Penguin Dictionary of American English Usage and Style_7 docx

in-law, consuls general, courts martial, notaries public, sergeants major, and tugs of war. The noun goes first in each of those; it goes second in these: judge advocates, lieutenant generals, major generals. Many compounds that do not end in nouns get simple s endings, partic- ularly if they are single words: break- throughs, forget-me-nots, knockouts, ne’er-do-wells, takeoffs, and words end- ing in -ful, like cupfuls and spoonfuls. C. Creatures; peculiarities English has a variety of peculiar changes to perplex newcomers. Louse and mouse change to lice and mice. Blouse and house become blouses and houses, but the s sound in house changes to a z sound in the plural. You have one goose or two geese, but mongoose be- comes mongooses, and moose remains moose. Fish remains fish for individual speci- mens but becomes fishes for different types. Many fishes and beasts have sim- ple s plurals, but sometimes the singular is treated as a plural, particularly by fish- ermen and hunters: two flounders or flounder; three pheasants or pheasant. Other creatures are unchanged in the plural, except for different types or vari- eties. John buys two salmon or studies the different salmons of North America. I saw two deer and wondered which deers inhabit this region. Coffee, fruit, silk, steel, tea, wheat, and wool are treated as singular except when different types or varieties are considered; then s is affixed and it becomes plural. An or- chard produces lots of fruit and five dif- ferent fruits. D. -EN, -REN The -en and -ren forms are descended from Old English. They turn brother, child, ox, man, and woman into brethren (the archaic version of broth- ers), children, oxen, men, and women. E. Foreign derivations Some words preserve the forms of the foreign languages they were derived from. As in Latin, the singular words ad- dendum, alumnus, datum, genus, minu- tia, ovum, stimulus, and stratum change to the plural addenda, alumni, data, gen- era, minutiae, ova, stimuli, and strata. As in Greek, analysis, criterion, ellipsis, phe- nomenon, and thesis change to analyses, criteria, ellipses, phenomena, and theses. Other words adopted from foreign languages present a choice between the original plural and an Anglicized plural. Beau may become either beaux (French) or beaus. Cactus: either cacti (Latin) or cactuses. Carcinoma: either carcinomata (Greek) or carcinomas. Cherub: either cherubim (Hebrew) or cherubs. Curricu- lum: either curricula (Latin) or curricu- lums. Formula: either formulae (Latin) or formulas. Index: either indices (Latin) or indexes. Libretto: either libretti (Ital- ian) or librettos. Matrix: either matrices (Latin) or matrixes. Nucleus: either nu- clei (Latin) or, occasionally, nucleuses. Opus: either opera (a possibly confusing Latinism) or opuses. Radius: either radii (Latin) or radiuses. Virtuoso: either vir- tuosi (Italian) or virtuosos. F. -F ending Words that end in the f sound in the singular may have a -ves ending in the plural. Calf, half, knife, leaf, life, thief, self, wife, and wolf become calves, halves, knives, leaves, lives, thieves, selves, wives, and wolves. But wharf may become either wharfs or wharves and hoof either hoofs or hooves. Roof be- comes only roofs. And still life becomes only still lifes. G. -ICS ending Words that end in -ics may be con- strued either as singular or as plural. It depends on meaning. Considered as sciences, subjects, or occupations, acoustics, acrobatics, ath- letics, ethics, mathematics, physics, poli- tics, statistics, tactics, and so on are usually treated as singulars. Considered plurals and singulars 293 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 293 as qualities or activities, they are usually treated as plurals. Thus “mathematics is emphasized at that school” but “my mathematics are rusty.” / “Accoustics has become his business,” but “The ac- coustics here impress me.” H. Mr. and Mrs. Mr. and Mrs. use the French in the plural: Messieurs and Mesdames respec- tively, abbreviated Messrs. and Mmes. and pronounced MESS-errs and may- DAM or may-DOM. Miss becomes Misses or misses (with no name). Ms. has no plural. (See Titles, 2.) I. No plurals Most words that represent abstrac- tions, generalizations, or qualities, rather than concrete items, are singular only. Examples are amazement, courage, eat- ing, fondness, happiness, ignorance, learning, nonsense, and vindication. J. -O ending Add s to any word ending in o after a vowel: patios, radios, stereos, studios and tattoos. Most words ending in o after a conso- nant also take s (altos, egos, pianos), but several take -es (echoes, heroes, pota- toes, tomatoes). Several others go either way: buffaloes or buffalos, cargoes or cargos, dominoes