Misused Words and Then Some E-Book

Giacomo Giammatteo

• Herausgeber: Inferno Publishing Company
• Kategorie: Bildung
• Serie: No Mistakes Grammar
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Seitenzahl: 168

Beschreibung

This is the final book in the No Mistakes Grammar series, so be prepared to learn. We cover a lot of territory in this book. Things like: count nouns (data and media), linking verbs, comma usage, hyphenation, sayings and proverbs, appositives, more mispronunciations, words from other languages, and more.

There should be enough in here to keep you busy for a while. And I guarantee it will improve your grammar in an easy-to-understand style.  

Leseprobe

Misused Words and ThenSome

No Mistakes Grammar, VolumeV

Giacomo Giammatteo

Inferno Publishing Company

© 2017 Giacomo Giammatteo. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

Inferno Publishing Company

Houston, TX

For more information about this book visit my website.

Edition ISBNs

Trade Paperback ……

E-book ……

Cover design by Natasha Brown

Book design by Giacomo Giammatteo

This edition was prepared by Giacomo Giammatteo [email protected]

Created with Vellum

Contents

Introduction

1. The Words

2. Two Words or One?

3. Redundancies

4. Oxymorons

Chapter 5

6. Latin Words

7. Words from Other Languages

8. Months of the Year

9. If I Was or If I Were

10. Where Are You At?

11. Linking Verbs

12. More of Two Words or One

13. Sayings and Proverbs

14. Hyphenated Words

15. Hyphenation Rules

16. Inherited Plurals

17. Mass Nouns and Count Nouns

18. Abstract Nouns

19. Commas—When You Need Them, and When You Don't

20. Appositives—When You Need a Comma and When You Don't

21. Capitalization

22. Semicolons

23. More Mispronunciations

24. Closing

Photo Credits

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Also by Giacomo Giammatteo

Chapter 25

Introduction

Before we start this book, let me assume that you have an interest in the language, and for that, more power to you. It seems as if fewer people than ever do. I think it's important to keep the language fresh by introducing new words as we progress—especially technologically—but it's just as important to refrain from adding too many, or allowing too many changes.

Think back to the sixteenth century and the time of Shakespeare. Yes, his plays were good, but they are damn near impossible to understand. Most of us can't sit down and read through one of his works (unless they've been adapted) without struggling, and that's a shame.

I don't want the same to happen again. I don't want my great grandchildren to be reading one of my books and not know what itsays.

So let's do our best to keep the language as pure as we can and free from unnecessary change.

With that said, I'll introduce you to Misused Words and More, No Mistakes Grammar, VolumeV.

It's volume V because volume IV was taken up by the Visual Grammar book, which was basically a combination of volumes I–III, with about two hundred pictures added as well as a small amount of text. I've made this volume a Visual Grammar book also. I hope you likeit.

The Words

A la mode—à la mode "in fashion, style"

In English, this means "with ice cream," an apparent reference to a time when ice cream on pie was the fashionable way to eat it, but in it's day it meant much more than ice cream. Now, you'd be looked at oddly if you tried to use it thatway.

Aline or align

I'm glad we started with an easy one. Aline is not a word; it is simply a variant of align, which means to form a line or make a line, or to straighten objects into a line, as in "Align those pictures please. They don't look good thatway."

Attaché—"attached"

A person assigned to a diplomatic post or a military attaché.

Ax oraxe

I don’t think anyone will mistake what you mean whether you write ax or axe, however, if you want to be correct, ax (without the “e”) is predominant in American usage. And axe (with the “e”) is British.

Berth/birth

Berth: a bunk or place to sleep on a ship or a train.

Birth: giving birth to something, a new baby or animal. Even something inanimate, like he gave birth to anidea.

Catalog or catalogue

This is another US/UK confusion.

Catalog is used in theUS.

Catalogue is used in theUK.

🐗 Like the others, the one with the "e" is England.

