Several English words are derived from the Latin term manus (the basis of manual), meaning “hand,” but many others are unrelated. Here’s a breakdown of which words starting with mani- have been handed down from Latin and which have differing etymologies. Manipulation is the act of handling something, although the word also has the weighted … Read more
Take care that when you begin a sentence with a subordinate clause—a string of words that does not stand on its own as a complete statement but supports the main clause—the modifying phrase pertains to the sentence’s subject and not to some other noun or noun phrase. Here are five sentences that fail the test, … Read more
Last week, I offered a post about idioms pertaining to the number one (I limited the scope because there’s only so much space on the Internet.) Here’s the sequel, with expressions that mention all other numbers. 1. (a number) (something) short of a (something): said euphemistically of someone who is mentally deficient or unstable (as … Read more
It’s not only quite possible but also quite common for what initially appears to be a well-written sentence to turn out to fail to express what the writer intended. Readers may be able to understand that intent, and may not even notice the error, but confusion is likely. Here are three sentences that don’t quite … Read more
You’re trying to think of a word, but it stubbornly refuses to materialize. Oh, well. You’ll think of it—when it’s too late. What do you do in the meantime? Plenty of books and websites are available to bridge the gap between your brain and the word it seeks. (Bowing to the convenience of the Web, … Read more
The root word join is the basis of a small group of words with some sense pertaining to unity, though many originally had a legal connotation (and some still do). Here are those words and their definitions. Join itself stems from the Latin word iungere, meaning “join together,” “unite,” or “yoke.” (In Latin, i could … Read more
A reader questions my use of the subject pronoun I to follow the conjunction as in a recent post. I wrote “not so sanguine as I.” The reader suggests that I should have written “not so sanguine as me.” When the word as functions as a preposition, it can be followed by me: I went … Read more