The Penguin Guide To Plain English
The Penguin Guide To Plain English
H A R R Y BLAMIRES
PENGUIN BOOKS
5
Copyright Harry Blamires, 2000
All rights reserved
The moral right of the author has been asserted
Set in 9.75/12 pt Monotype Joanna
Typeset by Rowland Phototypesetting Ltd, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
Printed in England by Clays Ltd, St Ives pic
Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject
to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent,
re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publishers
prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in
which it is published and without a similar condition including this
condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser
Contents
INTRODUCTION
PART 1
T h e W o rd s a t O u r Disposal
C H AP T ER 1
13
SO ME RISKY C O N T E X T S
13
SO ME VERBAL D I S T O R T I O N S
W O R D S D A M A G E D BY MISUSE
A N D OV E R - US E
C H AP T ER 2
C H AP T ER 3
C H AP T ER 4
30
45
Words at W ork
70
COMBINING W O R D WITH W O R D
70
P ER SO N AL A N D I MP ERSO NA L
80
R E A D Y -M AD E USAGES
87
100
THE H I S T O RI CA L B A C K G R O U N D
100
O U R DU AL V O CA BUL ARY
103
F O RE I GN W O R D S A N D PHRASES
107
AR CH AI SM S
116
AMER I C AN I SMS
118
A rranging W o rd s C orrectly
PART 2
chapter
ch a pter
chapter 7
123
123
130
134
TH E PAST PARTICIPLE
139
TH E G E R U N D
142
SO ME T R OU B LE S O M E VERB F ORMS
147
152
THE USE OF P R O N O U N S
152
US I N G THE RI GH T P R E P OS I T I O N S
158
174
FALSE PARALLELS
175
chapter
chapter
179
192
Presenting a Case
198
ADDITION
199
A L T E R N A T I O N A N D S E P AR A TI ON
203
CAUSE A N D EFFECT
205
P U RPO SE A N D RESULT
209
CO ND ITIO NS
212
D E P E N D EN C E A N D I N D E P E N D E N C E
214
216
218
221
STYLE A N D S U B S T A NC E
221
SIMPLICITY
222
N O U N S A N D VERBS
226
USE O F M E T A P H O R
2J
W O R D AND CO NTEXT
237
HYPERBOLE
241
C HAP T ER
p a rt
10
chapter
Sound Logic
245
BA CK - R EFER ENC E
245
249
MISSING LINKS
254
W O R D ORDER
258
E X A C T I TU DE
260
AMBI GUI TY
263
LISTI NG IN S E Q U EN C E
265
271
COMPOUNDS
271
VARIETIES OF C O M P O U N D S
272
T R E N D Y USAGE
289
OV ER - U S E OF FAMILIAR PHRASES
A N D E XPRES SI ONS
chapter
12
293
299
FR EEDOM W I T H
t r a n s it iv e / in t r a n s itiv e verbs
chapter
INDEX
13
299
304
N O U N S USED AS ADJECTIVES
308
THE PA RE N TH E T I C AL ADVERB
310
PO LI T I C AL C O R R E CT N E S S
311
Workaday English
319
BUSI NESS-SPEAK
319
3 31
SP O RT S P EAK
336
J O U RN A LE S E A N D M A G AZ I NE - S P E AK
338
346
INTRODUCTION
headed reader will anyway protest mentally But the church spire is not
glancing to the right. In the same way, having read As the inheritor of
an illustrious name in hunting, the threat to the sport came as a great
shock, the grammarian will quite properly talk about misconnecting an
appositional phrase, but the clear-headed reader can see anyway that it
is nonsense to talk o f a threat as having an illustrious name in hunting,
and will not need to refer to the grammatical rule book. Correct use of
English depends so m uch on straight thinking and sheer com m on sense
that it is possible in discussion o f the subject to be selective and economic
in the use of grammatical terminology. That is the policy in this book.
Some light can be shed on w hat constitutes plain English if we take a
preliminary look at a few o f the obvious qualities it m ust have. Utterance
that is plain is utterance that cannot be misunderstood. And utterance
that cannot possibly be m isunderstood will be precise. To be precise is
to get exactly the right word. Precision ought not to be regarded as
the preserve of pedants. Getting nearly the right w ord renders prose
uncomfortable for the educated reader. Here w e have an advertisement
w here a touch of cleverness misfires through failure to be precise.
Five Alive, one of the most popular fruit drinks on the market, has devel
oped a new tasty recipe thats an ideal accompaniment for any breakfast
table.
Reading w ith proper attention, we sense at once that the w ord accom
panim ent is ill-chosen. Tomato sauce m ight be a suitable accompaniment
for fish and chips, and a piano m ight provide a suitable accompaniment
for a singer, but a breakfast table does not need to be accompanied by a
recipe. The w riters desire not to say the simple and direct thing, that
the recipe makes a tasty drink for breakfast, instead o f dragging in the
notion of accompanying a table, merely makes for imprecision.
Plain English is never wasteful o f words. If a thing can be said briefly,
then so it should be. Great poets recognize this. Few sentences say as
m uch as Shakespeares To be or not to be; that is the question. Not that
compression so extreme fits all occasions. But the pointless piling-up of
words degrades the w ords it wastes. Nevertheless, the notion that brief
conversational idioms should be translated in print into long-w inded
utterance is widespread. Here is a report on the result o f a test taken by
nurses.
Durrell, people have lauded Corfu w ould make sense. From Odysseus
to Durrell, the island has been lauded does not. The w ord that in Add
to that, placed w here it is, ought to refer to the long lauding of
the island. But it doesnt. The w riter has changed tack. Moreover, she
immediately changes tack again. Adding olive groves to villages and
birdlife does not make it difficult to believe that we are w here we are in
history. W hat the w riter means is that the (unm entioned) tranquillity
and remoteness o f the scenery seem to belong to a past century. Clear
articulation of a train o f thought will leave no gaps in logic w hich the
readers m ind has to jum p over. The connecting expressions Add to
that, and it is hard to believe and O therw ise all need to be replaced:
From Odysseus through to the English poet Lawrence Durrell, people
have long lauded the island for its glorious beaches, great rock formations
along the west coast, picturesque villages and spectacular birdlife. M ore
over, there are acres o f silvery, ancient olive groves, and the peaceful
atmosphere makes it hard for the visitor to rem em ber that we are nearly
at the end o f the tw entieth century.
Finally, plain English has a directness w hich ensures that its meaning
will never seem m ore complex than it is. It will never become convoluted
by tangled syntax. Here w e have an observation about the introduction
o f a new High Intensity Cruising Licence for vessels w hich have no
perm anent m ooring, on our inland waterways.
In an about-face British Waterways changed from claiming the new licence
was due to the majority of continuous cruisers flouting the rules, causing
mooring congestion at popular visitor moorings, and cost enforcement
issues, to saying that this was part of the process to resolve the funding and
arrears of maintenance problems.
To begin with, by the new licence was due to the w riter really means
the introduction o f the new licence was due to . Too big a pile-up of
participles and gerunds (ending in -ing) is almost always clumsy. The
basic construction chosen (changed from claiming . . . to saying), w hen
complicated by due to flouting and causing congestion sinks under its
ow n weight. The direct presentation o f the items awkwardly joined
w ould make reading far easier. BW has done a U-turn. They said the
new licence was introduced because continuous cruisers flouted the
rules, caused congestion at popular m ooring sites and made enforcement
o f the regulations expensive. They now say that the new scheme helps
towards the general costs o f m aintenance. In the original there are three
T H E P LA N OF T H IS B O O K
W e have dipped our toes into the sea o f carelessness that contemporary
usage exemplifies. W e have noticed dom inant tendencies - tendencies to
inflation, to inexactitude, to m uddle and to illogicality. In all these
directions, and in many others, variable degrees o f erroneousness will
be fully explored in the following chapters, as w e systematically take
stock o f current usage.
proper techniques for arguing a case, to the demands o f sound logic, and
to w hat it is that distinguishes good style from bad. The aim throughout
this section is to ensure clear understanding o f the various pitfalls beset
ting the w ould-be w riter o f good English today, and to show how they
may be avoided.
PART 1
CHAPTER 1
SOME RISKY C O N T E X T S
W hen are we most likely to feel a little dissatisfied w ith what we have
just said? W hich are those occasions w hen we feel for the right w ord and
d o n t quite find it? W hen are we most likely to say You know w hat I
mean? One such occasion may arise w hen we are trying to explain a
situation to someone else, or trying to argue a point. The process of
explaining or arguing is one o f the contexts in w hich the use of w ords is
likely to present problems. By explaining or arguing I do not have in
m ind any very abstruse reasoning processes. After all, we are involved in
modest reasoning processes w hen we say That sunset seems to promise
a fine day tom orrow . And we may get involved in a fairly awkward
search for the right w ords in the right order w hen a passing m otorist
asks us the way to a given street in a tow n riddled w ith one-way signs.
We have seen that to choose the right w ord is to choose the precise
w ord, the appropriate and straightforward w ord. That ought to mean
choosing the obvious w ord, the w ord that comes first to mind. But
unfortunately that is not the case. What comes first to m ind is often the
currently most frequently used word. Now o f course there is no point in
trying to avoid use o f the most frequently used w ord simply in order to
be different. But fashionable habits establish some words widely and
firmly in current usage to the neglect of others. And that has unfortunate
consequences. In the first place, a given w ord is over-used while other
words are too little used. In the second place, differences in connotation,
sometimes slight, sometimes subtle, are thus lost. And thirdly, current
speech is riddled w ith usages w hich excessive exploitation has rendered
inaccurate. We shall consider various spheres o f discourse in w hich the
damage done to the connotation of crucial w ords makes difficulties for
us.
O f course, things can go w rong in a m ore complex way than in the
Reasoning
cause, reason, reasonably
N owhere is it m ore necessary to select w ords carefully than in dealing
w ith matters o f cause and effect. In this respect a current bad habit is the
careless use of the w ord reason. In the contexts w ith w hich w e are
concerned reason is best used o f hum an motivation. If a m an is hurrying
to catch a train, the reason for his haste may be that he wants to be
hom e in time for dinner. If he meets an old friend w ho detains him , that
is not the reason w hy he misses the train, it is the cause o f his missing
it. Thus w hen w e read: Acne is on the increase among w om en . . . The
reason is thought to be stress, we recognize that this should be: the
cause is thought to be stress. The error is a com m on one.
The common reason for money to go unclaimed is shareholders failing to
inform registrars of change of address . . . Another reason is cheques,
delivered to the wrong address, lapsing because they are not cashed within
six months.
This gives us two causes, not reasons. In correcting the passage it w ould
be far better, as so often is the case, to base the w ording neither on the
noun reason nor on the noun cause but on use o f the w ord because:
Money often goes unclaimed because shareholders fail to inform regis
trars of change o f address . . . It also may go unclaimed because cheques
are delivered to the w rong address, are not cashed w ithin six m onths and
so lapse.
The companys difficulties were due to no other reason than inefficiency.
Similarly this w ould better be: Inefficiency was the sole cause o f the
com panys difficulties.
If reason is a w ord that over-use has weakened, even m ore so is the
w ord reasonably. It is one o f those adverbs w hich we throw about in
conversation w ith little sense of precision. If we were m ore disciplined
in our choice o f w ords we should recall that the distinction between
what is reasonable and w hat is unreasonable is a crucial one. But
involve I involvement
The verb to involve is also being used to cover a variety o f rational
connections, causal and otherwise. Its connotation has developed
interestingly. The Latii^ root ( volvere) meant to roll something
about and is behind both our w ords revolve and involve. Involvere
came to mean to overwhelm or cover, used o f clouds sweeping over the
sky. So in English usage in the eighteenth century the poet William
Cowper began his powerful poem about a castaway at sea w ith the
lines:
Obscurest night involved the sky,
The Atlantic billows roared . . .
From meaning to roll things up, to enwrap, to envelop or entangle we
can see how it has become the useful w ord w e now know too well.
The retirement package involved continued rent-free residence.
Here the w ord involve is used to mean include.
The expedition would involve spending three weeks in an exposed position
on the mountain.
Here the w ord involve is used to mean necessitate.
Accepting the new post would have involved my whole family.
Here the w ord involve is used to mean affect.
We could not consider the boards proposal without involving the whole
work force.
Here the w ord involve means consult. This is a far cry from the notion
o f rolling up clouds in a stormy sky. It is a pity to weaken an already
weakened w ord further. That is w hat we should say to ourselves before
lightly using the word.
The popularity o f the verb to involve has now been matched by the
popularity o f the noun involvement*. If a project involves collecting
inform ation, then collecting inform ation is a necessary part o f the project.
People involved in a project are significantly concerned and associated
w ith it. W hen w e read o f the hope that a pretty but neglected waterway
will see an increased local involvement we recognize the same usage,
but w hat can we make o f the following?
The case for one member, one vote involvement in future leadership
elections is not just to provide democratic legitimacy but also as an incentive
to join.
The w riter here errs in trying to balance is not just to w ith but also as
instead of w ith but also to . But that grammatical lapse is not what we
happen to be interested in just now. W hat is one member, one vote
involvement? The w riter is trying to say: The case for using the onem ember, one-vote system in future leadership elections is not only that
it will be m ore democratically legitimate but also that it will encourage
people to join the party.
problem, solution, different
The w ord problem too readily springs to our lips these days. The cur
rent drift is towards increasingly indiscriminate use o f it. We need
not be over-fussy about this in conversation. W e know now that
w hen the waiter says No problem , he means that the cook will be
only too happy to do the steak exactly as requested, and w hen the
garage foreman says it, he means that he will deal immediately w ith the
punctured tyre or the broken exhaust pipe. Sometimes the w ord seems
to be superfluous.
A government research study in 1995: pinpointed insufficient iron as a
problem in the underfives.
The problem is the insufficiency o f iro n . Does the w ord problem
add anything here? Insufficiency cannot be present anywhere w ithout
representing a problem . All that is needed is: A government research
study in 1995: pinpointed a deficiency o f iron in the underfives.
There is a graver current misuse than that.
The problem that faced the police was the remote site.
At first sight, that is probably not a sentence that worries us. Even the
sentence The rem ote site made access difficult may seem acceptable.
Yet, strictly speaking, it is not the rem ote site but the remoteness o f the
site that makes access difficult. We see immediately that it w ould n ot be
right to say The extremely aged man made questioning difficult w hen
w hat w e mean is The extreme age of the m an made questioning difficult.
The tw o sentences differ sharply in meaning. Precision in that kind of
statement is the sign o f a logical mind.
and w om en are different from dum b animals w e use the w ord different
in two recognized, but different ways.
convince, persuade, induce
These w ords should be carefully differentiated. Historically convince is
a powerful word. Deriving from the notion o f vanquishing, it is used to
convey the idea o f overcoming someone so completely in argument
that acknowledgement o f the truth in question is made. The emphasis
therefore should be on acknowledgement o f some fact or theory.
When American expatriates Sara and Gerald Murphy discovered Antibes
sleepy seaside Hotel du Cap in 1923, they convinced the owner to keep it
open for them out of season with a minimal staff.
Convinced here should be persuaded. To convince someone o f some
truth should be carefully distinguished from persuading them to act in
a certain way. O f course there is an overlap o f meaning. But it is the once
powerful verb convince that suffers deterioration o f m eaning w hen it
is misused.
Cadbury Garden Centre, near Bristol, aimed to convince gardeners to use
more exotic plants.
This should be: aimed to persuade or aimed to induce.
22
This error, in a quality weekly, raises ones eyebrows. The w riter has got
it the w rong way round. W hat he means is: But it is not clear that the
Irish have done well in exchanging religious for secular sanctity. As so
often, the w ord replace could have been used: in replacing religious
by secular sanctity.
Before taking leave o f the w ord, however, w e should take note o f an
unfortunate new development. It is a construction that works like this:
The committee have decided to exchange a new and revised brochure with
their rather old-fashioned one.
In this sentence the clear mistake was to use w ith at all. We do not
exchange a new car w ith our old one. We may exchange the old car
for a new one. In any case exchange is surely not the best verb to use
where the issue is a m atter o f replacement: The committee have decided
to replace their rather old-fashioned brochure w ith a new and revised
o ne. Oddly enough, an alternative correction w ould be to use the so often
misused verb substitute: The committee have decided to substitute a
new and revised brochure for their rather old-fashioned one.
Another verb of replacement now misused is the verb to usurp.
The friendship ended irrevocably in 1987, when Mr Milosevic championed
the cause of the Kosovo Serbs and usurped his mentor.
To usurp is to seize w ithout proper authority some position to w hich
one is not entitled. Thus a rebel may usurp a throne, but he could not
usurp the king. The above should read: cham pioned the cause o f the
Kosovo Serbs and usurped his m entors position.
w ould be correct to derive both the sentence He paid the retailer and
the sentence He paid five pounds. Because the verb pay and the verb
repay w ork thus, there is a tem ptation to try to make other verbs o f
paying w ork similarly. Thus a minister in the House o f Commons spoke
o f reim bursing the cost o f an enterprise. One hears this error repeated
on the radio. The announcer tells us that the National Health Service is
to recoup the cost o f treating road accident victims from insurance
companies. There is determ ination to track dow n the m oney and reim
burse it to the Health Service. But m oney cannot be reim bursed. To
reim burse is to repay someone, not to repay a sum. Thus the w ords it
to should be om itted in the above: track dow n the money and reim burse
the Health Service.
A comparably faulty use o f the verb to com pensate occurs w hen it is
treated as though it worked like the verb to pay. W e may pay someone
five pounds because we can either pay som eone or pay five pounds,
but we cannot compensate someone five pounds because, though we
can compensate som eone we cannot compensate five pounds.
They are now working out how much he should be compensated.
Thus that statement on Radio 4 will not serve. Add the w ord by: They
are now w orking out by how m uch he should be com pensated.
We can com pensate a person but not a sum o f money. Conversely,
however, we can condone an offence but not the person w ho com mitted
it. We hear on the radio:
A lot of parents condone their truant children.
To condone is to forgive or overlook an offence, not a person. Thus this
should be: A lot o f parents condone their childrens truancy.
kind existed before. One thinks o f the acts o f creation recorded in the
Book of Genesis. And so one feels a certain verbal discomfiture w hen one
reads in a travel article o f a Spanish township, It was here that the study
o f medicine and surgery was created. W hy not just began? W hen one
thinks of the kind o f context in w hich the w ord creative is properly at
hom e, w hat comes most readily to m ind is perhaps the towering genius
o f a Shakespeare or a Beethoven. But the w ord so conveniently arouses
feelings o f w onder that it gets bandied about in relation to all kinds o f
activities calling for our approval where, strictly speaking, true creation
is not at issue. There are courses in Creative Cookery and Creative
Advertising, not to m ention less publicized activities in Creative
Accountancy. We perhaps ought not to be too solemn about such usage.
W e naturally smile w hen w e read Owing to the creativity of the w eather
this year, her garden has been subject to some confusion. But there are
plenty of misuses. Advertisements o f vacant posts in various spheres,
business or professional, w ould seem, by the w ording of their demands
for creativity in their applicants, to be expecting some as yet unrecog
nized Botticelli or some m ute inglorious Milton to emerge from suburbia
and take the bait.
We have looked at the decay o f a w ord through its positive connotation;
let us look at the decay o f a w ord through its negative connotation. The
adjective dogm atic takes its meaning from the noun dogm a used o f a
system of authoritative doctrines, especially religious doctrines. To assert
such doctrines w ith due authority is to be dogm atic. Now such assert
iveness, especially in a liberal age, will be described as bigotry by
those w ho reject the doctrines. Gradually the w ord dogm atic acquires
overtones m ore and m ore pejorative. Thus, although even a recent
dictionary defines the w ord dogm atic objectively as forcibly asserted
or (of a person) prone to forcible assertion, it is scarcely possible now
to use the w ord w ithout a condemnatory implication.
Today many teachers realize that there is little point in imposing dogmatic
dress or disciplinary codes.
Here is a case in point. A code is a conventionalized set o f rules. The
adjective dogm atic therefore adds nothing to the strict connotation o f
the w ord, but the pejorative emotive resonance conveys that such codes
are to be disliked.
A m ore remarkable degeneration o f meaning has occurred in our use
o f the w ord pathetic, the adjective deriving from the noun pathos.
The first signs that Cardinal Hume was ill appeared when he began feeling
nauseous at mealtimes a few weeks ago.
Thus The Times tells us that the Cardinal felt loathsome. He did not. He
felt nauseated. He was affected by nausea.
SOME VE R B A L D IS T O R T IO N S
Reversals of Meaning
There is an odd, and fortunately rare, kind o f misuse w hich causes not
so m uch a deterioration in meaning as an almost total reversal in meaning.
As we have seen, words for substituting and exchanging provide notori
ous examples o f this.
deceptively, availability
Another glaring example is provided by the w ord deceptively as used by
estate agents. They will advertise a house as being deceptively spacious,
intending to mean that it is really m uch m ore spacious than it appears to be
at first sight. If a man is described as deceptively considerate, it is im plied
that though he appears to be considerate, that appearance is deceptive. On
this reading a deceptively spacious house w ould be one which appeared
to be spacious, but in fact was not so. One w onders w hether the w ord
deceptively can be rescued in contexts like these. For instance we read:
Giles Turner held the lead on Mavis Davis, before Geoff Glazzard dislodged
him with a deceptively fast round on his first ride, Hello Oscar.
Are we really to believe that Hello Oscar appeared to be running fast but
that this was a trompe loeil and he was really taking his time? Clearly the
construction m ust be changed. One can hardly substitute dislodged him
w ith a deceptively leisurely ro u n d . It w ould not be very neat to substitute
dislodged him w ith a round m uch faster than it seemed, but that is
probably the best we can do.
A comparable kind o f misuse threatens the w ord availability. It too
is in danger o f suffering reversal o f meaning.
A real concern of AA members is the high cost of petrol, and its availability
as rural petrol stations struggle to stay open.
Clearly the availability o f petrol can never be a concern. It is the lack o f
petrol or the possible unavailability of petrol that is or m ight be a matter
of concern. A real concern of AA m embers is the high cost o f petrol,
and the doubt w hether it will continue to be available as rural petrol
stations struggle to stay open.
help, improve
There is sometimes near-reversal o f meaning in the use o f w ords for
im proving, curing or helping. Here are two instances from magazines
on the subject o f restoring hair. The first is a caption:
Hair-raising electrichogenesis, a process to help baldness, being launched
at Manor House Hospital in North London.
The question arises w hether helping baldness is the same thing as helping
the m an w ho is bald. Clearly the need is to get rid o f baldness, w hich
sounds as though it ought to be the opposite o f helping it. The passage
should read: a process to help to cure baldness. The second example
seems to represent the same error:
However, increasing intake of iron itself and vitamin C to aid iron absorption
often fails to improve hair loss . . .
Again the question is w hether to improve hair loss is the same thing as
to improve the hair. A loss is not something that needs to be im proved,
but to be repaired. So the sentence should end: often fails to repair the
loss o f hair.
perfect
I find it hard to imagine a more perfect view.
If the speaker could imagine a m ore perfect view, then the view in
question w ould not be perfect. What is perfect cannot be im proved
upon.
true
A statement is either true or false. If John is six feet tall, the statement
John is five feet eleven is not truer than the statement John is five feet
six. Both statements are false.
Would it not be truer to admit that we can never guess at the workings of
the divine mind?
This kind of rhetorical flourish, whatever it follows, is totally illogical.
Truer could be replaced by true, but the introduction o f the w ord is
unnecessary: Must we not admit that we can never guess at the workings
o f the divine m ind?
unique
If something is unique it is absolutely the only one o f its kind. Therefore
one cannot speak o f anything being m ore unique than other things,
nor o f something being very unique. The w ord unique is properly
applied to a thing o f w hich only one exists, yet the num ber of u n ique
opportunities now offered by the business w orld seems to be limitless.
W O R D S D A M A G E D BY
MISUSE A N D O V E R -U S E
As in so many departments o f life, fashion in language has a deleterious
effect on usage, cheapening terms by misuse and then by over-use in too
many different contexts. The most obvious kind o f misuse is that w hich
results from sheer error in understanding. One or two people make
mistakes and others follow suit. We have show n how the w ords substi
tute and substitution have been confused w ith the words replace and
replacement, and now they are so widely misused that one is likely to
be accused o f pedantry if one draws attention to the error.
In many cases over-use cheapens w ords w ithout damaging them to
Health Service. The report found that the wealthy do better in this respect
than the poor. The announcer spoke o f the report as a catalogue of
injustices that will have to be addressed. The w ord addressed is not
happily used here o f dealing w ith a catalogue. There are m ail-order
firms that regularly address catalogues to potential customers. The usage
has to be handled w ith care because there are contexts w here it m ight
easily lead to ambiguity.
While the voluntary code of practice has been welcomed by park officials and
rangers, Maryl Carr feels that it does not adequately address the increasing
number of participants or their impact on other mountain users.
To speak o f not adequately addressing participants inevitably suggests a
public address from a platform. The mistake here needs to be analysed.
To address a problem is one thing, and to address a crow d of participants is
another thing. W hat the w riter means is that the problem of the increasing
num ber of participants has to be addressed. If the verb to address is used,
there can be no way o f avoiding some such w ord as problem .
alternate / alternative
Basically the verb alternate defines m ovem ent this way and that way, as
o f a pendulum. Thus day alternates w ith night. The w ord can be used
only o f such balanced couples.
This may be more so now that the Game Fair alternates between only four
central sites . . .
If there are m ore than two variants, as here, then the w ord alternate
will not do. One m ust write: now that the location o f the Game Fair
varies between only four central sites.
The w ord alternative is even m ore frequently abused. Alternatives
are two mutually exclusive possibilities. W hen we choose between tw o
possibilities, say going to the theatre or staying at home, w e choose
between two alternatives. There can never be m ore than two alternatives.
If a third possibility is presented to us, then the three possibilities become
options. More often than not the w ord alternative is now being used
as though it meant optio n. This development has led to usages such as
the following:
ContiFlug is a relatively small airline. It offers a highly cost-effective alterna
tive for commuter travel to Berlin.
The question arises: alternative to what? If there w ere only one other
means o f com m uter travel to Berlin, the w ord m ight be appropriate. But
often now, especially in advertising, the w ord is used too vaguely o f a
possibility w hich the advertiser wishes to recom m end.
The purpose of the advertising campaign is to present self-catering holidays
as an attractive and economic alternative.
Clearly w hat we are really being offered here is again an option. But the
most satisfactory correction w ould be to use neither alternative nor
option: The purpose o f the advertising campaign is to present selfcatering holidays as attractive and econom ic. After all, a self-catering
holiday m ight be an attractive alternative to staying at home, but it w ould
not be an economic alternative to staying at home.
There are usages w hich seem to remove from the w ord even the notion
of an option.
I wanted to create an alternative trading model.
There the w ord simply means fresh or n ew . And now we have to
allow too for the fact that, in recent decades, novel movements w hich
questioned the status quo and prevailing climates o f opinion began
to define their innovative life-styles as alternative, and the w ord has
stuck.
answer
Shortly before she died Gertrude Stein is said to have m uttered W hats
the answer? and shortly afterwards to have added W hats the question?
The partnership o f the tw o nouns is such that to use the w ord answ er
w hen there is no notion o f a question, or even a problem in the
background, is lax. Yet that is what happens.
The real answer is periodically to have a thorough clean . . .
The recom m endation that it may be a good idea to clean vehicles ought
to be able to be made w ithout turning it into an answer.
approach
W e know well enough w hen this w ord is exactly the right one, w hether
used o f coming nearer to a physical position or making advances towards
influencing someone. Too often neither notion is involved.
Running a mobile snack-bar falls into two distinct approaches. You must
decide whether you want to sell at the roadside or in a market.
The notion o f falling into two approaches w hen running a mobile
snack-bar suggests a Road Traffic Accident. W hat the w riter means is:
There are two possible sites for a mobile snack-bar.
My actual manner of painting in gouache is not that different from my
approach to oils.
If one wants to say that the m anner or m ethod used for one m edium
is similar to that used for another m edium , w hy drag in the w ord
approach?
area
The use o f the w ord area has been adopted in place o f a wide range of
possible options.
The way peer pressure stimulates in children the demand for ever more
unsuitable footwear is another area of concern.
One can think o f m any a w ord w hich w ould have saved the w riter from
this over-used w ord area. The simplest correction w ould be to om it
area o f : dem and for ever m ore unsuitable footwear is another concern.
But possible w ords such as m atter, issue and topic also suggest
themselves. Elsewhere we hear that Truancy is an area that m ust be
looked into, w here there w ould be no loss in substituting Truancy also
must be looked into.
The committee will be responsible for areas such as funding, excursions
and new members.
There is gross incongruity in labelling excursions as one area and new
m em bers as another. Again it w ould be better to substitute m atters for
areas.
aspect
One o f the situations in w hich the w riter ought to pause and scratch the
head is well illustrated here, w here the w riter is recom m ending the
varied delights o f exploring an area o f waterways:
For instance, canals, industrial history, wildlife, landscape, cycling or walk
ing the towpaths, or many other aspects may appeal to you.
The most amazing escape from the Nairobi carnage emerged yesterday
when an Israeli team rescued a mother and her son from an upper floor in
the 22-storey building.
No doubt the m other and her son em erged from the building, but to
describe the escape as emerging from the carnage is just careless usage.
equate / equation
Popularization o f the w ord equation has diluted its meaning. It is used
as an alternative not just to problem , but to situation. Ive nothing
new to add to the equation apparently just means Ive nothing to say
on the subject. Correspondingly the verb to equate is in fashion.
But sensual and sexy equate to two different things for me.
This simply means: are two different things.
factor
Properly used o f an element that contributes to some result, the w ord
factor suffers from the same loose treatment as aspect.
But the exact make-up of his [Schroders] government was unclear last
night because of the complicating factor of small parties which might not
gain the per cent needed for parliamentary representation.
Here the w ord factor is a dead counter and the w ord com plicating not
needed if the argum ent is simply presented: But the exact make-up o f
his Government was unclear last night because the small parties m ight
not gain the $ per cent needed for parliamentary representation.
focus
The focus in Latin is the hearth around w hich people gather. The w ord
has been usefully adopted in the mathematical and scientific worlds. N ow
that the business w orld has discovered its usefulness, that usefulness is
being destroyed.
Nigel Woods, accounts director for the UKs fastest growing motivations
group, MotivForce, says travel is often a more focused way of rewarding
staff.
In w hat sense is the present o f a holiday package m ore focused than the
present o f a cheque or o f private health care, or o f any other o f the perks
one can see why. Here is a sentence from the controversy about student
loans.
Nor is there much evidence that the least affluent will be adversely affected.
This claim was made when student loans were first introduced nearly a
decade ago: it did not materialize in practice.
The trouble here is that a claim is not something that m ight materialize.
A claim o f this kind may prove true or false, but if it is made about the
future it is probably better called a forecast: This was forecast w hen
student loans were first introduced nearly a decade ago: it did not happen.
optimistic
A descriptive term increasingly misused is the w ord optim istic.
The truth [about cancer] is far more optimistic: cancer is largely a prevent
able disease.
An optim istic person is one w ho expects the best. The philosophical
doctrine o f optim ism holds that good will ultimately trium ph over evil.
T ruth can be neither optimistic nor pessimistic. It appears that the w riter
means The truth is far m ore encouraging, that is, productive o f optim ism
rather than optim istic.
option
This w ord is being misused in the same way as alternative.
If you are one of the growing number of owners who are trying to give
their pets the healthier option . . .
W hat this means is: If you are one o f the growing num ber o f owners
w ho w ant to keep their pets healthy . . . Use o f the w ord option should
be restricted to contexts in w hich there are at least two possible courses
o f action from w hich one may be chosen. One cannot speak o f the
healthier option in a context w here no other option is m entioned.
potential
W hat is potential is possible but not yet actual, latent but not yet
realized.
We need to look at the present situation, where potential nannies need no
qualifications for training.
up late in the m orning is his ideal scenario. Thus the original connotation
is dissipated.
sector
Sector meaning a part or subdivision has a geometrical basis. It has been
m uch used in the expressions public sector and private sector, but it
is best not applied to groups o f hum an beings. There is nothing to be
gained from saying (rather ungrammatically) There is a sector o f the
police force w ho are racist instead o f Some policem en are racist. The
w ord is equally unhappily used in the following:
This scheme represents a new era in reproductive medicine and helps certain
sectors who before couldnt get treatment.
W hy not: . . . and helps certain people w ho before couldnt get
treatm ent?
spectrum
In the case o f words such as concept we have seen how a technical term
may be taken over, quite usefully, for m ore general use, and then may
suffer a gradual loss o f definable meaning. This has begun to happen
w ith the w ord spectrum . Strictly it means the band o f colours into w hich
a prism resolves a beam of light. The image is useful, but we are beginning
to hear the w ord applied m ore and m ore widely w hen people w ant to
sum up a range o f attitudes. Speaking for social workers, someone says
Yet we deal w ith a spectrum o f em otional issues in the course o f our
w ork, where spectrum w ould be better replaced by range or variety.
theme
The w ord them e is not perhaps a vivid w ord, but it is rich in association
w ith accounts o f symphonic movements in music and metaphorical
sequences in poetry.
But humiliation was the theme of Yeltsins position in those days.
If we w ant to say that Yeltsin was being humiliated, do we need to drag
in the w ord them e at all?
unnecessary
Here again is a forceful w ord w hich ought not to be employed so as to
weaken its connotation.
44
Sight Savers International desperately needs your help to wipe out this cruel
and unnecessary disease.
This illustrates the increasing tendency to misuse the w ord unnecessary.
The question o f necessity or its absence simply does not arise. W hat the
w riter means is: Sight Savers International desperately needs your help
to wipe out this cruel and avoidable disease.
vandalism
This w ord is chosen as representative o f abstract nouns ending in -ism .
If one considers, say, the verb to colonize, it is matched by two distinct
nouns, colonialism and colonization. Colonialism is the abstract
w ord for the theory and practice o f colonizing, but any single act of
colonizing itself represents colonization. It w ould be a mistake to
confuse the two words.
His head chef at lOranger, the restaurant, has been arrested after the alleged
theft of i ,500 and the vandalism of the restaurant, the night after he was
sacked.
Here that mistake is made w ith the w ord vandalism. To vandalize a
building is to com m it an act of vandalism, but the process of vandalizing
a building is vandalization. Here the sentence could read: has been
arrested after the alleged theft of 1,^00 and the vandalization o f the
restaurant, or: and the vandalizing of the restaurant. Better still w ould
be: has been arrested for allegedly stealing 1,5-00 and vandalizing the
restaurant.
virtually
Virtually means in effect as opposed to in fact. We m ight say She
was only a recently elected m em ber of the committee but she was
virtually in charge o f everything. But increasingly the w ord is being
weakened.
It was virtually sixty years ago that Edith Smith took the photograph.
There is no contrast here between w hat happened in effect and w hat
happened in fact. To use virtually to mean alm ost or nearly is bad
enough. But here it means neither. W hat is meant is: It was about sixty
years ago that Edith Smith took the photograph.
CHAPTER 2
baleful I baneful
Both words now have a faintly archaic flavour. Bale is evil, both in the
sense o f malignancy and in the sense o f torment. Rome and her rats
are at the point o f battle says Menenius Agrippa at the beginning of
Shakespeares Coriolanus, and adds The one side m ust have bale, meaning
One or the other is going to come a cropper. Bane is death and
destruction. Thus the two w ords baleful and baneful overlap in that
they threaten misery. Baleful became a literary w ord for sorrowful and
miserable, and we still hear the expression baleful new s. Bane means
poison in the w ord ratsbane. Milton left us a m emorable expression
w hen he told how riches grow in hell, w hich naturally supplies the ideal
environm ent for the precious bane.
bathos / pathos
As the w ord pathetic properly refers to w hat arouses sympathy or pity,
so the w ord pathos is the pow er of arousing feelings of sympathy, pity
or sorrow. It is used o f works o f literature and o f oratory as well as of
personal situations. Burns wrote:
To make a happy fireside clime
To weans and wife,
Thats the true pathos and sublime
Of human life.
The w ord bathos is used o f any sudden switch from what is exalted and
dignified to w hat is pedestrian and trivial. It is also used o f attempts at
pathos which are overdone or fail to come off.
beneficence I benevolence
There is a subtle distinction between these two words. W here benefi
cence is generosity in action, benevolence is generosity o f spirit. Thus
it is an act of beneficence for a benefactor to endow a new hospital, but
the action stems from the benefactors benevolence.
biannual I biennial
As annual means occurring once a year, so biannual means occur
ring twice a year. But a biennial event is one that occurs every two
years.
carousal I carousel
As to carouse is to drink freely, so a carousal is a drunken feast. (In
pronunciation the stress is on the second syllable.) A carousel, originally
a knightly tournam ent w ith racing horses, came to be used of a m erry-goround. Hence it is used for the revolving luggage conveyor at an airport
and also for the circular tray into w hich slides are slotted and produced
one by one for a projector.
classic / classical
A classic is a w ork of art o f the highest excellence w hich has stood the
test of time. The w ord is used for something created w hich is of the first
rank and m ust be regarded as definitive. Hence comes the less strict
connotation o f the adjective classic exemplified in such statements as It
was a classic case o f parental negligence, w here the w ord means little
more than typical. The w ord classical was applied to the civilization
of ancient Greece and Rome and to later forms of art and architecture
that preserved the same tradition o f formality and restraint. In this respect
contrasts between classical and rom antic styles were drawn. More
recently the w ord classical has come to be used o f music belonging to
serious traditional culture as opposed to ephemeral popular music.
complacent I complaisant
To be com placent is to be over-easily satisfied w ith things, and especially
w ith ones self and w ith ones ow n achievements. It is to be unm oved
by matters w hich really should cause concern, and thus the w ord is m uch
used in criticism o f political opponents. Conversationally com placent
means smug. The bachelor essayist Charles Lamb found nothing m ore
distasteful than the complacency and satisfaction w hich beam in the
countenances o f new -m arried couples. To be complaisant is to be
agreeably obliging, accommodating ones self readily to the requests and
needs o f others. In Buckinghams burlesque play The Rehearsal (1672),
w hich satirizes contemporary drama, a Mr Smith avers that its very
complaisant to be of another m ans opinion before knowing w hat it is.
complement I compliment
These two w ords are often confused, both as verbs and as nouns. A
com plim ent is an appreciative or respectful tribute paid to someone. A
com plem ent is basically a person or thing w hich completes something.
We speak of a full com plem ent o f staff or crew. The w ord is most
continually I continuously
A matter that continually affects me does so repeatedly, but not
unbrokenly. I m ight complain if my work were continually interrupted
by telephone calls. W hat happens continuously is not something that
recurs but something that is ceaseless (She w ent to bed and slept
continuously for ten hours).
converse / inverse
The w ord converse is used o f something w hich is the opposite of
something already referred to. She is certainly not helping to support
her mother; indeed the converse is probably the case. This w ould mean
that far from supporting her m other, it is likely that her m other is
supporting her. In such a case, The converse is true is the equivalent of
The boot is on the other leg. But the w ord converse does not always
bring in the notion o f contradiction. It may introduce a reversal rather
than a contradiction. She is o f great assistance to her mother, and of
course the converse is true w ould mean that just as she helps her m other,
so too her m other helps her. The w ord inverse overlaps in m eaning
w ith converse but is primarily used of w hat is turned upside dow n or
reversed in order.
We hear winners listed in inverse order w hen a judge announces the
results o f a race, reserving the name of the first to the last.
council I counsel
A council is a body o f people gathered together for consultation or
administration. The m embers o f the council (councillors) are appointed
or elected to direct the affairs of a given society or a given area o f the
country. Counsel is advice or guidance, and hence the w ord is used too
for the barrister w ho undertakes to advise clients and to pursue legal
cases for them. Outside the legal profession a person giving advice is
called a counsellor. The verb to counsel, meaning to give advice or
comfort, is used in the fields of psychology and social work. The
expression to keep o nes ow n counsel means to be noticeably reticent
over matters public or private w hen perhaps some opinion or revelation
is being sought.
defective I deficient
W hat is defective has a defect, and a defect is a fault, a shortcoming.
The w ord is m uch used of objects or materials that have not been
deprecate I depreciate
To deprecate something is to express earnest disapproval of it ( We
strongly deprecated the m ovem ents decision to resort to a public
dem onstration). To depreciate is to belittle or to reduce the value of
something by criticism or ridicule. The verb is also used intransitively.
As to appreciate is to rise in value, so to depreciate is to fall in value.
discreet I discrete
Discreet means careful and tactful in behaviour, and is used especially
o f being able to be trusted w ith confidences. The corresponding noun is
discretion. The Book o f Com mon Prayer gave us the expression years
o f discretion as representing the age at w hich the growing person can
begin to exercise sober judgement. Discrete (related by contrast to the
w ord concrete) is used o f separate parts that cannot be assembled
together. It is quite erroneous for advertisers w ho seek sexual partnerships
through the columns o f Private Eye to propose discrete contacts. U nder
such arrangements they w ould never meet.
disinterested I uninterested
The w ord disinterested is m ore often used incorrectly than correctly. It
does not mean uninterested. U ninterested negates interested in the
most com m on use o f the w ord (I am not interested/uninterested in ball
games). The w ord interest has a special connotation in the sentence
Smith is personally interested in the sale of the property, w hich conveys
that Smith has a financial interest in the matter, and may benefit or fail
to benefit from the transaction. That is the usage w hich the w ord
disinterested negates. To be disinterested in any matter is to be in no
position either to benefit or to be disadvantaged by whatever transpires.
Disinterest is impartiality.
Were told that growing children need a healthy diet, but how can you put
this into practice when youre faced with a disinterested toddler?
