Good morning!
It’s time to return to our list of “Spelling, Vocabulary, and Confusing Words” from grammarbook.com. Today’s picture is from my brief vacation up in Tacoma, WA. It’s a Church Family game, where the kids swing from a tree, and the goats (Lewis and Clark) try to head-butt them. Both the children and the goats seem to enjoy it immensely.
| gait | a manner of walking or stepping, stride
Examples: trotting, galloping, limping |
| gate | barrier |
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Good afternoon! Today we’re going to cover one of the questions I’ve received several times in the last month.
Dear Editrix,
Sometimes I get a little confused with the wide selection of prepositions available in English. When I am in the back yard, should I jump on to the trampoline, or should I jump onto the trampoline?
Sincerely,
Trampoline Tilly
Dear Tilly,
Here are some brief rules and examples for “on to” and “onto” from grammarbook.com. If you want even more on the subject (and pictures) try the Purdue OWL (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/594/02/).
On To vs. Onto
Rule 1: In general, use onto as one word to mean on top of, to a position on, upon. Use onto if you can use up before on.
Examples:
He climbed (up) onto the roof.
Let’s step onto the dance floor.
She held on to her child in the crowd.
I’m going to log on to the computer.
Rule 2: Use onto when you mean fully aware of; informed about.
Example: We canceled Julia’s surprise party when we realized she was onto our plan.
And this, from Kevin Campion, is a new word from the Milwaukee airport. It seems they have a good sense of humor.
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Is it really Friday already? Well, then, I suppose it is time for the F word! Wait, no. Not that one. Since I like my job, how about going over several “F” words, including the further/farther duo and the fewer/less/under trio. Today’s letter is brought to you by the Blue Book of Grammar (http://www.grammarbook.com/homonyms/confusing-words-letter-f.asp).
| fair (adjective, noun) | impartial; an exhibition |
| fare | payment or expense for travel |
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Here is my favorite question (and answer) from the February Chicago Manual of Style newsletter. (http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/qanda/latest.html) Somehow, they even manage to make the topic below sound a little stodgy. 🙂
Question: When referring to a zombie, should I use the relative pronoun who (which would refer to a person) or that (since, technically, the zombie is no longer living)? Essentially, does a zombie cease to become a “person” in the grammatical sense?
Answer: Let’s assume this is a serious question, in which case you, as the writer, get to decide just how much humanity (if any) and grammatical sense you wish to invest in said zombie. That will guide your choice of who or that.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Another “demotivator” from www.despair.com
Kara Church
Senior Technical Editor
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It’s only Tuesday, but how about a quick break? Way back when, in the bitter cold of January of ‘13, I sent out a few samples of mixed metaphors. Today, I’d like to share a few more with you.
First, a quick refresher from the Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary:
· metaphor: a figure of speech in which a word or phrase denoting one kind of object or action is used in place of another to suggest a likeness or analogy between them: an implied comparison (For example: His heart was broken. She was drowning in a sea of grief.)
· mixed metaphor: a figure of speech combining two or more inconsistent or incongruous metaphors
The following mixed metaphors are from http://therussler.tripod.com:
· Put that in your hat and smoke it.
· She has bigger dogs to fry.
· Sometimes I feel like I’m swimming uphill against the grain.
· Sometimes you have to bite the hand that you’re dealt.
· Spare the rod; spoil the broth.
· That really hacks me to a crisp.
· They’re diabolically opposed.
· We’re cooking on all four cylinders.
· It’s like a wizard in sheep’s clothing.
· Necessity is the mother of strange bedfellows.
· What goes around, stays in Vegas.
· When life throws you curve balls, make lemonade.
· That’s using your head for something besides a footstool.
· They need to wake up and smell the music.
· I have a lot of black sheep in my closet.
