Abused, Confused, and Misused Words A Writers Guide to Usage, Spelling, Grammar, and Sentence Structure
Share Facebook facebook group facebook group WhatsApp Read the given paragraph before download the pdf all are the free every time Chapter TwoO ld R ule s , N e w R ule sFashion, though folly’s child, and guide of fools,Rules e’en the wisest, and in learning rules.–GEORGE CRABB [1754-1832]THE TREND IN WORD USAGE is toward less formality. There is no longer a great distinction between theway one speaks and the way one writes. Both have become more casual. When people in the sameprofession such as law, medicine, psychology, or other fields communicate with each other, jargon isokay because they understand their specialized vocabulary. However, when they are writing orspeaking to a layperson, it’s best to use words that are familiar to the general public.Over the past fifty years, Americans have become less formal in many ways. Rules about dresshave become relaxed for both men and women. The rules of etiquette have become more relaxed, too.I have mixed feelings about the relaxation of the rules when it comes to language, yet I much prefer acasual style to a stilted, formal way of communicating. It puts the reader or listener at ease. And Ireally think it’s a good thing that we no longer have to worry about ending a sentence with apreposition, or dangling a participle, or misplacing a modifier. What matters is that our meaning isclear.Language changes constantly. So does spelling. So do the rules. It has been said, “rules are made tobe broken.” I don’t know about that, but I do believe in letting go of the rules when they get in the wayof what you want to say.If you choose to break the rules, however, it is probably a good idea to know what the rules (andtheir exceptions) are so that you can make a conscious, educated decision about which ones to followand which ones to ignore.In gathering qualified, up-to-date material for this book, I have consulted several recentlypublished dictionaries as well as The Chicago Manual of Style. Generally, they were in agreement asto word definitions and rules. When they differed, I chose the ones that seemed most logical to me.Included in the following are some examples of changes that have occurred over the past thirty orforty years. You will find more of these rules and usage changes in the misused words list (chapter 4).Who or WhomThe old rules stated that the choice of who or whom must be determined by the grammar of the clausewithin which this pronoun occurs. Who is the appropriate form for the subject of a sentence or clause:Who is he? He’s the man who wants the key. Whom is the objective form: Whom did he say he was?He’s a man whom I know well.Those distinctions are rarely observed anymore. Because who or whom frequently occur at thebeginning of a sentence or clause, there is a tendency to choose who no matter what the word’sfunction is. According to Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary (1996), “Even in editedprose, who occurs at least ten times as often as whom regardless of grammatical function. Only whenit directly follows a preposition is whom more likely to occur than who.” This juxtaposition is usuallyavoided now both in speech and writing, particularly in questions: Who is the letter from? Sometimesit’s avoided by omitting the pronoun altogether: All patients you have had contact with.The word whom has gone almost completely out of style. And good riddance. Most people use itincorrectly anyway. According to Random House Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 3.0, “The notionthat ‘whom’ is somehow more ‘correct’ or elegant than ‘who’ leads some speakers to hypercorrect usesof ‘whom’: Whom are you? The person whom is in charge of the office has left the building.” Thatsounds so yesterday.The new rules seem to indicate that it’s best (and most natural) to use whom only after apreposition: to whom it may concern; to whom are you speaking? For formal writing, check yourdictionary if you aren’t sure when to use whom because there are still sticklers for the “proper” use ofthis practically archaic word and it’s best to use it correctly. Your college English professor andcertain periodicals, such as TIME magazine, will not accept the less for-mal who when whom istechnically correct. However, if your main concern is clarity and you don’t care who you impress,just use who and don’t worry about it.AbsolutesCertain words are absolutes, which means that they are complete, unconditional, and unqualifiable.Thus, according to many usage guides, one should not use comparison words with them. However,it’s done all the time.Perfect is a good example of an absolute. It means excellent or complete beyond practical ortheoretical improvement. Perfect cannot exist in varying degrees. But since the thirteenth century, theword perfect has often been qualified: the most perfect day we’ve had. A famous misuse is in theUnited States Constitution: “in order to form a more perfect union.”Another absolute is the word unique. Unique means existing as the only one or as the sole example.How can something be very one-of-a-kind? When it first entered the English language in the 1600s,its meaning was single, sole, having no equal. Unique developed the wider meaning of not typical andunusual by the mid-nineteenth century. Some examples are: He is more unique than anyone else and Itwas a very unique day.According to the dictionaries I checked, using so-called absolutes in senses that are not absolutehas become standard in most forms of speech and writing. Even so, I still choose not to use qualifierswith absolutes because, once you do that, the word is no longer an absolute.Old and New PluralsThe plurals of some words often depend on whether they are used in a scholarly work or in morecasual writing. Examples of these (noting the informal word first) are appendixes and appendices,memorandums and memoranda, millenniums and millennia, symposiums and symposia. Mostdictionaries list the less formal as the preferred usage. The same word may have different pluralsdepending on its definition. A book could have two indexes while a mathematical expression mighthave two indices.None Is vs. None AreBecause none means “not one” and “not…
