Archive for September, 2008
September 9th, 2008
Most verbs in English are considered “regular” because their tenses follow the normal pattern — what’s known grammatically as “inflection.”
If you look up a verb in the dictionary and no additional forms are listed, that means it’s regular and is inflected in the usual way. For example, the verb “talk”:
I talk a lot. (present tense)
Yesterday I talked too much. (past tense)
It’s not the first time I have talked too much. (past participle — notice the “helping” or “auxiliary” verb “have”)
However, “speak” is an “irregular” verb. Look it up and you’ll see “speak, spoke, spoken.”
I speak for no one else. (present)
I spoke at the Kiwanis Club last week. (past)
We haven’t spoken in three years. (past participle)
There are 174 “common” irregular verbs listed in “Garner’s Modern American Usage.” Among those that give us the most trouble are “drink,” “forecast,” “leap,” “shrink,” “sink,” “spring,” “stink” and “swim.”
And, of course, the champion troublemakers: “lay” and “lie.”
As always, when in doubt, look it up — and be sure you know which tense you need.
September 5th, 2008
In response to the entry about “gulf,” someone asked whether “gulp” had a similar origin. Probably not, according to the dictionary.
It makes sense that if “gulf” as a verb means “to swallow,” the similar-sounding “gulp” would come from the same thing. Especially since “gulp” also means to swallow, although in particular ways: “hastily, greedily or in large amounts.”
It also can mean “to choke back as if swallowing; repress (a sob, etc.).”
However, its immediate ancestor is the Middle English “gulpen,” which probably came from the Dutch “gulpen” for “to gulp down.” This is one of those words whose origin is probably “imitative” or “echoic.” In other words, it sounds a lot like what it means.
The Dutch “gulpen” is akin to the Old English “gielpan,” which meant “to boast noisily” and eventually led to “yelp.”
These words arose back in the days before refined table manners, when there was a whole lot of “gulping” and “yelping” going on — and other things less fit for print.
September 3rd, 2008
There are many named gulfs around the world, from the Gulf of Aden to the Gulf of Venice, but two are so widely known that each can be referred to after first reference as “the Gulf” — the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Mexico.
Another thing they have in common, of course, is oil — which is why they’re in the news frequently. That and storms and wars.
Other gulfs come and go in the spotlight, but no other gulf rates this capitalized treatment.
The word “gulf” can be traced back to the Greek “kolpos,” which also meant “a fold” or “bosom.”
In addition to a large body of water, a gulf can be an eddy or whirlpool, or “a wide, deep chasm or abyss,” or “a wide or impassable gap or separation,” literal or figurative.
As a verb, “gulf” means to swallow. A more common verb is “engulf” for “to swallow up; overwhelm” or “to plunge, as into a gulf.”
The history of the Mideast has shown that it’s easy for nations to get engulfed in the Gulf.
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