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[GWL]: grammar police report

THE  REPORT FROM THE GRAMMAR POLICE

The point of our recent exchange re: incorrect grammar was neither to
bash anybody on the head nor to give ourselves an excuse to feel
superior to the great unwashed masses. Rather, it was intended to
highlight some mistakes currently being made by folks like us who are in
the business of communicating. We can’t always say “let the editor fix
it” because in some cases we ARE the editors. Herewith our little report
and thanks to all who contributed. Carolyn Ulrich


1. “The prize was divided between 5 winners.”--This is an incorrect use
of “between,” which can only apply to two persons or things. “Among” is
for three or more.

2. Misuse of  “alot” and ”awhile”—  “Alot” and “awhile” are not words
(yet). Write “a lot” and “a while.”

3. Capital  and Capitol — “The capital”  is the city where the
government of a country or state is located. “Capital” is both a noun
and an adjective and has many meanings, so we have capital letter,
capital idea, capital gains but Doric or Ionic capitals at the top of a
Greek column. Also, more capital is currently needed in the green
industry. ” The Capitol” is the building where the government for a
state or the U.S. government resides.

4.Over 300 vs. more than 300; under 300 vs. less than 300—”Over” and
“under” refer to height and position, not quantity.

5. “Up to $1,000 or more”—This is contradictory. It can’t be both at the
same time.

6. None of us IS guilty—”None” is singular.  Harder to decipher is what
to do with “either...or” and “neither...nor” constructions when one
subject is singular and the other is plural. Textbooks disagree. Go with
the authority you trust.

7. Principle and principal —”Principle” is a noun meaning the  main
point or rule of action. “Principal” is a noun meaning a person who’s
the leader of a school or an adjective meaning important, as in “the
principal reason for this....”

8. The idiom “used to.”  You say “I used to swim in the river”  not “I
use to swim in the river.” When it’s an idiom, just do what you’re told
and don’t ask questions. Logic has nothing to do with it.

9. FYI... (if you want to get confused)...There are two other idioms
with “used to” that have totally different meanings.

1)  BE used to something or BE used to doing something, which means to
be accustomed to something.  EXAMPLE:  “I am used to cold weather” or “I
am used to living in Alaska.”
2) GET used to something or GET used to doing something, which means to
become accustomed ....EXAMPLE: “I am getting used to cold weather.” or
“I am getting used to living in Alaska.”


10. There’s a lot of confusion these days between “its” and “it’s.” The
first is a possessive adjective (The cat drank its milk.). The second is
a contraction for the verb “it is.” (It’s cold today.)

11. Compliment vs. complement—Misuse of these two is also  rampant
.Garden writers who need to say that the blue salvia “complements” the
yellow marigold  often use “compliments” instead, which  means that the
salvia is telling the marigold that it looks very nice today.



12. Decimate vs. destroy—The original meaning of “decimate”  was to
eliminate or destroy 1/10 of something but some of our dictionaries
give as their first meaning “to destroy a great number of proportion
of.”  The word is often used when “destroy” is meant or would be a
better (i.e., more accurate) choice.

13. Less vs. fewer---There are nouns in English that can be counted
(peoples, trees, flowers) and those that can’t (memory, sugar, love).
The word ”less” should be used with non-countable nouns. The word
“fewer” is used with things you can count. A common mistake is  “There
are less people at the airport today than  yesterday.” It should  be
“fewer people.”

14. Holocaust and Nazi—Overuse of these words can trivialize the
horrific events of the World War II era.  A bad traffic accident is not
a holocaust, and a strict teacher is not a Naz (or a fascist).


15. Affect vs. effect—These are always confusing. It helps, I think, to
give ourselves a couple of examples to live by—e.g., “The events of
Sept. 11 affected everyone.” but “Sept. 11 had a profound effect on the
economy.” Also keep in mind that “affect” is a ver and “effect” is
(usually) a noun. Then there’s “affected” as in “She puts on airs. She’s
affected.” This “affected” is an adjective.


16. Imply vs. infer. Both of these words are verbs. “Imply” is what the
speaker does—e.g., “When I raised my eyebrows, I implied that I
disapproved.”
“infer” is what the listener does—e.g., “When you saw my raised
eyebrows, you inferred that I disapproved.”

17.  Misuse of “there is, there are, there was, there were.”  All the
time I hear  TV reporters say things like “There’s two people in front
of the building. “ or “There was many flowers in the garden.” The word
“there” is never the subject of  these sentences. The subject is
“people” or “flowers.”

18. “Try” is one of many verbs that is followed by an infinitive . “I
want to have a beautiful garden. I need to have a beautiful garden. I
try to have a beautiful garden.”“NOT “I try and have a beautiful
garden.”

19. “Hopefully” is an adverb that means “in a hopeful manner.”  Thus, “I
will have a beautiful garden this year,” she said hopefully. NOT
“Hopefully, I will have a beautiful garden.” Correct: “I hope that I
will have a beautiful garden.”

20. “Close proximity” and “my first priority”—these are redundant
expressions

21. A long ways—”ways” is plural but “a” is singular. They need to
agree. It should be “a long way.”

22. Singular-plural mixups
SINGULAR=datum, criterion, genus, phenomenon
PLURAL= data, criteria, genera, phenomena

23. Compare to or compare with?
The word came down that we use “compare with” when we are discussing
dissimilar items and “compare to” when discussing similar items.

24. Mention yourself second. Don’t say “She gave seeds to me and Susan.”
Rather, “She gave seeds to Susan and me.”

25. If something is technically correct but sounds awful, try to
rephrase it. You don’t have to stick with something like “One fourth of
our members has found a job....”

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