One Step Forward to Better Writing

Yet Another Failure, This Time of Logic

legbamel@yahoo.com (legbamel) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:49:00 +0000

I have no stake in the fight over requiring sprinklers in new houses. I wanted to make that clear from the beginning. I was, however, frustrated by the complete perversion of logic that this author perpetrates after chiding her opponents for the very same failure. Notice that her responses to the “red herrings” often consist, themselves, of red herrings. Notice, also, her exaggeration of the number of deaths in home fires by over 9% (from 2,740 to 3,000) in an attempt to shore up her...

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Sudden and Complete Acronym Failure

legbamel@yahoo.com (legbamel) — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 17:37:00 +0000

Imagine, if you will, that you read a press release that begins with the following sentence, more or less.The City of Fargo has installed a HAWK Beacon (High Intensity Activated Crosswalk Beacon)...to aid pedestrians in crossing 40th Avenue S by Centennial Elementary School.A laudable effort, no doubt, and one that may save the lives of incautious children. I, however, reacted not to the concept of the light but to the apparent inability of the people who created this thing to understand...

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Pray Tell Me What This Means

legbamel@yahoo.com (legbamel) — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 19:17:00 +0000

It's come to my attention that people commonly believe that Shakespeare coined the phrase "pray tell" and launched its popularity. It may be that he expanded the knowledge of the term, but in reality people used it long before ol' Will brought it to their attention. In this case, the word pray escapes religious connotations and grew from the Latin precari into preier in Old French, and then became preien, to beg or beseech. Lest you think that precari the end of that particular language...

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Give Immemorial the High Sign

legbamel@yahoo.com (legbamel) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:39:00 +0000

I have a habit of using archaic idioms and, as you can see from the existence of One Step Forward, becoming curious about their origins. The other day I told a co-worker that I would give her “the high sign” when I was ready for her and immediately wondered about that phrase’s history. Naturally, my friends, I thought that you might wonder the same thing. While I discovered the term in many a dictionary and contentions that it dated back to first few years of the 20th century, I had some...

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Halloween Horror in Headlines

legbamel@yahoo.com (legbamel) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 20:19:00 +0000

For your edification, I'd selected a few of the least helpful headlines I've seen recently and attempted to explain just what, in my ever-so-humble opinion, has gone wrong with the things. Feds balk at Google book deal, hopes for changes The Feds hope for changes, and Google hasn't made a deal to publish a book but to re-publish out-of-print books from many authors. This headline not only misleads readers but appears to confuse singular and plural—Feds hopes for changes—when adding the word...

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Pizza Hut Fails Basic Grammar

legbamel@yahoo.com (legbamel) — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 17:05:00 +0000

As if Apple's grammatical abandonment weren't bad enough, now Pizza Hut has joined the refusal to use proper English grammar in their advertisements. I know that they've chosen the word because it so obviously breaks the rules, but I hardly think that's the best way to teach our children how to intensify their modifiers. (All of this ignores the nutritional atrocities that this product will commit, but One Step Forward is not a health blog so I'll leave those out of this post.) Should you be...

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Would You Dismantle the Mantel?

legbamel@yahoo.com (legbamel) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 15:54:00 +0000

Someone noted the other day in a discussion that when you've dismantled something you never say that you're going to mantle it again. As folks often do, that person wondered aloud why the two words were not antonyms and used as such. Naturally, I've had to uncover a reason. It turns out that mantle and dismantle are related more as second cousins than brother and sister. While both share the same Latin root word (mantellum for cloak), dismantle took a bit of a detour into France and spent...

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Immune To or From?

legbamel@yahoo.com (legbamel) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:13:00 +0000

I've repeatedly heard a local newscaster state that we are "not immune from the recession" or some other negative influence or foible. It's long been a curiosity to me, as I'd heard the word used extensively in a medical context but less so, until this seemingly-global "correction" of the economy, when discussion vulnerability to non-pathogenic questions. I've also heard plenty of people caution that no one stands "immune to the recession". Understandably, I've been drawn to investigate the...