Here the w ord should be uninterested.
dispense with I dispose o f
Basically, to dispense is to distribute, and a dispensation is an act of
distributing. Its connection w ith the issuing o f acts o f papal pardoning
in the Middle Ages is the root of the m odern usage in w hich to dispense
is to exempt from some rule or obligation and therefore to do away
The reporter used the w rong verb here: precludes restoration of the
hereditary principle to the Lords by a Prime Minister H ague.
exhausting / exhaustive
The verb to exhaust means to draw off, to drain o f resources, and
therefore to empty and to weary. The w ord exhausting is thus generally
used to mean tiring, but we speak of exhausting all possibilities in
trying to find something lost. The w ord exhaustive is a favourite w ord
to use o f investigations or books w hich thoroughly and comprehensively
finish the task they w ere intended to deal w ith ( This book is an exhaustive
account of the French Revolution).
expedient I expeditious
To expedite is to push quickly forward some action or project, clearing
away any obstacles. The w ord expeditious is used w ith emphasis on the
speed of such action (At this crisis the dem and for m ore troops called
for an expeditious response) . The w ord expedient is used w ith emphasis
on the appropriateness o f the action ( As his form er wife remained on
the same staff, he found it expedient to seek a new post elsewhere). The
emphasis on convenience produces an implicit contrast w ith action that
is inconvenient but is dictated by principle and propriety. Thus politicians
get accused of being motivated by expediency rather than by principle.
explicit I implicit
W hat is explicit is clearly and precisely expressed, leaving no room for
doubt (There was an explicit requirem ent that employees should wear
formal dress). W hat is im plicit is not directly stated in so many w ords
but implied. The notice Thank you for not sm oking in a restaurant is
an im plicit request that customers should not smoke. That request is
im plicit in the notice.
fallacious I fallible
Something w hich is fallacious contains a fallacy, an inaccuracy or a
deception. The forbidden apple w hich Adam and Eve eat in M iltons
Paradise Lost is described as the fallacious fruit. To say something w hich
is fallacious is not necessarily to lie, because the speaker may not know
that what is said is false; falsehood is assumed to be dishonest, w here a
fallacy may merely be a mistake. The w ord fallible means liable to be
deceived or to be erroneous. In Shakespeares Measure for Measure the Duke
57
There the w ord should be few er. Less people w ould be people of
smaller stature. It w ould be correct to say If public transport were better,
there w ould be far less use of cars.
However, it is sad, to many of us who remember it, that the passing of time
has caused less and less converted lifeboats and pontoons to be seen being
boated by those less concerned with what their boat looked like, but more
where they could take it.
The first two uses o f less are wrong: the passing o f time has caused
fewer and fewer converted lifeboats to be seen.
fictional I fictitious
Both words derive from the w ord fiction, used to classify imaginative
works o f literature, m ore especially in prose. Thus Jane Eyre is a fictional
character, not a person from real life. The expression fact or fiction
highlights the contrast between w hat is true and w hat is invented. So the
w ord fictitious carries the connotation not only of the invented, but
also o f the false as opposed to the genuine (He carried on a correspon
dence w ith his mistress from a fictitious address).
flammable I inflammable
These two w ords both mean susceptible to being inflamed or easily set
on fire. Confusion can arise because in so many cases adding the prefix
in - to an adjective turns it into a negative. Thus the positive soluble
becomes the negative insoluble. But the prefix in - serves the same
positive purpose in inflame as it does in inspire.
flaunt I flout
These two words are confused in spite o f the fact that their meanings are
totally unrelated. To flaunt something is to display it proudly and
ostentatiously. Thus a rich man may be said to flaunt his wealth, a
glamorous actress may be said to flaunt her charms. To flout is to
reject scornfully and arrogantly some authority, some regulation, or
some code w hich one ought officially to accept and observe (He flouted
the firm s rules by smoking in the office).
gourmand I gourmet
Both words refer to a person w ho is devoted to eating and drinking. But
whereas gourm and is used pejoratively o f a gluttonous person w ho
immunity / impunity
There is a slight overlap o f meaning between these two words. The w ord
im m unity is used medically of the bodys ability to resist disease and
m ore generally o f freedom from legal obligations and from official
restraints (In return for agreeing to assist the authorities, the form er
criminal was granted im m unity from prosecution) . Im punity is exem p
tion from charge or penalty and thus now describes a state o f safety ( He
ridiculed the authorities w ith im punity).
imply I infer
To im ply something is to convey it by w hat is said, perhaps indirectly.
If a father informs his unem ployed son that there is w ork to be had in a
nearby firm, he is probably im plying that the son should go and apply
for a job there. In fact the w ord im ply is rarely misused. W hat goes
w rong generally is that the w ord infer is used as though it meant the
same as im ply. By every thing she said, she inferred that I was lazy
should be: she implied that I was lazy. In m odern usage to infer is not
to convey a message but to deduce one (From his sickly appearance and
lack o f appetite I inferred that he was ill).
inapt I inept
A thing w hich is apt is highly suitable to its purpose. Thus w hat is
inapt is inappropriate. The w ord is also used to mean unskilful, that
is, lacking in aptitude. Inept is originally the same w ord spelt differently
but we tend to apply it to a degree of inappropriateness and lack o f skill
that implies clumsiness or stupidity ( It was inapt of him to miss his
m others funeral, and inept to imagine that no one w ould notice).
informant I informer
The history o f these tw o words is curious. In present-day usage, an
inform ant is simply a person w ho conveys inform ation, while an
inform er is someone w ho lays inform ation against another, bringing
to light offences against the law. In the eighteenth century, however, the
w ord inform ant was used in this latter sense, and the w ord inform er
could be used to mean one w ho animates and inspires. Thus in Pope we
find Nature! inform er o f the hum an heart.
ingenious / ingenuous
An ingenious person has skill and inventiveness, and the products of
his cleverness are also ingenious. The w ord ingenuous once meant
straightforward and candid but now indicates (especially w hen qualified
as over-ingenuous) not mere lack of duplicity but rather over-simplicity,
naivety and even gullibility.
junction / juncture
A junction is the point at w hich two things join, especially used of the
place where a road or a railway line divides into two. The w ord juncture
is now generally used for a point in time at w hich the convergence of
events creates a significant m om ent, perhaps a m om ent o f crisis ( In the
autum n he lost his job, and at this juncture his wife chose to leave h im ).
loathe I loath (loth)
To be loath or loth to do something is to be reluctant, unwilling to do
it (I was loth to part w ith my collection o f stamps). The verb to loathe
means to detest. Because the spelling loath, for reluctant, is now m ore
often used than the spelling loth, confusion w ith the verb loathe
occurs.
luxuriant I luxurious
Both w ords are related to the w ord luxury. The w ord luxuriant is used
to describe things (such as houses, artefacts, gardens, works of art) that
are richly ornate and profusely decorative. The w ord luxurious overlaps
in meaning, but conveys m ore the sense o f w hat indulges hum an appetite
for ease and comfort, and for all that delights the senses (In retirement
he was able to live a luxurious life in luxuriant surroundings).
militate / mitigate
Here the similarity in sound between the two verbs causes confusion in
spite o f the totally different meanings they convey. To militate is to
combat or oppose (Our genteel upbringing militated against the call to
go and w ork dow n the m ines). In fact the w ord is rarely misused. The
verb to m itigate means to soften or soothe (His daughters decision to
come and live w ith him somewhat mitigated his grief at the loss of his
w ife), but it gets used mistakenly in the place o f militate.
momentary I momentous
A m om ent is a short space o f time and the w ord m om entary means
brief, lasting for only a mom ent. The w ord m om ent has another use in
expressions such as a matter o f great m om ent. It is this use that is
reflected in the w ord m om entous, w hich means of great m o m en t or
very im portant.
nationalize I naturalize
A business or an organization is nationalized w hen it is taken under
public ow nership and becomes the property o f the state. The w ord is not
used o f hum an beings w ho change their nationality. If someone of
foreign birth seeks to become a citizen o f their adopted country, the
official process is know n as becoming naturalized.
naught I nought
Strictly speaking, w here aught means anything, naught means nothing
(I tell you naught for your com fort says the visionary voice to King
Alfred in Chestertons Ballad of the White Horse). N ought is the digit which,
oddly enough, we pronounce O h w hen making a telephone call. The
spelling n ought is now used as a variant o f naught.
obsolete I obsolescent
Increasingly obsolescent is being used w here the w ord should be
obsolete. W hat is obsolete is out of date, no longer in use or no
longer fashionable. W hat is obsolescent is becoming obsolete, gradually
perhaps going out o f date and ceasing to be o f use.
official I officious
The adjective official relates to an office and in particular to what issues
authoritatively from it ( As an M Ps secretary, she has an official perm it
to enter the H ouse). One may be called to attend an official meeting
or invited to an official dinner. The w ord officious has a pejorative
connotation. It is applied to self-important people w ho are unnecessarily
free w ith attention or advice.
ostensible I ostentatious
Here are two m ore related adjectives, like official and officious, w ith
vastly different overtones. W hat is ostensible is apparent, plain to see.
prescribe I proscribe
To proscribe is officially to outlaw or prohibit some conduct or person.
W ords including the syllables scribe or script (from the Latin) are to
do w ith writing. To outlaw a person was to publish his name publicly in
writing, to proscribe it. To prescribe is to lay dow n authoritatively
some regulation or, in medicine, some treatment or potion. Thus the
doctor prescribes medicaments for us and w e take our prescription to
the pharmacist. There is a danger of misusing the w ords as diagnose is
now misused:
I have been prescribed with a variety of medicines.
The w ord w ith must go. Just as doctors diagnose illnesses and not
patients, so too they prescribe medicines and not patients.
presumptuous I presumptive
The w ord presum ptuous is related to that usage of presum e w hich
implies that someone is taking m ore for granted than they have the right
to do (It was highly presum ptuous o f him to gatecrash that very exclusive
party). The w ord presum ptive is related to the usage of presum e
which is disinfected o f all such overtones, and simply means highly
probable. The heir presum ptive to the throne is the one w ho will
succeed provided that no stronger claimant comes on the scene. In the
United Kingdom if the m onarch had a daughter as first-born child, she
w ould be the heir presum ptive unless or until a brother was born. The
heir apparent is the heir w ho will definitely succeed, provided that
death does not intervene.
prevaricate I procrastinate
To prevaricate, deriving from a Latin verb meaning to walk crookedly,
is to deviate from the proper course and hence to be deceptive or evasive
in action or speech. To procrastinate is to postpone action, to put
it off to another day. Procrastination is the thief o f tim e said the
almost forgotten eighteenth-century poet Edward Young in his Night
Thoughts.
principal I principle
People continue to be tripped up by the similarity o f these two words.
The adjective principal means first in im portance (The resignation of
the Chairman is the principal business o f the m eeting). Thus we use the
noun principal o f the person in charge o f an institution. A principle is
a fundamental law or a basic proposition from w hich other deductions
follow.
prone to / susceptible to
The w ord prone, basically meaning bending forward or lying prostrate,
flat on the face, came to mean having a natural inclination to do some
thing. We stress the w ords to d o . A naughty child m ight be said to be
pro ne to telling lies. It w ould be less satisfactory to say that someone is
prone to attacks of bronchitis. That is w here the w ord susceptible is
better. For w here prone means having an inclination to d o something,
susceptible means having an inclination to be responsive to som e
thing. Yet we read:
My own limitations, of energy, time, or approach, make me always suscep
tible to behaving badly.
Bad behaviour does not come upon us from outside like the flu germ. It
is something we do, not something we suffer: My ow n limitations make
me always prone to behaving badly.
recourse I resort
If you resort to something you turn to it in need, and w hat you turn to
is your resort. Thus Polonius tells Ophelia to lock herself away from
Ham lets resort. The use o f the w ord for a holiday destination was a
natural development. Whereas resort is both a noun (That is our last
resort) and a verb ( All else having failed, we had to resort to the use of
force), the w ord recourse is a noun only. W hat a person resorts to is
in fact his recourse. He resorted to force and He had recourse to force
are two ways o f saying the same thing.
remission I remittance
Both w ords derive from the verb rem it. Remission means forgiveness
(the Bible speaks o f the remission of sins) or release from some obliga
tion or penalty. It is applied to the reduction o f a term of im prisonm ent
( a remission of three years from the life sentence) and to a temporary
period o f abatement from a life-threatening disease. A different kind of
obligation is finished off by a rem ittance, a paym ent that settles a debt.
reversal I reversion
Reversal means the act of reversing, physically going back on o n es
tracks, or coming up against something w hich stops one in ones desired
progress ( The failure o f her second novel to sell brought a reversal o f all
her am bitions). The w ord reversion is used of the return to an earlier
condition or attitude ( In his latest poems we detect a reversion to the
style o f his earliest w ork). It is also used legally o f the part o f an estate
w hich is restored to the original testator or his heirs after the death o f
some temporary grantee.
salubrious I salutary
Both w ords are concerned w ith a healthy effect. While salubrious,
m eaning conducive to health, is used chiefly o f spas and other resorts
w here climate may benefit health, salutary is used m uch m ore widely
o f whatever promotes health or well-being. In its looser use, it means
little m ore than beneficial (It m ight be salutary at this stage of the
meeting to pause for reflection).
sensibility I sensitivity
The w ord sensible m ost often means showing good judgement, but is
also used m ore technically to mean capable o f being sensed or perceived.
It is from the latter connotation that the w ord sensibility derives its
meaning: the capacity to respond to emotional needs or aesthetic qualities.
An art critic needs to be a person of cultivated sensibility. The w ord
sensitivity is used generally of ready personal responsiveness. It is
usually a tribute to call a person sensitive, but there is another usage
where the w ord implies over-ready responsiveness w hich is touchy,
the responsiveness o f someone w ho is quick to take offence.
sensual / sensuous
Both w ords are concerned w ith the appeal to the senses or the responsive
ness o f the senses to w hat is physically attractive, but sensual is pejor
ative; it is used o f excessive indulgence in w hat appeals to the physical
appetites. The w ord sensuous is used o f w hat properly appeals to the
senses by its beauty and richness, especially perhaps in the aesthetic
sphere, and o f the sensitive hum an response to it. One m ight speak o f
the rich sensuous appeal o f a poet such as Keats or a composer such as
Wagner.
stimulant / stimulus
Anything that stimulates, w hether physically or mentally, is a stim ulus
in that it encourages or goads to action or to decision. But the w ord
stim ulant is mostly restricted to use for drugs or other consumables,
such as alcohol, coffee or tea, w hich at least temporarily revitalize the
body or raise the spirits.
substantial / substantive
These two words, both obviously connected w ith the w ord substance,
overlap somewhat in meaning, but the overlap scarcely justifies the recent
tendency to use only substantive where substantial w ould be equally
or m ore appropriate. The w ord substantive was the technical name o f
a noun. As an adjective it stresses therefore the independent and essential
basis of whatever is referred to. The w ord substantial has been m ore
used to refer to the magnitude, the importance, the solidity of a thing. It
also distinguishes what is actual and soundly based ( Substantial evidence
was produced against h im ).
testament I testimony
A testament is a will. Because it testifies to the intentions of the testator,
being indeed the expression o f his w ill, the w ord has come to be used
m ore generally o f w hat can stand as a proof or attestation. It is at this
point that the meaning o f testament overlaps w ith the meaning of
testim ony, w hich is most com monly used in law for the evidence o f
witnesses. It has become evident that people ar using testament w here
once they w ould have been inclined to use testim ony:
The tyre gouges on the roundabout bore testament to the frequency of
accidents.
This is a case in point. The gouges really bear testim ony, that is, witness
to a fact as in a court o f law.
titillate I titivate
Titillate derives from a Latin verb meaning to tickle. Hence its present
meaning, to excite pleasure by some delightful gratification. It is used
of comparatively trivial delights. One w ould not speak of being titil
lated by a Beethoven symphony; one m ight o f being titillated by a
delicious trifle or a nice new hat. Titivate is a nineteenth-century w ord
CHAPTER 3
W ords at W o rk
C O M B IN IN G W O RD W IT H W O RD
Preserving Consistency
The right w o rd does not exist in isolation. W hat may seem to be the right
w ord in the first half o f the sentence may have to be questioned w hen we
see w hat follows it. The exact com bining o f words is w hat guarantees
clarity and precision. It is no use getting w hat seems to be the right w ord
if you then attach to it something that is not precisely appropriate.
Delay, even for a month, could be too late.
The sentence is a case in point. Delay can make some action or event too
late. But the delay in itself cannot be too late. It is whatever is delayed
by delay that may be too late. The delay is too long. Similarly the
sound beginning o f the following sentence is thoroughly spoiled by the
w ords at the end:
It might be damaging to Mr Clinton to provoke a crisis which he might
then lose.
W hen a crisis arrives for a statesman, there may be grave dangers,
w hether political or physical. The person w ho faces a crisis may survive
it successfully or go under. But a crisis is not a kind o f competitive event
w hich one m ight either w in or lose. This straightforward collision o f
meanings between the subject o f the sentence and what follows it is
surprisingly com mon. Here is a sentence from a piece about the building
of new railways in the nineteenth century.
Parliamentary powers were passed in 1866.
Powers were not passed. The w riter means either that powers were
taken to do this or that, or that legislation was passed.
Words at W ork
Preserving Coherence
The kind o f verbal inconsistency we are investigating can lead to partial
or total loss of coherence. Indeed it is possible to cancel out the meaning
o f a w ord by careless choice o f a succeeding w ord or words. For instance,
something w hich is inescapable obviously cannot be avoided. It may
be said that death is an inescapable consequence o f swallowing cyanide.
W riting of a natural disaster, a journalist says:
The inescapable conclusion is probably that most of the missing are dead.
Here the force o f the w ord inescapable is destroyed by the succeeding
w ord probably. Clearly, if the conclusion is a matter o f probability only,
then it is not inescapable. In any case, the w riter has.sufficiently hedged
his bets by use o f the w ord m ost. One o f the tw o w ords should go,
either inescapable or probably.
It is perhaps easiest to lose coherence w hen sentences are clogged w ith
words. Nevertheless economy w ith w ords can sometimes have the same
effect. Here is a sentence from an article on the nocturnal threat to cattle
farms in Africa from hyenas.
Often only a part of the victim was eaten and when found next morning
had to be shot.
The sentence tells us that part o f the animal was eaten, found next
m orning, and shot. But it was not the part that was eaten that was shot.
It was the remaining uneaten part. Economy w ith w ords is the trouble
Words at W ork
here. W hat is needed is: Often only a part of the victim was eaten, and
w hen the animal was found next m orning it had to be shot.
A similar miserliness w ith w ords leads to trouble in the following
sentence. It is part o f a plea for keeping sewage and other contamination
away from our lakes.
If we dont, we may have to forgo our favourite lakeside walks with
kingfishers, dragonflies and water lilies.
We may take our country walks w ith our friend or w ith our dog, but we
d o n t take them w ith kingfishers and water lilies. Some words must be
inserted: our favourite lakeside walks and the glimpses of kingfishers,
dragonflies and water lilies. That is the kind o f error produced by
over-hasty writing. Journalists often work under pressure and their prose
sometimes bears the mark of hasty composition. In the attempt to be
concise and not to waste words they may transfer on to paper the
freedoms which are proper only to conversation.
She set about a rigorous training programme culminating in a 2o-mile
sponsored canoe from Lancaster to Preston.
This will not do in print. A training program m e cannot culminate in a
canoe. Nor, strictly speaking, is the canoe sponsored. It was the ride in
the canoe that was twenty miles long and was sponsored. That is a fairly
crude example of the effects o f over-compression. At a subtler level the
error is not so easy to spot.
Shareholders have angrily denounced the companys speedy receivership
over the weekend.
The w ord receivership means the condition o f being administered by
a receiver. This is not in itself a condition that can be either speedy or
tardy. What the w riter means (and what the reader understands in spite
o f the illogicality) is,that: Shareholders have angrily denounced the
com panys speedy recourse to receivership. It was the decision that was
over-hasty in the shareholders eyes.
The risk o f com bining words together incoherently is especially strong
w ith over-used words. The m ore a w ord is used, the weaker and vaguer
its connotation becomes. The w ord problem was cited in this con
nection in Chapter i . Here is a sentence about dealing w ith antelopes in
Kenya:
Controlling these problems does not come under the heading of sport.
The problem s concern the business o f controlling antelopes and, in a
very crudely conversational sense, the antelopes may b e problems. But
however one looks at it, the difference is that antelopes have to be
controlled and that problem s have to be solved, and you can no m ore
control a problem than you can solve an antelope.
Another m uch used word, issue, also tends to such vagueness that
precision gets lost in its use. Here is an observation on football tactics by
a commentator:
The issue of diving and over-reacting, basically cheating, needs to be quickly
eradicated, probably using video technology.
There is m ore than one issue here. To use the w ord basically as the
equivalent of in other w ords is characteristic o f what is now a general
loose treatment of the word. But m ore serious is the claim that an issue
should be eradicated. It is not the issue w hich the w riter really wants
to be rid of, but the practice of diving and over-reacting.
Words at W ork
Just as use o f a pronoun such as this or these can bring about a lapse o f
congruity in w ord usage, a long parenthesis can produce the same danger.
The moves towards allowing more of us to take control of our working
environment - whether that means working for ourselves from home
full-time or working for an employer from home two days a week - are
coming true at last.
The long parenthesis causes the w riter to forget w hat the subject o f the
sentence was. Moves may lead to action. Moves tow ards something
may eventually get there. But m oves cannot be said to be coming tru e.
It w ould be better to get rid of the w ord m oves: Plans towards allowing
m ore o f us to take control o f our working environm ent . . . are being
realized at last.
It should be noted that it is w hen a sentence gets somewhat clogged
w ith w ords (as by the introduction o f the parenthesis in the sentence
above) that the logical sequence from subject (The moves) through
verb (are com ing) to w hat follows ( true) may be defective.
His combination of talent, daring, intelligence and dedication amounts to
the most impressive sportsman of our time.
Here, for instance, the accumulation o f the four words ( talent, daring,
intelligence and dedication) clogs progress sufficiently for the sequence
from subject (His com bination) through verb ( am ounts to ) to w hat
follows (the most impressive sportsm an) to be upset. The w riter w ould
not have been tem pted to write His com bination amounts to the sports
m an, but w hen divested o f the verbal clogging around it, that is the
basic construction used. A simple change o f verb w ould correct the error:
His com bination of talent, daring, intelligence and dedication mark him
as the most impressive sportsman o f our tim e.
It is less than exact to convey that the need for satisfactory insurance for
a variety o f activities or possessions can be sum m ed up as a need for
flexibility. But then seemingly to define flexibility as a category o f
beings ranging from family ponies to com petition horses makes matters
worse. W hat should be offered is: cover for whatever you need it for,
from family ponies to com petition horses.
W here a m etaphor is involved it is all too easy to attach the w rong
w ord to it. An image w hich has lately become popular is that of a raft.
A raft is a platform w hich floats and can usefully carry a load o f items
carefully arranged together. Hence we hear that the governm ent is
producing a raft o f proposals on this matter or that. That is a useful
expression, if handled properly.
The government has unveiled a raft of proposals.
Here it is mishandled. The w riter has opted for the w rong initial verb,
and the imagery breaks down. It m ight be appropriate to launch a raft,
but the picture o f someone unveiling a raft will not do.
There are words w hich can be used in different senses in different
contexts. Exploiting double meanings can be a source of hum our or, in
poetry, o f profundity. One m ight flippantly say The baby was delivered
at eight o clock in the m orning, at the same time as the newspaper in
fact. There is always a risk for the w riter in using any w ord w hich has
the sort o f double usages that are exploited there in the verb deliver.
For it is possible to call up the w rong meaning unintentionally.
A glass of wine and an introductory lecture will precede a special guided
tour of the exhibition by gallery staff.
The verb precede means to take place before in time. It also means
to go before in movement. The glass o f w ine and the lecture precede
the guided tour in time. But the concept o f people walking through
the gallery on a guided tour is apt to bring the other meaning of pre
cede to mind, so that one pictures a procession headed by a glass o f
wine.
Even the shortest w ords can be used to exploit this kind of ambiguity.
The w ord in is made to do double duty in Dickenss celebrated account
of the agitated Miss Bolo in Pickwick Papers, w ho w ent straight hom e, in a
flood of tears and a Sedan chair.
The w riter has to take care not to allow an unintended am biguity to
intrude through lack o f watchfulness.
Words at W ork
Words at W ork
She immediately passes the information on to the social services, who leave
at once to find the boy.
Now it may be argued that the person w ho received the inform ation did
indeed leave at once. But the social services to w hom the com m unication
is sent is surely an organization w ith a substantial staff. They do not all
leave at once. If w h o is to be kept, then leave m ust be changed: w ho
send someone at once to find the boy.
Words at W ork
The paper used with gouache is significant; different types achieve different
qualities.
Paper is not capable o f achieving anything. The m eaning is that different
types o f paper enable the artist to achieve different qualities.
A rather subtler question arises from a statement made on Radio 4:
Cannabis should be allowed to be prescribed.
This is like saying Meat should be allowed to be eaten. If one says
It should be legal to prescribe cannabis, one is urging that doctors
should be allow ed to do something, but this does not em power
cannabis in any way. Although we are used to notices saying Smoking
is not allowed, it is clearly better to avoid the converse instruction
Cigarettes should be allowed to be sm oked as a variant o f People may
smoke.
The issue arises again w ith the verb to enable. It is better reserved for
the personal field. The grant enabled us to finance the foreign to u r
represents the personal usage. The whole discussion is about enabling a
framework to be in place represents the far less satisfactory, impersonal
usage. Strictly speaking, a framework cannot be enabled to be anything.
As material things such as cannabis ought not to be said to be allow ed
privileges, so material things such as frameworks ought not to be said to
be rendered capable o f doing anything.
Before leaving this topic, we should note that there is one verb properly
reserved for the activity o f living beings w hich has long been used
idiomatically of inanimate beings in certain contexts. It is the verb to
see. We use the w ord widely of actual vision and also of registering by
the m ind ( See w hat I m ean?). I doubt w hether any pedants are shocked
w hen someone writes The year 1945- saw the defeat of Germany even
though years are not gifted w ith either vision or mental understanding.
But the acceptance o f such an idiom does not justify extending its use
into other and very different contexts. Here is an account o f some horse
trials.
Twenty-four started over Keith Bristows track . . . and some tricky related
distances saw only five reach the jump-off.
The notion o f related distances witnessing or registering this or that
num ber o f successful riders strains the idiom too far. The same may be
said of the following account of repairs to railway trucks.
Words at W ork
Words at W ork
Words at W o rk
R E A D Y - M A D E USAGES
Established Combinations
There are established com binations o f w ords w hich come naturally to
m ind because they are so apt and useful. To speak o f someone having a
steady hand or an infectious smile can often enough be appropriate.
To describe som eones hardships as a crippling burden and an addition
to them as a terrible blow is to reach for very well-used expressions.
That a com bination o f w ords is stereotyped does not prevent it from
being genuinely usable. Some o f the most useful and forceful such
combinations have a metaphorical content. W e speak o f someone having
received a bloody nose w hen he has merely been rebuffed. There is
only a metaphorical iciness about being in a cold sweat, having cold
feet or giving someone the cold shoulder. And we move further still
from literalness w hen we say things are in apple-pie order or w hen we
describe a grandiose creation as a w hite elephant. The origin o f the
former is disputed, but the latter expression apparently dates back to a
Siamese king w ho presented expensive w hite elephants to out-of-favour
courtiers w ho couldnt afford to keep them.
Words at W ork
Fielding made his Lady Booby the absurd w ould-be seductress o f innocent
Joseph Andrews. The image o f the w ooden spoon, now m ore com monly
used, has a curious history. The associations o f insensitivity and com para
tive worthlessness w hich the w ord w ooden carries date well back. In
Shakespeares Henry VI Part i the Earl of Suffolk writes off the king as a
w ooden thing. It became the custom at Cambridge University to present
a w ooden spoon to the student w ho obtained the lowest marks in the
Mathematical Tripos. From this derives the image now popular w ith
journalists.
Imaginative inventiveness is revealed sometimes in adding to the stock
o f such expressions. Consider the expression golden handshake. The
two words golden and handshake are rich in associations w hich offset
each other powerfully in the partnership. Golden endows a concept
w ith preciousness. The w ord handshake, used o f a parting, can convey
a deep pathos. In Shakespeares Troilus and Cressida there is a fine image of
how the parting handshake differs from the w elcoming embrace.
For time is like a fashionable host
That slightly shakes his parting guest by the hand,
And with his arms outstretched as he would fly,
Grasps in the comer.
Put together the image o f the golden gift and the limp parting handshake,
and there is something w hich sums up a w orld o f emotional complexities
that victims o f involuntary and half-voluntary redundancies experience.
The effectiveness o f the expression golden handshake has inspired
further verbal partnerships. W hen an em ploying board is induced to give
a new top manager a package o f pecuniary benefits, the manager is said
to have received a golden hello. Similarly, a person may be appointed
to a post in m anagement or in the professions and granted pecuniary
benefits (such as removal and resettlement costs) w hich must be repaid
if the appointee stays less than two or three years in the post. The
employee is then said to be held in golden handcuffs. Moreover, I see
now that a person em ployed at the top level o f a major business w ho is
given a lum p sum and required to leave his lucrative post for a m uch
m ore m odest one is described as being brought dow n to earth in a
golden parachute. Journalists seeking an expression to convey an even
rarer and m ore valuable gesture to a departing director have now spoken
o f a platinum handshake.
Words at W ork
Words at W ork
Words at W ork
Words at W ork
You rely on your horses ability to respond to your commands. But your
horse relies on you too, and your insurance is no exception.
One has to ask no exception to w hat? The w riter seems to assume that
a generalization has been propounded on the subject o f reliance to w hich
not insuring a horse w ould be an exception. It is only by a process of
imaginative detection that one deduces the existence o f this fragile
connection in the w riters mind.
in the event that
An increasingly used construction that is generally better avoided is
introduced by the expression in the event that. It is a rather clumsy way
o f avoiding simple constructions.
In the event of a breakdown or accident in the UK or Europe, help is just a
phone call away.
Since firms are not usually shy of using the second person, one wonders
w hy this did not begin If you have a breakdown or accident in the UK
or Europe. A similar question arises over this advertisement for an
insurance company.
New Disposal cover to help you with the costs in the event that your horse
may lose its life.
In this case the w riter is com mitted to use of the second person, openly
referring to your horse. So w hy not: New Disposal cover to help you
w ith your costs, should your horse lose its life?
least o f all
It is odd that this particular expression gets used w hen its opposite is
required.
Turks and Cypriots will find it difficult to agree about anything on that
divided island, least of all about the current anniversary.
W hat the speaker m eant was that the Turks and Cypriots will find it
especially difficult to agree about the anniversary. If the opening of the
sentence is kept (Turks and Cypriots will find it difficult to agree) then
w hat follows m ust be: most of all about the current anniversary. That
sounds a little clumsy. The better correction w ould be: Turks and
Words at W ork
Cypriots will not readily agree about anything on that divided island,
least o f all about the current anniversary.
few and far between
One danger to be avoided is that of falling back on a familiar expression
w hen in fact it merely wastes words.
The number of vacancies there are is rather few and far between.
That is a com ment on the em ployment situation made on the radio. Few
and far betw een is a telling expression w here it is appropriately used,
say o f habitations in a largely unpopulated area. But here it slips from the
speakers tongue to fill time. In fact There are few vacancies w ould say
all that the speaker said, reducing the num ber o f words from twelve to
four, indeed saving tw o-thirds of them.
in terms of
This expression means as represented by and is properly used in such
statements as In terms o f public influence he counted for nothing. It is
now being used indiscriminately.
They have no use for civil servants in terms of getting things done.
Here in terms o f simply means for.
In terms of the current controversy I have nothing to add.
Here in terms o f simply means about.
CHAPTER 4
Roman Britain
The Britons inhabiting our country, w ho faced the first Roman invasions
by Julius Caesar in 55 b c and then the actual conquest undertaken by the
Emperor Claudius some ten years later, w ere Celts. The Romanization of
the country, o f w hich w e still see so many rem inders in our roads and
in the scattered relics o f houses, baths and temples, had its effect on the
language spoken here. Many people m ust have used Latin. Natives w ho
prospered and took advantage o f Roman civilization in the form of
centrally heated country houses no doubt had to use Latin from time to
time. But whereas Latin replaced the Celtic language in Gaul, its use in
England seems to have been limited to a small section of the population.
The Romans w ithdrew , the last troops finally leaving round about a d
410. There followed the invasion o f Britain by tribes from Denmark and
the Low Countries. These w ere Teutonic tribes defined by early historians
as Jutes, Angles and Saxons. The Anglo-Saxons, as they came to be called,
no doubt settled dow n w ith the Celts comfortably enough in certain
areas. But elsewhere the Celts fiercely resisted the invaders and were
gradually driven west to settle in Wales and Cornwall. Roman towns were
destroyed and abandoned. A different kind o f social order developed. The
102
104
meaning. That is w hat happened w ith darling and favourite. And this
drifting apart often produced subtle differentiations o f meaning. Even
w here the meanings remained for dictionary purposes identical, the
duplication allowed o f subtle distinctions resonating in the overtones of
the words. Sorrow is an Anglo-Saxon w ord, m isery a Latin word. They
have drifted apart in their emotive baggage. Hearty and cordial give
us synonyms w hich strike the ear w ith very different resonance. We
greeted him heartily rings different mental bells from We saluted him
cordially. No one w ould suggest that there is m uch difference in meaning
between the verb begin and the w ord com m ence. Even so w e use the
two w ords in different contexts.
It is risky to generalize about this drifting apart o f native and parallel
Latin words. W here, say, the w ord grasp is a forceful w ord in its
concrete sense (He grasped the pole and hurled it in the air) and the
parallel Latin w ords com prehend and apprehend are likely to be
associated w ith getting hold o f things w ith the m ind rather than w ith
the body, nevertheless w e readily speak o f grasping new ideas and we
used to refer regularly to the business of apprehending criminals. Usage
does not stand still in this respect. We now use the w ord heavy chiefly
in reference to physical weight. We use the w ord w eighty o f both
physical items and arguments. The Latin equivalent, ponderous, tends
to be used only in a metaphorical sense o f over-solemn personages. Yet
I have just read a notice issued by the Midland Railway in 187^:
This bridge is insufficient to carry weights beyond the ordinary traffic of
the district, and the owners and persons in charge of Locomotive Traction
Engines and other ponderous carriages are warned against passing over the
bridge.
A century or so later that use o f the adjective ponderous can only be
said to seem too ponderous.
Otto Jesperson pointed out that our native vocabulary seems to have
been short o f adjectives, w ith the result that we tend to shift from native
nouns to foreign adjectives. He cites the noun m o u th and the adjective
oral, the noun nose and the adjective nasal, the noun eye and the
adjective ocular, the n oun son and the adjective filial. The adjectives
here have no native equivalents, unless w e count the adjective nosey
(and what a homely, unsophisticated w ord that is). In cases w here there
has been recourse to foreign adjectives despite the existence o f parallel
native ones, the tw o w ords tend to drift apart in meaning. Thus tim ely
is not an exact synonym for tem poral, and earthy, earthly and
earthen differ each from each as well as from terrestrial.
W hat m ost o f us first think of w hen reference is made to the Latin half
o f our vocabulary is that mass o f w ords w hich have at best a sophisticated,
at w orst an artificial flavour: w ords like speculate, cogitate, and m edi
tate, w hich contrast w ith w ords like think, w eigh and brood. We
must not oversimplify this issue. She was always showing o ff says w hat
She continually conducted herself ostentatiously says. But in practice
we do not find ourselves asking w hether w e should use this w ord or
that, drive or im pel, show y or ostentatious. A kind of instinct for
w hat is appropriate operates.
Choosing the best w ord is not always a matter o f choosing the native
Anglo-Saxon w ord instead o f the Latin borrow ing. Our minds enter
different linguistic w orlds according to w here we are, w hom we are
talking to, and what the occasion is. There is a time to say I told him to
shut u p and a time to say I requested him to keep silent. And however
great the overlap between seeming synonyms, ingrained habits prevent
us often from treating them as always interchangeable. We may speak
interchangeably either o f burying someone or o f interring them, but
we should never exclaim o f someone, Oh, shes always got her head
interred in a book!
It should go w ithout saying that it is the Latin part o f our vocabulary
that can trip us up m ost easily. All those w ords that end in -ation, how
easy it is to get one w rong. We are amused w hen someone is shown
up picking the w rong one. We laugh aloud w hen Private Eye records
how a speaker on the radio said The script evolved after three years
o f gesticulation, w hen he should have said after three years o f gest
ation. It is not just the slip-up that is funny, but the image produced
o f radio programme-m akers devoting themselves for three years to
gesticulation.
fret, nag and pester, badger and taunt come to our minds. But
w hen the affairs of societies and institutions, political parties and public
figures are involved, then w ords such as aggravate and exacerbate,
irritate and exasperate, reproach and discountenance are m ore likely
to be used. The first six w ords together contain eight syllables, the other
six w ords together contain twenty syllables.
But the longer w ord is not always the m ore artificial and less vivid
one. The Anglo-Saxon practice o f forming abstract nouns by adding such
endings as -ship and -hood has left us w ith some sturdy and vivid
longer words such as friendship, fellowship and courtship, m other
h o o d , sisterhood and brotherhood. Here again, in the context o f the
family, there is a discrepancy in emotive pow er between the w ords
fatherly and fatherhood on the one hand, and the Latinate paternal
and paternity on the other, between brotherly and brotherhood on
the one hand, and the Latinate fraternal and fraternity on the other.
The num ber o f syllables in the words we use also affects the sturdiness
o f our utterance. A series o f monosyllables can give a strikingly urgent
and dramatic flavour to utterance. John Donne begins a celebrated poem
w ith a line o f ten monosyllables:
For Gods sake, hold your tongue and let me love!
William Cowper manages two full lines o f verse in monosyllabic w ords
and there are sixteen o f them:
Lord, we are few but Thou art near,
Nor short thine arm nor deaf thine ear.
In Shakespeare the proportion of polysyllables to monosyllables is often
quite low. The line To be or not to be, that is the question contains one
two-syllable w ord to nine monosyllables. The lines Friends, Romans,
Countrymen, lend m e your ears / I come to bury Caesar, not to praise
h im contain one three-syllable w ord, three two-syllable w ords and
twelve monosyllables.
U ninhibited use o f polysyllabic w ords does not necessarily produce
nervelessness or spinelessness. No w riter used our Latinate vocabulary
m ore freely than Dr Johnson, but it is done w ith such care for exactness
of meaning and for rhetorical balance that it pleases the ear at the same
time that it stimulates the mind. Here he is defending Shakespeare against
the charge that he ignored the old classical unities (of time, place and
action) in the construction o f his plays.
He that, without diminution of any other excellence, shall preserve all the
unities unbroken, deserves the like applause with the architect, who shall
display all the orders of architecture in a citadel, without any deduction
from its strength; but the principal beauty of a citadel is to exclude the
enemy; and the greatest graces of a play, are to copy nature and instruct
life.
To be able to use freely phrases like dim inution o f any other excellence
w ithout sounding pedantic or pretentious indicates Johnsons mastery o f
the polysyllabic vocabulary. Such is the shaping o f the prose that to
replace w ithout any deduction by w ithout taking away from w ould
not strengthen the passage. Similarly, to replace to exclude the enem y
by to keep the enemy o u t w ould upset the balance. Such possible
changes w ould merely introduce an alien aural element and disrupt the
flowing rhythm.
There is a place for heavily Latinate diction. Johnsonese m ight sound
incongruously artificial at the breakfast table am ong the family. It m ight
sound very appropriate in a eulogy on a w orld figure from the lips o f a
distinguished diplomat at a state funeral.
FOREIGN W O R D S A N D PHRASES
French W ords: Pronunciation
We have seen that our language has taken in w ords from Latin and French
throughout its history. Yet we find in current English a num ber o f words
and phrases from these languages w hich retain their foreignness. In the
case o f words from the French accents are preserved in spite o f the fact that
English has no accents. Moreover, among the educated classes at least, the
French pronunciation is preserved, or something like it. W hen French
words were introduced in the past there was often a considerable space of
time before the pronunciation got anglicized. We know that w hen the
w ord oblige came in from French in the sixteenth century, it was p ro
nounced obleege, and indeed that pronunciation survived right up to the
nineteenth century. In this connection it is interesting that we keep the
French pronunciation in our use o f the expression noblesse oblige (liter
ally nobility obliges), w hich we quote, often ironically, in reference to
the honourable and generous conduct w hich is expected of the aristocracy.
108
the beau m onde (the beautiful w orld). We still preserve the French
pronunciation o f boudoir, massage and coiffure. In the w ider w orld
it is significant that w hen we wish to characterize an act o f patronization
and condescension we call it acting de haut en bas ( from high to lo w ).
The French language therefore, having the cachet or prestige of the upper
class, comes in useful for veiling unm entionable items and practices in
delicate terminology. W hen w om en want new underwear, they seek, it
in the lingerie department. Their undress is their negligee or their
deshabille. We describe a w om ans low -cut garment that exposes the
bosom as decollete. W hen a married couple (or a pair o f sexual partners)
choose to live in cohabitation w ith a third person, the additional sexual
partner o f one of them, we call it a menage a trois. A comparable
delicacy no doubt stands behind the now established practice o f referring
to hotel rooms that are fully equipped w ith washing and toilet facilities
as en suite (literally in sequence).
Social Niceties
Our vocabulary for the intimate and the personal is rich in French terms.
We use the expression en famille for someone w ho is at hom e w ith his
family. Another French expression, entre nous ( between you and m e) ,
serves us in the sphere o f confidential intimacy. W e even tend to preserve
the masculine and feminine spellings o f confidant and confidante for
a very special friend w ho can be let into all our secrets. A delicate way of
speaking o f a com m unication w hich amounts to a love letter is to call it
a billet doux (literally a sweet n ote). Delicacy of a different kind
encourages us to speak o f a faux pas (literally a false step) w hen
someone puts their foot in it, as we say, and we call a social blunder a
gaffe.
