Good morning! I was going to start this week with something easy—it’s Monday after all. But then I ran across this topic among my emails from you folks, and I decided just to dive in. Here are some helpful hints on when to use and when not to use hyphens, from The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation.

Hyphenating Between Words

Many of us get confused about when to hyphenate between words. For example, should you write nearly-extinct wolves or nearly extinct wolves?

Nearly answers how close to extinct wolves are/were. Adverbs answer the questions how, where, and when.

Adverbs do not get attached to adjectives with hyphens. Therefore, the adverb nearly, like most ly words, does not get hyphenated.

Only compound adjectives–adjectives that act as one idea with other adjectives–get hyphenated in front of nouns.

Example: The crowd threw out the barely edible cake.
The word barely is an adverb answering how edible the cake was.

Example: newly diagnosed disease
The word newly is an adverb answering when.

Example: We live in a two-story building.
The word two does not answer how, when, or where. It is acting as one idea with story to describe the noun building. Therefore, two-story is a compound adjective requiring a hyphen.

Example: The announcer offered a blow-by-blow description of the boxers’ punches.
Blow-by-blow is acting as one idea. Therefore, it is a compound adjective.

Example: Our building is two stories.
When the description follows the noun, do not hyphenate.

Kara Church

Senior Technical Editor

619-542-6773 | Ext: 766773

www.symitar.com

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One of our lucky coworkers recently returned from Australia and sent me a nice poem along the lines of the English Lesson I sent about a week ago. Again, not too sure of the author, but I liked this one, too. For those of you interested in more of these charming (and possibly confusing) poems, see The English Spelling Society (TESS) at: http://www.spellingsociety.org/news/media/poems.php.

I take it you already know

Of tough and bough and cough and dough.

Others may stumble but not you,

On hiccough, thorough, slough and through

Well done! And now you wish, perhaps,

To learn of less familiar traps.

Beware of heard, a dreadful word

That looks like beard and sounds like bird,

And dead–it’s said like bed, not bead.

For goodness’s sake, don’t call it deed!

Watch out for meat and great and threat:

They rhyme with suite and straight and debt.

A moth is not a moth in mother,

Nor both in bother, broth in brother,

And here is not a match for there,

Nor dear and fear for bear and pear,

And then there’s dose and rose and lose–

Just look them up–and goose and choose,

And cork and work and card and ward,

And font and front and word and sword,

And do and go and thwart and cart.

Come, come, I’ve hardly made a start.

A dreadful language? Man alive,

I’d mastered it when I was five.

Happy Friday!

Kara Church

Senior Technical Editor

619-542-6773 | Ext: 766773

www.symitar.com

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As I was enjoying my day off yesterday, I worked on knitting a small sweater for my friend’s dog and watched a lecture on European art. (Yes, we word nerds know how to party in our free time.) As I watched, I learned a few things that I thought I’d share with you about our language and some of the terms the professor discussed.

The first was the term hierarchical proportion. This is a technique used in art (in this case it was Italian sculpture and painting during the Gothic period) in which the artist uses unnatural proportions to represent the importance of the figures in the artwork. For example, in one sculpture of the nativity, Mary was considerably larger than the rest of the characters, the baby Jesus was as big as a grown man, and the wise men, visitors, and animals were all much smaller in comparison. (And as a side note, the professor mentioned that the people were generally more stylized, while the animals were shaped more realistically.) Here is a painting using hierarchical proportion, by an Italian painter, Duccio.

Apparently, Egyptians also used this technique often, which brings us to the professor’s first tangent and another vocabulary word: sarcophagus. In this case, most of us know what it is (a stone coffin), but what about the word sarcophagus? This is where it gets nasty! The Greeks named this thing a lithos sarkophagos (λίθος σαρκοφάγος), which translates as “flesh-eating stone.”

lithos (stone): The rumor is that they used a special kind of limestone which helped bodies decay faster.

sarco (flesh)

phagos (to eat): You know that Greek yogurt, FAGE (fage)? Yep, same root word, but no flesh involved.

The last term I want to cover today is flamboyant. This was originally a term to describe a specific feature in Gothic architecture. The term is from Old French (flambe—to flame). The architecture contains s-shaped details that look like waves of fire. (See the photo of the cathedral in Rouen for a great example of flamboyant architecture.)

The Rouen Cathedral (flying buttresses on either side, flamboyant decoration on windows and facade)

Here’s an interesting note: though we might associate Gothic with darkness today, features like the flamboyant windows and flying buttresses used in Gothic architecture were designed to provide more light in the churches and cathedrals. The fire-like design of the window tracings allowed for maximum amounts of light to enter the buildings; the flying buttresses supported walls from the outside so the buildings could be built higher and closer to the sky.

