t” A. Be sure of the participle and use it to didn’t or did not. with an H-word The past perfect tense uses (1) had D. Distortion of meaning and (2) the past participle of a verb. More than grammatical tidiness may (“They had eaten, so they were not hun- be involved. Confusion of tenses made gry.”) the two excerpts opaque and misleading. The present perfect tense uses (1) have or has and (2) the past participle of a The directors of the Nicaraguan Re- verb. (“I have worn this suit for years.” / sistance, the Contra alliance, said at “She has shown courage.” 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 413

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H. L. Mencken listed over 100 past Although “spoke” was accepted as the participles (or “perfect participles”) that past participle of speak from the four- he found misused in “common” or “vul- teenth to eighteenth centuries, now it is gar” American speech. Often they were spoken. Spoke is the past tense. used in place of the past tense; for in- A travel book leaves out the participle stance, “I been” and “I done” instead of altogether: I was and I did. He said such misuse was an old practice, common in other En- but it is quite possible thousands of glish dialects but particularly well F-M listeners have or will hear it from marked in the American dialect. this exact spot. The opposite, the use of the past tense in place of the past participle, is another “Have” does not go with “hear.” A cor- old practice. At one time, Mencken rection: “have heard or will hear. . . . ” wrote, “even the best writers were ap- (A hyphen in FM is unnecessary.) parently unconscious of its inelegance”: See also Participles. Shakespeare’s plays contain such forms as “I have wrote” / “I am mistook” / and B. Do not confuse the sequence of “he has rode.” (Written, mistaken, and events ridden are now standard.) A sequence of events is subject to con- Such lapses are rare in published ma- fusion in the press. When a writer fails to terial nowadays but not in oral speech. make it clear which events came ﬁrst, In broadcasts a Washington state legisla- second, and third, the problem may tor and a Washington, D.C., correspon- amount to shortcomings in the use of the dent for a newspaper muffed has run perfect tenses. and have run respectively: “The fact that An account of a shooting rampage the child has ran away could be for any contains this passage: number of reasons.” / “He [Gingrich] would never have ran for president.” Bobby S——, 20, was in fair condi- The sentences below were uttered by tion at Denver General Hospital. He members of the general public and heard escaped from the restaurant and ran on the air. (Correct forms are in brack- to nearby apartments to call police. ets.) “I must have ate [eaten] lunch with The escape and the run took place before ﬁfteen MPD patients.” / “It shouldn’t his stay in the hospital. Therefore the have broke [broken] like that.” / past perfect (not the past) is the tense to “Maybe they should have gave [given] use: “He had escaped from the restau- him some treatment program.” / “She rant and run. . . . ” (Following that sen- had just took [taken] her car to the car tence, if a still earlier event was wash.” Each speaker wrongly used a described, the past perfect tense would past tense in place of a past participle. be used again; for instance, “He had Another erred the opposite way: “I been cleaning the kitchen when the looked over to the left and I seen [saw] a shooting began.”) tornado.” Conversely, the next sentence uses the Sometimes an incorrect participle gets past perfect tense unnecessarily in lieu of into print: a simple past tense.

Egypt’s chief religious ofﬁcial has His client and the two cops were also spoke on behalf of Abu Zeid, say- yelling and cursing when the lieu- ing he could not be ordered to di- tenant on duty showed up. Incredibly, vorce. . . . less than a minute later, the lieutenant 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 414

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had hauled off and punched W—— in 2. Omit “have” and insert had before the face. “recruited”: “F.B.I. officials previously acknowledged [they did so in The punching followed the yelling and the past] that the agency had recruited cursing. Therefore it is most clearly dean informer. . . . ” (The phrase had scribed in the past tense. For example: recruited is in the past perfect. The “Incredibly, within a minute, the lieu- agency had done the recruiting be- tenant hauled off. . . . ” fore the officials did the acknowledg- Next, the sequence of two events is ing.) mistakenly reversed by the use of the 3. Change “have” to had and insert had present perfect instead of the past per- before “recruited,” using the past perfect: fect twice: “F.B.I. officials had previously acknowledged that the agency The Mohajir group called the strike had recruited. . . . ” (Again the recruit- to demand the release of more than ing preceded the acknowledging. The 100 of its workers it says have been officials had done the acknowledging kidnaped by members of the Pakistan before something else happened: viz. Students Federation. . . . the latest news was made public.) “Previously” is unnecessary with the The alleged kidnaping came first; then past perfect but may be used for extra the Mohajir group called the strike and clarity. talked. So change “have been kidnaped” to “had been kidnaped.” (Still better: To combine have or has with “pre- “. . . 100 of its workers who, it said, had viously” or “in the past” creates a been kidnaped”—adding the relative monstrous nontense. (Dare we dub it pronoun and placing the talking with the the highly imperfect?) A favorite of striking.) writers of scientific papers, it has stum- bled its way into the popular press as C. Mind your P’s and H’s well. The press often shows misunderstanding of the perfect tenses and their rela- Contra spokesmen have previously tion to the past and present. Sometimes stated they use Claymore mines. . . . the problem is the intrusion of a certain word or phrase. Omit “previously.” As an alternative, omit “have” and put “use” in the past F.B.I. officials have previously ac- tense: “Contra spokesmen previously knowledged that the agency recruited stated they used. . . . ” an informer . . . to join Cispes. The private meeting, which hasn’t The present perfect tense is functionally been disclosed previously, could cre- equivalent to the present tense. Its have ate additional political and legal prob- or has does not mix with “previously” lems for the embattled attorney or “in the past.” Here are three alterna- general. . . . tive ways to repair the sample sentence: In the past, Mr. Meese has maintained he had an “extremely limited” 1. Omit “previously,” using the present role with the pipeline. . . . perfect correctly: “F.B.I. officials have acknowledged. . . . ” (They made the In the upper sentence, “previously” acknowledgment at an indefinite time could well be changed to until now. In before this moment.) the lower, leave out “In the past.” 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 415

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Mr. Dukakis, displaying more hu- clause of the second sentence below does mor and emotion than he has in the not belong there. The past tense is used past, poked fun at the criticism of his elsewhere throughout the passage, from lack of charisma. a newspaper story.

The sentence is doubly wrong. The aux- For a while it appeared that the par- iliary verb “has” should be changed to ties would simply be canceled. . . . But had. Even so, it is not enough. What as the Emperor’s blood pressure has verb links up with it? Not “displaying.” risen and fallen in twice-daily read- Make it “. . . than he had displayed. . . .” ings, a consensus slowly emerged. Parties were all right, as long as no D. Stay in the right time frame one had too much fun. The three press sentences below make essentially the same mistake: shifting The consensus “emerged” in the past back in time from the present perfect “as”—at the same time that—the Em- tense. It is functionally equivalent to the peror’s blood pressure rose and fell in the present tense. past. There is no reason here to link the action of the past to the present, which is The chorus of critical statements what the present perfect tense does. about Colonel North, largely from Similarly, the present perfect is unwar- Administration ofﬁcials, has reached ranted in this sentence, from a book of such a crescendo that Elliott Abrams, essays: the Assistant Secretary of State for In- ter-American affairs, was moved to . . . Nearly all the linguistic tendencies offer a spirited defense. of the present day have been displayed in earlier centuries. . . . Change “was moved” to “has been moved.” The action started in the past, Change “have been” to were, in the past but it has continued until approximately tense. “Earlier centuries” are history. the present, and the present cannot affect the past. (See also CRESCENDO.) E. Watch out for a change in meaning In the sample below, an excerpt from MGM-UA has produced few ﬁlms a newspaper story about an election in lately while its controlling share- Haiti, the use of a wrong tense reverses holder . . . sought a buyer. the meaning intended to be conveyed.

Make it “has sought. . . . ” The two ac- “The election process was great,” tions have gone on at about the same Carter said, playing down the techni- time. cal glitches as not surprising in a country that has never had a totally . . . The group tried to restore order free election. after a demonstration on Saturday night got out of control, and had later “. . . Has never had” indicates that the provided safe escort for endangered country never had a totally free election Americans. up to the time that the sentence was written. It was written on the day after Scrap “had.” The escort was provided an election was held. Therefore one later, not earlier; so the past perfect is un- could logically conclude from the ex- warranted. cerpt that the election was not totally The present perfect tense in the ﬁrst free. But the context suggests the oppo- 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 416

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site. A correction is in order. Omit suits not only historical accounts but “has,” so that the action is in the past also descriptions of books and sum- tense; and, to leave no doubt as to the maries of dramatic and literary plots. If meaning, put in a qualifying word or chosen, it is generally best to continue it phrase: “. . . a country that never before till the story is over. had a totally free election” or “. . . a Another author shifts from future to country that never had a totally free elec- present (acceptable) to past (unaccept- tion until yesterday.” able) in one sentence. A television reporter’s sloppy use of tense risked creating misunderstanding The course we will follow begins just in an inflammable international atmo- before World War I; it was the recog- sphere. He spoke of a recently negoti- nition of the discontinuous behavior ated agreement to provide access to all of the atom, the quantum theory. sites in Iraq for weapons inspection, “something Iraq has refused to do.” Us- Change “was” to is. ing “has”—the present perfect—incor- Either present or past—but not rectly implied a current refusal by Iraq, both—would be appropriate in the final contrary to its agreement. Using had— example. the past perfect—would have correctly indicated Iraq’s refusal before the agree- Wagner in “The Ring” employs six ment was reached. harps; and Berlioz, of course, made liberal use of the instrument. [See also 6. Tell the story in the past or present, OF COURSE, 2.] not both Even when individual sentences are Change either “employs” to employed grammatical, a passage may be stylisti- or “made” to makes. cally flawed when tenses shift from sentence to sentence. Three books provide TESTAMENT and TESTIMONY. examples. (Emphasis is added.) A testament is a will. In modern use it is The paragraph below vacillates from relegated to the legal phrase last will and past to present, from present to past, as testament, which is redundant but well though the author could not make up his established. mind. Testimony is evidence, particularly a statement made by a witness under oath During the first period of the renais- in a court. It can be used figuratively: sance madrigal . . . the principal lead- “This gift bears testimony of my love.” ers were the Flemish musicians who The two words have significance in had settled in Italy. The composer’s Biblical theology. Testament: a covenant, chief concern at this stage is to give a promise by God to man; hence the Old pleasure to the performers. . . . In its Testament and New Testament. Testi- middle phase . . . the renaissance mony: the decalogue or other precepts of madrigal becomes a conscious art God. form. . . . Both Lassus and Palest- Both originating in the Latin testis, a rina . . . enriched the literature of the witness, they have been differentiated form during these years. [See also over the centuries but sometimes con- THESE and THOSE.] fused in contemporary times. Occasion- ally “testament” is used when testimony The historical present—that is, the is meant, and some dictionaries condone present tense used to tell of past events— the mix-up. is an established rhetorical device. It On network television a reporter de- 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 417

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scribed the scene of a ship accident at or moreover (“These shoes ﬁt well, New Orleans. and then they’re comfortable”).

For now it is wedged between a In careful speech, they are pro- pedestrian playland and a busy com- nounced differently, than rhyming with mercial route. There it sits, a glaring can; and then rhyming with pen. Speak- testament that a river offers the best ing hastily, people often pronounce both of both worlds and shows no mercy like then. when those worlds collide. 2. With various words Her use of “testament,” in lieu of testimony, was either a lapse or an instance A. “AS” of poetic license. A comparison using as and a comparison using than do not mix. The idioms THAN. 1. Confused with THEN. 2. are confused in these grim statistical With various words. items from television news: “The rate of crib deaths is twice as high for black in- 1. Confused with THEN fants than for whites.” / “. . . A child is The mistake in both of these pub- fourteen times as likely to die of gunshot lished sentences would not have been wounds in this country than in Northern considered a mistake a few centuries Ireland.” Each “than” should be as: “as ago: “. . . Women have smaller brains high . . . as” / “as likely . . . as.” then men by an average of 10 percent.” / Than would be right in a construction “Time and his genius for bureaucracy like this: “Ford grew richer than Croe- taught him . . . to be a monarch rather sus.” Or this: “It’s more popular than then a representative.” The writers (of any other novel in print.” Than com- articles condemning an anthropology monly follows (1) an adjective with the professor and an FBI director respec- sufﬁx -er or (2) the adverb more or less tively) probably know better; inadver- plus an adjective. tence or typographical error could be to See also AS, 3. blame. Than has been spelled differently B. “DIFFERENT” from then since about 1700. Here are Phrases like brighter than and louder other differences between the words: than are proper, containing comparatives. It is incorrect to say, “Donkeys are • Than is a conjunction, a connecting different than mules.” Different from is word, in a sentence expressing the accepted idiom. Different is not a comparison (“John is faster than comparative. See also DIFFERENT, 1. Fred”), preference (“I would rather be right than be president”), or C. Personal pronouns difference or exception (“He said A common puzzle is the choice be- nothing, other than his name, rank, tween than I and than me, between than and serial number”). we and than us, and so on. The choice of • Then can be a noun, meaning a pronoun depends on its function in the particular time (“Until then, let’s than clause. keep in touch”). Then can be also an In “Myrtle plays better than he does” adverb, meaning at a certain time in no one disputes the he; it is the subject of the past (“She was thinner then”), the verb does. Now what if that verb is next (“Then he drew his sword”), in dropped? Though unexpressed, it is un- that case (“Then why should I go?”), derstood. The sentence “Myrtle plays 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 418

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better than he” (that is, than he does) of two actions are being compared, cor- construes he as the subject of that unex- rectly: “No sooner had we arrived than pressed verb. the show started.” To substitute “when” In “The company rewarded nobody is an error. Confusion with hardly or more than him” (that is, than the com- scarcely, neither of which is a compara- pany rewarded him), him is construed as tive, appears to be at the root. an object of an unexpressed subject and This is correct: “Hardly [or verb. See also Pronouns, 10, especially “scarcely”] had we arrived when the E. show started.” To substitute “than” is an error. D. RATHER; “PREFER” “Rather” sometimes is superfluous THAN ANY. See ANY, 1. before than: “I’m more concerned with affirming a principle rather than settling the case.” Being a comparative, more THANK, THANKS. The president goes with than. “Rather,” a comparative of Bolivia was quoted (although in adverb, becomes redundant. which language and under what circum- At times rather than is correct but a stances he spoke was not stated): verb form that follows is questionable: “We will depend on our own staff, Bolivia’s unemployment rate stands rather than turning [?] to the national of- at 23 percent, thanks to the currency fice.” Change “turning” to turn. As a devaluation and other “brutal” eco- conjunction, than ordinarily links paral- nomic reforms imposed on the coun- lel elements: “Johnny is playing rather try by the World Bank to reduce the than studying.” / “He runs rather than country’s roughly $4 billion foreign walks.” / “I slept rather than worked.” / debt, Zamora says. “They chose to call rather than write [or “to write”]. There is a trend, however, toward treating rather than as a preposi- No one is likely to offer thanks for an tion, in the manner of this book excerpt: unemployment rate of 23 percent, unless “James delivered the address himself, one’s intention is bitter sarcasm or the rather than falling [fell?] back on inexpe- hiring of cheap labor. Neither accounts rienced theological students.” Some for the statement, judging from the con- grammarians accept the -ing form as id- text and the word “brutal” (rather than, iomatic, especially at the start of a sen- say, “kindly”). tence: “Rather than getting fired, I quit You would not expect anyone to offer my job.” thanks for the collapse of a road either. Prefer should not be followed by than A television announcer said in a preview or rather than. Normally you prefer one of the news, “Highway number 101 col- thing to another: “I prefer chocolate to lapses near Salinas, thanks to the floods vanilla.” of ’97.” At least three dictionaries define E. SOONER; “HARDLY” or thanks to as “thanks be given to.” For a “SCARCELY” secondary definition, they offer such Than often follows a comparative ad- phrases as “on account of,” “owing to,” jective or adverb: “He looks bigger than and “as a result of.” But plainly it is not you.” / “It goes faster than any other always appropriate to replace them with car.” Sooner is a comparative adverb, of- thanks to. ten followed by than. Here the earliness Thanks (noun, plural) is an expres- 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 419

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sion of gratitude. To tell someone thanks [A movie criticism on television:] He (interjection) is to say thank you infor- is jealous * she has made a new male mally. friend. To thank (verb, transitive) is to express gratitude (to someone or some- [A television report:] For those who thing). Occasionally it can mean to died [on the U.S.S. Iowa], the thought blame, when used in a sarcastic sense: * it was not an accident only deep- “We have ourselves to thank for the de- ened the tragedy. feat.” One dictionary’s alternative deﬁni- tion of thank as “blame”—with no [A newspaper item:] . . . She arrived at mention of its special, sarcastic mean- court for a jury trial on charges * she ing—can be misleading. slapped a Beverly Hills motorcycle cop. THAT. 1. Anti-THAT prejudice; unid- [A newspaper column:] . . . Their iomatic sentences. 2. Errors of omission: [Democrats’] lone window of oppor- wrong road, ambiguity. 3. Need for a tunity is the voters’ sense * they’re be- pair; AND THAT, BUT THAT. 4. Un- ing left out. necessary THATs. See also THAT and WHICH; WHO, 1. Anti-THAT prejudice; unidiomatic THAT, and WHICH. sentences Some publications and press services 2. Errors of omission: wrong road, am- harbor an irrational prejudice. They are biguity that-haters. They consider that (as a con- The absence of that is more serious in junction or relative pronoun, introduc- certain sentences in which a verb, such ing a clause) to be usually unnecessary. as believes or reported, has a clause as its In their style books, they instruct their direct object. Omitting that after the writers to do without it whenever possi- verb can make a fragment of the clause ble. falsely appear to be the direct object. The Sometimes it may indeed be possible reader may be sent down the wrong to omit that; for instance, after said and road and have to start the sentence a few other verbs: “She said the money again. was safe.” / “He thinks the car is defec- The ﬁrst two of three press examples tive.” Some clauses of other construction are from a newspaper that is not one of may hold together idiomatically without the that-haters and cautions its staff that: “This is the school I attended.” On members against just this sort of thing. the other hand, unless one has orders to the contrary, it usually cannot hurt to At the same time, he said, he believes put it in: “This is the house that Jack the people he has met since coming to built.” the United States last week have been Often the mass media print or broad- surprised at “our openness, our cast sentences that are unidiomatic with- friendliness and our desire to bring out that. Although the meaning is peace to the entire world.” understood in the following four sentences, the clauses in each do not hold The company reported 47 percent together gracefully. An asterisk indicates of those who had taken the test had the spot where one would normally con- failed because of admitted transgres- nect them with that. sions or attitudes. 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 420

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Although acknowledging New When the phrase but that or and that Mexico, like most states, offers a “fair does begin a clause, normally the that reporting privilege” shield from libel parallels a that in the previous clause. lawsuits, the judge said the privilege Each of these two sample sentences did not apply because the Journal was omits the first that: reporting on a statement it itself had made. Mr. Bush said “no specific mission” was under discussion, but that Mr. In the first example, “believes” seems at Reagan was being kept informed. first to have “the people” as its object. “He believes the people he has met since . . . He said the imagery of the Pales- coming to the United States last week” tinian uprising in the occupied West forms a false thought—one that is plau- Bank and Gaza Strip had inspired sible until “have been surprised” comes some Jordanians and that other pres- along. Following “believes” with that sures were at work. would have prevented the problem. In the next two examples, “The com- “. . . Said that” would balance each sen- pany reported 47 percent of those who tence better. Although the meaning may had taken the test” and “Although ac- be understandable without that, a tidier knowledging New Mexico” also form sentence could be easier to read. This is false thoughts. “Reported” and “ac- particularly true for sentences that are knowledging” should each be followed longer and more complicated: by that. Omitting that can render a sentence Mr. Bush said the arrangement, ambiguous when time is an element: which follows months of delicate ne- “The Governor said on June 30 the gotiations with Japan, would safe- state’s debt stood at $57 million.” If (a) guard sensitive computer software and he was telling what the size of the debt that American companies would be was on that day, follow “said” with that. guaranteed roughly 40 percent of the But if (b) that was the day when he said production work on the new jet fighter. it, follow “30” with that. (Another way to correct the sentence is to to put “on Some readers probably glanced back to June 30” [a] at the end or [b] at the be- see what “and that” referred to. “Mr. ginning.) Bush said that” would have helped See also ASSURE (etc.), 2. them. How could it have hurt? A book on relativity fails to put ele- 3. Need for a pair; AND THAT, BUT ments of a sentence in proper relation. THAT Two hypothetical space ships reach rela- A single that may not be enough in a tive speeds of light. sentence containing a series of comparable clauses. . . . Observers on each ship would think the other ship had shrunk to Doctors say that some home remedies zero in length, acquired an infinite help but others may be harmful. mass, and that time on the other ship had slowed to a full stop! Who is saying “others may be harmful”? If it is the doctors, follow “but” with To follow “think” with that would begin that. If it is the person speaking, make to improve the sentence. (It contains a that fact clear; e.g., “But evidence shows defective series. Replace the first comma that others. . . . ” with and. See Series errors.) 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 421

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The same principle of parallelism ap- “that”—often preceded by a meaning- plies to and which and and who. See less “all”—usually after a negative. WHICH, 3; WHO, 2. When used properly as an adverb, After no doubt or no question, “but that means to the extent or degree stated that” is not strictly legitimate. See BUT, or indicated. For instance, “The paper 2. says 5,000 people attended, but I don’t think that many were there.” 4. Unnecessary THATs A columnist told of people’s fears dur- That is usually unnecessary before a ing a gale and added, “There weren’t direct quotation that is complete or that many people using umbrellas.” starts at the beginning: How many people are “that many”? The preceding paragraphs did not state Shakespeare wrote, “Neither a bor- or indicate any number, so “that” did rower nor a lender be; For loan oft not refer to anything. It should have loses both itself and friend, And bor- been discarded. rowing dulls the edge of husbandry.” A book of popular science says, “. . . The actual telescopic effect is not Before a fragment of a direct quota- that difficult to discover” and “Our tion, that may be desirable: daily understanding of our actions is not that far from a scientific account.” Noth- Shakespeare wrote that “borrowing ing was said about difficulty of discov- dulls the edge of husbandry.” ery. Nothing was said about distance from science. “That” could have been Take care, however, that the that is omitted both times without sacrificing not inside the quotation marks. This is any meaning. wrong: No standards of coldness, difference, time, or harm had come up when a net- Shakespeare wrote “that borrowing work newscaster said illogically, “It dulls the edge of husbandry.” wasn’t warm, but it wasn’t that cold”; a columnist wrote, “In my opinion, men Sometimes a second “that” is erro- and women are really not that differ- neously inserted in a sentence when its ent”; and an article said: function is already performed by the first that: . . . It didn’t take that long [for a presidential candidate to use a slanderous The party contends that as long as the rumor]. . . . The last week’s events present government remains in power may not have been that harmful. that the nation will not mend its shattered economy. Where were the editors to ask: How harmful? How long? How different? “. . . Contends that” includes everything How cold? How far? How difficult? that follows, because all of it is one Some of them were putting vague that’s thought. A second that is superfluous. of their own into headlines: “For Corn See also THAT, ALL THAT. Belt Farmers, Oat Bran Isn’t That Chic.” Placing “all” before a misused “that” THAT, ALL THAT. This is a British just adds another superfluous word, one import of recent decades, an illogical col- that can sometimes be misleading. The loquialism that should dispel any notion two words were paired legitimately in a that the best English must come from question asked by a television reporter, England. It is the slovenly use of “Why would he want to give Democrats 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 422

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all that money?” All (adverb), meaning ries compared it with other series and the entire amount (of), modified that said, “These guys aren’t all that much (adjective), referring to a sum previously fun.” Are some of them? And this is mentioned. The two words together from a news story: modified money (noun). But “all that” was superfluous in an A 69-year-old enthusiast of more editorial: “Voters do not always take rapid liberalization, Mr. Zhao had not elections for the European Parliament all been all that popular recently. . . . that seriously. . . . ” And an autobiography could have omitted the phrase five The story did not say anything earlier times; examples: “. . . The old man had about popularity; thus it provided no not done all that badly. . . . I was not all standard for gauging what “all that” that distressed. . . . ” meant. Had Mr. Zhao not been very “All that” contradicted a previous popular? Had he not been popular at statement in each of three articles. One all? Was his popularity down to 35 per- reported layoffs and declining profits at cent? We have to guess. (We have to a television network and then added: guess also what his age or liberalization policy has to do with his popularity. See And according to . . . a media consult- Modifiers, 2.) ing firm, . . . the outlook is not all that What has become popular is the sub- bright. stitution of “that” or “all that” for factual information. People holding a If the writer had painted a bright picture casual conversation or even the writer of but wanted to introduce some ominous a subjective column on some trivial sub- fact, he could reasonably say “the out- ject may get away with it. It stands out look is not all that bright.” sorely in a sober presentation of news or These are contradictory excerpts from other facts. a movie review and a record review: The newspaper last quoted has run a periodic column by a maven in word us- . . . Dodge is a fairly boring guy age, who should be expected to set us and his co-workers aren’t all that in- straight. This is an excerpt: “What, then, teresting either. do you do when strong becomes pejora- tive and weak is not all that bad?” Sales have slumped in recent times, A book by a self-styled word wizard owing partly to poor-quality sound. uses an empty “that” term six times. In Most of his recordings did not sound the example, a study on frequently used all that good when newly made in words is discussed: NBC’s drably dry Studio 8H. The front-runners, whatever their The expression introduces another order, should not be all that different opportunity for misunderstanding to the today or any day. Our English, writ- language. A headline dispensed a vague ten or spoken, doesn’t change all that message: much.