Somehow in the realm o f social proprieties and social indiscretions
recourse to French is habitual. We hear people use the expression com me
il faut (as it should b e) as a delicate way o f pronouncing some practice
thoroughly acceptable in the best circles. We speak of damage to a
persons self-respect and personal sense of propriety as something w hich
w ounds their am our-propre ( self-love). The French expression lese
majeste (meaning w ounded majesty) is used for suffering presum p
tuous behaviour from inferiors against their betters. We describe som e
one w ho is unconventional in behaviour and commits indiscretions as
110
111
112
Latin Abbreviations
W e constantly use a num ber o f abbreviations derived from Latin. A w riter
may insert the w ord sic in parenthesis. Literally it means thus, but we
use it to draw attention to something remarkable in what has just been
said, m ore especially perhaps w hen quoting another source. It may draw
attention to w hat is anomalous or dubious in the w riters eyes. On the
other hand it may draw attention to something that confirms w hat the
w riter is saying. The abbreviation i.e., standing for the Latin id est,
means that is to say, and is useful w hen clarifying a point already made
by words w hich am ount to the same thing. The abbreviation e.g.,
standing for exempli gratia ( for examples sake) and meaning for
example, is useful w hen providing an illustration w hich exemplifies and
corroborates the point made. These two abbreviations are so established
that people will use them in conversation (Did he have anything m ore
to say - e.g. about w here he was on the night in question?). Other Latin
abbreviations include N B (nota bene), meaning note w ell, drawing
special attention to w hat follows. Certain abbreviations have been pre
served in the religious field. There are the letters DV (Deo volente),
meaning God w illing, once m uch used by Christian bodies advertising
future events and anxious to draw public attention to the fact that all that
may be planned from day to day could take place only w ith divine
permission. Another abbreviation m uch used by the Church is RIP
( requiescat in pace) meaning rest in peace. The same Latin noun is
used in the traditional greeting pax vobiscum , meaning peace be w ith
you. The letters IHS, originally o f Greek derivation, were used from
the fifteenth century to stand for Jesus H om inum Salvator ( Jesus, the
Saviour of M en).
Some Latin w ords have become so firmly established that one questions
w hether they ought still to be distinguished as not English. The Latin
w ord passim, meaning in many or various places, is a convenient
Latin Expressions
The expression tabula rasa is still in use (literally a clean slate on which
nothing has yet been w ritten), though in fact the English expression a
clean sheet (unused w riting paper) means neither m ore nor less. There
are m ore useful Latinisms than that, many o f a m ore technical kind. The
Latin w ord quasi means just as i f or just as though. In English we
have converted it into a prefix, so that a quasi-philosophical statem ent
would be a statement w hich passes itself off as philosophical w ithout
actually being so. One m ight, for instance, describe Scientology as a
quasi-religious cult. The nearest simple English equivalent w ould be a
seemingly religious cult. The Latin expression a priori, meaning liter
ally from the previous is used adjectivally o f a proposition that is being
assumed from the beginning o f an argument rather than deduced in the
course o f the argument. This expression came into use in England in the
eighteenth century and is so well settled that the noun apriority has
been derived from it. Another expression used in arguing a case is ipso
facto (literally by that very fact), w hich is said to introduce a point
inexorably following from a point just made. The alternative form o f this
connecting link is eo facto (by that fact) , a slightly less forceful version.
The expression sui generis means o f its ow n kind and therefore
sometimes peculiar or even m ore loosely, un ique. It is not considered
over-pedantic to use the expression sine qua n o n (literally w ithout
w hich nothing) for an indispensable condition. The w ords status q u o
are used for the existing state o f affairs (The agitators had no thought of
rebellion, being anxious to preserve the status q u o ). A quid pro q u o
(literally something for som ething) is something given in exchange for
some object or some advantage received ( His knighthood was a quid
pro quo for his services to the party) . An interesting Latinism is preserved
in the words pro rata (an abbreviation o f pro rata parte, literally
according to w hat has been fixed in calculation) w hich means in
proportion. Universities award honorary degrees honoris causa (liter
ally for the sake of h o nour) in recognition of meritorious achieve
ments.
Latinisms m ore likely to be used in a personal conversational context
include mea culpa (m y fault), w hich constitutes an apology, and infra
dig, an abbreviation o f the Latin infra dignitatem , meaning beneath
o nes dignity and applied to any suggestion for conduct w hich selfrespect w ould not condone. And people used to be conversationally free
and easy w ith the w ords non compos m entis (not master o f o n es
m in d ) applied to mentally defective people. Inter alia is sometimes
used in place of the English among other m atters, and likewise ceteris
paribus for the English other things being equal. More difficult to spare
w ould be the expression mutatis m utandis, a most economic way of
saying something for w hich several w ords are needed in English. It is the
equivalent of once the necessary changes have been m ade.
Legal Latin
There are Latinisms m uch used in legal affairs w hich have also been taken
into general usage. The expression de jure, w hich means according to
law , is usefully balanced by the expression de facto, meaning in actual
fact. Thus a man convicted o f a mercy killing m ight be described as a
de jure m urderer but de facto innocent. The expression prim a facie,
m eaning at first sight, is used o f assumptions made before full trial o f a
case. Thus a prim a facie case must be made by police and prosecuting
counsel before a person charged w ith a crime can be sent before an assize
court. The expression sub judice, literally meaning before a judge, is
applied to matters still under judicial consideration. The fact that they
have yet to be officially pronounced upon limits the right o f general
public comment. Ultra vires (literally beyond strength) defines som e
thing w hich is legally outside the pow er o f a person or an institution to
affect or control. The w ord ultra is used also in the expression nec et
non plus ultra, roughly the equivalent o f so far and no further. Obiter
dictum (literally something said on the way, while travelling) was
originally an expression o f opinion given by a judge w hich was not
essential to the judgm ent he was making, and therefore not binding or
authoritative. Hence the w ords obiter dictum or the plural obiter dicta
are used o f some persons incidental remark or remarks. The w ords rigor
m ortis (rigidity o f death) are in com m on use for the state o f a corpse
after stiffness has set in.
contexts, smacks o f artifice and pedantry. There is always the risk that
the w riter or speaker w ho readily makes use o f them will appear to be
showing off.
A RCH A ISM S
The vocabulary o f a language changes over the centuries. We have seen
how English has acquired new w ords throughout the ages. It has also of
course lost words. And sometimes w ords are half-lost, or nearly lost.
They disappear from popular general use, but turn up from time to time
either in special circles w ith strong traditionalist leanings, or in the
utterance o f knowledgeable people w ho find them useful and, perhaps,
irreplaceable. W here w ords stand for things once part o f the environm ent
but w hich have now disappeared from daily life, it is natural that they
should get lost. We come across such words, say in reading Shakespeare,
and w hen we discover that they refer to items o f dress or arm our long
since discarded, w e find the loss quite understandable. But words are also
lost, not because the things they stood for have gone from the m odern
scene, but because they have been replaced by other words. We read
H am lets question, W oot drink up eisel? and learn from the glossary
that eisel is vinegar, so the question is W ould you drink up vinegar?
However, quite apart from nouns, w hich may stand for things no longer
used, or for things for w hich we now have other names, there are w ords
w hich we class as archaisms for another reason. They have ceased to be
used altogether, or ceased to be used m uch in general parlance. They
sound quaint. Such is the adverb eke, meaning also or m oreover. As
eek it was a favourite w ord o f Chaucer. He tells how the m onks bridle
w ould jingle in the w ind And eek as loude as dooth the chapel belle. It
is to be distinguished from the verb w hich we use in saying that someone
eked o u t a living on a poor croft. It is a useful w ord to cite as an instance
because in James Joyces Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man we meet a close
friend o f the hero Stephen, one Cranly, whose habit o f using the w ord
eke adds comically to his ironic pose of scholarly solemnity.
There are words w hich have not entirely disappeared from current
usage yet w hich carry an archaic flavour. This archaic flavour is not strong
enough to prevent our use of the words, but it is strong enough for us
to hesitate before using them for fear o f sounding affected and preten
tious. Thus we may hesitate before using albeit instead of although.
W e should think twice before using the verb abide. Similarly w e may
hesitate before using the im personal w ord behove. Perhaps that is a
pity. It behoves m e to give you a grave w arning lays emphasis on the
duty and responsibility of the speaker, depersonalizing the rebuke. The
comparable impersonal verb befit remains in use, but is subtly different
from behove. W hat is befitting is appropriate. W hat is behoveful is
needed, called for. Like befit, the w ord beholden remains in use while
carrying a faintly archaic air. I am greatly beholden to you means I am
greatly obliged, or indebted, to you.
A few archaisms survive in com m on usage because they are found in
m em orable quotations. We still hear the expression hoist w ith his ow n
petard, deriving from Shakespeare. Hamlet speaks o f the irony o f seeing
an enginer Hoist w ith his ow n petar, that is struck by his ow n machine
w hich is meant to blow a hole in a wall w ith gunpow der. This quotation
has only recently been rendered disposable by the equally useful phrase
about scoring an ow n goal. Another interesting survival is the use o f
the w ord cudgel w hen w e say I m ust cudgel my brains, meaning
struggle to remember. A cudgel was a stick that could be used for beating
people. The noun has gone but the verb lingers on in this one expression.
There is possible cause for regret over the loss o f a w ord from general
parlance only w here it is not replaceable. Here w e may cite the gradual
disappearance o f the w ords w hence and w hither. W hence is the
equivalent o f from w here and w hither is the equivalent o f to w here.
We have replaced W hence have you com e? by W here have you come
from ? (the change adding a w ord). We have replaced W hither are you
going? firstly by W here are you going to? and then by W here are you
going?
The w ord w here was once used in various com pounds w hich have
mostly ceased to be used. They include w hereat, w hereby, w herefore,
w herefrom , w h ereo f, w hereto and w herew ithal. We still use the
w ords w hereas, w hereupon and w hereabouts. We use the w ord
w herew ithal in a sem i-ironic tone o f voice w hen we are short o f cash
( I havent got the w herew ithal). But otherwise it is chiefly in legal
docum ents that the words survive. The usefulness o f some o f these w ords
is made evident by the way lawyers fall back on them w hen seeking the
m axim um clarity o f definition. It is also made evident w hen we ask
ourselves w hat has replaced them. The means whereby I live has to
become The means by w hich I live.
W hat applies to the w ord w here also applies, in different degrees, to
the w ords there and here. We still say therefore and sometimes
thereby, but for therew ith and thereunder w e m ust turn to legal and
other official documents. Such docum ents still depend on com pounds o f
h ere, such as hereafter, hereat, hereby, herein, hereon, hereto,
hereunder, hereunto, and herew ith. We continue to use hereabouts
as well as w hereabouts in conversation. The intensified forms, w hereso
ever and w hensoever, like the forms w hosoever and w hom soever,
are words w hich w e associate now w ith lawyers and w ith past poets.
W hen we read the poet Robert Herricks famous lines,
Whenas in silks my Julia goes,
Then, then (me thinks) how sweetly flows
The liquefaction of her clothes
w e mentally accept w henas and me thinks as archaic poetic diction.
If we have any doubt about the value o f the kind o f com pound here
represented, we have only to study the prose o f the King James Bible.
W hen we read the w ords of Saint Paul in the King James Bible, Howbeit,
whereinsoever any is bold, I am bold also, and w e ask ourselves w hat
w e should now substitute for the w ord w hereinsoever, we realize w hat
a convenient w ord it was, and how m any w ords it w ould take to replace
it. For whereinsoever any is bold really am ounts to in whatever respects
anyone is bold or in whatever circumstances anyone is bold. Checking
up on tw o m ore recent versions, I find the w ords whereinsoever any is
b old m ultiplied to whatever anyone dares to boast o f and in whatever
particular they enjoy such confidence. It is perhaps a pity that we cannot
rescue w ords so useful, but we m ust face facts. The discerning w riter
may be able to use an archaism from time to time, but clearly it is
desirable to exercise restraint in that respect. People may get away
w ith a lavish use o f archaisms in the w orld o f ceremonial officialdom.
Anywhere else it will seem comic.
A M E R IC A N IS M S
That usages should have come into English from America is no m ore
surprising than that they have come into England from France. W here
words and expressions are equally well established in both the US and
the UK, no problem arises. In the UK we now all say OK as naturally
as the Americans. W e speak about barking up the w rong tree or burying
PART 2
CHAPTER 5
The key to meaningful utterance is the verb. The verb transforms the
indeterm inate utterance the plum ber into the meaningful utterance
Call the plum ber. You can utter nouns or pronouns by the dozen
w ithout making sense. Potatoes, peas, cabbage, carrots. The nouns make
meaningful utterance only if a verb is added or is understood. Please
supply me w ith . . . In earlier chapters we w ere concerned w ith the
choice o f words. Our subject was primarily the m eaning o f individual
words. Here, however, we are m ore concerned w ith the way in w hich
w ords can properly be arranged. And since the verb is a key element in
the structure of utterance, good w riting is impossible w ithout correct
use o f verbs. W here we go w rong in the use o f verbs is something
we cannot afford to ignore. If we examine current error carefully, we
shall find that a few false uses of the verb corrupt current usage widely.
It is our task to examine these bad habits and show how they can be
avoided.
USE OF S I N G U L A R A N D P L U R A L
We say The bird sings sweetly and The birds sing sweetly and we do
not think o f the choice between the singular sings and the plural sing
as a grammatical danger zone. Yet we may feel less confident in choosing
between The choir is singing tw o madrigals and The choir are singing
tw o madrigals.
Collective Nouns
W e have raised the question of the collective noun, the noun w hich, like
the w ord choir, refers to a group or body o f objects or people. Strictly
speaking, it should in m ost cases take a singular verb, but one finds the
rule broken wherever one turns.
Our range of tiles have many different themes to choose from.
Behind the small village are a range of mountains.
A range of unique water-mixable mediums have been developed.
That is but a handful o f examples from the w orld o f magazines and
devoted to the one collective noun range alone. In each case the verb
should be singular: Our range o f tiles has many different them es;
Behind the village is a range o f m ountains; A range o f m edium s has
been developed.
W hat applies to the w ord range applies to other collective nouns. Yet
it is easy to find specimens o f error. Note the bracketed corrections in
the following sentences.
An impressive array of their paintings hang [hangs] on the walls.
A selection of bars, tavernas and shops are [is] within easy walking distance.
A rash of television designers have [has] erupted . . .
The entire fleet of Mendip Rail-operated GB Class 59s were [was] on site.
Her exhibition featured a mixture of hats; a combination of transparent,
woven, flexible and solid fabric structures were [was] used.
One finds the same mistake being made w ith a variety o f w ords like
com bination that gather items together. But usage sometimes presents
us w ith problem s in this respect. The following is a piece about cabinet
meetings.
In the early 1970s, there were still an average of 60 meetings a year.
Technically the singular verb w as w ould seem to be required here to
go w ith the singular w ord average, but it w ould be a rash pedant w ho
w ould insist on that. The safest correction w ould be: there w ere still, on
average, 60 meetings a year. The same applies to the following sentence:
Rovers and I doubt w hether one w ould often be likely to hear the
equivalent of w here Aston Villa meets Tranmere Rovers. A rather differ
ent liberty is taken w hen the com m entator makes this judgement:
Seven defeats out of ten on Scottish soil tells its own story.
To make a pedantic correction here ( Seven defeats out of ten tell their
ow n story) w ould be nit-picking. W hen a given series o f events (Seven
defeats out o f ten) is thus sum m ed up as a single significant fact, the
case for using the singular verb is strong. And w hen, moreover, the verb
in question is part o f a single w ell-w orn expression (it tells its ow n
story), the case is strengthened.
The w ord interests exercises the fatal attraction so that the journalist
writes The area . . . have shrunk instead o f has shrunk. And just as the
plural noun interests lures the w riter astray there, so the singular noun
subject lures the w riter astray below.
The tensions among naval intelligence staff inside the building known as
the Citadel was the subject of a recent report.
Surely the tensions w ere the subject o f a report. Here the w riter m ight
urge that he strays w here the great have strayed in that the King James
Bible includes the m uch quoted sentence The wages of sin is death.
Perhaps the attraction towards the incorrectly singular verb is at its
m ost subtle w hen the verb is made to precede the subject.
On the evidence available there does not appear to be any legal grounds for
intervention.
In saying there does not appear, the w riter fails to anticipate that w hat
is to come is a plural noun, grounds. It may seem less natural to say
there do not appear, but that is w hat is needed to introduce any
grounds. And it is presumably out o f a desire not to sound too stilted
that a journalist writes:
Also in the redheads hall of fame is singer Belinda Carlisle and actresses
Shirley Maclaine and Julia Roberts.
Over-formal as it may sound to begin Also in the redheads hall o f fame
are . . ., that is the correct w ording.
To the west along the valley is Long Meg and her daughters, memorial to
an even more ancient presence.
W hy is the singular verb is correct here? Because Long Meg and her
daughters is the official nam e o f the group o f stones, and it is the location
o f that group that is being described. In a superficially similar sentence
about real people the plural verb w ould be required (To the west, dow n
the road, live my friend Mrs Bean and her daughters). We extend this
freedom to have singular verbs to certain very familiarly partnered nouns.
Bread and butter is good for you, we say, and even Bacon and eggs is
m y favourite meal. Rhetorical tradition perm its extension o f this freedom
to closely related pairs o f nouns, as in Kiplings Recessional ( The tum ult
and the shouting dies).
Another rarity was the large mirror on the outside wall; these steam up like
the ones outside.
Although we are dealing w ith m irrors in general in the second half of
the sentence, there is no excuse for the shift from the large m irro r to
these. The singular noun m ust be cancelled out: these mirrors steam
up like the ones outside.
none I either I neither I or
These w ords appear to raise queries about the use o f singular and plural.
N one is basically the equivalent of no o n e. Thus logic seems to guide
us to think of it as singular. And indeed there are writers w ho always
treat it so. But popular usage tends towards the plural. Thus Dry den, a
classicist, left us the famous line, None but the brave deserves the fair,
and we hear it m isquoted as deserve the fair. Schoolboys used to be
made familiar w ith Macaulays idealized sum m ing-up o f the probity of
Roman political life in the days w hen Horatius kept the bridge.
Then none was for a party,
Then all were for the state.
That firm contrast between singular and plural for no n e and all tends
to make sticklers for style uncom fortable w ith plural verbs after n o n e.
However, from a w riter as reliable as Oliver Goldsmith the 0 ED quotes
None o f these how ever are know n to us. And the drift towards that
usage today seems to be irresistible.
None of those applicants who sent in their forms last year are required to
re-apply.
It has seemingly become the mark of the pedant to prefer: is required to
re-apply.
The w ords either and neither match the w ords they refer to.
Although it is obviously correct to say Neither Catholics nor Protestants
were present at the cerem ony, it is not correct to say Neither the bride
nor the bridegroom w ere willing to be interview ed. It should be: was
willing to be interview ed. Similarly Neither o f us enjoy eating o u t
should be: Neither o f us enjoys eating o u t.
We have dealt w ith the permissive sportsm ans team plural used o f
football teams. It is im proper, however, to extend too far the liberties
granted by this collective. W hen we hear o f tw o teams that neither side
are m uch fancied for the title, we are bound to protest. N either is there
singular. If two teams are com peting, either one or the other is
probably going to be victorious. If the match proves to be a draw, then
neither is the w inn er.
In such incorrect usages as Neither my father nor my m other were
willing to help, the difficulty arises because the speaker or w riter has
just been dwelling mentally on the fact that tw o people failed to respond.
That difficulty is not confined to the use o f negatives like n o n e and
neither.
For my style of working I find that top grade cartridge or hot pressed paper
are best suited.
Here it is the force o f the w ord o r that the w riter ignores. She is mentally
dwelling on the fact that tw o methods suit her. But o r separates the two
items. W hen one says Paint or wall-paper is acceptable, one means that
one or the other will serve. Logic demands the singular similarly in the
above: I find that top grade cartridge or hot pressed paper is best suited.
U SE OF T H E I N F I N I T I V E
The infinitive is used after certain verbs such as to w ish, to decide, to
help and to advise. In the sentences I wished to leave and I decided
to go, the infinitives to leave and to go act as objects o f the verbs
w ished and decided. There are also cases w here the infinitive acts as
subject of a verb ( To postpone decision seemed to be the best policy).
W e have the occasional usage in w hich the infinitive is used w ith the
verb to be both as subject and as com plem ent: To w ork is to pray; To
know her was to love h er.
It is im portant not to try to use the infinitive construction after verbs
w hich it cannot properly follow. We say I allowed him to g o , I
encouraged him to g o and I persuaded him to g o , but this cannot be a
model for any verb one chooses.
The challenge now is to prevent mass migration, by supporting people to
stay on their land and cultivate, fish, or raise catde.
We do not say They supported their son to try for the university, but
They supported their son in trying for the university. So here, if
Omission of to
In cases w here the infinitive is properly placed, a tendency has developed
o f om itting the w ord to . W e find people saying I helped him move his
house instead of I helped him to move his house. No doubt the practice
o f om itting to is harmless enough in conversation. We ought not to get
excited w hen someone says They are helping her cope w ith the problem ,
but in print that omission o f to can appear lax.
The book suggests methods parents can try to help children master these
basic skills.
Parents can help their less buoyant offspring cultivate this ability.
In each o f the above cases the restoration o f to is recommended: Parents
can try to help their children to master these basic skills and Parents can
help their less buoyant offspring to cultivate this ability. At present it is
especially the case w ith the verb help that this liberty is taken, but the
thin-ended wedge is being slowly pushed further. It is a small step from
Help her cross the road to Encourage him eat his cereals. If we
too readily accept statements like I helped my daughter choose her
engagem ent ring, may we soon be asked to accept I taught my daughter
make mince pies? For w e can already read:
A lost rail can force you bring stream-crossing skills into play.
This o f course should be: force you to bring. It should be added that
English does have a few verbs w hich are properly followed by w hat
grammarians call the bare form o f the infinitive (the infinitive w ithout
to ): We watched her go; They made me help.
Infinitive Misused
Misuse o f the infinitive tends to occur w hen it stands in close relationship
to a noun. We should naturally say He hopes to succeed in this venture,
following the verb to ho p e w ith the infinitive to succeed. But we should
equally naturally say W e had little hope of reviving h im , following the
noun h ope w ith the gerund o f reviving. But this does not m ean that
infinitives cannot ever have a proper dependence on a noun. There are
num erous cases o f such dependence. In the sentence There was no doubt
o f his determ ination to leave, the infinitive to leave is directly attached
to the noun determ ination. Such sentences as They acknowledged her
prom ise to take part, W e saw their willingness to participate and He
w elcom ed our readiness to cooperate give some idea o f how com m on
this use of the infinitive is. In each of those cases the infinitive is directly
attached to a noun. W e say I have a duty to go, She has an obligation
to be there, and They have a strong claim to present. In any o f these
cases use of the gerund w ould be out o f the question (duty o f going,
obligation o f being there). But there are certain nouns which, unlike
these, sometimes seemingly offer a choice to the writer. Whereas We
saw no reason to rejoice is acceptable usage, W e had a hundred reasons
for rejecting the proposal is equally respectable.
The escape from use o f an ill-placed infinitive cannot always be best
achieved by use o f a gerund. Consider the following sentence:
Todays Airbath International is founded on thirty years of market experi
ence, with constant research and development to improve and refine the
original unique idea.
The infinitives to im prove and refine cannot stand thus, unhappily
connected to the nouns research and developm ent. The best way to
make the infinitives usable is to introduce a participle on w hich they can
depend: w ith constant research and development designed to im prove
and refine the original idea.
The models are complete with rubber feet to prevent them from slipping
or scratching the table.
Here is another sentence w hich requires the same treatment. Since it
w ould be clumsy to w rite complete w ith rubber feet for preventing
we should tend to put the real adjective before the noun, whereas the
participle often follows it.
There are various ways in w hich the present participle can be misused.
One can say of them, as one can say o f certain misuses of the gerund,
that at the w orst these misuses represent a crude abuse of language.
But at the other end o f the scale the least serious misuses sometimes
merely represent the difference between good style and a touch , o f
amateurishness.
Hanging Participles
The m ost com m on error in using the present participle is to leave it
unconnected to a noun or pronoun. Thus disconnected, it is called a
hanging or dangling or detached participle.
Reclining there in a deck chair on the lawn in the summer sunshine, the
house had never looked so beautiful.
The mistake is easily made. Reclining is the present participle and m ust
agree w ith a noun or a pronoun. It w ould have been correct to write
Reclining there on the lawn in the sum m er sunshine, we thought that
the house had never looked so beautiful, because w e provides the
pronoun for reclining to agree with. As the sentence stands in the
original, the w riter declares that the house was reclining in a deck chair
on the lawn.
Listening to the Chancellor in full spate, his confidence seemed utterly
disproportionate.
Exactly the same error is com m itted here. There is neither noun nor
pronoun for the participle listening to attach itself to. In strict gram m ati
cal terms, his confidence is said to be listening. The participle m ust be
properly anchored: Listening to the Chancellor in full spate, I found his
confidence utterly disproportionate.
being
Perhaps the w orst examples o f this error are to be found w hen the
participle is form ed from the verb to b e.
Being mid-winter, the central heating should have been left on when we
went away.
That is typical o f the trouble that beginning a sentence w ith being can
lead to. The sentence tells us that the central heating was m id-w inter,
and that it should have been left on. The sentence should begin: As it
was m id-w inter. At its silliest this same mistake falsely links being w ith
the reader.
Being an Irvine Walsh book, you can guess where that rash is located, and
what happens every time it gets a good scratch.
Here is a reviewer telling you that you are an Irvine Walsh book, for that
is w hat the grammar strictly conveys. There is no escape from something
like: As it is an Irvine Walsh book. The truth is that the good w riter will
always pause before beginning a sentence w ith being, and will pause
again before finishing the sentence.
Employment Advertisements
A fairly recently established version o f the hanging participle can be
found in advertisements for industrial posts.
Reporting to the Deputy Managing Director and liaising with the Sales and
Marketing Directors, your responsibilities will be wide ranging.
It is not the responsibilities that will report to the Managing Director
and liaise w ith Sales and Marketing Directors. The sentence can make
sense only if the pronoun you is introduced and the sentence ends:
you will have w ide ranging responsibilities. The specimen illustrates a
very frequent error in the business world.
Reporting to the Northern European Marketing Manager, the key responsi
bility will be development and implementation of channel marketing pro
grammes.
Again the key responsibility is said to have to report to the Marketing
Manager. The advertisement should read: Reporting to the N orthern
European Marketing Manager, you will have the key responsibility for
development and im plem entation of channel marketing program m es.
The error is made so frequently that one could quickly pile up further
examples.
/ I me
Just as the personal pronoun you is necessary in that kind o f sentence,
so the personal pronoun I is needed in many sentences introduced by
a participle.
Writing at the end of a long hot summer, it is easy to forget that we had
some cold times in the spring.
Saying that, my personal favourites are La Prairie and Estee Lauder.
In these two sentences the personal pronoun is required to make sense
o f the opening participles: W riting at the end o f a long hot summ er, I
find it easy to forget that w e had some cold times in the spring; Saying
that, I personally favour La Prairie and Estee Lauder. In matching an
initial hanging participle w ith a personal pronoun, it is not always
necessary to use the personal pronoun as subject o f w hat follows.
140
one in that it can be left in seeming attachment to the w rong noun w hen
the w riter falls into the possessive trap.
Alans background is in civil engineering, having worked in the coal industry
for twenty years.
Here Alans background is said to have w orked tw enty years in the coal
industry. The necessary correction can be very simply made: Alan has a
background in civil engineering, having worked in the coal industry for
tw enty years.
Perhaps the com m onest version o f this error is the misuse o f the phrase
having said that.
The site is vast and busy; but having said that, a quiet backwater can usually
be found.
Here the quiet backwater is said to have uttered. For though Having
said that, I shall accept the plan is correct, Having said that, the plan
will do fine is incorrect, since the plan did not speak. The ironical thing
about this error, w hich is made day after day on the radio, is that the
correct alternative is so rarely heard. That being said, the plan will do
fine is the obvious correction. An even shorter one is That said, the plan
will do fine.
THE GERUND
The gerund is the part o f the verb that is used as a noun. We use lots o f
gerunds in daily talk: Walking is good for y ou; I love reading; Too
m uch talking tires h er; W e have stopped going to the cinem a. These
formations from the verbs to w alk, to read, to talk and to g o allow
us to use the verbs as nouns, acting as subjects or objects to verbs proper.
w ord I*. By learning French, holidays abroad can be im proved will not
do because holidays abroad do not learn French. This is the first com m on
misuse o f that construction, to leave it unanchored.
By paying his own way at Loughborough, it leaves more cash in the family
pot to adopt a baby girl from Guatemala.
This is the error in crude form. By paying cannot be attached to it. All
that needs to be done is to replace it by h e . W e turn to a slightly m ore
complex version of the misuse.
Time-tables and advance booking forms are available by sending an s.a.e.
to the headquarters.
This will not do because neither time-tables nor booking forms can send
stamped addressed envelopes. (It is necessary to make the further point
that these items are available w hether anyone sends for them or not.
They are obtainable only on receipt of the applications.) Perhaps the
shortest correct version here w ould be: Time-tables and advance booking
forms will be sent from headquarters on receipt o f an s.a.e.
A child who dislikes walking can be a problem, but by gentle coaxing and
by insisting on leaving the car at home when taking him where he especially
wants to go, he will gradually respond.
Here there is no proper subject to make sense o f the expressions by
gentle coaxing and by insisting on leaving the car at h om e. As the
w ording stands, the tw o expressions attach themselves to the subject
h e, w hich relates back to child. The one w ho does the coaxing m ust
be mentioned: By gentle coaxing and by insisting on leaving the car at
hom e w hen taking him w here he wants to go, you will gradually get
him to respond.
Such mistakes are not hard to find. Indeed it is possible to find the
same error muffled up in highbrow waffle. Consider the following from
a book review.
By repeating images, and multiplying visual fragments as a kind of marginal
gloss on the text, our grasp on what it is that interests Jonathan Miller about
a particular example builds up in stages.
We are here told that our grasp is busily repeating images and m ultiply
ing visual fragments in the process o f learning something or other. Either
by repeating images and m ultiplying fragments m ust go, or the phrases
m ust be detached from our unwilling grasp and placed firmly where they
belong: By repeating images, and m ultiplying visual fragments . . .
Jonathan Miller builds up our grasp on w hat it is that interests h im . But
alas, at the end of the review ers sentence one scarcely wants to know.
Failure to relate a gerund correctly to the noun to w hich it applies can
sometimes cause it to drift towards a noun w ith w hich it has no connec
tion. The following w ords from a speaker on BBC Radio 4 show the
dangers o f this possibility.
After ordering my meal, the waiter started to gossip.
In strict grammatical terms this implies that the w aiter ordered the meal.
being
A special caveat is needed about the use o f being as a gerund. Being
young is not always an advantage. Such sentences as that are proper and
useful, though it should be pointed out that one could equally well use
an infinitive and say To be young is not always an advantage.
Being a mass market marque means spare parts are never a problem.
It w ould be far better here to use the participle: The car being a mass
market model, spare parts are never a problem .
The Gerciple
There are matters o f controversy in grammar, matters over w hich som e
times experts disagree. W e approach one such now. Having acquainted
ourselves w ith the participle, w hich acts like an adjective (I found her
reading) and the gerund, w hich acts like a noun ( She loves reading),
w e m ust turn our attention to a form w hich tries to be both at the same
time and fails satisfactorily to be either: She disliked me reading detective
novels. The w ord reading there is a cross betw een a gerund (as in She
disliked reading) and a participle (as in She found m e reading). Fowler
called this m isbegotten form the fused participle. Because it tries to do
the w ork o f both gerund and participle, I have labelled it the gerciple.
There is logic in disallowing the construction. She disliked me reading
detective novels is im proper because she did not dislike me at all. She
disliked w hat I was doing. Thus it is that the correct thing to say is She
It is frequently the case that clauses beginning w ith that can rescue
the w riter from error in this context.
In Britain there is a lay tradition of gifted naturalists undertaking the field
work.
So here one gets rid o f the gerciple naturalists undertaking, not by any
apostrophe (naturalists taking) but by recourse to that: In Britain
there is a lay tradition that gifted naturalists undertake the field w ork.
High tides up to i ft above normal were forecast, with the added risk of
the hurricane, stalling over the coast and dumping all its rain.
To correct by use of the possessive case is once m ore impracticable (w ith
the added risk of the hurricanes stalling). Change the construction:
w ith the added risk that the hurricane w ould stall over the coast and
dum p all its rain.
This change is appropriate after those gerciples w hich tend to follow
such w ords as risk, possibility, danger and threat. So the possibility
o f the w hole staff being sacked w ould not become the possibility o f the
w hole staffs being sacked but the possibility that the w hole staff w ould
be sacked. Similarly the threat o f all the union m em bers com ing out on
strike w ould become the threat that all the union members w ould come
out on strike. Thus the following com m ent on a stowaway cat on a flight
in a Boeing 7^7 requires similar treatment.
There was no danger of it being too cold for her during the flight.
Instead o f correcting to danger o f its being too cold, use that again:
There was no danger that she w ould be too cold during the flight. And
again here is a quotation from a letter displaying the same fault.
Your report highlights the embarrassment which delays are already causing
ministers, with the threat of the Jubilee Line not being completed in time
for the public to visit the Millennium Dome.
Though the threat o f the Jubilee Lines not being com pleted w ould be
correct, it w ould be clumsy. W e need: w ith the threat that the Jubilee
Line will not be com pleted.
moving. The only possible correction to the above w ould be: w hen the
rascally Tim Curry heaves into view .
lead I led
Such w ords as hove are not often on our lips. It is ironic that the main
area o f current error in the forms of verbs is to be found in one or two
o f our most com monly used verbs. The verb to lead has the past tense
led. But because there is a noun lead (the metal) w hich is pronounced
exactly the same as led, the w rong spelling turns up for led w ith
remarkable frequency.
My work with adults had lead us into many ventures.
The workshop will be lead by Caroline E. Dari and Denise Allen.
In each case lead should be led.
lay /lie
Overriding all other seeming difficulties w ith verb forms is the persisting
confusion between the verbs to lay and to lie.
The harassed parent only wants to lay drowsing in the sun.
Its as good a place as any to lay for a couple of weeks in the sun.
I just couldnt lay about the house eating cake.
In each case lay should be lie. Lay is a transitive verb. It takes an
object. A hen lays an egg. A waitress lays the table. No doubt the
origin o f the troublesom e confusion lies in the fact that the verb to lie
has lay as its past tense.
Is this a lost cause? I ask because, m onths after writing the above, I
find the following in The Times report on Turkey after the earthquake:
His wife, Aynur, cooks what she can on a camping stove and warms the
milk for her ten-month-old baby, Ayae, who lays on a blanket under a
tree.
The baby lies on the blanket.
The converse error is just as common.
When she took Vicki out in her pram, she would lie her on her side.
First lie her on her back on a soft towel.
149
In each case lie should be lay. Lie is an intransitive verb and cannot
take an object.
sat, stood, sprawled
A comparably frequent blunder in verb forms is the misuse o f the past
tenses o f sit, stand, and sprawl.
I recently spent a week either sat by my phone or calling my answer machine
from work.
The w riter means that she spent a week sitting by her phone. And once
again the blunder is com m on. W ithin a few days I have come across the
following two instances, the first from a radio presenter standing in for
a celebrated presenter w ho is on holiday:
It is a privilege to be sat in her seat.
And the second, according to my newspaper, from a QC addressing his
Old Bailey jury:
I dont suppose you want to be sat in here when there is an eclipse.
In each case sat should be sitting.
The verb to stand is similarly mistreated
He was stood there like a stuffed dummy.
The w riter means that the fellow was standing there like a stuffed
dumm y. Small w onder that a correspondent in The Times writes H ow I
m ourn the demise o f was sitting and was standing in favour o f the
hideously inelegant was sat and was stood . It is not just a case o f
hideous inelegance, but o f elementary grammatical error. We find the
same treatment given to the verb to spraw l. He was sprawled in front
o f the TV should be He was spraw ling.
suit
A rather silly practice has recently been cultivated in w om ens journals
o f inverting the proper usage o f the verb to suit.
Im going for a dressy evening look, as I feel Maureen will suit it.
In purchasing clothes the issue is w hat will suit the customer, not w hat
will suit the clothes. Subject and object are not here interchangeable.
The clothes have no choice. The garments w ith the dressy evening look
cannot decide that they w ould rather clothe M aureens friend than
Maureen. There is no m ore sense in inverting the usage w ith the verb to
suit than there w ould be w ith, say, the verb to please. No one has yet
begun to write She greatly pleases this kind o f holiday instead o f This
kind o f holiday greatly pleases her.
CHAPTER 6
T H E U SE O F P R O N O U N S
The main building blocks o f utterance are nouns and verbs. But we
frequently replace nouns by those convenient substitutes w hich we call
pronouns. We scatter our daily talk w ith pronouns. W here is it?, How
is she?, Tell them to be quiet, Thats the postm an. The w ords it,
she, them and that are all pronouns. They function as nouns. They
save us the trouble o f saying W here is the new spaper?, How is your
grandm other?, Tell the children to be quiet, or The noise at the door
is made by the postm an. Stand-in w ords like these raise few problem s
in conversation w here w e know w hat nouns they are understudying. If
you ask W hat is it? w ith an unopened Christmas present in your hand,
nobody is going to ask W hat do you mean by it ? And if you say Tell
them to be quiet as your youngsters are perform ing circus acts in the
bedroom above, no one is going to ask you W hat do you m ean by
them ? But in print w hat the w riter is getting at as he or she sprinkles
pronouns over the page may sometimes not be clear.
it
Nowhere is this m ore likely to occur than in the use o f it.
You can never really know the limits of your body; it is always surprising.
W hat is it? W e can guess, but the w riter doesnt tell us. For it should
refer back to som ething already referred to (The tyre is flat; it m ust be
punctured). On this reading the w riter is saying The body is always
surprising. But w e know that she doesnt m ean that. She means that
discovering w hat the limits o f your body are is always surprising. She
should have said: it is always surprising to find o u t.
That is the first o f the problem s raised in the use o f pronouns. The
reader always needs to know exactly w hat they refer back to. The good
w riter will never leave it so placed that the reader is not absolutely
certain w hat the w ord refers to. There should never be that m om ent o f
doubt in the readers m ind produced by a collision between the meaning
suggested by the context and the m eaning im plicit in the grammar.
Use a make-up sponge to sweep it over the face. Dont overload the sponge
or it could look streaky.
Clearly the first it refers to the make-up in use. But the readers m ind
receives a little jolt from the second it. The form o f the sentence - the
grammatical proxim ity o f it to sponge - suggests one meaning, then
the brain rules it out as absurd. It cant after all be the sponge that may
look streaky. It m ust be the face. These are reasoning processes w hich
readers ought not to have to go through. The good w riter will ensure
that they d ont have to. Its all a question o f the primacy o f concepts
planted in the m ind by the words.
This is a lovely way to keep fruit for a couple of days. Its delicious for
breakfast, lunch or tea.
Here is a case in point. The reader responds to a statement about a w ay
to keep fruit. That is the concept that has the primacy. But the reader is
not allowed to continue to hold to the w ay o f keeping fruit as the
subject o f discourse. For the tw o w ords Its delicious plainly refer, not
to the way o f keeping fruit, but to the fruit itself. Thus time after time it
is by the misuse o f pronouns that readers are jolted from following
logical trains of thought by m om entary mental doubts, quickly removed,
but nevertheless interruptive.
they / them
The plural pronouns they and them m ust equally refer back to som e
thing previously m entioned.
Introduce a friend to the AA, and both of you can choose a free gift. They
include a travel rug, first-aid kit, sports bag . . .
To use they to refer back to a free gift is bad. Correction is needed:
The gifts include a travel rug
Sometimes they can be ill-used in that there seem to be two possible
alternative nouns to w hich the w ord m ight refer back.
Peoples ideas about the 50s and 60s tend to blur together - but they are
really quite distinct from one another.
On first reading this one m ight assume that they refers back to peoples
ideas. But the context suggests that the w riter m eant not that peoples
ideas differ, but that the 50s differ from the 60s. So correction is needed:
but the two periods are really quite distinct from one another.
W hat applies to they applies to them .
Under new proposals up to 200 car spaces may be lost with simply nowhere
for them to go.
This conveys the message that there is now here for the spaces to go.
Nothing has been said directly about cars. The message is about the
spaces they occupy. The cars m ust be specifically m entioned for th em
to have a reference point: up to 200 parking spaces may be lost, leaving
simply now here for the cars to go.
this
This is m ine, w e say. In relation to that usage the question may arise:
W hat does this refer to? The m ost com m on misuse o f this occurs
w hen that question cannot be unam biguously answered.
The railway would like to buy the old station building at Market Bosworth,
which is used as a garage and workshop. Although it was on sale recently
for around 200,000, this is beyond its present means, but it holds hope
of some agreement. This may be difficult in the short term.
Here in three sentences are tw o uses o f this and two uses o f it. That
it was on sale does not trouble us. It there is plainly the old station
building. And that this is beyond som eones means does not in itself
trouble us. It is clearly the price quoted to w hich this refers. But for the
same sentence to state that it was on sale at a price beyond its present
means and that nevertheless it holds some hope will not do. Nor is the
last this happily related to w hat precedes it. The answer to all these
problems is simply to economize on pronouns rather than on nouns, and
to say: Although the station building was on sale recently for around
200,000, the price was beyond the railways present means, but there
is hope o f some agreement, though reaching it may prove difficult in the
short term .
One of the facts that complicates the use o f this is the double
application the w ord can have. In the one usage it refers back to a single
noun, in the other usage to a complete clause. He had to take the
examination in Physics yesterday. This is not one o f his strong subjects.
