W here a bad practice turns up day after day in the newspaper, on the air and in the m orning mail it ought to get proportionate attention and space in a book w hich specifically concent
P E N G U I N REFERENCE THE PENGUIN GUIDE TO PLAIN ENGLISH Harry Blamires, a graduate of University College, Oxford, was formerly Dean of Arts and Sciences at King Alfred’s College, Winchester He was Visiting Professor of English Literature at Wheaton College, Illinois, in 1987 The University of Southampton has awarded him a D.Litt in recognition of his achievements as a writer His total output of some thirty books includes fiction and theology, but he is widely known for his works of literary history and criticism These include A Short History of English Literature (Routledge) and Twentieth-Century English Literature (Mac millan) For over three decades students in the USA and the UK have benefitted from his classic guide to Joyce’s Ulysses, The New Bloomsday Book More recently, in The Cassell Guide to Common Errors in English, he has shown how lively and entertaining the exploration of current usage can be H A R R Y BLAMIRES The Penguin Guide to Plain English Express Yourself Clearly and Effectively PENGUIN BOOKS PENG UIN BOOKS Published by the Penguin Group Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London W C2R ORL, England Penguin Putnam Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U S A Penguin Books Australia Ltd, Ringwood, Victoria, Australia Penguin Books Canada Ltd, 10 Alcorn Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M 4V 3B2 Penguin Books India (P) Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi - 110 017, India Penguin Books (N Z ) Ltd, Cnr Rosedale and Airborne Roads, Albany, Auckland, New Zealand Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank 2196 South Africa Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London W C 2R ORL, England www.penguin.com First published 2000 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 publisher’s 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 What is Plain English? THE PLAN OF THIS B O O K PART T h e W o rd s a t O u r Disposal C H AP T ER The Words to be Used 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 V 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 C H AP T ER C H AP T ER 30 The Right Words and the Wrong Words 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 The Make-up of the English Vocabulary 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 chapter ch a pter chapter The Use of Verbs 123 USE OF SI NGULAR A N D PLURAL 123 USE OF THE INFINITIVE 130 THE PRESENT PARTI CI PLE 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 The Fabric of the Sentence 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 Avoiding Grammatical Pitfalls 174 FALSE PARALLELS 175 DRAW ING COMPARISONS AND CONTRASTS PUNCT UATION 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 OTHER CONST RUCTIONS 216 THE USE OF NEGATIVES 218 Good Style and Bad 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 IN C O N SEQ UEN TI ALI TY 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 Changing Fashions in Usage 11 Innovation Good and Bad 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 Current Liberties and Constraints 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 THE USE OF POSSESSIVES 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 VERBIAGE IN THE ARTI STI C W O R L D 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 W hat is Plain English? ‘Sir, ’tis m y occupation to be plain’ says Kent to the king in Shakespeare’s King Lear, as he all but despairs o f persuading his master to face facts And Kent is Shakespeare’s chosen vehicle to represent the values o f com m on sense and reason in a w orld toppling into lunacy Kent’s is the voice of healthy discernment in recognizing the difference between truth and falsehood, genuineness and corruption Plainness is his pride And in Shakespeare’s Richard III this is how the villain Gloucester