R. L.

Trask

Say What You Mean!

A Troubleshooters Guide to English Style and Usage

David R . Godine Publisher Boston

, an Which form of the article should be used before a word beginning with h? If the h is silent, of course, then an must be used: an honest man, an hour or two. If the h is pronounced, and the rst syllable is stressed, then only a is possible: a history of Sussex is right, while an history of Sussex is never acceptable. The problems arise when the rst syllable is unstressed. Should we write a historical event or an historical event? The second derives from the days when many people pronounced these words with no h; that is, they really said an istorical event, and so thats what they wrote. Today, though, almost everyone now pronounces an h in such words, and you are rmly advised to prefer a historical event. The other now looks strange or worse to most readers. The same goes for a hotel, which is better than an hotel. Otherwise, the choice between a and an depends entirely on the pronunciation of the following item, not on its spelling. Write a union, because union is pronounced with an initial consonant sound (just like a Yule log), but write an M.D., because M.D. is pronounced with an initial vowel sound (just like an empty box).

abattoir The word is so spelled, with one b and two ts. abbreviations An abbreviation is a short way of writing a word or phrase that could also be written out in full, using only letters of the alphabet and possibly periods. Examples include Dr. for Doctor, lb. for pound(s), and e.g. for for example. An abbreviation does not normally have a distinct pronunciation of its own. These properties distinguish abbreviations from acronyms and initialisms like NATO and BBC, from clipped forms like gym and phone, and from symbols like  and 5. With only a few exceptions, it is poor style to use abbreviations in the body of your writing. The only abbreviations that are properly used in most writing are the following: Mr., Mrs., Ms., Dr. (with surnames, though the middle two are only abbreviations by courtesy, since they abbreviate nothing), a few titles like MP and C EO, a.m. and p.m., and a.d. and b.c. (or their variants c.e. and b.c.e. [see a.d.]). You should write for example, not e.g.; the second volume, not the 2nd vol.; the twentieth century, not the 20th cent. or C20; miles per hour, not m.p.h.; Professor Chomsky, not Prof. Chomsky; and so on. It is far more important to make your writing easy to read than to save a few seconds in writing it. One important exception arises in scientic writing, in which names of units are always abbreviated in a standard way, with no periods and no plural -s: write 50 kg, not 50 kilograms or 50 kg. or 50 kgs.

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Note that, when the abbreviation contains the rst and last letters of the word, British usage favors no period, while American usage prefers the period: hence British Mr and Dr versus American Mr. and Dr., for example. See also L atin abbreviations. ability, capacity, capability Applied to a person, the rst two mean about the same, but they dont behave grammatically in the same way. You have an ability to do something, but a capacity for doing something. As for the third, this is best used in the plural and with no material following: your capabilities are your abilities and your talents as a whole. abjure, adjure To abjure something is to renounce it, especially under oath, to swear to have nothing more to do with it: He abjured his homeland forever. To adjure somebody to do something is to entreat him earnestly to do it or to make him swear to do it: They adjured him to stay away from gambling. The two should not be confused. If you have trouble with them, avoid them in favor of simpler words. able Only a human being is able to do anything: Jan will be able to join us after lunch. It is poor style to write that an animal or a thing is able to do something and very bad style to follow able with a passive. Do not write This equation is able to be solved by computer; write This equation can be solved by computer. -able, -ible As a general rule, a word of English or French origin takes -able (washable, portable), while a word of Latin origin takes -ible (audible). But there are exceptions, and anyway this rule is unlikely to be of much use to you. Since -able is far more frequent than -ible, I list below the most frequent words ending in -ible. I omit rare, obsolete, and technical words. accessible admissible audible collapsible combustible comestible compatible comprehensible compressible constructible contemptible controvertible convertible corruptible credible deducible deductible defensible destructible digestible dirigible discernible dismissible dispersible divisible edible eligible exhaustible expansible expressible fallible feasible exible forcible gullible horrible

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immersible indelible incorrigible intelligible invincible irascible legible miscible negligible omissible ostensible perceptible

perfectible permissible plausible possible reducible refrangible reprehensible repressible resistible responsible reversible risible

sensible submergible submersible submissible suggestible suppressible susceptible tangible terrible transmissible visible