There this refers directly back to the one w ord in the previous sentence,
Physics. N ow change the second sentence. He had to take the exam in
ation in Physics yesterday. This is unfortunate because he was not feeling
w ell. In that sentence this refers back to the w hole content o f the
previous sentence. W hen w riting this one should always check exactly
w hat it is that it refers back to. There m ust be no am biguity for the
reader.
he I him, she I her, 11me, we / us
In turning to these personal pronouns we have to deal w ith a different
kind o f error, not so m uch the error of not making clear to w hom the
personal pronoun refers, but the error o f getting confused between the
tw o forms, subject and object, h e and h im , she and h er, I and
m e, w e and us. W hen errors occur in this m atter the likelihood is
that h im is used w here it should be h e, that h er is used w here it
should be she, and that us is used w here it should be w e. (Yet,
strangely enough, that tendency is reversed w ith the pronouns I and
m e.) In certain dialects one used to get the equivalent o f they hated
h e or he trusted she, but these are not com m on errors today. The rule
to rem em ber is that the forms h im , h er, m e and us can never be
used as subjects of a verb. Thus It is him w ho is to blam e should be It
is he w ho is to blam e and We got on well together, him and m e should
be We got on well together, he and I. Similarly M um is against him
too: both her and Dad w ant m e to leave h im should be both she and
Dad w ant me to leave h im . Whereas it is correct to say It is we w ho are
to blam e, w here w e is the subject o f the verb are, it is correct to say
It is us he blam ed, w here us is the object o f the verb blam ed. One
has to turn to cheaper magazines to find the crudest such errors in print,
and they often occur in letters from readers.
Im really interested in plants and have taken down lots of addresses for
places me and my friend can visit in the spring.
This should read: lots o f addresses for places I and my friend can visit.
Alas, I had just w ritten the sentence above about cheaper magazines
w hen my eye fell on a piece in The Times. The newspaper prints a tribute
155
those. And an observer o f the way the English language is being used
from day to day cannot avoid noticing an extreme carelessness in the choice
o f prepositions. This is not perhaps so m uch a m atter o f logic as o f custom.
W hen a reviewer in the Daily Telegraph writes Many people will be particu
larly interested by the m ore speculative pieces, the reader feels a jolt o f
mental discomfort. Traditional usage w ould surely require Many people
will be particularly interested in the m ore speculative pieces. Just as we say
fascinated by and attracted by, so we say interested in .
N ow it may be argued that many well-established uses o f prepositions
are simply the product o f convention. But in a sense all verbal meanings
are a matter of established convention. It may be agreed that some verbal
conventions have m ore o f a philological basis than others. Some verbal
conventions are m ore im portant than others and no doubt certain ver
bal conventions are m ore purely conventional than others. But is there
some special reason for treating w ith indifference the conventions o f
usage affecting prepositions? I ask this because, so far as the spoken w ord
is concerned, and if BBC Radio 4 is representative o f general practice,
then it w ould not be an exaggeration to say that there is an epidemic o f
prepositional anarchy around. A prom inent sym ptom of the complaint
is over-use o f the preposition to . There seems to be a campaign to turn
it into an all-purpose preposition.
to for of
Remember too - that the secret to getting and staying physically active is to
start at a level which is comfortable to you.
W eve discovered the secret to looking good for longer.
Here is evidence from the magazine w orld o f how the usage secret o f
is being neglected. In these tw o cases preference should surely be given
to the secret o f getting and staying physically active and the secret o f
looking good. Convention has established the usage the secret o f success
matching the usages the riddle o f the sands and the enigma o f the
unsolved cypher. The substitution o f to for o f after secret appears
to derive from the usage in such sentences as Detectives are searching
for clues to the identity o f the criminal. By a familiar process o f construc
tional transfer the usage appropriate for clue is applied to the w ord
secret.
And now I have just heard on the radio a speaker telling us that
someone took a very different view to the w hole affair. Clearly it should
be a different view of the w hole affair. W hat makes the mistake worse
is the fact that there is a proper use o f the expression view to widely
different in meaning from the expression view o f . One may say I
bought the country cottage w ith a view to eventually retiring there.
Again, I hear on the radio a well-spoken, well-educated w om an give
this reply to an interviewer: I d o n t know w hether Im the right person
to ask that question to . The established convention is that w e ask a
question o f someone, not to someone, and therefore the speaker
should have said I d o n t know w hether Im the right person to ask that
question of.
to for on
And now someone has been speaking on Radio 4 about experimentation
w ith GM crops, and insisting that there w ould be no detrimental effect
to the environm ent. But established convention requires us to speak o f
the effect o n the environm ent.
to for in
A former Manchester Ship Canal locomotive will celebrate its centenary by
being painted to its original MSC livery.
W e repaint things in a given colour, not to it: celebrate its centenary
by being repainted in its original MSC livery.
The trick to drawing is measurement.
Even if we condone the dubious use o f the w ord trick (here roughly
meaning w hat was m eant above by secret) , it surely cannot be followed
by to . One m ight speak of the trick in drawing, but trick is the w rong
w ord anyway.
to for for
I r e a d in The Times D ia ry :
Charges of lack of sympathy to women have been successfully rebuffed by
John Casey, Fellow of Gonville and Caius, Cambridge.
The preposition to is again out o f place after sympathy. The sentence
should read: Charges o f lack o f sympathy for w om en have been success
fully rebuffed.
to for with
We now turn to a misuse w hich is increasingly damaging our verbal
sensitivities, that is, the distinction betw een connected w ith and con
nected to .
He believed Mr Pettit was connected to drugs.
Here is a clear misuse o f to . Mr Pettit may have been connected w ith
drugs, that is to say, he may have been associated w ith people involved
in the handling o f drugs. An electric fire is connected to the mains by a
plug in a socket. The attachment o f one thing to another is a different
matter from the association o f one thing w ith another. Cancer o f the
lung may be connected w ith cigarette smoking, but cannot be said to
be connected to cigarette smoking. But to judge from the English o f
Radio 4 the habit o f using connected to w here connected w ith w ould
be correct is widely prevalent. The w ord to seems sometimes to have a
compulsive grip on speakers. I have even heard a speaker take up a point
by saying in connection to w hat we have been discussing instead o f in
connection w ith w hat w e have been discussing.
Here is another case w here to appears at the expense o f w ith :
All chief constables have now been ordered to provide to the Home Office
confidential reports on corruption in their forces.
It is not established English usage to speak o f providing food to starving
people, but to speak o f providing starving people w ith food. All
chief constables have been ordered to provide the Home Office w ith
confidential reports.
to for after
W hat looks like a further misuse of to is displayed in a local journal.
Then Tom, who has always hankered to run an evening paper, took over
the editorship of the North West Evening Mail at Barrow.
The verb to hanker actually derives from a verb meaning to hang about
and thus gathered its associations of being in search o f something. In
traditional usage the verb is followed by after, though for is also
sometimes used. There is no authority for to . The correction is: Tom,
w ho has always hankered after running an evening paper.
to for from
Most remarkable of all is this novel practice:
Much of the decline [of village inns], however, dates to the introduction of
greater competition on beer prices by the Thatcher government in the
mid-8os.
W hy not the established (and logical) dates from ?
missing to
After the evidence above o f over-use o f the preposition to , it is ironic
that w e have to draw attention to a failing in the opposite direction. A
lax habit is being cultivated in some quarters of om itting prepositions
w hich are really indispensable.
Some novels are hard to bid farewell.
To find this in print in a review is surprising. The once-fashionable, but
quite illogical, ruling against ending a sentence w ith a preposition can
hardly be said to excuse this. Inelegant as it may seem, we m ust have:
Some novels are hard to bid farewell to.
on for for
Another over-used preposition today is o n .It appears in various contexts
in substitution for various other prepositions.
The Director outlines some of the implications on ministry as a whole.
W e speak o f implications for ministry, not o n ministry. This again
appears to be a case o f constructional transfer. Because it is our practice
to speak o f the effects o f an event o n someone or even the influence o f
an event o n someone, therefore the w riter here assumes that one can
speak o f the implications o f an event o n someone or something.
on for to
I wouldnt recommend it on anyone.
This is an even m ore extraordinary case o f constructional transfer. Because
we speak of im posing things o n people and, m ore idiomatically, o f
w ishing things o n people, the w riter here assumes that one can speak
o f recom m ending things o n people. So w e get the over-used preposition
from
The preposition from on its ow n is perhaps less often misused. But the
following is noteworthy.
While Tony Blair has reformed the Labour Party, making its policies more
acceptable, the Conservative Party under William Hague has become unreco
gnizable from the party I used to support so enthusiastically.
We need to consider w hat prepositions can be properly used after
unrecognizable. W e can say The building is unrecognizable from this
distance, but plainly that is not the usage intended above. W e can also
say He is unrecognizable as the man w ho sold m e the car. And it w ould
appear that this is the appropriate usage for the sentence above: The
Conservative Party has become unrecognizable as the party I used to
support.
The w ord from is used after certain verbs o f prohibition. A person is
prohibited or banned from driving. But that does not justify a statement
about Parliament having to decide w hich countries should be forbidden
from receiving certain w eapons. We forbid people to do this or that.
at
Sometimes error or awkwardness results from rather thoughtlessly begin
ning a sentence w ith a preposition.
At a meeting called last week by the President of the local Chamber of Trade
over i 30 people attended.
People do not attend at a meeting. They attend the meeting. To correct
this sentence while keeping the first w ords At a m eeting the verb
attended w ould have to go: over 130 people were present.
It seems hazardous to begin a sentence w ith at. Here a journalist is
looking into the background o f a newly revealed one-tim e spy:
At the house in Kirkham Drive, Hull, where he has lived for the past three
years, none of the neighbours knew about his cloak-and-dagger background.
Was it at the house that nobody knew? Did the neighbours all gather
there to oblige the journalist, allowing him to economize on prepositions?
We cannot know.
There are a few verbs w hich are often followed by at. W e stare at
people and we marvel at new inventions. In such cases the w ord is
generally not dispensable even w hen the verb is passive. If I stare at you,
then you are stared at, not just stared. That is w here the following
touch o f eloquence about the young goes astray.
They dont want to be lectured, they dont want to be preached.
The only thing that can be preached is a sermon. There is no alternative
to: they d o n t w ant to be preached at.
The conversational habit o f om itting at after certain verbs w hich
require it should not be followed in print. W here Its a nice place to
stay m ight pass in conversation, in w riting one w ould expect Its a nice
place to stay at.
He reviews restaurants too, and makes most of them sound like places you
wish you could eat.
Plainly this should be: most o f them sound like places you w ish you
could eat at. The notion o f w anting to eat restaurants m ight seem unlikely
to be often expressed in print, but in fact it is not rare.
Penang has a mix of Chinese, Indian and Malay people, which, among other
things, makes it a fantastic place to eat.
in and out
A com m on malpractice w ith in (as w ith at) is that o f om itting it. A
radio announcer, speaking of the plight of the sufferers from the Turkish
earthquake, says that they are finding the emergency tents supplied to be
places not fit to live instead of not fit to live in . It is only a living being
w ho can logically be described as not fit to live.
There is a temptation to use o u t w here it is superfluous - for example,
There are two things you can separate o u t. This means no m ore than
There are two things you can separate.
by
At the beginning o f this section we cited a misuse o f by after the w ord
interested. There is a similar lapse from established convention in a
reference to
Wives or girl friends . . . who dont understand why their partner is so
concerned by being bald.
One m ight be upset, disturbed or moved by something, but concerned
is followed by at: so concerned at being bald. And another journalist
seems equally at sea over the use o f by:
If w e take out the w ord w ith and adjust the punctuation, we are left
w ith a perfectly satisfactory sentence: The incum bents o f Egremont
Castle seemingly had problem s in [sic] providing male heirs and, Richard
de Lucy leaving no son, the superstition developed that no male heir
w ould ever survive to inherit the castle. This usage o f the participle
construction in a kind o f parenthetical detachm ent from the rest o f the
sentence (Richard de Lucy leaving no son) is one o f the m ost neglected
o f all English constructions. It is the construction w e recom m ended
earlier in getting rid o f the absurd hanging participle in Having said
that, it looks like rain, w hich we replace by That being said, . . .
without
An ugly usage o f the w ord w ithout has now established itself in the
press.
They hoped their partners would know what they wanted without them
having to tell them.
This usage exploits w hat w e have called the gerciple. To correct it we
m ust change the gerciple ( them having) into a proper gerund: w ithout
their having to tell them . This is one o f those cases w here that correction
can be made straightforwardly. The w ord them becomes the possessive
form their, and all is well. Unfortunately, w here the error occurs, such
a direct change is not always possible.
Do not believe that Scotland can be given devolution without it then
demanding independence.
Strictly speaking, the sentence w ould be correct if it were changed to
its: w ithout its then dem anding independence. But that usage has an
air o f pedantic contrivance w hich we shy away from. Therefore it w ould
be better to get rid o f w ithout: Do not believe that Scotland can be
given devolution and not then dem and independence.
Dealing w ith bad usage o f w ithout thus generally means getting rid
o f gerciples.
If you, too, find it a trial of strength to pick up a saucepan full of cooked
food and drain it without the contents disappearing down the sink, or
dropping the pan, Boots has the answer.
This is a useful specimen because it shows the w itho u t construction
both ill used and properly used. It is correct to write o f draining a
CHAPTER 7
FALSE PA R A L L E L S
There are many usages in w hich item is related to item in such a way as
to produce parallelism betw een them. W e see this parallelism at its
simplest in the relationship between John and my solicitor in the
statement John, my solicitor, is ready to see y o u or in the statement
John is here as my solicitor. The reader may be surprised to discover how
m uch mismatching can be found in usages involving such parallelisms.
Mismatches A fter as
We deal in the next chapter w ith misuse o f as in linking clause w ith
clause (They w ent hom e as soon as they could). Here w e are concerned
w ith that superficially simple construction used w hen someone says As
a doctor, I should advise a long rest. So long as the w ords as a doctor
are firmly anchored to a subject such as I, all is well. Alas such simple
connections are sometimes hard to find.
As something of a steam enthusiast, it was good to see steam has now
reached Mach 0.4 5.
There is no w ord later in the sentence to give m eaning to the opening
words as something o f a steam enthusiast. They require a matching
noun or pronoun. Introduce either I or m e: As something o f a steam
enthusiast, I found it good to see that steam has now reached Mach 0 .4 ^ ,
or: it pleased me to see that steam has now reached Mach 0 .4 ^ . A
comparable failure to m atch the opening w ords appears in the following.
As an international holiday resort, every type of cuisine can be found.
The words as an international holiday resort are just forgotten. There is
nothing to give them a meaning. A few w ords appended w ould provide
the matching item needed: As an international holiday resort, every type
o f cuisine can be found in the tow n. The w ords the to w n provide the
matching item for as an international holiday resort.
Often there is a mism atch after as that seems to result from sheer
carelessness in w riting, carelessness that a m om ents thought w ould have
forestalled.
O th er Mismatches
Many mismatches are made simply by straightforward failure to parallel
terms correctly. Sometimes a couple o f w ords will serve to launch a
sentence that explodes on take-off.
Recent parents, our small patch of green had sadly become a wilderness of
weeds.
We could allow Recent parents, w e had no time for gardening, or even
Recent parents, our neighbours allowed their garden to go to seed. In
each o f these statements Recent parents are identified ( w e and our
neighbours). But our w riter identifies the small patch o f green as recent
parents. W hat is m eant is: As recent parents w e had allowed our small
patch o f green to become a wilderness o f weeds. The longer the sentence,
the m ore easily a m ismatch o f this kind can pass unnoticed.
A devout practising Christian throughout his life, the calm of the village
church at an early Sunday morning service provided a welcome respite from
the hectic pressures of life in the City.
All that is needed here to transform slack w riting into correct w riting is
the addition o f the pronoun h im somewhere in the latter half o f the
sentence: A devout practising Christian throughout his life, the calm o f
the village church at an early Sunday m orning service provided him w ith
a welcome respite. W ithout that h im there is nothing to make sense o f
the opening w ords A devout practising Christian.
The w orld o f advertising goes in for mismatching on a generous scale.
The following is about pottery.
Sleek and elegant in its simplicity, the clean lines still possess a contemporary
modern quality.
W hat is it that has this simplicity? It cannot be the plural clean lines.
Yet those clean lines are the only subject o f the sentence, the only
item under discussion. To correct the sentence one m ust either attach
simplicity to the clean lines: Sleek and elegant in their simplicity, the
clean lines etc. or change the subject o f the sentence: Sleek and elegant in
its simplicity, the pottery has clean lines that still possess a contemporary
m odern quality.
D R A W IN G COM PARISONS
AND CONTRASTS
D irect Similarities
like
In no area o f statement on paper is there m ore error than in the making
o f comparisons and contrasts. Declaring similarities by using the w ord
like, or declaring dissimilarities by using the w ord unlike are processes
w hich seem to bring out the worst in English penmanship. The most
obvious failures occur w hen a comparison instituted by the w ord like
really fails to materialize. If we read Like m ost mothers, she soon tried
to teach her child to speak, we recognize that the words like most
m others introduce and define the w ord she. But if we read Like most
mothers, the demands o f the children were a pressing preoccupation,
we look in vain for the w ord w hich Tike m ost m others should introduce
and define. It does not appear. The sentence illustrates the first kind o f
misuse of Tike, w here the adjective Tike (for it is usually an adjective)
never acquires the noun w hich it should qualify.
The error is not rare. Consider the following sentence about collecting
antiques.
Like most of the treasured things we surround ourselves with, the fun is
knowing their historical context.
The w riter starts w ith the w ords Like most o f the treasured things we
surround ourselves w ith and readers wait for the expected specimen.
They await some sequence such as our favourite pictures are a constant
delight. But no such sequence appears. We never explicitly hear w hat
these things are w hich are Tike most o f the treasured things we possess.
Instead the w riter talks about fun, w hich is not really a treasured piece
o f household equipm ent at all. If the opening o f the sentence is kept, the
like him is a relationship, and w hat could be m ore boring than that?
Next time the w riter should arrange his w ords differently: Like a husband
w ho has been caught in an adulterous affair, and w ho tries to repair his
marriage w ith ever m ore expensive gifts, the politician has dem eaned his
relationship w ith the people.
O th er Misuses of like
We have dealt so far w ith failures to achieve correct matchings on either
side of the w ord like. But there is another current misuse o f like w hich
is rapidly establishing itself.
Im making it sound like we didnt get on.
The correct version o f this w ould be: Im making it sound as though we
didnt get o n (or: as if we didnt get o n ). W e find the misuse increas
ingly in print.
I feel like my hair makes me look really young.
You dont want to look like youre plastered with make-up.
A body that doesnt look like its swollen three sizes . . .
As it sounds like you have under twenty per cent grey hair, it should give
complete colour.
In each o f the above cases like should be replaced by as though or as
i f . The objection to like used thus is that it is an adjective. She is like
a m other to m e; The pie crust was like cardboard; such sentences show
the adjectival force o f like at its most direct. But the w ord like as used
in the faulty sentences above is made to function as a conjunction,
hingeing on a verb and linking two clauses together. It links I feel and
my hair makes m e look; it links You d o n t w ant to look and youre
plastered; it links A body doesnt look and its swollen; it links it
sounds and you have. This is a function that the adjective like cannot
perform.
A slightly different version o f such misuse treats like not as the
equivalent o f as tho ugh, but as the equivalent o f as.
You get a bill a few weeks later like you would with a Visa.
The same judgem ent applies to this misuse. It treats Tike as a conjunction,
as a w ord that can link You get a bill w ith you w ould w ith a Visa. In
the same way the substitution of as for like w ould correct the following
sentences:
Raw Valley drew in passengers like never before.
When I first did Burghley, you could have taken a bold seven-year-old or,
like I did, a slightly cobby 15.2 hh, and done well.
The question m ust be asked here w hether this construction has sufficiently
established itself to be pronounced acceptable. All one can say is that
good writers are not using it.
as with
The w ord like is so over-used and so often misused that it is ironic to
have to point to occasions w hen avoiding it leads to bad writing. Here
w e have a com m ent about Tudor Rose dining trains.
As with most services of this type, this is very popular.
It is a fairly safe piece o f advice to writers to say that if they are just going
to begin a sentence w ith as w ith they are probably just about to make
a blunder. Here the w ord should be replaced by like: Like most services
o f this type, this is very popular.
As with the Freud exhibition, Rileys show will include paintings.
The same correction should be made here: Like the Freud exhibition,
Rileys show will include paintings.
similar
The w ord similar (followed by to ) suffers from the same laxity in
usage as Tike.
The format will be similar to last year.
This not unusual carelessness requires a very simple correction: The
format will be similar to last years. Short-circuiting a comparison in
that way is an error that appears in many guises and at various levels o f
sophistication.
The last time I wept was when my cat died. It was uncontrollable, short-term
kind of reaction, similar to my father dying.
Here is a fairly crude specimen. The w riter compares her misery to the
death o f her father, instead o f to the misery she suffered on his death.
She should have written: It was an uncontrollable, short-term kind of
reaction such as my fathers death caused.
There are examples o f this error at a m ore sophisticated level and they
cannot be so easily dealt with.
Great Eastern generated the fewest complaints, particularly commendable
as its service complexity and density is similar to other commuter railways
which show far worse figures.
This sentence puts the same error on show, though w rapped about w ith
m ore words. Great Easterns performance is being compared w ith other
railways instead o f w ith their performance. One may question too
whether service com plexity is really a satisfactory equivalent o f com
plexity o f service, and w hether the w ords particularly com m endable
should not be m ore firmly attached to the rest of the sentence: Great
Eastern generated the fewest complaints, a particularly commendable
result, as the complexity and density o f its service are similar to those of
other com m uter railways. To get rid o f the artificial those o f , rewrite
thus: a particularly com mendable result in that, in the complexity and
density of its services, it matches Other com m uter railways w hich show
far worse figures.
If two items resemble each other, they can be said to be similar. A
BBC news w riter commits him self/herself to the absurd comment: Both
reports are similar. Since it w ould be impossible for A to be similar to B
unless B were similar to A, the use o f the w ord b o th is out of place, and
it should be omitted.
Direct Contrasts
unlike
Making direct contrasts by using the w ord unlike is just as productive
of error as declaring similarities by using the w ord like. As is the case
w ith so many misuses that we are examining, this abuse of unlike
appears at all levels o f simplicity and sophistication.
Unlike its rival, the Kenwood Chef, the top could be detached and used as
a portable hand mixer.
There is the error at its simplest. The top o f the mixer, instead o f the
mixer itself, is said to be unlike its rival. W hat is m eant is: Unlike its
rival, the Kenwood Chef, it has a detachable top that can be used as a
portable hand m ixer.
One persistent version o f the error appears in reference to dates.
Unlike the late 1980s, the economy is starting to slow after the monetary
squeeze applied by the Bank of England.
The pedant wonders w hy anyone should w ant to contrast the econom y
w ith the late 1980s. The only thing that could be properly contrasted
w ith the late 1980s w ould be another period, say, the 2000s. If
unlike is kept, the sentence must be reshaped: The economy today,
unlike that o f the 1980s, is starting to slow . The slip is not a rare
occurrence.
And, unlike the early 1980s, public finances are healthy enough not to need
tightening.
Does the pressure o f repeated occurrences o f this construction require us
to accept it? To anyone in whose m ind the w ord unlike persists in
maintaining its adjectival status the idea is unacceptable. The acceptable
pattern for these comparisons is Unlike 1980, 1990 had a hot sum m er.
The innovative pattern w e are criticizing is represented by such statements
as Unlike 1980, the weather is h o t, w here unlike 1980 hangs in the
air, an incomplete utterance.
The misuse o f unlike in comparing dates may be bad, but there are
far worse versions o f the error. Consider this advertisement from an
insurance company.
Unlike many other plans, if you dont die during its 15-year term, you get
a worthwhile cash sum to spend as you wish.
Your custom is sought by a kind assurance that you are unlike many
other plans. There is only one kind o f sequence that could logically
follow Unlike many other plans and that is something that begins: this
plan of ours or w ords to that effect: Unlike many other plans, our plan
ensures that if you d o n t die during its 1g -year term, you get a w orthw hile
cash sum to spend as you w ish.
Unlike the Labour Party, there is not a relationship between financial
contributions and the control of policy.
This time there is no attempt to make clear w hat it is that is unlike the
Labour Party. To correct it that body will have to be m entioned: Unlike
the Labour Party, the Conservative Party allows no relationship between
financial contributions and the control o f policy.
N ow let us turn to the error locked into a w ordier and m ore com pli
cated sentence:
Unlike the angry response of western politicians, the Albanian villagers who
survived the attack were muted, probably because they were still in shock
after the butchery.
The Albanian villagers were unlike the angry response o f our poli
ticians, we are told. Only matching items can be draw n together by like
or pushed apart by unlike. So the above should read: Unlike the angry
response o f western politicians, the response o f the Albanian villagers
w ho survived the attack was m uted
compared with its launch two months ago, and which fell to a new low
this week.
The euro is said to have lost 7 per cent o f its value com pared w ith its
launch, but its value cannot be compared w ith its launch, only w ith its
value at the time o f the launch. Yet there is no need for that kind o f
awkward precision. Simply scrap the construction com pared w ith , for
the real comparison is between value at one date and value at another.
The end o f the sentence should read: adding to pressure on the currency,
w hich has lost 7 per cent o f its value against the dollar since its launch
two m onths ago.
more than
Making comparisons that involve m ore than or just a comparative
adjective ( bigger than) can produce similar problems. Here, for
instance, a slip turns up in a travel piece.
The food is described as an eclectic mix of Mediterranean and modern
British, and is more authentically deserving of that description than many
places.
The food, we are told, is better thus described than many other places.
Unless the construction is changed there is no escape from: is m ore
authentically deserving o f that description than the food o f many places.
But a w riter may well prefer something less clumsy: m ore authentically
deserving o f that description than food you will find elsewhere.
The mistake highlights the need for writers to ask themselves before
making any comparisons: W hat exactly am I comparing w ith what?
Failure to face that question squarely results in the error o f missing the
point in the sequence o f thought.
The Irish economy is growing at almost three times the rate of Britain.
Plainly the w riter does not really mean to compare the Irish economy
w ith Britain, but w ith Britains economy. In this case the insertion o f an
apostrophe s will correct the error: The Irish economy is growing at
three times the rate o f Britains.
W e turn to a slightly m ore subtle comparative misfire:
Those facing redundancy today face a tougher time than in the previous
recession.
This w ould be correct if those facing redundancy today were the same
people w ho faced it in the previous recession. But they are not. So we
cannot say that they are facing a tougher time than in the past. It w ould
be correct, but clumsy, to write: Those facing redundancy today face a
tougher time than their predecessors did. It w ould be better to write:
face a tougher time than was faced in the previous recession. After all,
the basic contrast is between periods o f redundancy.
Personal Likenesses
The kind o f error we are dealing w ith always betrays a streak o f illogicality.
That is why one cannot accept the notion that it must be regarded as
acceptable because so many people are guilty o f it. Here, from the w orld
o f horse-racing, we have a com m ent on an expert.
His knowledge of pedigrees would be the equal of any stud manager in
Newmarket.
This error is another version o f the possessive trap. The false comparison
between one m ans knowledge and another m an m ust be replaced by a
contrast between one m ans knowledge and anothers. The apostrophe
does the trick: His knowledge o f pedigrees w ould be the equal o f any
stud m anagers in N ew m arket.
That kind o f false com parison cannot always be rescued by insertion
o f an apostrophe.
She knows that the social skills acquired throughout her previous employ
ment, not to mention her day-to-day legal experience, are a distinct advan
tage over full-time students.
The mistake is really the mistake made in Her pupils skills are better
than her children, w here w hat is needed is to change children to
childrens. For the social skills are not an advantage over full-time
students, but over those o f full-time students. If an alternative
correction is preferred, then it could be: She knows that the social
skills acquired . . . give her a distinct advantage over full-time
students.
H ow widely the error is com m itted may be gauged from these two
com ments by a judge at the end o f a trial.
188
Your problems are no worse than hundreds of your fellow human beings
who do not behave as you.
No one hearing the evidence could fail to feel utter disgust at your life-style
and others of your social circle.
The pedant is tem pted to correct these two sentences w ith rather ugly
additions (Your problem s are no worse than those o f your fellow
hum an beings and utter disgust at your life-style and that o f your social
circle). But correctness is not all. And evasion o f the need to insert
those o f and that o f is always better. W e m ight recommend: You
have faced no worse problems than hundreds o f your fellow hum an
beings and: disgust at the life-style you and others o f your social circle
have adopted.
different
The trap w hich leads to misfires in comparisons operates in other contexts.
The w ord different sometimes lures the w riter into it. We find the
mistake in a piece on wildlife reserves in Russia.
The brigade enforces strict regulations on the use of wildlife resources. Its
work is very different from the brigades based in main trading centres such
as Vladivostok.
The brigades w ork m ust not be said to be different from other brigades,
but from their work: Its w ork is very different from that o f brigades
based in main trading centres.
The layout of the boat was slightly different from the previous days boat.
The layout o f one boat m ust be contrasted w ith the layout o f the other,
but we can scarcely use the apostrophe s here ( very different from the
previous days boats) because of the apostrophe already there in days.
Recourse to the expression that o f smacks o f artifice, so it w ould be
better to recast the sentence: The boat was slightly different in layout
from the previous days boat.
rather than
The use o f these w ords is especially productive o f error. Rather than is
best followed by a construction that matches the construction preceding
it. It is better to say I prefer to stay here rather than to go than to say I
More than twice as much was spent on tea than on coffee in 1968.
The construction twice as m uch requires to be followed by as. The
w ord than is totally out o f place. Yet one finds the same error in the
quality press.
A study of car prices by the European Commission found that some cars
can cost half as much again in this country than in continental countries . . .
A schoolchild w ho w rote My lollipop cost twice as m uch than his
(instead of as his) w ould be rightly marked dow n. That is the mistake
here. The sentence should read: cost half as m uch again in this country
as in continental countries. And I find this w ithin a few lines in the same
paper:
A report soon to be published by the Organisation for Economic Co
operation and Development is expected to show that the gaps have widened
between prices since its last report in 1995 and that goods and services are
the most expensive in the UK than most comparable countries.
Again, a schoolchild w ho w rote My marks in Maths are the best than
anybodys w ould be taken to task. The sentence should read: goods
and services in the UK are m ore expensive than in most comparable
countries.
And now I find a political correspondent w riting thus of a public
opinion poll:
But nearly four times as many people would discourage others from voting
for the Tories than would encourage them.
The journalist is mixing up two constructions. Either as m any m ust go
(four times m ore people w ould discourage others from voting for the
Tories than w ould encourage them ) or than m ust go (as w ould
encourage them ).
Logical breakdown can occur w hen a w riter thus mixes up tw o
constructions in the back o f the mind.
Jonathan hadnt been inside her cottage a matter of moments than she knew
he was smitten by her lovely house.
The correct version here w ould be: Jonathan hadnt been inside her
cottage a matter o f m om ents before she knew he was smitten by her
lovely house. In the back o f the w riters m ind here was the construction
No sooner had Jonathan entered her cottage than she knew he was
sm itten. But this use o f than is firmly linked to the words No sooner
had Jonathan entered. It is logical to say No sooner did I enter than she
left because the comparative adjective sooner is appropriately followed
by than. It is neither logical nor grammatical to say I hadnt been there
a m om ent than she left.
the same as
This is another construction w hich requires a proper balance to be kept
between the items compared. At the simplest level, no problem arises. In
her hairdresser is the same as m ine, h er is perfectly balanced by m ine.
At a m ore complex level the same balance should be kept: She recited her
multiplication tables at the same time as she helped w ith the w ashing-up.
There she recited and she helped are similarly balanced as grammatical
parallels. But consider the following caption to a photograph in The Times.
Drummer boys and Zulu warriors yesterday remember the fallen at the Battle
of Isandhlwana i 20 years ago in which British forces were overwhelmed on
the same day as Britains defence of Rorkes Drift.
Here the required parallelism is lost. We can correctly say They fought
the battle on the same day as the reinforcements arrived, but it w ould
be bad to say They fought the battle on the same day as the arrival o f
reinforcem ents. They fought can be paralleled by reinforcements
arrived but not by the arrival o f reinforcem ents. In the above sentence
the error is well cushioned in words but the failure o f balance is no less.
The sentence should end: in w hich British forces were overwhelmed on
the same day as Britain defended Rorkes Drift.
such as
The w ord such may be followed by that in statements asserting that
something is a consequence o f something else ( His anger was such
that he sacked the fellow on the spot). But w here such introduces a
comparison, it m ust be followed by as ( It was such a show as I have
never seen before).
This book is certainly entertaining and anecdotal, very funny in places as
well as thought-provoking as the author covers such diverse subjects like
the problems of access to open countryside, the history of Munros and
other tick lists.
Here the w ord like m ust be replaced by as. The expression such like
is usable only as an idiomatic colloquial way o f saying et cetera (He
was always messing about w ith toy trains and buses, and such like).
P U N C T U A T IO N
The Comma
Correct punctuation is achieved by close attention to meaning. That is
especially applicable to the placing of commas. There is a big difference
in meaning between He said nothing to make his lodger look guilty
and He said nothing, to make his lodger look guilty. The addition of
the com ma transforms the meaning. Separate items may be linked falsely
together if a com ma is om itted where it is needed.
Try not to panic and visit your GP if symptoms persist.
The w ord visit and w hat follows it are too closely linked here to w hat
precedes them. As the sentence stands, someone is being advised neither
to panic nor to visit the doctor. Clearly that was not intended. The breath
that a speaker w ould take after saying panic needs to be represented by
a comma: Try not to panic, and visit your GP if symptoms persist.
For games lessons we had to wear special togs and goal posts became a
symbol of misery for me.
Once m ore too strong a link is established between the togs and the goal
posts, w hich sound like two items to be worn. A com ma must be inserted
after togs. ,
As lack o f commas may connect material too closely to preceding
words, it may result in failure to mark phrases that call for separation.
They gathered around the table tasting delicacies and chatting amiably.
Again the natural break after table m ust be marked by a comma. And
quite often the appropriate degree of separation requires the use o f
commas at either end o f a group o f words.
The conflagration had spread to the house next door and for the firemen
the whole prospect was a very dangerous one.
The w ords for the firem en need to be separated by commas at either
end: and, for the firemen, the whole prospect was a very dangerous one.
It is im portant not to neglect the second com m a in such constructions.
W hether the two commas should be used in the case o f a single w ord is
now rather a matter o f taste than o f rule. The truth is, however, that not
a single m em ber agreed to the proposal. There, the force o f how ever,
in announcing a matter seemingly out o f line w ith w hat has preceded it,
requires the prom inence that the surrounding commas give. But in the
sentence The pictures, too, gave me great delight the intervention o f
the commas seems fussily interruptive, and they should be omitted.
The Semicolon
The semicolon marks a slightly firmer break in the flow than the comma.
The attempt to make a com ma do m ore w ork than it is fitted to do is one
o f the faults in punctuation w hich do occur quite frequently.
Recovering from the effects of bronchitis is never a quick process, it takes
time.
Here the comma is inadequate. The separateness o f the clause it takes
tim e, w hich could be a sentence in itself, calls for something m ore than
a comma. It w ould not be incorrect here to use a full colon, but because
o f the very close connection between the main clause and w hat follows,
a semicolon will suffice. It harks back to the subject o f the sentence,
Recovering. This closeness o f connection between the separated clauses
is w hat determines the choice of semicolon. My husband gave me a
necklace; my daughter gave m e a box o f chocolates. That is correct, for
although the subject o f the first clause is My husband and the subject of
the second is my daughter, the sequence is so close that there is no need
to use a colon.
The Colon
The colon stands betw een the semicolon and the full stop in the force
fulness o f the break it indicates.
Lots of people spend hard-earned money on the lottery: very few of them
ever benefit from it.
194
The contrast here between lots o f people and the few , and their
respective experience makes the colon desirable. Very often the colon
could be replaced by a full stop. It w ould be grammatically satisfactory
here, but it w ould break up the prose too jumpily.
There is another and now perhaps m ore com m on use o f the colon. It
is placed after a general statement in order to introduce a series of
specific instances. The board had twelve m embers in all: a chairman, a
vice-chairman, a secretary and nine other elected representatives.
The Apostrophe
In the use o f the apostrophe mistakes are made on every side. The
apostrophe followed by s is required w here single nouns are used in
the possessive case (Tom s book, the rainbow s end). The general rule
is that this applies even to nouns w hich already end in s (St Thomass
church, Dickenss novels). But this general rule is broken w here it
m ight produce an awkward sequence of letters. Thus we write Xerxes
rule, not Xerxess rule. Indeed in William Blake we find the lines W hat
was the sound of Jesus breath? / He laid his hand on Moses law . W hat
happens w ith these special singular names is that they are treated as plural
nouns ending in s are treated. (The parents attitude refers to one
parent; The parents attitude refers to m ore than one parent.)
The general rules are not all that difficult, yet retailers display notices
for Potatos, Turkeys and N ewspapers, and a stylish magazine reads:
In fact, if her vegetables arent cooked just so when she dines out, chefs
had better be prepared for them to keep coming back until they get it right.
This mistake matches those o f the retailers. The ordinary plural of a noun
like ch ef requires no apostrophe. The sentence illustrates the fact that
apostrophes are m ore often put in w here they are not w anted than missed
out w here they are wanted.
Some of my mates friends get on my wick. Can I dump them without
chucking her too?
This is an interesting specimen o f error. W hen we get to the end o f the
first sentence we assume that the w riter is speaking o f the friends o f several
mates (my m ates friends). Only after reading the second sentence do
w e realize that he has misplaced the apostrophe. There is only one m ate,
so he should have written: Some o f my m ates friends.
Mistakes are still frequently made w ith the w ords its and its. The
apostrophe is needed only w hen its is short for it is (Its time to g o)
or it has (Its disappeared). Yet one reads in a gardening magazine:
Its deep red flowers look quite different in full sun or shade.
This should be: Its deep red flowers look different. I have before me a
dozen sentences culled from recent journals all making this elementary
mistake o f inserting an apostrophe into the possessive its. Perhaps m ore
remarkably still, I have a letter from a garage drawing attention to the
fact that my car is now three years old and needs an MOT.
Of course, if any work is needed to get your vehicle through its test, we
w ont start without your permission.
Trying to understand how this extraordinary form its came about, one
can only conclude that someone remembers from schooldays that a w ord
ending in s must have its apostrophe after the s ( Members coats can
be left in the cloakroom).
In forming plurals o f w ords w hich normally do not have plurals the
temptation to use apostrophes should be resisted.
It was far too late for us to call on the Joness.
That should be: to call on the Joneses. The following illustrates a
comparable error.
. . . unless you know the basic dos and donts it can end up looking a mess.
The apostrophe is needed in d o n ts because d o n t is the equivalent of
do n o t. It is not needed in dos w hich is an idiomatic plural o f d o .
Comparably easy to find are instances o f apostrophes inserted after
num bers in recording dates or scores. It is quite w rong to write o f the
fashions o f the 1960s or o f the 60s. The apostrophes are not needed.
We refer to the 1960s and the 60s. A building dating from the 175 0 s
should be A building dating from the 17 50s . Similarly we do not refer
to a score o f two 5 s and two 3s but o f two 5s and two 3s. It should
go w ithout saying that such headings as 51,516 Thank yous are also
im proper.
The Hyphen
Hyphens are used to knit words together into a single unit. In sentences
such as The accommodation was rent-free* a noun ( rent) is tied to an
adjective ( free). Free is one o f a group of adjectives w hich are fre
quently used thus to form new adjectives ( pain-free, trouble-free).
The adjective dependent is added to nouns in com pounds such as
insulin-dependent and w heelchair-dependent. In all these cases the
hyphen is necessary. But it goes w ithout saying that a com pound w hich
in its early days is hyphenated may become so established that the hyphen
disappears. In m y 1933 dictionary w orld-w ide is hyphenated. In my
recent dictionary w orldw ide is a single w ord. One should be wary of
trying to initiate change in this respect. W hen in doubt, hyphenate. The
same applies obviously to com pounds in w hich prefixes are attached to
nouns in such expressions as pre-Reformation history, postReformation history and counter-Reformation m ovem ents. All the
com pounds above function as adjectives. There are also prefixes attached
to nouns w hich produce com pound nouns, such as hyper-inflation or
pseudo-philosophy.
There are com pounds involving gerunds that function as nouns, such
as jam -m aking and bottle-w ashing. It is helpful to distinguish these
com pounds from those w hich combine the noun w ith a present participle
to form a kind o f adjective, such as cancer-causing agents and questionbegging answers. It is risky to experiment w ith this kind o f formation.
The lonely walk can be hard going, but there are no route finding
problems.
If route finding is used at all, then it should be hyphenated, but it w ould
be better replaced by: there is no difficulty in finding the route.
Compounds in w hich the noun is tied to a past participle also function
as adjectives. Thus we speak of an air-cooled engine and a family-run
business. We also have long-established com pound adjectives made up
of an adjective and a past participle, such as bald-headed, sure-footed
and long-legged. W hen words are piled up together in im prom ptu
combination, it is necessary to hyphenate them.
This means that the jacket as a whole doesnt have the suit of armour like
feel of a saturated double Ventile one.
CHAPTER 8
Presenting a Case
The expression Presenting a Case is used in its most general sense. You
are presenting a case if you say In my opinion, the house is dingy as
well as ugly. That is reasoning at a very straightforward level, reasoning
in which point is added to point. At a slightly m ore complex level of
reasoning, you m ight say John will miss the bus if he doesnt hurry u p .
That is reasoning by w hich a somewhat less obvious connection is
established between two different points. From that level o f directness to
the level of sophistication at which managers or lawyers argue their cases,
a few easily definable constructional patterns form the frameworks o f
reasoning.