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Can Something Blatantly Flagrant?

legbamel@yahoo.com (legbamel) — Mon, 25 May 2009 15:07:00 +0000

I recently received a question from Geneva on an old post about commonly-confused words asking me to clarify the difference between the words blatant and flagrant. The two words share a similar sense of the obvious, but are used to convey different senses. Consider this sentence (which I'd avoid in a real writing situation, as it's redundant and stilted):Such a flagrant act show blatant disregard for established procedures.The word flagrant implies contempt rather than a simple lack of guile. ...

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Word Tidbits: Uncouth

legbamel@yahoo.com (legbamel) — Sat, 16 May 2009 15:14:00 +0000

Some words fall out of favor and become archaic simply because they make you sound uncouth. Couth is not one such word. No one uses couth, regardless of how those around them act. When you compliment someone on how couth they behave, it sounds as though you are so socially backward as the be uncouth. That's because couth never attained “word” status. The Old English word “cuth”, which meant known or familiar, spawned the now-defunct use of uncouth as uncommon or uncanny, essentially...

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Word Tidbits: Ruthless

legbamel@yahoo.com (legbamel) — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 15:37:00 +0000

When writing descriptions of an evil foe, terms like tireless, relentless, fearless, and ruthless come to mind. Of those, most are easily defined. The -less suffix indicates that the noun so described lacks the root word, as a tireless leader does not tire and a fearless enemy attacks without fear. What, however, is a ruthless tirant without? The word ruthless comes to us not from the name Ruth but from the twelfth-century word “reuwen”, a verb meaning “to rue” or regret. Over the next...

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Fargo Flood Highlights Evacuee versus Refugee

legbamel@yahoo.com (legbamel) — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 18:51:00 +0000

As have many Americans, I've listened to a great deal of flood talk, these last two weeks, including orders and the discussion of requests that residents evacuate endangered areas. At one point, a Fargo official referred to those forced to leave their homes as “refugees”. This sparked an immediate objection from others, who quickly agreed that Fargoans seeking shelter were, instead, evacuees. What, you ask, is the difference? Linguistically, there exists very little to differentiate between...

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A Brief Consideration of Mood

legbamel@yahoo.com (legbamel) — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 15:57:00 +0000

As I recently mentioned, it's high time we thought about mood and writing. Most resources recognize four basic moods: indicative, imperative, infinitive, and subjunctive. This post will offer an overview of each mood. The first two on that list won't need much explanation, but I'll do a separate post for each of the others, so if you don't find an answer to your questions here please be patient. In fact, share your questions with me and I'll make sure that I answer them in up-coming...

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Ultra-Quickie Post: Happy National Grammar Day

legbamel@yahoo.com (legbamel) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 18:21:00 +0000

I wanted to extend to you all a reminder that today is the Society for the Protection of Good Grammar's National Grammar Day. In its honor, let me share the worst headline I saw this morning: "OMG! Italy [sic] Catholics asked not to text during Lent". Apparently the Associated Press has never encountered the word Italian to describe people who live in Italy. I am editing this on March 11th to add this horrendous sentence from the AP, this time out of Germany and a confusing introduction to a...

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The Difference between Parentheses and Brackets

legbamel@yahoo.com (legbamel) — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 18:24:00 +0000

As far as specialized punctuation goes, brackets rank as one of the most useful types, if only under their very specific uses. Parentheses mark off material that supplements a sentence, explanations and asides that add information or feeling but are not grammatically necessary. You can use them either within a sentence or to set off additional exposition within a paragraph. Parenthetical additions, however, should be carefully monitored. They tend to distract your readers from the content...

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Will This Tide You Over?

legbamel@yahoo.com (legbamel) — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 22:17:00 +0000

I often see sentences containing something like, “It is there to tie you over...” Something may be there to tide you over until you can do or get another thing, like an afternoon snack that will tide you over until dinnertime. But what does that mean, exactly? As far as I can determine, the phrasal verb “tide over” grew out of nautical terminology. The in-coming tide would lift your ship over an obstacle, such as a sandbar, or free you from having run aground. Thus, something that tides...

