DailyWritingTips

Amnesty is Already a Verb

A reader questions a word she heard spoken by a Fox News announcer: [The announcer used] the non-word “amnetize” to mean “granting amnesty to.” Just to make sure that it is not a real word, I looked it up as “amnetize” and “amnitize.” How can we stop this grammatical ugliness before it spreads? There’s no … Read more

Formatting Book Titles in the Digital Age

A reader wonders why he is seeing book titles presented in all capitals: I’ve even seen publishers and editors do it, so I started thinking maybe I was misinformed. Typing book titles in all caps is a peculiarity of the publishing industry. According to The Chicago Manual of Style, the practice originated in the days … Read more

Facing the Worst

The English word face may be used as either a noun or a verb, as illustrated by these citations from the Oxford English Dictionary: The skull…is divided into two parts, the Cranium and the Face. (noun) He faced his critics head-on and…left with his dignity intact. (verb) As a transitive verb, face means, “to show … Read more

Head Words

English has several words that derive from caput, the Latin word for head. Here are just a few. The words cap, caparison, cape, and capuchin all trace their origin to a garment that was worn over the head. 1. cap Originally, the word referred to a hood. Unlike a hat, a cap does not have … Read more

Spell My Name Right

“I don’t care what the newspapers say about me as long as they spell my name right.” No one knows who said it first, but anyone who has ever written for a newspaper or magazine has heard some version of this quotation. It’s a thought to be taken to heart by anyone–journalist or not–who has … Read more

Overwhelm is a Verb, Isn’t It?

A reader appalled at the use of overwhelm used as a noun sent me this example of email-speak: Just as an example, if you enter “passive revenue” into Google, you’ll get 12,400,000 hits. That’s a recipe for overwhelm – not for building your business. Sharing the reader’s distress at the sight of overwhelm used as a noun, … Read more

Reclusion vs. Seclusion

A reader asks to know the difference between “reclusion and seclusion, reclusive and seclusive.” Although synonyms for one another, these words are not interchangeable in every context. Of the nouns, seclusion is used more frequently than reclusion to refer to a state of being apart from society. One of its meanings is “a desirable separation … Read more

How Perfect Is the Present Perfect?

As a grammatical term, the word perfect can be a bit misleading. Because the adjective perfect derives from a Latin verb meaning “to accomplish, to perform, to complete,” explanations of the perfect forms of the verb often begin something like this: Perfect means “completed”; an action expressed in the perfect has been completed at some … Read more

Convicted Felon

A person who commits a felony is called a felon. A felony is a serious crime; what constitutes a felony differs from state to state, but in every state, crimes fall into three categories: infractions, misdemeanors, and felonies. 1. Infraction An infraction is a petty offense punishable by small fines. An infraction cannot result in … Read more

Citing Daily Writing Tips

It is a source of satisfaction to me that the articles on the Daily Writing Tips site are often cited in bibliographies. Because the articles are accessed long after their original publication dates, I’m extremely grateful when readers browsing past articles call my attention to typos in any of the archived posts, so they may … Read more

Psyche and Her Progeny

The origin of our word psyche is the Greek noun psukhe, denoting both breath and the life represented by breath: “the animating principle in man and other living beings.” The word has been a rich source of words in English and other languages. In the classical myth of Cupid and Psyche, the woman Psyche represents … Read more

With All Due Respect

A reader wonders why the word due precedes the word respect in the expression “with all due respect”: Every time I hear it, I mull over the possibility of this quotation being better phrased as “with all respect due.” I think it not only sounds better but…improves its usage. “With all due respect” and its variations … Read more