Air bags not all The author is evidently unaware of at that safe, studies say. least one change: the spread of a faddish expression that he uses twice in one If “not all,” are some? And how safe is paragraph. “that safe”? A review of a television se- Its insidious effects are manifested 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 423

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four times in a compilation by a writer “Which” would suit a sentence like known for his sophisticated vocabulary: this: “The light, which failed only once, “. . . Really, the figure was not all that has long been a reliable beacon for sea- surprising. . . . There wasn’t all that farers.” The clause within the commas is much to choose from. . . . ” And so on. not essential to the main thought, so it Both “that” and “all that” appear in starts with which. In contrast, take this one sentence of an article. “. . . The sentence: “We need to replace the light jokes in the book are not in the main that failed, but the other lights serve us that great, not all that creative.” How well.” That failed is an essential clause, the terms differ and just what they mean hence that. are anyone’s guess. The that clause is called a restrictive In a book for writers and editors, the clause (or, in Britain, a defining clause). problem is somewhat different; a stan- No comma precedes it. The which clause dard for comparison is given: “Com- is called a nonrestrictive clause (or, in pared to a number of other professions, Britain, a nondefining clause). Commas editing hasn’t really been around all that set it apart. long.” Drop “all that.” The opening Sometimes the meaning of a sentence phrase makes another comparative mod- depends on the proper choice between ifier redundant. (See also COMPARED the two pronouns. It makes a difference TO and COMPARED WITH, 1; whether the boss tells his new employee REALLY.) (1) “Get the widget, which we always The final quotation is from a maga- use for this type of work” or (2) “Get the zine essay by a professor of English, widget that we always use for this type protesting the lowering of standards of of work.” Just what the new employee is behavior: “. . . Common decency has to get depends on a single pronoun. If we not been all that common for long assume that the boss knows his gram- stretches of human history.” May one mar, the first sentence implies that he has also protest the lowering of standards of only one widget; the second sentence im- English usage and all that fuzziness? plies that he has more than one widget and insists on a particular one and that THAT and WHICH. 1. The differ- the newcomer had better find out which ence. 2. Indiscriminate WHICH; mix-up one. of THAT and WHICH. 3. “THAT” in Writers began consciously making the place of WHICH. 4. Versions of a fa- distinction between those two pronouns mous phrase. in the relatively recent past. In the book The King’s English, first published in 1. The difference 1906, brothers H. W. and F. G. Fowler Two book titles, The Light That took a notable step toward increased Failed and The Mouse That Roared, clarity when they wrote: help to illustrate the distinction between that and which (used as relative pro- . . . That, when possible, is the appro- nouns). That seemed to the authors to be priate relative for defining and which the natural word to use. The books were for non-defining clauses. . . . It would not called The Light Which Failed and contribute much to clearness of style The Mouse Which Roared. The titles if writers would always make up their would have appeared stilted had they minds whether they intend a defini- contained “Which.” Furthermore, to tion or a comment and would invari- many readers That firmly ties Light to ably use no commas with a defining Failed, and Mouse to Roared. clause and two commas with a non- 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 424

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defining. [But the call for an invari- conquest, refinement, which is charac- able use of two commas was a mis- teristic of this phase of human history, take. The “non-defining” clause, or is particularly to be noted in the re- nonrestrictive clause, may come at the gion of the Euphrates and Tigris, end of a sentence and need only one which lay open in every direction to comma to set it apart.] great areas which are not arid enough to be complete deserts, but which Practices in earlier centuries were were not fertile enough to support civ- chaotic. Literature suggests that some ilized populations. writers sensed differences between the two pronouns while others did not; of- The first which and the second seem to ten which was forced to serve both func- be nonrestrictive; the latter two seem to tions. The principle enunciated by the be restrictive. Again, a comma correctly Fowlers had a good deal of influence in precedes what appears to be each nonre- both Britain and the United States. By no strictive use. Still, we cannot be positive means was there rapid or even general of the meaning of which when it is used conformity. Numerous writers contin- in both ways. Such usage persists to the ued to favor a restrictive which. Empha- current day among many writers, al- sis is added in this 1920 passage from a though many others do observe the dis- work by H. G. Wells (and in the exam- tinctions between that and which. ples that follow): 2. Indiscriminate WHICH; mix-up of . . . These nine main language groups THAT and WHICH . . . are the latest languages, the sur- Some writers who use “which” in re- vivors, which have ousted their more strictive clauses at least set off nonre- primitive predecessors. There may strictive clauses with commas. Others have been other . . . ineffective centres seem totally baffled by the grammar and of speech which were afterwards the punctuation and either (a) use overrun by the speakers of still surviv- “which” without the comma for both ing tongues, and of elementary lan- types of clause or (b) use “that” and guages which faded out. We find “which” interchangeably. Trying to de- strange little patches of speech still in termine exactly what a writer intended the world which do not seem to be can be an insoluble puzzle for a reader. connected with any other language There are writers who think that is more about them. “colloquial” and which is more “literary.” Nonsense. Each word has a clear The first which seems to be nonrestric- function. tive; the other three seem to be restrictive In the following passage, a newspaper and, under the Fowler principle, replace- writer uses “which” restrictively in his able by that. We cannot be positive of an first sentence; in his second, he correctly author’s intent when he uses which in chooses which for a nonrestrictive clause both ways; at least he should precede but fails to precede it with a comma. each nonrestrictive which with a comma. Wells apparently has done so. . . . Increasing civil suit judgments Seven pages later, the word appears four against city, county and state govern- times in one sentence. ments are being caused by several factors, including . . . a court rul- The alternation of settlement, no- ing which allows governments to be madic conquest, refinement, fresh sued. . . . 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 425

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The legislature in 1976 passed the Maximus is in the early stages of the Tort Claims Act which allows citizens program that, when it hits full stride, to sue the government. . . . could be processing 100,000 recipients [of welfare payments]. In the first sentence, “which” should be that. In the second, a comma belongs af- TV Guide is the nation’s largest selling ter “Act” to make it clear that what weekly magazine, with a circulation comes after the comma is explanatory of more than 17 million, that earned and not an integral part of what comes an estimated $75 million profit last before. year. A card listing postal rules contains two restrictive clauses using “which.” In both of the examples, “that” appears Both are wrongly separated from the to be used nonrestrictively. In the former main sentence by commas. example, “that” ought to be which and preceded by a comma. The clause Mail, which is properly addressed to a “which . . . could be processing 100,000 post office box or caller service num- recipients” is a nonrestrictive clause; the ber, will be delivered through that information it adds could be tossed out post office box or caller service. . . . without damage to the first part of the Any information on the application, sentence. The article talks of only one which changes or becomes obsolete, program. If there were another program, must be corrected by promptly updat- “that” might properly be used restric- ing the Form 1093 on file. . . . tively, distinguishing the program “that could be processing 100,000 recipients” Not all mail will be delivered; not all in- from another program. formation must be corrected. Each In the latter example too, “that” in- “which” clause is essential to the main troduces a nonrestrictive clause, so it idea of the sentence. Thus all the com- ought to be which. The clause “which mas should be deleted and each “which” earned” etc. merely gives supplementary should be that. information. The sample sentence that follows, An exception to the restrictive-that from a book criticizing American educa- principle is customarily made to avoid a tion, contains both that and which with double that, as in “That that I see I be- no comma, used in a roughly parallel lieve.” Rather than follow that (demon- way. The precise intent of the author is strative pronoun) with another that uncertain. (relative pronoun), you can make the But there is one dangerous new trend second word which: “That which I that threatens to wreak havoc upon see. . . . ” But technically the double that our educational system—a new thrust is not wrong. which can kill America’s traditional enthusiasm for constantly improving 4. Versions of a famous phrase the nation’s schools and colleges. . . . The final passage is out of the ordinary. A columnist erred by inadvertently See also PREVENT. improving the grammar of a historic personage. (The emphasis is the 3. “THAT” in place of WHICH columnist’s.) “That” appears to be used nonrestrictively, and therefore erroneously, in both President Franklin D. Roosevelt did of the following examples. not say that Dec. 7, 1941, was “a day 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 426

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that will live in infamy.” He said it the inventor” because of his fame but was “a date that will live in infamy.” “Joe Doaks, a store clerk.” In addition, idiom calls for the definite Not exactly. The item was headed “You article in various expressions and con- Could Look It Up.” It was a good idea. structions. It must go in a superlative Three books of quotations did match the (“It’s the biggest”) but not often in a columnist’s version in toto. But three comparative (“This one is bigger”). “She others gave “a date which will live in in- is in the hospital.” (In England one is famy,” a quotation confirmed by simply “in hospital.”) “I took the bus,” reprints of the speech in three more but “I went by bus.” / “They read the books and, conclusively, by a sound papers,” but “They read books.” / “The recording of the speech. A booklet evening is my favorite time of day,” but accompanying the recording was the “Evenings are for relaxation.” least accurate: “Franklin D. Roosevelt A single the can serve for multiple declared it a ‘day that will live in in- nouns when the nouns pertain to one famy’. . . . ” person or idea: “the lord and master” / The popularity of the “that” version, “the vice president and general man- which paradoxically is the more gram- ager” / “the pain, pleasures, and satisfac- matical, should at least hearten adher- tions of life.” More than one person or ents to the Fowler principle. idea gets a separate the: “the chairman and the president” / The Prince and the THAT, WHO, and WHICH. See Pauper / “the star and the planet.” The WHO, THAT, and WHICH. may occasionally be repeated for emphasis when not essential to the meaning: THE. 1. Generalities. 2. Intrusion. 3. “Here she is: the one, the only....” Omission. 4. Pronunciation. Besides serving as an article, the can be an adverb, used with a comparative 1. Generalities adjective and meaning to that extent or The definite article, the, is the most by that. “The more the merrier.” / “They common word in English. It usually in- are none the wiser.” troduces a particular thing or individual See also A and AN. or group, one that was mentioned before or whose existence is known or pre- 2. Intrusion sumed to be known. (See A and AN for a discussion of the indefinite article.) A. Of THE Typically, something or someone that Too many journalists have the habits is preceded by a or an when first men- of omitting the article the where it be- tioned is later preceded by the (if not re- longs (see 3) and sticking it in where no placed by a pronoun): “One of the article belongs or where a or an would people I met there was a professor from be more appropriate. St. Louis. . . . The professor said. . . . ” In the following excerpts from three The may precede a noun on first men- press stories, each intrusive “the” is em- tion if the noun is specific and known. phasized; it does not apply to anything “The country is behind him,” but “He that was mentioned before or that any was a man without a country.” / “The reader would already know about. hats [specific ones] look good on you,” but “Hats [in general] look good on When the headaches began, Gabel you.” took aspirin and kept working. When We may speak of “Thomas Edison, he suffered a seizure and lost con- 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 427

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sciousness, doctors found the malig- “the Scottish physician, Alexander nant brain tumor. Hamilton. . . . ” The indefinite article, a, would be more appropriate. In the Nothing was said before about head- United States he is not famous enough aches or a brain tumor. Nor could read- for the; the American statesman with ers have expected them to be mentioned. the same name is. One could well say Delete the first “the.” Replace the second “the statesman Alexander Hamilton” “the” with a. but “a Scottish physician, Alexander Hamilton. . . . ” (Note that the comma According to authorities the [fraud- does not belong in the the phrase. See ulent investment] scheme operated Punctuation, 3D.) from 1979 to 1987. The two salesmen were Hank . . . and Nate. . . . B. Of noun; of editorial opinion A front-page story in a Nevada news- The second “the” sends a reader back to paper shows that (1) the intruder can be look—in vain—for any mention of sales- the noun that follows the and (2) the can men. intrude a point of view in a supposedly unbiased piece. The video cameras are barely no- ticeable around the perimeter of the Houston Police Chief Lee Brown . . . beige building, noiselessly filming pic- wants Bush to set up a national crime tures of the empty sidewalk, the commission. The panel would exam- fenced-in lot and the vacant entrance ine the root causes of crime and drug lobby. abuse—including urban joblessness and poor education. That sentence was the first in a news story. Omit the opening “The.” Keep the The first sentence mentions “a . . . com- next the (every building has a perimeter) mission.” The second mentions “the but change every succeeding one to a, panel.” We can guess that they are the except for “an empty sidewalk.” same, but why should we have to? If Sometimes the unwarranted use of the “a . . . commission” is correct, the sec- can cloud the meaning of a sentence. A ond reference should be to The commis- news story tells of a mother in Illinois sion or simply It. See also Pronouns, 6B; who was charged with manslaughter for Synonymic silliness. allegedly causing her newborn baby’s The second “the” poses another prob- death by using cocaine during preg- lem. It implies that “the” root causes of nancy. Midway in the story it says: crime and drug abuse have been determined and are commonly known. If that Cocaine use by the mother has was the chief’s opinion, it should have been linked to health problems in the been made clear. Otherwise a more ob- baby. . . . jective phrase than “the root causes” was needed; examples: alleged causes / Was it talking about that Illinois mother some possible causes / social ills that and her baby or about mothers and ba- some say cause. bies in general? If the latter, as the context suggests, make it, “Cocaine use by mothers has been linked to health prob- C. Of modifier lems in their babies. . . . ” Often the noun following the does not A book relates an experience of change but new information is sand- 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 428

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wiched between them. This passage is Another news story mentions “the ap- from a book of travel reminiscences: pointment of a commission of inquiry” in Israel. The next sentence says, “The On the way we stopped to pick up three-man commission ruled yesterday a lone white figure walking along the that. . . . ” Readers can assume that just road. . . . one commission is involved, but a neater The tall, bearded figure got in the story would put The together with com- car. . . . mission. Either mention the three men in the first sentence or reword the second to Were there two figures? Probably not, put the modifying phrase elsewhere, e.g., inasmuch as the latter sentence is the first “The commission, made up of three to introduce a “tall, bearded figure.” men, ruled yesterday that. . . . ” Therefore to precede the entire phrase Still another news story mentions the with “The” is unwarranted. Normally governor of Louisiana by name and title the applies only to something that has in the lead sentence. Below, the article been stated or is well known, not to new refers to “the one-time cotton farmer information. The only thing in common and Harvard Business School graduate” between “lone white figure” and “tall, (with no identification), and later it bearded figure” is figure. Thus the sec- quotes “the 45-year-old conservative ond sentence can properly speak of The Democrat” (with no identification). Un- figure and the adjectives should be less different people are being described, placed elsewhere; for instance: “The fig- connect those descriptive phrases to the ure, tall and bearded, got in the car. . . . ” governor (by name or title or both) and (A comma after “lone” in the former change each “the” to a. (See also Modi- sentence is desirable too.) fiers, 2.) These in essence are the first two sen- There is more justification for a re- tences of a news story: porter’s designations of Andrei Sakharov, a world-famed Russian, as ...A city-financed apartment “the physicist” (twice), “the physicist building . . . will officially open to- and human rights campaigner,” and “the morrow in Queens. longtime human rights campaigner.” The 14-story building in Flushing (That last one may be on the borderline.) includes a medical center, social services, emergency alarms . . . and 3. Omission closed-circuit television. . . . A peculiarity of more than a few journalists when writing is to omit a word The opening sentence says nothing that they would not think of omitting about a 14-story building. It mentions when speaking: the definite article, the. only “a city-financed apartment build- They will not leave it out every time, ing.” The second sentence would be ti- only sometimes: at the beginning of a dier by kicking out the “14-story” sentence, for instance. A newspaper col- intruder and uniting the natural couple, umn tells of a parade in Massachusetts: “The” and “building.” Among various possible rewordings: “The building has Focus was dedication of the restored 14 stories and includes a medical center, home of Katharine Lee Bates, the lady social services. . . . ” (In the first sentence who wrote “America the Beautiful.” Flushing, Queens would help those unfamiliar with the geography of New Would the columnist speak like that: York City.) “Focus was . . . ”? Certainly not. If he 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 429

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used focus at all, he would precede it dialectal variation, some pronounce the with the. He would probably even put that way before vowels as well. another the before “dedication.” Notice The is pronounced either way before that the sample sentence uses the three the long e sound, as in the easel. times. If it were consistent, it would say “dedication of restored home of THEE, THOU, and YE. See Pro- Katharine Lee Bates, lady who wrote nouns, 10A. ‘America Beautiful.’ ” (Such a sentence is not recommended either, of course.) THEFT. See CRIME, MISDE- This is from a caption for a picture of MEANOR, and FELONY; Crimes, 3. a well-known bridge: THEIR. See Homophones; Possessive Spanning San Francisco Bay, the land- problems, 4; Pronouns, 2. mark was world’s longest until 1961. “THEIRSELF” or “THEIR- The logic that permits one definite article SELVES.” See Pronouns, 5. (before “landmark”) but omits another, just as desirable (before “world’s”), is THEM and THEY. See Pronouns, obscure. 10; Pronouns’ classification. What accounts for those odd omis- sions? Is it rationing of definite articles THEM and THOSE. Let the griz- by the newspapers; or is it an idiosyn- zled prospector of story exclaim, cratic newsroom rule of yore, perpetu- “There’s gold in them hills!” Were his ated and varied by generations of English corrected, it would not ring true. journalists imitating the mannerisms of It behooves the rest of us to speak of other journalists? A newspaper editor those hills, those fruits, or those days. of mine forbade staff members to start Those and them are pronouns (noun any story with an article, definite or in- substitutes). Those is also an adjective (a definite. “It’s weak,” he explained. If the modifier of a noun). Them is not. writings gained anything, it was circuity, You can either “forgive those who not strength. sin” or “forgive them who sin” (or not A newscaster said a kidnaping victim forgive at all). But a radio host who said “made her escape and was able to call that many suicides in Iran “are due to police.” A press service reported that a them kind of laws” was dead wrong. gunman’s victim “ran to nearby apart- “Those kind” would not be right either, ments to call police.” Observe that jour- combining a plural adjective and a sin- nalists “call police.” Most others “call gular noun. Any of these work: those the police”; this is idiomatic when police kinds of law or that kind of law or laws is construed as singular (a department), of that kind. which is commonly the case, rather than See also KIND OF, 1; Pronouns, 2 plural (policemen). (misuse of them); THESE and THOSE.

4. Pronunciation THEMSELVES and “THEM- Before vowel sounds, the is usually SELF.” See Pronouns, 5. pronounced THEE. Examples: the apple, the ooze, the M-1. THEN. See FORMER; THAN. Before consonants, the is pronounced THUH, voiced, with almost no vowel: THEORY. See HYPOTHESIS and the car, the watermelon, the yellow. In a THEORY. 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 430

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THERE, anticipatory. See Exple- thermos. . . . Take [instant soup] in tives. thermos.

THERE confused with THEIR. If it is a Thermos, it gets a capital T; if an See Homophones. imitation, it may be called a vacuum bot- tle, vacuum jar, or the like. THERE in contractions. See Con- tractions, 1. THESE and THOSE. These is the plural of this. Those is the plural of that. THEREFORE and THEREFOR. A book says, about the renaissance Although they look similar and are both madrigal, “Both Lassus and Palest- adverbs, the three-e word and the two-e rina . . . enriched the literature of the word have different accents and mean- form during these years.” Those years— ings. The first syllable is emphasized in about 1550 to 1580. THERE-fore, the second syllable in “It’s hard to make ends meet these there-FOR. Therefore means as a result, days,” but “Those were the days!” See consequently, for that reason, hence. “I THIS, 1. think; therefore I am.” / “Now, therefore, be it resolved. . . . ” THEY and THEM. See Pronouns, Therefor means for it, for that, for 10; Pronouns’ classification. them, for this: “Lessee shall be provided with said machines and the supplies THEY misused. See Pronouns, 2. needed therefor.” / “The fine therefor shall be not more than one hundred dollars.” Like therefrom, thereof, thereto, THINK, past participle. The past therewith, etc., it is used mainly in legal tense of think is thought: “I thought so.” documents, occasionally elsewhere for a The past participle also is thought: “I formal or archaic effect. have thought about it.” It is not Under therefor, Webster’s Third Dic- “thunk.” tionary presents “THEREFORE” as a A participant in a news forum said: second meaning, in effect sanctioning the “Who would have thunk that the Russo- misspelling of the latter. American summit would have a frisky Russian president and an American pres- THERMONUCLEAR. See NU- ident in a wheelchair?” The rhetorical CLEAR. questioner, known as an English- language maven, probably knew better. THERMOS. Thermos is a trademark What was he thinking? for a portable container that keeps liquid or food hot or cold by means of a partial THIS. 1. THIS and THAT. 2. Vague vacuum between the outer and inner THIS. walls. A problem is exemplified by a statement in a theater review that “ac- 1. THIS and THAT tors balance thermoses in the sand” and Let us talk of this and that. Each has by suggestions for take-out meals in a several functions. cookbook: • As an adjective: this woman; that Put one of the sauces . . . in a small, mountain. wide-mouthed thermos and use as a • As a demonstrative pronoun: this dip. . . . Put your favorite soup in a tastes sweet; that was historic. 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 431

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• As an adverb: the fish was this big; pressed by my presence on behalf of was it that bad? the President. . . . This [That?] spirit, if it had been present in our first en- Both words refer to the thing or per- counter, would have made clear we son mentioned or understood. Whether could reach some agreement. Unfor- the thing or person is here or there deter- tunately, we have reached this point mines which word to choose. When re- after a year and three efforts, where ferring to something near, in space or we thought we have an agreement. time (or, sometimes, thought), use this; This [The delay, frustration?] has af- to something relatively far, use that. The fected the President’s view of our abil- words may be used in comparing two ity to reach an agreement. . . . This things, one close and the other more dis- [It?] affected his faith in our ability to tant: “Isn’t this melon bigger than that work together.” one?” See also THESE and THOSE. When something is about to be stated, The next section contains several ad- this is suitable. (“This poem expresses ditional examples of the overuse of this, my sentiment:” / “This above all: to emphasizing the serious matter of com- thine ownself be true”). Often that is prehension. clearer in referring to what was already stated. (“Our review validates the 2. Vague THIS current National Security Council Sys- A companion to the excessive depen- tem. . . . That system is properly the dence on this is the absence of any clear president’s creature. . . . Having said antecedent. An antecedent is the noun that. . . . ”) that a pronoun represents. It is hazy or For a few decades, this has tended to nonexistent in the excerpts to come. encroach upon the province of that. A modern book says, “This year Boswell . . . Quayle is among 51 senators who went again to London, once more beset signed a letter urging Mr. Shultz not by the anxiety of departure.” Customar- to issue a visa for Mr. Arafat. ily this year refers to the year we are now This would make it even more diffi- in. The author is referring to 1773, men- cult for a Bush Administration to re- tioned six sentences back in the previous lax American conditions for dialogue paragraph. “That year” would have with the P.L.O. . . . been preferable. At the same time, this has tended to What is the antecedent of “this”? The usurp the functions of nouns and other letter? Something else? Something not pronouns, including it, he, and she, and explicitly mentioned, such as Mr. its use has swelled. The excerpt that fol- Shultz’s nonissuance of a visa? We must lows is from a government memoran- guess. dum. It uses this, the pronoun, in three consecutive sentences. Alternative sug- I rejoice when European countries gestions are offered in brackets. (Empha- throw off tyranny through the will of sis is added. In an omitted passage after the people, and I wonder whether this the first sentence, the speaker praises could have prevented the Nazi Iran for its supposed cooperation. Our scourge. concern here is solely verbal.) What is “this”? The will of the people? “Regarding the commitment of the The will of the German people, had it U.S. to turn a page, this [it?] is ex- been different? The collective will of Eu- 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 432