protests against misrepresentation o f his character: Cannot a plain man live and think no harm, But that his simple truth must be abused By silken, sly, insinuating Jacks? He postures as the plain man up against the showy, greasy tricksters w ho specialize in nods and winks and innuendoes The ‘plain’ is again opposed to the bogus and the deceptive And although we sometimes nowadays use the w ord ‘plain’ as the converse o f ‘beautiful’, it remains a connotatively rich one ‘Plain living and high thinking are no m ore’ W ordsw orth complained in criticism o f the w orship o f wealth and show corrupting contemporary life Yet plainness does not generally imply austerity W hen the words ‘plain’ and ‘English’ are taken into the expression ‘plain English cooking’, we are m ore likely to encounter roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, apple pie and cream, than the m enu o f the ascetic We are looking then for usage w hich is genuine and direct, unspoiled by any hint o f the bogus or the pretentious, English w hich is clear and open as the day, w hich claims no special attention to itself but rather melts away into w hat it conveys That should be the standard usage o f speakers and writers But we only need to open a newspaper or turn on the radio to realize that the prevailing verbal usage o f our age falls short in num erous ways That is the reason for the m ethod of approach adopted The Penguin Guide to Plain English in this book Tidily explaining to readers how the English language should be used by a neat progression through the parts of speech, and the construction of clauses and sentences, can be illuminating But it is not quite the same process as checking up at the coalface on the English that is actually used and uncovering w here it goes wrong I have taken heed o f a wise popular saying, ‘If it ain’t broke, d o n ’t m end it.’ That advice has always seemed to me to be peculiarly applicable to the business of w riting books w ith an instructive purpose And that is w hy I have believed that the most practically helpful starting-point for giving advice about how to write good English is from the mass o f bad English w ith w hich we are surrounded I now have a collection of some 7,000 bad sentences, accumulated over the years from the press, the radio, commercial publicity and junk mail Bringing this material to light enables us to discern w here people go w rong in their use of English, not just occasionally but time after time W here a bad practice turns up day after day in the newspaper, on the air and in the m orning mail it ought to get proportionate attention and space in a book w hich specifically concentrates on the English we actually read, actually hear, actually use That is why this book abounds in examples It does not take up a dogmatic position in relation to traditional grammar or to the revisionist grammars of the last few decades It does not lay into the latest slang or get over-excited about split infinitives It explores the English now in use w ith determ ined emphasis on the guide-lines we must follow if w hat we say and w hat we w rite is to be exactly w hat we mean For we are about a m uch m ore positive task than that o f mere detection and correction o f error That in itself is not an inspiring activity N or does it w in friends ‘Filthy famished correctioner’ Shakespeare’s Doll Tearsheet screams at the interfering Beadle But correction can be salutary ‘W hom the Lord loveth He correcteth,’ the Book of Proverbs tells us And the positive aim here is to reveal how gratifying, indeed how stimulating it is to achieve that sustained level o f correctness w hich marks ‘plain English’ There is great satisfaction for all those w ho not have to w orry that w hat they write, or w hat they say w hen they speak in public, may not stand up to scrutiny on some point of style or usage For most people it is not a matter o f mastering a lot o f grammatical rules It is rather a matter o f learning to keep a clear head Having