or dominos, zeroes or zeros. K. -S ending Some nouns that normally end in s may be considered either plural or singu- lar: alms, barracks, corps, forceps, means, scissors (also pair or pairs of scis- sors). Some other nouns that end in s are plural in form though singular in mean- ing: blues (music), checkers, overalls, measles, pants, remains, tongs, trousers. Chess, kudos, and news are singular only. The plural of lens is lenses. The plural of gallows is either the same or, occasionally, gallowses. Names ending in s add es: Barnes—the Barneses. Davis—the Davises. Jones—the Joneses. L. Other entries Among entries dealing with plural and singular matters are these: BACTE- RIA and BACTERIUM; COHORT; CRITERIA and CRITERION; DATA; EMERITUS; GRAFFITI and GRAF- FITO; HEADQUARTERS; KUDOS; MEDIA and MEDIUM; MEMO- RANDA and MEMORANDUM; NONE, 1; Nouns, 3; PHENOMENA and PHENOMENON; Pronouns, 2; Punctuation, 1H (apostrophe); RAVI- OLI; RUIN and RUINS; Verbs, 3; VER- TEBRA and VERTEBRAE; WAY and “A WAYS”; -Y ending, 2. See also Number (grammatical) with a list of references. PLUS. Plus is not always a synonym for and. The sentence “Talent plus luck accounts for his success” correctly has a singular verb. But “Talent and luck ac- count for his success” correctly has a plural verb. Plus, meaning added to or increased by, is a preposition, like with. It is not a conjunction, a connecting word, like and. “Four plus three equals seven” is right. Each number is construed as sin- gular, so the total is singular. In that con- text and is synonymous with plus. “Four and three equals seven” is idiomatic. “The potato plus the apple costs fifty cents,” but “The potatoes plus the apple cost a dollar.” In the latter sentence, the verb, cost, is plural because potatoes is plural, not because of the plus. That brings us to an item about a fa- ther’s concern that his son is close to driving age. The Vice President’s Observatory Hill mansion grounds have private roads on which the teen-ager can learn to drive. “Plus you have a police car in front,” Quayle said, “and a concrete 294 plus 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 294 wall around the place and an ambu- lance following behind. . . .” Usually “plus” does not start a sentence or clause, except in the most casual speech. Better: in addition, furthermore, or and. Plus can be also an adjective (“a plus sign” / “the plus side of the account” / “a grade of D plus”) and a noun (“This is a plus: +” / “The contract is a plus for our company”). P.M. See A.M., P.M., NOON, MID- NIGHT. PODIUM. See LECTERN and PODIUM. POINT OUT. To point out is to di- rect one’s attention to (certain informa- tion or a particular situation). The phrase is not impartial. It suggests that what is pointed out is true. Unless the information is clearly fac- tual (“He pointed out a defective leg of that chair”) or you are prepared to vouch for its truth (“Let me point out my client’s long record of altruism”), use a more neutral word or phrase. A TV newscaster’s announcement that a utility company “points out that Proposition 9 is not needed” in effect supported the company’s position. Re- placing “points out” with says or con- tends would have maintained the impartiality of the television station. POOL. See BILLIARDS and POOL. POPULIST. A minor factual error is found in the following passage from a book by a chief justice. The same error is made by an encyclopedia and a dictio- nary. The Farmers’ Alliances joined to- gether with other splinter factions to put the Populist party on a national basis in 1892. . . . The Populist party nominated James Weaver of Iowa for president in 1892 Four years later the Populist party fused with the Democratic party The party was the People’s Party. A sup- porter of that party, but not the party it- self, was called Populist. Weaver, for instance, was a Populist. The farmer’s movement of that era was known as the Populist movement or Populism. PORE and POUR. See Homo- phones. Positive degree. See Comparative and superlative degrees. Possessive problems. 1. Can a thing possess something? 2. Multiple posses- sives. 3. Possessive or not? 4. Possessive pronouns. 5. Various questions. 