The Cambridge Guide to Australian English Usage phần 10 pot

thrash and thresh though or although In spite of appearances, though is not to be thought of as simply a cut-down, informal version of although. Admittedly there are sentences like the following, in which either one could be used to mean “despite the fact that”: Though the door is still intact, the lock needs attention. Although the door is still intact, the lock needs attention. The choice of although entails greater formality and emphasis. Although most often occurs at the start of the sentence, and draws attention to itself there. Though is more flexible, appearing at the start and at the end of sentences, as well as in between. It carries more variety of meanings than although. In mid-sentence it becomes a synonym for but: I wouldn’t stake my hopes on it, though I’d consider it a hopeful sign. At the end of a sentence though is a synonym for ‘‘however”: I wouldn’t stake my hopes on it though. In that position it often serves to qualify the thrust of the previous statement. These uses of though have developed in informal talk, but they’re common enough now in print, as the Right Word at the Right Time (1985) shows. In databases of written English, the use of though to mean “however” runs at about 8% of all instances of the word. Other roles of though (but not although) are to combine with as and even in compound conjunctions: As though it had been commissioned, the sun began to shine. Even though we were indoors, the sunshine seemed to brighten the conversation. Note that even though seems more emphatic than either although or though, and can draw extra attention to a concessive statement when it’s needed. Both though and although have alternative spellings in tho’/tho and altho’/altho. Unlike many abbreviations, they have no effect on the pronunciation of the word, and they do tidy up the surplus letters. In spite of this, neither abbreviation has caught on generally. (There was only 1 instance of tho in the Australian ACE corpus.) The forms with apostrophe declare their informality, and those without it are perhaps too different from the regular spelling. Whatever the reasons, these eminently sensible forms are mostly confined to advertising and technical writing, according to Webster’s English Usage (1989)—i.e. to styles of writing which are more independent of the standard conventions of English. thrash and thresh In Australian English these are two separate words, thrash meaning “beat” and thresh meaning “separate the grains of wheat from the ears that contain them”. Originally they were one and the same word “thresshe”, the variant spelling with an a making its appearance in the sixteenth century. The different spellings were subsequently linked with the different strands of meaning. But there are signs of a return to the original situation, except that it’s thrash which is gaining 799 through ground. It sometimes replaces thresh when referring to harvesting, and it’s also the one used for new figurative meanings, in: The dog was thrashing about in the water and Let’s thrash out this problem over lunch. through With the meaning “from one end to another”, this word can be used in the dimensions of either space or time. Compare: They walked through the park. They worked through the night. In such cases, through governs a noun which is a unit of space or time. Those uses of through are established worldwide. A rather different use of through has developed in American English, in which it links two words which specify the beginning and the end of a time period: The gallery will be open Monday through Thursday. Here through means “from Monday up to and including Thursday”—though it’s a neater way of saying it, and it has the advantage of making it clear that the period runs until the end of Thursday. In Australian English when we say Monday to Thursday, it’s not certain whether the period includes the whole of Thursday. The use of through to clarify the period is now widely recognised and understood outside North America, and catching on in Australia. Note that the spelling thru is not generally used in documentary writing, even though it quite often appears on street signs (NO THRU ROAD), and in catalogues and advertisements. It renders the word simply and directly, and has everything to recommend it. It was one of the set of words which major American institutions such as the National Education Association and the Chicago Tribune tried to establish, during nearly a century of spelling reform. (See further under gh.) The word thruway is a monument to the endeavor, but represented only by references to the New York Thruway in the Australian ACE database. There are no instances of thru itself. throwaway terms Because languages reflect the culture of the people who use them, they also show something of their values and attitudes to others— those they admire and those for whom they have no respect. Every language has expressions like the English Chinese burn, Dutch courage, French leave and Mexican carwash, which enshrine stereotyped criticism of the peoples concerned. Throwaway expressions have no