25

j* A LIVELY AND $1

f HUMOROUS GUIDE TO ENGLISH USAGE

Questions you
always wanted to
ask about English

by Maxwell Nurnberg

but were afraid to raise your hand

Would you rather be right than hesitant?

Learning to sharpen your tools of com-

munication is fun with this unusual manual
by Maxwell Nurnberg. His skillful ap-
proach, supported by a keen sense of
humor, will inform as well as amuse the
reader who needs a handy reference book
to answer many troublesome questions.
 About the Author

Maxwell Nurnberg, Adjunct Professor of English, New

York University, was Chairman of the English Depart-
ment of Abraham Lincoln High School, Brooklyn, New
York, for 35 years. He enjoys writing books on language
in such a way as to make them fun for the reader. Among
his other books are What's the Good Word? (1942,
1945, 1970), Wonders in Words (1968), A Gathering of
Poems (Editor) (1969), Fun with Words (1970), and
Word Play (1971).

He has co-authored with Dr. Morris Rosenblum How

To Build a Better Vocabulary (1949, 1961) and All
about Words (1966, 1968).
 Questions you
always wanted to
ask about English'

*but were afraid

to raise your hand

by

Maxwell Nurnberg

WASHINGTON SQUARE PRESS

POCKET BOOKS • NEW YORK
 QUESTIONS YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO ASK
ABOUT ENGLISH*
*but were afraid to raise your hand
Washington Square Press November, 1972
edition published
3rd printing November, 1973

Published by
POCKET BOOKS, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.,
630 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y.

WASHINGTON SQUARE PRESS editions are distributed

in the U.S. by Simon & Schuster, Inc., 630 Fifth Avenue,
New York, N.Y. 10020 and in Canada by Simon & Schu-
ster of Canada, Ltd., Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada.

Standard Book Number: 671-48118-5.

Copyright, ©, 1972, by Maxwell Nurnberg. All rights reserved.
Printed in the U.S.A.
 Acknowledgments

For the many sentences adapted and adopted from the

daily press, Iam especially indebted to the writers most —
of them anonymous —
of AP, UPI, and The New York
Times. I have also used an occasional sentence from the
Saturday Review and The New Yorker.
Since I have used so much current material, I wish to
make the usual disclaimer: The opinions expressed in
these excerpts do not necessarily express my views or
those of Washington Square Press.
For material other than newspaper excerpts I should
make the following acknowledgments:
like to
To Evelyn Hammett for her delightful "Mourning Be-
comes the Apostrophe," originally published in Word
Study, a Merriam-Webster publication.
To Nona Balakian of The New York Times Book Re-
view excerpts from her brilliant article: "Topics:
staff for
Style and the New Economy." Copyright, ©, 1965, by
the New York Times Company.
To Gore Vidal for his comments on the colon and the
comma, which appeared in and were part of the afore-
mentioned article.
To Goodman Ace for the excerpt from his column
"Top of My Head." Copyright, ©, 1971, by Saturday
Review.
And, finally, to my wife, Rose, for her patient assistance
and good advice.
To Rose and Ellen
 Contents

A Word to the Reader xi

Chapter 1: Does It Make Any Difference to You? 1

Chapter 2: The Precision Tools of Speech 8

Chapter 3: What Is the Mistake

Most Often Made? 18

Chapter 4: The Case of the Elusive Pronouns 31

Chapter 5: Time Has More Than

Three Dimensions 50
Chapter 6: If You Speak English Good,
You Don't Speak It Well:
Adjectives and Adverbs 64
Chapter 7: Can You Save a Dangling Modifier or
Participle? 77
Chapter 8: Don't Confuse Them or
Misuse Them 83

Chapter 9: Words: Fragile! Handle with Care! 110

Chapter 10: Stop, Look, and Listen: Spelling 136
Chapter 11: Punctuation —Who Needs It? 168

Answers 243
Index 255
 A Word to the Reader
If you are reading this sentence, I feel safe in assuming
that you are interested in improving your use of English
and that you have questions you'd like to have answered
about the language you speak and write. You may even
want to know how the language has changed through 'the
years, how sometimes "correctness" is not determined by
the rigid rules of grammar but by the weight of usage and
general practice.
While I most certainly agree that language is a living,
growing thing, shaped and changed by usage, I demur
when the usage that is accepted as standard by some is
not that of the "best" writers or speakers. Would any of
them ever say or write "momento" for "memento"? Yet
Webster's Third New International Unabridged Dictionary,
copyright 1961 (hereafter referred to as Webster III), not
only gives "momento" in bold type as a variant of "me-
mento" but has a separate entry for it! (It must be added
in fairness that Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dic-
tionary, copyright 1971, based on Webster III, does not
even mention "momento.") As one of the newer dic-
tionaries— and one of the best, certainly Webster III —
seems to be the most permissive.
By comparison with Webster III, The American Heri-
tage Dictionary of the English Language (1969) seems
conservative. One of the unusual features of this hand-
some dictionary is the poll it took of 104 experts (chosen
xii Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