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ropean people to intervene during the THOSE and THESE. See THESE thirties? A vague “this” is no replace- and THOSE. ment for adequate thought. In the book excerpt that follows, THOU, THEE, and YE. See Pro- “this” appears three times in five sen- nouns, 10A. tences. The first time, the antecedent may be phenomenon. The second time, “THUNK.” See THINK, past partici- the pronoun it might have been a better ple. choice. The third is more conjectural; replacing “This” with a noun would have THUS. Thus, meaning accordingly, made the meaning clearer. (Emphases therefore, or in this (or that) way, is an and parentheses are in the book. Brack- adverb. To append “-ly,” as these ex- ets are added.) tracts do, adds nothing to the meaning and an inane cuteness to the style. “And this occurs in the case of opaque surfaces”; the hues depend on the na- Democratic pollster Peter Hart yes- ture of the reflecting body. Here terday described the problems facing Leonardo deals with the point or Dukakis and Jackson thusly: “We sheet of light that is reflected on have one candidate who . . .” [etc.]. smooth and polished surface. This [It?] is one aspect of what is called Salisbury’s reasoning—advanced in riverberazione in Manuscript A. Prop- vivid detail in his book—goes thusly: erly speaking, lustro is separate from The American Establishment, as it reflection (riflesso) in which a specular evolved . . . [etc.]. image is produced. This [?] is important insofar as it involves the transfer “Thusly” fits no serious discussion, if of a neighboring color on the local anything. It should have been stripped of tint of a given object. its suffix and turned into thus, or replaced by a synonym such as in this way Initially, the last “This” seems to stand or as follows. for “reflection,” the phenomenon mentioned last. But the context suggests that TILL and “’TIL.” A caption for a lo- lustro, or luster, is a better guess. A little cally televised news report (on damaged later, the following passage appears. freeways) read “CLOSED ’TIL SPRING.” Soon after, an episode in a It was the moment of sfumato—of national television series was titled “’Til grace, of ambiguity—that for Death Do Us Part” (concerning the Leonardo tended more and more to killing of husbands). Later a motion pic- become integrated in the finality of ture titled ’Til There Was You came to the painting. This [?] was all the more theaters. faithful to its vocation since it was ca- Till, with two l’s, is the word that was pable of impressing upon the con- needed. It takes no apostrophe, because science the strangeness of the real that it is not a contraction. Meaning until, it it had to explore. is a bona fide word and may be used in all writing, formal and informal, al- “Ambiguity” (not “grace”) sums it up. though until is more common as the first word of a sentence. As a preposition, THOSE and THEM. See THEM each means either up to the time of (“I and THOSE. worked till [or until] midnight”) or, with 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 433

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a negative, before (“The game doesn’t manner of a social title or a title of office. start till [or until] 8”). As a conjunction, If it followed the name, it would be just each means up to the point that or up to as informative and not nearly so cum- the time of (“He stayed till [or until] the bersome: “Selma ———, deputy chief of job was done”). “Up till” or “up until” staff for public affairs.” (All those capi- is redundant. tal letters are unnecessary. So is “Outgo- There is a word til, with no apostro- ing.” If the woman has submitted her phe, which comes from Hindi and de- resignation, of course she is going out.) notes the sesame plant, particularly as To suspend a name pending a long de- used in India, for food and oil. Other scription is usually too awkward for meanings of till are (noun) a money con- broadcasting but habitual in the press. tainer, glacial drift, and (verb, transitive) Some short, bona fide titles, such as Sen- to prepare land for farming. ator, may precede names. (See 2 and 3.) And “the actress Jane Roe” and “a Time. See A.M., P.M. (etc); Anachro- plumber, John Doe” are idiomatic nism; Any, 5; “AT THIS POINT IN forms. What smacks of journalese is TIME”; A WHILE and AWHILE; “Actress Jane Roe” or “Plumber John BIG TIME; FORWARD and BACK; Doe.” In its style book, The Associated Tense; THAT, 2; WHEN, WHERE in Press condones “astronaut John Glenn, definitions. movie star John Wayne, peanut farmer Jimmy Carter.” TIME-HONORED. See HONOR- It gets worse when a long job title is ABLE, HONORARY, HONORED, 4. piled up in front of a name. Further examples follow below. Perhaps the writers Titles. 1. Imitation titles. 2. Social ti- thought they were being terse. The first tles. 3. Titles of office. saves no words from the piling-up; each of the others saves two small words. 1. Imitation titles (Smoother wordings are in parentheses.) It is a journalistic peculiarity to stuff a “Supervisor of Correctional Educa- description or job title in front of some- tion Bill Lane” (Bill Lane, supervisor of one’s name as though it were a formal ti- correctional education); “California En- tle of respect. The beginning of this ergy Commission Chairman Charles Im- quotation will illustrate: brecht” (Charles Imbrecht, chairman of the California Energy Commission); “Youth Guidance Center chief probation Outgoing Deputy Chief of Staff for officer Fred Jordan” (Fred Jordan, chief Public Affairs Selma ——— said in a probation officer of the Youth Guidance news release Friday that [Governor] Center); and “former deputy staff chief Carruthers was informed of her resig- and now Transportation Secretary An- nation and those of Mike ——— and drew Card” (Andrew Card, former Bruce ——— a week ago. deputy chief of staff and now secretary of transportation). Note that there is no Imagine calling up a governor’s staff as- “staff chief” or “Transportation Secre- sistant and asking, “Is this ‘Outgoing tary”; the terms are chief of staff and sec- Deputy Chief of Staff for Public Affairs retary of transportation. Smith?’” That mouthful (without the The practice is not new. A monstrous “Outgoing” and the name) might consti- specimen was attributed to a dispatch re- tute her formal job title, but it is not a ti- ceived in a newspaper office from a wire tle that normally precedes a name, in the service, probably in 1939: 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 434

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VICE-PRESIDENT-IN-CHARGE- ter [on a drug topic]. . . . Reagan OF-EVAPORATED-CONDENSED- plans to return to Washington on AND MALTED MILK-CHEESE- Wednesday afternoon. MINCE MEAT-AND-CARAMELS ARTHUR W. RAMSDELL AND To most Americans, the subject of each VICE-PRESIDENT-IN-CHARGE- sentence could be only one person, Presi- OF-CASEIN-ADHESIVES-AND- dent Ronald Reagan. It was not. The PRESCRIPTION-PRODUCTS WIL- story was about Nancy Reagan. LIAM CALLAN WERE ELECTED Nobody meeting her would address TO THOSE OFFICES TODAY BY her as “Reagan.” She would be “Mrs. THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS Reagan” even to her worst enemy. But OF THE BORDEN COMPANY. the particular newspaper had a style rule that everyone must be called by his or The habit extends to fictional people her last name on the second reference, and includes the creating of descriptions. with no title. So the staff followed it, re- A movie review said, “Carrey plays slick gardless of the resulting absurdity. Los Angeles lawyer Fletcher Reede.” A Two administrations later, a contro- more natural phrasing might be “Carrey versy arose over a newspaper’s publica- plays a slick lawyer of Los Angeles, tion of private comments by Hillary Fletcher Reede.” Clinton. An article about the matter ap- The idea, or at least popularizing, of peared in a magazine (for the newspaper imitation titles has been ascribed to Time industry). The first sentence apparently in its early years. The magazine still dis- suggests that President Clinton had plays phrases like “Asian-American fund stuck up for his wife: raiser John Huang” and “GOP virtue- crat William Bennett.” (The latter used Clinton was said to be furious her to be called “drug czar William Ben- remarks were publicized. . . . nett.”) This was the second time Clinton Even figures from the past may get dined with women feature writers at such treatment in the press. A caption re- the White House. . . . called the appointment of “Presbyterian One man who was once asked to elder and Warren G. Harding campaign the White House for a tête-à-tête with manager Will Hays” in 1922 as presi- Clinton is . . . [etc.]. dent of an organization to protect Holly- wood’s reputation. The person repeatedly called “Clinton” Fortunately, historical authors are not was not President William J. Clinton but ready to write of “Italian Navigator and Mrs. Clinton. The practice of omitting Discoverer of the New World Christo- the social titles of women had become pher Columbus,” or of “Commander of widespread, and the magazine was fol- the Continental Army in the American lowing it too. Revolution and Father of His Country It can be confusing, as we see. It does George Washington.” not reflect the norm of civil behavior— See also Modifiers, 4. would you call her “Clinton”?—though 2. Social titles the press professes to mirror society. And During the Reagan administration a it can be considered degrading to deprive newspaper item said: women of their titles. To deprive men of their “Mr.” has long been commonplace Reagan will address the grandpar- among American newspapers. ent-volunteer group at . . . Epcot Cen- Even children get the icy, surname- 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 435

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only treatment. A story about a malprac- practice, it seems to be the paper’s female tice suit said: title of first resort. Ms. may be traced at least to the Hospital staff failed to electroni- 1950s. A leaflet on letter writing by an cally monitor Chan’s fetal heart association of office managers suggested tone . . . [while] her mother was in la- its use to solve a problem: how to ad- bor. . . . As a result, Chan suffers from dress women of uncertain marital status. cerebral edema and seizures [etc.]. And a manual for secretaries recom- Who, outside the press, would refer to a mended: “If in doubt about ‘Miss’ or fetus and a girl of five that way? ‘Mrs,’ use ‘Miss’ or ‘Ms’ (meaning either Some publications grant social titles ‘Miss’ or ‘Mrs.’).” only to the subjects of obituaries. Others Promoted by feminists and assigned will not have them even then. This is typ- the pronunciation MIZ, Ms. became ical of more than one daily: “Howard common in the seventies. The traditional died June 10, days before her 80th birth- Miss and Mrs. were said to be discrimi- day.” Broadcasting has picked up that natory—although polls suggested that rude style. An anchor woman repeatedly most women favored them and disliked referred to the late actress Audrey Mead- Ms. For instance, betrothed maidens ob- ows as “Meadows.” Though called jected to the society pages’ raising doubt “Miss Meadows” in life, in death she about their marital status. was not afforded the respect of a title. Business has accepted Ms. An execu- The Associated Press (AP) will not re- tive says, “I myself find it very useful, offer to a man as Mr. unless it is combined ten having occasion to address letters to with Mrs., as in Mr. and Mrs. John women whose marital status is unknown Smith. AP does use social titles (it calls to me and not easily discovered.” them courtesy titles) for women. It News people have cause to like it, just prefers a woman’s own full name and no as they like leaving out titles altogether. title on the first reference: Mary Smith; By using “Ms. Smith,” they need not on the second reference, the form is Mrs. take the trouble to find out if a woman is or Miss or—if she prefers—Ms. Smith or Miss Smith or Mrs. Smith. And if they just Smith. can say just “Smith,” they may not even Allowing both sexes social titles is get- have to find out if a person is a woman ting rare in the press. In second and later or a man. (Some first names, including references, The New York Times will Dale, Lee, Leslie, Marion, Robin, and usually put Mr., or another bona fide ti- Toby, are of dual gender, and foreign tle, before a man’s surname. Its general names may be puzzling.) policy has long been to use the full name Mr. and Mrs. are abbreviations of mis- and no social title for a woman on the ter and mistress, which for centuries has first reference in a news story, thereafter usually been pronounced MISS-iz when to use the title Miss or Mrs. with the sur- referring to a married woman. Unlike name. them, Ms. is an artificial entity that repre- In 1986, the newspaper amended its sents no single word and has no plural. policy: It would use Ms. when the (See Plurals and singulars, 2H.) Nor does woman preferred it or when her marital it have a distinctive pronunciation; it bor- status was not known. Earlier, Ms. “had rows from musty, regional dialect, in not passed sufficiently into the language which Mrs. is pronounced MIZ. At least to be accepted as common usage. The one clerk of a law court, announcing Times now believes that ‘Ms.’ has be- names of jury panelists, regularly pro- come a part of the language. . . . ” In nounced it “EM ESS,” like the abbrevia- 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 436

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tion of master of science, multiple sclero- sor, etc. A title that precedes a name be- sis, millisecond, manuscript, missile sys- gins with a capital. That goes only for an tem, or Mississippi in postal code. official title, not a pseudo title like “Drug Miss is still used, with a surname, in Czar” or “Rock ’n’ Roll King” or addressing or referring to a girl; or a “Cherry Blossom Queen.” (For citizens woman who has not married; or a of a republic, we seem remarkably fond woman by her professional name, even if of royal appellations.) she is married and has a different per- Dr. is another title that may precede a sonal name. (In a news story, Elizabeth name, when the doctorate is earned and Taylor was called just “Taylor” twice not just honorary. It is superfluous when and then, in a flash of civility, “Miss Tay- the degree follows a name. Frank A. lor.”) Miss or madam is used without a Robinson, M.D., or George B. Sanders, surname to address a female stranger. Ph.D., is enough. (“Miss, you dropped your purse.”) No other title should precede Dr. “Su- Traditional etiquette decrees that perintendent of Schools Dr. Ambrose when Mrs. precedes a full name, it shall Walker” goes too far. Better: Dr. Am- not be the woman’s own name (“Mrs. brose Walker, superintendent of schools. Agnes Cooper”) but her husband’s Nor should any other pair of titles be (“Mrs. John Cooper”). combined, as in “County Supervisor To say “I am Mr. Doaks,” instead of Mrs. Frederick J. Van Buren.” The office “I am Joseph Doaks,” is considered im- can go after the name. modest, unless one is addressing An official position or office men- schoolchildren. And this is a matter of tioned in a general sense does not merit word usage rather than etiquette, but it an initial capital: “He has decided to run is not correct to say “His name is Mr. for governor.” When the word identifies Edwards”; rather, “He is Mr. Edwards” a particular holder of the office, it may and “His name is George L. Edwards.” reasonably be capitalized: “The Gover- See also REVEREND. nor has signed. . . . ” Another reasonable Mr. and Mrs. with a name are always style is that of The Associated Press. It abbreviated. It is never “Mister Doaks.” calls for all titles to be in lower case But they are never abbreviated when when not affixed to a name: “The pope used as words: “Hey, mister, do you gave his blessing” but “Pope John Paul have a match?” / “I have to call the mis- gave. . . . ” An article, attributed to AP, sis” (or “missus”). was inconsistent: Publications that use social titles have ...He. . . became the first Virginia exceptions. The Times omits them from mayor to lose his seat in an election sports stories and from references to fa- on recalling him from office. . . . The mous people who are no longer living. City Council can pick a member to An eastern newspaper that I worked for serve as Mayor, go outside . . . for a excluded Mr. from the names of arrested Mayor, or do nothing. men. When I asked why, the city editor replied, “Any son of a bitch that gets In each instance, mayor is used in a gen- himself arrested doesn’t deserve to be eral sense; it does not refer to a particu- called mister.” lar person, so no capital M is warranted. An official title of modest length 3. Titles of office is customarily capitalized before the Some job titles may precede names, name: “Attorney General Janet Reno and they are short: President, Governor, said. . . . ” But it needs no capitals after Senator, Representative (or Rep. for the name: “Janet Reno, the attorney gen- short), General, Colonel, Dean, Profes- eral, said. . . .” Sometimes a lawyer in no 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 437

to 437

official position is called, for instance, should disconcert nobody. Yet some- “Attorney Roger U. Nelson.” There is times a single to is left to handle a double no title of “attorney,” hence no com- load. pelling reason to put it in front of a A notice offering a reward for infor- name, particularly with a capital A. (See mation about the perpetrators of a crime also ATTORNEY and LAWYER.) said: When the name of a person is introduced in any writing or talk, an identify- IN CASE OF A DUPLICATION ing title or description normally is OF INFORMATION OR DISPUTE, necessary, unless the person is famous THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS . . . enough to need none—Jefferson and WILL BE THE SOLE JUDGE AS TO Lincoln come to mind. A book about WHOM THE REWARD SHALL BE travels in Africa tells an anecdote in PAID OR AS TO THE MANNER IN which “Bokassa” is mentioned three WHICH THE REWARD MAY BE times with no title. The fourth time, he is DIVIDED. “Emperor Bokassa” (the ruler of the The first “TO” is part of the phrase “AS Central African “Empire”—now Repub- TO.” But the writer evidently expected lic—until 1979). The first mention the same “TO” to perform double duty would be a better place for the title, in in the phrase “TO WHOM,” something case the name of that tyrant is unfamiliar it could not do. to any reader. Another TO could be slipped in next In a long piece with a sizable cast of to the first one, but “AS TO TO characters, one identification per person WHOM” looks strange. A better way is may not be enough. Reading “O’Brien to follow “SHALL BE PAID” with the said . . . ,” readers may strain to remem- additional TO. A further improvement ber him if he was identified twenty para- is to replace each “AS TO” with a graphs back and other names have since sharper preposition: “. . . THE SOLE been introduced. Let memories be JUDGE OF WHOM THE REWARD refreshed: “Dr. O’Brien, the director, SHALL BE PAID TO OR OF THE said. . . . ” Then no one need search, MANNER IN WHICH THE REWARD guess, or give up. MAY BE DIVIDED.” Once a person has left a public office In another statement, “as to” and “to in which he held a prominent title, such which” get only one to between them: as President, Senator, Judge, or Ambas- sador, continuing to attach that title to As to which additional commodities his name is no longer necessary, if it the guaranteed price should be ap- makes any sense at all. Yet there is an plied, Mr. Gaitskell said. . . . American tradition of doing just that. People will persist in addressing a one- “. . . Applied to. . . . ” time Senator Scott that way, even though See also Prepositions, 4. he has legally been Mr. Scott for many years. The Honorable honorific has stay- 2. Overworked ing power too. See HONORABLE (etc.). Each of two dictionaries enumerates For titles of books, etc., see Capital- twenty-seven meanings of to, mostly as a ization; Italics; Punctuation, 10. preposition. A frequent function is to indicate the TO. 1. Missing. 2. Overworked. infinitive of verbs (to go, to eat). In that 1. Missing capacity to has no meaning itself and In light of the many functions of to, its does not fulfill the normal function of a appearance more than once in a sentence preposition, though classified as one. 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 438

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To can also indicate accompaniment “You are to report for work tomorrow (“dance to the music”), addition morning at 8.” Headline writers have (“adding insult to injury”), agreement converted that to a simple future: “State (“to my liking”), benefit (“It goes to a to appeal judge’s ruling,” meaning that good cause”), contact (“a blow to the the state will appeal. Except in headlines, jaw”), direction (“I’m going to town”), a construction like “The rainy season is extent or result (“It’s burned to ashes”), to begin soon” is no substitute for the limit (“We stayed to the end”), posses- simple future: “will begin soon.” sion (“It belongs to us”), purpose (“I To has so many meanings that it can work to support my family), ratio (“The easily be misinterpreted when used care- odds are two to one”), and many other lessly, conveying a distorted message. things. For instance: “George Fox . . . defied To occasionally is an adverb meaning Oliver Cromwell to found the Society of toward something implied or under- Friends in the seventeenth century.” A stood (“They kept the ship to” [the reader who thinks “to found” serves wind]) or to a point of contact (“She there as an infinitive can interpret the soon came to” [consciousness]). sentence as saying that Fox dared This two-letter word is overworked as Cromwell to found the society—which is it is. It ought not to be loaded with still historically wrong. Either by founding or more tasks: “The best present for the in order to found would eliminate the person on your list who has everything ambiguity. Although several critics con- is . . . a gift membership to the . . . Insti- demn the phrase in order to as a usually tute.” In that sentence, from a newslet- excessive replacement for to alone, it ter, the idiomatic preposition would be need not be avoided when, occasionally, in. it makes the meaning clear. The star of a situation comedy was di- See also COMPARED TO and COM- rected to say, “One night I came home to PARED WITH; Gerund, 3; HAVE, HAS, find my ex-husband having sex with HAD, 4; Infinitive; Prepositions, 1, 7; three hookers in my lingerie.” Perhaps SPEAK TO, TALK TO; TO, TOO, and nobody in the audience would seriously TWO. remark, “There must be a better reason to go home,” but that construction does TOGETHER WITH. See WITH, 2. mimic to used in the sense of purpose. Better: “I came home and found. . . . ” TOO. 1. Meanings. 2. Omission of O. Similarly: “ABC put two of its better dramas . . . on Saturday nights only to 1. Meanings see them squashed” and “Students . . . Two meanings of too (adverb) that demonstrated in support of the protest- are suitable for both formal and infor- ing workers, only to feel let down when mal purposes are (1) also, in addition the strikes did not spread. . . . ” Probably (“They pay well and give benefits too”), few if anyone would take such sentences and (2) excessively, overly (“These shoes literally and think that the network are too big for my feet”). Used in the first or the students showed masochistic ten- sense, too should not start a sentence, dencies; nevertheless “only to” is a pecu- but then too may. liar form. The same points would be Too has several colloquial uses. Some- made concisely with “and saw them times it is merely an intensive, used in squashed” and “and felt let down. . . . ” contradicting someone. “He is too the An established use of to is to indicate best player.” So could be used instead. a compulsion to perform an action: At times too preceded by a negative 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 439

tortuous and torturous 439

substitutes for not sufficiently or not at second o in too, producing the preposi- all. Such use is sometimes unnecessary, tion “to.” Occasionally professional illogical, or, worse yet, ambiguous. writers or typesetters err in that way, as A book says that (1) “Not too much someone did in an article in a computer light can be shed” on the origin of cer- magazine: tain words and (2) “Addison wasn’t too appreciative of” word games. A new- If program files get out of order, comer to colloquial English might be which happens all to often for me, puzzled. Why would we want “too First Aid comes to the rescue. much” light instead of just enough light? And why should Addison have been “. . . All too often. . . . ” No computer “too appreciative” as long as he was ap- program yet invented will guard against preciative enough? The contexts indicate a mistake of that sort. that the “too” is unnecessary in each See also TO, TOO, and TWO. case. In the first sentence, “Not much light . . .” would have communicated the TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE. See message. The second sentence might be Ellipsis (near end). justified as a touch of irony, although “Addison did not appreciate . . .” would TOOK and TAKEN. See Tense, 5A. be more straightforward. In those excerpts, “too” is just an illogical colloquialism. It can be down- TORE, TORN. See TEAR, TORE, right ambiguous: “Your dress is not too TORN. good for the party.” Literally someone is being told that she is not overdressed. TORTUOUS and TORTUROUS. According to the colloquial sense, how- The adjectives tortuous and torturous ever, she can get the message that she is share a Latin root and are often con- wrongly dressed. Another example of fused, yet they have different meanings ambiguity: “I can’t regard this book too in English. highly.” The speaker may consider the Torturous, as it suggests, pertains to book to be the ultimate in brilliance or torture or great pain (“a torturous inqui- not good enough to merit much regard. sition”). It is pronounced TORE-chur- With some modifiers—all too, but us. too, and only too—it can mean regret- Tortuous means twisting, not straight- tably or unfortunately. “The rumors are forward, or very complex (“the tortuous all too true.” / “They’re only too eager trails”). It is pronounced TORE-chew- to take your money.” In modern use, us. only too is often a mere intensive, equiv- A lawyer said his client’s plea of guilty alent to very (a use deplored by Sir to an assault charge was made under a Ernest Gowers). “We’re only too pleased “very torturous set of circumstances.” to be of service.” He probably meant tortuous. Too can be part of a hyphenated ad- Webster’s Third Dictionary gives tor- jective, such as “a too-familiar com- tuous as one of the meanings of tortur- plaint” or “the too-trusting visitor.” ous, thereby encouraging the confusion. See also NONE, 2. Both adjectives, and the related adverbs tortuously and torturously, trace to 2. Omission of O the Latin torquere, to twist. So do the Not infrequently those who do not verbs torture and torment, the noun tort work with written words leave out the (injury in a legal sense), and the adjective 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 440

440 to say nothing of

tortious (TORE-shus, pertaining to a journalistic and literary taboo on start- tort). ing a sentence with a figure. “143 nations,” or the like, is never supposed to TO SAY NOTHING OF. Discuss- be written. When, as a young reporter, I ing lexicographical tradition, two au- asked an editor why, he said only, “It thors write: would look strange.” Maybe so at first, because the rule has precluded initial fig- Inevitably, Webster and Richardson, ures, at least in texts. Headlines may to say nothing of Webster and Wor- start with figures. cester, disliked one another. Even if we accept the rule, “A total of” is usually a superfluous beginning. If the authors intended to say nothing of “Sixty police” is easy to write and read. Webster and Worcester, why did they say “One hundred two Iowans” is not too anything of them? hard. “One hundred forty-three na- “To say nothing of” is one of several tions” is just a little harder. peculiarly contradictory expressions and An article contained the pair of sen- words. See NOT TO MENTION; Ver- tences below. The latter is particularly bal unmentionables. awkward. See also INEVITABLE. A total of 167 delegates will be se- TOTAL. 1. “A TOTAL OF.” 2. Singu- lected from the state’s 34 assembly lar vs. plural verb. districts. . . .

