Archive for May, 2008
May 31st, 2008
A “flush” can be a gush, as in a rapid flow of water; a rush, as in a sudden flight of birds; and a blush, as in red in the face. It also can mean all squared up (as in, “the door was flush with the floor”) and square in the face (”The punch caught him flush on the jaw”).
However, it is NOT the word to use with “out” to mean to fill out or to realize or make full with additional details. That word is “flesh,” as in, “Go back to your sources so we can flesh out this story.”
May 30th, 2008
We recently used the phrase “chomping at the bit,” meaning showing “impatience at restraint,” being “restless.”
It comes from the chewing of a horse on an actual bit, probably because it’s so uncomfortable.
The word “chomping” is still considered a “dialectical variant” of “champing,” so the preferred form is “champing at the bit.”
Similarly, “stamping ground” is better than “stomping ground.”
May 29th, 2008
What can I tell you about the -ink verbs? I’m afraid it’s one of those memorize them or
look them up situations.
Some of them follow the regular verb pattern with tenses: blink, blinked, blinked for
present, past and past participle. Others in this group are ink, link and wink.
Two that blaze their own trails are slink (slunk, slunk) and think (thought, thought).
The other group is the trickiest: drink, shrink, sink and stink. They all follow the
pattern -ink, -ank, -unk:
“Occasionally I drink too much, but yesterday I drank too little. There have been times
when I have drunk just the right amount.”
May 28th, 2008
There are three choices with the phrase “get hold of,” and that is by far the preferred one.
A distant second is “get a hold of.”
Way down at the bottom — one usage expert calls it “a horror” — is the colloquial “get ahold of.”
If you’re using this or a similar phrase, take hold of the first one.
If you’re quoting someone who used an “a” in there, grab hold of the second one. Notice it reads the same as the third one.
So there’s really no reason to write “get ahold of,” except when someone is telling you not to, as I just did.
May 24th, 2008
“Another” is fairly straightforward in the sense of “one more” — “let’s have another cup of coffee” — and in referring to differences or similarities — “we’ll settle this another time,” “he may prove to be another Hitler.”
The trouble comes with quantities greater than one. In a typical tallying, for example, the two numbers must be exactly the same to use “”another”: “Theater owners said 1,000 attended opening night and another 1,000 showed up for the next show.”
That’s correct — both are 1,000. Change either number (or both) so they no longer match, and “another” is incorrect.
I think “another” has become a comfort word, maybe for people uneasy with numbers. Notice that in the example above, “another 1,000″ underscores the notion that the second-night crowd matched the first night’s. Using any other numbers — “1,000 attended opening night and another 800 showed” and so on — “another” is not only incorrect, it has no real function. Go ahead, delete it. Any change in meaning?
Save “another” for that voodoo that it can do so well.
May 23rd, 2008
Changing “affect” to “effect” or vice versa is one of the most frequent corrections I’ve made in my career as a copy editor. If these two confuse you, try going with the 90 percent strategy. Nine times out of 10, if you need a verb, choose “affect”; if you need a noun, go with “effect.”
To affect is to “influence; produce a change in; move or stir the emotions of.” We’re “affected” by sad stories. We feel “affection” for friends and family.
“Affect” also can express false emotion or pretense. The result is often an “affectation.”
Use the noun “effect” for the result of being affected. Wagner’s music has a powerful “effect” on you. You were wowed by the movie’s “special effects.” Reclaim your “personal effects” on the way out.
It also appears in the phrases “in effect,” “take effect” and “to the effect.” Adjectives are “effective” and “effectual.”
“Effect” as a verb, as in “to effect changes,” is fairly rare. And it ought to be. It’s weak and stuffy. Make changes, don’t effect them.
May 21st, 2008
The verb “impact” means “to force tightly together; pack; wedge,” as in the case of an impacted tooth, or “to hit with force,” as when a large meteorite strikes a planet or moon.
I would like to see “impact” (as a noun, too) retain these distinctions and not become a synonym for “affect” or “effect.” However, it appears to be a losing battle.
There are so many references nowadays to “economic impact” and “environmental impact,” for example, that the word is losing its effectiveness — and becoming “effect.”
May 20th, 2008
A reader asked about the use of “emplies” in a recent cartoon dialogue balloon. There is no such word, although “imply” came to us from the Old French “emplier.” But its older Latin ancestor is “implicare.”
There are no all-encompassing rules for determining which of the four prefixes, “im-,” “em-,” “en-” or “in-,” is correct in any particular circumstance. Likewise, good luck guessing whether a word should end in “-able” or “-ible.”
Some things just need to be looked up. There is no shame in it. And even if you could memorize all the various permutations of such words, imagine what your brain could do with all the space taken up by that.
May 19th, 2008
The prefix “fore-” means “before in time, place, order or rank,” as in “forenoon” or “foreman.” It also can mean “the front part of,” as in “forehead.”
Remembering this should help avoid the common confusion between “forego” and “forgo.” The former, meaning “precede,” is rarely encountered except in uses such as “foregone conclusion” or “the foregoing statistics.” Note the sense of “before.”
The verb “forgo,” meaning “to do without; abstain from; give up,” is much more common — and commonly misspelled. There is no “e” in it.
A similar pair: the verb “forbear” (”to refrain from; avoid or cease”) and the noun “forebear” (”ancestor”). Some people want to make the latter “forebearer.” Most of us should consider that incorrect.
May 14th, 2008
Most people understand that the choice of an indefinite article is dictated by the initial sound of the word that follows. A vowel sound calls for “an”; a consonant sound calls for “a.”
You can’t always judge by the letter, because a vowel doesn’t always make a vowel sound and a consonant doesn’t always make a consonant sound. For example, it’s “an” old joke but “a” one-liner; “an” unusual story but “a” universal truth; “an” honorable man but “a” horrible leader.
The one that stirs up the most trouble is the “history” group. In American English, the “h” is not silent, so it’s “a” history book, “a” historic occasion, “a” historical treasure, not “an.”
They may seem more difficult to say, but try to make the effort. It’s your patriotic duty: Remember those brave colonists who rebelled back in the 1770s to break free from the king’s English.
OK, that may be a historical inaccuracy.
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