Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Hispanic - English editing.

In the US Hispanic is the standard accepted term when referring to Spanish-speaking people living in the US. Other, more specific, terms such as Latino and Chicano are also used where occasion demands.
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Monday, August 30, 2010

Hindustani - English editing.

Hindustani was the usual term in the 18th and 19th centuries for the native language of NW India. The usual modern term is Hindi (or Urdu in Muslim contexts), although Hindustani is still used to refer to the dialect of Hindi spoken around Delhi.
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Saturday, August 28, 2010

He - English editing.

1.For a discussion of I am older than he versus I am older than him.
2.Until recently, he was used uncontroversially to refer to a person of unspecified sex, as in every child needs to know that he is loved. This use has become problematic and is a hallmark of old-fashioned or sexist language. Use of they as an alternative to he in this sense (everyone needs to feel that they matter) has been in use since the 18th century, in contexts where it occurs after an indefinite pronoun such as everyone or someone. It is becoming more and more accepted both in speech and in writing. Another alternative is he or she, though this can become tiresomely long-winded when used frequently.
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Friday, August 27, 2010

Hardly - English editing.

Words such as hardly, scarcely, and rarely should not be used with negative constructions. Thus, it is correct to say I can hardly wait but incorrect to say I can’t hardly wait. This is because adverbs such as hardly are treated as if they were negatives, and it is a grammatical rule of Standard English that double negatives (i.e. in this case having hardly and not in the same clause) are not acceptable. Words such as hardly behave as negatives in other respects as well, as for example in combining with words such as any or at all, which are normally only used where a negative is present: standard usage is I’ve got hardly any money.
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Thursday, August 26, 2010

Hang - English editing.

In modern English hang has two past tense and past participle forms: hanged and hung. Hung is the normal form in most general uses, e.g. they hung out the washing; she hung around for a few minutes; he had hung the picture over the fireplace, but hanged is the form normally used in reference to execution by hanging: the prisoner was hanged. The reason for this distinction is a complex historical one: hanged, the earlier form, was superseded by hung sometime after the 16th century; it is likely that the retention of hanged for the execution sense has to do with the tendency of archaic forms to live on in the legal language of the courts.
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Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Harass - English editing.

There are two possible pronunciations of the word harass: one stressed /ha-ruhss/ and the other /huh-rass/. /Ha-ruhss/ is the older one and is regarded by some people as the only correct one, especially in British English. However, the pronunciation /huh-rass/ is very common and is now accepted as a standard alternative.
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Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Handicapped - English editing.

The word handicapped is first recorded in the early 20th century in the sense of referring to a person’s mental or physical disabilities. In British English it was the standard term until relatively recently but like many terms in this sensitive field its prominence has been short-lived. It has been superseded by more recent terms such as disabled, or, in reference to mental disability, having learning difficulties or learning-disabled. In American English, however, handicapped remains acceptable.
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Monday, August 23, 2010

Halfz - English editing.

People are sometimes not sure whether to use a singular or plural verb in phrases with half. When half is followed by a singular noun (with or without of between), the verb is also singular, and when the noun is plural the verb is plural: half of the country is employed in agriculture; half the people like the idea; half that amount is enough. Occasionally, when half (of) is used with a collective noun, the plural can correctly be used: nearly half (of) the population lose at least half their teeth before they reach the age of 40.
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Saturday, August 21, 2010

Grow - English editing.

Although grow is typically used intransitively, as in he would watch Nick grow to manhood, its use as a transitive verb has long been standard in contexts which refer to growing plants and one’s hair (more land was needed to grow crops; she grew her hair long). Recently, however, grow in its transitive meaning has become popular in business jargon: entrepreneurs who are struggling to grow their businesses. This is still a relatively new usage, and it is perhaps better to avoid it in formal contexts.
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Thursday, August 19, 2010

Grisly, Grizzly - English editing.

The words grisly and grizzly are quite different in meaning, though often confused. Grisly means ‘gruesome’, as in grisly crimes, whereas grizzly chiefly describes a kind of large American bear, but can also mean ‘grey or grey-haired’.
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Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Graduate - English editing.

The original use of this verb is be graduated from (a transitive verb, used passively: she will be graduated from medical school in June. However, it is now much more common to say graduate from: she will graduate from medical school in June. A different transitive sense, as in he graduated from high school last week, is becoming increasingly common, especially in speech, but would be considered incorrect by most traditionalists.
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Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Gourmand - English editing.

The words gourmand and gourmet are similar but not identical in meaning. Both can be used to mean ‘a connoisseur of the good food’ but gourmand is more usually used to mean ‘a person who enjoys eating and often eats too much’. In other words, there is a hierarchy of finesse: I am a gourmet, you are a gourmand, he is a glutton.
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Monday, August 16, 2010

Gotten - English editing.