from among "novelists, essayists, poets, journalists, writers

on science and sports, public officials, professors" all —
well known in their special fields) on questions of dis-
puted usage (hereafter referred to as the Usage Panel).
Their decisions, given in percentages, often lean in varying
degrees toward the traditional.
As between
loose and strict constructionists, I walk the
eclectic middle of the road, sometimes stepping onto the
shoulders. But being a guide, I now and then call atten-
tion to the views on the left side of the road and those
on the right. Therefore, as you read on in this book, you
may detect a certain inconsistency. For in describing the
problems of usage and grammar I often indicate general
practices that bypass the traditional rules, yet in the exer-
cises that follow —
just for practice —
the "correct" gram-
matical forms are insisted upon.
This done so that later on you can make the choices
is

you are most comfortable with. When you do this you

will at least know what the strictly grammatical form is
if only to rebel against it!

However, don't sell conventional grammar short or the

power it still exerts on the American public. When an
American soft-drink advertiser buys a whole page in color
in The New York Times Magazine as well as spots on
radio to tell you large and clear that his product AIN'T
GOT NO SUGAR, he knows it will catch your attention
instantly. In an earlier campaign, another advertiser, know-
ing the effectiveness of using a disputed "like" in his copy,
bombarded listeners with the persistent question, "What
do you want? Good grammar or good taste?" (lavishly
orchestrated, sung, and choreographed).
Well, if you read this book, maybe you can have both
good taste and "good" grammar. And perhaps some fun
as well.
 Questions you
always wanted to
ask about English
 Chapter 1

Does It Make Any Difference to You?

"I don't need none," shouted the lady of the house

even before the young man at the door had had a
chance to say anything.
"How do you know, lady?" he said. "I just might
be selling grammar books."

Do you wondering whether to use imply or

find yourself
infer, look uneasy as you blurt out formy brother and I,
or fear the silence that may follow when you say, "I am a
student here now for two years"? Do you break into a
cold sweat when faced with a choice between who and
whom, go tongue-tied in the presence of was and were,
or hesitate when confronted by good or well? Are you
tired of stammering your way through the English lan-
guage? Would you rather be right than hesitant?
There must be many more questions that bother you,
that you feel insecure about. The answers to all these ques-
tions and many, many more will be found in this book.
You can begin with the following questions yourself.
Step right up and try your skill. A series of parallel sen-
tences follows. Each sentence is correct for its own mean-
ing. Each would be wrong if the other meaning were
intended. Notice that though there may be only a slight
difference in appearance, there is sometimes a vast differ-
ence in meaning.
1
2 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

DOES IT MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE TO YOU?

(Answers will be found on page 243, but try your skill first.)

A. THE RIGHT WORD— USAGE, GRAMMAR, SPELLING

1. In which case has the dog the upper paw?

a. A
clever dog knows its master.
b. A
clever dog knows it's master.

2. To which question, asked by David Susskind of a panel

of photographers, was one of them justified in answering,
"She's a lousy photographer"?
a. What do you think of Ingrid Bergman as a photog-
rapher?
b. As a photographer, what do you think of Ingrid
Bergman?
3. Which might be grounds for divorce?
a. My husband likes golf better than I.
b. My husband likes golf better than me.
4. Which judge seems be a philanthropist?
also to
a. Having paid my
parking fine, I was dismissed by
the judge with a reprimand.
b. Having paid my parking fine, the judge dismissed
me with a reprimand.
5. Which dog is definitely not a bloodhound?
a. The dog smells bad.

b. The dog smells badly.

6. Which did the doctor order?

a. A large glass of brandy at this time may affect his
recovery.
b. A large glass of brandy at this time may effect his
recovery.

7. Who will be able to claim a deduction for charitable

contributions?
a. He's done good with the money he inherited.
b. He's done well with the money he inherited.
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 3
8. In which case was Joe trying to cash in on his father's
prominence?
a. Joe flouted his father's authority.
b. Joe flaunted his father's authority.

9. In which case is the menu entirely superfluous?

a. All of the dishes listed on the menu are not avail-
able.
b. Not all of the dishes listed on the menu are avail-
able.

10. In which did the sharks have a picnic right on the

beach?
a. When the old fisherman in Hemingway's The Old
Man and the Sea got to shore, the marlin was com-
pletely devoured by sharks.
b. When the old fisherman in Hemingway's The Old
Man and the Sea got to shore, the marlin had been
completely devoured by sharks.

