Things you shouldn’t do alone

July 7th, 2009 at 07:00am Barry Wood

A recent wire service story described something as hindering “a person’s ability to communicate and interact with others.”

“Interacting” and “communicating” are activities that, by definition, require others. If you have specific participants, name them. Otherwise, you don’t need “with others.”

On the flip side, however, if you’re communicating alone, you’re probably talking to yourself. That can be a bad sign.

And I don’t even want to think about what interacting with yourself might be. Keep it to yourself.

Entry Filed under: definitions, strict usage