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If I Were You...

legbamel@yahoo.com (legbamel) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 19:37:00 +0000

Recently, someone asked about the difference between, “If I were you…” and “If I was you…” In short, you use “were” to indicate the past subjunctive of “to be”. I doubt that that answer clears up the question, however, so let’s consider the subjunctive mood. The subjunctive mood arises in sub-conjunction use of a verb, that is, when you use a verb after a conjunction as part of a dependent clause. As with so many English grammar rules, you can find exceptions to prove this one but it holds...

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Be Cautious with Auto-Correct

legbamel@yahoo.com (legbamel) — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 19:50:00 +0000

As I’ve not been inspired by any heinous grammatical failings in the past week, I thought I’d warn you all of the insidious influence of the auto-correct feature available in many kinds of word processing software. Certainly, it’s handy to have your typographical errors corrected without having to stop and find them yourself, but allowing your computer to think for you will never replace careful proofreading. As a case in point, I have had two notable typos that I blame completely on my word...

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A or An Historic Day?

legbamel@yahoo.com (legbamel) — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 20:04:00 +0000

I received a suggestion that, on this historic occasion, I review the use of the articles “a” and “an” with regard to the word historic. I could have sworn that I wrote about this question long ago, and intended to drop a link for everyone with some wishes that everyone enjoy this auspicious inauguration day. I could find no such post, so I’ll start from scratch. You can use a very simple rule for deciding whether to use a or an before a word, a rule that relies not on the written word but...

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Poor Examples from Some Pros

legbamel@yahoo.com (legbamel) — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 16:57:00 +0000

In perusing the back of a cereal box, the other day, I realized that I hadn't posted bad examples for writers in some time. Thus, I'll share the errors I've recently noted in articles and other commercial writing of late. We'll start with that cereal box, upon which it was made clear to me that punctuation lies outside of the capabilities of the design and copy writing folks at Post. It read as follows: So enjoy delicious fiber rich whole grain Post [product]...The text was wrapped around a...

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Back to Basics: Apostrophes

legbamel@yahoo.com (legbamel) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 01:06:00 +0000

In response to a recent comment from Linda on an earlier post, I have gathered here my previous apostrophe posts and will attempt to cover any ground I've missed among them. I had intended this post to rely heavily on these earlier examples, but I discovered, to my chagrin, that I hadn't ever written a really basic piece about apostrophes. I intend to correct that oversight here.Apostrophe AbuseWorking around the ApostropheApostrophes after an SAnd now for the basic definitions. You use...

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Word Tidbits: Expatiate

legbamel@yahoo.com (legbamel) — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 18:44:00 +0000

In one of those lexical coincidences that befuddle many, I recently came across the word expatiate in two books in a row. I can't recall ever having seen the word before, and so I immediately made a note to research it for you folks. Expatiate acts as an intransitive verb, meaning that it does not require an object. It generally gets an explanation, however, because it generally means digression or wandering off-course. Thus, if you could say, “I expatiate,” and have spoken a grammatically...

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Loath and Loathe

legbamel@yahoo.com (legbamel) — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 18:51:00 +0000

Loath and loathe comprise two sides of the same linguistic coin. You can find many instances of the words being used interchangeably, perhaps because the pronunciations appear identical in text, but the silent "e" in loathe indicates that the word is a different part of speech. Loth, or loath, works as a predicate adjective and means that the subject is unwilling or reluctant to act. Often, writers use loath to indicate that a character doesn't want to do something that they will do, whether...

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The -Ous Suffix

legbamel@yahoo.com (legbamel) — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 20:32:00 +0000

I’ve spent a few days searching for a definition of the adjective suffix -ous. One would think, given the thousands of English grammar and language sites on-line, that finding such a definition would be simple. One would be mistaken. I found many sites that purport to list suffixes and their respective meanings, but nary a one included a -us or -ous ending. Thus, I’ve begun a list of such words and an inexact definition of each. I aim, here, to find a meaning of the -ous suffix for...

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My 300-Posts Review

legbamel@yahoo.com (legbamel) — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 17:57:00 +0000

I thought I should recognize my 300th post (since I completely missed number 250) by talking about what has been successful and interesting about the blog, from my point of view. I'm going to do one of those self-congratulatory posts, in other words, so if you don't want to find out my most humorous or curious recent search term or the posts that bring the most people here, you might want to skip this one. If you're one of those curious and easily amused people, however, as I am, you might...

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