11. Which may result in an embarrassing situation?

a. The butler was asked to stand by the door and call
the guests names as they arrived.
b. The butler was asked to stand by the door and call
the guests' names as they arrived.

12. Which required greater imagination?

a. I lay on the psychiatrist's couch for almost an hour.
b. I lied on the psychiatrist's couch for almost an hour.

13. Will the real Gorgons please stand up?

a. If the Gorgons looked at a person they were turned
to stone.
b. If the Gorgons looked at a person he was turned to
stone.

14. In which case could you call up Jane by looking in the

Manhattan phone book?
a. Jane has lived at the Waldorf Astoria for five years.
b. Jane lived at the Waldorf Astoria for five years.

15. Which statement has a sock in it?

a. It's darned good.
b. It's darned well.
4 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

16. Which Joe is the amateur?

a. Joe's better than any professional golfer.
b. Joe's better than any other professional golfer.

17. According to Tennyson, which question might have

been asked by a member of the famous Light Brigade at
Balaclava?
a. Whom are we to ask?
b. Who are we to ask?

18. In which statement is the Argentinian President ac-

cused of being a troublemaker?
a. Whether the Argentinian Communists deliberately
chose to cause trouble during a period when they
knew their President was going to the United States,
or whether the course of events rose to a natural
climax is hard to tell.
b. Whether the Argentinian Communists deliberately
chose a period when they knew their President was
going to the United States to cause trouble, or
whether the course of events rose to a natural
climax is hard to tell.

19. Which sounds somewhat conspiratorial?

a. We'd like to invite you to dessert with us tomorrow
evening.
b. We'd like to invite you to desert with us tomorrow
evening.

20. In which was the legendary bowman surprisingly care-

less?
a. Robin Hood was about to loose an arrow.
b. Robin Hood was about to lose an arrow.

B. COMMAS, SEMICOLONS, AND OTHER MARKS

1. Which is a libel on the fair sex?

a. Thirteen girls knew the secret, all told.

b. Thirteen girls knew the secret; all told.

 But Were A/raid to Raise Your Hand 5
2. Which sentence shows extraordinary powers of persua-
sion?
a. I left him convinced he was a fool.
b. I left him, convinced he was a fool.

3. Which convict has a hollow leg?

a. The escaping convict dropped a bullet in his leg.
b. The escaping convict dropped, a bullet in his leg.

4. Which is a denial that politics had anything to do with

his appointment?
a. Joe didn't get the appointment, because he is a Re-

publican..
b. Joe didn't get the appointment because he is a Re-
publican.

5. Which makes a foursome?

a. Henry James and I will play with the golf pro
tomorrow.
b. Henry, James, and I will play with the golf pro
tomorrow.

6. Which is the dedication of a self-confessed polygamist?

a. I dedicate this book to my wife, Edith, for telling
me what to leave out.
b. I dedicate this book to my wife Edith for telling me
what to leave out.

7. Which refers specifically to the Trojan Horse?

a. Beware the gift bearing Greeks.
b. Beware the gift-bearing Greeks.

8. Which is more flattering to Mrs. Grant?

a. Mrs. Grant is a pretty generous woman.
b. Mrs. Grant is a pretty, generous woman. •

9. In which case is Mr. Rogers likely to be bawled out?

a. Mr. Rogers, the secretary is two hours late.

b. Mr. Rogers, the secretary, is two hours late.

10. Which suggests that keeping your cool is profitable?

a. He remained calm, cool, and collected.
b. He remained calm, cool and collected. —
6 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

11. In which sentence are you sure that "somatic" and

"bodily" mean the same?
a. Radioactive materials that cause somatic, or bodily,
damage are to be limited in their use.
b. Radioactive materials that cause somatic or bodily
damage are to be limited in their use.

12. Which expresses sincere regret?

a. I'm sorry you can't come with us.
b. I'm sorry. You can't come with us.

13. Which indicates that there were only two people in the
car?
a. The two passengers who were seriously hurt were
taken to a nearby hospital.
b. The two passengers, who were seriously hurt, were
taken to a nearby hospital.

14. In which sentence does the scientist imply he is not

frightened?
a. What great scientist recently wrote an article begin-
ning with the three-word sentence, "I am fright-
ened?"
b. What great scientist recently wrote an article begin-
ning with the three-word sentence, "I am fright-
ened"?

15. Which headline is unfair to 8,000,000 people?

a, POPULATION OF NEW YORK CITY BROKEN DOWN BY
AGE AND SEX.
b. POPULATION OF NEW YORK CITY, BROKEN DOWN BY
AGE AND SEX.