factual basis, though they sometimes emerge in a century when relations with another country are particularly vexed. The Oxford Dictionary (1989) notes that rivalry between the English and the Dutch in the seventeenth century seems to have been the matrix for various phrases critical of the Dutch, including Dutch auction, Dutch bargain, Dutch gold, Dutch treat and Dutch uncle. The phrases imply stereotypes of the Dutch as stingy and moralising. Throwaway terms for the French tend to project them as licentious, witness French 800 tight or tightly kiss, French letter and doing french. Speakers of languages other than English return the compliment. To express what the English call French leave, there are expressions in Italian, French and Norwegian which translate as “leave like an Englishman”. The prejudices and stereotypes embodied in throwaway terms are very persistent, and it would be better for neighborly relations if they passed into oblivion. Dictionaries too can do their bit by removing the capital letter from throwaway terms, so that there’s no subconscious stimulus toreadthemasnational or geographical terms. The fact that French Guiana comes just before French leave in the headword list is no reason to insist on keeping the capital letter on the second. thru or through See through. thus This has two roles, as: 1 a demonstrative adverb meaning “in this way” 2 a conjunct meaning “consequently”. Both uses of thus contribute to the cohesion of a piece of writing (see coherence or cohesion). The second is particularly useful in argument, suggesting logical connections between one statement and another. Note that it is a conjunct rather than a conjunction (see further under conjunctions section 3). tic or tick These spellings serve to differentiate a medical word from several others. Tic is reserved for a convulsive motion by the muscles of the face, while tick covers all of the following: r the small bloodsucking insect r the small sound made by a clock r the small mark (  ) used to check items off r the cover of a mattress or pillow Apart from those standard uses, tick is also found in informal idioms such as just a tick (= moment) and on tick (= credit). The words spelled tick make a remarkable set of homonyms, and the fact that several imply something small also suggests that there’s some sound symbolism at work in the word. See further under phonesthemes. ticketed For the spelling of this verb, see t. tidbit or titbit See titbit. tight or tightly The first of these can be either an adjective as in a tight fist,or an adverb, especially in informal idioms such as hold tight and sit tight. It usually follows the verb it modifies. Tightly is the regular adverb which expresses the firmness of a grip, as in clamped tightly between the teeth, or the closeness of an arrangement, as in tightly packed congregation. It can appear either before or after the verb, as in those examples. See further under zero adverbs. 801 tilde tilde This accent is most familiar in Spanish and Portuguese, though it has different functions in each. In Spanish it only occurs with n,asinse ˜ nor, to show that it’s pronounced to rhyme with “tenure” rather than “tenor”. In Portuguese it appears with a and o to show that they are nasal vowels, whether as single sounds or as the first vowel in a diphthong as in curac¸ ˜ ao. till or until In most contexts these are equally good, witness: We’ll delay the discussion till you come. We’ll delay the discussion until you come. Until seems a little more formal, yet till is certainly not an abbreviated form of it. Till was established centuries before until. Both words can be used as prepositions and conjunctions, in the dimensions of time and space. Two cautions to note with till/until: 1 to combine up with either of them (up till/up until) is strictly redundant, though it’s occasionally used for special emphasis. 2 there is no need or justification for ’til, when till stands in its own right and not as a contraction of until. timber or timbre These words mean quite different things and are not merely different spellings for the same word like center/centre. Timber is of course the collective word for wood which has been harvested and sawn up for use in buildings etc. It originated in Old English as the word for “wood” or “wooden construction”. Timbre is the quality of sound made by a musical instrument, or the singing or speaking voice. It depends on the relative intensities of the overtones accompanying the fundamental. It derives from the French word for a small bell. A rare alternative spelling for timbre is tamber, coined by British linguists in the 1920s to render the sound of the French word. time In the Anglo-Saxon tradition, time of day was reckoned in terms of two equal parts, with twelve hours before noon (am) and twelve before midnight (pm). Questions about which of the threshold hours belong to which are discussed at the entry for pm. With the twenty-four hour clock, neither am nor pm are needed, and the problem disappears altogether. For matters of historical time, see dating systems. For geological time, see geological eras and Appendix