Writers easily confuse an appositive (a descriptive word or phrase that is equivalent to a person, place, or thing that is named) with a phrase that simply describes a person, place, or thing named, or create confusion by incorrectly wording or punctuating an appositive or a description. The following sentences demonstrate various types of such … Read more
An initial letter, almost invariably capitalized, is often the first element in a two-word noun compound that constitutes an idiom. (Use of a connecting hyphen varies, and various sources may include or omit a hyphen.) Often, the letter stands for a word; occasionally, letters are used to assign priority (A and B, for example) or … Read more
Various words and phrases serve to communicate what a word or phrase refers to or herald to a reader that additional information is forthcoming or a comparison is being made, but writers sometimes make the mistake of unnecessarily employing more than one of these indicators at once. The following five sentences illustrate an array of … Read more
The Latin term motus, meaning “a moving” or “motion,” is the progenitor of the Old French word motif, which survived unchanged into Modern French and was subsequently borrowed into English. Motif, in turn, inspired the English term motive and its variants. Here’s an introduction to the motif/motive family. Motif, employed in French to mean “theme” … Read more
Recently I’ve noticed the phrase “stating to be” in contexts that call for either “claiming to be” or “stating that.” For example: This Buffalo, NY church has a plaque stating to be a nuclear weapon free zone. Should you be approached by any persons stating to be appointed agency/representative of Qatar Airways, they should be considered as … Read more
A frequent source of miscommunication is to assume that the people we address attach the same connotation and meaning to words that we do. A case in point is a recent letter-to-the-editor in my local paper. A young man working in a restaurant expressed his frustration at the lack of tipping from the customers he … Read more
Semicolons help clarify construction of sentences. Using the punctuation mark, employed as either a comma on steroids or a strategically flexible period, is usually just one of two or more possible solutions, but though it has a stuffy reputation and many writers are confused about its applications, it often is the best choice. 1. This … Read more
When quotations are integrated into the syntax of a sentence, joining forces with a paraphrase to create an extended statement, the first word in the original quote is generally not capitalized. Here are three examples of sentences in which the quotation’s initial word is demoted. 1. Without federal instructions, he added, “People are just going … Read more
Idioms that refer to what is the fanciful seat of our emotions as well as the factual core of our circulatory system are understandably numerous. Here’s a list of phrases and expressions that include heart and, for the most part, pertain to human feelings. 1. a big heart: said of someone kind and loving 2. … Read more
Several venerable words serve as the base for compounds that refer to people who make or sell things: monger, smith, and wright. Here’s a review of those compounds. Monger, stemming from Old English mangere, meaning “broker,” “merchant,” or “trader,” has been used since medieval times, though for hundreds of years, thanks to the low social … Read more
A lack of parallel structure in sentence construction can lead to confusion. Make sure that statements are scaffolded correctly to convey the intended meaning, as explained and demonstrated in the discussions to and revisions of the following sentences. 1. The poll found that 24 percent of voters said they would either abstain from voting in … Read more
Secretary is formed from secret. The noun suffix -ary comes from a Latin masculine form and means “belonging to or engaged in.” The first “secretaries” were men who kept records and wrote letters for kings, i.e., they were people who could be trusted to keep secrets of state. Even today, although the word secretary in … Read more