Kara Church

Senior Technical Editor

Today we’re taking a break from redundant phrases to have a look the oxymoron. No, I’m not talking about a stupid teenager with acne medicine on his face. An oxymoron (plural oxymora or oxymorons) according to our friends at Wikipedia is:

A figure of speech that combines contradictory terms. Oxymora appear in a variety of contexts, including inadvertent errors such as ground pilot and literary oxymorons crafted to reveal a paradox. The word oxymoron is from the Greek ὀξύμωρον, meaning "sharp dull."

I’ve included a few here for your viewing pleasure, along with some quotations and links to many more. Many of these manufactured oxymora are intended as funny commentary (such as “airplane food”) but I suppose it all depends on your perspective.

Have a great weekend!

· dark light

· living dead

· guest host (also: permanent guest host)

· mad wisdom

· mournful optimist

· violent relaxation

· baggy tights

· compassionate editor

· open secret

· act naturally

· found missing

· deafening silence

· clearly confused

·

· "I can resist anything, except temptation." – Oscar Wilde

· "Modern dancing is so old fashioned." – Samuel Goldwyn

· "A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business." – Henry Ford

· "No one goes to that restaurant anymore – It’s always too crowded." – Yogi Berra

· "Always be sincere, even though you do not necessarily mean it." – Irene Peter

More fun with oxymora here:

· http://www.fun-with-words.com/oxym_example.html

· http://grammar.about.com/od/rhetoricstyle/a/100-Awfully-Good-Examples-Of-Oxymorons.htm

· http://www.oxymorons.info/reference/oxymorons/oxymoron-quotes.asp

Kara Church

Senior Technical Editor

619-542-6773 | Ext: 766773

www.symitar.com

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Good morning! For my growing number of contrarians, I have another set of redundancies for you to pick apart mercilessly. The phrases for N, O, and P continue from the list of 200 Common Redundancies we’ve been reviewing. I can’t wait to read what you disagree with today or to see your photographic evidence of how these phrases are not redundant. (Consider gauntlet thrown down!)

N

• (natural) instinct
• never (before)
• (new) beginning
• (new) innovation
• (new) invention
• (new) recruit
• none (at all)
• nostalgia (for the past)
• (now) pending

O

• off (of)
• (old) adage
• (old) cliché
• (old) proverb
• (open) trench
• open (up) [KC – Next time your dentist says this, you might nibble gently on his or her finger to indicate your displeasure.] Disclaimer: This advice is not condoned by the American Dental Association.
• (originally) created
• output (out of) [KC – C’mon, people. Yuck.]
• (outside) in the yard
• outside (of)
• (over) exaggerate
• over (with)
• (overused) cliché

P

• (pair of) twins
• palm (of the hand) [KC – I suppose you could have a palm of a tree, or a heart of a palm. But you have to admit, when someone presents you with a tiny baby bunny, it sounds much more
  magnificent when you say it fits “in the palm of (your) hand.”]

  

• (passing) fad
• (past) experience
• (past) history
• (past) memories
• (past) records
• penetrate (into)
• period (of time)
• (personal) friend
• (personal) opinion
• pick (and choose)
• PIN (number)
• pizza (pie) [KC – I don’t see a problem with this if you’re distinguishing between a pie and a slice. 8½ million New Yorkers can’t be wrong!]
• plan (ahead)
• plan (in advance)
• (Please) RSVP [KC – This is one of those “bilingual” redundancies. As Mr. Samuel Dean pointed out to me yesterday, the “Los Angeles Angels” is another one.]
• plunge (down)
• (polar) opposites
• (positive) identification
• postpone (until later)
• pouring (down) rain
• (pre)heat [KC – Tell my cookbooks and oven—see how far you get.]
• (pre)record
• (present) incumbent
• present (time)
• previously listed (above)
• proceed (ahead)
• (proposed) plan
• protest (against)
• pursue (after)

Kara Church

Senior Technical Editor

Most of us use contractions when we speak; but in most technical and business writing we are taught to avoid being so “casual.” In fiction, contractions are a necessity—they make voices come alive in dialog and help move conversations along. Here’s some information on contractions from an article in DailyWritingTips:

Here’s a guide to the relative respectability of various contractions:

· ’d: a contraction of did, had, and would, considered mildly informal.

· ’em: a highly informal contraction of them (“You really showed ’em”).

· ’er: a highly informal contraction of her, though often in reference to an inanimate object rather than a female (“Git ’er done”).

· ’im: a highly informal contraction of him (“I saw ’im standing there just a minute ago”).

· ’ll: frequently used in place of will (“I’ll concede that much”).

· n’t: widely employed to replace not, as in couldn’t, don’t, isn’t, shouldn’t, and won’t, though ain’t is considered acceptable only in colloquial or jocular usage, and shan’t is considered stilted.