III. For the use of the apostrophe in expressions such as six months time or one year’s time, see under apostrophes section 2. time zones Australia stretches 4000 kilometres from east to west, and is divided into three time zones. The eastern states (Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania) work by Australian Eastern Standard Time; South Australia and Northern Territory by Central Standard Time (half an hour behind Eastern 802 titles Standard); and Western Australia by Western Standard Time (two hours behind Eastern Standard). Daylight saving adjustments are applied independently by each state to standard time, and their sovereign right to decide when summertime begins and ends can result, temporarily, in further time zones. In March 2006 there were five time zones, when South Australia and Tasmania maintained daylight saving longer than the rest. tingeing or tinging See -e section 1d. -tion Many abstract nouns in English end this way, though strictly speaking the -t belongs to the stem, and the suffix is -ion. See further under -ation and -ion. tipstaff The plural of this word is tipstaves according to the Macquarie Dictionary (2005) and the major American dictionaries. In Australian documents on the internet (Google 2006) tipstaves outnumbered tipstaffs by more than 8:1. Compare the two plural forms of staff, discussed under that heading. tire or tyre See under tyre. tiro or tyro Dictionaries diverge on which spelling to use for this Latin loanword meaning a “novice”. In classical Latin it was tiro, and this is the spelling preferred in the Oxford Dictionary (1989) and other British authorities. However the immediate source of the word for English was medieval Latin where it was tyro, and this is the preferred spelling in Webster’s (1986) and the Macquarie Dictionary (2005). Because of its rarity there’s no pressure to settle the spelling one way or the other. (For other classical words spelled with both i and y, see under i/y.) The plural of the word has also varied, though modern dictionaries recommend the English plural tiros or tyros. The Latin plural tyrones was last recorded in 1824. titbit or tidbit The first spelling is preferred in Australian and British English, the second in American English. The word is something of a mystery, but both Bailey and Johnson record that tid could mean such things as “nice, delicate, tender, soft”, which seem to come closer to the meaning than tit, a “small animal or object”. This suggests that the American tidbit is closer to the origin of the word. Yet the British spelling titbit also dates from the eighteenth century. titer or titre See -re/-er. titles The titles of publications and creative works demand special treatment to set them apart from ordinary strings of words. This entry deals in turn with books, journal articles, newspapers and magazines and audiovisual media. For the titles used by people, see under forms of address. 1 Book titles are distinguished in print by italics, and in handwriting or typing by underlining. On the question of which words in the title to capitalise, all agree 803 titles that the first word must carry a capital letter, but after that there’s considerable divergence. Opinions range from minimal use of capitals to something like maximal: a) capitalise nothing apart from any proper names: For the term of his natural life b) capitalise all nouns: For the Term of his natural Life c) capitalise all nouns and adjectives: For the Term of his Natural Life d) capitalise all nouns, adjectives, pronouns, verbs and adverbs (i.e. everything except function words): For the Term of His Natural Life Librarians and bibliographers work with minimal capitals (option (a)), yet options (b) to (d) are well established in literary tradition. For many people there’s virtue in using option (a) in lists and bibliographies (see further under bibliographies), but using one of the other options for titles quoted in the course of a written discussion. Option (b) is quite sufficient whenever an italic typeface or underlining is used to set the title apart from the text in which it’s embedded. Note also that these options allow us to contrast the title and subtitle of a book with heavier and lighter capitalisation. Thus any of the options (b) to (d) can be used for the main title, and option (a) for the subtitle, as in: The Life and Times of the English Language: the marvellous history of the English tongue The use of option (a) for the subtitle also settles a minor bone of contention over whether to capitalise the first word of the subtitle or not. The principle of minimal capitals means lower case for everything (except proper names) in the subtitle, as shown above. 2 The use of short titles (an abbreviated form of the book’s title) is on the increase. They replace the Latin ibid. etc. in footnotes, and also appear in the main text in second and subsequent allusions to a publication. In both places, it’s helpful to have more than minimal capitalisation. (See further under short titles.) 