1. Can a thing possess something? A grammatical tradition has it that the possessive ending in ’s applies only to animate beings. An extreme view re- serves the ’s possessive to human beings, with few exceptions. Thus a grammarian holding that view rejects “Florida’s gov- ernor.” It would have to be the governor of Florida. Presumably the governor’s signature would be acceptable. But the exceptions that have become standard are many and getting more nu- merous. They are in innumerable com- mon expressions: a day’s work; for heaven’s sake; in harm’s way; my mind’s eye; my wit’s end; a stone’s throw; to- day’s paper. Literary uses abound: A Midsummer Night’s Dream / “the dawn’s early light . . . the twilight’s last gleaming” / “the pangs of despised love, the law’s delay” / “the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song” / “The world’s great age begins anew.” The extreme view is not recom- mended here. Nevertheless, the use of ar- possessive problems 295 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 295 tificial possessives in the news business has long been rampant. Some, like the nation’s capital in place of the national capital, have become familiar. Others are unidiomatic combinations such as “Spain’s King Juan Carlos” instead of King Juan Carlos of Spain, designed to save minute amounts of space. One typi- cal paragraph in a news magazine con- tains phrases like “the group’s new leader . . . the group’s founder . . . Jihad’s representative in Tehran warning that Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Intelligence believes. . . .” Let inanimate objects or animals pos- sess things, if they can do so gracefully. Few will complain about “The town’s only theater” / “The value of Apple’s stocks” / “a dog’s age” / “horses’ hoofs.” But let no one speak of “the century’s turn,” write that “I’m having my life’s time,” or wish anyone the “morning’s top.” 2. Multiple possessives “Your and my boss are friends” and “My and her children play together” sound strange, because in each instance the first possessive pronoun is separated from the noun. Placing one possessive pronoun before the noun and the other after the noun solves the problem: “Your boss and mine . . .” / “My children and hers. . . .” If we have something in com- mon, there is no problem: “our build- ing” / “our country.” How to make two nouns possessive depends on whether possession is sepa- rate (“The plaintiff’s and the defendant’s attorneys”) or joint (“Laurel and Hardy’s films”). See Punctuation, 1E. 3. Possessive or not? Whether a noun is possessive or merely acting as a modifier can be a sub- tle distinction. One can write about the United States’ population and a new United States citizen or about General Motors’ plants and the General Motors Building. Note that it is never “United State’s” or “General Motor’s.” The names of organizations are highly variable in their use or nonuse of the apostrophe. It is the Boys’ Clubs of America but the Girls Clubs of America; the International Backpackers’ Associa- tion but the National Campers and Hik- ers Association; the Sheet Metal Workers’ International Association but the Transport Workers Union of Amer- ica; the National Sheriff’s Association but the Music Teachers National Associ- ation. The apostrophe is necessary in Chil- dren’s Aid Society and Women’s Chris- tian Temperance Union. Without an apostrophe, it makes no sense to add an s to children or women. The same is true for any other word that is plural without an added s. The apostrophe is traditional in phrases like ten years’ imprisonment and thirty days’ notice. Some critics would omit the apostrophe in such phrases. No one would want possession in such vari- ations as a thirty-day notice or notice of thirty days. It would be a thousand dol- lars’ worth or, in figures, $1,000 worth. 4. Possessive pronouns Let nobody tamper with a word like hers, his, our, ours, your, or yours. It takes no ’s, no apostrophe. It is already possessive. Sometimes “her’s” and “our’s” and “your’s” are seen, and they are wrong (although they were deemed correct centuries back). So is “his’n” or “hisn,” a dialectal version of his, which is heard or seen in some regions. A word like his, hers, etc. may be re- garded as a personal pronoun in the pos- sessive case. There are two types: • The type that goes before the noun (e.g., “This is her house”). It takes in the singular words my, your, his, her, and its and the plural words our, your, and their. 296 possessive problems 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 296 • The type that goes after the noun (“This house is hers”): the singulars mine, yours, his, hers, and its and the plurals ours, yours, and theirs. (Words of the first type are known also as possessive adjectives. Some gram- marians assign that name to my, your his, her, etc. because they go before nouns, as adjectives do: “This is a fra- grant flower.” But adjectives too follow nouns: “This flower is fragrant.”) The indefinite pronoun is a class of pronoun that can be made possessive, e.g., anybody’s, anyone’s, either’s, every- body’s, everyone’s, nobody’s, one’s, somebody’s, and someone’s. 5. Various questions Is this correct? “I have Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, the soprano’s, records.” What is made possessive when an appos- itive, or an explanatory