Gotten and got, the past participle of get, both date back to Middle English. The form gotten is not generally used in British English but is very common in North American English, though even there it is often regarded as non-standard. In North American English, got and gotten are not identical in use. Gotten usually implies the process of obtaining something, as in he had gotten us tickets for the show, while got implies the state of possession or ownership, as in I haven’t got any money. Gotten is also used in the meaning of ‘become’, as in she’s gotten very fat this last year.
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Saturday, August 14, 2010

Get - English editing.

The verb get is one of the most common verbs in the English language. Nevertheless, despite its high frequency, there is still a feeling that almost any use containing get is somewhat informal. This may stem from the fact that many people were told at school not to write get at all, even though that was really only justifiable in relation to informal uses such as I got a bike for my birthday, and not standard expressions such as he fought to get his breath back.
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Friday, August 13, 2010

Salary - English editing.

Salary is noun. Salary ends with -ary.
Rule: change the -y to -ies to make the plurals of words which end in a consonant plus -y (as in berry/berries): salaries.
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Thursday, August 12, 2010

Gender - English editing.

The word gender has been used since the 14th century primarily as a grammatical term, referring to the classes of noun designated as masculine, feminine, or neuter in Latin, Greek, German, and other languages. It has also been used for just as long to refer to ‘the state of being male or female’, but this did not become a common standard use until the mid 20th century. Although the words gender and sex both mean ‘the state of being male or female’, they are typically used in slightly different ways: sex tends to refer to biological differences, while gender tends to refer to cultural or social ones.
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Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Further, furthest - English editing.

In some contexts further and farther are completely interchangeable: she moved further/farther down the train. The two words share the same roots and are equally correct when the meaning is ‘at, to, or by a greater distance’. Further is a much commoner word, though, and is used in various abstract and metaphorical context, for example referring to time, where it would be unusual to use farther, e.g. without further delay; have you anything further to say?; we intend to stay a further two weeks. The same distinction is made between farthest and furthest: the farthest point from the sun, but: this first team has gone furthest in its analysis.
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Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Fun - English editing.

The use of fun as an adjective meaning ‘enjoyable’, as in we had a fun evening, is not fully accepted in standard English and should only be used in informal contexts. There are signs that this situation is changing, though, given the recent appearance in US English of the comparative and superlative forms funner and funnest, formed as if fun were a normal adjective.
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Monday, August 9, 2010

Fulsome - English editing.

The modern, generally accepted meaning of fulsome is ‘excessively complimentary or flattering’ as in a long and fulsome forty-seven page dedication to Princess Caroline, but it is also often used to mean simply ‘abundant’, especially in uses such as the critics have been fulsome in their praise. Although this is in line with its earliest use, first recorded in the 13th century, some people consider it to be incorrect.
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Saturday, August 7, 2010

(-Ful) - English editing.

The combining form -ful is used to form nouns meaning ‘the amount needed to fill’ (cupful, spoonful, etc.). The plural of such words is cupfuls, spoonfuls, etc., with the words joined together. Three cups full would mean the individual cups rather than a quantity measured in cups: on the sill were three cups full of milk, but add three cupfuls of milk to the batter.
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Friday, August 6, 2010

Free rein - English editing.

The image behind the phrase give free rein (to somebody) is from horse-riding, and the rein referred to is the strip of leather used to control a horse’s (or child’s) movements. Nowadays the spelling free reign, with an image taken from kingship, is almost as frequent, particularly in the US.
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Thursday, August 5, 2010

Founder, Flounder - English editing.

It is easy to confuse the words founder and flounder, not only because they sound similar but also because the contexts in which they are used tend to be similar. Founder means ‘to fail’, as in the scheme foundered because of lack of organizational backing. Flounder, on the other hand, means ‘to be in difficulties’, as in new recruits floundering about in their first week.
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Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Fortuitous - English editing.

The traditional, historical meaning of fortuitous is ‘happening by chance’: a fortuitous meeting is a chance meeting, which might turn out to be either a good thing or a bad thing. Today, however, fortuitous tends to be often used to refer only to fortunate outcomes, and the word has become more or less a synonym for ‘lucky’ or ‘fortunate’: the ball went into the goal by a fortuitous ricochet. Although this usage is now widespread, it is still regarded by some people as being rather informal and not correct.
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Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Formidable - English editing.

There are two possible pronunciations of formidable: /for-mi-duh-b’l/ with the stress on the first syllable and /for-mid-uh-b’l/ with the stress on the second. /for-mid-uh-b’l/ is now common in British English, and the traditional pronunciation /for-mi-duh-b’l/ is rarely heard nowadays. Both pronunciations are acceptable in modern standard English.
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Monday, August 2, 2010

Former - English editing.

Traditionally, former and latter are used in relation to pairs of items: either the first of two items (former) or the second of two items (latter). The reason for this is that former and latter were formed as comparatives, adjectives which are correctly used with reference to just two things. In practice, former and latter are now sometimes used just as synonyms for first and last and are routinely used to refer to a contrast involving more than two items. Such uses, however, are not good English style.
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