1. “A TOTAL OF” A total of 2,081 of the 4,161 delegates In an enumeration such as “two owls will be needed to win the nomination. and a hen, four larks and a wren—a total of eight birds,” a total of is a useful Is the 4,161 not the total? Better: “Of phrase; it denotes a sum of the items. the 4,161 delegates, 2,081 will be The phrase “a total of” frequently needed. . . . ” starts sentences like these in the press: See also Numbers, 11.

A total of 60 police and protesters 2. Singular vs. plural verb were injured in the scuffles. . . . A subject starting with “the total of” ordinarily takes a singular verb. “The to- A total of 402 Iowans who said tal of 1.7 million votes was the highest they would definitely or probably ever recorded in the state.” But a subject attend the state’s precinct cau- starting with “a total of” often takes a cuses . . . were interviewed. . . . plural verb. “A total of 1.7 million votes were cast in the state.” The first example A total of 143 nations . . . joined in emphasizes the total as a statistic. The approving two resolutions challeng- second emphasizes the votes that were ing the closing of the observer mis- cast. sion. . . . Some writers fix on total and make every verb singular, however unid- What is the need for “a total of” when iomatic: votes “was” cast. only one figure is mentioned? Obviously See also Collective nouns, 2. someone has counted the injured people, the Iowans, or the nations and come up TO, TOO, and TWO. Pronounced with a total. the same, the three words are confused The usual purpose is to get around a by writers from time to time, perhaps 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 441

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out of absent-mindedness or careless- of such trademarks as the Coca-Cola ness. It is hard to believe that a writer nickname Coke, which contrasts with does not know the differences among coke, a coal product and slang for co- two or 2, the number between 1 and 3; caine. After Webster’s Third Dictionary too, the adverb meaning excessively and came out, G. & C. Merriam Co. had to also; and to, the two-letter workhorse revise some 300 entries when owners of indicating direction, extent, purpose, in- trademarks like Kleenex and Frigidaire finitive (with a verb), and many other threatened suit over the lack of initial things. capitals. A manual suggests a reason for the Every product has a generic name— failure of a computer printer: “The page soda pop, facial tissues, refrigerators, is to complex for the printer’s memory and so on—that can be used in lieu of a capacity. . . . ” Change “to” to too. And brand name. Some publications take this is from a restaurant review: “Chil- pains to avoid mentioning the commer- dren will probably enjoy two the fried cial names of products except in adver- taro patty. . . . ” Change “two” to too. tisements. “But if a trade name See also TO; TOO, 2. [trademark] is pertinent to a story, use it,” The New York Times tells staff Trademarks. A trademark, also members. Its example: “The robbers es- spelled trade-mark, is a distinctive name, caped in a white Cadillac sedan.” design, picture, symbol, or other device See also BAND-AID; JELL-O; KO- on goods offered for sale. It distinguishes DAK; SEEING EYE; THERMOS; the goods of a particular manufacturer VASELINE; XEROX. or seller from similar goods produced or sold by others. TRADITION. See HONORABLE, Technically, a brand name, such as HONORARY, HONORED. Pepsi-Cola or Sunkist, is a trademark; while a distinctive name of a business such as Kmart Stores or Bank of Amer- TRAGEDY. Tragedy signifies a seri- ica, is a trade name (usually two words). ous play with a very sad ending, or a Often, especially in popular usage, trade play of that sort as a genre. It is a drama name is applied to the product too. depicting a character’s struggle with an Registration of either at the U.S. overpowering adversary through a series Patent and Trademark Office or a corre- of solemn, pathetic, or shocking events, sponding state office is not essential, but ending in calamity. Typically the protag- it affords legal protection in case of in- onist’s passion or character flaw leads to fringement. In preventing unauthorized his undoing. use of a mark or name, the law not only When it does not pertain to drama, protects ownership but also helps to pro- tragedy (noun) suggests an event or se- tect the public from deception. ries of events characterized by or ending The name of a product that is a trade- in calamity or great suffering and usually mark should always begin with a capital death. Tragic (adjective) means pertain- letter. It is accurate usage; besides, it ing to or having the character of either a helps keep the name from going into the dramatic tragedy or a general tragedy; it public domain, losing its precise mean- can mean calamitous or disastrous. ing, and penalizing the owner for its suc- Tragedy or tragic is frivolously in- cess. Aspirin, escalator, and yo-yo are voked at times to describe a state of af- among former trademarks. fairs that is merely disagreeable or Manufacturers advertise and take undesirable but involves no calamity or other steps to encourage capitalization great suffering. A book speculates on the 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 442

442 transitive and intransitive verbs

loss to English literature if Joyce, Shaw, His speech . . . is intended to be taken Swift, and other literary masters of Ire- straight—I guess. In light of every- land had written in Gaelic: thing that’s transpired, however . . . the speech is a hoot, and the screening Their works would be as little known audience was snickering disrespect- to us as those of the poets of Iceland fully. . . . or Norway, and that would be a tragedy indeed. “You took this receipt to Follope. He said to you, ‘Thank you,’ but now, That might be unfortunate (if “that” several days pass, nothing has refers to unfamiliarity with the works of changed.” the Irishmen), but why would it be a This was precisely what had tran- “tragedy”? How would our ignorance of spired. a literature cause us—much less the readers of that literature—calamity or great suffering? (The analogy is imper- The loose use tends to devaluate a fect. The Irish literati included non- valuable word. To transpire (verb, tran- poets; and our ignorance of Norwegian sitive or intransitive) is literally to give does not preclude our familiarity with off vapor, moisture, odor, etc. through a the dramas of Ibsen. An Icelander and body, plant, or other surface. Used figu- three Norwegians, including the poet ratively about information, to transpire Bjørnson, won the Nobel Prize for litera- (verb, intransitive) is to leak out, to be- ture.) come known, or to come to light. For ex- In another book, the absence of a ample, “The committee made its tragedy is perversely labeled a “tragedy.” decision three months ago, but the facts did not transpire until yesterday.” No For a man with Theodore Roosevelt’s other single word expresses that mean- need for personal fulfillment, it was a ing. sort of tragedy that he had no war— not even a Whiskey Rebellion. TRAVESTY. A travesty is a type of burlesque or satire. It is a piece of litera- The author seems to imply that war, ture or drama that (1) ridicules its genre with its killing and suffering, is of no or (2) treats a serious work or lofty moment if it brings a president “per- theme absurdly, grotesquely, or ironi- sonal fulfillment.” cally. See also DISASTER. Travesty is used figuratively, usually with justice, to suggest a grotesque or Transitive and intransitive verbs. distorted imitation. The phrase “travesty of justice,” describing an unfair law or See Verbs, 1. legal decision, has become a cliché since Edith Wharton used it in 1923 in A Son TRANSPIRE. To use “transpire” in- at the Front: “. . . It’s an iniquitous law, stead of happen or occur or take place is a travesty of justice” (that permits loose and pompous. The pomposity of France to conscript an American). “transpired” clashes with the informal If a figurative meaning is intended, styles of the movie review and book that “travesty” alone is apt to make no sense: are quoted here. See if anything would A newspaper article reported that Israeli be lost by replacing “transpired” with, leaders opposed blanket compensation say, happened. for Palestinians claiming damages from 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 443

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Israeli army actions during the intifada, Among the meanings of tread are to or uprising. walk, step, or dance on or along; to trample; to oppress; and to pump the But Leah Tesemel, an Israeli lawyer feet (in water). who represents several Arab claim- ants, said travesties had been commit- TREASON. See Crimes, 5. ted against Palestinians, beyond what courts would consider as legal armed TREMBLER and TEMBLOR. See response. . . . TEMBLOR and TREMBLER.

You can no more “commit” a travesty TRILLION. See BILLION. than you can “commit” a comedy or a satire. TRIO. A trio is a group of three An article in another paper dealt with singers or musicians, or a musical com- a school board’s approval of educational position for three voices or instruments. materials on the Sino-Japanese conﬂict. In a more general sense, a trio can be a group of three people who are connected However, some who worked on the in some joint action or at least closely as- original curriculum proposal say that sociated. The Three Stooges might qual- the administrators’ revision of the ma- ify, but not three strangers who happen terials omits the context and images to be in an elevator at the same time. It is necessary to convey the travesty’s im- a journalistic cliché to use the word for pact. any three people. An article concerning the Salvadorian Was it a mistyping of tragedy or a dis- civil war says, “The trio was cooking play of ignorance? To call the killing of spaghetti and beans when a knock at the millions a “travesty” is bizarre. door came at 10:45 p.m.” The three Travesty entered England in 1648, as people were not three musicians or three a French verb, in the title of Le Virgile cooks at a restaurant but a woman and Travesty en Vers Burlesque, Virgil traves- two friends of hers who came, sepa- tied in burlesque verses, by Paul Scarron. rately, seeking refuge. To call them a Meaning to disguise, travestir was an “trio” stretches the word thin. Better: adaptation of the Italian travestire, from “The three were cooking. . . . ” Having the Latin trans-, across, and vestire, to linked them into a unit (“The trio was clothe. cooking”), the writer evades the grammatical snare (“when it heard a knock”) TREAD. The past tense of tread (verb, and never again mentions the group in transitive and intransitive) is trod. “We the remaining thirteen paragraphs. took our packs and trod the path for three hours.” To use trod in a present TRIUMPHAL and TRIUM- sense is an error. Webster’s Third Dictio- PHANT. The difference between these nary tends to sanction the error, uncriti- adjectives is subtle. Triumphant means cally quoting, “The eccentric is forced to victorious, also elated over victory. “The trod a lonely way.” Make it tread. army is triumphant.” / “Their tri- The past participle is trodden or trod. umphant feeling was short-lived.” Using “The boy has trodden [or “trod”] this the word to mean triumphal is obsolete. road often.” The other forms are regu- Triumphal goes with something com- lar: treading, treads. In archaic times the memorating or honoring a triumph: past tense was trode. “We walked under the Triumphal 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 444

444 trooper and trouper

Arch.” / “The band played Verdi’s Tri- TRY AND and TRY TO. A televi- umphal March.” Webster’s Third Dic- sion panelist said of a presidential candi- tionary promotes confusion of the two date, “He wants to try and get out as words by giving “TRIUMPHANT” as a many Republicans as he can.” Was “try meaning of triumphal. and” correct or should it have been try The related adverbs are triumphantly to? and triumphally. Triumph (noun) is vic- It passed muster. The consensus of au- tory, conquest, or distinguished achieve- thorities is that try and is a colloquial id- ment. To triumph (verb, intransitive) is iom that need not be avoided when it to be victorious. seems natural in speech, although some find it too casual for careful writing or TROOPER and TROUPER. See even for the heights of oral eloquence. Homophones. None impugn the good standing of try to. TROOP, TROOPS, and TROUPE. The two phrases are not identical in Paraphrasing a bill in the U.S. Senate, a meaning. “Let’s try to stop them” and television panelist said it would put the “Try to remember where you put the president on notice that “you’re going to keys” literally call for attempts. On the require prior congressional approval be- other hand, “Try and stop me” is not a fore you send one troop into Haiti.” literal instruction but an expression of “One troop” sounded odd. The determination, and “Let’s try and win” speaker may have meant one serviceman offers encouragement. “We will try to or one soldier. The singular, troop, de- reach our goal next month” implies res- notes a unit of Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts olution, while “We’ll try and repair it and, sometimes, a nondescript group of soon” implies “Don’t count on it.” people or animals. In the military sense, a troop technically is a subdivision of a TUMMY. See STOMACH. cavalry regiment; otherwise the plural, troops, is nearly always used, meaning TURBID and TURGID. See Con- armed forces collectively or any body of fusing pairs. soldiers prepared to fight: “Troops have been shipped to Haiti.” ’TWAS (it was). See Expletives. A number may precede troops when the idea is to refer, impersonally, to a Twins. 1. Legal. 2. Nonlegal. group; but not when the idea is to refer to individuals. Thus, “They have some 1. Legal 300 troops at the border” but not “The A candidate for city treasurer who five troops described their experiences.” promised, in a written statement, “I will Troop is not to be confused with scrutinize each and every receipt” was troupe, pronounced the same, meaning a using legal language. Doubling and group of entertainers. sometimes tripling of ideas in more or less redundant phrases has been charac- “TRUE” or “FALSE” FACTS. See teristic of lawyers for ages. By augment- FACT, 3. ing each with every, or null with void, they presumably have sought to add TRUSTEE and TRUSTY. See Con- rhetorical weight and insure understand- fusing pairs. ing. Some are just ritual phrases, such as TRUTH. See FACT, 4; Twins, 1. the triplet the truth, the whole truth, and 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 445

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nothing but the truth, which is directed does kin. Yet such pairs are hackneyed at laymen. Two other triplets, ready, expressions. Whether a particular phrase willing, and able and way, shape, or will best convey one’s message is worth a form have been adopted by the lay pub- thought. lic. So have any and all, fit and proper, The pairs listed above are just frater- part and parcel, peace and quiet, sepa- nal twins. There is also a class of identi- rate and distinct, and various and cal twins, including boy oh boy, by and sundry. The Constitution uses aid and by, day by day, eye to eye, ha ha, man to comfort and full faith and credit. Other man, more and more, neck and neck, on common legal twins include aid and and on, out(-)and(-)out, over and over, abet, cease and desist, free and clear, save so(-)so, (call) a spade a spade, through and except, sole and exclusive, terms and through, time after time, up and up, and conditions, and true and correct. (if) worst comes to worst, (what’s) done Many combinations have set mean- is done, and the British hear, hear and ta ings established by court decisions. Less ta. familiar ones may risk unexpected inter- See also Clichés; Tautology. pretations, so the legal drafter should make sure that each word is necessary. TYPE. 1. Noun: followed by OF. 2. Two words are not necessarily better TYPE and KIND; other meanings. than one. See also TESTAMENT and TESTIMONY; UNLESS AND UNTIL. 1. Noun: followed by OF 2. Nonlegal As a noun, type usually means either Many nonlegal twins exist as clichés. (a) a category or class or (b) a person, They include alas and alack, betwixt and creature, or thing with the features of the between, bits and pieces, bow and category or class. “What type of animal scrape, fair and square, fast and furious, is it?” / “A baboon is a type of monkey.” fear and trembling, first and foremost, / “The guiro is an instrument of the per- free and easy, hale and hearty, hem and cussion type.” haw, hook or crook, hue and cry, kith When type is followed by the name of and kin, leaps and bounds, lo and be- the category or class, of should inter- hold, might and main, nerve and fiber, vene. nook and cranny, pillar to post, pomp As recorded in an autobiography, a and circumstance, pure and simple, rack father wrote to his son that as a teen- and ruin, rags and tatters, rant and rave, ager “you will establish definitely the really and truly, right and proper, safe type person you will be. . . . ” And in a and sound, so on and so forth, thick and magazine, a witness to a plane crash was fast, to and fro, trials and tribulations, quoted as saying, “I won’t tell you it’s a ways and means, and well and good. seven-twenty-seven, but it’s that type air- Some twins, like flotsam and jetsam, craft.” jot or tittle, and spick and span, are in- Idiomatic English calls for “type of separable. Anyone using an isolated person” and “type of aircraft.” We do alack, betwixt, fro, or main (noun) is not not say, “I wonder what species flower it likely to be understood nowadays but is” or “I like this variety apple.” might have been in past eras. Commercial appropriations of the One of the words may provide an ad- word—e.g., “silk-type material”—are ditional shade of meaning or it may be understandable, if sometimes shady. Imi- just an empty synonym in legal style. tation of the commercial pattern, in an Cranny does supplement nook, as kith attempt to be droll, may account for 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 446

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slangy phrases like “reading-type mate- set up in type”) or the metallic blocks rial” in lieu of type of reading material. producing them in traditional printing. Type can serve as an adjective when it 2. TYPE and KIND; other meanings pertains to printing, as in type style and Used strictly, type ﬁts a clearly deﬁned type faces, or when it is united with a group (“Citrine is a type of quartz”) technical term, as in Type AB blood. As while kind or sort has more general ap- a verb, type (present participle typing) plication. (“That is the kind of weather I can mean to operate a typewriter or like.” / “She is the sort of person who computer keyboard (“She types eighty gets along with everyone.”) Strict users words a minute”) or to classify (“They appear to be in the minority. typed him as a vagrant”). The noun type can also denote printed See also KIND OF. characters (“The manuscript has been 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 447

ULTIMATUM. An ultimatum is not preclude its use. However, the officials’ just any demand. This noun, along with proposition carried no threat of forceful the adjective ultimate, stems from the action and was not final. The next sen- Medieval Latin ultimatus, meaning final. tence says, “But discussions that began An ultimatum is the ultimate demand or last week produced a less severe solution proposition or statement of terms pre- yesterday.” So no “ultimatum” was is- sented by the government of one coun- sued, even stretching the word to the try to the government of another bursting point. country before launching war or using The South Korean government issued force. The threat of hostilities is ex- a statement asking the United States to pressed or implied in the statement. Ulti- clarify news reports of official spying on matum is too important a word to be the Korean president. A story about the treated in the casual way it often is. statement starts out with a contradic- “Iran issued an ultimatum to tion: “The State Department yesterday Britain,” a newscaster announced on rejected another South Korean ultima- television. Iran’s demand, that Britain tum, the second in two days.” Aside ban a book, was backed by the threat of from the Koreans’ obvious reluctance to severed relations but not hostilities. wage war on the United States, the fact Therefore calling it an “ultimatum” is is that they made two successive de- not a precise use of the word. At least mands, so the first cannot be truly the demand had an element of finality. recorded as an “ultimatum.” Not so in the next instance, reported in a A front-page headline: “Vatican Is- newspaper article: sues an Ultimatum. . . . ” According to the story, the Vatican’s envoy to Panama “delivered an ultimatum” to General When city officials discovered that Manual Noriega, the Panamanian [an unauthorized street clock] last leader, during the U.S. invasion: His month, they issued an ultimatum to sanctuary at the embassy would expire. the restaurant’s owners. If you want What the envoy delivered was more like permission to erect the clock . . . you an eviction notice. The idea of the small- must first remove it. est state in the world threatening military violence is ludicrous. There “ultimatum” is evidently supposed to be humorous, so its irrelevance UNDESCRIBABLE. See INDE- to international relations does not alone SCRIBABLE, UNDESCRIBABLE.

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UNEMPLOYED, UNEMPLOY- the word appeared twice in a news story MENT. See JOBLESS. about a tribute to a baseball player: [Jackie Robinson] lived a career so UNEXPRESSIBLE. See Verbal un- compelling and unique its retelling mentionables. once again riveted. . . . The obvious presence of such people of color un- UNINTERESTED. See DISINTER- derscored the unique relationship ESTED and UNINTERESTED. baseball has had with minorities since 1947. . . . UNIQUE. “It is absolutely the most Robinson’s career was unique—not “so” unique place in the world,” a secretary unique, though so unusual, so extraordi- of the interior said about the Grand nary, etc. would be correct. The second Canyon. A scientist said about mam- sentence is grammatically sound, though moths, “They were very unique ani- the aptness of “unique” may be debated. mals.” An orchestral manager was Minorities are in other sports. Journal- quoted as saying, “Ojai is something so ism need not ape the advertising indus- unique among festivals.” try, which tries to persuade us that every Unique (adjective), from the Latin product is “unique.” (Another error in unicus, only or single, means being the the first sentence is the intransitive use of only one of its kind or without an equal. “riveted.” Rivet is a transitive verb: “its The Sun, as a star, is unique in the solar retelling riveted the audience.” See also system but not in the universe. RACE and NATIONALITY, 3.) To call something or someone “the Surely an educator should be expected most unique” is as meaningless as calling to know the proper usage of words. A it “the most only one.” Uniqueness can- high school supervisor in the Southeast not vary in degree. So adverbial quali- told a television interviewer that not ev- fiers like “most” / “very” / “so” / eryone was capable of teaching. “It takes “rather” / “more” / “somewhat” cannot a very unique individual. . . . ” (One who apply to unique. Some of them may ap- speaks properly?) ply to weaker adjectives such as excep- tional, extraordinary, outstanding, rare, UNLESS AND UNTIL. The phrase remarkable, or unusual. A very rare bird “unless and until” befits a legal docu- has a few specimens; only the final speci- ment. Separately, unless and until have men will be unique. It is possible to qual- different meanings. Together, they are ify unique with adverbs like truly, really, usually excessive in normal prose. nearly, most nearly, or more nearly, The conjunction unless means if not, which do not purport to change the de- or except when. The conjunction until gree of unique. means up to the point that, or up to the But the speakers quoted above are not time of. When combined in “unless and in the word business. Those in the mass until,” they add up to an overblown media should know better, should they phrase. Usually one word or the other, not? depending on the context, can be On television a newscaster said, “The scrapped with no loss of meaning. This budget bill was rather unique,” and an sentence, from a book, illustrates the announcer described “America’s most two words in combination: unique travel adventures.” A magazine said that “the most unique mail order Those laws [governing matter un- items” were not the most expensive. And der very extreme conditions] are im- 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 449

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portant for understanding how the fiers and the ambiguous “which.” See universe began, but they do not affect Modifiers, 4; THAT and WHICH. (An- the future evolution of the universe, other mistake is a noun-verb disagree- unless and until the universe recol- ment in number: It should be “buses lapses to a high-density state. feature.” Flxible is a brand, not a mistake.) Unless is enough. The universe will continue to evolve, if it does not recollapse. 2. Comparability To use “until” alone might suggest that The prepositions unlike and like are recollapsing is a sure thing. The addition opposite in meaning but alike grammati- of “and until” is unnecessary and more cally. Whereas like likens one thing to legalistic than scientific. another, unlike contrasts one thing with Sometimes “or” replaces “and,” another. Either way, the things need to yielding the phrase “unless or until.” be comparable to make complete sense. The result is the same. In the use of unlike, we encounter the A comparable phrase is “if and same problem of false comparison that when.” If means in the event that. When was shown in the use of like. means at the time that. Here too one This remark was made on a national word or the other, depending on context, telecast: “Unlike thirty years ago, we usually can stand alone. A variation of now have sunscreens to shield us from the phrase is “when and if.” Such daily exposure.” A time in the past and phrases can be left to lawyers. what we now have belong to different See also Twins. categories. “Unlike what we had thirty years ago . . .” is a correction. UNLIKE. 1. Clarity. 2. Comparability. Unlike occasionally serves as an adjective: “the unlike duckling.” 1. Clarity See also LIKE, 2. Unlike can be clearer than not . . . like: “Campbell is not a college UNMENTIONABLE. See Verbal graduate, like his predecessor, Morgan.” unmentionables. Was Morgan graduated from college or not? If he was, a better way to begin is UNQUALIFIED. See DISQUALI- “Unlike his predecessor. . . . ” But if he FIED and UNQUALIFIED. was not, a better way is “Like his predecessor. . . . ” See also LIKE, 1; NOT, 1E. “UNQUOTE.” See QUOTE and Users of unlike must make it clear just QUOTATION. what they are contrasting. The contrasted elements need to be isolated and UNSPEAKABLE. See Verbal unmen- not obscured by modifiers. In this sen- tionables. tence from a newsletter, nine modifying words precede the noun “lift”: UNTHINKABLE. Two dictionaries Unlike other GGT buses, the new Flx- offer the identical opening definition of ible buses features an Americans with unthinkable: “Not thinkable; inconceiv- Disabilities ACT (ADA) approved able.” Such a definition is paradoxical. front door wheelchair lift which al- Anything you can think is thinkable. lows for a 45-seat bus capacity. Anything you can conceive is conceivable. Just to mention something, albeit The extent of the difference between the to condemn it as wrong or impossible, is buses is blurred by the pile-up of modi- to think of it. 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 450

