A reader asks, Could you please explain the difference between “I trust in him” and “I trust him”. The grammatical difference between “I trust in him” and “I trust him” is the difference between a transitive and intransitive verb: I trust him. The verb is transitive because it has a direct object, “him.” I trust … Read more
A reader asks, What are your thoughts on double possessives? For example: Friends of Sue’s Friends of my aunt’s Friends of his Friends of her’s Friends of theirs Friends of mine You will find the double possessive question and animated discussions of it on hundreds of language sites all over the web. It remains popular … Read more
The Latin verb pendere, “to hang,” has fostered numerous words that have something to do with the act of hanging. In English, many “hanging” words have come and gone, but plenty remain in contemporary usage. The most immediately recognizable are pendant, pendent, pendulous, pendulum, pend, and pending. pendant The noun pendant refers to a loosely … Read more
The word token is used with several meanings. From an Old English verb meaning “to show,” in the broadest sense a token is “something that serves to indicate a fact; a sign or a symbol.” The sign could be miraculous or merely evidence of something: I do set my bow in the cloud, and … Read more
The Latin word gravitas to mean “the dignity of leadership” came into use as an English word in 1924; since the mid-1980s it has soared in popularity. The literal meaning of the Latin word gravitas is “weight, heaviness.” Our word gravity derives from that sense. The OnlineEtymologyDictionary observes that gravitas became useful to describe human … Read more
Some speakers hate to hear people use the word prioritize, complaining that “it’s a made-up word that shouldn’t be used.” Prioritize is a fairly new word, coined in the 1950s, and growing in popularity since the early 1960s. Speakers use it to mean: to give priority to to designate something as worthy of special attention … Read more
A reader asks: Could you write about which preposition should be used after “disappointed” (e.g., in, at, with, by…)? Please explain the instances to use them correctly. I don’t think it’s possible to lay down a hard and fast rule about which preposition should follow disappointed, but I’ve gathered some headlines and quotations from the … Read more
In honor of the Bard’s birthday, here are six words Shakespeare used that we still find useful to describe life in the 21st century. 1. addiction: the state or condition of being dedicated or devoted to a thing, especially an activity or occupation; adherence or attachment, especially of an immoderate or compulsive kind; immoderate or … Read more
The following item appeared in the column of one-sentence news items on the front page of my morning newspaper: William Bradford Bishop Jr., who was a State Department employee in 1976 when he is suspected of killing his wife, mother and three sons, was added to the FBI’s list of “Ten Most Wanted Fugitives,” drawing … Read more
The noun boot, meaning “a covering for the foot and lower part of the leg,” has been in the language since the early 14th century. The word existed in medieval Latin and entered English via French. The popularity of boots as footwear has never diminished, but our use of the word boot and similar forms … Read more
A reader from Brazil wonders about the word mean: It has many meanings, such as as evil or significant. Could you help me and others with this word? It’s not surprising that a non-native English speaker would have difficulty assigning a sense to this word. Apart from many discarded definitions, mean continues to be used … Read more
What began as an effort to find out if make can be a linking verb has led me to discover the multitudinous uses of this humble verb. The verb make has been around so long that its etymology is obscure. It may go back to an Indo-European word meaning “to knead,” as in making dough. … Read more