read ‘Glancing to the right, the church spire is visible above the rooftops’, the grammarian will talk about the ‘hanging participle’, while the clear The Penguin Guide to Plain English amour-propre 109 averse, an d adverse and 9 - 0 avert A n g lo -S a x o n s 0 - 1 avoid a nd la n g u a g e , - , , 304 a nim als -babble (su ffix ) babysit A n g lo -S a x o n n a m es for 102 b a c k -re fe r en ce - in m e ta p h o r s 91 back the wrong horse 91 answer (n o u n ) 33 bacon, u s e d in m e ta p h o r s - ante- (p refix ) baleful, a n d baneful —9 anti- (p refix ) ballot apart from - b a n k in g , and b u sin ess-sp ea k - a p o str o p h e , th e - , - barking up the wrong tree , appraise, and apprise 118-19 apprehend (His) bark is worse than (his) bite - apprise, and appraise basically approach 3 - basic elements appropriate w o r d in g - 6, - bath 119 a p p ro v in g and d isa p p ro v in g - bathos, a n d pathos a priori 1 beau monde 109 apriority 1 because - archaism s 1 - Beckett, Sa m u el area befit 1 A rnold, M a tth ew 2 , - begging the question arrogate, and abrogate - begin artistic w o r ld , v e rb ia g e 3 - beholden 17 a running sore behove 117 as - being - m ism a tch es after - as a g e r u n d 4 A s one door doses belabour aspect beneficence, and benevolence assume, and presume benevolence, and beneficence as well as , 201 besides 2 as with 182 best-laid schemes of mice and men at 6 - bete noir 1o at the end of the day —4 biannual, and biennial attend B ible, K ing Jam es v e r s io n 18 authoritarian, and authoritative biennial, a n d biannual authoritative, and authoritarian billet doux 109 availability 28 Blake, W illia m avant-garde 11 blow the whistle average 29 (I have a) bone to pick with you Index bon viveur 10 comme il faut 109 booby prize commence both and - compared with - (the) bottom line c o m p a r in g and co n trasting - boudoir 109 compensate breathing down the neck complacent, a n d complaisant bringing home the bacon —2 complaisant, a n d complacent B u nyan , J o h n complement, a n d compliment - burying 10 completely 8 burying the hatchet 1 - component —6 business-speak - com pounds - , 308 by - see also prefixes; suffixes comprehend cafe 108 comprise, a nd consist 51 camp —2 compromise campaign against 163 concept candies c o n d itio n s 2 - carousal, and carousel - condone 23 carte blanche 11 o confidant/confidante 109 case, presenting a 198-220 connected to/with 161 cause 14, —9 connote, an d denote 51 cause celebre 1 consist, an d comprise 51 cause and effect 205-9 Celts 100, 101 contemptible ceteris paribus 14 continually, an d continuously - contemptuous Chacun a son gout 12 continuously, a nd continually - challenge/challenging contra- (p refix ) challenged 16 Chaucer, Geoffrey 16 control-freak Cherchez la femme 112 converse, and inverse contretemps 10 Chesterton, G K 92 convince 19 chic 291 cookie c h ild ren , less m e n ta lly able cordial classic, and classical core cliche 108 cortege 108 coherence, preserved 72-80 coiffure 109 colloquialisms 241, 290—93 colonialism 44 colonization 44 colon, the 193-4 comma, the 192-3, 259 council, and counsel counsel, and council 52 coup de grace 1 1, 3 coup d’etat 1 couth - C o w p e r, W illia m 106 creative/creativity - 349 The Penguin Guide to Plain English credible/credibility 36-7 credulous 36 creme caramel 108 creme de menthe 108 crisis 70 cudgel 17 customer 309 cyber- (prefix) 284-5 diffuse, and defuse 53 d ir e c tio n s, for ro u te s 36 d isability, and p o litica l co rrectness 316-18 d isa p p ro v in g and a p p ro v in g - discreet, and discrete disgruntle disinterested, and uninterested dispensation 5 darling 104 dates from 162 death, and wordiness 22 deceptively 27-8 decimate 37 decisive 25 decollete 109 deduce, and adduce 46 de facto 114 defective, and deficient deficient, and defective 52 definite, and definitive 53 Defoe, Daniel 229—30 defuse, and diffuse 53 de haut en bas 109 de jure 14 delay, too long 70 delusion, and illusion 53 