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This discourse is to reject, not the “prices were upped”—is scorned by word, but the definition and inappropri- some critics, one of whom calls it “jour- ate use of the word. When all four pan- nalese.” At least one expression of that elists in a television discussion agreed sort has become established: to up the that U.S. withdrawal from Saudi Arabia ante, meaning to increase the stakes, par- was “unthinkable” (a word suggested by ticularly in a poker game. the moderator), they all thought of it. To up (intransitive) is also to rise or The proposition might have been called get up, or to act unexpectedly or sud- unacceptable, undesirable, unfeasible, or denly: “She upped and walloped him on unreasonable (or a good idea, had pan- the jaw.” elists been selected who did not all think alike), but was it really “unthinkable”? 2. In phrases The same two dictionaries offer an When added to a number of verbs, up identical second definition: “Not to be (adverb) forms distinctive phrases, in thought of or considered.” That one is which up does not bear its literal mean- more tenable. There may be certain con- ing: higher or the opposite of down. cepts that, though they can be thought, Make up, for instance, can mean to should not be thought. In that sense, dic- put together, form, arrange, complete, tators regard democracy as unthinkable; compensate for, become friendly again, and, in promoting their product, or put on (cosmetics). We bring up (chil- cigarette companies regard the danger to dren or topics), get up (in the morning), health as unthinkable. Normally you can keep up (an activity or appearance), look think what you want in our society. Our up (information in a reference book), laws restrict only what you do; thought- and turn up (something lacking). control is generally unacceptable. Up may intensify verbs, adding an ele- It is verbal profligacy to use “unthink- ment of completeness or thoroughness. able” just to express disagreement with a Treasure-hunters dig, hoping to dig up proposition, unless it is horrible or evil riches. To dress is less formal than to beyond contemplation. To use it to de- dress up. To tear a book damages it; to scribe something that actually exists or tear up the book destroys it. Clean up has already been done (“the administra- and tie up are somewhat intensified ver- tion’s unthinkable actions in Latin sions of clean and tie in literal senses, America”) is preposterous. and they have respectively the additional See also Verbal unmentionables. meanings of make a lot of money (colloquial) and delay or immobilize. UNTIL. See TILL and “’TIL”; UN- Nevertheless, up goes unnecessarily LESS AND UNTIL; UP, 2 (end). with some other verbs, making no difference in their meanings. Two professors UNUTTERABLE. See Verbal un- wrote that “some of the resources freed mentionables. up by pruning military outlays should permit Democrats to advance the ‘pock- UP. 1. As a verb. 2. In phrases. 3. Prefix etbook issues’. . . . ” No one is likely to and suffix. miss “up” if it is removed from a sentence like that or phrases like these: “end 1. As a verb up” (the meeting), “light up” (a cigar), As a verb, up is more or less colloquial “finish up” (the job), “head up” (a com- and not for all occasions. mittee), “make up” (the beds), “match Using it in the (transitive) sense of up” (cloths), “open up” (the gate), “pay raise or increase—to “up prices” or up” (the money), “write up” (an article). 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 451

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The “up” in “hurry up” / “join up” / agree what to hyphenate, and several “wait up” adds nothing to hurry, join, dictionaries show no pattern behind wait. their choices. For instance, one book Instead of telling someone just to lis- runs wind-up, shakeup, and a choice be- ten, it is fashionable (at this writing) to tween make-up and makeup. Another tack on the appendage “up.” On a radio spells them windup, shake-up, and news network, the remark “Listen up, makeup. Steven Spielberg” prefaced a broadcast A usable rule of thumb for words of a computer-generated portrayal of a with up suffixes (suggested by Roy H. dinosaur cry. Copperud) is to follow the root word Up is the first word in sundry phrases. with a hyphen if it ends in a vowel. Among useful ones are up against, See also UPCOMING; PICK UP and meaning confronted with; up for, pre- PICKUP; ROUND UP and ROUNDUP; sented for (election, trial, etc.); up to, oc- SET UP and SETUP. cupied in, capable of, or equal to; and up to date, current. (“These accounts are up UPCOMING. Upcoming dates back to date” or “These are the up-to-date ac- to the fourteenth century. For about 500 counts.”) The “up” is redundant in “up years it was solely a noun, meaning the until” or “up till,” inasmuch as until or action of coming up; for instance, “From till means up to a point or time. the hill, we watched their upcoming.” See also CAUGHT and CAUGHT Then it began to be used also as an ad- UP. jective, in a similar sense, e.g., “the upcoming travelers.” 3. Prefix and suffix Its adjectival use as a synonym for an- Up- is joined as a prefix in many ticipated, approaching, coming, or forth- words. Some of them, accenting the up-, coming, as in “the upcoming election,” are upbeat, upbraid, upgrade, upkeep, began still later. The Oxford English upright, uprising, uproar, upshot, up- Dictionary can trace that “chiefly U.S.” start, and upward. Others, such as up- application only as far back as 1959. heaval, uphold, upholster, and uproot, In its newest sense, upcoming has not accent the second syllable. Still others won general acceptance. Use it if you give about equal stress to both syllables: have to, but never as a replacement for upside (down), upstairs, upstream, and coming up, the way a telecast of enter- uptown. The stress may vary, as in upset: tainment news misused it: “With the the noun is UP-set, the verb up-SET; the new season upcoming, optimism is adjective goes either way. Dictionaries high.” The flavor is German, not En- disagree on the pronunciation of some glish. Change “upcoming” to coming up other up- words. or just coming. Up is hyphenated in the adjectives up- A predecessor of the original upcom- and-coming, meaning advancing toward ing, by about three centuries, was up- success; and up-and-down, meaning come, a rare verb meaning to come up. fluctuating in direction or vertical. See also Backward writing, 3. As a suffix, -up may or may not be joined by a hyphen. Examples are the US and WE. See Pronouns, 10. nouns breakup, buildup, holdup, setup, windup, close-up, make-up, and shake- USE. See UTILIZE, UTILIZATION. up (all accenting the first syllable). As verbs, each of the root words would be USE TO and USED TO. Each of separate from up. Dictionaries do not the samples below displays a wrong 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 452

452 utilize, utilization

tense of the verb use. Past should be pre- “Silicon was utilized in the computer sent and present should be past. revolution.” In the examples below “ ‘What did your name used to be?’ (from a book and a newspaper), “uti- this reporter couldn’t resist asking.” lize” is used loosely. Change “used” to use: “ ‘What did your name use to be?’ ” You should be able to boost your “I use to like people for what I could usual weekly or monthly sales figures get out of them.” Change “use” to used: from time to time by utilizing one of “I used to like people. . . . ” the more popular promotional tech- Used to, indicating a former state or a niques. former activity, often is correct. But when did goes with a verb, it takes over If the techniques are already in popular the job of casting the verb’s action in the use, using will do in place of “utilizing.” past. In that way, use is no different from other verbs. We say, “When did she To avoid becoming a rape victim, leave?” (not “left”) or “I did not sleep” there are several precautions to follow (not “slept”). as well as a variety of defenses to uti- The fact that used to and use to sound lize if assaulted. so similar can account for the confusion. In the negative, two constructions are Again, use is enough. Utilize would be possible. One may say either “He did the right word in speaking, for instance, not use to drink much” or He used not of “a variety of common objects to uti- to drink much.” The first is more com- lize as defenses.” (See also Crimes, 1.) mon, especially in speech. The meaning A related noun is utilization, which at of use to may be expressed in other times is forced to serve as a pretentious ways: “He did not drink much in the synonym for the noun use. In a dictio- past” or “in past years” or “in those nary article, a linguist describes a mil- days.” lion-word sample of American writing Used to can mean accustomed to. “I containing 61,805 word forms. am used to hard work.” / “We were used to walking barefoot.” That sense em- As already suggested in our discussion ploys only used, the past participle, and of the frequency of words of different only in the passive. length, word utilization in actual use varies enormously. UTILIZE, UTILIZATION. Utilize, often conscripted as a high-flown syn- The sentence would be improved by onym for use (verb, transitive), has its changing “word utilization in” to their. niche. It implies putting to practical use Another synonym for use is employ something that has not been practical so (verb, transitive), which has its own nu- far, or making something more produc- ance: to apply or devote to an activity. tive or profitable by finding a new use “She employed her time and energy in for it. helping the poor.” Of course employ These are appropriate examples: also means to hire or to use the services “Many companies would like to utilize of an employee. the natural resources of the Antarctic.” / 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 453

VASELINE. Vaseline is a brand of held. When a lawyer requests a “change petroleum jelly, used for medicinal pur- of venue,” he wants the trial moved else- poses. As a trademark, it should be capi- where. talized. Lately it has been used as a highfa- A book of language instruction for lutin synonym for a variety of simple newcomers prints the commercial names words, which would generally be quite of several products in lower case. In adequate and often be more specific. It sample dialogue, a customer tells a phar- has been particularly common in show macist, “I’ll need some vaseline, too.” business, but some in other fields too are Another commercial product that the forcing it into service. This is from a book incorrectly mentions in lower case book about marketing (emphasis is Q-Tips. See also BAND-AID. added): H. L. Mencken, who refused to capi- Still, consider if this [a newsletter] talize Vaseline and many other trade- is a good venue for you. . . . marks, wrote that it had entered But particularly for consultants German and French dictionaries and, as whose strong suit is not the written fan-shih-ling, was among four “Ameri- word, it [use of a newsletter service] is canisms” borrowed by the Chinese. a plausible venue. (The others were p’u-k’e, poker; tel-lu- feng, telephone; and ch’ueh-ssu-teng, Before “venue” began circulating pre- charleston, the dance.) He described its tentiously outside the legal community, origin: Robert A. Chesebrough coined it the writer might have used medium (first in 1870 or so, drawing from the German sentence) and course (second sentence). wasser, water, and the Greek elaion, oil, A weekly newspaper chose to use for he believed that the decomposition “screening venue” rather than movie of water gave rise to petroleum. theater. A restaurant reviewer preferred “lunch venue” to lunchroom. A radio VENAL and VENIAL. See Confus- commercial for language instruction ing pairs. used “venues” in place of schools. And a notice posted at a legitimate theater an- VENUE. Venue is a legal term. It is nounced “EVENTS AT OUR OTHER the locality in which a crime is commit- VENUS” (sic). ted or the cause for a civil suit occurs. It is also the political division from which VERBAL. 1. Oral and verbal. 2. Pop- a jury is called and in which a trial is ular definition. 3. Technical meanings.

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1. Oral and verbal confusion; one can tell the meaning from A lawyer did not write this sentence, the context. which is looser than it may seem. Contrarily, The American Heritage Dictionary (first edition) cautioned A written, detailed contract has the against the application of verbal to terms virtue of specifically spelling out terms such as agreement, promise, commit- and mutual obligations, but it also ment, and understanding; it can mean binds a lot tighter than a verbal agree- what is written, while oral cannot. Ver- ment. bal (says the third edition) “may sometimes invite confusion,” as in this The opposite of a written contract is an example: Does “modern technology for oral contract; that is, one that is spoken verbal communication” refer to devices rather than written. All contracts or like radio and telephone or those like agreements are verbal, because they have telegraph and fax? to do with words, whether or not the Webster’s second edition said, in the words are written down. main text under verbal, that “by confu- Verbal (adjective) pertains to words. It sion” it was taken to mean spoken. Web- can have any of these senses: ster’s Third drops that qualification. 3. Technical meanings A.In words or through the use of words. In grammar, verbal has some technical Songs communicate in both musical meanings. Verbal (adjective) means per- and verbal ways. taining to a verb, or having the function B. Emphasizing words as such, without of a verb, or used to form verbs (such as regard to the ideas or facts that they the verbal suffix -ize). A verbal (noun) is convey. This is purely verbal criticism, a word or phrase formed from a verb not substantive. that is used as a noun or adjective. C.Word for word. A verbal translation is Gerunds and at times infinitives and par- literal, rather than literary. ticiples may be called verbals. Verbal and oral both come from Verbal unmentionables. Unmen- Latin, in which verbum means word and tionables is a euphemism for underwear, oris means mouth. little used now, except in an attempt to Oral has other mouth-related mean- be humorous. It was once applied to ings. An oral vaccine is one that is swal- trousers. We are assigning the designa- lowed. Oral hygiene is health care for tion of verbal unmentionables to a cate- the mouth. gory of paradoxical expressions or The adverbs related to verbal and oral words. What distinguishes each is that it are verbally and orally. seems to discourage any reference to the very thing it is used to refer to. If taken 2. Popular definition literally, it might not be used at all. “Verbal” often serves in popular Expressions include it (or that) goes speech as an antonym for written. Gen- without saying, needless to say, not to eral dictionaries offer that loose use mention, not to say, to say nothing of, among their definitions. But why choose and words cannot describe. Single words a fuzzy word when using a precise one is include inconceivable, indescribable, in- so easy? effable, inexpressible, unimaginable, un- The Random House Dictionary adds mentionable, unsayable, unspeakable, a note defending the use of “verbal” to unthinkable, and unutterable. mean spoken: The practice dates from This quirk in our language is far from the sixteenth century; it rarely produces new. In Eureka, an essay on the universe, 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 455

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published in 1848, Edgar Allan Poe ter mode.” To announce that an epi- wrote that “a certain inexpressibly great demic was going away, the director of a yet limited number of unimaginably yet federal health agency said, “There is a not infinitely minute atoms” had radi- downslope on the curve of occurrence.” ated from a primordial particle; that A Tennessee school board considering traveling from the star 61 Cygni, even at curricula decided that “pre-assessment, an “inconceivable rate, light occupies post-assessment, learning alternatives more than ten years”; and that stars give and remediation will be an integral part “birth and death to unspeakably numer- of instructional modules within the ous and complex variations” of life. framework of program development.” A (Emphases are added.) collegiate dean in Wisconsin said she had To hint at or mention something worked at “conceptualizing new thrusts while feigning an unwillingness to men- in programming.” tion it is a rhetorical device known as An artist wrote this of her abstract apophasis (a-POF-a-sis), adopted from paintings: “A strong frontal progressive the Greek word for denial. A guest on image of light through the layers declares the air who says “I won’t plug my the present, which is, life existing in the restaurant, Joe’s Eatery” is using it. now.” (See Punctuation, 3D.) A plaque See also INDESCRIBABLE, UNDE- in an art gallery said of another abstract SCRIBABLE; OF COURSE, 3; NOT artist, “Through the use of layering, her TO MENTION; TO SAY NOTHING paintings invoke a sense of continuum, a OF; UNTHINKABLE. present tense portrayal that reveals a connection to our past as well as prepar- Verbosity. Using many words or too ing ground for the future.” (See EVOKE many words, either in writing or in and INVOKE.) speaking, is verbosity or wordiness. Usu- The beginning of a study by two pro- ally it means using more words than are fessors in a scientific journal is quoted necessary to communicate one’s mean- below. The study deals with pigeons. ing. Verbosity (pronounced vur-BOS-ih- Had it dealt with people, it might have tee) can in addition imply an instance of been complicated. speech or writing that is obscure, In general, research on concurrent pompous, or tedious; or a tendency to- choice has concentrated on steady- ward such speech or writing. state relations between the allocation A noun with similar meaning is proof behavior and independent variables lixity (pronounced pro-LIX-ih-tee), the that are associated with reinforcement quality of or tendency toward such ex- or aspects of responding. The devel- cessive length or elaboration in speech or opment of quantitative models de- writing as to be tiresome. scribing stable-state choice has been The related adjectives are verbose successful, and is exemplified by the (vur-BOAS), wordy, and prolix (PRO-lix generalized matching law (see Davi- or pro-LIX). son & McCarthy, 1988, for a review), Nouns pertaining to unnecessary rep- which provides a description of the re- etition are pleonasm, redundancy, and lation between behavior-output ratios tautology. See Tautology. and reinforcer-input ratios when two The prose of government, academia, variable-interval (VI) schedules are art, science, business, and other fields concurrently available. can be verbose, jargonal, or just windy. An official in southern California re- Now some bedtime reading for stock- ported that an earthquake was mild by holders, excerpts from a corporation’s saying, “We have not activated the disas- annual report: 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 456

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The portion of sales hedged is based tences sparingly and with clear, consis- on assessments of cost-benefit profiles tent structure; and using grammar, sen- that consider natural offsetting expo- tence structure, and vocabulary sures, revenue and exchange rate carefully. volatilities and correlations, and the Verbosity should not be confused cost of hedging instruments. . . . For with verbiage, an instance of (not a ten- foreign currency denominated bor- dency toward) an overabundance of rowing and investing transactions, words. Verbiage can also denote a style cross-currency interest rate swap con- of using words, such as legal verbiage in tracts are used, which, in addition to a court document. exchanging cash flows derived from Among pertinent entries are Active rates, exchange currencies at both invoice and passive voice; ADVOCATE; ception and termination of the con- “AT THIS POINT IN TIME”; A tracts. . . . Because monetary assets WHILE and AWHILE; BOTH; BU- and liabilities are marked to spot and COLIC; CAUGHT and CAUGHT UP; recorded in earnings, forward con- CHARACTER; Clichés; CONSENSUS; tracts designated as hedges of the DEMOLISH; Expletives; FRACTION; monetary assets and liabilities are also FREE; IDYLLIC; IN ATTENDANCE; marked to spot with the resulting IN TERMS OF; IS IS; KNOT; LIKE, 3; gains and losses similarly recognized MEAN (adjective); OFF and “OFF OF”; in earnings. ON, 2; PEOPLE as a suffix; PERSON; PERSONAL; PRESENTLY; REVERT; Popular language has deadwood too. SITUATION; SUPPORTIVE; THAT, “In spite of the fact that” can often boil ALL THAT; Twins; UP, 2; WITH. down to although; “was in attendance at” to attended; “for the reason that” to Verbs. 1. Basic facts. 2. Creation from because; “of a friendly (or cheerful etc.) nouns. 3. Mistakes in number. 4. Prob- character” to friendly (or cheerful etc.); lems in using auxiliaries. 5. Shortage of “is in possession of” to has; and so on. objects. Recent decades have brought many roundabout expressions, such as “I am 1. Basic facts supportive of him” instead of I support him; “at this point in time” instead of A. What is a verb? now; “in terms of” and “all that” used A verb is typically a word of action. It unnecessarily; “for” free and listen tells what someone or something does. “up”; and “person” and “people” as “The boy works.” / “This monkey suffixes. howls.” / “Paris fell on that day.” Even a short piece can be too long if it The person, creature, thing, or ab- has unnecessary components. A long straction—that is, the subject—need not work is not necessarily too long if it is act overtly. The subject may just exist in tightly composed. That means being some way, or something may happen to concise and to the point; preferring ac- the subject. The verb tells us that. “I am tive verbs to passive verbs and fresh ex- the captain.” / “They live in Detroit.” / pressions to clichés; avoiding “The city was besieged for two years.” highfalutin, obscure, or superfluous words and phrases; not being too ab- B. Verb phrase stract; illustrating generalities with spe- A verb may consist of more than one cific examples; favoring simple sentences word, usually termed a verb phrase. over complicated ones; using long sen- “The dog has eaten my manuscript.” / 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 457

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“The kettle is whistling.” / “I will re- would be more idiomatic. Reverse has turn.” In each example, has or is or will also a general intransitive sense: “The serves as an auxiliary verb (also called a machine reversed.”) helping verb or just an auxiliary). It com- Confusion between the two categories bines with the main verb (the word that comes up in ADVOCATE; CLINCH; expresses the main action), e.g., the par- COMMIT, COMMITTED; CULMI- ticiple eaten or whistling or the inﬁnitive NATE; LAY and LIE; LIVE, 2; OBSESS return, in a verb phrase. (etc.). Many (composite or phrasal) verbs have adverbial tails: burn down, check D. Predicate in, hold up, and so on. Another important term is the predicate, the part of a sentence (or clause) C. Transitive and intransitive verbs that tells about the subject. It consists of Verbs fall into two main categories: the verb and any object, modiﬁer, or transitive and intransitive. complement it may have. In the sentence “Yankee Doodle went to town, riding on •A transitive verb needs an object to a pony,” everything after “Yankee Doo- complete the meaning. An object is dle” is the predicate. that which (or one who) receives the action or is affected by it. In “He E. Objects, direct and indirect makes money,” makes is the verb; An object like dams in “He built money is its object. In “Jenny plays dams” is a direct object. It tells what or the harp,” plays is the verb; the harp who receives the action. A transitive verb is its object. may have an indirect object too. It tells • An intransitive verb completes its to whom (or what) or for whom (or meaning without needing an object. what) the action is done. In “I gave my “Jesse ran.” / “I hope.” / “Stop!” love a cherry,” my love is the indirect ob- (The subject, you, is implied.) ject; a cherry is the direct object.