We dealt in Chapter i w ith some of the w ords which can easily be
misused in the reasoning process. There our concern was w ith the exact
connotation o f the w ords touched upon, and the importance o f using
the right ones. Here our concern is w ith the deployment of w ords used
in reasoning. We are particularly concerned w ith the function o f certain
very frequently used terms w hich act as links or hinges in connecting
point w ith point. Thus the expression as well as established the link by
w hich point was added to point in the sentence In my opinion, the
house is dingy as well as ugly, and the w ord i f was the hinge on w hich
point was connected w ith point in the sentence John will miss the bus
if he doesnt hurry u p .
In the latter sentence the connection was established between two
verbs, miss and hurry u p , each w ith its ow n subject. The w ord i f
established the connection and is appropriately called a conjunction.
The clause if he doesnt hurry u p is a clause subordinate to the main
clause John will miss the bus. In respect o f the interplay o f point w ith
point, the arrangement o f w ords can easily go astray. That is so w hether
the related points are located w ithin a single clause or in different ones.
We are to look now at the various constructions by which one point
is related to another point in argument.
Presenting a Case
A D D IT IO N
The most straightforward o f such constructions are those by w hich we
add point to point cumulatively. The accumulation may be effected by
direct aggregation ( I came, I saw, I conquered), but m ore often we use
linking terms. The simplest is the w ord and (I came and I saw). But
there are also m uch-used expressions such as besides, as well as and
in addition to . (It should perhaps be added here that in literate English
there is no place for the w ord plus as a substitute for and.)
and
This is perhaps the most used o f all link-words. A frequent mistake in
the use o f and is introduction o f what may be called the dual-function
and.
Self-esteem builds up independence, self-reliance and also hikes up those
resilience reserves.
The w ord and here is introduced as though it is going to complete the
sequence beginning independence, self-reliance w ith another noun.
Instead of w hich it introduces a sequence w ith a different construction.
The w ord and cannot serve two purposes at once. Unless the construc
tion is changed, two ands are needed, one to serve each purpose:
Self-esteem builds up independence and self-reliance, and it hikes up
those resilience reserves. The following sentence goes astray similarly.
Life is frustrating for all of us, but we cope using insight, patience, and by
turning the other cheek.
The words preceding and ( using insight, patience) lead us to expect a
third noun (using insight, patience, and com m on sense). But in fact
and is used to connect using w ith turning, while the other sequence
(insight, patience) is left hanging in the air. Correct either by using a
second and: but we cope using insight and patience, and by turning
the other cheek, or by introducing another verb: but we cope, using
insight, showing patience, and turning the other cheek.
W hen and is used to link two items w ithin a clause, care should be
taken to ensure that there is no ambiguity. I read the following in my
newspaper:
Alan Clark, former minister and MP for Kensington and Chelsea, said the
confrontation about the partys direction was deplorable.
The reader abreast o f current affairs w ould have had no difficulty here.
But the forgetful or the ignorant w ould not know w hether Alan Clark
were still an MP or not. The words former minister and MP for Kensing
to n could stand if he had ceased to be an MP, but if the w ord form er
applies only to the w ord m inister, then another com ma w ould be
needed: former minister, and MP for Kensington.
There is a tendency sometimes to insert w hat is really a redundant
and before a relative clause.
The matter was recently the subject of a Parliamentary Question raised on
our behalf by Eric Illsley MP and which resulted in an answer from the
Secretary of State.
The w ord and is here unnecessary and indeed awkward. Moreover, to
say that the question resulted in an answer is surely unnatural. The
sentence should read: a Parliamentary Question raised on our behalf by
Eric Illsley MP, w hich provoked an answer from the Secretary o f State.
in addition to
The various constructions we are here concerned w ith make the same
requirem ent, namely that parallelism should be preserved between the
items joined together by the linking expression chosen.
In addition to his expertise as a wine-taster, Garrard was a skilful and
far-seeing economist.
Here there is no exact parallelism between the two items w hich the
expression in addition to combines together. There must be a noun to
balance expertise: In addition to his expertise as a w ine-drinker, Garrard
had great skill and far-sightedness as an econom ist.
along with
Similar errors occur after along w ith (and together w ith).
Along with a complete redecoration of the premises we have added a new
floor.
Since the redecoration was not added, proper parallelism breaks down.
If the construction is to be kept, there m ust be a noun to balance
Presenting a Case
202
Presenting a Case
A L T E R N A T IO N A N D SEPA R ATIO N
The expressions we have touched upon link point w ith point accumulat
ively. We turn to expressions w hich link point w ith point so as to indicate
distinctions o f various kinds. Such is the w ord o r (You can sleep
upstairs or you can have a bed dow n here) .
or
There is a misuse o f o r comparable to the misuse o f and, w hich
produces what we may call the dual-function o r.
One can hire pedaloes, motorboats or try waterskiing.
It w ould be correct to w rite One can hire pedaloes, m otorboats or water
skis. But o r cannot stand as the link to a third item that can be hired
and at the same time serve as the link between hiring something and
trying something. One o r must be allotted to each function: One can
hire pedaloes or motorboats, or try waterskiing.
apart from
A converse construction to that serviced by in addition to is the construc
tion serviced by apart from . We call it a converse construction because
that is w hat it ought to be. It separates w here in addition to combines.
Apart from my youngest sister, we all love pancakes. That represents
the proper use o f apart from , w hich distinguishes an exception from a
general rule or statement. Unfortunately the construction is often used
for the very opposite purpose.
Apart from a huge fertile plain in the east, the centre of the island has a
large mountainous backbone.
The fertile plain does not constitute an exception to a general statement
about the island. No such statement has been made. Two facts are stated
w hich need to be connected by and or b u t: There is a huge fertile
plain in the east, but the centre o f the island has a large m ountainous
backbone.
Sometimes apart from is allowed to drift so far from its proper
function that it stands for virtually the opposite o f w hat it should stand
for. Here is a recom m endation for a camping stove.
203
204
Apart from the ultralight weight, its superbly made and the design is
excellent.
Far from being a disadvantage, the ultralight w eight is plainly an advan
tage. Apart from is here being used, not to introduce an exception, but
to introduce a further positive corroboration o f the general drift. Scrap
apart from and change the construction: Ultralight in weight, the stove
is also superbly made and the design is excellent.
former I latter
The w ord form er relates to the first o f tw o things just m entioned and
the w ord latter to the second o f the two. The w ord latter should not
be used w hen m ore than two items have been mentioned.
Of the sitting-room, the dining-room and the study I thought the latter the
best furnished.
That is strictly incorrect. Since it w ould be too strained to say I thought
the last-named the best furnished, the w ording should be: I thought
the study the best furnished.
Some horses require a quiet corner and no changes to routine, others relish
being stimulated. If your horse is the latter, stimulate his senses . . .
The w ords form er and latter should refer back to nouns. It w ould be
correct to say There is provision for the meat-eater and for the vegetarian:
if you are the latter, please inform the housekeeper. There if you are
the latter refers directly back to vegetarian. It w ould be poor usage to
say Some people are carnivores, others will not eat meat: if you are the
latter, please inform the housekeeper because there is no direct reference
back to a single noun such as vegetarian. In the sentence above (If your
horse is the latter) there is likewise no direct reference back to a single
noun. If the w ord latter is to be kept, the sentence should read: There
is the horse w hich requires a quiet corner and a fixed routine, and the
horse w hich relishes being stimulated. If your horse is the latter, stimulate
his senses . . .
Presenting a Case
CAUSE A N D EFFECT
The next group of terms to be investigated is a group o f terms concerned
w ith reasoning about cause and effect.
because
The w ord because has a clear function, yet is often misused. It is correct
to say He left because he w anted prom otion. It is not correct to say His
departure was because he wanted prom otion. The difference is that in
the first sentence because hinges properly on the verb left. That is its
proper function as a conjunction. In the second sentence because is made
to hang on the noun departure, w hich is grammatically inadmissible. Yet
I read just such a sentence in a political piece about a recent public
opinion poll.
The growing gap between this pessimism and the stability of voting inten
tions is because the public is still giving the Government the benefit of the
doubt.
One should not w rite The gap is because . . . but The gap is caused
by . . . The simplest recipe for getting out o f this bad habit is to shift
back the verb is: There is this growing gap between pessimism and
the stability of voting intentions because the public is still giving the
Government the benefit o f the doubt.
W hat is virtually the same mistake may occur w ithout the intervention
o f the verb to be.
The 34-year-old Ulsterman has always been interested in the media and
during a three-month break because of injury from early May looked into
the long-term future.
Just as it is im proper to say His three-m onth break was because of
injury, so it is not permissible to speak of a three-m onth break because
o f injury. The correct version w ould be a three-m onth break caused by
injury or a three-m onth break due to injury. All uses o f because on
this pattern mark a w riter badly.
Writers need also to be wary o f because o f . The w ords often lead
one into bad constructions.
This is because of splinter groups coming down and attacking my home.
206
Presenting a Case
Due to the weather the match was cancelled. The reason is that due is
an adjective and, as such, has to agree w ith a noun. One can say The
cancellation was due to the bad w eather because there due to hinges
on the w ord cancellation. In this respect the misuse o f due to is as
easily found as any misuse explored in this book.
Due to the diversity of designs and number of bottles produced, it is still
possible to pick up Lalique bargains.
Due to the ever-increasing number of visitors, the company decided to
appoint a full-time warden.
Due to increased use of the locks several pounds were low, even though
water was being back-pumped.
In each o f these three sentences the w ords due to are misused. In all
cases they could be replaced by owing to or because o f . Neither o f
these two constructions requires to be attached to a noun as due to
does. The consequent advice to writers is: Never start a sentence w ith
due to w ithout first checking that it is going to be grammatically correct.
In fact it very rarely is. Always consider ow ing to or because o f as
your alternative.
It is not only at the start o f a sentence that the w ords due to present
risks for the writer.
The Rail Tour has been put back to November 28 at the request of EWS
due to initial problems with the loco.
The w ords due to are again incorrectly used. It is the attempt to attach
d ue to a verb instead o f a noun that is wrong. A postponem ent m ight
be due to certain problems. But due to cannot hinge on has been put
back. Again the w ords could happily be replaced by because o f or even
owing to .
There is a tendency to attach the w ord d ue to the w rong word, thus
producing a slight illogicality.
The lower than normal number of birds seen could be due to last years
mild winter.
We have a subtle com plaint here. W hen I say The top-storey flat makes
access difficult, I really m ean that the top-storeyness o f the flat makes
access difficult, or in other words, The fact that the flat is on the top
storey makes access difficult. Thus w hat the w riter means in the sentence
207
ao8
above is: The fact that a lower than norm al num ber o f birds are seen
could be due to last years m ild w inter. The fact that is a slightly clumsy
construction, but w hat the w riter is talking about is not the num ber but
the low er-than-norm alness of the num ber. W e mentally bind adjective
and noun tightly together in such familiar usages as The hot w eather is
due to an anti-cyclone, where the heat is w hat is due to the anti-cyclone.
(The w eather is there, anti-cyclone or not.) But w here the adjectival
element is increased to The hotter than norm al weather is due to an
anti-cyclone, logic w ould seem to prefer: The abnormal heat is due to
an anti-cyclone.
Oddly enough, the w ord due is misused in a totally different context
from that o f reasoning about cause and effect. I have just heard some
advice given on a radio program m e on the subject of Income Tax.
If youre due some money back, you must apply at once.
But if m oney is due to you, that does not make you due some money.
Money can be d ue, or a railway train can be due. That is the proper
use of d ue. Just as it w ould be im proper to say It is five o clock. You
are now due a train to Paddington, so it is im proper to say You are now
due an income tax rebate.)
cause
It was made clear above that care has to be taken to avoid attaching d ue
to the w rong w ord w here a noun and an adjective are involved. The
same problem arises w ith the verb to cause.
Dull hair can be caused by product build-up, chemical treatments, sun
damage or environmental pollution, so its not surprising so many of us
suffer from it.
The hair is not caused by any o f these factors. It is the dullness o f the hair
that is caused by them. The slight touch o f illogicality represented by the
above careless usage ( dull hair) will be avoided by good writers. Change
the subject o f the sentence: Hair can be made dull by product build-up.
One can find even m ore awkward examples than the above o f the way
the verb to cause can become detached from its proper m ooring.
Consider this remark about a railway viaduct.
The lattice wrought iron structure is designed to minimize weight on the
unstable ground caused by mining.
Presenting a Case
Just as the hair, w hether dull or not, was not caused by product build-up,
so too the ground, w hether firm or not, was not caused by mining. One
m ust spell out exactly w hat was caused by the mining. If caused by
m ining is kept, then instability must be m entioned. It is probably better
to change the construction: The lattice w rought iron structure is designed
to minimize w eight on the ground rendered unstable by m ining.
PURPOSE A N D RESULT
Closely related to reasoning in terms o f cause and effect is reasoning in
terms of purpose and result.
in order that I to
The words in order can be followed by to or by that. It is not good
to follow them by for.
The current account requires a balance of $2,000 in order for transactions
to be free.
In order is really redundant here. One m ight say: in order that trans
actions may be free, but that w ould be clumsy. All one needs is: The
current account requires a balance of $2,000 for transactions to be free.
In order for the AA to get to you as quickly as possible it would help if you
have your membership card ready when phoning our call centres.
Again in order is redundant. All one needs is: For the AA to get to you
as quickly as possible. The best correction w ould be: To enable the AA
to get to you as quickly as possible.
result
Used as a verb or a noun, the w ord result often introduces a bad
construction.
The failure to start on time resulted in them losing the title.
Reference has been made to the bad usage I have called the gerciple.
The verb result all too often lures writers to use it. It w ould be correct
to turn losing into a genuine gerund (resulted in their losing the title)
but it w ould be equally satisfactory to use the verb cause followed by
210
an infinitive: caused them to lose the title. The error is not rare. The
following is advice to w om en on matters o f style.
Attempting to imitate may result in you not getting the look you
wanted.
This time use o f the genuine gerund is to be recommended: Attempting
to imitate may result in your not getting the look you w anted.
The opportunity came about as a result of David reading an announcement
of the Clubs forthcoming cruise.
Here the same bad construction follows result used as a noun. Again
one can turn reading into a genuine gerund: came about as a result o f
Davids reading an announcem ent. But the construction could be happily
changed: The opportunity arose because David read an announcem ent.
One can safely say that all writers should exercise extreme care in using
the construction as a result o f . There is no shortage o f evidence to
support this advice.
Premenstrual outbreaks can occur as a result of water retention putting
pressure on both sides of the pore and follicle duct.
In this particular instance the option of converting the gerciple into a
genuine gerund is not on offer (as a result o f water retentions putting
pressure o n ). Therefore the construction m ust be changed. And, as so
often w hen this usage as a result o f faces us, the question arises: W hat
is w rong w ith the w ord because that people avoid it? It offers the most
natural alternative here: Premenstrual outbreaks can occur because water
retention puts pressure on both sides o f the pore and follicle duct.
Here is another, and very different, misuse o f the verb result.
The dining room is a blue-grey violet that resulted by a happy accident.
The expression that resulted normally occurs in such sentences as There
was a tragic accident that resulted in two deaths. The accident resulted
in deaths. But the blue-grey violet did not result in anything. It was
itself the result. W e w ould not say There w ere two deaths that resulted
by a tragic accident. Nor should we say that blue-grey violet resulted
by accident. We may correct here by turning the verb result into a
noun: The dining room is a blue-grey violet colour, the result o f a happy
accident.
Presenting a Case
resulting
Writers should be wary o f using the participle resulting. It must keep the
adjectival status it clearly has in such usages as The resulting conflagration
destroyed the house. There the w ord resulting qualifies the noun
conflagration. It is lax usage to say: The house caught fire, resulting in
its destruction because resulting cannot happily hinge on the whole
previous clause.
Many of the older oaks have been pollarded - the tops have been removed
for a variety of uses, resulting in the growth of many almost horizontal
branches.
W hat does the w ord resulting qualify here? It does not qualify oaks or
tops or uses. Instead it is made to hinge on the whole of the previous
part o f the sentence. In short, it has been forced to do a job a participle
is unfitted for. It is better not to use the participle: Many of the older
oaks have been pollarded the tops have been rem oved for a variety of
uses, and many almost horizontal branches have grow n as a result.
It is rarely felicitous, though not incorrect, to use the w ord resulting
in such sentences as There was a party downstairs and the resulting noise
was disturbing. The construction has to be handled w ith extreme care.
In Amsterdam there are literally thousands of cafes to choose from. The
downside is that many of these rely on tourist trade and not regular
customers, so the resulting meal can be very disappointing.
Clearly no meal should be said to be the result o f reliance on the tourist
trade. One cannot bypass the chef in the kitchen.
in an effort to
The w ords in an effort to sometimes form a convenient alternative to
other constructions expressing purpose ( in order that, so that): He
persevered in an effort to make m oney. But, like so that and because,
in an effort to m ust be connected w ith a verb (here persevered). A
journalist, w riting of a plan to turn a sensational m urder case into
entertainment, speaks of:
. . . the creation of five screenplays in an effort to make a drama that would
not offend viewers.
This should be: five screenplays created in an effort to make a dram a.
The grammatical mistake o f linking in an effort to the noun creation
212
C O N D ITIO N S
if
The problems that arise w ith the w ord i f are similar to those arising
w ith because. It is correct to say He will die if he goes on smoking like
that, because the w ord i f links directly w ith the verb will die. It is
incorrect to say Workers are threatening a strike if their demands are not
m et. This will not do since, as is the case w ith because, it is incorrect
to make the w ord i f hang on a noun like a strike. The workers are
definitely threatening something, and the threat is there w ithout any
condition. It is the strike that is conditional. Therefore it w ould be correct
to say The workers are threatening to strike if their demands are not m et.
For there the conditional i f is properly attached to the verb to strike.
Below we have a com m ent about a new Chairman of the Arts Council.
His first task is to restore the Councils credibility if it is to survive.
This Radio 4 announcem ent illustrates the bad usage glaringly. The w ords
if it is to survive are made to hinge on the noun credibility. Yet there
is no such thing as a credibility if it is to survive. If the w ords if it is to
survive are to be kept, a verb must be provided to make sense o f them:
His first task is to restore the credibility the Council will need if it is to
survive.
The authorities are drawing attention to the possibly horrendous conse
quences'if the worst predictions prove true.
Here again the clause if the worst predictions prove true is anchored to
the noun consequences, though a clause beginning w ith i f should
always be anchored to a verb. In the sentence He will pay the price if
the worst predictions prove true we learn that someone will pay a price
i f the worst predictions prove true. But in the sentence above the
authorities are drawing attention to something w hether predictions
prove true or not. The solution to the problem is to supply a verb for the
i f clause to be anchored to: The authorities are drawing attention to
the horrendous consequences that will follow if the worst predictions
prove true.
Presenting a Case
214
verb for unless to hinge on: The m anagem ent is offering to pay
higher wages, unless the workers insist on sticking to their restrictive
practices.
W hen unless is linked to a participle ( A child should not go out at
night here unless accompanied by an adult) the w riter m ust make sure
that there is a proper link, like the link here between a child and
accompanied.
Because some medicines are designed to release their ingredients slowly,
tablets should not be crushed unless directed by your doctor.
Here it is said that tablets m ust not be crushed unless they have been told
to be crushed. The w ord directed m ust be properly linked to a subject:
Because some medicines are designed to release their ingredients slowly,
you should not crush tablets unless directed by your doctor.
Misuse o f unless is a matter o f logic as m uch as of grammar.
Unless your hair is quite thick, the style is most suited to those with even
features.
This is like saying Unless you are too fat, roast turkey is the most popular
Christmas dish. The turkeys popularity does not depend on anyones
relative obesity. And if the hairstyle is m ost suited to w om en w ith even
features, that is a fact independent o f w hether a given individual has
thick hair or not. Unless is out of place.
DEPENDENCE A N D IN D E P E N D E N C E
depend I depending
These words are used today w ith great laxity. The notion o f reliance is
present in the basic m eaning of the w ord depend: He depends on
farming for a living.
What kind of clothing you take with you will depend on the weather at the
time.
The relationship here defined by depend is not a matter o f reliance. It
is rather a matter o f cause and effect. W here that is the case, one should
use the words determ ined by: W hat kind of clothing you take w ith
you will be determined by the weather at the tim e.
Presenting a Case
Even though the income from voluntary contributions has fallen, the
treasurer is confident that the w ork will not suffer.
O f course, even if despite is properly followed by a noun, it can be
misused through a failure in logical sequence.
Despite his detractors, Kitchener was responsible for laying the foundations
of what was to become one of the best governed countries in the British
Empire.
The w riter here does not really mean that Kitchener got on w ith his job in
spite o f his detractors. W hat is meant is that this fact about him m ust stand
in spite o f what his detractors claim. The sentence illustrates the usefulness
of asking oneself, before using despite, w hether in spite o f w ould not
be better. The sentence should begin: In spite o f w hat his detractors say.
Presenting a Case
and otherwise feeling cosy may justify the use o f although, but the
w ords everything else feels cosy produce a disjointed effect. It is rather
like saying Although we occasionally suffer from food-poisoning, every
thing else is eatable. A possible correction m ight be: Although we have
to replace the odd tile after a w indy day, in all other respects the cottage
is cosy.
This w ord is used in m ore than one function. Here we are concerned
w ith its use in joining tw o clauses together. We see this use at its simplest
in such sentences as The sun shone as the rain stopped, where it brings
two statements together in a relationship. The relationship there is a
matter o f contemporaneity. (The sun shone at the time the rain stopped.)
But in the sentence He did as he was told the relationship is one o f
similarity. (He behaved in the way he was instructed to behave.) It is
generally in sentences o f the second kind that errors occur, that is,
sentences defining some kind o f likeness. The most obvious failures
in this respect are in those sentences w here the likeness is no real like
ness. Such is the case in this BBC Radio 4 account o f the effects o f a
tornado:
The banana crop . . . has been completely flattened, as have other industries.
Clearly the verb flattened cannot be applied to industries in general.
W here the verb used in the main part of the sentence is so restricted in
usage, the introduction o f a parallel by as cannot work. Either the verb
flattened m ust become a m ore general verb such as ruined, or the
construction m ust be abandoned: The banana crop has been completely
flattened, and other industries similarly dam aged.
Mishandling an as clause can easily cause a m ore tangled confusion
than that.
Miss ODonoghue, 4, admitted a crime born of passion as she attacked her
former husband Bill Becket, 3, for leaving me penniless.
This report of a court case makes it sound as though the defendant
adm itted the crime at the same time as she com m itted it. In fact the w ord
as is out o f place: Miss O Donoghue, 4, adm itted that she com m itted
a crime born of passion in attacking her former husband.
There is a habit of taking an ungrammatical short cut after certain uses
o f as.
T H E U SE OF N E G A T I V E S
Positive statements and negative statements have to be carefully handled
w hen closely com bined in a single sentence. Consider the following
sentence on the G overnm ents proposals for lone parents benefits:
Its proposals were not coherent and a clumsy way in which to start Mr
Blairs welfare reform initiative.
Our use o f the w ord and is such that She was not willing and helpful
means that she was neither willing nor helpful. On that basis the above
sentence m ight at first sight be understood to be conveying that the
Governments proposals w ere neither coherent nor a clumsy way in
w hich to tackle the matter. No thoughtful reader w ould be likely so to
misread it, but the construction is clumsy. In order clearly to confine the
effect of the w ord n o t to the part o f the statement preceding and, the
verb it affects m ust be repeated: Its proposals w ere not coherent and
were a clumsy way in w hich to start Mr Blairs welfare reform initiative.
An even m ore extraordinary m ix-up between the negative and the
positive occurs in this statement from a railway magazine:
Presenting a Case
220
CHAPTER 9
STYLE A N D S U B STA N C E
W e all w ant to write good English, and we believe that something called
style is involved. It will be good or it will not. Yet attempts to define
good style are not easy to come by. On the contrary, great writers can be
very dismissive of the matter. There is a recorded outburst on the subject
by Matthew Arnold.
People think that I can teach them style. What stuff it all is! Have some
thing to say, and say it as clearly as you can. That is the only secret of
style.
Is that all it amounts to? Can w e not distinguish between the substance
o f a book and its style? May we not appreciate the one and dislike the
other? No doubt we can think of writers in w hose cases to think
o f separating content from style in discussion w ould seem almost
absurd. Swift and Bunyan m ight be cited as examples. But there are
writers w ho drive us to speak separately of style and content. There
is a celebrated com m ent on Tennyson made by G. K. Chesterton: He
could not think up to the height o f his ow n tow ering style. That implies
that here is a writer, a poet, whose style markedly exceeds in quality
w hat he has to say, so that the reader senses a lack of profundity
underneath a loftiness o f verbal bearing, a paucity of inner substance
underneath an outer majesty that seems to cry out for a matching quality
o f thought.
Dr Johnson, w ho had so m uch to say on the subject o f writers and
writing, him self insisted in his Life of Cowley that Language is the dress o f
thought. He clearly did not underestimate the importance of the sub
stance. Nevertheless, in his Life of Addison, he spoke as though a w riter
m ight im prove his or her style by modelling it on anothers.
222
Whoever wishes to attain an English style, familiar but not coarse, and
elegant but not ostentatious, must give his days and nights to the volumes
of Addison.
W hat is interesting here is that we have something like a definition of
good style - or at least one brand of good style. It will be familiar
w ithout being coarse and elegant w ithout being ostentatious. That is to
say, if we may be so bold as to try to paraphrase Johnson, it will have a
kind o f natural simplicity w hich avoids vulgarity and a sm ooth dignity
that avoids showiness. These qualities depend on tw o things: the appro
priate choice o f w ords and the appropriate arrangement o f words. A
twofold discipline is required o f the good stylist, the discipline w hich
forswears laxity and self-indulgence in the selection o f words, and the
discipline w hich forswears laxity and sloppiness in their arrangement.
The Today programme reported this morning that Tony Blair fears slippage
in the time frame of the arms decommissioning process in Ulster. Well, I
suppose thats better than a delay.
O f course, slippage in the time fram e means delay. But alas, we
regularly hear now that the time fram e or the time scale allotted for
some venture was too limited w hen what is meant is that someone tried
to do something too quickly. Here is a sentence from the w orld of
caravanning:
The gas locker easily accommodates two 6 kg propane or two 7 kg butane
containers, which should keep most motor caravanners going for an
adequate time span.
Plainly w hich should keep most m otor caravanners going for an adequate
time span means w hich should last long enough for most m otor
caravanners.
There seems to be something about this business o f speaking on the
subject of time - how long something takes or how m uch something is
delayed - that stirs up the pot of verbosity.
You should understand that any further delay in reaching a decision could
well jeopardize the likelihood of maintaining a satisfactory level of public
support for the whole venture.
In plain English this seems to mean: Postponing a decision could cost
public support. But just as we have to speak o f time spans, time scales,
and time frames w here once things were done slowly or quickly, so
being acceptable or popular is now a matter o f maintaining a satisfactory
level of public support.
Sometimes the choice o f a single w ord or two sends a sentence
spinning from the sphere o f simple statement into the w orld of m uddy
pretentiousness.
The fear of gas is firmly entrenched into the minds of virtually all sailors.
W hy entrenched? The w ord has, or ought to have, a powerful conno
tation from the picture o f digging defensive positions in the stress of
war. W hat purpose do hints of that connotation serve here? Does the
sentence m ean anything other than Most sailors fear gas? Consider, too,
the following:
The HCS provide a much needed volunteer section input to the project.
224
try to slide into intimacy w ith the reader. They do not attempt gently to
gain the ear for a quiet word. Rather they clamber up to make a formal
pronouncem ent before the face. Some o f them retain a degree o f restraint,
such as It is felt that, It gives us great pleasure to record that and even
It is regretted that. Others are m ore clamant and challenging such as It
is generally agreed that, It m ust be accepted that, It w ould not be
claiming too m uch to assert that and even It is surely obvious to
everyone that.
There is, o f course, a brand o f wordiness w hich has a purpose. The
purpose may be to soften a blow, to make an announcem ent seem
less shocking than it is. We are used to this kind o f avoidance o f the
straightforward expression in talking about death. W e say that so and so
passed away. A firm advising those in direct marketing about checking
up on their lists o f customers estimates that, while 12 per cent of
the customers change their addresses, 3 per cent may be lost due to
mortalities. In short, they die.
The vocabulary of pregnancy and child-bearing was similarly wrapped
about w ith verbiage in the Victorian age. A pregnant wife m ight be
described as being in an interesting condition and she and her husband
m ight be said to be expecting a happy event. In our ow n period verbal
evasions tend to veil very different events. Industrial firms are said to be
dow n-sizing w hen they plan to dismiss large num bers of their staff.
The process of adding to the num bers of unem ployed is one o f rationaliz
ation. A recently sacked employee has ironically described him self as
having suffered an involuntary career event. This attitude of seeming
tenderness towards employers is not always reciprocated by employers
themselves. The Times city diarist gives us this inform ation about a large
firm:
As the latest report and accounts reveals, as of December 31, 1998, 177
employees had been terminated.
The finality o f being term inated contrasts w ith experiencing a passing
career event.
The sort o f evasive style illustrated here is o f course a speciality of
political propaganda. At the time w hen news bulletins were filled w ith
horror stories o f the ethnic cleansing of Kosovo by Serbian troops, it was
said that nearer hom e, in Serbia itself, the refugees w ere described as
relocated transit Albanians and their lot was to be rehoused as guests
in Albanian hom es.
225
226
N O U N S A N D VERBS
Recourse to Nouns
Since excessive wordiness often results from unnecessary recourse to
nouns, it is w orthw hile to explore fully the difference between English
style heavily laden w ith nouns and English style heavily laden w ith verbs.
But we must first note how uneconom ic a too ready recourse to nouns especially abstract nouns - can be.
We shall continue to build on improvements in the efficiency of our
operations, maximizing the potential for growth at home and for expansion
in the global market-place.
We shall look carefully at the vocabulary o f business later in the book.
For the m om ent it is enough to observe that all we learn from this
sentence could be learned from the simple statement: We shall do our
best to be efficient and to expand our business at hom e and abroad. This
reduces the num ber o f words in the original by about a third. And the
nouns im provem ents, efficiency, operations, potential, grow th
and expansion have all gone.
Business reports abound in such wastage.
The funding will provide us with the ability to deliver world class training
to potential team members.
Whenever a w riter is tem pted to use such expressions as provide us w ith
the ability, he or she should pause. All that is needed here is: The
funding will enable us to deliver w orld class training to potential team
m em bers. Just as to provide someone w ith ability to do this or that is
identical w ith to enable someone to do this or that, so there are
many abstract nouns w hich can be attached to verbs in the business of
manufacturing similar inflations. We are determ ined to give im mediate
consideration to the plan should be: W e are determ ined to consider the
plan im mediately. The review should supply us w ith full awareness of
the extent of the com m itm ent that is required o f us should be: The
review should inform us how far we need to be com m itted.
Fondness for abstract nouns is now such that there are cases w here a
w riter appears to have dragged one into the text by the scruff o f the neck.
Here is a claim from the nursing profession:
We have finally taken our rightful place at the policy tables at federal and
state level due to increasing public recognition of our essentiality.
That nurses are necessary to society is a fact w e are n ot going to question.
But can we not appreciate how im portant nurses are w ithout talking
about their essentiality?
And I have just heard a speaker prophesying ill o f likely future develop
ments in the European Community:
Such an eventuality would result in the gravest consequences for all of us!
This means If that happens, it w ould be bad for all o f us. Plainly the
temptation to have recourse to established circumlocutions such as such
an eventuality w ould result in is wasteful.
227
228
being jammed up against another noun factors. The net result is not
anything grossly tasteless, but the good w riter is not satisfied merely to
avoid the grossly tasteless. And the habit o f jamming nouns together does
not produce elegance. Consider this complaint about weather conditions
that can produce flooding:
There is evidence of some unsatisfactory forecasting and warning dissemi
nation.
The objection here is not against bad gramm ar but against tortuous
juxtaposition o f nouns ill-fitted for m utual attachment ( forecasting and
w arning dissem ination). Reduction in the num ber of nouns w ould
certainly make for im provement: It seems that forecasts and warnings
were not made widely enough know n.
In this respect it is not always good style to use one w ord w here two
m ight have been used. W arning dissem ination is certainly not better
English than dissemination o f w arnings. The same may be said o f the
nouns in the following:
Oil hydraulics have a number of advantages which include greater corrosion
protection.
Corrosion protection in itself is scarcely a tenable concept. Nothing is
to be gained from not saying: protection against corrosion.
Perhaps even m ore tortuous is the mental process that produces this
com m ent on the tim ber trade:
The modern forestry, saw-milling and wood-processing industry has a good
story to tell. It makes an important contribution to the economy by providing
rural employment and contributes to the balance of payments by import
substitution.
The expression im port substitution is grotesquely ill-chosen. I f im port
substitution made an acceptable com bination, surely it w ould be m ore
likely to mean substitution o f im ports than substitution for imports.
Again verbal parsim ony is misplaced, as it often is w hen it economizes
on prepositions. The sentence should read: contributes to the balance of
payments by replacing im ports.
229
230
that is to say, they commanded him to go, which he did. The justice
ordered him to cause the cart to fetch away the goods again, which he
refused to do; upon which the justice ordered the constable to pursue the
carters and fetch them back, and make them reload the goods and carry
them away, or to set them in the stocks till they came for further orders;
and if they could not find them, nor the man would not consent to take
them away, they should cause them to be drawn with hooks from the
house-door and burned in the street.
For other purposes this m ight perhaps seem to have an excessive prepon
derance o f verbs. But Defoe captures the urgency o f the situation and
something of the desperate frustration involved in trying to find safety.
His flow of verbs renders the prose sinewy, hom e-spun and compelling,
but neither elegant nor rhythmic.
By contrast let us look at the style o f the historian Lord Macaulay. He
concludes his Essay on Warren Hastings w ith a summary character study
whose style abounds in resounding nouns.
Those who look on his character, without favour or malevolence will
pronounce that, in the two great elements of all social virtue, in respect
for the rights of others, and in sympathy for the sufferings of others, he
was deficient. His heart was somewhat hard. But though we cannot with
truth describe him as either righteous or as a merciful ruler, we cannot
regard without admiration the amplitude and fertility of his intellect, his
rare talents for command, for administration, and for controversy, his
dauntless courage, his honourable poverty, his fervent zeal for the interests
of the state, his noble equanimity, tried by both extremes of fortune, and
never disturbed by either.
The prose here is less taut, less plain, and less vigorous, but it has
smoothness and some stateliness appropriate to the context. There is also
a fine balance in the architecture of the prose and a rhythmic flow quite
absent from Defoes narrative.
Contemporary prose is all too likely to lack vitality and force. At its
most obvious the unnecessary preference for nouns can so easily be
avoided.
Health professionals yesterday urged the police to stop using CS spray to
subdue psychiatric patients after research showed that it was a frequent
occurrence.
We all know that a frequent occurrence is something that often happens.
W hy do we translate after research show ed that it often happened,
w hich is the way we think, into after research showed that it was a
frequent occurrence, w hich has become the way we write?
There seems to be a small glossary o f abstract nouns labelled in our
minds as for use in p rin t. Users feel that they m ust be dragged out and
put on paper to prevent w hat they w ant to say from seeming too obvious
or too easily comprehensible.
The experts fear a worsening of the danger.
Now the person w ho put that into print w ould not have put it like that
in conversation. To an acquaintance he w ould have said: The experts
fear the danger will get w orse. W hat in speech gets w orse on paper
becomes a w orsening.
They can contemplate and accept the inevitability of its disappearance.
The person w ho w rote that w ould not have said it. He or she w ould have
said They can see and accept that it m ust go. In speech w e recognize
that something m ust go, whereas on paper w e have to accept the
inevitability o f its disappearance.
Americans have long seen the Middle East, North Africa and sometimes
even Western Europe as areas in which vigilance against such [terrorist]
attacks is a permanent necessity.
Let us again try to imagine w hat happened in the m ind and possibly even
in speech before anything o f this got put dow n on paper. Someone
decided that there w ere areas w here they w ould always have to watch
out for terrorist attacks. So the mental glossary o f writable w o rd s was
ransacked and the recom m ended terms were brought into play. Instead
of always having to w atch out, there must be asserted the necessity for
vigilance.
One begins to w onder w hether press magnates encourage their
231
noun penalty we have the verb will be fined. Instead of the noun
submission we have the verb send in .
Children should be given exercises in schools in translating nou n
ridden prose into verby prose. The earliest exercises could take the form
o f turning Our sole aim is your satisfaction into We only w ant to please
you. Nothing is easier than turning up suitable specimens for this kind
of exercise. Replaceable nouns are printed in bold type in w hat follows.
Verbs introduced in their place are also in bold type.
Our intention is to give the matter serious consideration.
This becomes:
We intend to consider the matter seriously.
Consideration must be given to organizational developments which could
strengthen the accountability of senior management.
This becomes:
We must consider how to develop our organization so as to make our
senior managers more accountable.
After a whole day of negotiation a settlement was arrived at which met
with acceptance from both parties.
This becomes:
After negotiating for a day, a settlement was reached which both parties
agreed to.
Greater customer care plus improved support for dealers were identified
as key benefits behind one of the biggest innovations in the leisure vehicle
industry.
This becomes:
The leisure vehicle industry has reformed its practices so as to care more
for customers and to support dealers better.
There are too many concentrations of dangerous heavy metals in plants
that are important resources for a wider range of waterbirds.
This becomes:
Too often dangerous heavy metals are concentrated in plants that help to
sustain many different waterbirds.
233
234
some seemingly m ost unlikely com pound nouns such as tim e-table,
soft-pedal and steam -roller have become useful verbs.
W here can we draw the line? I have heard an attempt to turn the
noun nuance into a verb: I think I should w ant to nuance that criticism
a little. Presumably this means I think I should w ant to give a subtle
change to that criticism. How free are w e in this respect? Was the
first person to use the w ord rubbish as a verb charged w ith illiteracy?
If we are so clever that we thus invent a new verb, we must hope that
it will catch on until those w ho at first squirm to read it begin to use it
themselves. After all, w hat noun w ould totally resist being converted
into a verb? The Victorian Age left us a tongue-twister in the form of
a snatch o f conversation between a lady and a w orkm an repairing a
pan:
Are you aluminiuming it, man?
No, Im copper-bottoming it, mum.
And in conversation it is not only nouns that get turned into verbs. In
Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet, w hen Juliet annoys her father Capulet by
resisting his dem and that she should marry County Paris, Capulet accuses
her o f being too proud. She quibbles over the w ord p roud and Capulet
loses his temper w ith her. Proud me no prouds he says in rebuke,
turning the adjective pro u d temporarily into a verb and then temporarily
into a plural noun.
U SE OF M E T A P H O R
The pursuit o f simplicity and directness does not preclude colour and
imagery. The judicious use o f m etaphor is crucial in the best writing. But
m etaphor misapplied damages style. And, once a seemingly appropriate
m etaphor has been seized on, it must be properly followed up. Here is a
tribute to the old Nature Conservancy Council.
Its official enthusiasm for local nature reserve designations on edu
cational and recreational grounds has pumped life into official doorstep
conservation.
Now to speak o f pum ping life or breathing life instead o f just using a
verb like strengthened or revitalized is to make sensible use o f m eta
phor. But pum ping life into a m ovement is one thing, and pum ping
life into doorstep conservation is another thing. After all, w ild life
conservation is conservation o f wild life. And on that pattern doorstep
conservation w ould be conservation o f doorsteps.
It tends to be w ith the introduction o f fairly w ell-w orn m etaphors that
writers trip up. We are so used to them that we lose sight o f their
metaphorical content. Consider this, for instance:
Among the pantheon of great sporting cliches, the hoary old chestnut that
luck is something you make for yourself has always seemed to me one of
the more blatantly unsatisfactory.
The Pantheon was a circular temple in Rome. Its peculiarity was that it
was dedicated, not to a particular god, but to all the gods. Thus the w ord
has been taken up for a building in w hich a nations dead heroes are
com mem orated. From that usage stems the use o f the w ord for a place
that houses the full tally of a nations poets or artists. The w riter o f the
above sentence may or may not have sensed that the w ord represents a
place in w hich a num ber o f beings are com mem orated, but he assumes
that he is free to use it to mean a repository for lots of items or indeed a
kind o f volume o f quotations. This is to stretch the m etaphor further
than it will go. In other words it is to destroy the metaphor. W e can
accept the other m etaphor, the hoary old chestnut, as standing for a
sporting cliche. But to picture it taking its place in a pantheon is to turn
a good m etaphor into nonsense.
In the use o f m etaphor there m ust be appropriateness, restraint and
consistency. These three requirem ents make for effective use o f imagery.
W hen the metaphorical use of the w ord pantheon required us to treat
a temple or a mausoleum as a thesaurus of quotations, there was a
plain lack o f appropriateness. One m ight argue that the imagery of the
following sentence fails in respect of both restraint and consistency:
I cannot believe that he [the Prime Minister] will choose to plunge into such
an obvious elephant trap which would sour relations with the countryside up
to and well beyond the next General Election.
We may or may not feel that it is over-stretching the image to parallel
the passing o f a new law w ith plunging into an obvious elephant trap.
But, however that may be, we ought not to be asked to picture either the
plunge or the trap souring relations.
One ought not to go in for imagery w hose effect on readers depends
upon their not taking it too seriously; that is to say, not visualizing w hat
239
240
hum our. W hen we are told of them, we w onder w hether they are not
perhaps the stuff of fiction. But perhaps it is true that a Hong Kong tailors
shop displays a notice saying Ladies may have fits upstairs and a Greek
tailors shop guarantees to execute customers in strict rotation. And
perhaps there really is a hotel in an Austrian ski resort w here guests are
requested not to perambulate the corridors in the hours of repose in the
boots of ascension. Periodically such specimens appear in the press and
indeed they illuminate nuances and vagaries in our vocabulary.
It should go w ithout saying in this m atter o f suiting the w ord to the
context that what is appropriate in speech may be unsuitable on the
printed page. Many a construction cited in this book for criticism m ight
well be used in conversation w ithout raising pedantic eyebrows. But
there is a gossipy informality in our chatter that can look tasteless in
print.