3 Titles of journal articles. The setting of the titles of scholarly articles varies from journal to journal, reflecting the decisions and preferences of individual editors. An established style is to enclose the title of the article in quotation marks, and to use italics (or underlining) for the name of the journal. The more recent style does away with quotation marks, and simply uses typography to contrast the title of the article (in roman) with the name of the journal (in italics). Abbreviations for the stock items in journal references (such as J for Journal) are increasingly used, especially in the Vancouver style. (See bibliographies section C.) 804 toboggan or sled 4 Titles of newspapers and magazines. The mastheads of newspapers and magazines are set in italics, without The (see further under the). The date of issue and the edition, where necessary, are given as well as the section number or name, if the paper is produced in separate units. Page references are optional according to both the Chicago Manual of Style and Butcher’s Copy-editing (2006). 5 Titles of radio and TV programs, feature films, sound recordings etc. The titles of these are capitalised, as for books. Again it’s desirable to have more than minimal capitalisation when the titles are cited amid running text, and options (b), (c) or (d) serve the purpose. Quotation marks are sometimes used to distinguish the subunits of a TV or radio series (as with individual poems in an anthology). Otherwise the titles of audiovisual items are distinguished chiefly by the use of italics (see further under italics). For more details about citing audiovisual media, see under that heading. titre or titer See -re/-er. ti-tree or tea-tree See tea-tree. to This small word is the focus of several usage questions about how it relates to verbs and to particular adjectives. 1 To with verbs. To is commonly thought of as an essential part of the infinitive of English verbs, but it’s not necessarily so (see infinitives). For a discussion of the so-called “split infinitive”, as in to really understand, see split infinitive. To often serves as the link between quasi-auxiliaries or catenatives and the main verb, as with: dare to had to going to need to ought to try to want to Note that the to is sometimes omitted with dare, need and ought, especially in negative statements (see under those individual headings). 2 To after certain adjectives. To has always been used after adjectives (and adverbs), especially those which suggest likeness or closeness, for example: adjacent to close to similar to near to It also works withmanykindsofwords to suggest aparticular orientation or relative position, as with: amenable to averse to comparable to conducive to different to oblivious to susceptible to For some of those, the collocation with to is an alternative, but for others it’s the only one used. Those with a related verb (compare, differ) often have alternatives. See further under compare, different and oblivious. toboggan or sled See sled. 805 toilet or toilette toilet or toilette When first borrowed intoEnglish in the seventeenth century (as toilette), this French loanword referred to a cloth associated with dressing and grooming. Within the context of getting dressed it developed a number of other meanings, almost all of which have been disabled since about 1900, because as toilet it then became the standard word for a lavatory. The older and wider associations with dressing and grooming live on in derivatives such as toilet bag, toilet set and toiletries, and in the occasional use of toilette (with French pronunciation) to refer to personal ablutions. In writing, the French spelling helps to distance the word from the WC. No longer is it possible to say: She appeared in a blue toilet, as was said in the nineteenth century; and the thought of a toilet being a “reception held while dressing” (an eighteenth century usage) is unthinkable. The word’s history is a living example of the operation of language taboos. See further under taboo words. tolerance or toleration These abstract nouns both embody the verb tolerate, but the first is the broader and more sympathetic word. It implies a characteristic willingness to give place to attitudes and practices other than one’s own. Tolerance also has some more technical meanings: r in medicine and pharmaceutics: “capacity to endure”, as in low tolerance for alcohol r in engineering: “acceptable deviation from the specified dimensions”, as in the measurements have tolerances of only 1 mm Toleration is mostly used of a specific instance of tolerance,asin: Don’t count on her toleration of his throwaway lines about Queenslanders. It implies more strongly than tolerance that there are limits to what one would put up with. This is still so when it comes to religious toleration, which often suggests the need to accept other religions because of their presence in the community, not through any desire to endorse them. Note that the negative form for both tolerance and toleration is intolerance. ton, tonne or tun The word ton belongs to the imperial system of weights and measures, and is the equivalent of 2240 lb. The extended names gross ton or long ton help to distinguish it from the short ton of 2000 