A given verb may fit both categories F. Linking verb or just one of them. In most general dic- A special type of intransitive verb is a tionaries, an abbreviation like v.t. (verb, linking verb (also known as a copula or transitive) or v.i. (verb, intransitive) indi- a copulative verb). It links the subject cates whether or not a verb’s particular with a word that identifies or qualifies it: meaning needs an object to complete it. “Tubby is a cat.” / “We became fat.” / (Some verbs that are commonly tran- “She seems happy.” Is links Tubby with sitive [requiring objects] are used intran- cat. Became links we with fat. Seems sitively [without objects] in legal writing. links she with happy. Note that it is not A book on law says, “The owners . . . “happily.” The linking verb is not modi- defended on the ground that . . .”; and fied. (The subjective complement, the later, “The Supreme Court affirmed.” word linked to the subject, may be a That is, the owners defended themselves noun, adjective, or pronoun.) See also against an accusation; and the Supreme BAD and BADLY; FEEL; GOOD and Court affirmed the judgment of the WELL; Pronouns, 10D. lower court. Another book says, “The Court of Appeals, after a careful review G. More of the record, reversed.” Inasmuch as the Hundreds of word entries deal with latter book is for laymen, reversed the verbs, from ABIDE and ABIDE BY to judgment, a transitive use of the verb, ZERO IN. So do some topic entries be- 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 458

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sides this one, including Active voice and was that makeshift verb? An accordion passive voice; Complement; Infinitive; may be either pulled out or squeezed in. Mood; Sentence fragment; Subjunctive; During telecasts of the Olympic Tense. games, commentators like to say, for instance, “I think she has great chances 2. Creation from nouns here to medal”—instead of win a medal. A group that declares its opposition to They may find such a verb useful, but its pollution says in a brochure, “Our staff general use should be discouraged. attorneys and scientists . . . watchdog Sounding just like meddle, it has an in- government and corporate actions. . . . ” herent potential for misunderstanding. The staff members may watch those ac- A reporter spoke of the need “to inert tions, but watchdog is a noun. They can fuel tanks” in airplanes. Did insert mis- no more “watchdog” actions than lead her? Or is a national telecast an oc- singers can “songbird” melodies. casion for experimenting with verbs that The Weather Service announced on have not entered the dictionaries? the telephone, “Please selection the ex- A columnist wrote, “If he doesn’t in- panded menu for weather information.” come average, Mr. Lucky’s federal in- Selection is a noun. Just as we cannot come tax alone will be $456,400.” “adoption” or “perception,” neither can We will probably not see much of that we “selection.” We can adopt, perceive, purported verb again, fortunately, for in- or select. come averaging has since been abol- This is not to say that a verb should ished. never come from a noun, but those supposed verbs are longer than the regular 3. Mistakes in number verbs, fill no need, and just repeat the It is an elementary rule that a singular nouns. subject takes a singular verb; a plural Some verbs formed from nouns have subject takes a plural verb. Sometimes gained full acceptance. Among them are people find it tricky to interpret or just diagnose from diagnosis; donate from slip up. donation; edit from editor; and scavenge The essential noun of the subject con- from scavenger. Not everyone is com- trols the number of the verb. Do not be fortable with burgle from burglar, emote distracted by any intervening words. from emotion, and enthuse from en- That noun and its associated auxiliary thusiasm. Most accept orate, from ora- verb are emphasized in these correct ex- tion, in a contemptuous sense. Surveil, amples: “The information about the ar- from surveillance, is fairly new to dictio- rests was released yesterday.” / “This naries. book of new poems has just been pub- A verb like those is called a back- lished.” In the next example, also cor- formation, a word that seems to be the rect, the essential noun is plural and it parent of another word but really devel- follows a qualifying phrase that fools oped from the latter. some writers: “A total of 1.3 million Escalate, a back-formation from esca- votes were cast for both candidates.” See lator, came out of the Vietnam era. TOTAL. Meaning to heighten (the war), the verb A cooking columnist and a news reserved a purpose. It has a shortcoming porter should have known better but that limits its value, however. Escalators may have been distracted by irrelevant, go down as well as up. singular nouns: Similarly, when a television reporter said, describing a traffic accident, “The I like to serve it [a French fish dish] car was accordioned,” how promising with croutons on top that is flavored 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 459

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with olive oil and crushed black pep- duced by the expression along with, as per. well as, in addition to, together with, or just with does not affect the number of The layoffs, which trimmed the the verb. By that view, the expression ei- party’s paid staff to 35, was just the ther is not a part of the subject or is a latest indication of tough times for subordinate part. (Grammarians give California Democrats. varying explanations.) For instance, “The farm, as well as the house, is up for The “croutons . . . are flavored. . . . ” sale.” A few critics allow a plural verb if The “layoffs . . . were just the latest. . . . ” the items are supposed to get equal em- This was reported in a radio newscast: phasis or if a plural feeling prevails. Nouns with exotic endings account Senator Patrick Leahy, Democrat of for many errors. A common error is to Vermont, is among senators who is mistake a plural, like media or phenom- opposed to calling witnesses. ena, for a singular. See Plurals and singulars, which lists many pertinent entries. Yes, he “is among senators,” but those At times a group may be either singu- senators “are opposed.” See ONE OF, 3. lar or plural, but a sentence should not Usually a subject made up of two or treat it in both ways. See Collective more nouns or pronouns (or both) that nouns. are connected by and demands a plural The functions of many common verb. “Frankie and Johnny were lovers.” words and phrases are often misunder- An exception is made when the nouns or stood. They include each, every, either, pronouns express just one idea or iden- neither, or, and nor and words and tify just one person: “The hue and cry phrases with (-)one. These examples over this issue surprises me.” / “Our (like all those following in this section) vice-president and general manager is are correct: “Each of the athletes is vy- here.” The two examples that follow call ing . . .” / “Neither he nor I was cho- for no exception. sen.” / “Everyone in these parts knows A university president wrote that col- everyone else.” / “He’s one of the few lege applicants need, not prestigious in- people who live here.” See Number stitutions, but “the firm knowledge that (grammatical) for a list of many perti- their education and growth as human nent entries. beings depends on themselves alone.” Placing the verb before the subject Change “depends” to depend. Educa- does not change the need for agreement: tion and growth are two ideas. “In this square stand the county’s first Another president—of the United residence and the original courthouse.” States this time—said, “Democracy and When a fraction is followed by a freedom is what the concept of the new prepositional phrase, the latter deter- order is about.” Make it “Democracy mines the number: “One-fourth of our and freedom are. . . . ” They are two taxes go to support government waste.” ideas. See DEMOCRACY, FREEDOM, / “Two-thirds of the county lies under and INDEPENDENCE. water.” Contractions do not excuse errors in number. “Here’s the pitching probables 4. Problems in using auxiliaries for the three-game series against the Pi- Sometimes it works: letting two auxil- rates . . . ,” a sports item said. “Here’s,” iary verbs (helping verbs) help one main a contraction of “Here is,” should be verb. “We can and must win,” for in- Here are. See Contractions, 1. stance, avoids repeating “win.” Traditionally a phrase or clause intro- But sometimes this locution turns into 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 460

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a trap: “The fair shows what our county serves food.” Buys, cooks, and serves can and is accomplishing.” To say share one object: food. “can . . . accomplishing” is wrong, even If another word or phrase follows the with the two words in between. A simple object, the verbs may or may not share correction presents the main verb twice, the object. Here the verbs do: “We in- in the two forms needed: “. . . can ac- vited and welcomed Ben in.” Both in- complish and is accomplishing.” vited and welcomed fit both Ben (the A similar example: “This department object) and in. may—and occasionally has—looked This faulty sentence is another story: outside for its leadership.” To say “may “He insulted and threw the people out.” . . . looked” is wrong. A correction fin- Only the second verb accepts the object ishes one idea before turning to the sec- (the people), because only that verb ac- ond: “. . . may look outside for its cepts the tail word (out). Threw and out leadership, something it has occasionally go together; the people is locked up be- chosen to do.” tween them, unavailable to insulted. The Several decades ago there arose a false defect may be fixed by relocating the doctrine that declared a verb phrase to noun and inserting a pronoun: “He in- be an indivisible unit; no auxiliary verb sulted the people and threw them out.” might be separated from a main verb; A defective sentence in a biography any adverb must go outside that unit. presents four verbs that are supposed to By that rule, instead of saying “The be transitive. Only the last has an object facts have long been known” (correct), (them). one had to say “The facts long have been For the younger ones, Emma was known” (questionable). And not “The their mother-figure, who fed, dressed, vehicle is slowly gaining speed” (correct) bathed, and put them to bed. but “The vehicle slowly is gaining speed” (questionable). The second sen- The verb put goes with to bed. The ob- tence of each pair is less idiomatic than ject, them, is locked up in between. It is the first, though clear. unavailable to the other three verbs, It may not be as clear if instead of say- which do not go with to bed. A correc- ing “He appears to have partly recov- tion is to insert another and and another ered” (correct), one says “He appears them: “who fed, dressed, and bathed partly to have recovered” (incorrect). them and put them to bed.” Which verb the adverb belongs to may not be immediately apparent. VERTEBRA and VERTEBRAE. Even conservative grammarians have A vertebra is any one of the thirty-three no sympathy for that doctrine, which bones of the spine. It is pronounced seems to have developed from the fear of VUR-tuh-bruh. splitting infinitives. It is not only permis- Vertebrae is plural, using a Latin sible to split verb phrases but desirable form. It is pronounced either VUR-tuh- when idiom and meaning so demand. bree or VUR-tuh-bray. An alternative Splitting infinitives is not necessarily plural is vertebras, VUR-tuh-bruz. wrong either. See Infinitive, 4. Said on a television news program: See also WHO, 3, concerning the per- “She has a broken vertebrae” (-bray). son of a verb following I who or you Correction: “She has a broken who. vertebra,” designating one of the bones, not more than one. 5. Shortage of objects The spine is known also as the back- Multiple verbs in a sentence may have bone, spinal column, or vertebral col- the same object: “She buys, cooks, and umn. 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 461

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VERY. 1. Limitations. 2. Overuse. (the very thought), necessary (the very solution), precise (the very center), or ut- 1. Limitations ter (the very bottom). Very is a very common word and a legitimate one, classified as both an adverb 2. Overuse and an adjective. Its use as an adverb is An episode in an old comedy series on limited and the subject of divided opin- television depicted an intellectually defi- ion. cient anchor man straining to write a Bearing the sense of extremely or thoughtful essay. He could get no further truly, very easily modifies words that are than “Freedom of the press is very, very solely adjectives: large, strong, brightest. good and very, very important.” Hardly anyone would try to say, “The Inexperienced writers indeed tend to medicine very helps him” or “The speak- resort to very too freely. Speakers too, ers very praised her.” Very does not both amateur and professional, are modify verbs, even though modifying known to overdo it. A restaurant critic verbs is a normal activity of adverbs. But on the radio described a county’s restau- may we say, “He is very helped by the rants, “some of them very, very small but medicine” or “She was very praised by all of them very, very good.” A TV re- the speakers”? In other words, may we porter said, at the scene of a search for a use very before a past participle, which is missing person, “The bushes get very, a verb used as an adjective? very thick. It would be very, very easy to Those with easy-going ears and eyes lose someone out here.” would say yes. Those who are more par- A second very says nothing that the ticular would probably give a qualified first does not say. And if one very is inad- no and disapprove of those examples. equate, perhaps what is needed is an al- Such critics have included seven-eighths ternative adverb—or a stronger adjective of The American Heritage Dictionary’s and no adverb. For instance, an alterna- usage panel, which rated “She was very tive to “very, very small,” is extremely disliked by her students” unacceptable small or tiny. in writing but approved “He seemed very worried.” The difference is that disliked—like helped and praised—is not in VIABLE. Viable (adjective) means ca- common use as an adjective. People do pable of living. A human fetus or a new- not usually speak of “the disliked born is viable when it has developed to teacher” any more than “the helped pa- the stage at which it can survive outside tient” or “the praised woman.” But wor- the womb. Usually at twenty-eight ried, as in “the worried parents,” is weeks it reaches the stage of viability considered to be a full-fledged adjective (noun), the capacity to live and grow. as well as a past participle. A viable seed is one that is capable of When in doubt, a writer should re- taking root and growing. word the thought. A participle may be The adjective or noun may be used properly intensified in several ways, with figuratively for something that does not or without very. “He is very much possess life or its potential, just as born helped” or “greatly helped.” / “She was and live may be so used: “Many doubted very highly praised” or “profusely that the new country could survive, but praised.” it proved its viability.” When very serves as an adjective, the The essential idea is the capability of often precedes it, but not invariably. The existing and surviving. Where is that adjective can mean actual (his very sense in the passage below, from an en- words), identical (this very spot), mere cyclopedia? 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 462

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The invention of the semi-conductor option.” / A headline: “Private fire dept. device known as the transistor in may not be viable.” 1947 . . . ushered in what many have Feasibility, practicality, or a compara- called the second industrial revolu- ble noun could have replaced “viability” tion. After a decade of further devel- in an article: “. . . Giving the [Internet] opmental work, the transistor became system a new purpose has unearthed a viable alternative to the electron fundamental problems that could well tube. . . . put off commercial viability for years.” The English language adopted the If the device could exist for a decade af- French viable, likely to live, derived from ter its invention and 1947 was the year vie, life, which came from the Latin vita, of its invention, 1947 was when it be- life. came viable. It seemed to be viable See also VITAL. enough then to start a revolution. If commercial, durable, effective, feasible, VICE and VISE. See Homophones. practical, practicable, or usable was meant, the writer should have used it. VICIOUS and VISCOUS. See Con- A retired appellate judge, who used to fusing pairs. be expected to use words judiciously, said of the jury system, “I’m beginning to wonder about its viability.” How can VIRGULE. See Punctuation, 12. one doubt the viability of a system that has existed for centuries? If the speaker VIRTUAL, VIRTUALLY. Virtual meant advantage, benefit, usefulness, (adjective) means being so-and-so in ef- value, workability, or worth, he should fect or in essence, though not in actual have said so. fact or name. This is a strict use: Whether the age of a president mat- tered to voters was a question on a tele- Gorbachev . . . has calmly accepted vision panel. A panelist quoted Richard the dissolution of what had been a vir- M. Nixon: tual Soviet empire of Communist satellites in Eastern Europe. . . . He said he thought that the baby boomers, having seen Clinton in While it was never officially called any- there, would decide that was no thing like the “Soviet Empire,” it longer viable to have somebody [like] amounted to that. that. Often “virtual” or “virtually” (adverb) becomes just a fancy way of saying In “viable,” the panelist seems to have near or almost. Almost would be prefer- meant nothing more than desirable. able to “virtually” as loosely used twice For the four following uses, one could in this passage: substitute feasible, practical, promising, or a comparable adjective. Television: . . . Samuels has major expenses and “For an engineer, the standard is virtually no income. . . . “Virtually whether it works or whether it’s com- everybody who knows about this has mercially viable.” / An editorial: “The called to volunteer”. . . . voters . . . instructed our city officials to develop a viable plan for the water- An editorial about a candidate for the front.” / An article: “. . . Switching to U.S. Senate illustrates confusion about computer programming is not a viable virtual: 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 463

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First, the notion that he is a “vir- VITAL. Vital (adjective), stemming tual candidate” under the direction of from the Latin vitalis, of life, has essen- his wife . . . is absurd and, frankly, tially the same meaning in English: relat- misogynist. ing to life, characteristic of life, essential to life, imparting or renewing life, or liv- Let us postulate, for argument’s sake, ing. We speak of vital statistics, vital en- that the man’s wife was the politically ergy, the vital organs, vital fluid. “When ambitious one, was telling him what to I have pluck’d the rose, I cannot give it do, and was doing things that a candi- vital growth again” (Shakespeare). In date would do. Then she would be the creation “the Spirit of God . . . vital virtual candidate. The husband would virtue infused and vital warmth be the official candidate, perhaps a pup- Throughout the fluid mass” (Milton). pet candidate, but not a “virtual” candi- By figurative extension, vital is used to date. mean essential or indispensable to the In computer applications, the adjective life or existence of something. “Water is is used for simulated: “virtual reality.” vital to agriculture.” But the word is de- See also VIRTUE. graded when it replaces needed, wanted, important, significant, or less substantial VIRTUE. Virtue usually denotes ei- adjectives. ther good moral quality (in a person) or Those in the news business, enamored merit (in a thing). It can also mean effi- of short and exciting words, have long cacy, effective force, especially the power overused and trivialized vital. A copy ed- to strengthen or heal: a drug’s virtue. itor will choose it for a headline over A speaker was technically correct but needed, if not important, as a matter of risked being misunderstood: “The great course. One TV reporter called Egypt “a virtue of using that stuff is that it’s ubiq- vital American ally” and another said, uitous. It’s available everywhere.” He “Helicopters are vital to modern military was talking about the “virtue” of using operations”—meaning that the U.S. the particular explosive that blasted the could not survive without Egypt or fight World Trade Center in New York. Bet- without helicopters? ter: “To the terrorists, the benefit of that The following samples, from a head- stuff is. . . . ” line and two articles, may illustrate the An obsolete meaning of virtue is that ultimate degradation of that word of life: of manly merit, courage, or strength. its application to devices for the mass de- Those are meanings of the Latin virtus, struction of life. the source of virtual and virtuoso as well “How a Vital Nuclear Material Came as virtue. Virtus stems from vir, a man or to Be in Short Supply” / “The shortage male, the source of virile. Yet virtue and of tritium, a vital material for nuclear virtuous, with the meanings of chastity weapons, arrived right on schedule.” / and chaste, have often been applied just “The Savannah River Plant, near Aiken, to women. is the nation’s only source of tritium, a perishable gas vital to thermonuclear VISCOUS and VICIOUS. See Con- warheads.” fusing pairs. All the blame cannot be placed on the news business. Prime Minister Margaret VISE and VICE. See Homophones. Thatcher of the United Kingdom declared that “Short-range nuclear missiles VISITING FIREMAN. See -MAN-, are absolutely vital” (not just “vital” but MAN. “absolutely vital”). The chairman of the 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 464

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Joint Chiefs of Staff proposed “a re- VIZ. (namely). See Punctuation, 2A. duced but still vital nuclear force to deter nuclear adversaries.” Voice. See Active voice and passive In the seventeenth to nineteenth cen- voice. turies, vital could be legitimately used to mean destructive to life. A vital wound VULGARITY. See OBSCENE, OB- would be a fatal wound today. When SCENITY. news people or public ofﬁcials speak of a diabolic weapon as “vital,” let us think of the word in that archaic sense. See also VIABLE. 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 465

WAITER, WAITRESS. See PEO- awaken, waken, or go back to sleep? PLE as a suffix; PERSON, 1 (end); The (a)wake(n) verbs, Old English de- WAIT FOR and WAIT ON. scendants, all mean to arouse from sleep or a state like sleep, or to come out of WAIT FOR and WAIT ON. You that state. The distinctions in usage are wait for a bus. A waiter waits on pa- complicated. In general, wake is the util- trons. To wait for something or someone ity tool, good for most everyday use. or some event is to remain inactive or in The other words are substituted in figu- anticipation until it or the person arrives rative or poetic use, in the passive voice, or the event takes place. To wait on or for the sake of formality or meter. someone is to serve the person. Wake is the only one that goes with Wait on is dialect or slang when used up. The up does not affect the meaning. in place of wait for as a newscaster used You cannot go wrong with it. Tagging it it in speaking of a budget bill “that ev- onto wake is common and idiomatic eryone is waiting on” and as a magazine when wake is used as an intransitive did: “You don’t boot up your juicer or verb, especially so in the imperative and even your video. So who wants to wait the present tense: “Wake up!” / “We on their PC?” (The plural “their” dis- wake up at 7 a.m.” In the past tense, up agrees with the singulars wants and PC. is optional: Either “I woke up at dawn” See Pronouns, 2.) or “I woke at dawn” is acceptable. Among several obsolete or rare mean- When wake is used as a transitive ings of wait on is to pay a formal visit to verb, it is just about as common and id- someone considered a superior. “He iomatic with the up as without it: “We waited on the king in his palace.” should wake him” or “We should wake See also ON, 2 (end). him up.” / “Don’t wake the baby” or “Don’t wake up the baby.” Unlike the other three words, wake WAKE, AWAKE, AWAKEN, has the additional sense of be or remain WAKEN. 1. First choice: WAKE awake. It is commonly expressed in the (UP). 2. The other verbs. 3. Past tense; phrase waking hours. participle; other forms. 2. The other verbs 1. First choice: WAKE (UP) In figurative and poetic senses, the When the alarm clock rings in the verbs starting with a—awake and morning, do you wake, wake up, awake, awaken—are favored: “They awakened

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to the danger.” / “The country has WANT and WISH. See WISH. awaked.” / “Awake! for morning in the Bowl of Night Has flung the Stone that WARRANT. A warrant is a written puts the Stars to Flight.” Sometimes, authorization. A warrant of arrest, or ar- however, the other words are so used: rest warrant, is a court order, usually to a “Wake up, America!” law enforcement officer, to arrest some- In the passive voice, the words ending one for a particular reason and bring in n—awaken and waken—are often him before the court. chosen: “The world was awakened by When a television newscaster an- the event.” / “They were wakened by the nounced, “The FBI has issued arrest bell.” warrants for two young white men,” he Although each of those verbs has been was confused and inaccurate. The Fed- used both transitively and intransitively, eral Bureau of Investigation makes ar- usually awake is intransitive—“She fi- rests. It does not issue “warrants” for nally awoke to the problem”—and those arrests. Only a judge or magistrate awaken and waken are transitive: “Re- may issue an arrest warrant or a search vere awakened the town.” / “The rooster warrant. wakens us each morning.” A search warrant directs a law enforcement officer to search a person, 3. Past tense; participle; other forms place, or thing for property or evidence The past tense of wake is woke, and needed for a criminal prosecution and the past tense of awake is awoke. For the bring it before the judge or magistrate. past participle of wake or awake, simply add d: “She had waked [or “waked up”] WAS and WERE. An article said that at 5 a.m.” / “The world has awaked.” Congress was cutting the Pentagon’s For either the past tense or the past budget requests for a defense program. It participle of awaken or waken, just add commented: -ed: awakened, wakened. But even if the “Star Wars” pro- When a political party spokesman gram was not running into budgetary said on American television that “the problems, there would be other country has woken up,” he used a par- doubts about [it]. . . . ticiple that would have been more acceptable in Britain. In the U.S. it is has “Was” should be were. The were form (or had) waked. (the past subjunctive of the verb be) is In saying that “Africa . . . has awoken used in clauses describing situations that to life a second time,” the translator of a are purely hypothetical or plainly con- book used an obsolete participle. Has trary to fact. More examples are “I wish (or had) awaked is the modern style. that I were rich” and “He acted as A policeman said (about the victim of though he were king.” an intruder), “She wasn’t positive how When the situation is not hypothetical she became awoken.” Make it “how she or contrary to fact but merely uncertain became awake” (adjective) or “how she or conditional, was is the form to use was wakened” (past participle). (for the verb be in the third person): The gerund of wake—“WAKING”— “She looked out to see whether it was is the title of Chapter XI of Lewis Car- raining.” / “He promised to cut spending roll’s Through the Looking Glass. The if he was elected.” / “If that nugget we title could have been “AWAKENING,” saw was real gold, the man struck it but then it would not have rhymed with rich.” the title of Chapter X, “SHAKING.” See also Mood; Subjunctive. 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 467

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WATCH and WATCHDOG. See WELL. See AS, 5; GOOD and WELL. Verbs, 2. WENCH and WINCH. “Were you WAY and “A WAYS.” An editor of a alone on the boat or was there a crew California weekly wrote: “Zap [North milling about with wenches and jibs and Dakota] seems like such a long ways such?” The host of a television show from home.” A network anchor man ad- probably was not trying to be funny dressed this comment to women politi- when he asked that question. cians: “You’ve come a long way. There’s A wench is an archaic term for a still a ways to go.” And a reporter on the young woman. It could refer particularly same news series said about the Los An- to a country girl, a maidservant, or a geles Police Department: “The commis- prostitute. Today it is used, if at all, in a sion’s chairman believes LAPD still has a humorous or facetious way. ways to go.” The word intended by the host was “A ways” is regional and colloquial. probably winch, a machine for hoisting. Combining singular and plural words, it It has either a motor or a hand crank is not acceptable in strict usage. A and that winds a rope or a chain around a way are both singular and may be com- drum as a load is lifted. bined (“such a long way from home”) or WEND and WIND. Seeing the high- a synonym may be preferable (“still a way blocked by earthquake damage, Los distance [or “some distance”] to go”). Angeles motorists proceeded to “wind their way” either northward or south- WE and US. See Pronouns, 10. ward. So said a newscaster on television, possibly aiming for wend but missing. WEATHER and WHETHER. See To wend is to direct (one’s way) or to go. Homophones. Still, if the road was a winding one, “wind” (long i, as in ﬁnd) could be ac- WEIRD. Weird means eerie, mysteri- ceptable. ous, occult, supernatural, unearthly, un- A similar use was questionable in a ra- canny. This adjective has been watered dio report on “the Chinese New Year’s down in popular speech, particularly parade, which is continuing to wind its that of juveniles, to describe what is way down San Francisco streets.” Wend merely different from the norm, out of its way (his way, her way, etc.) is the ex- the ordinary, unconventional, or un- pression. The route did not wind. Some usual. In a TV cartoon, a husband says, of the participants, however, carrying “Your guitar teacher looks pretty inter- along stylized Chinese dragons, did pro- esting, and by ‘interesting’ I mean ceed in a twisting or curving manner, so weird.” (No, he means unconventional.) perhaps they were winding their way. The wife replies, “Well, she is weird.” WENT. See GONE and WENT. The word’s ancestor was the Old En- glish noun wyrd, meaning fate or des- WERE. See WAS and WERE; Sub- tiny. It became werd or wird in Middle junctive. English; its related adjective was werde or wirde, concerning or having the WHAT EVER and WHATEVER. power to deal with fate or the Fates. In See (-)EVER. Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the three witches call themselves “the weird sis- WHEN AND IF. See UNLESS AND ters.” UNTIL. 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 468

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WHENCE and “FROM small airplane. “The only thing” that WHENCE.” A senator said, “These fazed her “was when David [the instruc- young people [cadets] are a reflection of tor] demonstrated” a certain maneuver. the society from whence they came.” A A clause beginning with the adverb critic wrote, “No one is seriously urging when is not a thing, a noun. Better: “was the novelist to return to the verse epic, David’s demonstration of. . . . ” from whence he sprang.” And this was in a travel article: “Thus, people re- WHEREAS. See Sentence fragment, turned to Brussels from whence they had 1. wandered.” Whence means from where or from WHERE EVER and WHEREVER. which place. From is part of the mean- See (-)EVER. ing. “. . . The society whence they came” / “. . . the verse epic, whence he sprang” WHEREFORE and WHEREOF. / “. . . to Brussels whence they had wan- A radio host recommended a far-off dered” are enough. restaurant. Having been there, “I know wherefore I speak,” he said. If he meant WHEN EVER and WHENEVER. “I know what I’m talking about” and See (-)EVER. was intent on making his point through archaic language, the word to use was WHEN, WHERE in definitions. whereof (adverb). It can mean of which, Teacher: “What is the real meaning of of whom, or whence. What he said in ef- dumb?” Johnny: “That’s when you can’t fect was “I know why I’m talking.” talk.” The teacher would probably ac- Wherefore (adverb) means for what, cept the boy’s answer. He lacks the ver- for which, or why. Shakespeare’s Juliet bal facility to say “inability to speak.” asks, “O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art Children explain things that way—and thou Romeo?” Wherefore is not just an so, alas, do some adults: “A perfect elegant synonym for “where,” contrary game is where no batter of the losing to the belief of some. The moderator of a team reaches first base.” Better: “A television forum titled a sequence, about perfect game is a baseball game in shortcomings in the economy, “Where- which. . . . ” fore Art Thou, Rosy Scenario?” Using when or where to connect a Wherefore can also be a noun mean- word or phrase with a definition or ex- ing cause or reason, as in “Never Mind planation is not necessarily forbidden. It the Why and Wherefore” (from Gilbert is acceptable, at least informally, if the and Sullivan’s H.M.S. Pinafore). Both definition or explanation deals with whereof and wherefore have been used time, after the when; or place, after the as conjunctions too. where: “Dusk is when it starts getting dark.” / “The range is where the buffalo WHERE in definitions. See WHEN, roam.” For more completeness, insert a WHERE in definitions. noun between the is and the w adverb: “the time” or “the place.” General dic- WHETHER. Something is missing tionaries favor noun phrases, without from a sentence in an article for con- when or where, such as “the start of sumers: darkness in the evening” and “a large, open area suitable for animals to wander New York’s new law . . . also re- and graze.” quires that every automobile- An author tells of lessons in flying a insurance policy . . . provide 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 469