Perhaps youre picking up on problems in their relationship and are feeling
protective towards your friend.
The Agony Aunt m ust be allowed her due licence o f informality, but this
slangy construction to pick up o n , meaning to take notice o f or to
make something o f , w ould be better replaced by some tasteful usage
that is none the less homely, say: Perhaps yo u re dwelling too m uch on
problem s in their relationship. But if readers feel indulgent towards the
Agony Aunts chatty idiom, they will be less inclined to look favourably
on the following:
Designers have already picked up on the potential of mood-enhancing
room fragrances.
Here the meaning is: Designers have already exploited the potential o f
m ood-enhancing room fragrances.
Certain readily used conversational expressions som ehow have their
constructional defects exposed w hen they are put into print. For instance
we ask Was it just m y im agination? w hen we w ant to imply that perhaps
w hat we are going to say is not factually correct but a guess on our part.
Yet w hen this expression is put in print the literal meaning of the words
is revealed in its bareness.
Was it my imagination or were gardens in June neglected because of the
bad weather?
It w ould be m uch better here to drop the colloquialism and say: Is my
hunch correct, that gardens in June w ere neglected because o f the bad
w eather?
Such colloquialisms form quite a significant part o f our daily conver
sations. Someone tells us something that fully confirms a perhaps contro
versial view that we have long held. Indeed, w e say, that says it all!
But put that into cold print and advertise Furniture that says it all and
the expression suddenly has its absurdity revealed.
W ords w hich carry only a slight metaphorical content w hen we use
them in conversation may have that content strengthened w hen they are
put into print. For instance, we m ight say That notion sounds absurd,
and we are not thinking o f the verb sound in connection w ith noise of
any kind. But put that in print and the effect is different.
The notion of growing orchids in the bitter cold urban jungle of Chicago
sounds as unlikely as snow falling in the desert.
W hen we have read w ords like cold urban jungle we are mentally in a
verbal w orld where things are felt. W hen we m ove on to expressions like
snow falling in the desert we are strengthened in our sense o f the felt
world, the w orld in w hich w eather changes and snow may fall. As a
result the w ord sounds gets involved also in the w orld o f sensation, and
we think to ourselves that growing orchids and snow falling are both
silent processes, and that notions do not produce any sound at all.
HYPERBOLE
Hyperbole is exaggeration indulged in for the sake o f effect. It may be
deliberate and effective. Poets use it unashamedly. In Shakespeares Mac
beth, w hen Macbeth has m urdered Duncan and is horrified at the sight o f
his ow n bloodied hands, he cries:
Will all great Neptunes ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red.
Here is hyperbole on the grand scale. Macbeths notion that if he put his
hand in the sea the w orlds oceans w ould turn red is imaginatively
powerful precisely because its excess matches the enormity of the deed.
The w orst kind o f hyperbole is that w hich establishes itself by such
241
frequent repetition that all novelty and force are lost. The most obvious
of all hyperboles are those w hich we use daily in conversation. Shes
terribly late, we say, w hen in fact the element o f terror 4 s lacking.
Terribly has become a substitute for very. My dear, it was absolutely
devastating! The milkman failed to deliver on two successive days. The
potentially powerful words absolutely devastating are used as little m ore
than a substitute for inconvenient.
Now conversation is one thing and the w ritten w ord another thing.
On paper, the cheapening o f richly m eaningful w ords by using them as
so many counters to avoid repetition o f very or m ost implies failure
to think carefully. It also suggests poverty o f imagination. Let us consider
a few specimens.
The hotel is close to a fabulous sandy beach.
The w ord fabulous (from the w ord fable) strictly defines an imaginary
beast such as the Minotaur or some other comparable creature or event
w ith only legendary existence. Hence it is used to describe something so
astoundingly remarkable as to be unbelievable or all but unbelievable.
To describe someone as having fabulous w ealth w ould convey the
possession of riches all but inconceivable. To throw the w ord around as
an equivalent o f very nice is to dissipate its meaning. The same applies
to the w ord fantastic. An advertiser tells us that if we use certain dyes
fantastic results are guaranteed. The w ord fantastic (from the w ord
fantasy) is applied to beings and things conceived in the w orld o f fancy
rather than o f reality. Again it is totally inappropriate to use the w ord
thus. Closely related to the misuse o f fabulous and fantastic is the
misuse o f incredible and incredibly, w ords w hich also seem to belong
m ore to the recounting of marvellous events than o f day-to-day doings.
The display of her work went down incredibly well.
Clearly again the w ord very w ould do all that the now weakened w ord
incredibly can do.
The desire to give the highest degree of praise one can to efforts of
this kind naturally breeds hyperbole. Here we have a com m ent on a horse
trials event. The w riter tells that no one is too big to give advice, w hen
asked, or to share their ideals, and adds:
It is eventings greatest asset and creates such a good camaraderie amongst
competitors, an ideal that I believe is unique to this sport.
Here the words ideal and unique seem to be brought into play chiefly
because o f the nice noise they make.
The specimens we have been looking at tend to arise from the desire
to make something seem m ore remarkable than it is. By the use
of hyperbole the w riter exaggerates the em otional impact of w hat is
said.
Dr Jeff Sampson has just joined the Animal Health Trust as Canine Genetics
Co-ordinator. This new post, sponsored by the Kennel Club, will help apply
this exciting subject to the world of dog breeding.
Over-use of the w ord exciting is not uncom m on. In contexts like this
it is apt to raise an ironic smile. Certainly the subject is one that dogbreeders will find interesting. The w riter gains nothing by using the
w ord exciting, as though it m eant no m ore than that. A similar, perhaps
m ore justifiable, hyperbolic approach to the readers feelings is made by
the w ord horrifying in the sentence:
A horrifying number of pets are put to sleep because they cant be identified
and their owners traced.
Just as words to do w ith stirring the readers feelings tend to be hyper
bolic, so too do w ords connected w ith suggestions of great size. It is
easy to find examples of w ords such as trem endous, im m ense and
enorm ous used w here large or big w ould be m ore appropriate.
Hyperbole is not just a matter o f using adjectives extravagantly. A
different brand o f hyperbole builds up an image in a w ord or two whose
effect is quite disproportionate to what is needed. Here we have an
advertisers enthusiastic account o f a new car.
The sexy aristocrat of the open road. Sleek and swift. Purebred and powerful.
With the body of a thoroughbred and the soul of a beast.
The w orld o f cold prose seems to be left behind here. We are in the
verbal w orld w here M acbeths bloodied hands could turn the w orlds
oceans scarlet. The trouble is, however, that the AA journal is not
designed for theatrical performance before a hushed and rapt audience.
No doubt the psychologist could have some fun explaining the propa
ganda effect o f w ords such as sexy and aristocrat, w ith their associations
of glowing beauty and social superiority, o f words such as purebred
and thoroughbred, w ith their associations of high breed and grace on
display in the fresh country air. And, lest it was all beginning to seem
243
244
CHAPTER 1 0
Sound Logic
BACK-REFERENCE
Good writing is logical. The relationship between logic and grammar is
close. It is very often by a failure in grammar that a failure in logic occurs.
That is one way o f putting a crucial fact about good style. And the other
way of putting it is this: It is often by a failure in logic that a failure in
grammar occurs. Such is the interconnection between the two. It follows
that we have already in this book had to criticize the choice or arrangement
o f words because o f their illogicality. For instance, a com m on error
w hich has both its logical and its grammatical aspects occurs w hen some
such w ord as it or this is used w ithout clarity as to w hat the w ord
refers back to, and we cited cases in Chapter 6 that w ould exemplify this.
At the crudest level this is a matter of making sure that such pronouns as
it and this are properly anchored.
All the work is done on anaesthetized animals. It is given a single injection
and never wakes up.
The error assumes a grammatical character here. The singular it is used
w here the plural they is required.
But sometimes the failure in back-reference involves a different kind
o f lapse in the thought-process, w hich can only be described as illogical.
Here is a journalist reporting on the restoration o f a three-mile canal
tunnel near Huddersfield:
Sealed for more than fifty years, it has long been thought of as an impossible
restoration.
Plainly it, as placed here, m ust refer back grammatically to the sealed
tunnel. But no one has ever thought of the tunnel as a restoration,
w hether possible or impossible. W hen we say It has long been thought
difficult to climb M ount Everest, it refers forwards to the w ords to
climb Mount Everest. Using that construction, the journalist could have
written: it has long been thought impossible to restore it, w here the
second it refers properly back to the tunnel.
It is not the only pronoun that can introduce a failure in backreference. Let us consider a notice seen in a shop in a tourist area:
Will customers please leave their rucksacks and any other large baggage at
the till. This is due to safety precautions.
The failure in grammar and logic here centres on the w ord this. W hat
is this? If, as appears most likely, this is the request itself to leave the
baggage at the till, then it is not due to safety precautions. Rather it is
a safety precaution. The better w ording w ould have been: This is a safety
precaution.
We turn to a m ore complicated failure o f logic involving the w ord
this.
You often feel more depressed and alone, and probably quite angry that
no one is making the effort to reach out to you. This leads to physical
symptoms, hoping perhaps that you can get the attention and care you need
that way.
The grammar suggests that the physical symptoms are h oping for
attention. The present participle hoping, lacking proper attachment, is
required here to do an impossible job. W hat the w riter means, I take it,
is: This leads to physical symptoms, caused by the hope that they may
w in you the attention you deserve.
An even m ore subtle case o f faulty back-reference confuses concepts
curiously:
Salman Rushdie says what he most dislikes about his appearance is its
infrequency. Happily those who know him as a regular on the party circuit
know this is not quite true.
The question arises: W hat is not quite true? As it stands, the diarist is
telling us that Salman Rushdie did not quite tell the truth in saying that
he disliked the infrequency o f his appearances. But Rushdies likes and
dislikes are not at issue. All that the diarist is wanting to question is the
w ord infrequency. If the shape o f the sentence is to be kept, it must
end in some such statement as: Happily those w ho know him as a regular
on the party circuit know that infrequency is not quite the right w o rd .
Faulty back-reference by misuse of a pronoun is a simpler error to
Sound Logic
248
there if you have refers back to brought your raincoat*. But it is not
correct to say if you have w here there is no such clear use o f a verb in
the matching tense to refer back to. To keep if they have the sentence
above w ould have to read: Its not impossible, just so difficult that most
users have never learned to do it and d o n t often bother if they have.
The alternative is to keep the first part o f the sentence and change the
ending: most users never learn to do it and d o n t often bother if they
d o . Ending a sentence w ith words such as they have or he has requires
the w riter to check that w hat has gone before gives the w ords proper
anchorage.
Keen judges say the 2 6-year-old Mancunian is riding as well as he ever
has.
In conversation this m ight pass. But there is no proper anchorage for he
has, w hich requires ridden if it is to make sense. Since there is no
ridden to refer back to, it m ust be inserted at the end: the 26-year-old
Mancunian is riding as well as he has ever ridden.
The risks involved in ending a sentence w ith they have or he has
apply equally to ending a sentence w ith it w ill. Here is a sentence about
the placing o f mem orial plaques on the form er London homes o f famous
people:
The criteria are there to ensure the fame of the person concerned is lasting
- in one or two cases its obvious it will.
The question naturally arises - will what? We can say Perhaps rain will
fall: I think it w ill because w ill recalls and reintroduces the rest o f the
verb, fall. But we ought not to say There could be rain tom orrow : I
think it w ill, because in that sentence there is no verb to be recalled to
go w ith the auxiliary verb w ill. The two parts o f the sentence m ust
m atch in this respect: The criteria are there to ensure the fame o f the
person is lasting - in one or two cases it obviously is.
There are certain w ords w hich cannot generally be used except w ith
some back-reference. The w ord others is one such. Typical usage is
represented by such sentences as Some like meat; others prefer vege
tables. It is true that sometimes the process is reversed and the w ord
others is balanced by a forward reference. The usage is rare in prose,
because it has a som ewhat artificial rhetorical quality, but there is a
famous sonnet by Matthew Arnold, addressed to Shakespeare, that
begins:
Sound Logic
IN C O N S E Q U E N T IA L IT Y
All the illogical sentences quoted so far in this chapter called for collection
w hich m ight have been defined in grammatical terms. But of course it
is possible to be extremely illogical while not erring grammatically. Not
all the sentences criticized in this present section are faulty grammatically.
Sometimes, in a perfectly grammatical sentence, a single ill-chosen w ord
turns the logic o f utterance upside down. In this respect we trespassed
into the field o f logic w hen illustrating in Chapter 3 how ill-chosen
w ords in com bination can produce inconsistency and incoherence. That
is also at issue here. The following announcem ent was made on television.
Louise Woodward will return home to restart the rest of her life.
There were two possible ways o f making this announcem ent logically:
either, Louise W oodw ard will return hom e to start the rest o f her life,
or Louise W oodw ard will return hom e to restart her life. There was
one thing that Louise could not do, and that was to return hom e and
restart the rest o f her life, because the rest o f her life had never been
started, and what has not been started cannot be restarted. QED. W ords
w hich place events in time (such as restart the rest o f her life above)
have to be scrutinized for possible logical lapses. Here is one such:
Jordan will be living on its nerves tomorrow when King Hussein, 63,
undergoes a second bone marrow transplant at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota
in a last-ditch attempt to save him from last weeks recurrence of lymphatic
cancer.
A m om ents thought could surely have prevented this illogicality. It is
far too late to save someone from last w eeks recurrence o f a disease.
The recurrence has occurred, and that is that. The King can perhaps be
saved from some o f the possible consequences o f the recurrence. It w ould
appear that here the journalists professional obsession w ith supposed
compression led him astray. He wanted to avoid by way o f abbreviation
the obvious sequence: in a last-ditch attem pt to save him from the effects
of lymphatic cancer w hich became threatening again last w eek. In fact
the alteration o f a single w ord (from to after) in his version w ould
have given him the brevity he required w ith correctness throw n in as a
bonus: undergoes a second bone m arrow transplant at the Mayo Clinic
in Minnesota in a last-ditch attempt to save him after last w eeks recur
rence o f lymphatic cancer.
Placing events in time clearly sometimes strains the logical faculties.
Here is a not uncom m on misuse o f w h en . The sentence is about a
hoarder w ho one day turned to crime.
Cleaning the windows of a financial broker in the heart of Reading was
when the turning point came.
It is correct to say It was a beautiful sum m er evening w hen the turningpoint came because w h en properly relates to a time. It does not relate
to a place such as Reading, or to an activity such as cleaning windows. If
the activity were placed in time then w h en could be used: He was
cleaning the w indow s o f a financial broker in the heart o f Reading w hen
the turning point cam e.
There are certain w ords w hich tend to lure writers into illogicalities
of various kinds. One is the w ord true.
Sound Logic
beginning w ith unless. W hat he meant was: W e m ust alter these trends,
because they are not sustainable.
We see how logical clarity often depends on the careful selection o f
terms, especially w here a choice between related terms has to be made.
Here is a sentence from an article about the superstition that soil is best
turned w hen the m oon is in the barren signs o f Leo, Virgo, Aquarius
or Gemini.
Evidence of this technique is steeped in history and can be traced back as
far as the ancient Greeks and Egyptians.
One wants to say but . . . b u t at several points in this sentence. Is the
practice o f turning the soil at a certain time really a technique? Then is
it the evidence that is steeped in history? One m ight justly say o f an
ancient castle Evidence shows that it is steeped in history. The evidence
establishes the fact. And is it the evidence that is traced back? Rather the
evidence emerges from the act o f tracing back. The sentence w ould be
better w ithout the w ord evidence: This practice is steeped in history
and can be traced back as far as the ancient Greeks and Egyptians.
There is a curious tendency to produce an illogical concertina effect
w hen handling certain terms. Here is a com m ent on a W orld Cup match.
An estimated worldwide television audience of one million watched Brazil
take an early lead.
The question arises: Is an estimated audience of one m illion really just
the same thing as an audience estimated at one m illion? An estimated
audience is surely a concept rather than a crow d of people in an arena. It
seems fair enough to say The estimated audience will num ber one
m illion, but once the audience is a fact that use o f estimated is lax. It
requires a m inim um change in the w ording to say: A w orldwide tele
vision audience estimated at one million watched Brazil take an early
lead. A similar laxity appears in the use o f the w ord predicted:
However, Steves predicted number of ten reached the first jump-off.
Surely the predicted n um ber is one thing, existing in the m ind, and the
horses that reached the jum p-off are another thing, bodily active. W hat
the sentence means is: As Steve predicted, ten competitors reached the
first jum p-off.
In studying erroneous comparisons caused by misuse o f the w ord
like, as we did in Chapter 7, we were generally concerned as m uch
Sound Logic
2 J4
the trim or handles that can stand rough treatment, the point should be
made w ithout the comparative adjective: or w ith leather handles to stand
rough treatm ent. We see there how intertw ined are the grammatical and
the logical aspects o f the misuse o f o r.
Finally, we turn to a case w here a sentence disintegrates. W hether we
criticize it in terms o f logic or of grammar, the issue is the same.
He opened up Greenland, which wasnt well known topographically. The
coastland, the mineral deposits and whether it was feasible to use it as an
economic commodity were due to Watkins.
The first question is w hether the coastland o f any country or its mineral
deposits can be said to be due to a person. Clearly they cannot. The
subject o f the second sentence must be changed: Knowledge o f the
coastland and the mineral deposits . . . was due to W atkins. The rest o f
the sentence seems to be almost untranslatable. In its basic structure it is
the equivalent of w hether it was going to rain was due to the forecaster.
To put it in grammatical terms, in no sentence can an opening clause
beginning w ith an indirect question such as w hat is at stake or w ho
will be there or w hether it will rain be followed by the adjective d ue.
A possible correction w ould be: Knowledge o f the coastland, the mineral
deposits and the possibility o f developing them commercially was due
to W atkins.
MISSING LINKS
There is a sometimes subtle kind o f illogicality produced by mentally
taking a short cut so that a statement is left w ith a link missing. W hat
happens is that the m ind o f the w riter moves too quickly for full control
to be kept on the m anagement o f the w ords being used. The practice
might well be called verbal leapfrog or even mental leapfrog. It is
illustrated in the following sentence.
During the mid-1920s he travelled throughout North America painting
many commissions.
He may have painted landscapes or he may have painted portraits of
distinguished people, but no one can paint commissions. There is
no escape from filling out the words: painting many com missioned
pictures.
Sound Logic
Sound Logic
on a dress costing 40 w ould be 20. In short 20 was the least that any
customer m ight pay for a 40 item. No going low er than that - dow n
to half the original price.
Sometimes a missing link can leave a w hole phrase floating away w ith
out any mooring. Here is an advertisement from a financial institution:
At the risk of sounding like your parents, do you regularly contribute to a
pension plan?
This is like saying At the risk o f sounding like a beggar, can you lend
me a few pounds? There is no escape from m ooring the phrase at the
risk of sounding to something in the rest o f the sentence. W e m ust know
w ho is taking the risk. At the risk o f sounding like your parents, we
must ask you this. Do you regularly contribute to a pension plan?
The reader will recognize that we are here often criticizing verbal
habits w hich m ight be readily acceptable in conversation. Consider this
advertisement:
Double-glazed windows, doors or a conservatory are a major home
improvement.
The m ind leapfrogs over a step in the sequence o f thought. It is the actual
fitting of these new features that constitutes an im provem ent. The
im provem ent resides in the fact that they are here today and they were
not here last year. That is the definition of the improvement. If the
double-glazed w indow s w ere fitted to a house while it was being built,
then even the fitting o f them w ould not represent an im provem ent.
And it is the use o f the noun im provem ent instead o f the verb to
im prove that causes the solecism: Fitting double-glazed window s,
doors or a conservatory can greatly improve your house. A similar
excessive use o f nouns has the same unfortunate effect in the following
advertisement for climbing clothing:
Its design combines the experience of world-class athletes and the expertise
of our research and development teams.
Neither experience nor expertise is com bined in the actual design.
The design is rather the fruit o f both experience and expertise. The verb
com bines must give way to another: Its design embodies the experience
o f world-class athletes.
As a tail-piece to our study o f verbal leapfrog we add the following
prize specimen from the w orld o f transport:
W O R D ORDER
A slight lapse in w ord order can mar the strict logicality of a sentence.
One or two such lapses will categorize a w riter as verbally clumsy. We
have seen how desirable it is to take special care in placing only or not
only in a sentence. To say The piano can only be placed opposite the
w in dow w hen w hat is m eant is The piano can be placed only against
the w indow is to place oneself as a w riter only in the second class.
Another construction w hich requires particular care over w ord order
is the use of both . . . and.
A rash of televisions have erupted, cheerfully egging their viewers on to
radical change both in the house and garden.
This represents the most com m on slip in using both . . . and. The writer
has two alternatives here, either: radical change both in the house and
in the garden, or: radical change in both the house and garden. If
b o th comes before the w ord in , then in m ust be repeated. If b o th
comes after in , then in is not repeated. And have erupted should be
has erupted.
Sometimes the failure w ith both . . . and is m ore complex than that.
The policy will not be easy to carry out both in respect of cost and how it
will affect the environment.
To begin with, b o th cannot be allowed to introduce one construction
(in respect of cost) while and introduces a different construction
(how it will affect the environm ent). We can allow both in respect of
cost and in respect o f its effect on the environm ent. And in the right
context we could allow both w hat it will cost and how it will affect the
Sound Logic
260
EX A C TITU D E
The good w riter leaves no reader feeling that the meaning has been
inexactly expressed. W e are talking here about good style as opposed
to criticizable style, not about mere correctness as opposed to error.
Inexactitude is not just a matter of confusion existing w here there ought
to be clarity. There is a kind o f inexactitude by w hich the reader is left
Sound Logic
feeling that really the surest w ords have not been used. Sometimes this
is quite a subtle matter. Compare these two sentences.
Following the right-hand path, the walker will soon come to a bridge across
the river.
Following its successful restoration, the monument has been moved to a
new site.
The first sentence w ould not make any reader pause and ask: Is that the
best way o f putting it? But the second sentence makes the sensitive reader
inwardly aware that the m onum ent is not follow ing anything in the
way that the walker w ould follow the right-hand path. So w hy not use
the obvious after instead o f the journalists favourite follow ing? And
indeed, w hy not?
We dealt w ith bad use o f the present participle in the appropriate place
earlier in this book. Here, however, we are concerned w ith a question
o f logical sensitivity in the choice o f w ords and constructions w hich is
not always, though it often is, a matter of grammatical correctness. Here
are another two sentences w hich call for com parison in this respect.
The path meanders downhill for half a mile, eventually leading to a stile in
the wall.
In his haste Seth hadnt shut Martins bag properly again, leading to Ros
and Jacks unscheduled discovery.
Again, while sensitive readers find nothing in the first sentence to stir
unease, the use o f leading in the second sentence makes them w onder
w hether the most precise w ord has been chosen. The path led the way
in the first sentence. W hat is it that is doing the leading in the second
sentence? To put it technically, the use of the participle leading in
relation to a w hole clause ( He stormed out angrily, leading to a family
quarrel) instead o f in relation to a single noun or pronoun, w hether
grammatically defensible or not, is never a happy construction. And by
happy construction we m ean one that is comfortably precise for the
reader. The above sentence w ould be better w ithout the w ord leading:
In his haste Seth h adnt shut M artins bag properly again, w hich brought
about Ros and Jacks unscheduled discovery.
A slightly m ore complex failure o f precision involving the same
construction is the following:
262
Henry II granted the town its charter and right to hold a guild in i 179,
making Preston one of the oldest boroughs in Britain.
Although we are dealing w ith the same construction here again, the
degree o f imprecision and the character o f the readers mental discomfort
are different. W hen Henry II granted Preston its charter in 1 179, he
certainly did not thereby m ake it one of the oldest boroughs in Britain.
That is the achievement o f history. Time was required. Now some readers
may regard this as quibbling, but the attem pt here is to sensitize people
to the w ords they use. If you are sensitive to the proper meaning o f the
w ord m ake, then you will be mentally uncom fortable to see it ill-used.
W e can best recom m end the simple, straightforward, natural w ording:
Henry II granted the tow n its charter and right to hold a guild in 1 179,
and so Preston is one of the oldest boroughs in Britain.
There are certain w ords w hich seem to lure writers to imprecision.
The w ord w ay is a case in point.
Campbeltown Heritage Centre is a fascinating way to learn about the cultural
and industrial development of Kintyre.
To describe the centre as a w ay to learn will not do. A given road may
be the w ay to town. A given technique may be the w ay to learn the
violin. In that sense to visit the centre and study its exhibits may constitute
a helpful w ay to learn m ore o f the place.
Trains provided a relaxing break from driving on the sometimes congested
main roads and were a great way to see the country.
The trains were not a w ay to see the country. Travelling on the trains
may perhaps be said to have been such a w ay.
Another w ord w hich lures writers to imprecision is the w ord any.
Since in itself it is a w ord o f vague reference, it needs to be handled w ith
care.
In any event, any benefits from most of these proposals are bound to be in
the long run.
This sentence m ight stand as a showpiece o f m inor laxities. To begin
w ith, it is a pity to repeat the w ord any so soon w ith a changing
connotation. Secondly, there is a slight logical inadequacy in the new
shorthand o f w riting any benefits from these proposals w hen w hat is
meant is any benefits that may accrue from these proposals. It is the
Sound Logic
w ords that may accrue w hich fully justify the use o f any. Thirdly,
the main utterance, w hich am ounts to any benefits are bound to be in
the long ru n misuses the verb to b e. We do not say the benefit will
b e but the benefit will arise. Fourthly, any benefits from m ost is
simply insensitive usage. The reading should be: In most cases, any
benefits that may accrue from these proposals are bound to arise only in
the long ru n .
Sometimes imprecision results from careless use o f w h en or w here.
Hindlimb lameness is more common than you realize, particularly when
the onset is insidious and subtle and affects both hindlegs the same.
The subject is horses. The sentence illustrates a rather imprecise use of
w h en . Again it is the kind of usage w hich w ould be accepted in
conversation. But lameness cannot be said to be m ore com m on w h en
the onset is insidious. If the w ord w h en is to be kept, then w hat precedes
it m ust be changed: You may be slow to recognize hindlim b lameness,
particularly w hen the onset is insidious.
The following sentence, however, errs m ore gravely.
Often a coexisting front leg lameness detracts from an underlying problem
behind - vets find that once they have resolved a problem in front, a
hindlimb asymmetry then becomes apparent.
To detract is to diminish. We m ight say o f a statesman w ho has been
found guilty of some m inor lack o f candour that it detracts from his
high reputation. The w riter o f the above does not surely mean that
front leg lameness reduces the problem o f the hindlim b asymmetry.
Indeed it reveals it. W hat was m eant was either: Often a coexisting front
leg lameness derives from an underlying problem behind, or: Often
a front leg lameness detracts attention from an underlying problem
behind.
AMBIGUITY
It is possible to w rite a sentence, on the surface grammatically correct,
w hich nevertheless leaves room for m ore than one interpretation. Very
often this results from use o f a pronoun the reference of w hich is not
clear.
Sound Logic
LIS T IN G IN SEQUENCE
The logical m ind is always offended by failure to preserve due sequence
in listing items. It frequently happens in devising plans or programmes
in the w orld of business, or indeed o f leisure and cultural activities, that
a w riter has to formulate a series o f points in sequence. The framework
of the list may be a single sentence. At the other extreme a single sentence
may introduce a series o f linked propositions. In either case the successive
items in the list m ust be presented in matching sequence. We touched
upon elementary grammatical aspects of this matter w hen use o f the
w ord and was explored in Chapter 8.
At its crudest, failure to preserve due sequence results in such sen
tences as:
265
266
We enjoyed ourselves bathing in the sea, playing in the sand, and a beautiful
picnic tea.
Due sequence is broken by the third item, w hich should m atch the other
grammatically: bathing in the sea, playing in the sand, and eating a
beautiful picnic tea. A slightly m ore complex instance of this kind of
lapse is represented in this sentence from the w orld o f waterways.
The range of crafts considered by the Guild is diverse: to date this includes
boat builder, cooper, cast ironware manufacturer, boaters clothes maker,
ropework and fender making, and woodcarving.
The first four items in the list are craftsmen, but the last three ( ropew ork
and fender making and woodcarving) are crafts. Either crafts must
become craftsmen and the last three m ust become rope-worker, fendermaker and w oodcarver, or the first four in the list m ust become crafts:
boat-building, cooperage, cast ironw are manufacturing, boaters
clothes-making.
In all kinds o f listing the relationship between the items listed m ust
justify their being assembled together.
Telling people anything really contentious is always grounds for not telling
them until you really have to. Stag nights, football matches, visits to
mothers-in-law, requests to mind the children and shopping trips are just
a few examples that spring to mind.
That is a straightforward case of failure in logical continuity. The trouble
is that none o f the items cited is in fact an example o f telling people
something contentious. We can see w hat the w riter wanted to say, but
he or she did not say it. One always tends to put off m entioning a
possibly contentious matter such as planning to go to a stag night or a
football match, or dealing w ith requests to visit m other-in-law , m ind the
children or go shopping. It is w orth noting that in total this version
saves four words.
We are concerned now w ith a m uch m ore sophisticated kind o f listing
than these sentences represent, but the basic danger o f not preserving
due sequence is just the same. We take as a specimen a docum ent
produced by the Campaign for Freedom to Roam.
Our ten points make up a comprehensive plan which we urge the Govern
ment to adopt. . . The ten points are as follows:
Sound Logic
Freedom to roam - a new law to enable the public to walk over mountain,
moor, heath, down and common land in England and Wales.
Restrictions - the freedom is restricted to protect wildlife, farming and
other interests.
Enter at own risk - walkers take responsibility for their own safety with
occupiers liability reduced.
Code of Practice for walkers, to provide education on how best to behave.
Wardens and by-laws - where necessary . . .
No access to back gardens, cornfields or farmyards . . .
Dogs - no automatic right to roam for dogs.
No compensation - top legal advice makes it clear that the Government
need not pay compensation to landowners.
No payment for access - access to be free of charge for walkers . . .
Wilful obstruction - it will be an offence for landowners wilfully to
obstruct access where parliament has said it must be freely available.
The failure here to preserve a semblance o f continuity is comprehensive.
One has only to cite the first w ords of each p o in t to see how incongruous
the list is: Freedom to roam , Restrictions, Enter at ow n risk, Code
of Practice, Wardens and by-laws, No access, Dogs, No com pen
sation, No paym ent, Wilful obstruction. Perhaps the w riter made a
crucial error in listing the items as points. They m ight have been
presented as a series o f dem ands. Thus a com m on construction could
have been repeated throughout: There should be freedom to roam . . .
The freedom should be restricted to protect wildlife . . . Entry should be
at the walkers ow n risk . . . Walkers should adopt a Code o f Practice . . .
There should be wardens and by-laws . . . There should be no access to
back gardens . . . Dogs w ould have no automatic right to roam . . . There
should be no com pensation . . . There should be no payment for access
. . . Wilful obstruction by landowners w ould be illegal.
The sort of grammatical and logical anarchy represented above can be
found frequently enough in the business world.
How Renewal can support you as a retailer:
268
PART 3
CHAPTER 11
COMPOUNDS
The last few decades have seen a vast increase in our use o f com pounds.
Each decade adds to our vocabulary in that respect. The Second W orld
War gave us blackout and hitch-hike. The developing needs o f the
office w orld have given us clipboard, polyfile and w ord-processor,
and now the general adoption of computers has supplied inkjet,
desktop, internet, disk-drive and w eb-site. W e speak of a test-tube
baby, and the words w ould have meant nothing a few decades ago. The
words hitm an, frog-m an, front-m an and con-m an are twentiethcentury coinages. The w orld o f film-making has given new life to the
w ord b it, colloquially used o f a m inor role in the com pound bit-part.
I have heard a failing perform er on the race-track described as being
reduced to a bit-part straggler.
Most popular com pounds are self-explanatory. W hen we speak of
V A R I E T I E S OF C O M P O U N D S
The Hag-ridden Variety
It is fashionable to add to the stock o f com pounds used for a descriptive
purpose. We look here at those in w hich a n oun is tied to a past participle
to produce a kind o f com pound adjective. We use a fund o f such
com pounds conversationally, declaring people bone-headed, rubber
necked or toffee-nosed. There is nothing new in the practice itself. And
there has been considerable grammatical freedom exercised in form ing
the com pounds. H and-m ade pottery is made by hand and tailor-m ade
clothing by the tailor, while hom e-baked cakes are made in the
home, a house-proud w om an is proud o f her house and a selfinflicted w ound is inflicted by the self. In many recently developed
com pounds the relationship between the two partnered elements extends
that degree o f flexibility even further.
These cookers are safety-checked and come with a three-month guarantee.
Here the meaning o f safety-checked is checked for safety.
She explained that I would have to fill out a detailed questionnaire and be
risk-assessed before I could be considered for cover.
If I am to be risk-assessed, I am to be assessed for risk. We now
happily accept the complex relationships between noun and participle
represented in such partnerships, and we extend such usages freely,
speaking of governm ent-sponsored initiatives and welfare-focused
legislation.
W here does one draw the line? Perhaps at the following usage:
Clarins formulations are dermatologically and allergy-tested.
The curious relationship between allergy and tested ( tested in respect
o f possible allergic reactions) is made even less acceptable by being
cheek-by-jowl w ith the grammatically clear relationship between derm a
tologically and tested.
Even in the case o f well-established com pounds, the logical basis may
be problematic. We hear people speak of a N orland-trained nanny, and
we recognize that the Norland Institute did the training. But w hen we
are told that the new kitten has been house-trained we know that the
house did not do the training. And again, w hen w e hear that the toddler
has been potty-trained, we know that the potty did not do the training.
Moreover, the potty-trained toddler is habituated to doing something
in the potty w hich the house-trained kitten is specifically trained not to
do in the house. Such discrepancies abound in the field o f compounds.
Although a council-built house is a house built by a council, in the
w ords a purpose-built structure the relationship between noun and
participle is totally different in effect. But these expressions do not w orry
us on grammatical grounds as, for instance, the following does:
We intend to pass on these bargain-priced motorhomes to our customers.
Such expressions as highly-priced and cheaply-priced apply a qualifi
cation to the verb priced w hich is rationally and grammatically accept
able. The noun bargain cannot operate thus.
274
breast-feeding-friendly
pushes
com pound-
278
partnered nouns body and fat are given no hyphen, body being
given a kind o f adjectival function in relation to fat.
The juxtaposing o f two nouns is an increasing practice in contemporary
usage, and we shall explore the practice further in the next chapter.
Indeed, the juxtaposition of noun w ith noun is now such a regular
practice that the question arises: W hen is a com pound not a com pound?
To w hich the answer derived from experience w ould appear to be:
W hen the w riter omits a hyphen.
The interior of the main saloon follows a similar design theme.
There is evidence that the two nouns design and them e are entering
into a stable relationship. And here is a tempting invitation to customers
interested in fancy tiles:
Come to our showroom where our helpful staff will be pleased to assist
with your queries, design or theme concepts.
In this case we are faced not so m uch w ith a stable relationship as w ith a
menage a trois. The noun design is mentally conjoined w ith the noun
concepts, and the noun them e enters into the same partnership.
279
280
in I out
An in-depth study involves intensive research. The Automobile Associ
ation speaks of in-vehicle devices. An in-house project is one which
involves only the employees o f a given institution and is conducted
w ithin its boundaries. The com pound out-house has been used, not of
a shed in the garden or an earth-privy at the bottom of the backyard,
w hich used to be its meaning, but of BBC projects involving contracts
w ith outsiders.
The prefix o u t used w ith verbs has a distinct connotation: to outlive,
ou tdo, outrun or outstrip. The meaning o f the prefix is consistent. It
is a matter of beating others in some exercise, not o f turning them o u t
o f some premises. W hen we read that in the Christmas sales m en
have outshopped w o m en, we recognize the standard usage, however
infelicitous. But then we read in a railway magazine that a certain engine
has been outshopped from a repair shed, and there is no linguistic
justification for that usage. To describe an engine as being outshopped
(turned out of the repair shed) is like describing a recovered patient as
being out-hospitalled.
The w orld o f protest has given us sit-in, indulging laziness has made
an adjective o f drive-in, and buying a car has given us trade-in. A
person w ho opts out of things is a drop-out. A fade-out gradually
removes a scene from view. More vulgarly, a cop-out is a failure or an
escape from some responsibility.
over
Here is another prefix w hich can be misused. W hen we use it in such
w ords as overeat, oversimplify and overstrain, our meaning is that
something is being done to excess. There are dozens and dozens o f such
com pounds in recent dictionaries. We now add it to any w ord we choose,
adjectives ( over-explicit, over-indulgent, over-sceptical) and verbs
(over-supply, over-insure, over-tire). Yet in the gardening world,
w here the verb to over-water means to provide w ith too m uch water,
we find the following:
A cool porch is an ideal place to overwinter tender shrubs.
No doubt in the English climate it w ould be possible to supply tender
plants w ith too m uch winter, but clearly that is not the meaning here.
W hat makes the usage utterly unnecessary is that in fact we do use the
existence, not to m ention phases of life that are child-free and others
that are oldie-free.
-wise
The w ord otherw ise has been matched in such w ords as contrariwise
and lengthw ise. We now hear and read innovative developments o f this
practice o f adding the suffixw ise.
Cost-wise I recommend the bus route; comfort-wise I recommend the
railway.
This kind o f running coinagery, w hich some people go in for in conver
sation, is economic but neither elegant nor grammatically impeccable.
W hen one sees it in print, one feels uncomfortable:
Celeb-wise, Gwyneth Paltrow, Sharon Stone and Cameron Diaz are setting
the standard at the moment.
W hich means that these celebrities are setting the standard hairw ise.
wrongThe old com pounds w rongdoer and w rong-headed have been joined
by w rong-foot. Deriving from the game of tennis, in w hich a player
can make the kind o f shot w hich w ould put the opponent off-balance, it
has proved a conveniently colourful way o f defining an action w hich
inconveniences an opponent or a rival.
-babble
This is now used colloquially, added pejoratively to techno, psycho
and pharm aco as a term for the specialist chatter o f the respective experts
w hen viewed as so m uch hot air.
286
m axi savings account). But m ini has been well used since the 1960s
fashion for the m iniskirt, and the production o f the small car by the
Austin/M orris combine.
megaThis prefix, deriving from Greek, means huge or powerful. It gave us
such words as m egaphone, megalithic and megalom ania. It has been
a useful prefix in various sciences and technologies ( m egahertz and
m egaw att), and then too in the w orld o f com puting. Recently it has
been used colloquially as a popular way o f conveying the grandeur or
importance of something: a m ega-m atch or a mega-star.
microThis Greek prefix, m eaning small, gave us established w ords such as m icro
cosm and microscope and they have been added to in m icrolight, for a
small aircraft, and microfiche, for a card holding miniaturized print, as
well as in m ore specialized terms such as m icrochip and m icrodot.
multi- / omniThe prefix m ulti derives from the Latin adjective meaning m uch or
m any. The m ultistorey car park, the multistage rocket, the m ulti
national business and m ultim edia activities, all these com pounds have
now generally shed their hyphens. We read o f a m ulti-m illion pound
campaign, and the hyphen survives.
In the case o f the prefix o m n i (from the Latin w ord for all or every)
the old com pounds om nipotent and om niscient have been added to
by such words as om nicom petent and om nidirectional.
nonThis prefix, the Latin w ord for n o t, is used to nullify w hat follows. The
w ord nondescript goes back to the seventeenth century and the w ord
nonpareil to the fifteenth. In our ow n day the practice o f prefixing a
w ord w ith n o n (non-alcoholic, non-infectious) amounts to a ru n
away habit. We invent the words as we need them, presuming on an
attitude of non-objection on the part o f our non-pedantic friends.
-phile I -phobe
An interesting development has been the tendency to use the Greek
suffixes philia for love o f and phile for lover o f a movem ent or a
programme, w here the Latin prefix p ro has been m ore com monly used
(as in the pro-life m ovem ent). A foreign enthusiast for things British is
sometimes called an Anglophile. Thus w e speak o f a political supporter
o f closer ties w ith Europe as a Europhile. Correspondingly there is the
tendency to use the Greek suffix phobia or phobe for hatred or
disapproval of a movem ent or programme, w here once the Latin prefix
anti m ight have been used. Thus we speak o f hom ophobia for the
disapproval o f homosexual practices and o f a hom ophobe for a person
so disapproving. Those highly critical o f European union do not call
themselves Europhobes, w hich som ehow has a distasteful air o f w hole
sale negativity, but call themselves by the anodyne w ord Eurosceptics
instead.
preThis prefix (from the Latin prae) is in continual use. Whereas it used to
be confined to historical references (pre-Reform ation and preRestoration), it has become handy for general use over a shorter term
( pre-Welfare State and pre-decimal currency).
pseudoMeaning false or bogus, pseudo, long used in the w ord pseudonym ,
is now prefixed depreciatively to any adjective o f choice: pseudoBohemian, pseudo-Elizabethan, pseudo-Georgian and pseudo
m odern. The noun pseud is applied colloquially to someone scorned
for their charlatanry.
retroThe words retrograde and retrospect/ive have long been in our lan
guage. In his astrological w ork A Treatise on the Astrolabe Chaucer uses the
w ord retrograd, m eaning moving in a direction contrary to the order
o f the signs. In Shakespeares Alls Well That Ends Well Helena tells Parolles
that he must have been born under Mars w hen the planet was retrograde,
because he goes so m uch backward w hen he fights. So the w ord came
into general use for taking backward steps. Retrospective dates back to
the seventeenth century. The space behind the high altar in a cathedral is
the retrochoir. The prefix has been used in anatomy and pathology as
the converse o f in tro , and meaning situated behind (retro-ocular and
retro-uterine). On this basis the w ord retrofit has now come into use
for the business o f fitting parts to aircraft and other vehicles after they
a88
have already been in use. The prefix retro is therefore to hand and in a
piece in The Times Libby Purves uses the w ords retrophobia and retrodread of current attitudes harking back to the evils o f Nazism and the
Second W orld War. She gives the words a somewhat w ithin-quotes
flavour by half-seriously also coining the w ord yesterphobia. Thus it
becomes difficult to draw the line between innovative com pounds w ith
a future and one-off com pounds tossed out as jeux desprit, to add spice
and not to be taken too seriously. For instance, in the same article Libby
Purves ingeniously coins the w ord unthinkabilia for those matters raised
w hen people think the unthinkable. The w ord m em orabilia, for things
w orthy o f being remembered, is clearly related to the w ord m em orable.