Cave or cavern

Definition of cave (from Merriam-Webster)

1: a natural chamber or series of chambers in the earth or in the side of a hill or cliff.

Cave is technically a noun, but it has recently come to be used as a verb also, as in to "cave in", which means to fall down or inward. Or we need to keep the walls from cavingin.

In an informal sense: to stop trying to resist or oppose something: to give in or submit to pressure. "He caved in to pressure from his wife andkids."

While cave has other uses, such as listed above, I don't know of any for cavern. You don't cavern in, or the walls didn't cavernin.

Many people use them interchangeably, but according to Cavern Geology, there is a difference.

"A cave is any cavity in the ground that is large enough that some portion of it will not receive direct sunlight. There are many types of caves. A cavern is a specific type of cave, naturally formed in soluble rock with the ability to grow speleothems (stalagmites and stalactites).

🐗 The bottom line is that all caverns are caves, but not all caves are caverns.

Censure/censor

Censor: a person who bans a book or parts thereof, or a film or musical piece.

Censure: the act of criticizing strongly or banning books/film/music.

Cereal/serial

Cereal: a grass producing an edible grain, like oats; a breakfast food made from grains.

Serial: happening in a series, such as a series of movies or books. Or a television series.

Chord/cord

Chord: a group of musical notes.

Cord: a length of string or piece of rope. Can also refer to a cord-like bodypart.

Compare to or CompareWith

I was going to write something specific for these words, but then I thought it may be better just to copy a blog post I had written about the comparison. So with no further fuss, here itis.

Some authors claim that "compare to" and "compare with" mean essentially the same thing, but this is not supported by actual data. The verb compare has several different meanings, some of which take the preposition "to", while the others take "with.”

Compare A to B to claim that A and B are similar.Compare A with B to claim that A and B are different.

To compare to is to point out or imply resemblances between people or things. So if you want to cite the similarities, use compareto.

To compare with is mainly to point out differences between people or things. So if you want to point out differences use comparewith.

The below examples will give you an idea of each. (Ihope.)

The above (or previous page) picture shows the well-known apples and oranges comparison (with a few other fruits thrown in). While they are both fruits, and they are round, and they both grow on trees, there are numerous differences, hence the saying that "You can't compare apples to oranges."

In fact,Merriam-Webster likens it to comparing large trucks to compactcars.

If We're Going to Compare to and CompareWith...

...let's Look at Another Example

President A was passive, thoughtful, and an excellent orator. He is often compared to President Lincoln, who exhibited many of the same traits.

Or...

President A was passive, thoughtful, and an excellent orator. Compare that with President B, who is antagonistic, impulsive, and needs a lot of help with his speeches.

So in the first example, we used President B to show how different the two were, and in the second example, we used President Lincoln to show how similar theywere.

Would people have known what you were talking about if you mixed them up? I'm sure they would. But there would also be a certain percentage of those people who would recognize that you did mix themup.

It's important to note, though, that the differences between compare to and compare with are largely ignored; in fact, common usage statistics show that in the US, compare to is used more than compare with, and it is the preferred choice for all comparisons when speaking of common usage.

I have to admit, I'm probably guilty of misusing this as much as anyone, but now that I know the distinction, I'll work hard to get it right.

Confident, confidant or confidante

Confident—confident is an adjective. To be confident is to be self-assured, sure of an outcome.

Confidant—confidant on the other hand is a noun, and means someone to be trusted or confided in, as in "He was a trusted confidant of theCEO."

Confidante—confidante is the same as confidant and can be used interchangeably, however, some people still cling to the French origins and use it as a form of gender classification, meaning the word ending in "e" should be reserved for females and the one without the "e" for males. Much like blond/blonde and brunet/brunette.

I think either way is fine, but if you know that the person you're speaking of is male, then use confidant. And if you know the person is female, use confidante. It surely can'thurt.

Currant/current

Currant: a dried grape

Current: happening now, currently; a flow of water, usually referred to as a swift current or an air current, or an electrical current.