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consumers with collision coverage for we lose, we’ve put up a good fight.” The cars they rent—whether they buy col- extra “whether we” is unnecessary but lision coverage for their own cars and acceptable. There may be more than two whether they rent more expensive cars possibilities: “Whether we win, lose, or than they own. draw. . . . ” Each example below (from a syndi- Each whether demands or not, either im- cated advice column and an authorita- mediately (“. . . whether or not . . . and tive law book) contains a redundant pair whether or not . . .”) or later of words and lacks two needed words. (“. . . whether they buy collision coverage for their own cars or not and DEAR DAD AND MOM: You are whether they rent more expensive cars under no obligation to foot the bill for than they own or not”). your daughter’s wedding regardless of Most of us probably would stick in whether she and her fiancé lived to- the or not automatically, whether or not gether prior to their marriage. English grammar figured in our occupations. Perhaps the writer of the quoted Thus . . . a novel completed in 1980 sentence gave a vague thought to the . . . would enjoy Federal statutory matter: Somewhere in his past, some edi- protection at fixation in manuscript tor had instructed him that “whether” or other form, which protection alone was enough, that “or not” was su- would continue for the life of the au- perfluous. thor plus fifty years, regardless of At times, it is true, whether alone is whether published. enough. That is so when whether, intro- ducing an indirect question, can be re- In each example, omit “regardless of” placed by if. For example: “I asked and insert or not after “whether” or af- whether [or if] he had bought collision ter the final word of the sentence. coverage for his car.” In such a sentence, An occasional expression is whether or not is unessential, though it cannot or no, meaning in any case. “The delega- hurt. tion flies home tomorrow, whether or Otherwise, whether introduces a set no.” of possibilities or alternatives, connected by or. The gist is often that something WHICH. 1. Ambiguity. 2. Overuse. 3. takes place or exists regardless of other Parallels; people; possessives. events or conditions. “We will meet whether it rains or not.” / “We will meet 1. Ambiguity whether it rains or shines.” / “I’ll quit af- Everything is clear here: “Come and ter this hand, whether I win or lose.” / see the show, which opened last week.” “The problem will persist whether one Which (as a relative pronoun) represents candidate or the other is elected.” In the show (a noun) and introduces a such sentences whether (conjunction) clause giving further information about means essentially in either event. It can it. mean just either: “He intends to get Too often, which is meant to represent what he wants, whether honestly or oth- something other than the normal noun erwise.” / “The cabinet was considering or noun phrase that a pronoun is sup- whether to enter the war or to remain posed to represent (its antecedent). For neutral.” instance: “My neighbors were celebrat- Or may be followed by another ing boisterously, which kept me up till 2 whether: “Whether we win or whether a.m.” The thing that “kept me up” may 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 470

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be inferred, but a sharper sentence helpful though actually harmful. In the would specify it. Which might be quotation, the expression is misleading. changed to and the noise. Where is the “kiss”?) Can which ever stand for the entire Which is more liable to cling to the idea of a preceding statement? Maybe. It closest preceding noun or noun phrase depends on one’s tolerance for disorder than to some vague idea in a writer’s and whether or not the material is am- mind. biguous. “Which” has been applied to See THAT and WHICH for a discus- amorphous ideas so often that when a sion of restrictive and nonrestrictive noun does precede it, it may not be clear clauses and how a failure to discriminate what “which” is meant to stand for. between them can cause confusion. “The job requires her to walk dogs, which she dislikes.” Does she dislike the 2. Overuse task or dogs? Changing “which” to ei- Journalists, with their aversion to rep- ther a task or animals would answer the etition, are fond of the pronoun which. question. It permits a writer to avoid repeating a Carelessness about antecedents some- noun after the first mention. The sample times results in sentences that say the op- below (from a picture caption) illustrates posite of what the writers intended. A overdependence on the word. sentence in an autobiography refers to a general: There were no injuries in the blaze, which ruined the third floor of the Norm Schwarzkopf did not suffer building, which was being remodeled. fools gladly, which you can get away with in the absolute command envi- Presumably the two whiches were in- ronment of the battlefield. voked to prevent repetition of “blaze” and “building,” although the writer did “Which” has no literal antecedent. To not seem to mind the repetition of “suffer fools gladly” seems to be it, and which. But it was not necessary to repeat the “which” clause seems to say that you both nouns when a personal pronoun can do so in the environment of the bat- could replace one of them. Nor did ev- tlefield. The context suggests the reverse erything need to be stowed into one, meaning: You can refuse to do so in the graceless sentence. This is a possible environment of the battlefield. rephrasing: “There were no injuries in This sentence from an article (in a the blaze. It ruined the third floor of the weekly paper) deals with a presidential building, which was being remodeled.” election campaign: 3. Parallels; people; possessives Nor does he [Jerry Brown] have the A clause starting with and which nor- money to buy TV time, which is the mally needs to follow a parallel which kiss of death in a state like Texas, with clause. The same principle applies to but its 23 media markets. which. See also THAT, 3; WHO, 2. “And” serves no purpose here; either It says that “TV time . . . is the kiss of replace it with a comma or insert which death in . . . Texas.” From the context, it is after the first comma: “Acme Corp., appears that the writer meant roughly the city’s largest employer and which re- the opposite: The lack of television expo- cently announced an expansion, has sure is ruinous in Texas. (“Kiss of death” been bought by a Japanese company.” If describes something that is supposedly which is is inserted, the second which be- 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 471

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comes optional: “Acme Corp., which is moved and turned into a separate sen- the city’s largest employer and [which] tence, with She in place of “who.” recently announced” etc. The clauses usually need to be truly 2. Journalistic stand-by parallel, if “and” is to make sense. This This deals mainly with the overuse of example mixes a that (restrictive) clause who clauses. (See also WHO and and a which (nonrestrictive) clause: WHOM; WHO, THAT, and WHICH.) “Buses that run during rush hours and When a journalistic writer wants to which most passengers take will soon present a fact about a person but cannot cost more to ride.” Delete “and” and en- think of any logical place for it, he is li- close “which most passengers take” in able to put it in a clause beginning with commas. See THAT and WHICH, 1. who that he stuffs into some sentence, Which refers to things, not to people. whether relevant or irrelevant. (See Two relative pronouns refer to people: Modifiers, 2, for other tricks.) who and that. See WHO, THAT, and These two sentences lead off two con- WHICH. secutive paragraphs in a news story Which has two possessive forms: of about a criminal trial: which and whose. Whose applies both to people and to things. See WHOSE, 1. The attacker, who became known as “the South Shore rapist,” was said WHICH and THAT. See THAT and to have stalked his victims for days, WHICH. confronted them in their bedrooms as they slept and put a screwdriver to their throats. . . . WHICH and WHO. See WHO, The defendant, who was ashen THAT, and WHICH. faced and expressionless during the announcement of the verdict, faces a WHO. 1. Ambiguity. 2. Journalistic maximum of life in prison. stand-by. 3. Verb: person, number. A case could be made for the who clause 1. Ambiguity the first time. In the second sentence, it is Which name does the “who” repre- irrelevant. The defendant’s facial appear- sent in this item by a news agency? ance has nothing to do with the penalty. Later in the same story, we find these Bobbie Arnstein, executive secre- three sentences, two of them consecu- tary of Playboy magazine magnate tive: Hugh Hefner, who was appealing a 15-year drug sentence, was found Mr. C———, who spent most of his dead today in a hotel room, an appar- time in court taking notes, did not ent suicide victim. take the stand in his own defense. . . . Mr. C———, who was a suspect in The relative pronoun who tends to affix a string of similar crimes in Florida, itself to the nearest preceding name or fell under suspicion in the Long Island designation. In this instance it is attacks in November 1986 and was “Hefner.” Three paragraphs later, the placed under surveillance. story makes it clear that Miss Arnstein, Mr. C———, who had served time not Mr. Hefner, had been the convict. in jail for stealing a car, was surrepti- The clause “who was appealing a 15- tiously taped talking with his parole year drug sentence” should have been re- officer about his broken foot, an Alco- 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 472

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holics Anonymous meeting and other who restore my faith in humanity,” re- subjects. store is the right form of the verb. The question to be asked is what who repre- Individually the three sentences are pass- sents. Here it represents certain people. able. Each who clause pertains to the It is the same when that substitutes for rest of the sentence. But the sum of those who. “Mr. C———, who” sentences does not See also ONE OF, 3. amount to admirable style. In the last one, it seems plain that the writer re- WHO and THAT, WHO and peated the name just to follow it with WHICH. See WHO, THAT, and “who had served” etc. The normal WHICH. means of referring to the subject would be the pronoun he. “He had served WHO and WHOM. 1. The basics. time . . . and was . . .” or “Having served 2. The critics. 3. WHOEVER and time . . . , he was. . . . ” WHOMEVER. In THAT, 3, and WHICH, 3, the point is made that a clause starting with 1. The basics and that or and which normally follows All speakers of the English language a comparable that or which clause. The know the meaning of who or whom: principle holds for and who (and but what person(s) or which person(s). What who): In “Adams, a candidate for mayor many of us do not know is when to use and who has served on the City Council each. It could be the foremost grammati- for four years, said . . . ,” the “and” cal puzzle we face. So difficult can it be, serves no function and ought to be it is no wonder that professional writers, deleted. It can stand if “who is” is in- editors, and public speakers mix up the serted after the first comma; if it is, the two pronouns perpetually. second who becomes optional: “Adams, In brief, who is in the subjective (or who is a candidate for mayor and [who] nominative) case; whom is in the objec- has served” etc. tive (or accusative) case. Thus the sentences “Who stole my heart away?” and 3. Verb: person, number “I saw who slew the dragon” are cor- In the sentence “He who hesitates is rect. Who is the subject of the former lost,” obviously who represents he (that sentence; in the latter sentence, it is the is, he is the antecedent of who). There- subject of the clause “who slew the fore, the verb hesitates is right, agreeing dragon.” And the sentences “I know with the subject, the pronoun he. Both whom she kissed” and “Never send to words are in the third person, singular. know for whom the bell tolls” are also Confusion can enter in the first or sec- correct. In the former sentence, whom is ond person, singular. In an English trans- the object of the verb kissed; in the latter lation of a German comic opera, a man sentence, whom is the object of the says, “It is I who are honored.” Correc- preposition for. tion: “It is I who am honored.” Who Often the puzzle gets more compli- does not change normal conjugations. cated: “The jurors disagreed on who [or The verb agrees with what who repre- whom?] they felt had the stronger case.” sents; above, it represents I, which does Who is right; it is the subject of the not go with “are” or “is.” Similarly, “Is clause “who . . . had the stronger case”; it you who have [not “has”] made the and the whole clause is the object of the decision?” preposition on. In the sentence “It is people like her A four-column headline in a leading 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 473

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newspaper said: “Who Do They Thank served for special occasions but no When the Staff Get a Raise?” Probably it longer of regular utility. Meanwhile, as a did not look bad to most readers, al- rule of thumb, use whom only when you though technically the first word should are confident that it is right. When in have been Whom, the object of the verb doubt, use who. Thank. (More likely, some noticed the British-style “Staff Get” instead of “Staff 2. The critics Gets.” See STAFF.) The use of “who” in place of a proper An advertiser in the personal ads was whom, at least in popular speech, is met with tolerance by many language au- ABANDONED thorities. They are less tolerant of the use of “whom” in place of a proper who. By her boyfriend whom has found Writers and speakers so use “whom” not other interests of which she is not one infrequently in the belief that it is the ob- of anymore. ject of the following verb, the grammarian George O. Curme wrote (in the “Whom” should have been who, the thirties). subject of the verb has found, and preceded by a comma. (Among the ad’s This incorrect usage was very com- faults, “of . . . of” is redundant and mon in Shakespeare’s time: “Arthur, “anymore” is not pertinent. Could it be whom they say is kill’d tonight On that he scorned her English?) your suggestion” (King John, I, ii, A network anchor man made a simi- 165). lar mistake in the choice between who and whom: Curme could understand the popularity of who, especially at the beginning of You’ll meet the man whom, some say, sentences: “Who did they meet?” is not bears at least some of the blame. unnatural. A contemporary of his, H. L. “. . . The man who. . . . ” Who is the Mencken, wrote: subject of the verb bears; the phrase “some say” amounts to only a paren- The schoolmarm . . . continues the thetical explanation. (Whether the copy heroic task of trying to make her that was read really had commas or not young charges grasp the difference. is not known, but it does not matter.) . . . Here, alas, the speechways of the Often you can test the choice by re- American people seem to be . . . ducing the sentence or clause to its bare against her. The two forms of the pro- bones and changing the w-pronoun (rel- nouns are confused magnificently in ative pronoun) into an h-pronoun (per- the debates in Congress, and in most sonal pronoun). The newspaper sample newspaper writing, and in ordinary becomes “They thank him.” Him is ob- discourse the great majority of Ameri- jective; therefore use whom, also objec- cans avoid whom diligently, as a word tive. The television sample becomes “He full of snares. When they employ it, it bears blame.” He is subjective; therefore is often incorrectly, as in “Whom is use who, also subjective. your father?” and “Whom spoke to Some may be asking, Must we solve a me?” puzzle every time we intend to open our mouths or put pen to paper? Whom ap- In 1783, Mencken noted, Noah Webster pears headed the way of shall, to be re- denounced whom as usually useless and 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 474

474 who and whom

argued that common sense sided with The “radical grammarian” approves, “Who did he marry?” Follett said, even though Theodore M. Bernstein found it understandable that spontaneous speakers, who makes you anticipate a clause of lacking time for the grammatical analy- which it is the subject and leaves you sis required, would occasionally err. jolted when you find that this clause is However, he wrote (1965), “The trans- never coming. gressions of the writer, however, are not so easily overlooked.” Within ten years, On the liberal side, Roy H. Copperud though, Bernstein was advocating the found “Who are you going with?” and doom of whom, its banishment from the “Who did you invite?” not only correct English language, except in one context. but preferable to whom. As for the use His sole exception was “when it follows of “whom” instead of who, he accompa- immediately after a preposition and nied the Shakespearean quotation of ‘sounds natural’ even to the masses.” Curme’s and other classic lines with this Examples: “To whom it may concern” / comment: “He married the girl for whom he had risked his life.” He called whom “useless . . . When the critics of such errors and senseless . . . a complicated nui- must indict the translators of the Bible, sance.” Of twenty-five “experts in En- together with Keats and Shakespeare, glish,” fifteen agreed with him; six as having known no better, their disagreed; four were in between. preachments take on a hollow ring. . . . On the conservative side, Wilson Fol- lett mocked “some liberal grammarians” A century earlier, the grammar in two who opposed whom in its orthodox uses Biblical passages, Matthew 16:15 and but who condoned its misuse in such Luke 9:18, had been found wanting. In sentences as these: the King James Version (1611) they said, respectively: “I know perfectly well whom you are.” [The misuser thinks “whom” is He saith unto them, But whom say ye the object of know. The correct pro- that I am? noun is who, the subject of are.] [H]e asked them, saying, Whom say “He resists a reconciliation with his the people that I am? sweet wife, whom he insists is a social butterfly.” [Who is right; “he insists” The English Revised Version (1881) is parenthetical, as though within changed each “whom” to who; and who commas.] remained in the Revised Standard Ver- sion (1946), amid modernized syntax He suggested that the writers used (“who do you say . . .” / “Who do the “whom” wrongly for fear of sounding people say . . .”). ignorant and that, in contrast, a histo- The Oxford English Dictionary finds rian wrongly used “who” for fear of whom “used ungrammatically for the sounding superior: nominative WHO” by such writers as Shakespeare and Dickens: “M. departed eight days later in hu- miliation as the man who, more than Tel me in sadnes whome she is you anyone else, the President had repudi- loue. [Romeo and Juliet, I, i, 205. The ated.” Oxford prefers original spellings.] 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 475

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A strange unearthly figure, whom this phrase sometimes yields an awk- Gabriel felt at once, was no being of ward product. Whose is proper here: this world. [The Pickwick Papers.] To the last fibre of the loftiest tree The Oxford says whom is “no longer Whose thin leaves trembled in the current in natural colloquial speech.” frozen air. . . . The poet (Shelley) could have written 3. WHOEVER and WHOMEVER “. . . the loftiest tree / The thin leaves of The principles that apply to who and which trembled. . . .” Fortunately he did whom apply to whoever and whomever, not. which mean anyone that or no matter who. A network anchor man said: 2. WHOSE and WHO’S Whose, the possessive pronoun, as in Whomever does buy the yacht will “Whose broad stripes and bright stars,” not be allowed to sail her. should not be confused with who’s, the contraction of who is, as in “Who’s Whoever is the subject. A person nor- afraid of the big, bad wolf?” mally would say, “I wonder who will A newspaper’s main story dealt with buy the yacht,” not “whom.” the closing of a thoroughfare (called the On a television forum, a journalist Great Highway) because of sand blown said (about a political caucus in Iowa): onto it. The headline, nearly across the front page, read: “Great Sandway - There are going to be stories about it, who’s fault?” The editor had erro- depending on whomever wins. neously written “who’s” instead of whose. (He had also used a hyphen in- Change “whomever” to whoever; it is stead of a dash. See Punctuation, 4.) the subject of the verb wins. Omit “de- Later, two magazines similarly confused pending on,” which is superfluous. those words, which are both pronounced HOOZ: WHODUNIT. See DO, DID, DONE. He’s an astronaut and an older WHO EVER and WHOEVER. American who’s sixth sense a few years back, led him to search for the See (-)EVER. places NASA’s work might overlap. . . . [The comma is not needed. See WHOEVER and WHOMEVER. Punctuation, 3D.] See WHO and WHOM, 3. The security deposit may not be used WHOM. See WHO and WHOM. for . . . repairing defects that existed prior to occupancy by the tenant WHOSE. 1. For people and things. 2. who’s deposit is in question. . . . WHOSE and WHO’S. The opposite mistake was made by a candidate for a metropolitan school 1. For people and things board in a statement sent to voters, op- Whose is the possessive form of both posing a proposed new election system: who and which. Thus whose, unlike who, applies not only to people but also They’ve tried this in Cambridge, Mas- to things. An alternative possessive form sachusetts and they’re still trying to of which is of which, though applying figure out whose their mayor. 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 476

476 who, that, and which

Who is or who’s, not “whose,” would A literal fish story, from a magazine, is have been right. (A comma is needed af- quoted next. Sea creatures and birds, ter “Massachusetts.” See Punctuation, like beasts, have no claim to “who.” 3A.) See also Punctuation, 1B. Unlike birds (and some solitary or pair-forming fish species), who feed or WHO, THAT, and WHICH. 1. shelter their young, and mammals, Animals and things. 2. Choice in refer- who suckle them, schooling fishes ring to people. abandon eggs and larvae to float away on the currents. 1. Animals and things Animals (excluding humans) and “Unlike birds . . . , which feed or shelter inanimate objects are not entitled to the their young, and mammals, which suckle relative pronoun “who.” Use that or them. . . .” which for them. When to use each is dis- Likewise, each “who” should be cussed in THAT and WHICH. which in the pair of press sentences be- Who suits only people. That also is low. Countries, governmental bodies, acceptable for people. See 2. and other geographical and political en- “Who” does not belong in any of the tities are not people, although people be- following six excerpts. That should re- long to them. place it in the first three examples, which in the next three. (In the former group, It was unclear whether Angola and each has a restrictive or defining clause; Cuba, who are eager to sign the pro- in the latter, a nonrestrictive or nondefin- tocol, would adapt so readily to South ing clause.) Africa’s schedule. The first example is a headline in a supermarket tabloid: “Goat who ate dyna- His veto forces a showdown with mite is walking bomb.” A goat gets that, the 18-member County Legislature, not “who.” (Another, typical headline in who will vote on Tuesday on whether that issue: “DOG DRIVES TO HOSPI- to override it and enact the bill. TAL AFTER OWNER HAS HEART ATTACK IN CAR.” Would that word See also WHOSE, 1. usage were the only problem.) Although organized entities, such as 2. Choice in referring to people companies, unions, associations, and in- Just as who should not represent stitutions, are made up of people, they lower creatures and things, which are not people. Change each “who” to should not represent people. A network that in the pair below, from a book and a anchor man was out of line in telling of newspaper. “an American couple which went to London” to look for a nanny. Either AT&T, a communications giant who or that would have been suitable in who never knew true competition un- place of “which.” til deregulation, now embraces the Both who and that are used as relative customer loyalty program concept. pronouns to refer to people. It is a matter of personal preference. Unions who represent civil service That, if chosen, should introduce only employees argue that . . . the basic a restrictive (essential or defining) clause. work skills needed are essentially the “He was the best pitcher that ever joined same. . . . our team.” / “The architects that de- 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 477

willy-nilly 477

signed those structures display great WHY. See (-)EVER; REASON, 2. imagination.” Who may be substituted in each instance. Further examples of the WILL and WOULD. See Double restrictive use of who have traditionally negative, 1; Subjunctive, 2, 3; Tense, 4. come up at political party conventions: “. . . a man who achieved . . .” / “. . . a Will (legal). See TESTAMENT and man who represents . . .” and so on. TESTIMONY. Who (sometimes whom)—never “that” or “which”—begins a nonrestric- WILLY-NILLY. Willy-nilly (adverb) tive (unessential or nondefining) clause essentially means without choice, under referring to a person or persons. “Do compulsion. “The soldiers were sent you know Helen Johnson, who used to willy-nilly into a perilous land.” work here?” / “The Millers, who live It is the remnant of an aged expres- next door to us, came to the office to- sion: will he, nill he, meaning whether he day.” Notice that a comma precedes will it or not will it; that is, whether he is who in a nonrestrictive clause. A pair of willing or unwilling. Any other personal commas is needed when the nonrestric- pronoun could be substituted. Shake- tive clause does not end the sentence. speare used the expression in The Tam- H. W. Fowler, the grammarian, not ing of the Shrew: “. . . Your father hath only condoned the application of that to consented / That you shall be my wife; people: he proposed “the establishment your dowry ’greed on; / And, will you, of that as the universal defining relative, nill you, I will marry you.” To will, or to with which & who(m) as the non- desire, is still used. To nill (descended defining for things & persons respec- from the Old English nyllan) is an obso- tively.” If politeness stood in the way, lete verb, meaning not to will, not to de- Fowler had a subtle compromise: At sire. Do not confuse nill with the noun least save who for particular persons nil, nothing (from the Latin nihil). (“You who are a walking dictionary”) Willy-nilly (adjective) means being or and that for generic persons (“He is a occurring whether one wishes it or not: man that is never at a loss”). “a willy-nilly experience.” Sometimes There has been little movement to- the word is used loosely as a synonym ward applying that to people. Fowler for indecisive (adjective), (possibly under was more successful in getting that ac- the influence of shilly-shallying). Some cepted as a restrictive (defining) relative users wholly misunderstand willy-nilly, pronoun for nonhuman subjects. Con- projecting sundry meanings into it. ceding that his proposal might not win The host of a radio talk show said fi- out, he added a caveat that remains im- nancial considerations had to moderate portant: expenditures for highway safety: “We can’t just go out and willy-nilly do whatever we think is going to be helpful.” Failing the use of that as the only Any of a number of adverbs would have defining relative, it is particularly fit better: at will, exorbitantly, extrava- important to see that who defining gantly, freely, limitlessly, unlimitedly, un- [restrictive] shall not, & who non- restrainedly. Each suggests that the defining [nonrestrictive] shall, have a action would be performed willingly. comma before it. The speaker chose a word with the opposite sense. See also THAT and WHICH; WHO; The chairman of a Senate committee WHO and WHOM. that was conducting an investigation 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 478