It m ight consequently seem reasonable to treat other w ords ending in
able comparably. But one must exercise discipline in making such
coinages. To try to treat deplorable as m em orable has been treated
w ould not give us words w orth having, except perhaps for comic p u r
poses. Neither deplorability nor deplorabilia w ould fill a gap in our
vocabulary.
superO ur language abounds in words w ith this prefix (superficial, super
cilious) and m odern technology has given us supersonic. From the
days of the so-called supercinemas of the interwar years and the super
markets of the post-w ar world, the prefix has come into use as an
intensifier of quality that could be applied to anything in the advertise
m ent w orld and the m edia world. Thus we have superglue, supergrass,
superstar and superfine.
T R E N D Y USAGE
Euphemisms
There are areas o f usage in which fashion changes from century to
century, and others in w hich fashion changes from decade to decade. In
areas where delicacy has required oblique terms to be used in polite
conversation changes in fashion have been fairly frequent. W hen an
inoffensive but evasive w ord is used in place o f a w ord w hich m ight be
considered in some way crude or offensive, we call it a euphemism. An
early euphemism for a lavatory was the w ord privy w hich dates from
the fourteenth century. Since it meant private and then private room
it was perhaps a m ore respectable w ord than the sixteenth-century w ord
jakes (to which Shakespeare seems to have intended an oblique reference
w hen he used the name Jaques for his somewhat sour philosopher in
As You Like It).
W hen Sir John Harington, a courtier, equipped Queen Elizabeth I with
a water-closet, it marked the beginning o f an age in plum bing. But it was
not until the m id-eighteenth century that the w ord water-closet came
into use. It is of course euphemistic in that closet means any small room
and the use of w ater does not openly indicate w hat the closet contained.
Indeed the w ord lavatory was already in use for an apartment containing
apparatus for washing. The addition o f the lavatory pan to the wash basin
was a logical development. The w ord water closet had a long life. Early
in the twentieth century it was in com m on use, and the letters W C
were printed on toilet doors. But already there had been squeamish
Victorians whose euphem ism for a visit to the lavatory was going to see
Mrs Jones or Aunt Jones. Gradually the term W C gave place to the
w ord lavatory. The double function o f the apartment in question was
convenient verbally. Indeed for a long time the hostesss welcoming
question to a guest, W ould you like to wash your hands? was considered
to be a polite way o f asking Do you w ant to relieve yourself? But
eventually the w ord lavatory began to seem too crude and direct and
the w ord toilet came into com petition w ith it, though never in the best
circles. It has taken over on the public scene. It was in the sixties and
seventies that the w ord loo began to be used in conversation. Its origin
is in doubt. The suggestion has been made that it comes from the French
w ord for a water-closet - lieux d aisance (place o f easement) . W hether
seriously or not, it has also been suggested that loo is short for W ater
loo. Be that as it may, colloquially it is now the most used term.
An interesting euphem ism for sexual intercourse came into use in the
earlier part of the tw entieth century. The press used it, and it was used
in the law courts. To ask a defendant w hether he or she had been
intim ate w ith a partner was to ask w hether the two had had sex. This
extremely evasive euphem ism became even m ore absurd w hen the noun
intimacy was used in the divorce courts: They w ent up to a hotel
bedroom , m lud, and intimacy took place.
Sometimes a shift in usage is intentionally encouraged by lobby groups
in order to corroborate a desired change in public attitudes. The most
notable instance of this is the use of the w ord gay by the homosexual
290
Colloquial Fashions
It is not only in the realms o f the sexual and the lavatorial that verbal
fashions change quickly. They change quickly too in the sphere o f usage
w here new words hover uncomfortably between the category w e call
slang and the category o f respectable usage. One such w ord is the verb
to scarper, meaning to depart quickly, to beat a hasty retreat. The general
resonance o f the w ord suggests a less than respectable getaway by a
person leaving a mess behind. The w ord appears to have taken the place
o f a verb popular in Victorian usage w hich I cannot find in my recent
dictionary, the verb to levant, meaning to bolt or abscond, used especi
ally of betting m en w ho got away w ithout paying.
Todays trendy words will not necessarily be tom orrow s trendy words.
To call attractive young girls dollybirds or teenyboppers nowadays
w ould be to hark back to the sixties, and people no longer talk o f
beatniks or groupies. Moreover, such is the force of fiction, that
sometimes yesterdays supposedly trendy w ords were in fact little used.
For instance, the novels of P. G. W odehouse preserve an upper-class
idiom from the early tw entieth century w hich was perhaps always m ore
used in fiction than in fact. Indeed the act o f using the idiom comically
in fiction rendered expressions unusable in real conversation, except
ironically and w ithin metaphorical quotation marks. Only thus w ould
one declare someone to be a bit o f a bounder, som eones performance
to be top-hole or some welcome suggestion to be topping.
But there are colloquialisms less subject to literary mockery that have
a real life for a time. If one reads, say, Anthony Powells A Dance to the
Music of Time, w hich recaptures the England o f the inter-w ar years, one
will find terms, then trendy, w hich have since gone out o f use. W here,
earlier in the century, English people had visited the picture house and
the Americans had visited the m ovies, by the thirties middle-class
English people talked o f going to the flicks (a w ord form ed from the
flickering of the early screens). At the same time a favourite w ord for
denigrating a venture or a business was to call it a ram p, meaning that
it was a swindle, w here twenty years later it w ould have been called a
29 2
the taxing series o f syllables, and mentally distancing oneself from the
psychological need by referring to a psychiatrist as a trick cyclist. Later
the w ord shrink (derived from head-shrinker) took over.
Representing a different level o f culture the w ord teddy-boy came
into use in the 19os. In the early post-war years certain fashions imitative
o f the Edwardian age replaced what had been the fashions for m en in the
1930s. For instance, suit jackets were m uch longer and looser-fitting,
and trousers were narrower. There was a cult among youth to push the
Edwardian style to extremes. Hence the nam e teddy-boys was applied
to groups of delinquent and roisterous teenagers and young men. Gradu
ally the w ord came to stand for youths given to violence and criminality.
The same sub-culture gave us the w ord streetwise, a neat term to
describe people, especially young people, w ho are wise in the ways of
the street, w hich means that they are adept at keeping afloat in an
environm ent that may be poor, unsavoury and criminal. The w ords
street credibility, now colloquially street-cred, refer to awareness
o f the style and understanding needed to be at hom e in the urban
counter-culture.
The worlds o f the media, of pop music and o f fashion supply an
ever-changing colloquial vocabulary (rock, rap, h ip , grunge,
grotty, glitch, glitzy, etc.) only some of w hich is taken into general
usage.
The w orld o f public life and politics has enriched colloquial vocabulary.
Slang w ords readily become acceptable w hen they prove to serve a useful^
purpose. They may be widely taken up because they so exactly encapsulate
a concept for w hich there is no easy alternative expression. Such is the
case w ith the w ord freebie, standing for something provided w ithout
charge. Earlier in the tw entieth century the abbreviation perk was
formed from the noun perquisite to stand for the kind o f incidental
benefit that a person m ight gain from a certain employment. Thus
waiters and waitresses tips were regarded as perks. The w ord has been
used for company cars and benefits such as private health contributions
provided by certain employers. But the w ord freebie has come to stand
for treats provided, not so m uch by employers, as by interested parties
anxious to gain influence. Thus, where perks belong to the business
world, freebies belong to the political world, the w orld where Members
of Parliament or o f local councils may be treated to trips abroad.
During the nineties the fashionable vocabulary of political journalism
O V E R - U S E OF F A M I L I A R
PHRASES A N D EXPRESSIONS
In recent decades there has been heavy over-use of certain originally
highly expressive phrases and expressions, most o f w hich have a meta
phorical content. It is because they are so expressive that we too often
have recourse to them. But as a result their force is dissipated. No doubt
the first person in our age to speak o f throw ing something out o f the
w indow instead o f merely throw ing it o u t achieved quite a rhetorical
effect. (Though one is inclined to ask w hether the speaker was really
brought up to use the w indow for this purpose.) But now that the
expression has caught on so that everyone speaks o f throw ing things out
of w indow s instead o f getting rid of them or abolishing them, the
expression scarcely makes an impact. Familiarity breeds contempt.
at the end o f the day
So too now, w hen we hear someone beginning a sentence, Well, at the
end o f the day, we are inclined to yawn. The phrase at the end o f the
day is o f course used metaphorically in that the reference to fading
daylight is introduced because as night falls the days business has to be
tied up. The implication is that the point has arrived at which w hat is
said is final and brings doubt and controversy to an end. Thus the
expression at the end o f the day has gradually taken over as a substitute
for finally or ultim ately. The trouble is that it now seems to stand for
so many different expressions, such as w hen all is said and done, to
cut a long story short, w hen push comes to shove, what it all amounts
The British Marine Industries Federation has already blown the whistle on
the decline in the number of inland boaters, attributing it largely to the
industrys inability to attract the younger generation.
This quotation excellently exemplifies how a colourful expression can
gradually be deprived o f its usefulness. W hen the referee blows the
whistle on the football field, he does so to draw attention to some foul
or inappropriate behaviour by one o f the players, thus temporarily
putting a stop to the game. A crucial element in w hat the expression
conveys is the notion of bringing to light some misdeed before the eyes
o f the public. But the w riter o f the above sentence has fastened merely on
the notion of drawing attention to something, irrespectively of w hether it
involves anything im proper. W hen enough people have used the
expression blow the whistle o n merely to mean draw attention to ,
then a useful enrichm ent o f the language will have been dissipated.
the name o f the game
Another popular expression w hich comes from the sports field is less
easy to account for. W e hear the pronouncem ent thats the name o f the
gam e spoken w ith some solemnity. In m ost contexts it appears to mean
nothing m ore than thats w hat m atters, thats the essential point. It is
a way o f laying heavy emphasis on some judgement. But we also hear it
used in a m ore explanatory sense to mean Yes, that is what is involved
or That is what you should expect. Thus the reply to Ive lost two
thousand on the Stock Market m ight well be Well, thats the nam e o f
the gam e. There are times w hen use o f the idiom seems to represent a
way of saying nothing at all.
Sound project management is clearly the name of the game.
The w ord clearly rings a bell o f challenge here.
the bottom line
An expression which, surprisingly enough, seems to overlap in meaning
w ith that is the nam e of the gam e is that is the bottom line. Clearly
we are in a different field o f imagery here. The expression appears to
derive from the w orld o f accountancy. The last line on a balance sheet
shows the final profit or loss made by the business concerned. But in
other fields the last line o f a docum ent is apt to finalize matters w ith the
central point to w hich argum ent or discussion has led. The expression is
CHAPTER 12
FREEDOM W I T H T R A N S IT IV E /
I N T R A N S I T I V E VERBS
During the last few decades liberties have been taken in the use o f
transitive and intransitive verbs, that is w ith verbs w hich normally take
an object (like in I like ice-cream) and verbs w hich do not take an
object (sleep in He sleeps on the couch). The area of usage we are
touching on is one w hich is like a minefield for the pedagogue. The
reason is that historically English usage has allowed such freedoms from
time to time that it is dangerous for one to lay dow n the law. It is
easy enough to give examples o f comparatively recent changes. In my
fifty-year-old Shorter Oxford English Dictionary the verb to resum e is given
only as transitive and no instance o f an intransitive use is supplied. Thus
it is that fifty years ago one w ould have said The meeting was resum ed.
N ow we tend to say The meeting resum ed. Presumably the English
teacher o f the inter-w ar years w ould have been justified in correcting
that as a grammatical error.
Established Liberties
The freedom long exercised w ith certain verbs may be illustrated by the
way we use the verb to show .
Some of Pauls work was already showing at a Glasgow gallery.
We accept this as an alternative to Some o f Pauls w ork was already
being shown at a Glasgow gallery. The following sentence extends that
freedom:
The Andrews London home in Hyde Park could rent for i ,000 a week.
300
302
Unacceptable Liberties
We have been criticizing the unnecessary intrusion of the w ords o n and
u p o n after verbs w hich are better treated as transitive. Here is a specimen
o f the converse error.
This plant hunter embarked his perilous journey.
This should read: embarked on his perilous journey. For while in its
intransitive use to em bark was to board a ship, in its transitive use it
was to put something on board a ship, the bark being the vessel. Equally
unacceptable is the following sentence:
The process is stripped away of inessentials.
The process has not been stripped away. It is the inessentials that have
been stripped away. One m ight say He was stripped o f his clothes or
His clothes were stripped away but not He was stripped away o f his
clothes. For all the freedoms allowed in this m atter o f grammar, it is
dangerous to take liberties and here the trick has gone too far. Yet the
trick is catching on. Another journalist writes of a passionate love affair:
Its stripped away o f the complicated stuff w hen she means that the
complicated stuff has been stripped away from it. Headline writers
sometimes take too far the freedom granted to them in this respect,
anarchically misplacing passive verbs.
Newcastle Pair Torn Off a Strip by Angry Investors.
This headline illustrates the point. The Newcastle Pair were certainly not
torn off a strip by the investors. Why, we may ask, did the headline
w riter not write: Strip Torn off Newcastle Pair by Angry Investors?
The extempore manufacture of intransitive verbs by the insertion o f
redundant prepositions is not restricted to verbs o f speaking such as
eulogize and expound.
Making the most of what you have and minimizing on waste is the key
when youre on a budget.
To m inim ize is to reduce to the m inim um . The intrusive o n is out of
place.
Munch on vegetable sticks or a handful of raisins or other dried fruit.
Again the intrusive o n is ugly as well as redundant. There is an old
intransitive use o f m unch, just as there is an intransitive use o f the verb
to eat. You can say He is eating or He is m unching, but you w ould
not say He is eating on toast. Very relevantly I have just heard on the
radio a comparable misuse o f the verb to segregate. The dictionary
definition o f the verb is to set or be set apart from others. But the Radio
4 speaker spoke o f a plan to segregate something o ff, as though the
verb were not a clear transitive one.
Perhaps we may usefully include here three further examples in w hich
the freedom to juggle w ith generally intransitive verbs is exploited too
far.
Each paper motif must be completely adhered to the furniture surface.
The verb to adhere is intransitive. Flattery adheres to pow er, Gibbon
observed. We do not adhere a postage stamp to an envelope. W e stick
it to the envelope, and thereby the stamp adheres to the envelope. And
I read a reference to the shoe shops that proliferate Oxford Street. To
proliferate is to grow or increase rapidly. A transitive use o f the verb is
possible in zoology, w here it w ould mean to produce by proliferation.
The notion that shoe shops m ight proliferate a street is therefore
absurd. Avoidance here o f the natural intransitive usage ( shoe shops that
304
proliferate in Oxford Street) has led to error. And here is a newish verb
even m ore boldly mistreated:
A girl aged 12 has been questioned by police over the death of the 16-monthold toddler she was babysitting.
No doubt the girl was babysitting, but she was not babysitting the
toddler. To try to turn babysit into a transitive verb that takes the
cared-for baby as its object will not do.
T H E U SE OF P O S S E S S I V E S
W e have seen how m odern English has largely lost the inflexions w hich
enabled the Anglo-Saxons to distinguish one case of a noun from another.
There are only a few lingering relics of the old Anglo-Saxon inflexions
w ith us. One is the surviving distinction between the singular noun and
the plural noun. In m ost cases we add an s to our nouns to make the
plural form. Book becomes books, father becomes fathers and so
on. The relics o f other, irregular, inflectional changes from singular to
plural are few. M an becomes m en, w om an becomes w o m en and
child becomes children. These forms have survived, but not (for
general purposes) brethren as the plural of brother. And o f course,
there is a handful o f nouns w hich are the same in the plural as the
singular, notably sheep and deer.
Another relic of the old inflexions of the noun is the genitive case
w hich is form ed by the apostrophe s. We speak o f the teachers book
rather than of the book o f the teacher, thus preserving the distinctive
genitive case for the possessive. We have two uses of this possessive case
in m odern English. We may speak of the doctors treatment o f Mary or
o f Marys treatment by the doctor. The doctors treatm ent is something
that he does. Marys treatm ent is something that she receives. The one
usage may loosely be called objective, the other subjective.
There are certain nouns like treatm ent w hich lend themselves either
to objective or subjective use in the possessive case, for instance the
nouns selection and portrayal. In such cases, generally speaking, the
objective usage is the safer. W e can be slightly happier w ith the local
partys selection o f John Smith as their candidate than w ith John Smiths
selection by the local party as their candidate. It is better to speak o f
N O U N S U S E D AS A D J E C T I V E S
A practice has developed of using nouns as adjectives m ight be used,
jamming them up against other nouns. We have long run nouns together
in such useful com binations as family outing, dairy farm er and univer
sity degrees. And new com pounds have continued to be established
m ore recently on the pattern of jum bo jet and w ord processor. Here
w e look at the practice o f sticking nouns together, sometimes seemingly
w ith the intention to add useful com pounds perm anently to our vocabu
lary, like car registration num ber or PIN num ber, and sometimes
w ithout any intention to establish w hat can properly be considered a
com pound. Thus people talk about conflict resolution and safety
precautions w ithout mentally hyphenating the words. And the following
usage is not uncom m on:
Nationwide Building Society will press the government to introduce new
rules to protect societies against member attempts to force conversion.
Until fairly recently writers w ould have referred to m em bers attem pts
or attempts by m em bers. But now writers jam nouns together in
twos and in threes, economizing on both apostrophes and hyphens.
Presumably the person w ho w rote m em ber attem pts did not think that
a new com pound was being established on the pattern o f gas-works or
even a stable relationship on the pattern o f fruit salad. Rather the w ord
m em ber was picked up and treated as a pseudo-adjective. That has
become a general practice. W e read o f a business strategy u n it, and the
three w ords rem ain separate in our minds. Since, generally speaking,
such com binations are not hyphenated, they can scarcely be called com
pounds.
Let us consider how the w ord custom er has been treated in this
respect. We find that we have a customer reference num b er on our
electricity bill, and we notice that the partnership o f nouns is a threesome.
But whereas the customer reference n um ber is indeed the custom ers
ow n num ber, w hat is printed under the heading Customer Inform ation
includes no facts about the customer at all, but only facts about the
company. Some w ell-m eaning businesses talk sympathetically about cus
tom er care as though they w ere in league w ith the NHS. Indeed the
Halifax no longer employs a clerk or an accountant to let you know w hat
interest is now due to you. Instead you receive a com m unication from a
Customer Care Manager. At least one bank has supplied inform ation to
its members as w hat they call a customer convenience, w ords w hich
surely ought to refer to toilet facilities.
Again we find firms talking about customer com plaints, and the
w ords do not refer to ailments, but to grumbles. A garage labels one o f
its doors a Customer Entrance. Thus it seems that though a Theatre
Entrance w ould be an entrance to a theatre, a Customer Entrance is
neither the m outh nor any other hum an orifice. It may be argued that
only at the dentists or in a hospital operating theatre could the expression
Customer Entrance or Patient Entrance be said to be ambiguous. I do
not know w hether there is a hospital w hich marks a Patient W aiting
Room , though the usage m ight not be inappropriate. We have long used
the expression Car Parking and are well acquainted w ith w hat it means.
N ow we find notices advertising Customer Parking. It may well be
argued that no one is going to m isinterpret this and treat the area as a
hum an dum p, but a current news item inform s us that w om en shoppers
are wanting superstores to provide creches in w hich they can deposit
their menfolk w hile they get on w ith the serious business of stocking up
w ith foodstuffs, unim peded by masculine attendance. Such a room w ould
surely be m ore justifiably labelled Customer Parking. And now I read
that the Halifax is to open *g o Customer Marketing Areas throughout the
country. The marketing o f wives was not unknow n in nineteenth-century
England, as we know from Thomas Hardys The Mayor of Casterbridge.
W hether customer marketing can escape the attentions o f the law remains
to be seen.
PO LITIC A L CORRECTNESS
W hat we call Political Correctness has had its m ain effect on English in
two areas o f usage: the traditional vocabulary o f gender and the vocabu
lary used in reference to hum an abnormalities.
Gender
Feminists have called for abolition of the practice o f using the w ords
m an , m en and m ankind to cover both sexes. W ords such as person,
people and hum anity are employed instead. W here past usage has left
us w ith male and female forms for certain roles and posts, feminists have
sought standardization. In this respect the current situation is somewhat
chaotic. The two w ords actor and actress survive. So do host and
hostess, w aiter and waitress, and even proprietor and proprietress.
It w ould seem unlikely that we shall lose the differentiation represented
by hero and heroine; and the w ords m aster and mistress, in their
various usages, seem indispensable. But a large num ber o f feminine terms
are being discarded. W e do not now hear the w ords authoress, poetess,
instructress or sculptress. Other feminine forms, such as creatrix from
creator, have also gone out o f fashion. However, interesting survivals o f
that feminized form are still w ith us. There is the w ord executrix, still
used officially and unofficially. The w ord dom inatrix appears in an article
by Libby Purves in The Times. In the same paper, in a survey o f television
programmes, a photograph of Amelia Earhart, w ho flew the Atlantic in
record time in 1932, is captioned Amelia Earhart, Aviatrix. But the w ord
doctor never had doctrix as a matching feminine form in English. The
w ords once used were doctoress or doctress, and they have long gone
out o f use. The favoured present practice is to insert the w ord w om an
before the masculine term ( w om an doctor) w here needed.
Awkward linguistic problem s can arise w here the attem pt is made to
change the suffix m an. American influence has given us chair for
chairw om an, though there have been female protests in this country
against the implicit dehum anization of the role. But we hear such com
pounds as chairperson and spokesperson. Traditionally we have distin
guished between a postm an and a postw om an, a m ilkm an and a
m ilkw om an. The attem pt to popularize person in cases like these has
not proved popular. And it w ould seem impracticable to eliminate the
syllable m an in such w ords as craftsmanship, horsem anship and
one-upm anship. Com pounds w hich have m an as a prefix, such as
m anhole, m anslaughter, m anpow er and m anhandle, also resist
adaptation. It is likely that inconsistency and illogicality will be w ith us
in this sphere for some time. For instance, the feminine form hostess is
still being used in the partying world, whereas there is talk in the sphere
of surrogate m otherhood o f the host m other. It is interesting that
w hen foreign words are adopted, they do not necessarily come in for
homogenization. W e still distinguish a m asseur from a masseuse, but
we seem to have lost the feminine chauffeuse, used early in the tw entieth
century. Com pounds involving m aster and mistress were once
com m on enough. Schoolmaster and schoolmistress survive. W e used
to speak of a postm aster in charge of a post office and a postm istress
too; we even had both stationm aster and stationmistress.
There are still a few w ords in use w hich distinguish masculine from
feminine by the addition o f the suffix ette for the feminine version. An
usher (a w ord perhaps chiefly used now o f a man showing guests to
their places at a church w edding service) is balanced by an usherette
(used o f the w om an w ho shows you to your seat in the cinema). We
describe as drum majorettes the young girls fitted out in uniform for
their musical parades. In pre-w ar Oxbridge it was com m on to speak (if
not to w rite) of undergraduates and undergraduettes. Private Eye
has established the w ord hackette for a female hack, a disparaging
w ord for a cheap journalist. The French basis o f these usages is obvious.
The masculine French ending et becomes ette in the feminine. There
are cases where w e have taken one o f a French pair w ithout taking
the other. The French coq (English cock) produced the French
w ord coquet (for an amorously inclined gallant) as well as the w ord
coquette (for a flirtatious w om an). W e have adopted the latter but not
the former.
On the w hole the flavour o f delicacy and fem ininity does hang around
the ending ette. W here the w ord toilet is now used chiefly for a
lavatory, the w ord toilette is associated w ith refined feminine attention
to personal appearance. Associations o f refinem ent also resonate in the
w ord etiquette, w hose history is oddly interesting. Deriving from the
same w ord as the w ord ticket, and m eaning a soldiers billet for
lodgings, then a label for admission, it som ehow came to stand for the
code o f polite behaviour.
Strictly speaking, the ending ette was a dim inutive form too. Thus
we have cigarette as a small version of cigar. W e have also taken over
m aisonette, the dim inutive of m aison w ithout m aison itself. And
now the small disk used in com puters is called a diskette.
The main linguistic problem s arise w ith the use of pronouns. The
singular pronoun everyone has always taken a singular verb. Everyone
goes hom e at the same tim e, we say. But w hen a possessive pronoun is
introduced the official usage used to be masculine. Everyone m ust search
his ow n heart was the usage, and even Everyone m ust look after himself.
Now people had been unhappy w ith this particular usage well before the
feminists attacked it. A headteacher o f a mixed school, addressing his
pupils, w ould generally say Every one m ust lock their ow n locker
properly, using their as a singular pronoun. This practice has now
become established. But there are cases w here awkwardness can be
avoided by use o f the plural all instead o f the singular every.
314
It combines the power every motorist needs with the refinement they
expect.
This collision between the singular m otorist and the plural they could
be avoided by use o f the plural throughout: It com bines the pow er all
motorists need w ith the refinem ent they expect.
The reference to motorists reminds us that w e perhaps ought not to
leave this topic w ithout m entioning the odd use o f feminine pronouns
in connection w ith ships and machines. The practice o f treating ships as
feminine has lingered on. It has been claimed that this practice has
sometimes led to comic misunderstandings, as w hen a journalist is
reported to have described the launching o f a liner thus:
Her Majesty smashed a bottle of champagne against the bows and then she
slid gracefully down the slipway into the water.
Certainly in the early decades o f the tw entieth century no garage m ech
anic and no m otorist w ith a serious interest in the new automobiles
w ould have spoken o f a cars perform ance or discussed problem s in
the engine except w ith feminine pronouns. She pinks w hen she gets
dow n to thirty in top on a hill. This was a spoken rather than a w ritten
idiom. It expressed a kind o f knowing familiarity between m an and
machine.
The converse practice o f using the neutral it w here hum an beings are
involved is unsatisfactory.
We feel that the smart employer should be concerned with the general
health, morale and efficiency of its workforce.
An employer cannot become it. Use o f the plural w ould eliminate the
problem : Smart employers should be concerned w ith the general health,
morale and efficiency o f their em ployees. It is odd that the one context
in w hich the use o f it for a hum an being was once acceptable was in
reference to babies. Lay the baby on its tum m y surely still sounds
unpatronizing, though in the case o f older children we should find the
neutral pronoun uncom fortable. That is presumably why some journalists
try to solve the problem by a quota system. Cheek by jowl, we find such
sentences as the following:
Sometimes teasing can bring a childs morale so low that she sees no way
o u t. . .
But if the child feels that hes not only failed his tests but failed your
expectations too, its doubly hard to bounce back.
Unless your child is one of those enviable creatures, a good eater, its easy
to become worried or obsessive about their food.
The question about the use o f m an and m e n to cover both sexes
may be looked at in the light in w hich we speak o f other living creatures.
There has always been inconsistency here. The dictionary will define a
m are as a female horse and a vixen as a female fox, but w ould not
define a w om an as a female man, rather as a female hum an being.
H orse seems to be used rather as m an was used. We speak o f wild
horses and we do not think we are excluding mares. We speak o f the
swans on the river, and w e do not feel that w e are excluding the pens.
Contrariwise, we say that we are keeping hens even w hen a cock is
included. The feminine sex takes precedence also in reference to geese,
w here the masculine creature is a gander.
It is not easy to discover w hat current etiquette requires o f us now that
there has been a reaction against the feminist pressures o f a few decades
ago. A recent letter to The Times runs thus:
The use of the ugasp - ungrammatical gender-ambiguous singular pronoun
- which pollutes our language in the cause of political correctness reaches
new depths of absurdity in your report of September on a case of unfair
dismissal. You quote the employer as saying . . . the applicant does not
have to tell us they are pregnant. A cherished ugasp of a similar type comes
from a magistrate I heard addressing a defendant: You kicked your victim
in the testicles and went on to break their nose.
Certainly it w ould seem that pursuit o f political correctness in this respect
can lead to curious logical dilemmas. It w ould appear to require one to
choose between the kind o f statement above, using they ( the applicant
does not have to tell us they are pregnant) or such usages as: If an
employee becomes pregnant, h e/sh e will be allowed the usual period o f
absence.
Disability
The political correctness that requires ever m ore evasive euphem ism s in
reference to physical or mental abnormalities or deficiencies is difficult
to talk about objectively because it directs our minds to tragic hum an
problems. One has to accept that w here terms carry a physically, mentally
or morally pejorative connotation sheer politeness often requires a certain
blanketing o f the reality. It w ould be offensive to describe someone as
grossly fat or obese, w hen gentler terms such as overw eight are
available. It may be, o f course, that the overw eight are a special case in
that putting on w eight is sometimes the result o f over-eating rather than
o f an inescapable affliction. A w ell-rounded w om an o f my acquaintance,
concerned about her w eight, received from her GP the brutal verdict:
There were no overweight people in Belsen.
We are concerned here rather w ith afflictions w hich no one w ould
think o f as in any way brought upon themselves by the afflicted. W hat
the King James Bible calls the blind, the halt and the lam e we now call
the disabled or the physically disadvantaged. The once m uch-used
w ord cripple has become unacceptable. So too have terms such as
mental deficiency and mentally defective. W hat once was a deficiency
is now an im pairm ent. Along w ith the w ord im paired the w ord
challenged has been attached to various adverbs, as in visually chal
lenged. Some seemingly less serious inventions o f this kind include
vertically challenged as an alternative to short and follically chal
lenged as an alternative to bald or balding.
In the educational w orld care has been increasingly exercised to avoid
term inology that m ight damage sensitive children or depress their
parents. W here the use of w ords such as backward and retarded was
com m on in the earlier half o f the tw entieth century to describe less
mentally able pupils, contemporary teachers speak of children w ith
learning difficulties. A deaf, dyslexic, or mentally retarded child is
classed as having special needs. An inattentive child is described as
suffering from an attention deficit syndrom e.
If w e can disentangle our thinking from the emotive elements in this
matter, we shall have to recognize that the now discredited w ords mental
deficiency and m ental defective were introduced as polite and hum ane
w ords to replace terms such as dem entia and feeble-m indedness,
w hich themselves w ere probably introduced to replace terms such as
the opposite direction from rhetoric and poetry, w hich augm ent m eaning
by exaggeration and amplification, pressing it hom e in term inology that
brings the m axim um intensity and vividness to bear on facts and events
defined. By contrast political correctness o f this particular brand dilutes
and disembodies everything it touches. Regular addiction to its term in
ology is a form o f linguistic anorexia nervosa.
C H A P T E R 13
Workaday English
BUSIN ESS-SPEA K
The term business-speak covers a w ide field o f usage. One w ould
hesitate before attem pting to w rite about science-speak as though one
could generalize about the linguistic characteristics o f writers in psy
chology and physics, m edicine and metallurgy en bloc. To enter into the
linguistic w orld o f any such speciality is a study in itself. Business-speak
too is a house w ith many mansions. Quite apart from the distinguishing
linguistic features that mark a given form of commerce, there are linguis
tic features appropriate to various specialisms such as m anagement and
marketing, and to sub-divisions of the former, say, such as those con
cerned w ith overall strategy and those concerned w ith hum an resources.
The general public, however, comes across business-speak chiefly
through publicity, w hether in the form of advertisements in the press or
direct mail. It is to this that we turn our attention.
Workaday English
before in this kind o f context that they simply do not register at all. They
are dead counters.
The epidemic is raging everywhere. Instead o f finding a way to improve
a business, you have to discover a high perform ance vehicle for adding
real value to it. Instead o f having an eye for profit, you have to have a
proactive response to the m arkets ongoing consolidation. Instead o f
directing a firms marketing, you have to take im m ediate responsibility
for the creation and im plem entation o f a sales development strategy.
Instead o f watching carefully for new ways o f im proving sales, you have
to be a catalyst for grow th w hose focus will be to identify opportunities
and convert these into a business reality. Instead o f looking for the
right man for the job, the employers seek som eone w ho will have the
credibility to make an im m ediate and sustained im pact.
Efficient businessmen ought not to be able to endure this waste o f
verbiage. Its sheer excess simply does not go w ith the image o f the slick
and the streamlined w hich is supposed to characterize m odern commerce.
It is a vocabulary that belongs, not in the age o f the Eurostar, but in the
age o f transatlantic liners w hose room s w ere burdened and littered w ith
the unnecessary ornam ent o f the age. It should have gone dow n w ith the
Titanic.
This is the kind of excess w hich makes the layman gasp. We w ho w ould
like to be regarded as plain-speaking, we w ho are quite prepared to talk
about people doing their best to make their products popular, do we
now need to learn the language o f leveraging technology and marketing
skills to enthuse customers about the supremacy o f our products and all
in the cause o f w inning the ultimate products championship? W hat sort
o f people are they w ho talk like that? It is the same question that arises
in our minds w hen w e look at a mediaeval tapestry o f knightly jousting
or a picture of a gorgeous Elizabethan banquet. W hat on earth were these
people really like behind all this fancery and flummery? And yet, in
truth, there is som ething about this excess w hich one wants to call its
innocence. There seems to be a childish delight in having a go, in
discovering and verbally dressing up in grandm as discarded finery that
m aturer heads have put away in the attic.
And if one tries to enter the m ind of the w ould-be applicant for the
post advertised above, the natural question arises: In w hat idiom shall I
respond? To begin Dear Sir/Madam, W ith reference to your advertise
m ent o f such and such a date w ould seem totally inappropriate to the
grandeurs on offer. And to take the advertisement too literally w ould
surely suggest a lack o f respectful subservience: Dear Sir/M adam, Thank
you for the tribute you paid me in the advertisement of such and such a
date. I could not agree m ore and I can only applaud your insight. The
advertisement w ould surely seem to require adoption of an idiom that
does justice to the character o f the challenge and yet avoids tedious
formalities: N ow youre talking! perhaps.
The W o rs t Excesses
W hat it all am ounts to is that verbosity now runs riot in the kind o f
publicity material w e have been sampling. The first rule o f the crudest
business-speak appears to be: Never use one w ord w here two will do,
or tw o w ords w here three will do. Do not talk about such things
as m anagem ent. Far better to talk about m anagem ent systems or
m anagem ent issues, better still about m anagem ent systems issues and
best o f all about m anagem ent systems issues strategy. The question
arises w hether courses in business studies and m anagem ent ought not to
be classified under the M odern Languages umbrella. At the extreme
point business-speak seems to be making a lot o f noise yet saying nothing
Workaday English
324
Post Office
The w orld o f business-speak, once perhaps a small dom ain, has now
taken over in the form er nationalized institutions and colonized the
professions. This is the idiom o f Post Office Counters:
Delivering coherent strategies through effective change management, Post
Office Counters is a commercially focused customer driven quality retail
business.
Do the first seven w ords say anything at all that is w orth com municating?
And is it not self-evident that a business m ust be commercially focused
and customer driven?
With continuous customer service improvement seen as a key to ensuring
continued long term success, our business strategy unit has identified a
need for an energetic change management professional, to be based in
Chesterfield, to support the delivery of the companys strategies within the
individual business unit through the integration of new, with existing,
initiatives and the management of the planning process within the unit.
W hat is the difference between seeing continuous customer service as a
key to ensuring continued long-term success and believing that it pays
in the long run to do your best for your customers? And, w hile w e have
long benefited from newspapers on our doormats and milk bottles on
our doorsteps, w hy does every firm in the land now w ant to start
delivering strategies or flexibility, solutions or added value, bottom -line
efficiency or integrated expertise? The Post Office, at least, has better
material to deliver.
Electricity Industry
We turn to the electricity industry to illustrate the language o f com pany
reports. This is how a major supplier o f electricity explains that it is going
to pay its employees as well as it can:
National Powers remuneration policy takes account of the changing nature
of the business in both the UK, where competition has increased signifi
cantly, and overseas. In order to compete and meet these challenges the
Workaday English
Committee has established remuneration levels which will retain and motiv
ate top quality executives but which are sufficiently incentivized to link
remuneration to Company performance.
Before com m enting on style, let us note an elementary error. One cannot
speak o f the nature o f the business in both the UK. . . and overseas,
because we do not use the expression in overseas. The w ord in is on
the w rong side o f bo th . Correct the passage to both in the UK. . . and
overseas*. W hat exactly do we learn from the tw o w ordy sentences? We
m ight try to put it succinctly. National Pow ers business is growing at
hom e and abroad. It will pay top employees enough to keep, encourage
and rew ard them in an increasingly competitive m arket. The w ords
and phrases happily sacrificed include rem uneration policy, changing
nature o f the business, in order to com pete and m eet these challenges,
and sufficiently incentivized.
We may cite a further example o f National Pow ers increasingly lavish
output o f verbiage.
Activities in the UK have continued to focus on maximizing our operational
and commercial performance.
Plainly this means that the firm has gone on trying to do its best.
Banking
We turn to banking to explore the language o f direct marketing used to
make a personal appeal to the customer. A few years ago a m uch used
w ord in advertising was choice. It had become an approval noise to be
voiced alongside political claims for freeing the population from this
or that program m e pressed by the rival party. A bank seized on the w ord.
Midland Choice . . . We are proud to introduce Midland Choice . . . A world
of innovative ideas, exclusive offers and awards designed specifically for
you. Midland rewards your loyalty . . . as a valued customer and cardholder.
It provides us with a means to express our thanks in the most direct way
possible for using our credit cards and enjoying the variety of benefits they
provide - Midland Choice offers you a wealth of opportunities and special
awards. You have only to look through this brochure to get an idea of the
quality and range of existing benefits available.
325
Workaday English
that, but some o f them are capable of w riting like that. Here is a com m ent
from the Nursing Standard on how a nurse valued w hat she had gained from
taking a certain course.
If she had acquired this earlier, she says, the transition to her desired goals
could have been achieved more quickly.
Did the nurse really say The transition to my desired goals could have
been achieved m ore quickly? Did she not rather speak o f having got
m ore quickly to w here she w anted to be?
The possibilities o f using a lot o f w ords to say nothing are explored in
many directions in the same journal. Here w e have one among a series
o f paragraphs presented as challenges for debate on the im portance o f
a balanced diet for patients in hospital.
To measure how nutrition outcomes have been achieved and assessed.
Debate assists in clarifying expected learning outcomes for nutrition
components of a programme. Reflections on and the use of learning out
comes for the key characteristics of the boards framework will help to
determine progress in meeting nutrition education outcomes and will also
help to specify the professional and academic standards to be achieved in
different programmes and modules at both pre- and post-registration levels.
W e seem to drow n in a sea o f w ords designed only to fill space. W e are
in a mental world o f com ponents and outcom es, o f program m es and
key characteristics in w hich no clear line o f utterance emerges. W hat
do we know at the end o f the paragraph that we did not know at the
beginning? By thinking about the use of learning outcomes we are going
to make progress in m eeting nutrition education outcomes. Is this w hat
the National Health Service is all about?
Dialects of Business-Speak
There are various dialects o f business-speak, and some o f them go in for
brevity, for instance the idiom in use by professionals for publicity
purposes w ithin their ow n field o f activity. It is designed to make a quick
impact and not to waste words. In this idiom practitioner is speaking
to practitioner, and m uch can be taken as understood. Thus it trims
business-speak down:
Workaday English
E-mail
E-mail is of course used outside the business w orld as well as w ithin it.
Academics converse across the Atlantic by e-mail about their studies in
this or that abstruse field o f research. In such com m unications appropriate
idiomatic shorthands are used w hich to outsiders may make no sense at
all. That is true too o f the continuous on-line chat w hich lightens the
daily burdens of the business world. And lovers are increasingly sending
billets-doux by e-mail. Here is another sphere o f usage into w hich
outsiders can scarcely dare to intervene. W e regard Jonathan Swift as a
master o f English prose. If a m odel o f simplicity, directness and plainness
in English prose is called for, then Swift is the w riter to w hom literati
turn. But he was quite prepared to end a letter to his dearest Stella w ith
such messages as:
Im angry alomost; but I wont tause see im a dood dallar in odle sings,
iss and so im Dd too . . . Lele I can say lele it ung oomens iss I tan, well
as 00.
Such mysterious idioms survive in the personal columns o f the press on
St Valentines Day. The point to be made is that m uch e-mail is a kind o f
private correspondence. And according to the degree o f intimacy between
correspondents private languages are adopted. This applies to the business
w orld too.
Leisurely pen-pushing is not the only parent o f e-mail. It is equally the
offspring o f the telegram. And the telegram made the m axim um dem and
for brevity: h o u s e b u r n t d o w n s t o p c o m e q u i c k l y s t o p p h o n e
i n s u r a n c e s t o p . The use o f e-mail by the business w orld must be noted
because it is another m edium w hich demands brevity.
We have just dealt w ith com munications w ithin the sphere of a given
set o f business interests. Com munication by e-mail is com m on w ithin
limited segments o f that world. And, w here com m unication is between
people engaged in the same w ork and perhaps in many cases familiar
w ith each other, the freedoms cited above are further extended. The
in-house e-mail dialect o f business-speak thus makes a fascinating field
o f study. As one m ight expect, the m odern liberties taken w ith nouns
and verbs are further extended:
329
33<>
Workaday English
VERBIAGE IN T H E
A R TISTIC W O R LD
Visual Arts
The peddlers o f verbiage in the arts are a special breed. They have an
inestimable advantage over writers in the fields we have been looking at.
