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Grammar Tip of the Week
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To get downtown from here, you'll have to walk farther. Yup.
I'm sure you're all waiting with bated breath for tomorrow's tip (and no, it's not "bated" vs. "baited").
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egotism -- "an exaggerated sense of self-importance; self-praise; arrogance."
egoism -- philosophical term meaning "a doctrine that self-betterment is the guiding method of existence, or that self-interest is the primary motive in all one's actions."
source: Garner's Modern American Usage
Thank you NE. As a second language speaker, I always find this a bit confusing. Will be easier for me to explain the difference to my students too.
Thanks for keeping me on my toes. I have gotten sloppy over the years.
A pivotal scene in the movie "Finding Forrester" happens when a student (played by Rob Brown) confronts his professor (played by F. Murray Abraham) in the classroom. The kid calls out the professor on the further/farther thing and the prof goes ballistic. He throws him out of the room-- and this is in college!You all may remember a Saturday Night Live bit with Christopher Guest and Michael McKean pondering Abraham's first name of "F." Who has a name of "F?"
Maybe Abraham never figured out the further/farther dilemma and just settled for F.
Plus the movie title has a conspiratorial alliteration.
Just sayin.
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Thurs., Jan. 22:
couldn't care less, not could care less
Remember: If you could care less, you would, and this expression is meant to convey complete indifference. Go with couldn't and your feelings will safely be at rock bottom!
Too late for this one N.E. The culture is poisoned. Even among "educated" people (T.V., radio, the written word) the correct usage has vanished.Thankfully, I'm not angry about it. Hell, I could care more!
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Fri., Jan. 23:
Cannot is one word, as is percent.
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Hi, Sonali! It's been a while since I've seen you! Hope all is well.
Sonali, as a first language speaker, I never knew the difference between egoism and egotism. So thank you New England.By these definitions an egoist is a person who is self-aware while an egotist is just an ass. Is that a stretch?
Ruth wrote: "I always wonder if those with baited breath have been eating anchovies."I have read that "baited" as in "baited breath" is "abated" shortened and misspelled.
Newengland wrote: "Ha! Neat anecdote, Kenneth. Thanks for giving yesterday's tip some color!Thurs., Jan. 22:
couldn't care less, not could care less
Remember: If you could care less, you would, and this expressio..."
It could be argued that using "could care less" extends how little one cares to the very phrase used to describe how little one cares, providing a more potent way of showing one's disdain.
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I have read that "baited" as in "baited breath" is "abated" shortened and misspelled."
I know. Thus the wisecrack on my part.
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I have read that "baited" as in "baited breath" is "abated" shortened and misspelled."
It's taken from The Merchant of Venice, I think. Then again, half the things Shakespeare supposedly originated surface before he was born.
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gibe -- both noun and verb. As a noun, it means "a caustic remark or taunt."
jibe -- is generally considered a verb only, meaning "to accord with, to be consistent with."
gybe -- a sailing term meaning primarily "to shift a sail from one side of a vessel to the other while sailing before the wind," is so spelled in BrE but is usually spelled jibe in AmE.
jive, like gibe, is both noun and verb. As a noun, it refers either to swing music or to the argot of hipsters. As a verb, it means "to dance to swing music" or "to tease."
-- source Garner's Modern American Usage
I thought it was glib, not gibe. Man I have been getting it wrong all these years.
I'm tempted to make a glib remark, but I won't.
I did. To clarify, I was just playing around with language. Glib doesn't come up very often. Something along the lines of Magritte's "This is Not a Pipe" painting of a pipe.
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formulaic -- of, relating to, following, or constituting a formula.
formulistic -- fond of formulas.
formalistic -- adhering unduly to form without regard to substance.
-- source Garner's Modern American Usage
I really like this new thread, thanks for taking the time NE.
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affect (verb) -- to influence; to have an effect on.
effect (noun) -- result; consequence.
effect (verb) -- This verb -- meaning "to bring about, make happen" -- is increasingly rare in English. Besides sounding pretentious, it often spawns wordiness.
-- source Garner's Modern American Usage
Today I saw (and heard) two ads. One spoke of making one's money go farther. The other spoke of hitting a golfball further.No one is listening New England.
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No one is listening New England."
Bingo.
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The ellipsis = three "period dots" signifying "that the writer has omitted something, usually from quoted matter."