478 winch

said, when asked if the president would possessing wisdom, shrewdness, pru- be subpoenaed, “You don’t send off sub- dence, or erudition. The noun is used poenas willy-nilly.” Certainly you don’t mainly in the phrases in any wise, in no send off subpoenas unwillingly; the re- wise, and in this wise. cipient is the one who must act willy- nilly. The senator may have meant WISH. A supermarket posted a sign carelessly, hastily, thoughtlessly, or one saying, “If you wish for canned of the previously mentioned adverbs. SALMON please ask checker at check- stand for it.” To wish for something is to WINCH. See WENCH and WINCH. possess or express a longing or deep, heartfelt desire for it. The phrase can ad- WIND SHEAR. See SHEAR, 2. ditionally mean to seek to acquire or achieve the thing by supernatural means, -WISE ending. They must think that through the medium of a genie, fairy, adding a -wise to the word is efficient: shooting star, wishing well, birthday cake, or chicken bone. • A radio reporter asked a heart- “If you wish canned salmon,” omit- attack specialist, “Where does the ting the “for,” would have been an im- future lie technology-wise?” The provement, although a number of critics reporter probably believed she was consider the verb wish followed by a using language sharply and simple object to be a genteelism, an ex- economically by tacking “-wise” cessive refinement. Want is the verb to onto the noun instead of having to use in that grammatical context, particu- say “as far as technology is larly when the desire is so prosaic or concerned.” But a crisper question transitory. would be, “What technology lies To wish blends well with an indirect ahead?” or “What inventions are object (“I wish you luck”), a clause (“I needed?” wish I had a nickel”), or an infinitive • A lawyer used similarly roundabout (“Do you wish to file a complaint?”). language in commenting on a With an infinitive, want works as well or defendant’s performance in court: better. “Demeanor-wise he’s coming off fine. Testimony-wise he couldn’t be Wit. See QUIP, QUIPPED. worse.” The lawyer could have said, in a more straightforward way, “His WITH. 1. Common misuse. 2. Func- demeanor is fine. His testimony tion; meanings; number. couldn’t be worse.” 1. Common misuse Although -wise has long been scorned It is an amateurish practice to fasten as a suffix taking the place of concern- an extra thought to a sentence by the use ing, with reference to, or with respect to, of a nearly meaningless “with.” Yet the it does have legitimate functions in two practice is habitual in the popular press, other senses. It signifies (1) direction or even among the best newspapers. A manner, as in clockwise and otherwise, front-page story in a leading daily pro- and (2) knowledge or wisdom, as in vides three illustrations. (Emphasis is penny-wise and worldly-wise. added.) In those two functions it roughly parallels the word wise, meaning (noun) Complexity has become a signifi- manner, method, or way and (adjective) cant bottleneck in computing, with 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 479

with 479

designers ﬁnding that their machines Another typical example, from the are encrusted with powerful com- front page of a mainly ﬁnancial newspa- putational routines that are rarely per, concerns a South African election: used. . . . The competitive pressures have led But the trend was unmistakable, with to a “benchmark war” between mak- the ANC capturing more than 60% of ers of different microprocessors with the vote. each manufacturer issuing impressive reports on performance. . . . The sentence is shorter and plainer than The competition to gain “design the previous samples, but “with” is just wins,” the semiconductor industry’s as inane. Take it out and see if the sen- phrase for having their product ac- tence needs it. Or follow “unmistak- cepted by computer makers, has cre- able” with a colon, semicolon, or dash ated some bitter feelings, with and “the ANC captured more than 60% companies rancorously challenging of the vote.” Or follow the comma with the performance claims made by oth- “and the ANC captured” etc. ers. In the following sentence, “with” is not just wishy-washy; it can send readers Each paragraph could easily be made down the wrong track. simpler and clearer by separating the thoughts. Omit “with” and start a new Luaus are still popular on Oahu sentence, putting the verb in the present with everyone eventually succumbing tense. to their lure.

Complexity has become a signifi- “Luaus are still popular on Oahu with cant bottleneck in computing. Design- everyone” forms a complete thought, ers find that. . . . but not the writer’s thought. Any of The competitive pressures have led these could replace “with”: a comma; a to a “benchmark war” between mak- semicolon and the clause “everyone ers of different microprocessors. Each eventually succumbs to their lure”; a manufacturer issues impressive re- comma and where or and followed by ports. . . . that clause; a period and a new sentence The competition to gain “design worded like that clause. wins” . . . has created some bitter feel- Journalists often treat repetition like ings. Companies rancorously chal- the plague, but the writer of the follow- lenge the performance claims. . . . ing sentence did not seem to mind the “with . . . with.” An alternative to two separate sentences is two independent clauses, separated by At the same time, Syria rejected the a semicolon: P.L.O.’s discussion with the United States, with official newspapers Complexity has become a signifi- declaring that peace in the Middle cant bottleneck in computing; design- East “should be taken by force.” ers find that. . . . When repeating a word helps to make a (In the third paragraph of the excerpt, sentence clear, one need not shun repeti- “having their product” is questionable. tion, particularly when the meaning of Better: “having its product” or “having the word is the same. In the excerpt, products.”) however, the first with indicates interac- 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 480

480 wither and writhe

tion; the second has negligible meaning nying, does a singular verb remain singu- and can mislead readers. After “United lar? “The computer with the printer States,” a new sentence is desirable: “Of- costs [or “cost”?] $1,900.” What of ficial newspapers declare that. . . . ” (The along with or together with? “Mr. Far- double “with” in the opening example is rell, along with his son, is [or “are”?] ar- less conspicuous.) riving this evening.” The “with” form is not restricted to The established view is that the verbs newspapers. A scholarly book uses it six remain singular: costs, is, etc., inasmuch times; for example: as with is a preposition and not a conjunction. But some grammarians allow a And Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) plural verb if the items or individuals get created a new constitutional right to equal emphasis. privacy, with the opinions in the case Despite the many meanings of with, it basing this right on several provisions is sometimes chosen over more appro- of the Constitution. priate prepositions. An ad announced a lecture entitled “The Rules” by two au- Omitting “with the opinions in the case” thors (of a book by that name): “Proven would sharpen the sentence. Secrets for dating and marrying Mr. Before attaching an extra thought to a Right with ELLEN FEIN and SHERRIE sentence, a writer needs to consider how SCHNEIDER. . . . ” Would that make the extra thought relates to the first him a bigamist? Maybe no one really thought; and whether or not it must be thought so, but by would have been bet- attached; and, if it must, whether or not ter than “with.” the connecting word, phrase, or punctuation shows the relation. WITHER and WRITHE. “That person you can see withering in 2. Function; meanings; number pain . . .”—it should be writhing in pain. Unlike and, with is not a connecting An anchor man made the mistake on a word, or conjunction, the way it is most national telecast. He confused two verbs often misused. It is a preposition, like of, (intransitive) that look somewhat similar by, and for. (See Prepositions, 1.) but have different meanings, pronuncia- Its dozens of senses include the fol- tions, and Old English origins. lowing: accompanying (“The Smiths are To wither is to dry up, lose freshness, with their children”), agency (“Clean it or shrivel. To writhe is to squirm, twist, with soap and water”), association or contort the body. Each verb has a (“Dessert comes with the dinner”), cau- transitive sense, meaning to cause (some- sation (“They wept with joy”), closeness thing or someone) to have the particular (“She’s sitting with that soldier”), con- effect. The first word is pronounced trast (“The Earth is tiny compared with WITH-er, the second RYTH (each th Jupiter”), entrusting (“Leave it with the voiced as in THE). receptionist”), manner (“She sang with feeling”), membership (“Are you with WITH PREJUDICE and WITH- us?”), opinion (“It’s all right with me”), OUT PREJUDICE. The defense in opposition (“He argued with the um- the O. J. Simpson murder trial made a pire”), possession (“Who is the boy with motion. A radio newscaster said the mo- the drum?”), presence (“It’s filled with tion was “that charges against Simpson helium”), and relationship (“He’s be dismissed without prejudice, meaning friendly with people”). he could not be tried again.” She got it When with has the sense of accompa- backward. 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 481

wrest and wrestle 481

When a legal action is dismissed with- WORDINESS, WORDY. See Ver- out prejudice, it is as though the case bosity. were never brought to court. It means (in a criminal case) that the prosecuting side Words that sound alike. See Homo- may try the defendant again on the same phones. charges, or (in a civil case) that the plaintiff may bring a new suit on the same “WORLD’S OLDEST PROFES- claim. SION.” See “OLDEST PROFES- Conversely, the dismissal of a legal ac- SION.” tion with prejudice amounts to a final judgment on the merits of the case. It WORSE and WORST. See BET- bars any new prosecution on the same TER and BEST, WORSE and WORST. charge or any new suit on the same claim. A defense attorney in any legal WOULD and WILL. See Double case wants the court to dismiss the case negative, 1; Subjunctive, 2, 3; Tense, 4. with prejudice, for then the defense has won. That was the motion of the Simp- WOULD HAVE, WOULD’VE, son defense. and “WOULD OF.” See HAVE, Those legal uses of prejudice (noun) HAS, HAD, 2. have little to do with its common use to signify bias. However, witnesses and oc- WRACK. See RACK and WRACK. casionally jurors or judges may be said to harbor common prejudice, either an- WREAK and WRECK. A television tagonism or favoritism. reporter predicted that the traffic pattern Prejudicial (adjective) is often used in on a main thoroughfare during a forth- legal contexts to mean harmful to the coming municipal event would “wreck rights of a party, whether because of some havoc.” Whether she mistook bias, emotion, or error. “wreck” for wreak or simply did not Literally prejudice means prejudg- know that the latter should be pro- ment. It originates in the Latin praejudi- nounced REEK is not clear. cium, same meaning, from prae, before, Hurricanes and tornadoes wreak, that and judicium, judgment. is, inflict, havoc. It is not possible to “wreck” havoc, because to wreck is to WOMAN. See -MAN-, MAN. destroy and havoc is destruction. As for the TV prediction, to wreak havoc WOOD and WOODEN. A fire was would be an overstatement—the traffic caused by children who put paper towels pattern would more likely cause confu- close to what a radio newscaster called sion or something of the sort—unless the “a wooden stove.” He must have meant reporter foresaw some destructive acci- a wood stove or wood-burning stove. dents. Obviously you could not have a stove See also RACK and WRACK. made of wood. Wood is a perfectly good adjective; it WREST and WRESTLE. “. . . The means containing, used on, or related to guerrillas slowly wrestled victory from wood, or existing in a wood or forest. black Africa’s biggest army,” a front- Moreover, wood is an alternative to page newspaper story said. wooden, meaning made of wood; for in- The right verb is not “wrestled” but stance, both a wooden bowl and a wood wrested. When you wrest something bowl are right. from someone or something, you obtain 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 482

482 wrestle, wrestling and rassle, rassling

it or usurp it by forceful pulling and the bonds of trust and friendship are twisting, persistent effort, violent action, formed.” or underhanded method. (It is a transi- The standard noun is wrestling, the tive verb.) standard verb wrestle. “Rassling” or To wrestle (transitive or intransitive “rassle” is dialectic or very informal, not verb) is to grapple with someone, espe- on the same plane as a fancy phrase like cially in a contest. Followed by with or “the bonds of trust and friendship.” against, it can mean to struggle. Other deviant spellings are rassel, ras- For a passage about gorillas that tle, wrassle, and wrastle. really wrestle, see the next entry. WRITE confused with RIGHT. WRESTLE, WRESTLING and See Homophones. RASSLE, RASSLING. A sign at a zoo’s gorilla enclosure said, in part: WRITHE. See WITHER and WRITHE. “Through games of chasing and rassling, 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 483

X Y Z

XEROX. The only criticism to be lev- -Y ending. 1. Conjugation. 2. Suf- eled at an absorbing book about an inci- ﬁxes. dent of modern history is that it treats a proper noun as a common noun: 1. Conjugation A national advice columnist advised . . . Bosbin had yet another set of con- mothers of young children to quiz them ditions to impose: that the Globe on the details of any trips taken with promise to defy any court injunction family friends or relatives. The headline, and that it provide the services of its in at least one newspaper, was “Be xerox machine. . . . The investigation Happy She Prys.” had been aided by . . . the Los Angeles “Prys” was a misspelling. Pries is advertising woman who made a xe- right. She or he pries. I, we, you, or they rox machine available to Ellsberg. . . . pry. The past tense and past participle of The advertising woman who lent Ells- pry is pried, for all persons. berg her xerox machine . . . testiﬁed The conjugation of a verb ending in y again. . . . may depend on whether a consonant or a vowel precedes the y. Either use a capital X, if it is indeed A. Preceded by a consonant. In the Xerox brand, or call the device a the present tense, the y is replaced by -ies copier, copying machine, photocopier, or for the third person, singular (e.g., he the like. Xerox is a trademark. Capital- or she). In the past and perfect tenses, ize it, just as you would capitalize the the y is usually replaced by -ied for all name of any similar machine labeled persons. Otherwise the verb is not Canon, Kodak, Konica, Minolta, Mita, changed. Panasonic, Ricoh, Royal, Savin, Sharp, Thus he, she, or the baby cries (not or Toshiba. “crys”). I, we, you, they, he, or she cried, The dry photographic process that had cried, and have cried. I, we, you, or the various copiers use is xerography, they cry. Everyone is crying, will cry, and from the Greek xeros, meaning dry, and would cry. graphein, to write. The forms are similar for the other -ry To make a photocopy of a docu- verbs (dry, fry, try); the -fy verbs (am- ment is to photocopy it or, if the con- plify, beautify, clarify, classify, defy, elec- text makes it clear, simply to copy it. trify, qualify, and so on); the -ply verbs “Xerox” as a verb is questionable. The (apply, comply, imply, multiply, ply, re- pronunciation is ZEER-ox. ply, supply, etc.); and miscellaneous

-y ending 483 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 484

484 “yes, virginia”

other y-ending verbs (ally, deny, proph- precedes the y, usually the y remains. Ex- esy, spy). amples are enjoyment, joyous, obeyer, Fly has its own irregularity in the past payable, and playful. tense: You, I, he, or any other person Among exceptions, day changes to flew. (He flied is right only in baseball.) It daily; and gluey changes to gluier and is like the other -ry verbs in the present gluiest. Adjectives that end in -wy, like tense: I fly, he flies, and so on. chewy, dewy, showy, and snowy, change B. Preceded by a vowel. Usually a the y to i: dewier, showiness, etc. verb in which the final y follows a vowel To make a noun like day, key, or toy is conjugated normally. He or she prays plural, add s. But the plural of colloquy or employs. I, we, you, and they pray or is colloquies. employ. All persons prayed or employed. As suggested in Spelling, 3: when in And so on. doubt, look it up. For some exceptions, see LAY and LIE; MAY and MIGHT; PAY; SLAY, “YES, VIRGINIA.” If Francis P. SLAIN, SLEW. Church, the editor of The Sun in New York, had known what his poetic edito- 2. Suffixes rial was starting, he might have re- There are general rules for adding a sponded differently to the eight-year-old suffix to a basic word ending in y. They girl who wrote in 1897 to ask, “Is there depend on whether a consonant or a a Santa Claus?” (Perhaps, “No. Sorry, vowel precedes the y. The rules have Virginia, but that’s the way it is.”) Seven many exceptions. words—“Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa A. Preceded by a consonant. If a con- Claus”—have become hackneyed. Imita- sonant precedes the y, usually the y tors, who may never have read the whole changes to i—unless the suffix begins editorial, appropriate from two to five with i. words for conversion to a variety of Some examples are the change of uses. beauty to beautiful and beautify; happy (An ad for a general store:) “Yes, Vir- to happily and happiness; and holy to ginia, There is an After Christmas holier and holiest. While cry becomes SALE.” (A subtitle of a network TV fo- crier and defy becomes defiant, both re- rum:) “Yes, Virginia, there are four can- tain the y when -ing is added: crying, de- didates [for governor of Virginia].” (A fying—the suffix begins with i. local TV newscast:) “Yes, Virginia, it can Among exceptions are dryness, baby- snow in San Francisco.” (A column:) hood, and ladylike. The change of ac- “Yes, Virginia, computers make mis- company to accompanist and the takes.” (An editorial:) “No, Virginia, changes of military to militarism and there is no incumbent-protection plan.” militarize are exceptions to the i-suffix The writer of the last sentence did not exception. even keep the “Yes.” It is puzzling why To make a common noun like army, he had to drag Virginia into it at all. lady, or sky plural, -ies is added: armies, ladies, skies. When a proper noun is YET. See BUT, 5; TAUTOLOGY. made plural, the y remains: Germanys, Marys. YIDDISH. Two Jewish languages ex- The y remains when a possessive ’s is ist: Hebrew, an ancient Semitic tongue, added: anybody’s, everybody’s, Harry’s, akin to Arabic but with its own alpha- Mary’s. bet; and Yiddish, a medieval tongue B. Preceded by a vowel. If a vowel based on High German, incorporating 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 485

zero and o 485

words from Hebrew and Slavic lan- YOU WHO. See WHO, 3. guages and written in most of the He- brew characters. Millions of Jews speak “YOU WON’T BELIEVE.” A tele- neither; they speak the languages of the vision play was promoted with the line countries in which they live. “A true story with an ending you won’t A general’s autobiography tells of Ja- believe.” I passed it by, thinking “If a maican family friends play is not believable, why see it?” “You won’t believe” how overused so close they were considered rela- that fad phrase is. Or maybe you will. tives. “Mammale and Pappale” we called them. Don’t ask me why the Z. The twenty-sixth and last letter of Jewish diminutives. the English alphabet is pronounced in two ways. The American way is ZEE. The precise modifier would have been The British way is ZED. Yiddish, pertaining to the language. Jew- The pronunciation of z comes up in a ish is not a language and not a synonym book by a scientist. A passage describes for Yiddish, although using it that way is a modern theory in physics (unifying the a common mistake, rather than a blun- electromagnetic force and the weak nu- der. That apparently occurred in Israel. clear force): Later in the same book we read: . . . In addition to the photon, there In Jerusalem my counterpart . . . , the were three other spin-1 particles, Israeli chief of staff, threw a party for known collectively as massive vector me, at which I surprised the guests bosons, that carried the weak force. with some Bronx-acquired Yiddish. These were called W+ (pronounced W plus), W− (pronounced W minus), and Did the general think that Yiddish was 0 the official language of Israel? It is He- Z (pronounced Z naught). . . . brew. See also JEW, JEWISH. The author has told us how to pronounce the 0—as naught (NAUT)—but YOU and ONE in the same sen- not how to pronounce the Z. He is tence. See ONE as pronoun, 1. British. The theory was propounded by two academics, one in the United States YOUR and YOU’RE. Your and and one in Britain. The book was pub- you’re, pronounced alike, should not be lished simultaneously in the United confused in writing. Your, as in “To your States and in Canada, where ZED is pre- health,” is the possessive form of the ferred. pronoun you. You’re, as in “You’re See also ZERO and O. next,” is the contraction of you are. A writer did confuse them when he ZERO and O. The figure 0 is a zero quoted a sitcom character saying, “Who or cipher or naught (also spelled do you thank when you’re whole body is nought), the arithmetical symbol for feeling so good inside?” It should be nothing or the absence of any quantity. It “your whole body.” is the zero mark on a thermometer and See also Punctuation, 1B; WHO and the point where the graduation of a scale WHOM, 1. begins. The word zero, like cipher, originates in the Arabic sifr, zero. The plural YOURSELF, YOURSELVES. See is zeros or zeroes. Pronouns, 3, 4. An announcer has pronounced the 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 486

486 zero in

numbers in the television series “Beverly you zeroed in on not just talking about Hills, 90210” as “nine oh two one oh.” this one case.” In using the phrase zero That is how the figure 0 (zero) is often in to refer to the avoidance of some- pronounced in informal speech—like the thing, he reversed its meaning. letter O. But they are not the same and In a general sense, to zero in is to usually do not look the same when move near, close in, converge. For exam- printed. In most common type styles, the ple, “The police are zeroing in on the figure is narrower; the letter is rounder. suspect.” Zeroed in is the past tense and See also Z; ZERO IN. past participle, zeroing in the present participle. ZERO IN. The district attorney who In military terminology, to zero or was supervising the O. J. Simpson mur- zero in is to adjust the sights of a rifle so der case had just been interviewed by that the target aimed at is hit. To zero in Barbara Walters on the matter of domes- on a target is to take precise aim at it. tic violence in general. He said, “I’m glad See also ZERO and O. 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 487

REFERENCE WORKS

Many of the reference works consulted in the preparation of this book are listed below. They are arranged alphabetically by title, except for several authors mentioned in the text. Names of authors, editors, or directors are listed for most of the works.

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English Language, New York: Funk Linguistic Fig Leaves and Verbal & Wagnalls, 1941. Flourishes for Artful Users of the En- The Collins-Robert French Dictionary, glish Language, Hugh Rawson, New Glasgow: Collins Publishers, 1987. York: Crown Publishers, 1981. The Columbia Guide to Standard Amer- Dictionary of Military Abbreviations, ican English, Kenneth G. Wilson, Norman Polmar, Mark Warren, Eric New York: Columbia University Werthem, Annapolis, Md.: Naval In- Press, 1993. stitute Press, 1994. The Columbia-Viking Desk Encyclope- A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage, dia, 2nd ed., William Bridgwater, Bryan A. Garner, New York, Oxford, New York: Viking Press, 1960. England: Oxford University Press, Common Errors in English: And How 1987. to Avoid Them, Alexander M. With- Dictionary of Quotations, Bergen erspoon, Philadelphia: Blakiston Co., Evans, New York: Delacorte Press, 1943. 1968. Commonsense Grammar and Style, The Elements of Grammar, Margaret Robert E. Morsberger, New York: Shertzer, New York: Macmillan, Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1972. 1986. The Compact Edition of the Oxford The Elements of Style, 2nd ed., William English Dictionary, 2 vol., Oxford, Strunk, Jr., E. B. White, New York: England: Oxford University Press, Macmillan, 1972. 1971. The Encyclopedia Americana, 29 vol., The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Cur- Lawrence T. Lorimer, Danbury, rent English, 6th ed., J. B. Sykes, Ox- Conn.: Grolier Inc., 1995. ford, England: Clarendon Press, Encyclopedia of Banking & Finance, 1976. 10th ed., Charles J. Woelfel, Chicago: Roy H. Copperud, Webster’s Dictionary Probus Publishing Co., 1994. of Usage and Style, New York: Avenel The Encyclopedia of Mammals, David Books, copyright 1964, 1982 ed. W. Macdonald, New York: Facts On ———, American Usage: The Consen- File, 1984. sus, New York: Van Nostrand Rein- The Encyclopedia of Phobias, Fears, and hold, 1970. Anxieties, Ronald M. Doctor and ———, American Usage and Style: The Ada P. Kahn, New York: Facts On Consensus, idem, 1980. File, 1989. Copyediting: A Practical Guide, 2nd ed., The Encyclopedia of Textiles, Judith Karen Judd, Los Altos, Calif.: Crisp Jerde, New York: Facts On File, 1992. Publications, 1990. Facts About the Supreme Court of the Crown’s Book of Political Quotations, United States, Lisa Paddock, New Michael Jackman, New York: Crown York: H. W. Wilson and New Eng- Publishers, 1982. land Publishing Associates, 1996. George O. Curme, A Grammar of the Family Legal Guide: A Complete Ency- English Language, 2 vol., Essex, clopedia of Law for the Layman, Inge Conn.: Verbatim, copyright N. Dobelis, Pleasantville, N.Y.: 1931–1935 (1978 printing). Reader’s Digest, 1981. Dictionary of American Underworld Wilson Follett (Jacques Barzun, ed.), Lingo, Hyman E. Goldin, New York: Modern American Usage: A Guide, Twayne Publishers, 1950. New York: Hill & Wang, 1966. A Dictionary of Euphemisms & Other H. W. Fowler and F. G. Fowler, The Doubletalk: Being a Compilation of King’s English, Oxford, England: Ox- 04-R–Z_4 10/22/02 10:33 AM Page 489

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