Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Your - English editing.

Note the difference between the possessive your (as in what is your name?) and the contraction you’re, meaning ‘you are’ (as in you’re looking well). Note also that neither your nor yours should be written with an apostrophe.
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Monday, November 29, 2010

Whichever - English editing.

Whichever should always be written as one word, e.g. you’re safe with whichever option you choose. However, do not confuse it with constructions in which the separate words which and ever quite legitimately come together, e.g. this reminds me of the 5-year development plans, none of which ever worked.
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Saturday, November 27, 2010

Whence - English editing.

Strictly speaking, whence means ‘from what place’, as in whence did you come? Thus, some people maintain that ‘from’ in from thence as in from whence did you come? Is unnecessary, since the word already contains the idea of ‘from’, so that effectively you are saying ‘from from where’. The use with from is very common, though, and has been used by reputable writers since the 14th century. It is now broadly accepted in Standard English.
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Friday, November 26, 2010

Various - English editing.

In Standard English the word various is normally used as an adjective, e.g. dresses of various colors. It is sometimes also used as a pronoun followed by of, as in various of her friends had called. Although this use is similar to that of words such as several and many (e.g. several of her friends had called), it is sometimes regarded as incorrect.
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Thursday, November 25, 2010

Whoever - English editing.

In the emphatic use (whoever does he think he is?) whoever is also written as two words. In its other senses, however, it must be written as one word: whoever wins should be guaranteed an Olympic place; come out, whoever you are.
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Wednesday, November 24, 2010

-Trix- English editing.

The suffix –trix has been used since the 15th century to form feminine agent nouns corresponding to masculine forms ending in –tor. Although a wide variety of forms have been coined, few of them have ever had wide currency. In modern use the suffix is found chiefly in legal terms such as executrix, administratrix, and testatrix but also in the word dominatrix.
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Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Upmost - English editing.

Upmost is a somewhat rare adjective and a variant of uppermost. It refers to the position of something, as in the upmost layer. Though a process of FOLK ETYMOLOGY it is sometimes incorrectly used instead of utmost: e.g. with the upmost care, instead of with the utmost care; to do your upmost, instead of to do your utmost.
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Monday, November 22, 2010

Unlike - English editing.

The use of unlike as a conjunction, as in she was unlike she’d ever behaved before, is not considered Standard English. It can be avoided by using as or in a way that with a negative instead: she was behaving as she’d never behaved before; we do it in a way that isn’t pushy or overtly political.
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Saturday, November 20, 2010

Transpire - English editing

The standard general sense of transpire is ‘to come to be known’ as in it transpired that Mark had been baptized a Catholic. From this a looser sense had developed, meaning ‘to happen or occur’: I’m going to find out exactly what transpired. This looser sense, first recorded in US English towards the end of the 18th century and listed in US dictionaries from the 19th century, is often criticized for being jargon, an unnecessarily long word used where occur and happen would do just as well. The newer sense is very common, however, and generally accepted in most contexts, except by purists.
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Friday, November 19, 2010

Text - English editing.

At the moment there seems to be no agreement on which the ‘correct’ form for the verb text in the past tense: text or texted. Text, as in I text but you didn’t reply is often heard, but texted is also used, and is found in writing. If no text is a regular verb, like love, then texted is the correct past tense and participle. However, people may be treating it as an irregular verb, like put, with the same past form as the present, perhaps influenced by the fact that text sounds like a past participle, as though it were ‘texted’. It will be interesting to see which form wins out in long run.
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Thursday, November 18, 2010

Than - English editing

Traditional grammar holds that personal pronouns following than should be in the subjective rather than the objective case: he is smaller than she rather than he is smaller than her. This is based on analyzing than as a conjunction with the personal pronoun (‘she’) standing in for a full clause: he is smaller than she is. However, it is arguable that than in this context is not a conjunction but a preposition, grammatically similar to words like with, between, and for. If it is a preposition, the personal pronoun is objective: he is smaller than her is standard in just the same way as, for example, I work with her is standard (not I work with she) . Whatever the grammatical analysis, the evidence confirms that sentences like he is smaller than she are uncommon in modern English and only ever found in formal contexts , on the other hand, are almost universally accepted.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Overly - English editing.

The use of overly in place of the prefix over-, e.g. overly confident, although not uncommon and well established in British usage, is still likely to be regarded as an Americanism by more conservative speakers and could well strike a jarring note.
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Monday, November 15, 2010

Oversimplistic - English editing.

Many language purists would argue that oversimplistic is an unnecessary word, and that it says the same thing twice, since simplistic already means ‘over-simple’. It is therefore best to avoid it in a formal context.
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Saturday, November 13, 2010

Outside - English editing.

There is no difference in meaning between outside and outside of as in the books have been distributed outside Europe and the books have been distributed outside of Europe. The use of outside of is much commoner and better established in North America than in British English.
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Friday, November 12, 2010

Ought - English editing.

The verb ought is a modal verb, which means that it does not behave grammatically like ordinary verbs. In particular, the negative is formed with the word not alone and not with auxiliary verbs such as do or have. Therefore the standard construction for the negative is he ought not to have gone. The alternative forms he didn’t ought to have gone and he hadn’t ought to have gone, formed as though ought were an ordinary verb rather than a modal verb, are found in dialect from the 19th century but are not acceptable in standard English.
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Thursday, November 11, 2010

Oriental - English editing

The term oriental has an out-of-date feel when used to refer to people from the Far East. It tends to be associated with a rather offensive stereotype of the people and their customs as exotic and inscrutable.In US English, Asian is the standard accepted term in modern use;in British English, where Asian tends to denote specifically people from the Indian subcontinent, it is better to use precise term such as Chinese, Japanese, and so forth.
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Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Noisome - English editing.

Noisome is a relatively uncommon word meaning ‘harmful’, noxious and has nothing to do with the word noise. It comes from a Middle English word nay, related to annoy. Purists will object to its being used to mean ‘noisy’.
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Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Oftentimes - English editing

Though somewhat rare outside the US, and likely to sound archaic to a British ear, oftentimes is a perfectly acceptable and standard alternative to often, as in: oftentimes the dialogue has an unnatural ring.
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Monday, November 8, 2010

Offspring - English editing.

The meaning of offspring covers both an individual child and several children, though the latter meaning is the more common. As a result, the word does not need the plural form ‘offsprings’ with an -s which is sometimes encountered.
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Saturday, November 6, 2010

Offence, Offense - English editing.

The spelling offence with a letter c is standard in nearly all varieties of English, except in the US, where offense with an s is the norm. To use this second spelling in a non-US context is therefore likely to be considered incorrect.
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Thursday, November 4, 2010

Octopus - English editing.

The standard plural of octopus in English is octopuses. The word comes from Greek, but the Greek plural octopods is almost never used genuinely (i.e. outside writing about the plural of octopus). The plural form octopi, formed according to the rules of Latin plurals, are incorrect.
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Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Obtuse - English editing.

Obtuse and abstruse are often confused. Someone who is obtuse is rather stupid, as in she’s about as obtuse as they come. Something which is abstruse is rather obscure and difficult to understand. To use obtuse in the meaning of ‘obscure, difficult’, though often done, is not considered good style, and conservatives will consider it a rank mistake.
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Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Mute - English editing.

To describe a person without the power of speech as mute, especially as in deaf mute, is today regarded as outdated, and it is highly likely to cause offence. However, there is no direct, acceptable alternative, but profoundly deaf is used to imply that someone has not developed any spoken language skills.
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