word or phrase, follows a person’s name? The appositive is. That example is correct, and so is this one: “They showed Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.’s, first film.” But “records of Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, the soprano” and “the first film by Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.” are smoother ways to express the same thoughts. How is a compound noun like broth- ers-in-law and attorneys general made possessive when it already has a plural s? Add an apostrophe and another s. “Guess what my brothers-in-law’s occu- pations are.” / “He spoke at the attor- neys general’s meeting.” Which is right, “They ask for our first name” or “names”? The latter; we have separate names. But “John and Agnes are selling their house,” if they own it jointly. See Nouns, 3. Is it “the painting of my daughter” or “the painting of my daughter’s”? It is the first if the picture shows her; the second if it was painted by her. Some critics find the double negative illogical, however old and established. Nobody objects to it when the possessive is a pronoun: “a col- league of mine.” See Double possessive. What is the genitive case? It is the pos- sessive case, the form of a noun or pro- noun that indicates someone’s or something’s possession, characteristic, product, etc. See also Pronouns, 10A. See Punctuation, 1, the apostrophe, for problems such as the confusion of possessive forms and contractions (B), omitted and superfluous apostrophes (C and D), possessives of possessives (F) and sibilant endings (G). See also Gerund, 4; Pronouns, 1, 2, 9. POSSIBLE, POSSIBLY, POSSIBIL- ITY. 1. Meaning of POSSIBLE. 2. Preposition with POSSIBILITY. 1. Meaning of POSSIBLE Possible (adjective) means capable of being, doing, or happening. It is possible for an imprisoned burglar to be elected president on a platform of legalized crime; not likely, highly improbable, just possible. Were broadcasters talking about the realm of possibility when they made the following statements? [Woman:] Public TV stations need your support. [Man:] Support that makes pro- grams like Nightly Business Report possible. The Fresh Grocer is made possible by Lunardi’s Market. Express Traffic [is] made possible by the California Lottery. Monetary contributions finance the public TV programs. The radio pro- grams are sponsored by the market and the lottery. All of those programs were possible before the stations went seeking contributions or sponsorship. The con- tributors and sponsors help materialize or make feasible or sustain that which is possible. possible, possibly, possibility 297 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 297 Journalists often misuse possible in this way: “He suffered a possible broken leg.” If it were impossible, no one would suffer it. Better: “He may have suffered a . . .” or “It is possible that he suffered a . . .” or “He possibly [adverb] suffered a ” A less frequent journalistic misuse ap- pears in crime stories. “Police arrested a possible suspect. . . .” Omit “possible.” They arrested a suspect. A suspect is pos- sibly the culprit. See also APPARENT, APPARENTLY. 2. Preposition with POSSIBILITY When possibility (noun) is followed by a preposition, it is of. Then comes a gerund, an -ing word used as a noun. This sentence was part of a statement to the voters of a city from its legislative body: Every time San Franciscans face the possibility to enact candidate spend- ing reform, hired gun campaign con- sultants and weak-willed candidates try to snow the voters. “The possibility to enact” is not id- iomatic. Make it “the possibility of en- acting. . . .” (And insert a hyphen after “candidate.”) See Gerund, 3. POUR and PORE. See Homo- phones. PRACTICABLE and PRACTI- CAL. See Confusing pairs. PRECEDE and PROCEED. See Confusing pairs. PREDECESSOR and SUCCES- SOR. A magazine publisher, leaving to take another job, wrote to his readers, “I . . . know you will be as kind and thoughtful to my predecessor as you were to me.” Someone’s predecessor is one who preceded him, one who served earlier in the same capacity. The oppo- site word was needed: successor, one who succeeds another. “My successor” is the person who will take my job when I leave. Predicate. See Clause; Complement; Nouns, 4; Prepositions, 4; Sentence frag- ment, 1; Verbs, 1D. Predicate adjective. See Adjectives and adverbs, 2; Complement. Predicate noun (predicate nomina- tive). See Complement; Nouns, 1. Prediction. See EXPECTED; NOT ABOUT TO; Reversal of meaning, 1. PREFER. See THAN, 2D. Prefix. See BACK(-) prefix and pairs; BI- and SEMI- prefixes; CIRCUM- pre- fix; FACT- words; NANO- prefix; PRE- prefix; Punctuation, 4D (hyphenated forms); SELF- prefix; Spelling, 3; UP, 3. PREJUDICE. See WITH PREJU- DICE and WITHOUT PREJUDICE. Prepositions. 