The English word enthusiasm derives from Greek entheos, “possessed by a god.” A person filled with enthusiasm was filled with a divine frenzy. An early meaning in English was “ poetic or prophetic frenzy.” An “enthusiastic preacher,” for example, was what a modern speaker might call a “charismatic speaker.” From describing religious fervor, the use … Read more
In Modern English Usage (1926), Fowler argues the case for limiting that to what he calls “defining clauses” and reserving which to introduce “non-defining clauses.” Note: Fowler’s terms defining and non-defining correspond to restrictive and nonrestrictive. Yet, here we are, more than 80 years later, and questions about when to use which and when to … Read more
The English verb select and the adjectives, select and selected, derive from a Latin verb meaning, “to choose, select, set apart.” Both adjectives mean, “chosen from a larger number of other things.” However, a useful distinction exists between selected and select. selected This adjective indicates that something has been chosen or picked out from a … Read more
Should one write “Jesus’ name” or “Jesus’s name”? Which is correct, “Travis’ friend” or “Travis’s friend”? The questions on the use of the apostrophe to form the possessive keep coming. This post is about how to form the possessive of a proper name that ends in -s. Most stylebooks agree that the rule for forming … Read more
It may be a regionalism, but many speakers say or write ideal when they mean idea. For example: I have an ideal for next year’s Christmas: Move the date. Comic Silverman has an ideal for ending world hunger: Sell the Vatican. Do you have any ideals for how I can ease my fear of flying? … Read more
A reader has asked for a discussion of “appropriate vs. apropos vs. apt.” All three words may be used as adjectives meaning suitable or pertinent: Your reference to “The Emperor’s New Clothes” is apropos of the way so many people conform to social expectations rather than think for themselves. I admire your apt choice of … Read more
Words, like human bodies, become enfeebled over time. Awe and awesome are two such words. In the early Middle Ages, awe meant “immediate and active fear; terror, dread.” Because awe was frequently used to describe the fear inspired by the divine, it came to mean, “dread mingled with veneration.” The adjective awesome was used to … Read more