de mortuis 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 215—16 diagnose 37 dialects, of business-speak 328-9 diaper 120 different 18-19, 188 dispense with, and dispose of - dispose of, and dispense with - disposition 5 dogmatic double-, in c o m p o u n d s double entendre 1 d o u b le m e a n in g s down 15 as a prefix or suffix - down-sizing 2 drive, u s e d in m eta p h o r s due to - Duke et Decorum est 15 d u p lic a tio n , o f term s fr o m Latin a nd A n g lo -S a x o n so u rces - DV (Deo volente) 12 earn 148 earthy, earthly and earthen 105 eek 116 effect, and affect - e.g (exempli gratia) 1 eisel 11 either , either or eke (ad v erb ) 16 electricity in d ustry, b u sin ess-sp ea k -5 Eliot, T S elusive, and allusive e -m a il - emend, and amend emerge 37 Index emergent 12 o v e r -u s e - employment, advertisements for w e ll- u s e d - -9 (the) end of the road - see also fo r e ig n w o r d s and phrases; m e ta p h o r s en famille 109 enfant terrible 1o fabulous enjoy 19 face the music enormity faces, in m e ta p h o r s en passant 1o factor 38 en suite 109 fallacious, and fallible entering a minefield fallible, and fallacious entrecote 108 fantastic entrenous 109 fa sh io n s, c o llo q u ia l - eo facto 1 fat 119 equable, and equitable fatal, and fateful equate/equation 38 fateful, and fatal equitable, and equable 5-6 father 19 erupt, and irrupt faute de mieux 1o esprit de corps 11 faux pas 109 etiquette 31 favourite -ette (suffix) 31 febrile, a n d frenetic - eulogize - ferment, a n d foment e u p h e m ism s - fewer, and less for d isability - few and far between 9 Eurosceptic fictional, and fictitious - ev a sio n and p r e v en tio n —2 fin de siecle 1 every 3 - flammable, and inflammable everyone 31 flash in the pan - exactitude 260-3 flaunt, and flout ^9 exceed, and accede flexi- (p refix ) except 17 flicks 291 exchange - flogging a dead horse 91 e x c h a n g in g and r ep la cin g - flout, and flaunt £ exclude, and preclude focus 38 exhausting, and exhaustive foment, and ferment exhaustive, and exhausting fo o d , F rench term s 108 expedient, and expeditious :6 - fo o tb a ll tea m s, taking th e plural verb ex p e rim e n ta tio n , w it h w o r d s 8 , 312, 342-3 explicit, and implicit ex p r essio n s overd one - 126 for —5 on su b stitu ted for 162 to su b stitu ted for 16 forb ea rin g and r ep a y in g 2 - 351 The Penguin Guide to Plain English foreign words and phrases 107-20 and political correctness 312, 313 forestall He’ll laugh on the other side of his face help here, c o m p o u n d s u s in g th e w o r d 18 heritage, an d inheritance former H errick, R obert 118 -free (su ffix ) her/she 5 —6 freebie him/he 5 - freight train His bark is worse than his bite —91 French w o r d s - , - , 3 hit the bottle frenetic, and febrile - hoist with his own petard 1 frisson 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 from to 165- honorary, and honourable - m is u s e - honoris causa 14 to sub stitu ted for 16 honourable, an d honorary - -hood, w o r d s e n d in g in 106 gaffe 109 hopefully 1 gaps, bridged 71 horrifying gas (p etro l) hors de combat 1 g en d e r , p o litica l correctn ess 311 - hors d oeuvre 108 generally speaking 139 h o rses, in m e ta p h o r s 91 ‘g e r c ip le ’, the 4 - , hove - g e ru n d s - how golden hyper- (p refix ) gotten 119 h y p e r b o le - , - 2 gourmand 108 a nd gourmet gourmet 108 u se d b y journalists - h y p h e n , th e —7, see also c o m p o u n d s a nd gourmand grasp ideal (ad jectiv e) Greek, suffixes and prefixes 284—8 idiot/idiocy i.e (id est) 112 hanker after/for 161 if , 2 - haute couture 108 If a thing is worth doing haute cuisine 108 I guess 19 haute monde 108 I have a bone to pick with you having (her) cake and eating it IHS 12 hearty 104 illusion, a nd delusion heave/hove, an irregular verb - im a g e s , p erso n a l and im p er so n a l heavy -8 He has only one string to his bow 91 imaginary, and imaginative he/him 5 - imaginative, a n d imaginary