1. The ABC’s of prepo- sitions. 2. Ambiguity. 3. Ending with a preposition. 4. Insufficient prepositions. 5. Misplacement. 6. Omission. 7. Selec- tion of a preposition. 8. Superfluous preposition. 1. The ABC’s of prepositions The preposition is a deceptive part of speech, simple on the surface while trou- bling to learners of English and some- times to native speakers as well. It is everywhere; it appeared in the last sen- tence five times. It includes some of the shortest words—at, by, in, of, on, to, up—but properly choosing and using it can be illogical, dictated by idiom. A preposition shows the relation of a word or phrase in a sentence to a noun 298 pour and pore 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 298 or pronoun in that sentence. In the sen- tence “She lives in Providence,” the preposition in relates the verb lives to the noun Providence. In “The cat came to me,” the preposition to relates the verb came to the pronoun me. A preposition may relate an adjective to a noun (“young at heart”), one noun to another (“the sound of music”), one pronoun to another (“Are you with him?”), and so on. The choice of a preposition can deter- mine the meaning of a sentence. “He ran into the building” and “He ran from the building,” though differing by only one word, have opposite meanings. In many cases idiom, not meaning, dictates which preposition to use. “Visi- tors are forbidden to enter” but “prohib- ited from entering.” (See FORBID, PROHIBIT, and BAN; Gerund, 3.) Depending on how it is used, the same word may go with different preposi- tions. “Twelve is equivalent [adjective] to a dozen” but “Twelve is the equiva- lent [noun] of a dozen.” / “I agree to the deal” but “I agree with you.” (The first agree means to give approval; the second means to concur.) More examples ap- pear in 7. Prepositions are not all tiny words; they include against, around, between, during, through, toward, without, and some that comprise more than one word, such as according to, because of, by means of, in regard to, and on ac- count of. The noun or pronoun (or other sub- stantive) that the preposition pertains to is called the object of the preposition. A pronoun that serves as the object takes the objective case. “The town stood be- hind him,” not “he.” (See Pronouns, 10.) The preposition plus the object (and any modifier of it) is a prepositional phrase, e.g., behind him in the last exam- ple and the following emphasized words: “Violin with guitar makes a pleasant sound.” / Under that tree is a good place to rest.” The phrases are acting as ad- verb, adjective, and noun respectively. 2. Ambiguity One might expect the little preposi- tions of and for to be clear in meaning, and usually they are. But each has many meanings and can become cloudy in cer- tain contexts. “ ‘They have a valid complaint,’ said Dawis of the squatters.” Was Dawis one of the squatters? “Of” could mean from or belonging to. However, the context (a news story) indicates that about was meant; it would have been a more suit- able preposition. A book on words mentions “achthronym, a word H. L. Mencken used for an ethnic slur. . . .” Those unfa- miliar with the combining form -onym, used in classifying words and names, could get the idea that the writer Mencken used the word as a slur against an ethnic group. “For” could give that impression. To mean or to denote, a verb, would be more precise. An almanac says that Boris Yeltsin urged fast reform and “championed the cause for national reconstruction. . . .” Was “the cause” reform? It was proba- bly “national reconstruction,” but the for is ambiguous; it could mean in the in- terest of. “. . . The cause of” would be clearer and more idiomatic. The headline “Guards Use Rifles in Quentin Killing” suggests that prison guards shot someone to death. Actually, one inmate stabbed another, whereupon a guard fired at and wounded the at- tacker. The copy editor evidently had a peripheral role for “in” in mind; instead, it drags the using of rifles smack into the “Killing.” He probably avoided any- thing as straightforward as “San Quentin Inmate Is Fatally Stabbed” be- cause a competing paper got the news first. See also 6. prepositions 299 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 299 3. Ending with a preposition The word preposition, a relative of the Latin praepositus, meaning placed in front, should not be taken literally. Sometimes a preposition goes at the end of a sentence. A newspaper quotes an eyewitness as saying on Israeli radio: “Everybody was hysterical, and nobody knew where the bullets would come from.” There is nothing wrong with the quoted sentence (as long as it was quoted and translated correctly). Anyone who says you cannot end any sentence