If you use an ellipsis at the end of a sentence, a fourth dot is used as the period after the ellipsis -- all equally spaced.
source: Garner's Modern American Usage
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When choosing between a and an, let the sound of the following word determine your choice: "a is used before words beginning with a consonant sound, including /y/ and /w/ sounds. The other form, an, is used before words beginning with a vowel sound. Since the sound rather than the letter controls, it's not unusual to find a before a vowel or an before a consonant. Hence a European country, a one-year term, a Ouija board, a uniform, an FBI agent, an MBA degree, an SEC filing.
As for /h/, "the traditional rule is that if the h- is sounded, then a is the proper form. So people who aspirate their h's and follow that rule would say a historian and a historic."
source: Garner's Modern American Usage
What about s usage, I always get confused.
A seriously enjoyable thread; an educational experience. I am enjoying furthering my grasp of the subtleties of grammar. Back to work....
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Carol wrote: "What about s usage, I always get confused."
Do you mean using s vs. using 's?
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Fri., Jan. 30:
Though alright has breached the wall like Mexicans at the Alamo, it's still not proper English. Two words, my friends: all right.
As for alright, think of it as alwrong.
source: me.
Didn't know that one. Thanks on both accounts. Might eventually become knowledgeable in grammar. That was my worst subject in school, spelling was next. This thread is like having my personal tutor.
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I think I finally have that one down , Ruth.
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Rabbit, rabbit, rabbit!
"Most nouns form their plurals simply by adding -s -- thus books, songs, xylophones. But if a word ends with the sound of -s, -sh, -ch, or -z, the plural is formed by adding -es -- thus buses, thrushes, churches, and buzzes. Occasionally, a single final consonant is doubled -- thus fez makes fezzes.
"Several exceptions exist in words derived from Old English, such as child-children, foot-feet, goose-geese, louse-lice, man-men, mouse-mice, ox-oxen, tooth-teeth, woman-women."
source: Garner's Modern American Usage
Additional plural rules this week (their numbers are legion!)
Hello NE. I have been a bit busy, additional responsibility in school etc.I lurk though..( haven't really read all the rules for ellipses) :-) I was a bit confused about the alright /all right usage because we have always written alright. So I checked the Oxford Dictionary and they say both are right though some people do not like using alright and it should not be written in formal writing. Good for me and my students because otherwise I would mark them for spelling errors but remain confused.
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Plurals (cont.)
Exceptions often exist with words that come to English from foreign sources, esp. Greek and Latin. Here are a few:
crises, not crisises
criteria, not criterions
hypotheses, not hypothesises
phenomena, not phenomenons
timpani, not timpanos
bacilli, not bacilluses
fungi, not funguses
ova, not ovums
stimuli, not stimuluses
thalami, not thalamuses
Some close calls:
In common usage: cactuses, but cacti in botanical circles.
formulas is more common than formulae
spectrums is favored over spectra
honorariums is gaining favor over honoraria
millenniums and millennia are neck and neck.
source: Garner's Modern American Usage
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That I knew. LOL! I am woefully lacking in grammar and punctuation.
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Well, no one ever said it would appear every day. Would help if I didn't work, but alas, we work our whole lives, then we die. (Upbeat Thought of the Day!).
neologism -- an invented word. Every end-of-year you see new words that have made it, like salmon upriver, and are going into the dictionary, by God. After awhile, you are amazed that they did not exist forever. For instance, Garner offers these neologisms from the 50s and 60s:
do-it-yourself, glitch, mall, meritocracy, middle management, nitty-gritty, and prime time. I guess that means they're not in Shakespeare.
retronym -- a neologism invented to describe an original type that has become outdated. Examples: push-button phone, rotary telephone, ice skates.
Ice skates? They were called, quite simply, "skates," until the invention of "roller skates." This forced the invention of a retronym for what came before.
Wherever there is a new species, there is often a retronym:
electric guitar/acoustic guitar
diet soda/regular soda
power steering/nonpower steering
electric typewriter/manual typewriter
disposable diaper/cloth diaper
e-mail/snail mail
Language & Grammar
Books mentioned in this topic
Nakamura Reality (other topics)Garner's Modern American Usage (other topics)
Garner's Modern American Usage (other topics)
Garner's Modern American Usage (other topics)
Garner's Modern American Usage (other topics)
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further = for figurative distances