· ’m: appears only in a contraction of “I am.”

· ’re: readily takes the place of are in “they are,” “we are,” and “you are” (and, less often, and less acceptably, “there are” or “what are”).

· ’s: used in contractions of phrases that include has and is, but use with does (“What’s he say about that?”) is considered highly informal; also is a contraction of us solely in the case of let’s.

· ’ve: acceptable for contraction of have, but double contractions such as I’d’ve (for “I would have”) are too informal for most contexts.

· y’all: a dialect contraction of “you all,” widespread in the southern United States, to refer to one or more people, but too informal for most written content.

Any of these forms is appropriate for representing dialect, though in nonfiction it is usually interpreted as a demeaning caricature, and even in fiction it can become tiresome.

The illogic of inconsistent degrees of acceptability for contractions is demonstrated by the case of ain’t, which started out as a spelling variation, based on changing pronunciation, of an’t, itself an easier-to-pronounce form of amn’t (“am I not”). All three forms were long acceptable — an’t also stood in for “are not” and is the ancestor of aren’t — but while aren’t acquired respectability, and amn’t and an’t faded, the older ain’t was attacked as a vulgarity.

Regarding yesterday’s e-mail, this is for those of you who said “live studio audience” is not redundant. Here’s a place that offers entertainment that fits your needs perfectly:

Thanks to Ellen Ewing for this great photo of a high-quality zombie hangout.

Kara Church

Senior Technical Editor

I know a lot of you take issue with some of these phrases from the list of 200 Common Redundancies being called redundant. In fact, the other day my dear friend Edith greeted me at her door, and before even saying hello, she shook her finger at me defiantly and started chanting “I will not give up saying ‘Best ever!’ Best ever! Best ever! Best ever!” Edith, I would never take that away from you.

As for everyone else, you can consider this fair warning—if I catch the redundancies in your writing, I may delete them. I’ll be particularly ruthless when you write documentation asking clients to kneel down in their minestrone soup in front of a live witness. 🙂

K

• kneel (down)
• (knowledgeable) experts

L

• lag (behind)
• later (time)
• LCD (display)
• lift (up)
• (live) studio audience
• (live) witness
• (local) residents
• look (ahead) to the future
• look back (in retrospect)

M

• made (out) of
• (major) breakthrough
• (major) feat
• manually (by hand)
• may (possibly)
• meet (together)
• meet (with each other)
• (mental) telepathy
• merge (together)
• might (possibly)
• minestrone (soup)
• mix (together)
• modern ______ (of today)
• (mutual) cooperation
• (mutually) interdependent
• mutual respect (for each other)
• (number-one) leader in ________

Kara Church

Senior Technical Editor

619-542-6773 | Ext: 766773

www.symitar.com

NOTICE: This electronic mail message and any files transmitted with it are intended
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Looking for an article or topic we covered in the past? There are two places you can view previous Editor’s Corner editions:

· Our blog: https://episystechpubs.com/

· Our SharePoint site: https://teamsites.jackhenry.com/sites/SymDocs/Editors%20Corner/Forms/AllItems.aspx

I received a charming poem about English from Daniel Reese in Allen, TX. His version was from a Facebook page. In my search for an author to attribute it to, I discovered two more versions of the poem (but still no author). This one looks like it might be the original.

The English Lesson

We’ll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes;
But the plural of ox should be oxen not oxes.
One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
Yet the plural of moose should never be meese.

You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice,
But the plural of house is houses, not hice.
If the plural of man is always called men,
Why shouldn’t the plural of pan be called pen?

If I spoke of my foot and showed you my feet,
When I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
Why shouldn’t the plural of booth be called beeth?

If the singular is this, and the plural is these,
Why shouldn’t the plural of kiss be kese?
Then one may be that, and three would be those,
Yet the plural of hat would never be hose.

We speak of a brother and also of brethren,
But though we say mother, we never say methren.
So plurals in English, I think you’ll agree,
Are indeed very tricky–singularly.

Kara Church

Senior Technical Editor

619-542-6773 | Ext: 766773

www.symitar.com

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Today’s healthy morsel is from DailyWritingTips:

The predominant way to represent the past tense of a verb is to add -ed, but some verbs take -t as a variant ending, or even as the only form. Here are forty such verbs, including some ubiquitous words (like left and shot) we may not even think of as having irregular forms because they are the only forms we know—for example, leaved and shooted are not options—as well as some that survive only in poetry or mock-archaic usage.

1. Bent: the only correct form of the past tense of bend, although the archaic form bended is used jocularly, for example in the phrase “on bended knee”

2. Blest: a variant form of the past tense of bless

3. Built: the primary form of the past tense of build, though builded is used in some dialects [KC – I bet they architected those buildings before the builded them.]