with a preposition does not know what he is talking about. He would probably change the foregoing to “. . . does not know about what he is talking.” The notion was called by H. W. Fowler a once “cherished superstition” and by Winston Churchill “an arrant pedantry up with which I will not put.” It originates in the Latin language. Placing a preposition at the end may weaken a sentence, strengthen it, or do neither. It depends on the sentence. “. . . Nobody knew from where the bul- lets would come” is a weakened version of the opening sample. Many great writers have ended sen- tences with prepositions. Shakespeare wrote: “It is an honor that I dream not of” (Romeo and Juliet) and “It would be spoke to” (Hamlet). Prepositions end various common ex- pressions, such as to have or not have “a leg to stand on” / “to be reckoned with” / “that’s what ——— are for” / “where I come from.” 4. Insufficient prepositions One preposition may or may not be enough for a compound predicate; that is, a predicate with more than one verb. (The predicate is the part of a sentence that expresses the action.) One preposi- tion is enough in this compound sen- tence: “He ranted and raved about his wife’s alleged unfaithfulness.” The next one, from a telecast, has one correct preposition but lacks a second: He was treated and released from a nearby hospital. Released goes with from but “treated” does not. A person is treated at or in a hospital, not “from” a hospital. This is one possible correction: “He was treated at and released from a nearby hospital.” Better: “He was treated at a nearby hos- pital and released.” Two similar sentences, from newspa- pers, are likewise inadequate: Another victim was transported to St. Francis Memorial Hospital, where he was treated and released for minor in- juries. Mike K——, 38, was treated and released from Marin General Hospital for smoke inhalation and first- and second-degree burns on his head. . . . The first sentence of that pair says the victim was “released for” injuries, an ab- surd juxtaposition. Here is a correction: “Another victim was transported to St. Francis Memorial Hospital, treated there for minor injuries, and released.” In the second of the pair, “treated” does not go with “from” and, again, “re- leased” does not go with “for.” Try this: “Mike . . . suffered from smoke inhala- tion [etc.]. . . . He was treated at Marin General Hospital and released.” H. W. Fowler called attention to what he labeled “CANNIBALISM,” a sad practice in which “words devour their own kind.” For instance: The most vital problem in the etymo- logical study of English place-names is the question as to what extent per- sonal names occur in place-names. 300 prepositions 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 300 “As to” and “to what” need separate to’s, but one to is missing—swallowed by the other one, as Fowler would say. A sentence by Fowler himself evi- dences a swallowed preposition: . . . It means, beyond a doubt, a cus- tom that one deserves more honour for breaking than for keeping. . . . A for has been swallowed, so to speak, immediately after honour (the British spelling of honor). If for for is not to one’s liking, an alternative correction is to change “that” to for which. (See also HONORABLE [etc.] 3.) More examples appear in TO, 1. 5. Misplacement An adjective and a preposition that commonly go together, like similar to or different from, should not be split apart. This sentence, from a computer book, splits them apart: . . . The Toolbox has its own title bar and System menu, with similar properties to the publication title bar and System menu. A correction is “properties similar to the publication. . . .” (The sentence needs more fixing, for it compares unlike things. Make it “properties similar to those of the publication. . . .”) Prepositions are liable to be misplaced in sentences containing correlative con- junctions like both . . . and and ei- ther . . . or. “The bill has been passed both by the Senate and the House of Representatives.” Make it by both. “He has no faith either in the Democrats or the Republicans.” Make it in either. Now in each sentence the preposition (by or in) affects both nouns, not just the first; and we uphold the rule of correla- tive conjunctions: The same grammati- cal form that follows the first conjunction of the pair must follow the second, somewhat in the manner of a mathematical equation. See also BOTH, 1; EITHER, 1; NEITHER, 1; NOT ONLY. 6. Omission The casual speaker or writer some- times omits on and of when they are needed and sticks them in when they are not needed. “On the first day” and “a couple of kids” are typical phrases in which prepositions are subject to omis- sion, contrary to idiom. See ON, 1; COUPLE, 4. This sentence, from