Demur or demure

Demur is primarily a verb meaning...

to object, or take exceptionto.to hesitate because of doubt.

In this form, it is often used with "to" or "at."

Some dictionaries also list it as a noun referring to the act of demurring, but the word usually gives way to demurral for this sense.

Demuremeans...

modest and reserved, oraffectedlyshy.

It is only an adjective, as in "a demure younglady."

Different than or differentfrom

There are some stodgy grammarians who consider it an error, or not proper usage, to use different than instead of different from but an analysis of common usage shows us otherwise. No one is going to be confused when you say different than instead of different from. In the UK, it's common to say differentto.

Disinterested/uninterested

Disinterested: impartial

Uninterested: not interested

Dragged ordrug

I covered this in Visual Grammar, but it is misused enough to cover it again. When I say “misused” understand that I do so having “misused” the word most of my life. Where I grew up, I think everyone may have said “drug” for “dragged.” I don’t think I heard it used as dragged until I started writing and my editor correctedme.

With that said, it’s not a grievous mistake, and it has the possibility of being unnoticed, depending on where you misuse it. In some parts of the US, drug is the standard and won’t raise an eyebrow; to the contrary, using dragged is more likely to draw a snicker than usingdrug.

The bottom line is, if you want to use dialect, use drug. If you want to play it safe and be accepted regardless of where it’s read, use dragged.

Google ngram

As the n-gram above shows, the use of drug is more prevalent than the use of dragged, so I don’t think misusing it will be forlong.

Enervate and energize

Enervate means to sap or to weaken and does not mean to energize.

The trip on the crowded subway was an enervating experience, meaning it was tiring, exhausting.

The only thing that helped was the energizing espresso, meaning it provided some spunk, energy.

Envelop/envelope

Envelop: to cover or surround

Envelope: a paper container for a letter

Inquire or enquire

This is yet another US/UK variation.

Inquire is predominantly the US spelling.

Enquire is the UK spelling.

Some people ascribe a slight variation in meaning to the words, but I see no concrete evidence of that. What I've heard is that enquire is used more in informal settings while inquire is reserved for formalities, but usage doesn't bear thatout.

🐗 Once again, the "e" in enquire is for England.

Luxuriant and luxurious

Luxuriant means abundant or florid and does not mean luxurious.

The writer used her luxuriant imagination to create a new world. 

But, the furniture delivered today was luxurious.

🐗 Remember that luxuriant and abundant both end with "ant."

Rights-of-way or right-of-ways

This falls under the same rules as you’ll see in the chapter dealing with pluralizing compound words like daughter-in-law and mothers-in-law. It’s rights-of-way not right-of-ways. Learn more about why in that chapter.

Sneaked and snuck

This is yet another one we’ve tackled before. Sneaked is the preferred usage and snuck the non-preferred. It’s another one of those words, similar to dragged/drug where dialect comes intoplay.

sneaked and snuck

While the usage of snuck is not as widespread as drug, it is popular, as the n-gram results in the picture preceding this indicate.

Spilled and spilt

While I don’t see this as often in writing, I do frequently hear it used. The difference is primarily a US/UK issue, but it hasn’t always been that way. I have provided two n-grams for you to view—one shows usage in American English and the other in British English. Notice the shift of predominance in the US around 1900 while it didn’t happen in England until about1950.

British usage

Stalagmites and stalactites

Stalagmites are formed from the ground up, so water dripping onto the floor of a cave will make them over extended periods.

Stalactites are formed from the top, so the water forms into stalactites as it slowly drips from the ceiling of the cavern.

According to (How Stuff Works) Science, the water dripping from the end of a stalactite falls to the floor of a cave and deposits more calcite into a mound. Soon enough, a stalagmite will form in a cone-like shape. This is why you usually find stalactites and stalagmites in pairs, and sometimes they'll even grow together to form one big column.