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It’s Monday, so I’m going to let grammarbook.com do most of the work for the letter E. The definitions and most of the examples are from the web site. Not too many words today, but these couplets get a lot of people confused. I have to say, that definition for “illusive” is a little elusive to me. I hope you enjoyed the weekend.
| e.g. | for example
Example: My living expenses have increased, e.g., rent, food, and utilities. |
| i.e. | that is, in other words
Example: My living expenses have drained my finances, i.e., I have less money in the bank at the end of every month. |
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| Happy Friday! According to Punxatawny Phil, we’re in for an early spring this year, but the weather seems to disagree. Stay warm, dry, and have a good weekend!
As for our daily lesson, we continue with the grammarbook.com list of “Spelling, Vocabulary, and Confusing Words.” |
|||
| days | twenty-four-hour periods of time | ||
| daze | to stun or overwhelm | ||
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Yesterday, a man (who shall remain nameless to protect him from being whipped with a cable) told me he’d heard people refer to Episys Console Control as Council Control. Unless we switched from data processing software to political and legislative software, Council Control is incorrect. Then I heard more rumors of people getting council and console confused. David Petersen was kind enough to do my work for me, and sent these definitions and examples to add to yesterday’s council and counsel:
· consul (noun)—an advisor, diplomat, representative
· console (noun)—a control terminal for an electronic device (e.g., a “computer or TV console”)
· console (verb)—to comfort, soothe, calm (e.g. “She consoled her friend after her bad break-up.”)
· council (noun)—a group of people meeting for a purpose
· counsel (verb, noun)—advise; advice, an attorney
Thank you David, and thanks to everyone for helping me keep these articles relevant!
And for today’s special feature…
I received this article the other day, and I wasn’t sure if anyone would be interested—but many of you sent it on to me from other places it was published. I’ll take that as a show of interest, so I’ve included it in its entirety. From DailyWritingTips.com:
Posted: 30 Jan 2013 08:10 PM PST
No authoritarian authority exists that determines whether a given word is valid or bogus. In any language, there’s a complex and imperfect vetting procedure; at least in English, most serious writers agree on the correct or preferred form of a word that is one of two or more variants or on whether a word is acceptable at all. Here’s a list of words that have been under scrutiny in this approval process:
1. Administrate: A back-formation of administration and an unnecessary extension of administer
2. Commentate: A back-formation of commentator and an unnecessary extension of comment
3. Dimunition: Erroneous; the correct form is diminution (think of diminutive)
4. Exploitive: A younger, acceptable variant of exploitative
5. Firstly: As with secondly and thirdly, erroneous when enumerating points; use first and so on
6. Heighth: Rarely appears in print, but a frequent error in spoken discourse (Why isn’t height modeled on the form of depth, length, and width? Because it doesn’t shift in spelling and pronunciation from its associated term, tall, like the others, which are derived from deep, long, and wide, do. Neither do we say or write weighth.)
7. Irregardless: An unnecessary extension of regardless on the analogy of irrespective but ignoring that regardless, though it is not an antonym of regard, already has an antonymic affix
8. Miniscule: A common variant of minuscule, but widely considered erroneous
9. Orientate: A back-formation of orientation and an unnecessary extension of orient
10. Participator: Erroneous; the correct form is participant
11. Preventative: A common and acceptable variant of preventive
12. Societal: A variant of social with a distinct connotation (for example, “social occasion,” but “societal trends”)
13. Supposably: An erroneous variant of supposedly
14. ’Til: Also rendered til and till, a clipped form of until that is correct but informal English; use the full word except in colloquial usage
15. Undoubtably: An erroneous variant of undoubtedly
Kara Church
Senior Technical Editor
Posted in Articles
| Today we have the second half of the “C” list from the article “Spelling, Vocabulary, and Confusing Words” (grammarbook.com). I made only a couple additions today. | ||
| canvas | awning cloth, tarp; material used for Chuck Taylor All Stars | |
| canvass | to poll; a poll
Example: Jo-Jo was unsuccessful when she was asked to canvass the conservative neighborhood on its liberal values. |
|
| click | a sound | |
| clique | a group | |
| coarse | rough, lacking in fineness of texture; crude | |
| course | a class; a path | |
| colonel | an officer in the military | |
| kernel | a seed | |
| complement | completing part of an order; (of two or more different things) Combining in such a way as to enhance or emphasize each other’s qualities Example: ProfitStars sells terrific products that complement JHA’s core systems. |
|
| compliment | 1. Expressing a compliment; praising or approving.
