Most of us were taught to place a comma before a sentence-ending “too”: We’re going shopping, out to dinner, and then to a movie, too. But is that comma really necessary? “Too” in this context means “also,” but you’re not likely to see the sentence written like this: We’re going shopping, out to dinner, and … Read more
A reader commenting on my e-mail post brought my attention to a term I’d not heard before: It will end up simply as book, but before that happens it will be ebook—just as email ended up as email. eBook looks entirely too corporate to me, and I doubt if the general writing public will ever … Read more
Menace is a verb that means to threaten or to express the intention of inflicting evil or injury. It can also be used as a noun, meaning a threat. It comes from the Latin minae, the projecting (and dangerous) points in the walls of caves. To put it plainly, distracted driving is a menace to … Read more
I subscribe to a daily trivia email that gives the percentage of the quiz-takers who answer the questions correctly. The questions are rarely difficult, but I have noticed that the percentage of right answers for the more traditional “general knowledge” questions on history or literature tend to drop into the seventies, while those on rock … Read more
Betoken is a verb which means to indicate by signs or tokens. It can also mean to presage. Yet remember: this was the policy for peace. It is an awful flop. It does not betoken strength. Any weakling can call in the generals and then turn ashen as the options drain away. (Guardian) Companies with … Read more
Just when I thought I’d developed a thicker skin regarding linguistic innovation! I was listening to classical music on my local NPR station the other morning when the DJ launched into some public service announcements. The first time she said [av] for avenue I wasn’t sure I’d heard correctly, but then she mentioned another address … Read more
Topple is a verb which means to throw down or overthrow. It can also refer to the act of suddenly dropping to the ground. The adjective is toppled. Street protesters, furious about the economy, topple the government of Iceland. (The Economist) More than 100 trees were toppled and around 500 others were damaged in Central … Read more
No single part of speech gives writers more grief than the mighty verb. Think about all the elements you must take into consideration when forming verbs. They have tense, number, person, voice, and mood. Where things get especially dicey is with a verb’s mood, in particular, the subjunctive mood. Take a look at this sentence: … Read more
Movie makers and many writers are fond of using the terms “Dark Ages” and “medieval” to denote ignorance, intolerance and unspeakable violence. For example, a character in Pulp Fiction threatens his captive this way: I’ma get medieval on your ass. Some writers who use the terms Dark Ages, Middle Ages and medieval have a very … Read more