Many of these form negatives. Their negatives are usually formed with in- (inaudible, indigestible), or with im- before p (impermissible), with irbefore r (irresponsible), or with il- before l (illegible). The exceptions are unfeasible, unintelligible, and unsusceptible. Other common words take -able, like reliable, potable, and comfortable. A nal e in the source word is usually dropped before the sux (love, lovable), but the e is retained if the spelling would otherwise suggest the wrong pronunciation (replace, replaceable, not replacable; pronounce, pronounceable, not pronouncable). A short stem like dye may take either spelling: dyable or dyeable. The derived nouns follow the same spelling: accessibility but reliability. When in doubt, consult a good dictionary. abolition, abolishment In most contexts, the noun derived from the verb abolish is abolition, but abolishment is sometimes preferred in legal and nancial contexts. So, we write of the abolition of slavery but possibly of the abolishment of mortgage relief. aborigine, aboriginal The word aborigine is now widely considered oensive and should be avoided. The alternative aboriginal is still acceptable and is widely preferred in Australia. But this is an adjective, and outside Australia, many readers will be annoyed to see it used as a noun ( the aboriginals). It is always safe, and recommended, to avoid both words and write the indigenous people, or something similar. When writing about a particular place, you are advised to write native Australians, native Americans, or whatever. abridgment, abridgement Both are correct. British English strongly prefers abridgement, with the e; American usage prefers abridgment. abrogate, arrogate To abrogate something is to cancel it or annul abrogate, arrogate | 5

it. You can abrogate a treaty or an agreement, but it is usually better to prefer an everyday word like revoke or repeal. To arrogate something is to claim it for oneself without justication, most often to claim powers or authority. absence The phrase in the absence of is an example of wordiness. Dont write the clumsy in the absence of the latest gures; write without the latest gures. absorb, adsorb The word absorb is an everyday word meaning soak up, both literally and guratively. The derived noun is absorption, and absorbtion does not exist. But adsorb is a technical term in chemistry, meaning collect (molecules of gas or liquid) on the surface. abstinence The noun derived from abstain is abstinence, and there is no such word as abstination. abstract nouns See nouniness. abuse, misuse, disabuse To misuse something is to use it wrongly. To abuse it is to misuse it so badly that you damage it. The noun form of abuse is familiar to us from expressions like child abuse, and also drug abuse, which is odd, because it is not the drugs that are abused but the users body. To disabuse somebody of an idea is to show her that that idea is wrong: They will be quickly disabused of the notion that linguistics is an easy subject. academic The central sense of this adjective is pertaining to universities or to scholarly research, and the related noun academic means person who holds a teaching and research post in a university. But the adjective now has a second sense: of no signicance in the real world, as in This discussion is purely academic. Even academics use the term in this sense. academic titles If you hold an academic title such as Doctor or Professor, you should use that title only within the context of a university, and even then only in formal contexts. In all other contexts, calling yourself Dr. Sylvia Horner or signing yourself Sylvia Horner, Ph.D. is pretentious and will suggest to many readers that you are a shallow and ostentatious phony hoping to awe gullible people. Look at any serious book written by a real academic, and you will nd the authors title buried in small print in the brief paragraph giving his or her background and credentials. Note, by the way, that the system of academic ranks and titles is very dierent in the United States and in Britain, and that no American title corresponds very closely to any British one. The American titles are assistant professor, associate professor, (full) professor. The British titles, from lowest to highest, are as follows, with a few complications ignored: lec-

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turer, senior lecturer, principal lecturer (only in some of the newer universities), reader, professor. In both countries, there is a cachet attached to holding a named chair (professorship). accede To accede to something is to agree to it. The word is too pompous for everyday use; write agree or consent instead. accent An accent is a particular way of pronouncing a language. It is important to realize that everybody has an accent; it is not possible to speak a language without using some accent or other. Accordingly, it is wrong to write things like She spoke English without an accent. If she is not a native speaker, and what you mean is that she had no trace of a foreign accent, then you can write She spoke English like a native. However, if she is a native speaker, then you must choose some more accurate wording, such as She spoke English with a Boston accent. accent marks See diacritics. accentuate This verb means make prominent, put into relief : This recording accentuates her Scottish accent. The word does not mean aggravate, make more serious, and it should not be so used. Avoid writing things like The shortage of spare parts has accentuated the airlines problems. accept, except The word accept is a verb meaning agree to: We have accepted their oer. The word except is usually a preposition meaning other than, as in Everyone is here except Brenda, though it can also be a verb meaning exempt, exclude, as in You will be excepted from this requirement. Do not write the second when you mean the rst. accessible This word is applied to something that you can easily reach or get hold of. Recently, it has become a vogue word for readable. Use the plain word. accessory The word is so spelled, with two cs and two ss. In the sense of person indirectly involved in a crime, the variant spelling accessary was formerly usual in Britain, but is now rather old-fashioned, and accessory is recommended for all senses. accommodation The word is so spelled, with two cs and two ms. Do not write acommodation or accomodation. accord, accordance When you do something of your own accord, you do it voluntarily, without being asked or instructed to do it. Note the preposition of here: on your own accord is not standard English. However, when you do something in obedience to instructions, you do it in accordance with those instructions. accord, accordance | 7