Index I/m e 5 - a nd participles - interested in 159 in terms of 9 immanent, and imminent interring imminent, and immanent intimacy immoral, and amoral - inverse, and converse immunity, and impunity involve/involvement - impact 39 ipso facto 1 impaired , irrupt, and erupt implicit, and explicit -ism /-ist (su ffix ) imply, and infer - issue improve it - , - impunity, and immunity in a p p lie d to h u m a n s - I take off my hat to him 91 o m is s io n 167 its/it's - as a prefix or suffix 281 in an effort to 21 1- je ne sais quoi 1o Jesperson, Otto 104 jeu d’esprit 1o inapt, and inept 61 J o h n so n , S am uel - , 2 - in c o n se q u e n tia lity —5 joined-up to substitu ted for in addition to 0 incredible/incredibly jo u rn a lese 3 - induce 19 junction, an d juncture 61 inept, and inapt 61 juncture, and junction 61 inescapable Jutes 0 in the event that infer, a nd imply - kick for the long grass in fin itiv e - 3 kitsch split inflammable, and flammable laissez faire 1 in fle x io n s 10 , la n g u a g es, in fle cted 1 , informant, and informer 61 Latin 0 infra dig 1 abb rev ia tio n s 1 - ingenious, and ingenuous 61 E nglish voca bula ry fr o m - , ingenuous, a nd ingenious 61 , 107 inheritance, and heritage e x p r essio n s 1 - in the hope leg a l 1 - in order th a t /t o lo n g e r e x p r essio n s abb reviated instigate in stitu tion a l c o lle ctiv e - 115-16 suffixes and p refixes - in stru m en ts, m u sic a l 0 latter inter- (p refix) laudator temporis acti 11 inter alia 14 lavatory 353 The Penguin Guide to Plain English Jay/lie, irregular verbs - mea culpa 14 lead/led, an irregular verb 149 mean (verb ) 15 learn, an irregular verb 148 m ea t, F ren c h -d er iv e d n a m es 102 learning difficulties , mega- (p refix ) least of all menage a trois 109 led 149 mens sana in corpore sano 15 leg a l Latin 1 - m e ta p h o r s , , - lesemajeste 109 m is u s e - , - less, and fewer see also e x p r essio n s levant me thinks 18 level playing field mice and men lie (verb) 149 micro- (p refix ) Life of Samuel Johnson (B o s w e ll) M id d le E nglish p e r io d 1o 1, - like “ 3» - might/may 147 lik en esses, person a l - militate, an d mitigate lingerie 109 mini- (p refix ) links, m is s in g - minimal listin g in se q u e n c e - misery literary criticism 3 - mitigate, a n d militate loathe, and loath (loth) - momentarily 19 lo g ic - momentary, and momentous loo - momentous, and momentary looking 13 m o n o sy lla b le s and p o ly sy lla b les loth (loath), and loathe - lunacy/lunatic 105-7 more than —7 luxuriant, and luxurious movies 291 luxurious, and luxuriant moving the goal posts M acaulay, Lord m u s ic criticism , and w o r d in e s s multi- (p refix ) m a c h in e s, treated as fe m in in e 14 334-6 m a g a z in e -sp e a k 3 - muster Make hay while the sun shines 91 mutatis mutandis 14 make a statement m a la p ro p ism s (the) name of the game - man- (p refix) N a tio n a l H ea lth Service, b u sin ess- -man (suffix) 12 speak - man/men/mankind 1 nationalize, and naturalize massage 109 naturalize, and nationalize materialize - naught, and nought - maxi- (p refix) nauseous/nauseated may/might 147 NB (nota bene) 12 me see I/me nec et non plus ultra 14 Index negatives 218-20 negative words, positive words coined from 343 negligee 109 neither 129-30 news 78 on —3 m is s in g , as a prefix or suffix r ed u n d a n t —4 , ° to su b stitu te d for One swallow does not make a summer noblesse oblige 107 (He has) only one string to his bow 91 no exception - optimistic nom de plume 1o option non- (p refix) —7 or , non compos mentis 14 organ (m u sic a l) 0 none 12 ostensible, a n d ostentatious 63 normal ostentatious, an d ostensible 63 N o r m a n C o n q u est 102 others - not just/only but also 01 —2 out 167 not to look a gift horse in the mouth 91 as a prefix or suffix 281 over 168 as a prefix or suffix 281-2 overstatement, by journalists 341-2 Owen, Wilfred 15 nought, and naught - nouns collective 124-5 compound 274, 277-8 doubling