4. Burnt: a variant form of the past tense of burn; used in favor of the primary spelling in names of pigments such as burnt orange and burnt sienna (familiar to Crayola crayon aficionados)

5. Clapt: a variant form of the past tense of clap

6. Cleft: a variant form of the past tense of cleave; also, a noun or adjective referring to a split

7. Clept: the past tense of the archaic term clepe (“name,” “call”; the present-tense and past-tense words are also spelled yclepe and yclept)

8. Crept: the only correct form of the past tense of creep, except in the slang sense of being creeped out, or unsettled

9. Dealt: the only correct form of the past tense of deal

10. Dreamt: a variant form of the past tense of dream

11. Drest: an obsolete variant form of the past tense of dress

12. Dwelt: a variant form of the past tense of dwell

13. Felt: the only correct form of the past tense of feel; also, a noun referring to a type of material or a similar substance

14. Gilt: a variant form of the past tense of gild; also, a synonym for gold or a noun or adjective referring to gold plating or other surfacing, or a young female pig

15. Girt: a variant form of the past tense of gird

16. Kent: a variant form of the past tense of ken, an archaic synonym for know or recognize

17. Knelt: the primary form of the past tense of kneel

18. Leant: an alternate form of the past tense of lean, used mostly in British English but occasionally appearing in American English usage as well (pronounced “lent”)

19. Leapt: a variant form of the past tense of leap

20. Learnt: an alternate form of the past tense of learn, used mostly in British English but occasionally appearing in American English usage as well

21. Left: the only correct form of the past tense of leave, meaning “go,” although the past tense for leave in the sense of forming leaves is leaved

22. Lent: the only correct form of the past tense of loan

23. Lost: the only correct form of the past tense of lose

24. Meant: the only correct form of the past tense of mean (pronounced “ment”)

25. Pent: an alternate form of the past tense of pen, meaning “confine,” although the past tense for pen in the sense of writing is penned

26. Reft: an alternate form of the past tense of reave

27. Rent: an alternate form of the past tense of rend

28. Sent: the only correct form of the past tense of send

29. Shot: the only correct form of the past tense of shoot

30. Slept: the only correct form of the past tense of sleep

31. Smelt: a variant form of the past tense of smell; also, a noun referring to a type of fish or a verb for melting or reducing metal or another substance

32. Spelt: an alternate form of the past tense of spell, used mostly in British English but occasionally appearing in American English usage as well; also, a noun referring to a type of wheat [KC – Great! Two ways to spell the past tense of
spell! English rocks!]

33. Spent: the only correct form of the past tense of spend

34. Spilt: a variant form of the past tense of spill

35. Spoilt: a variant form of the past tense of spoil

36. Stript: a variant form of the past tense of strip

37. Vext: a variant form of the past tense of vex

38. Wept: the only correct form of the past tense of weep

39. Went: the only correct form of the past tense of go

40. [KC – I removed one because there was a typo and I couldn’t figure out what the author intended.]

Kara Church

Senior Technical Editor

619-542-6773 | Ext: 766773

www.symitar.com

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Welcome to Wednesday! I have several more redundant words and phrases for us to watch out for from the list of 200 Common Redundancies we started…was that last week? It seems like years ago. In any case, I bring you those beginning with G, H, I and J.

G

• gather (together)
• (general) public [KC – Unless you are part of the punk/mod/ska band from the early 1980s, in which case you’d be General Public with initial caps.]
• GOP (party)
• GRE (exam)
• green [or blue or whatever] (in color)
• grow (in size)

H

• had done (previously)
• (harmful) injuries [KC – If you are one of the few people in the world with congenital analgesia, I will accept your argument that this is not redundant; otherwise, each e-mailed argument will
  cost a dollar.]
• (head) honcho
• HIV (virus)
• hoist (up)
• hurry (up)

I

• (illustrated) drawing
• incredible (to believe)
• indicted (on a charge)
• input (into)
• integrate (together)
• integrate (with each other)
• interdependent (on each other) [KC
  – C’mon folks. This just sounds horrible!]
• introduced (a new)
• introduced (for the first time)
• (ir)regardless [KC – I get several requests a year asking me to discuss this word (or rather, pleading with me to tell people not to use it). This is probably the fifth or sixth
  time I have included an article with the instructions DO NOT USE THE NON-WORD IRREGARDLESS. Unfortunately, I can guarantee you will hear it again and it will make you cry.]
• ISBN (number)

J

• join (together)
• (joint) collaboration

Kara Church

Senior Technical Editor

619-542-6773 | Ext: 766773

www.symitar.com

NOTICE: This electronic mail message and any files transmitted with it are intended
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