lb, which is used in the US. (The latter is therefore sometimes called the “American ton” by outsiders.) The tonne is a metric unit of mass equal to 1000 kg. (See further under imperial system and Appendix V.) Ton derives from tun, a word for a large cask of wine or beer, which has also served as a unit of measurement for liquids. The spelling ton was simply a variant of tun that became the word for a standard of weight during the seventeenth century. Tonne was borrowed from French in the nineteenth century, though it too is ultimately the same word. 806 topic The word tonnage relates to tons and the imperial system, and there’s not yet an equivalent for tonnes in the metric system. One could suggest tonneage, though that goes against standard rules of English spelling (see -e section 1). Perhaps there’s no need to worry about finding a term, because tonnage will simply become the standard term relating to the metric tonne as the change to metrication completes itself. topic The beginning of a sentence is its most important part. Whatever is there is foregrounded for the reader as the ongoing focus of interest, whether it’s something talked about in the preceding sentence(s), or a new focus of attention. Compare: A) James Rand had always wanted to go to Africa. He had met Moroccans in Spain who seemed to exude the mystery of the dark continent. He also knew there was business to be cultivated in Nigeria, and he could amuse himself with a little big game hunting as recreation. B) James Rand had always wanted to go to Africa. But until things had settled down in Nigeria, it wasn’t the place to look for business. It wasn’t far from the big game hunting grounds however Notice how version (A) seems to focus on JR the man himself, whereas version (B) is concerned with the location. These different perspectives develop from the different openings to the second and third sentences. Both versions begin with a statement about the man and the place, but (A) turns the spotlight on he, and (B) on it. Thus the focus of the passage, and what it foregrounds, is controlled by what appears at the beginnings of sentences. 1 Sentence positions. The all-important first “slot” in the sentence is often referred to as the topic. The rest of the sentence is then known as the comment. In these terms the first sentence above is structured thus: TOPIC COMMENT James Rand had always wanted to go to Africa. Note that the topic position can be occupied by different grammatical items. It’s often a name, pronoun or noun phrase which is the grammatical subject of the sentence. But it can also be an opening adverbial phrase or clause, as in sentence two of version (B): But until things had settled down in Nigeria Note also that the topic may be preceded by a conjunction/conjunct (in that case but), which gives no substance but helps to show that the focus is changing. In closely argued writing the topic is quite often preceded by a conjunct and/or an interpersonal cue such as perhaps, regrettably, which again helps to frame the topic item for the reader. What happens in the comment slot (the latter part of the sentence) is less important for information focus. It does however serve to introduce information 807 topic sentences which can be developed in the following sentence. The reference to Africa in the comment of the first sentence gives the writer a basis from which to develop the subject and to refer to “Moroccans” in the second sentence (version A) and “Nigeria” (version B), and then to “big game” in the third sentence. Note that some linguists replace the terms topic and comment with theme and rheme respectively. 2 Topicalising phrases. Because the topic position is so important, what goes there should not be dictated by the routine grammar of the clause. Ordinarily a clause begins with its subject, as noted above; yet something else can be put ahead of it to highlight the point at issue. The phrase or clause which does that is known as a topicalising phrase/clause. In documentary writing there are stock topicalising phrases which serve to alter the focus: In a similar/later/larger study, JB found that From a historical/theoretical point of view, the problem For other examples, see under dangling participle. Other ways of getting something into topic position are: r using the passive. It puts the spotlight on the object of the verb instead of the subject. Compare: The Moroccans embodied all the mystery of the dark continent. All the mystery of the dark continent was embodied in the Moroccans he met. r using cleft sentences: see under that heading. topic sentences These are the sentences that signal what a paragraph is to be about. See under paragraphs. tormentor or tormenter Dictionaries always give first preference to tormentor, but the major ones also present tormenter as an acceptable alternative. tornado, hurricane or cyclone See cyclone. torpedo For the plural, see under -o. torturous or tortuous The first word has torture in it, and torturous means “causing pain and distress”, as in: He suffered a torturous death from lung cancer. The second word tortuous means “twisting, winding”, and so is often found in the phrase a tortuous path. In fact both words could be applied to a grueling bushwalk on a narrow and difficult track. In figurative use, especially in relation to an argument, tortuous is more likely and more common as a way of saying that what’s said was complicated and hard to follow. (That is, unless the words uttered were very distressing to the hearer, in which case it would be torturous.) The two words are often confused, and if there’s 808 [...]