as verbs 234-5 institutional collective 125—6 plural 304 replaced by verbs used as adjectives 308-9 verbal see gerunds and wordiness 226—33 obiter dictum 1 - oblige 107 obsolete, a nd obsolescence obviate of on substituted for 163 to substituted for 159-60 off 164 as a prefix or suffix official, and officious officious, a nd official OK 18 Old English period 1o 1- omni- (prefix) 286 pace 13 parallels, false 175—9 parentheses, long 75 parenthetical adverbs 31 o - 11 participles and directions for routes 136 and employment advertisements 138-9 following with 171 - hanging/ dangling/ detached 135-9 mismatches after 177-8 past 139-42 present 134-9 particles 158 passim 12-1 pate de fois gras 108 path 19 pathetic 24-5 pathos, and bathos 49 pax vobiscum 112 355 The Penguin Guide to Plain English perfect perk - p r e p o s itio n s - g e ru n d s after - perquisite, and prerequisate prerequisate, and perquisite -person (suffix) prescribe, a n d proscribe p erso n al a nd im p er so n a l im a g e s -8 presently 19 presume, a n d assume person/people/humanity 1 presumptive, and presumptuous - perspicacious, and perspicuous 63 presumptuous, and presumptive - persuade 19 prevaricate, and procrastinate -phile/-philia (su ffix ) prevent -phobe/-phobia (su ffix ) , 8 p r e v e n tio n and e v a sio n - phrases, o v er u se - pride in pick up on prima facie 14 picture house 291 principal, and principle piece de resistance 11 principles, violated pinch of salt p rin ted w o r d s see w r itte n w o r d s platinum handshake priority 41 plural n o u n s private sector plus 199 privy Plus 9a change, plus c’est la meme chose 12 pro- (p refix ) p o litica l correctness and d isa bility - and g e n d e r 31 1—15 p o ly sy lla b les and m o n o sy lla b le s - probably problem - , solved/got rid of 71 procrastinate, and prevaricate ponderous proliferate 3 - p o sse ssiv e s , - prone to, and susceptible to post- (p refix) p r o n o u n s 1 , —7, —6 Post O ffice, b u sin ess-sp ea k properly 41 potential pro rata 14 pour encourager les autres 1 proscribe, and prescribe powers, taken prospective practical, and practicable —4 proverbial pragmatic 41 pseudo- (p refix) pre- (p refix) psychiatrists precede public sector precipitate, and precipitous p u n c tu a tio n - precipitous, and precipitate p u r p o se and result —12 preclude, and exclude Purves, L ibby 8 , preempt prefixes , - Latin and Greek —8 p r e g n a n cy , and w o r d in e s s 2 quasi- (p refix ) 1 quid pro quo 1 - quot homines 15 Index racket 291 savoir-faire 1o raft savvy 1o raising awareness and profiles scam 291 ramp 291 scarper rare (for a beefsteak) scenario rather than 8 - scoring an own goal 17 reason (n o u n ) 14 sector reasonably - see —3 receivership 73 s e m ic o lo n , th e 19 receuiller pour mieux sauter 1 send up 291 reconstruct 301 sensibility, a n d sensitivity 6 —7 recourse, and resort 6 sensitivity, a n d sensibility 6 —7 reel (n o u n ) sensual, and sensuous reimburse 23 sensuous, a nd sensual remission, and remittance 6 s e q u e n c e , listin g in - rep a y in g and fo rb ea rin g 2 - sexu al in terco u rse, e u p h e m ism s for replace 2 rep la cin g and e x c h a n g in g - 290 Shakespeare resort, and recourse 6 m o n o sy lla b ic w o r d s 106 result - o q u o te d 1, , 1 , 1 , , , resulting 211 289 retro- (p refix) - she/her 5 —6 reversal, and reversion 6 sherbert 108 reversals o f m e a n in g - -ship, w o r d s e n d in g in 106 rigor mortis 15 sh ips, treated as fe m in in e RIP (requiescat in pace) 1 show 9 Rivals, The (Sheridan) show a leg 91 role , 108 shun 301 role model - shut the door in someone’s face Roman Britain 100-1 o sic 112 ro u tes, d ir e c tio n s for 13 sic transit 15 run, in m eta p h o r s , 91 sidewalk 19 run with the hare and the hounds 91 similar - ( a ) running sore sim p licity 2 - and m is u s e o f m e ta p h o r salubrious, and salutary 6 salutary, and salubrious 6 235-7 see also w o r d in e s s (the) same as 191 sine qua non 1 sat sing, an