a book of travel adventure, omits another idiomatic preposition: Mid-afternoon we passed a ruined hamlet of stone and shortly after it reached an ancient and revered mosque. It would improve the sentence to start it with In. Adverbs representing times of day do not usually open sentences. (An- other improvement would be to drop “it,” which tends to fuse with “reached.”) A similar omission impairs a sentence by a food critic: Multiply your weight times 13 to get a rough idea of how many calories you can consume a day. Divide the total by 4, and that’s how many fat calories you can handle. You can “consume a day” repairing your house or operating your computer. As for the sample sentence, it would be improved either by “how many calories you can consume in a day” or by “how many calories a day you can consume.” An a or an may be enough when sand- wiched between the nouns denoting units and time. But the preposition in should precede a when units and time are further apart. The statistical preposi- prepositions 301 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 301 tion per fits either context: “calories per day” or “calories you can consume per day.” Prepositions, especially of, are often omitted in efforts to be concise. The re- sult can be ambiguity. “A small sculpture collection” could mean either “a collec- tion of small sculptures” or “a small col- lection of sculptures.” A more complicated example: “The curbing of public meetings and the publication of newspapers eliminated most opposition to the regime.” As it stands, “the curbing of public meetings” and “the publication of newspapers” may appear to be paral- lel factors. But if “curbing” controls the latter phrase (a more likely assumption), precede the phrase by of: “The curbing of public meetings and of the publication of newspapers . . .” If the meaning is clear, omission of prepositions is tolerable in headlines, such as the following, which appeared in one newspaper edition: “Police seek Ne- tanyahu indictment” / “Oil industry fights gas additive ban” / “Group urges tough rules for hydrofluoric acid use” / “Panel OKs flood aid package.” In texts, clarity and grace call for “. . . indictment of Netanyahu / “. . . ban on gas addi- tives” (or, better, “gasoline additives”) / “. . . use of hydrofluoric acid” / “. . . package of flood aid.” 7. Selection of a preposition Learning which preposition goes with each verb, adjective, noun, or pronoun is a daunting task for the foreign student of English, sometimes for the native speaker too. The choice of preposition often depends on idiom, rather than logic. The same word may go with two prepositions, depending on meaning: Agree to means to consent to or ap- prove something; agree with means to be of the same opinion as, or to be suitable for. Belong to means to be a member of; belong with means to deserve being clas- sified among. Capacity for means apti- tude for; capacity of means the most that can be contained in. Compare to means to liken to; compare with means to con- trast with. (See COMPARED TO and COMPARED WITH, 1.) Concur in means to express approval of (an opin- ion or joint action); concur with means to agree with (someone). Correspond to means to match; correspond with means to exchange letters with. Differ from means to be unlike; differ with means to disagree with. In behalf of means in the interest of; on behalf of means as the agent of. Liable for means responsible for; liable to means apt to. (In) sympathy with means in agreement with; sympa- thy for means compassion for. Wait for is to be inactive and in anticipation of; wait on is to serve (someone food or drink). (See WAIT FOR and WAIT ON.) Even when the meaning does not change much, the preposition may vary with context. A conversation between two people is a conversation among three. (See BETWEEN, 1.) A patient is cured of a disease but cured by a treat- ment. One is grateful for a benefit but grateful to a person. One may intervene in a dispute but intervene between those disputing. A buyer is in the market for a product; a product is on the market. Someone gains mastery of a skill or sub- ject; a ruler or regime gains mastery over a country or people. A report of an acci- dent appears in the paper; the govern- ment submits a report on the economy. One may speak on a subject but speak to a person. (See SPEAK TO, TALK TO.) In the press on often assumes func- tions that would be better served by other prepositions. (See ON, 3.) In news items about arrests, for can be prejudi- cial. (See Guilt and Innocence, 5.) An occasional error in the choice of prepositions goes like this (numbers added): “He will be in the best possible position for [1] getting the most out of the land and of [2] using it to the best possible advantage.” Although for 302 prepositions 03-M–Q_4 10/22/02 10:32 AM Page 302 [...]