2. Given or supplied free of charge. 3. Example: Most people enjoy getting compliments for “a job well done.” 4. Example: We went to the time share presentation and found out the complimentary gift was a haircut. |
|
| connote | to suggest, imply
Example: A growling dog connotes danger. |
|
| denote | to be a sign of
Example: Certain clouds denote rain on the way. |
|
| continual | repeated but with breaks in between; chronic
Example: The continual problem of our car not starting forced us to sell it. |
|
| continuous | without interruption in an unbroken stream of time or space
Example: The continuous dripping of the faucet drove me crazy. |
|
| council | a group of people meeting for a purpose | |
| counsel (verb, noun) | advise; advice, an attorney | |
| cue | a hint; a stimulus; “cue stick” – A stick used to play pool; a stick used to poke holes in the ceiling when you are bad at playing pool. | |
| queue | a line of people waiting; a single braid of hair (worn down the back); a series of projects held temporarily for processing | |
| curser | someone who swears or wishes misfortune on another; me, while watching local news or driving. | |
| cursor | a blinking symbol indicating position on a computer screen | |
Kara Church
Senior Technical Editor
Good morning! I have a lot of words today and tomorrow from the “C list.” As usual, the definitions and examples are from Grammarbook.com; those in blue are from me.
| censor (verb, noun) | disallow; person who disallows
Example: The soldier’s letters were censored before mailing. |
| censure | to disapprove of; criticize strongly
Example: The children were censured by the principal. |
| sensor | a device that measures heat, light, etc. and transmits a signal to a control or measuring instrument |
| cent | a penny |
| scent | a smell, aroma |
| sent | Transmitted
Example: I sent 12 cents to the factory to buy a bottle of skunk scent neutralizer; it smelled like a sewage treatment plant. |
| childish | Immature
Example: “Mr. B and Ms. C,” said the CFO, “If you continue giving each other noogies, I will write you up for your childish behavior.” |
| childlike | Innocent
Example: I enjoy Frannie’s childlike personality—the innocent stares, the glee with which she approaches new experiences, her gentle naïveté—but I wish she would stop eating Gerber’s stewed carrots when we go clubbing. |
| choral (adj.) | having to do with a chorus or a choir
Example: My choral group meets on Thursday evenings to practice hymns for Sunday’s service. |
| coral (noun, adj.) | material that makes up reefs; orange color
Example: My coral group meets in Hawaii each May to snorkel and take photos of the fish that live among these skeletal marine animals. |
| corral (noun, verb) | a horse pen; to confine
Example: My corral group meets on Saturdays at Boone’s Farm to ride horses and practice hog-tying. |
| chord | three or more musical tones sounded simultaneously; line segment joining two points on a curve |
| cord | a rope or strand of flexible material; a unit of measurement used for dry wood (in U.S. and Canada) |
| cored | removed the center of something
Example:We made a guitar out of a piece of wood, a cored apple, and four nylon cords; it didn’t play a single chord of music. |
| cite | to assert; to quote from; to subpoena
Example: Professor Parker always ended his lectures by citing The Hobbit. |
| sight | vision, the power to see
Example: Every time I see Mt. Rainier on a beautiful Seattle day, I am tremendously thankful for the gift of sight. |
| site | a location or position
Example: The site of the new office building is in the vacant lot three blocks from here. |
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together with any attachment, may contain confidential and/or privileged information.
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Editor's Corner 