... because total works as a collective noun, or (2) because total of works as a numerical phrase like a lot of or a number of, which normally take plural verbs See further under agreement section 4 totaled or totalled Whether to double or not to double the l is discussed at -l/-ll- toto See in toto tour de force This French phrase means literally “feat of strength” In English it usually refers to a feat... it’s toward The difference is most marked in Britain however, where according to corpus evidence towards outnumbers toward by more than 20:1 In Australia the ratio is more like 7:1, while in the US it’s the reverse: 1:7 in favor of toward Note that the word is a preposition, and therefore a different case from the adjectives/adverbs ending in -ward(s) See further under -ward or -wards toweling or towelling... be a protected tradename, and by the other to be common lexical property Dictionaries are sometimes invoked to show whether or not the word is generic, and can find themselves in the gun for including words which began life as tradenames Their defense is to say that such words would not be in the list if they were not already generic, and to note at the same time that the word originated as a trademark... methods ensure that there’s no confusion with the punctuation associated with the carrier text Longish URLs that take the visitor deep inside a website can be handled in either of those ways When run on straight after the carrier sentence, the URL may need to be divided at the end of the line, in which case the break is made after the forward slashes or any other punctuation mark within the address: Information... streptococcus stylus syllabus terminus uterus In Latin the regular pattern was for the -us ending to become -i in the plural (stimulus>stimuli), and this often happens in English too The Latin plural is occasionally replaced by the regular English one (stimuluses), especially for the names of flowers and plants e.g cactuses But the English plural involves a concentration of sibilants at the end of the. .. “American” in the same phrases, because American refers rather loosely to the whole continent, not the United States themselves (see further under America) The abbreviation US is often used informally for the noun as well, as in going to the US next year The usage is widespread in newspapers and everyday writing, though in formal documents it’s replaced by the United States (of America)” No stops are needed... use to is usual and correct in American English; and it’s also preferred in Britain, according to the Comprehensive Grammar of English (1985) Both regard didn’t used to as dubious When it comes to phrasing questions with used to, there are the same alternatives: Used you to get up early? Did you use(d) to get up early? The second construction: did you use is overwhelmingly preferred to used you to in... memorandum millennium minimum moratorium ovum podium referendum rostrum sanatorium sanctum serum solarium spectrum stadium stratum symposium ultimatum vacuum The key question is their plurals, whether they should be Latin ones with -a or English ones with -ums, or perhaps either Overall, the more the word appears in everyday use, the more likely it is to take the English plural, as with aquariums,...town names any risk of misunderstanding, they should be replaced: tortuous with “convoluted” and torturous with “excruciating” total of Which should it be: A total of 34 soldiers was recruited A total of 34 soldiers were recruited Traditional grammar would insist on the first, arguing that the verb has to agree with total The alternative view is that the second sentence is also possible, either... one grammatical class to another Shakespeare made it happen in the much quoted It outherods herod; and a striking modern example can be seen in: The concept has been Laura Ashleyed The grammatical process is no stranger than the one we accept in sentences like the following: They were short-changed at the restaurant He buttonholed me in the corridor 812 transient or transitory The conversion of nouns . of the options (b) to (d) can be used for the main title, and option (a) for the subtitle, as in: The Life and Times of the English Language: the marvellous history of the English tongue The. presence in the community, not through any desire to endorse them. Note that the negative form for both tolerance and toleration is intolerance. ton, tonne or tun The word ton belongs to the imperial. it too is ultimately the same word. 806 topic The word tonnage relates to tons and the imperial system, and there’s not yet an equivalent for tonnes in the metric system. One could suggest tonneage,