... (See THAT and WHICH; WHO, THAT, and WHICH.) PROOF and EVIDENCE See EVIDENCE and PROOF PROOF OF THE PUDDING The proverb about proof and pudding perplexes people Some, it seems, would search through the pudding for the proof, however messy it would be to do so A senator, contrasting the president’s promises and performance, said, “The proof’s in the pudding.” A TV reporter, summarizing a city of cial’s... great deal of soy foods and have lower rates of breast cancer is not proof positive that soy is protective The reversal may stem from a series of cigarette ads and commercials in the days when they were broadcast A company claimed to offer “proof positive” of the salutary benefit of its product, thus turning truth as well as syntax topsy-turvy See also Adjectives and adverbs, 2 PROOFREAD, PROOFREADING... $40 and $50.” Omit at This example is similar in its causes to the one at the end of 7: “It could be done without unduly raising the price of coal or of jeopardizing new trade.” Omit the second of; no preposition belongs there at all 303 See also ADVOCATE; FREE, 1; OFF and “OFF OF ; ON, 2; WHENCE and “FROM WHENCE”; WISH; WITH PRE- prefix The prefix pre- means before, beforehand, early, in advance of, ... They set off attributions, definitions, explanations, elaborations, and identifications They divide three or more items in a series (See Series errors, 7.) Often they separate phrases And they indicate pauses in thought Their function of setting off part of a sentence resembles that of dashes and parentheses (See 4, 7.) In general, commas least interrupt the flow of the sentence When the set-off matter... PROPHECY and PROPHESY The noun, meaning prediction, is prophecy, pronounced PROF-ih-see The PROSCRIBE PROSECUTE and PERSECUTE See Confusing pairs PROSPECTIVE and PERSPECTIVE See Confusing pairs PROSTATE and PROSTRATE See Confusing pairs PROVE See “EXCEPTION PROVES THE RULE”; PROOF OF THE PUDDING PRY See -Y endings PUDDING See PROOF OF THE PUDDING Punctuation 1 Apostrophe 2 Colon 3 Comma 4 Dash and hyphen... editor miss the offending “their” in place of his or was he afraid to correct the boss? (The publisher added a pledge that the paper would continue to adhere to its traditional “high standards of journalism and business.” Its standards of grammar used to be high too.) See also EVERYBODY, EVERYONE, 4; EVERY ONE and EVERYONE; ONE as pronoun 3 Lack of reflexive A pronoun misses the mark in each of these passages... “him and the league.” They are objects of the preposition between The Princess of Wales, with Henry A Kissinger and Gen Colin L Powell, was undeniably the center of attention last night at a reception following an awards dinner honoring she and the retired general The awards dinner honored “her and the retired general.” They are objects of the participle honoring 318 pronouns The newscaster and writer... Disagreement in number 3 Lack of reflexive 4 Needless use of -SELF 5 Nonstandard -SELF or -SELVES words 6 Omission 7 Shift in person 8 Superfluous apostrophe 9 Superfluous pronoun 10 Wrong case 1 Ambiguity A pronoun is a word used in place of a noun For instance, “Stand beside her and guide her” substitutes for “Stand beside America and guide America” in a famous song Pronouns are handy devices, enabling us... explosives and then arrested on suspicion of illegal possession of (the same) explosives A TV newscaster reported the happening and named names “Police said ——— and ——— built the bombs theirselves,” she announced Later the two were released for lack of evidence, notwithstanding what “police said.” Aside from other misfortune, they had been subjected to the indignity of being defamed with atrocious English. .. reversed Webster’s Third Dictionary accepts the misspellings as legitimate alternatives PROSCRIBE See PRESCRIBE and A proof is a test print of material that has been set in type and is to be published It permits one to correct typographical errors before the material goes to press To proofread is to check the proof against the manuscript, that is, the pages from the writer and editor, and to make any corrections . raising the price of coal or of jeopardizing new trade.” Omit the second of; no preposition belongs there at all. See also ADVOCATE; FREE, 1; OFF and “OFF OF ; ON, 2; WHENCE and “FROM WHENCE”;. plural and singular matters are these: BACTE- RIA and BACTERIUM; COHORT; CRITERIA and CRITERION; DATA; EMERITUS; GRAFFITI and GRAF- FITO; HEADQUARTERS; KUDOS; MEDIA and MEDIUM; MEMO- RANDA and MEMORANDUM; NONE,. “The curbing of public meetings and the publication of newspapers eliminated most opposition to the regime.” As it stands, “the curbing of public meetings” and “the publication of newspapers”