They can rely on the assumption that if readers do not understand w hat
they read, they will believe that this is due to their ow n ignorance and
not to any failing on the part o f the writer. W riters on the arts are
protected from the judgements o f com m on sense by a mystique. The
mystique derives from the notion that all w orthw hile new developments
in the arts m eet at first w ith popular opposition because they are not
properly understood. It follows that the cognoscenti can brainwash the
public into laying aside the judgements o f com m on sense w hen face to
face w ith new art. The notion that great art is generally unappreciated by
the contemporary w orld cannot be supported by reference to history.
But the artistic w orld keeps it alive, and it fills the laity w ith apprehension.
If a new w ork does not make sense to them, then probably that is because
they are old-fashioned ignoramuses.
W e are not here concerned w ith the larger civilizational aspect o f this
attitude. We are concerned w ith the treatm ent o f the English language
w hich art critics can indulge in on the basis o f that attitude. Mystification
pays off w hen the truly great is likely to be the incomprehensible.
It is w ith these observations in m ind that w e should approach the field
o f aesthetic criticism. For it is a field rich in em pty verbiage. We may
have seemed to some readers to have been over-caustic in our treatment
o f the business world. Let it be clearly understood, therefore, that the
misuse o f language in the business w orld pales into insignificance com
pared w ith the misuse o f language in the w orld o f the arts. To begin
w ith, business uses a vocabulary w ith limits. Business may reach out into
the field o f personal vocabulary or even, as we have seen, into the
vocabulary o f personal well-being, but these tend to be sporadic incur
sions into recognizable fields o f discourse. Moreover, as we saw above,
w hen a firm brought in the w ord guru from a different field o f discourse,
it really m eant guru. The concept came in as well as the noise. The
w orld o f artistic appreciation criticism knows no such inhibitions. It is
not just that in context after context any w ord will seemingly do, but
that whatever m eaning that haphazardly chosen w ord drags along w ith
it from its norm al contextual backgrounds can be happily ignored. Let
us look at this sphere o f the aesthetic at a modest level o f discourse w here
a magazine article deals w ith restoring an old house.
Drawing the line between ethics and personal preference has to be con
sidered and controlled, but where an overall scheme of decoration of this
type was carried out, the only way it can be interpreted satisfactorily is to
return to its nearest state of originality.
The reference to ethics ( the philosophical study o f the moral aspects o f
hum an conduct) illustrates the point made above about the tendency
among aesthetic writers to make forays into alien verbal territory. W hat
it means, if it means anything, to consider and control a line draw n
between ethics and personal preference scarcely seems to matter. The
grammatical and logical collapse that follows (w here a scheme was
carried o u t . . . the only way it can be interpreted satisfactorily is to return
it to its nearest state o f originality) is complete. H ow a scheme can be
interpreted by being so treated is incomprehensible.
The point that needs to be made here is, not that the passage makes
nonsense, but that the passage can nevertheless be found in print. And
that point is w orth making. Because, once w e have appreciated that the
w orld o f aesthetic criticism, at a fairly low level o f expertise, can play
havoc w ith m eaning and logic, we shall be better prepared to face the
horrors o f m ore highbrow utterance. Let us look at an account o f the
massive sculpture know n as the Angel o f the N orth, an account for
w hich we are indebted to the Pseuds Corner o f Private Eye.
The body of the Angel is trapped. It exists between vulnerability and
strength. It is a millennial work witnessing the transition between the
industrial and the information ages. This is not a logo, symbol, or even a
representation in the traditional sense. It is based on reality; a moment of
lived time in which my body was registered in plaster, a moment when
biological time was captured in geological time.
If the terms vulnerability and strength are properly understood, then
the notion o f being trapped between them is untenable. If the m illen
nium marks a transition between the ages o f industry and inform ation,
that does not m ean that a contemporary w ork of art will som ehow
w itness to that idea. To say something is based on reality adds nothing
Workaday English
Literature
The story of the development o f literary criticism during the last hundred
years or so is one o f increasing specialism. Time was, in the Victorian
age, w hen critics w ere content to com m ent on works o f fiction on the
understanding that, say, Tess in H ardys Tess of the DUrbervilies was a portrait
o f a hum an being such as you or I m ight meet, and the novelists ability
to render her lifelike was one o f his m ajor gifts as a writer. Literary
criticism then began to interest itself in the relationship between the
fictional content of a w riters books and the actual events o f the authors
life. In the early years o f the tw entieth century, therefore, literary studies
o f authors were often com binations of biographical material from the
authors ow n life and com mentary on related material in the fictional
output. Various changing emphases on the aesthetic, the social, the
psychological and the political aspects of fictional constructions em erged
during the m id-century years. These attitudes were superseded in the
last decades of the century by theorists w ho cut away the traditional
assumption that literature expressed some kind o f reality in exploring
the life o f humanity. Attention shifted to works o f literature as constructs
manufactured from words. The business o f criticism was not to com m ent
on the w orld as presented in art form but to examine the linguistic
formulations from w hich works o f literature were constructed.
It is necessary to give this brief account o f developments in a now very
technical field in order to explain how the stage has been reached at
w hich w hat literary critics say on paper can make seeming nonsense; that
is to say, how writers can conceal the true quality o f their thinking behind
a flow of contrivedly abstruse terminology. The following is a review o f
a critical w ork for w hich w e are again indebted to Private Eye.
The first part of her essay concludes with naming the spatialized polity of
the (Derridean) sophist - the city of modernity - as necropolis. For, in
denying temporality and the spoken word, and being as the gift of an
excessive beyond, eliciting an erotic gaze (sight which participates in that
which is seen), in favour of spatialized writing and being as the given
Music
It is a com m on view that music is the m ost incorruptible o f the arts. Yet
it has suffered from the regrettable recent developments here explored,
the bold exploitation o f the public by a seemingly inform ed use o f words
that is specious and often nugatory. It is a brand of verbosity that covers
near-meaninglessness. We have to distinguish this from wasting w ords
to convey som ething easily said w ith far fewer words. W hat we are here
concerned w ith is rather a m atter o f using w ords to say little or nothing
at all while seeming to be profound. There is a flavour o f bogusness
about this kind o f utterance w hich it w ould be unjust to im pute to those
w hose often wasteful, but scarcely dishonest, m anner o f speaking and
w riting we illustrate elsewhere. Let us turn to a program m e note about
one o f Beethovens major works . . .
It is what it is, says what it says, offers what it offers, with immediacy,
confidence and transcendental pertinence.
N ow clearly, once y ouve started on this says w hat it says lark, you can
really make a meal o f it: urges w hat it urges, announces w hat it
announces, bubbles up w ith w hat it bubbles up w ith and so on. As for
the list o f qualities: im m ediacy, confidence and pertinence (w hether
transcendental or not), there is no reason why one should not add
Workaday English
SPORTSPEAK
One cannot listen to the reports on the radio o f football matches and
cricket matches w ithout wishing that the sports writers could be per
suaded to give advice to the newswriters and to fellow journalists on
how to produce lively prose. The same can be said o f the reports on
matches in the daily press. It is not that sports writers generally deserve
the highest marks for economy o f utterance, but they have a way o f
vivifying their prose w ith metaphor. N ow it has to be accepted that there
is often a touch o f self-conscious irony in their recourse to grandiloquent
image and vocabulary. Great com mentators on cricket for long relied on
the language o f heroism on the battlefield. Their presentation o f events
m ight endow noble stands at the wicket w ith the heroism o f Horatius on
the bridge at Rome or give to the struggle on the field the flavour o f epic
encounters under the walls o f Troy. This tradition seems to justify the
Workaday English
tree - not convention (as the gramm ar suggests) - but the list o f his
chosen team, brings back associations o f Martin Luther taking on the
w hole m ight of Rome. That the w riter is not unconscious o f the
im plicit similarity w ith m ighty historical events becomes obvious in
w hat follows.
A small crowd gathered round the proud old oak outside the team hotel to
peer at the i i names he had written in black capital letters on a white
sheet and felt the thrill of a visceral challenge pass through them. Keegan
could not have made it much more stirring if he had been a medieval
knight.
The pathetic convention is employed to make the old oak p ro u d o f the
privilege it has been granted. After all, we are in a w orld w here black
capital letters on w hite paper can send the thrill o f a visceral challenge
coursing through the veins o f grow n men. And now the cat is out o f the
bag. We are not picturing a hum drum contem porary in action, but a
mediaeval knight. Later in the piece the knight him self speaks. He does
so w ith a different idiom.
I see the team playing on a wonderful pitch. I see us winning and I see
people cheering when we come off. But that is me.
Here is someone w ho can make simple words, framed in simple rhetorical
repetitions, touch the heart, like Martin Luther Kings repetitive w ords I
have a dream . They are the w ords o f a visionary, but a visionary w ith
his feet on the ground.
JOURNALESE A N D M A G A ZIN E -S P E A K
This book has relied greatly on quotations from the daily press and from
magazines. It may therefore seem to the reader to be superfluous to
devote a special section to issues that have been w ith us throughout the
book. But a glance at certain journalistic habits may not come amiss in
this survey of the current scene.
Workaday English
Verbal Ostentation
We have just looked at the kind o f hyperbole found in sportspeak. Some
readers may even feel that we have been too tender in our treatment o f
sports writers in this respect. After all, the touch o f hyperbole and the
taste for avoiding plain, direct utterance are not features peculiar to
sportspeak. The same kind o f ironic over-statem ent that the sports writers
use may be found in many different contexts. Here is part o f an account
o f a well-decorated hom e in a magazine on style.
But the coup de grace could be her bathroom, whose cupboards belie a
mundane function. Instead they resemble one of those charming Victorian
screens pasted with nostalgic snapshots . . .
A coup de grace is originally an expression from battle. Literally a stroke
o f m ercy, it represents the final blow w hich puts an end to the opponents
life and suffering. Hence it is used o f m om entous acts w hich terminate a
struggle, then, less seriously as here, o f the final touch w hich comes as a
climax to w hat has been done or said. Just as one senses the authorial
smile behind this expression, so too it is there behind the consciously
sophisticated way o f saying that in appearance the cupboards belie their
mundane function. Even advertisers rely on not being taken too seriously
in their adventures w ith words.
Shimmer the summer away with Pastel Lumiere Eyeshadows from Bourjois
- fabulously strong, long-lasting colours . . .
The notion o f a w om an shim m ering her sum m er away asks not to be
conceptually analysed any m ore than the claim that the colours are
fabulously strong.
But w hen the hint o f hum our is lacking, such artificial verbal poses
may fail to come off. In a journal directed at the field sports com m unity
a w riter lets off steam about the threats from the Green movement. He
has just come across a piece o f scientific research w hich throws doubt on
some o f the claims o f the environmentalists.
We can but hope that this incident marks a new era when there will be
further stirrings in the scientific thickets to apply correctives to the miasma
of humbug with which we are at present enveloped.
34
The w riter m ight argue that a simpler and m ore direct sentence w ould
not have conveyed the sense of outrage w hich expressions such as
miasma o f hum bug reveal. Nevertheless, by being too indigestible, the
image o f correctives to a miasma that emerge som ehow from stirrings in
the thickets turns almost to parody. The result is that, w here readers are
m eant to receive the image o f a righteously w rathful opponent o f n o n
sense, they receive instead an image o f someone all but frothing at the
m outh uncontrollably. In short, the thing becomes comic.
The kind of verbal finery we are exploring does require a certain
degree o f sophistication in the writer, for the vocabulary is rich in
artifices. Because o f this, it cannot afford to lapse grammatically. To hear
a lout being noisily ungrammatical is not hair-raising. But to hear the
smart, supposedly educated person on a platform being ungrammatical
is embarrassing. So too the user o f verbal finery cannot afford to trip up
in elementary grammar. Yet it happens. Here we have a w riter praising
alfresco meals taken in various places, and he describes lunch at a club in
St Tropez w here a mist o f water is sprayed from concealed piping.
This cooled the air but was sufficiently well judged and fine enough so as
not to militate against a post-prandial cigar.
We are in a sophisticated w orld w here one can measure the degree of
atmospheric interference that m ight mar enjoym ent o f a post-prandial
cigar. How inappropriate, then, to com m it a grammatical how ler that
m ight disgrace a schoolboy by saying sufficiently fine enough so as not
to m ilitate instead o f the correct fine enough not to m ilitate. One or
the other, sufficiently or enough, is redundant. And that so as
represents a lapse into illiteracy.
In this respect a kind o f moral code comes into operation w hen one is
picking holes in other peoples writing. A m odest writer slipping up
w ith a difficult w ord or concept does not seem fair game, as does the
sophisticated w riter slipping up w hen showing off. So w hen a third
leader in The Times comes a cropper, while dealing w ith a literary subject
and ostentatiously dropping names o f writers and works, conscience
allows one to record it for posterity. The topic is the lighthearted question
w hether the daw n o f a new century will turn todays avant-garde writers
into yesterdays men. After attributing to Keats Brownings oft-quoted
lines, Oh, to be in England / N ow that Aprils there, the w riter continues:
But for the Times Literary Supplement, Eliots Prufrock was of the very smallest
Workaday English
importance and, in The Waste Land, he was rebuked for neglecting the
limitations of his medium.
Eliot was not rebuked in The Waste Land, but in a review o f the poem. The
mistake is the error w e called verbal leapfrog.
Overstatement
We turn to a less sophisticated brand of verbal finery w here hyperbole is
used to express enthusiasm. Our conversation and our private letters
abound in simple and innocent forms o f overstatement. H ow else can we
express our grateful appreciation of our friends cooking and hospitality?
W ords like w onderful, superb, and delightful fall from our lips or
are penned in our letters o f thanks. W hen we have to pay tributes to
people on occasions o f celebration, we tend to use a ready vocabulary o f
praise. And w hen journalists have the duty to report achievements in
competitive events, they tend to tap a familiar vein o f overstatement.
Once again Mrs Ronnie Wallaces Anchor Herd stallion, Icecream, won an
impressive collection of silverware at the Exmoor Breed show, at Exford on
the moor.
A few lines below this, w e read:
Also well laden with trophies was Vera Lipsombe, from Wootton Courtenay,
near Minehead . . .
Talk o f w inning an impressive collection o f silverware and o f being laden
w ith trophies is the product o f three motives. The first motive is the wish
to say something different from The horse came first; the second motive
is the wish to say som ething that takes up a little m ore space than The
horse came first; and the third motive is to say something that expresses
more enthusiasm than The horse came first. W e see the same three
motives in operation w hen we read how a certain com petitor crow ned
a marvellous season w ith a win, how another followed up earlier
trium phs w ith a victory, and how a third belied his age w ith a scintil
lating perform ance to claim first prize. The sports writers we cited above
used imagery to create a definable verbal ambience, but the over-used
expressions here do not carry authentic feeling and drop into the m ind
as dead counters.
The trouble is that certain kinds o f w riting are the product o f the
necessity to pen sentences w hen the material available for utterance
w ould be m ore appropriately put in note form. In reading reports o f
competitive events, one can often sense the struggling m ind o f the w riter
adopting this device and that in order to put in seemingly natural prose
the ordered list o f w inners and losers.
Experimentation
Adventurousness in the choice o f w ords is tempting, but purposely
pushing a verb into a new usage by a kind o f colloquial inventiveness
may come off or may fail to come off. Consider the use o f the verb
guarantee in the following.
The pursuit of ratings is now such an all-consuming matter that bagging a
face that will guarantee the cover of the TV Times has become almost more
important than signing the best actor for the part.
The usage is neither precise nor grammatical but there is a touch o f verbal
legerdemain about translating a face that is sure to appear on the cover
o f the TV Times into a face that will guarantee the cover o f the TV Times.
W ith this kind o f experim entation one does o f course run the risk o f
seeming illiterate rather than clever, as we see in this use o f the verb to
m uster:
The sheep gave mfe as filthy a look as a sheep can muster to display their
displeasure at being kept waiting.
The verb to m uster has been primarily used o f collecting together bodies
o f m en for military or other duties. Thus the notion o f assembling
personnel is basic to the usage. The fact that failure to assemble enough
people for a given purpose produced the usage Is that all you can
muster? should not be the basis for eliminating the basic m eaning o f the
verb in its connection w ith gathering num bers together. In short the
experiment does not come off and the w riter should have been satisfied
with: gave me as filthy a look as a sheep can give.
Fanciful coinages m anufactured by journalists w ith a sense o f hum our
can brighten sober prose. Some decades ago the w ord couth was used
in print. It was intended to mean the converse o f uncouth. As un co u th
means lacking in good m anners, so couth was used to m ean civilized
Workaday English
and cultivated. W hoever it was that first used couth thus provided others
w ith an entertaining w ord to drop in conversation. But etymologically the
usage does not make sense. Although the current m eaning o f uncouth
is lacking in good m anners, the w ord couth once m eant know n. We
find the w ord in Chaucer. There is a point in his narrative poem Troilus
and Criseyde at w hich an exchange o f prisoners is planned between the
Trojans in Troy and the besieging Greeks. The news o f this plan spreads
rapidly. This thing anon was couth in every street Chaucer tells us. And
w e do not need to look as far back as that for use of couth, meaning
know n. It still survives in Scotland.
That said, the joke was a good one and produced some imitations.
They behaved perfectly, w hich gruntled m e no end, I read in a magazine.
Here again the joke depends on assuming that gruntle m ust be the
converse of disgruntle. The reasoning is that if being disgruntled is
being displeased and put into a bad m ood, then gruntled m ust mean
pleased and satisfied. But this is to ignore etymology and history. In fact
the verb gruntle is the frequentative form o f grunt (as prattle is
the frequentative form o f prate) and is not therefore the opposite o f
disgruntle (to put in a bad temper) but a near equivalent.
There are certain other w ords w hich exist in a seemingly negative
form for w hich the converse positive form is not used. We speak o f a
clumsy, physically unprepossessing person as being ungainly, but the
positive form gainly, m eaning graceful, has long dropped out o f use.
We use the w ords scrutiny and scrutinize for close examination and
w e describe a taxingly unreadable personality as inscrutable, but the
w ord scrutable has also gone from com m on use. Used in journalism,
the two w ords gainly and scrutable give a piquancy to the text.
No doubt the tem ptation to use or adapt archaic or rarely used w ords
comically will always find takers.
Your swash has never been buckled until youve experienced Errol Flynn in
full doublet and hose as Robin of Locksley.
Swashbuckling is a colourful w ord, but to talk o f buckling a swash is
really topsy turvy. It w ould be nearer the point to talk o f swashing the
buckle, for the swash was the clattering stroke o f sword on metal. A
swashbuckler was one w ho made a noisy display by striking his ow n
or his opponents shield w ith his sword. It is safer philologically to make
such jokes w ith purely imaginary words, as the w riter of the following
does.
On behalf of her mates she keeps alert (surely this countrys got enough
lerts, perhaps she should be a loof instead?).
Slang
Usages w hich exploit slang or crude colloquialisms may brighten journal
ism or cheapen it. Perhaps the following advertisement manages to do
both.
Let Direct Line guide you to a bright career as the glammest gran on the
block.
W e all know w hat glam m est m ust mean, though w e may never have
m et it before. G lam orous is not an adjective that can be turned into
glamorousest. Evading the usage m ost glam orous in the interests o f
brevity and o f sustaining a tone of inform al chatter serves its purpose.
One may feel less indulgent towards the comparatively recent usage
o f the verb to forget in a piece about the treatm ent o f children.
Forget shouting at them to clear up.
As a substitute for saying D ont do this or Stop doing that, Forget
doing it has a certain colloquial freshness at first, but that kind o f
freshness soon palls, and one begins to sense that, after all, desisting from
doing something is one thing and forgetting to do it is another and very
different thing. But the usage is part o f the Listen-to-m e-being-inform al
idiom w hich is to be heard all around us.
Disclosing tablets can be a fun way of testing that all the plaque has been
removed.
Too many liberties are taken here in the advice for looking after a childs
teeth. Using fun as an adjective and defining tablets as a w ay are no
doubt devices for keeping up a light-hearted tone, but the price paid in
verbal finish is too high. On the other hand one can see w hat is gained
in briskness and conciseness by the following opening:
Spring is the ideal time to dejunk your wardrobe.
The w ord dejunk carries the suggestion o f som eone w ho means business
and it doesnt convey the tone o f a person from w hom the polite m ight
shrink, as does the following:
Workaday English
345
Index
Words and phrases discussed in the text are indexed in italics; topics discussed
in roman type.
V- (prefix) 48
abbreviations, Latin 112-13
abide 1 17
challenged attach ed to 3 1 6
o v e r -u s e d 8 8
w r o n g ly -p la c e d 2 6 0
abjure, a nd adjure 4 5
a d v ertisem en ts
e m p lo y m e n t 1 3 8 - 9
a nd verbal o ste n ta tio n 3 3 9
affect, an d effect 4 6 - 7
access (verb) 31
accompaniment 3
agent provocateur 11 1
accuracy 4 - 5
aide de camp 11 1
a la carte 108
albeit 1 1 6 - 1 7
a d d itio n 1 9 9 - 2 0 2
address (v erb) 3 1 2
adhere 3 0 3
adjectives
along with 2 0 0 - 2 0 1
alternate/alternative 3 2 3
a lternation an d sep aration 2 0 3 - 4
although 2 1 6 - 1 7
m is m a tc h after 177
a m b ig u ity 2 6 3 - 5
ambiguous, an d ambivalent 4 7
ambivalent, an d ambiguous 4 7
amend, and emend 4 7
A m e r ica n ism s 1 1 8 - 2 0
amoral, and immoral 4 7 8
amour-propre 109
averse, an d adverse 4 6
and 1 9 9 - 2 0 0
avert 2 0
A n g lo -S a x o n s 1 0 0 - 1 0 1
avoid 2 0
a nd la n g u a g e 1 0 2 , 1 0 3 - 5 , 1 0 6 ,
304
a nim als
A n g lo -S a x o n n a m es for 102
b a c k -re fe r en ce 2 4 5 - 9
in m e ta p h o r s 91
answer (n o u n ) 33
bacon, u s e d in m e ta p h o r s 9 1 - 2
ante- (p refix ) 2 8 4
baleful, a n d baneful 4 8 9
anti- (p refix ) 2 8 4
ballot 3 5
apart from 2 0 3 - 4
a p o str o p h e , th e 1 9 4 - 5 , 3 0 4 - 5
118-19
apprehend 1 0 4
basically 7 4
approach 3 3 - 4
basic elements 7 2
appropriate w o r d in g 5 - 6, 2 3 7 - 4 1
bath 119
a p p ro v in g and d isa p p ro v in g 2 3 - 4
bathos, a n d pathos 4 9
a priori 1 1 3
apriority 1 1 3
because 2 0 5 - 6
archaism s 1 1 6 - 1 7
Beckett, Sa m u el 2 3 8
area 3 4
befit 1 1 7
A rnold, M a tth ew 2 2 1 , 2 4 8 - 9
begin 1 0 4
artistic w o r ld , v e rb ia g e 3 3 1 - 6
beholden 1 17
a running sore 9 5
behove 117
as 2 1 7 - 1 8
being 1 3 5 - 6
as a g e r u n d 1 4 4
belabour 5
aspect 3 4
as well as 1 9 8 , 201
besides 2 0 2
as with 182
at 1 6 6 - 7
bete noir 1 1o
attend 6
biennial, a n d biannual 4 9
availability 28
Blake, W illia m 1 9 4
avant-garde 1 11
average 29
Index
bon viveur 10 8
booby prize 8 9
commence 1 0 4
both...and 2 5 8 - 9
compared with 1 8 5 - 6
c o m p a r in g and co n trasting 1 7 9 - 9 1
boudoir 109
compensate 2 3
complacent, a n d complaisant 5 0
complaisant, a n d complacent 5 0
B u nyan , J o h n 2 7 2
complement, a n d compliment 5 0 - 5 1
burying 10 5
completely 8 8
component 3 5 6
business-speak 3 1 9 - 3 1
by 1 6 7 - 8
cafe 108
comprise, a nd consist 51
camp 2 9 1 2
compromise 3 6
concept 2 6
candies 1 2 0
c o n d itio n s 2 1 2 - 1 4
condone 23
carte blanche 11 o
confidant/confidante 109
cause 14, 2 0 8 9
connote, an d denote 51
cause celebre 1 1 1
consist, an d comprise 51
contemptible 2 5
ceteris paribus 1 14
continually, an d continuously 5 1 - 2
contemptuous 2 5
continuously, a nd continually 5 1 - 2
challenge/challenging 3 5
contra- (p refix ) 2 8 5
challenged 3 16
Chaucer, Geoffrey 1 16
control-freak 2 9 3
contretemps 1 10
Chesterton, G. K. 92
convince 19
chic 291
cookie 1 2 0
cordial 1 0 4
core 3 6
cliche 108
cortege 108
349
credible/credibility 36-7
credulous 36
creme caramel 108
creme de menthe 108
crisis 70
cudgel 1 17
customer 309
cyber- (prefix) 284-5
316-18
d isa p p ro v in g and a p p ro v in g 2 3 - 4
discreet, and discrete 5 4
disgruntle 3 4 3
disinterested, and uninterested 5 4
dispensation 5 5
darling 104
dates from 162
death, and wordiness 22 5
deceptively 27-8
decimate 37
decisive 25
decollete 109
deduce, and adduce 46
de facto 114
defective, and deficient 5 2
deficient, and defective 52
definite, and definitive 53
Defoe, Daniel 22930
defuse, and diffuse 53
de haut en bas 109
de jure 1 14
delay, too long 70
delusion, and illusion 53
de mortuis 1 15
denote, and connote 51
dependant, and dependent 53
depend/depending 214-15
dependence and independence
214-16
deprecate, and depreciate 53-4
deride/derisory/ derisive/ derisible 25
deshabille 109
designer (adjective) 26
despite 21516
diagnose 37
dialects, of business-speak 328-9
diaper 120
different 18-19, 188
3 2 4 -5
Eliot, T. S. 2 3 8
elusive, and allusive 4 7
e -m a il 3 2 9 - 3 1
emend, and amend 4 7
emerge 37
Index
emergent 12 0
o v e r -u s e 2 9 3 - 8
w e ll- u s e d 8 7 - 9 0
1 3 8 -9
(the) end of the road 9 3 - 4
en famille 109
enfant terrible 1 1o
fabulous 2 4 2
enjoy 1 19
enormity 4
faces, in m e ta p h o r s 9 2
en passant 1 1o
factor 38
en suite 109
entering a minefield 9 4
entrecote 108
fantastic 2 4 2
entrenous 109
fa sh io n s, c o llo q u ia l 2 9 0 - 9 3
eo facto 1 1 3
fat 119
equate/equation 38
father 1 19
faute de mieux 1 1o
esprit de corps 1 11
etiquette 31 3
favourite 1 0 4
-ette (suffix) 31 3
febrile, a n d frenetic 5 7 - 8
eulogize 3 0 1 - 2
ferment, a n d foment 5 8
e u p h e m ism s 2 8 9 - 9 0
for d isability 3 1 6 - 1 7
Eurosceptic 2 8 7
fin de siecle 1 1 1
every 3 1 3 - 1 4
everyone 31 3
exactitude 260-3
flexi- (p refix ) 2 8 5
except 17 3
flicks 291
exchange 2 1 - 2
e x c h a n g in g and r ep la cin g 2 1 - 2
focus 38
ex p e rim e n ta tio n , w it h w o r d s 2 8 8 ,
312, 342-3
126
for 1 6 4 5
on su b stitu ted for 162
to su b stitu ted for 16 0
forb ea rin g and r ep a y in g 2 2 - 3
351
former 2 0 4
her/she 1 5 5 6
freebie 2 9 2
him/he 1 5 5 - 6
freight train 1 2 0
French w o r d s 1 0 2 - 3 , 1 0 7 - 1 2 , 3 1 3
frisson 1 1o
h o m o se x u a ls , c o llo q u ia l e x p r essio n s
from
for 2 9 0
from . . . to 165-
m is u s e 1 6 5 - 6
honoris causa 1 14
honourable, an d honorary 5 9 - 6 0
-hood, w o r d s e n d in g in 106
gaffe 109
hopefully 3 1 1
gaps, bridged 71
horrifying 2 4 3
gas (p etro l) 1 2 0
hors de combat 1 1 1
h o rses, in m e ta p h o r s 91
g e r c ip le , the 1 4 4 - 7 , 1 7 2
hove 1 4 8 - 9
g e ru n d s 1 4 2 - 6
how 2 6 8
golden 8 9
hyper- (p refix ) 2 8 5
gotten 119
h y p e r b o le 2 4 1 - 4 , 3 1 9 - 2 2
gourmand 108
a nd gourmet 5 9
gourmet 108
u se d b y journalists 3 4 1 - 2
h y p h e n , th e 1 9 6 7, 2 6 4
see also c o m p o u n d s
a nd gourmand 5 9
grasp 1 0 4
idiot/idiocy 3 1 7
i.e. (id est) 112
if 1 9 8 , 2 1 2 - 1 3
I guess 1 19
IHS 1 12
hearty 104
illusion, a nd delusion 5 3
im a g e s , p erso n a l and im p er so n a l
heavy 1 0 4
8 0 -8 1
he/him 1 5 5 - 6
imaginative, a n d imaginary 6 0
Index
I/m e 1 5 5 - 6
a nd participles 1 3 8 - 9
interested in 159
in terms of 9 9
interring 1 0 5
intimacy 2 9 0
involve/involvement 1 6 - 1 7
impact 39
ipso facto 1 1 3
impaired 3 1 6 , 3 1 7
issue 7 4
improve 2 8
it 1 5 2 - 3 , 2 4 5 - 6
a p p lie d to h u m a n s 3 1 4 - 1 5
I take off my hat to him 91
o m is s io n 167
its/it's 1 9 4 - 5
in an effort to 21 1- 1 2
je ne sais quoi 1 1o
Jesperson, Otto 104
jeu desprit 1 1o
J o h n so n , S am uel 1 0 6 - 7 , 2 2 1 - 2
in c o n se q u e n tia lity 2 4 9 5 4
joined-up 2 7 2
incredible/incredibly 2 4 2
jo u rn a lese 3 3 8 - 4 5
induce 19
junction, an d juncture 61
inescapable 7 2
Jutes 1 0 0
in fin itiv e 1 3 0 - 3 3
kitsch 2 9 2
split 1 3 4
inflammable, and flammable 5 9
laissez faire 1 1 1
in fle x io n s 10 1 , 3 0 4
Latin 1 0 0
infra dig 1 1 4
ingenuous, a nd ingenious 61
1 0 6 , 107
e x p r essio n s 1 1 3 - 1 4
in the hope 8 6
leg a l 1 1 4 - 1 5
in order th a t /t o 2 0 9
instigate 3 9
in stitu tion a l c o lle ctiv e 1 2 5 - 6
115-16
suffixes and p refixes 2 8 4 - 8
latter 2 0 4
inter- (p refix) 2 8 5
inter alia 1 14
lavatory 2 8 9
353
mea culpa 1 14
mean (verb ) 15
m ea t, F ren c h -d er iv e d n a m es 102
learning difficulties 3 1 6 , 3 1 7
mega- (p refix ) 2 8 6
least of all 9 8
led 149
leg a l Latin 1 1 4 - 1 5
m e ta p h o r s 7 1 , 8 1 , 8 7 - 9 2
lesemajeste 109
m is u s e 9 3 - 7 , 2 3 5 - 7
levant 2 9 0
me thinks 1 18
micro- (p refix ) 2 8 6
M id d le E nglish p e r io d 1o 1, 1 0 2 - 3
like 1 7 9 8 3 2 5 2 - 3
might/may 147
militate, an d mitigate 6 2
lingerie 109
mini- (p refix ) 2 8 6
links, m is s in g 2 5 4 - 8
minimal 2 9
listin g in se q u e n c e 2 6 5 - 8
misery 1 0 4
literary criticism 3 3 3 - 4
mitigate, a n d militate 6 2
momentarily 1 19
lo g ic 2 4 5 - 6 8
loo 2 8 9 - 9 0
looking 13 7
105-7
more than 1 8 6 7
movies 291
M acaulay, Lord 2 3 0
m u s ic criticism , and w o r d in e s s
multi- (p refix ) 2 8 6
m a c h in e s, treated as fe m in in e 3 14
334-6
m a g a z in e -sp e a k 3 3 8 - 4 5
muster 3 4 2
mutatis mutandis 1 14
make a statement 2 9 7
m a la p ro p ism s 4 5
man- (p refix) 3 1 2
-man (suffix) 3 12
speak 3 2 6 - 7
man/men/mankind 3 1 1
massage 109
materialize 3 9 - 4 0
maxi- (p refix) 2 8 6
nauseous/nauseated 2 5
may/might 147
NB (nota bene) 1 12
me see I/me
Index
negatives 218-20
negative words, positive words
coined from 343
negligee 109
neither 129-30
news 78
on 1 6 2 3
m is s in g 1 6 4 , 3 0 2
as a prefix or suffix 2 8 2
r ed u n d a n t 1 6 3 4 , 3 3
to su b stitu te d for 1 6 0
One swallow does not make a summer 9 2
no exception 9 7 - 8
optimistic 4 0
nom de plume 1 1o
option 4 0
non- (p refix) 2 8 6 7
or 1 3 0 , 2 0 3
organ (m u sic a l) 3 0 0
none 12 9
ostensible, a n d ostentatious 63
normal 2 9
ostentatious, an d ostensible 63
N o r m a n C o n q u est 102
others 2 4 8 - 9
out 167
collective 124-5
compound 274, 277-8
doubling as verbs 234-5
institutional collective 1256
plural 304
replaced by verbs 7
used as adjectives 308-9
verbal see gerunds
and wordiness 22633
obiter dictum 1 1 4 - 1 5
oblige 107
obsolete, a nd obsolescence 6 3
obviate 2 0
of
pace 1 13
parallels, false 1759
parentheses, long 75
parenthetical adverbs 31 o - 11
participles
and directions for routes 136
and employment advertisements
138-9
following with 171 - 2
hanging/ dangling/ detached
135-9
355
perfect 2 9
perk 2 9 2 - 3
p r e p o s itio n s 1 5 8 - 7 3
g e ru n d s after 1 4 2 - 4
-person (suffix) 3 1 2
prescribe, a n d proscribe 6 4
p erso n al a nd im p er so n a l im a g e s
8 0 -8 7
presently 1 19
presume, a n d assume 4 8
person/people/humanity 3 1 1
persuade 19
prevent 2 0
phrases, o v er u se 2 9 3 - 8
pride in 1 6 4
pick up on 2 4 0
prima facie 1 14
piece de resistance 1 11
principles, violated 7 2
pinch of salt 9 2
platinum handshake 9 0
priority 41
plural n o u n s 3 0 4
private sector 4 3
plus 199
privy 2 8 9
pro- (p refix ) 2 8 4
p o litica l correctness
and d isa bility 3 1 6 - 1 8
and g e n d e r 31 115
p o ly sy lla b les and m o n o sy lla b le s 1 0 5 - 7
probably 7 2
problem 1 7 - 1 8 , 7 4
solved/got rid of 71
procrastinate, and prevaricate 6 5
ponderous 1 0 4
proliferate 3 0 3 - 4
p o sse ssiv e s 1 9 4 , 3 0 4 - 8
post- (p refix) 2 8 4
p r o n o u n s 1 0 1 , 1 5 2 7, 2 4 5 6
properly 41
potential 4 0
pro rata 1 14
powers, taken 7 0
prospective 4 2
proverbial 4 2
pragmatic 41
pseudo- (p refix) 2 8 7
pre- (p refix) 2 8 7
psychiatrists 2 9 2
precede 7 6
public sector 4 3
p u n c tu a tio n 1 9 2 - 7
p u r p o se and result 2 0 9 12
Purves, L ibby 2 8 8 , 3 1 2
preempt 2 0
prefixes 4 8 , 2 8 0 - 8 3
Latin and Greek 2 8 4 8
p r e g n a n cy , and w o r d in e s s 2 2 5
quasi- (p refix ) 1 1 3
quid pro quo 1 1 3 - 1 4
quot homines 1 15
Index
racket 291
savoir-faire 1 1o
raft 7 6
savvy 1 1o
scam 291
ramp 291
scarper 2 9 0
scenario 4 2
rather than 1 8 8 - 9
reason (n o u n ) 14
sector 4 3
reasonably 1 4 - 1 5
see 8 2 3
receivership 73
s e m ic o lo n , th e 19 3
send up 291
reconstruct 301
sensibility, a n d sensitivity 6 6 7
sensitivity, a n d sensibility 6 6 7
reel (n o u n ) 1 2 0
reimburse 23
sensuous, a nd sensual 6 7
s e q u e n c e , listin g in 2 6 5 - 8
replace 2 2
rep la cin g and e x c h a n g in g 2 1 - 2
290
Shakespeare
m o n o sy lla b ic w o r d s 106
result 2 0 9 - 1 o
q u o te d 1, 4 9 , 1 1 7 , 1 1 9 , 2 3 5 , 2 4 1 ,
resulting 211
289
retro- (p refix) 2 8 7 - 8
she/her 1 5 5 6
sherbert 108
reversals o f m e a n in g 2 7 - 8
-ship, w o r d s e n d in g in 106
rigor mortis 1 15
sh ips, treated as fe m in in e 3 1 4
show 2 9 9
show a leg 91
role 8 5 , 108
shun 301
role model 8 5 - 6
sic 112
sic transit 1 15
run, in m eta p h o r s 9 0 , 91
sidewalk 1 19
similar 1 8 2 - 3
( a ) running sore 9 5
sim p licity 2 2 2 - 3 5
and m is u s e o f m e ta p h o r
235-7
see also w o r d in e s s
sat 1 5 0
satisfactory 2 3 8
single-, in c o m p o u n d s 2 7 5 - 6
357
35
slang 2 9 0 , 3 4 4 - 5
solution 18
tabula rasa 1 13
sorrow 1 0 4
soubriquet 11 o
souffle 108
tant mieux 1 1o
spectrum 4 3
tant pis 1 1o
spin 2 9 3
teddy-boy 2 9 2
spin-doctor 2 9 3
teleg ra m s 3 2 9
sportsp eak 3 3 6 - 8
temporal 10 5
squeaky-clean 2 7 2
tete-a-tete 108
than 1 8 9 91
Stein, Gertrude 33
that 2 6 4
theme 4 3
stood 1 5 0
there, c o m p o u n d s u s in g th e w o r d 1 18
street-cred 2 9 2
streetwise 2 9 2
they/them 1 5 3 - 4
striking a chord 9 5 - 6
this 1 5 4 - 5 . 2 4 5 , 2 4 6
thoroughly 8 8
style 2 2 1 - 4 4
sub judice 1 1 4
timely 1 0 4 - 5
substantial, a nd substantive 6 7
tips, following 71
substitute/substitution 2 1 , 22
such as 191
toilet 2 8 9
suffixes 2 8 0 - 3
toilette 3 1 3
to (in th e in f in it iv e ), o m is s io n 131
to (p r e p o s itio n ) 1 5 9 - 6 3
on su b stitu ted for 1 6 2 - 3
super- (p refix ) 2 8 8
Sw ift, Jonathan 3 2 9
totally 8 8
syllables, in w o r d s 1 0 5 - 7
translations in to E nglish 2 3 9 - 4 0
sympathy with/for 1 6 4 - 5
s y n o n y m s 1 0 3 4
trompe loeil 1 11
Index
truck 1 2 0
virtually 4 4
true 3 0 , 2 5 0 - 5 1
vo cab u la ry
trunk (car b o o t) 1 2 0
A m e r ica n ism s 1 1 8 - 2 0
a rch aism s 1 1 6 - 1 8
du al (Latin and A n g lo -S a x o n )
ultra vires 1 14
fo r e ig n w o r d s and phrases 1 0 7 - 1 6
1 0 3 -7
uninterested, and disinterested 5 4
h isto rica l b a c k g r o u n d 1 0 0 - 1 0 3
unique 3 0
see also w o r d s
u n iversal singular 1 2 8 - 3 0
unless 2 1 3 - 1 4
unlike 1 8 3 - 5
unnecessary 4 3 - 4
water-closet 2 8 9
up 158
W C 289
as a prefix or suffix 2 8 0
using 137
weighty 1 0 4
usurp 22
we/us 1 5 5 - 6
us/w e 1 5 5 - 6
utterly 8 8
when 2 5 0
whenas 1 18
value 2 6 - 7
whence 1 17
vandalism/vandalizing/vandalization 4 4
whensoever 1 18
vanish 3 0 0 - 3 0 1
where, c o m p o u n d s u s in g th e w o r d 1 17
ve rb o sity see w o r d in e s s
whereby 1 1 7
verbs
whereinsover 1 18
a ffectin g tw o objects 2 2 - 3
wheresoever 1 18
back -referen ce in v o lv in g 2 4 7 - 8
wherewithal 1 1 7
c o m p o u n d s u sin g 2 7 4 - 5 , 2 7 9 - 8 0
white elephants 8 8
whither 1 1 7
d isto rtio n s 2 7 - 8
whomsoever 1 18
d o u b lin g as n o u n s 2 3 4 5
whosoever 1 18
th e g e ru n d 1 4 2 6
who/whom 1 5 6 - 7
in fin itiv e 1 3 0 - 4
window of opportunity 2 9 8
irregular 1 4 8 - 5 1
windshield 1 2 0
m is u s e o f p erso n a l verb s 8 1 - 3
past particip le 1 3 9 - 4 2
p resen t particip le 1 3 4 - 9
with
rep la cin g n o u n s 7
singular and plural 1 2 3 - 3 0
tr a n sitiv e /in tr a n sitiv e 2 9 9 - 3 0 4
m is u s e 6, 1 6 8 - 7 2
to su b stitu ted for 161
without 1 7 2 - 3
tr o u b le s o m e fo r m s 1 4 7 - 5 1
W o d e h o u s e , P. G. 2 9 0
a nd w o r d in e s s 2 2 9 3 0
woman 3 1 2
359