irregular verb 148 satisfactory sing from the same hymn-sheet save one’s face single-, in c o m p o u n d s - saving his bacon sit, an irregular verb 357 35» The Penguin Guide to Plain English slang , 4 - table d’hote 108 solution 18 tabula rasa 13 sorrow take the bull by the horns 91 soubriquet 11 o take off 291 souffle 108 taking someone down a peg 91 sounds (verb ) 241 tant mieux 1o spectrum tant pis 1o spin teddy-boy spin-doctor teleg m s sportsp eak 3 - temporal 10 sprawl, an irregular v erb testament, and testimony - squeaky-clean testimony, and testament - stand, an irregular v erb tete-a-tete 108 status quo 113 than —91 Stein, Gertrude 33 that stepping into the breach that says it all 241 stimulant, and stimulus the end of the road - stimulus, and stimulant theme stood there, c o m p o u n d s u s in g th e w o r d 18 street-cred the same as 191 streetwise they/them - strictly speaking 139 thin end of the wedge strike while the iron is hot 91 thingumabob and thingamajig 1o striking a chord - this - , strive, an irregular v erb 148 thoroughly 8 style 2 - 4 thrive, an irregular v erb 148 sub judice 1 timely - substantial, a nd substantive tips, following 71 substantive, and substantial titillate, and titivate substitute/substitution , 22 titivate, and titillate such as 191 toilet suffixes - toilette 3 Latin and G reek - sui generis 11 suit - 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 ) - on su b stitu ted for - super- (p refix ) 8 tortuous, and torturous susceptible to, and prone to torturous, and tortuous Sw ift, Jonathan totally 8 swing, an irregular verb 14 tragedy, and travesty - syllables, in w o r d s - translations in to E nglish - sympathy with/for - travesty, and tragedy —9 s y n o n y m s —4 trompe l’oeil 11 Index truck virtually 4 true , - vo cab u la ry trunk (car b o o t) A m e r ica n ism s 1 - trustful, and trustworthy a rch aism s 1 - trustworthy, and trustful du al (Latin and A n g lo -S a x o n ) ultra vires 14 fo r e ig n w o r d s and phrases - -7 uninterested, and disinterested h isto rica l b a c k g r o u n d 0 - unique see also w o r d s u n iversal singular - unless - wage raise (w a g e rise) unlike - watch like a hawk unnecessary - water-closet up 158 W C 289 as a prefix or suffix weave, an irregular verb 148 using 137 weighty usurp 22 we/us 5 - us/w e 5 - what it’s all about utterly 8 when whenas 18 value - whence 17 vandalism/vandalizing/vandalization 4 whensoever 18 vanish 0 - where, c o m p o u n d s u s in g th e w o r d 17 ve rb o sity see w o r d in e s s whereby 1 verbs whereinsover 18 a ffectin g tw o objects 2 - wheresoever 18 back -referen ce in v o lv in g - wherewithal 1 c o m p o u n d s u sin g - , - white elephants 8 d ir e c tio n s for r o u tes whither 1 d isto rtio n s - whomsoever 18 d o u b lin g as n o u n s —5 whosoever 18 th e g e ru n d —6 who/whom - in fin itiv e - window of opportunity irregular - windshield m is u s e o f p erso n a l verb s - (the) winning hand —7 past particip le - -wise (su ffix ) p resen t particip le - with rep la cin g n o u n s singular and plural - tr a n sitiv e /in tr a n sitiv e 9 - m is u s e 6, - to su b stitu ted for 161 without - tr o u b le s o m e fo r m s - W o d e h o u s e , P G a nd w o r d in e s s 2 —3 woman 359 The Penguin Guide to Plain English wooden spoon 88-9 wordiness 3-4, 6-7, 222-6 in the artistic world 331-6 in business-speak 320-27 journalese and magazine-speak 338 - sportspeak 336-8 using nouns or verbs 226-3 see also hyperbole words/wording appropriate 5-6, 237-41 combining 70—72 compound 271-88 damaged by misuse and over-use 40-44 double meanings 76 double usage 79-80 established combinations 87-90 foreign words and phrases 107—20 monosyllabic and polysyllabic 105-6 order 258-60 right and wrong 44-69 too economical with 72-3 see also vocabulary; wordiness Wordsworth, William 317 would-be 40 written words, and spoken words 231-2, 242 wrong- (prefix) 283 You can take a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink 91