Story or storey

This is another one of those easy ones. Storey (with the "e" is not a word in the United States, however, it is in the United Kingdom). In the UK, storey is the level of a building, as in "His office is six storeys high." In the US, you would say "His office is six storieshigh."

Storey—a level of a building (UK)

Story—a tale or account

🐗 Remember, like so many others, the one with the "e" is for England.

Wheelbarrow or wheelbarrel

This surprised me that so many people misused this word. I had grown up around it, so I learned it early, but apparently many did not. The short answer is that wheelbarrow is the correct way to say/spellit.

Wheelbarrow comes from wheel and barrow which is derived from the old English word "bearwe" which was a device used for carrying loads.

There is no such word as a wheelbarrel.

Two Words orOne?

Two Words or One? Or Hyphenated?

The Problems With Compound Words.

How many times have you typed a word, or were about to type a word, then you asked yourself—Is that two words or one?Or does it need a hyphen?

I don't know about you, but it happens to me all of the time. And spellcheckers don't always agree. One spellchecker marked my use of non-degreed as being correct, while another marked it as wrong. I had to take time to look it up to be certain.

To make matters worse, my editor wanted it to be non-degreed, but the majority of sources used non-degreed.

I have come to settle on non-degreed, mostly because I like it better that way. Since it happens to agree with the majority of sources, I'm happy.

Nonfiction was another one that had me confused, but this time the majority of the sources said "no" to the hyphen, preferring nonfiction as oneword.

And it can become even worse when you get into compound adjectives and phrasal modifiers.

So bare bear with me wile while we go thru through this. I want too to insure ensure two to get it strait straight.

The question of whether to use two words or one comes up more times than you might think. And when you add hyphens to the mix, it's damn frequent. Frequent enough to cost you a heck of a lot of time to ensure you get it right.

That's why, in this chapter, I'm going to include a long list of often-questioned words. You can use this list for reference whenever you need to check, and it will be a lot faster than consulting a dictionary.

In fact, I have this list on my website, and I have a key combination (shortcut) linked to it, so if I'm typing and have a question, all I have to do is type hyphenwords, (with no spaces) and it immediately takes me to the list. You can learn all about how to save precious time by using text shortcuts in the book I wrote about that, No Mistakes Writing, Volume I—Writing Shortcuts.

Here's another tidbit of useful information. It's from Jodie Renner's site. Jodie is a well-respected editor, and she is the author of numerous books on writing as well as editing.

As we've already seen many compound words can be used as one, two, or hyphenated words. Here are a few ofthem.

You decide to join a workout group to work out a few times aweek.The detective decided to stake out the house, but he fell asleep at the stakeout.She was upset about having to pay start-up fees to start up a business.I need to check up on my teenage daughter, then go for my annual checkup.The rocket will touch down tomorrow. They're hoping for a perfect touchdown.Let's kiss and make up! Then I'll put on some makeup and we can go out on thetown!We got a standby signal to standby.Please check in at the check-incounter.

The Oxford-English Dictionary website addresses the issue of compound words and sheds some light on their usage. The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) shows that many of today's single-word forms, suchas...

forevertomorrowinsteadnonethelesssomewhatwhatsoever

All of the above words were originally written as separate words.

Merging words appears to be particularly strong in American English, where it's standard practice to write underway, anymore, or someday as one word, whereas the two-word forms are still the norm in British English.

Compound words are primed for confusion, yet, in most cases—at least in conversation—they do not cause confusion. Even in writing, they seldom make anyone stop and think, though they may make a person wonder about your grasp of the language.

What do Imean?

Simple. If you write "I had alot to eat for dinner," people may know you used the word erroneously, but they will still know that alot was meant for alot.

It's when we delve into other words where the meaning is different from the one-word to the two-word version that we run into problems.

One of these is the first word on our list: along. Along and a long have different meanings. Let's take alook.

Along or along?

Let's look at these examples to understand the difference:

The art critic should have seen that mistake a long time ago. (