You will have another chance at these pairs of sentences

when they appear in the chapters where the particular
problem is discussed.
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 7

DONT FEEL TOO SELF-CONSCIOUS

We make an occasional error. Discussing the trade

all

of writing, John Mason Brown, who was such a brilliant

and effective writer and speaker, had this to say: "One
trembles to think how many of us whose profession is
writing would be flogged today if lapses in English, or
American, were whippable offenses."*
Finally, most of the sentences in this book used as ex-
amples of faulty usage or as exercises are taken from the
pages of reputable newspapers, magazines, and books!
You'll recognize the few that are the homemade variety.
Do you feel better now?

* A famousBritish writer on usage cautions his readers to use the

self pronouns (myself, himself, themselves, etc.) only reflexively, "as
in 'I hurt myself/ or emphatically, as in 'He, himself, did not
know. .
.'" But on page 22 of the same book the author writes:
.

"After the felicities of Mr. Empson and Mr. Whitaker, it is a sad

decline to pass to some particular example collected by myself. .
."
.

Why not, to quote the author against himself (reflexively), simply

"collected by me"?
 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

Chapter 2

The Precision Tools of Speech

MGM's Director of Motion Picture Research polled

the movie-going public to see whether it liked its

movie advertising with or without adjectives. The

result was interesting: 39 percent of the movie-
goers asked, "What are adjectives?"
—New York Post

We laugh at the young couple who frantically began tak-

ing French lessons in order to be able to understand what
their adopted French baby would say when it began to
talk. For we know we are not born with any ready-made
language.
The first human beings, like animals, probably made
sounds which, like the bark of a dog, indicated excitement;
or, like the purr of a kitten, expressed contentment; or,
like the chatter of monkeys, showed annoyance. Then,
man must have been what Tennyson said he still is:

An infant crying in the night;

An infant crying for the light,
And with no language but a cry.

Nature gave man the ability to make these cries as she

gave him hands. But just as man had to make tools out of
stone and wood to extend the power of his hands, because
he found his hands alone too feeble to conquer the earth
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 9
and wrest from nature what he needed, so he had somehow
to invent words, tools made from sound, to take the place
of gestures that served so feebly to communicate his needs
and express his desires.
And one day the miracle happened. What a great day it
—
was when man began to talk when the airwaves carried
sounds which carried meaning! All nature must have
smiled with the pride of a doting parent. Junior had ut-
tered his first word!
The various theories of how
language began are merely
speculative whistlings in the dark —
a dark that can never
reveal any records to prove or to disprove any of them.
All we know with certainty is that a long, long time
ago, man invented an efficient, flexible tool made out of
sound. All we can say with certainty is that the invention
of radio and television was a lesser miracle.

NAMES

"And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl

of the air, and to every beast of the field. . .
."

Primitive man named many more things than Adam

did. He named and stones and fruits and birds.
trees
He gave names to people about him; those who fed
their young were father and mother; those who were fed
were son and daughter. He named, too, feelings within
him: that which made him tremble and run was fear; that
which made him fight this fear and stirred him to action
was courage.
All these names of people and things that exist in space
or within the experience and heart and mind of man are
called nouns, a word that means names.
10 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

ACTION!

But you can't tell stories with nouns. Nothing happens

when you use only nouns. And when nothing happens you
have no story. But things were happening and man wanted
to tell about them. Trees grew. Men killed. Tribes hunted.
Birds sang.
These words of action are called verbs. Verbs tell what
the noun does or what happens to it or what it is. (Some
verbs, such as is, becomes, appears, seems, etc., do not
show action. These are discussed on page 67.) With them
— —
a noun takes wing a thought is born a story can be told.
Our newspapers in their headlines can and do use
nouns and verbs to tell their story:

METS CLINCH PENNANT

SENATE ENDS FILIBUSTER
EARTHQUAKE DESTROYS VILLAGE

A
noun tells us the subject that is being talked about
Sometimes, as above, a noun completes the idea contained
in the verb and is called the object. This is the normal
thought order: a subject, an action, a receiver of the ac-
tion (the object).
Indians in Hollywood productions, or anyone trying to
use a foreign language, or children in all languages use
and understand sentences containing only nouns and verbs:
Chief smoke pipe. Want food. Mamma spank!

INFORMATION, PLEASE!

Nouns and verbs expressed complete thoughts, but ap-

parently man was not entirely satisfied. He wanted to boast
to others about the one that got away. It wasn't just a fish.
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 11
And gestures in such a case were altogether inadequate.
No man's reach as long as his imagination. He needed
is

a word like tremendous, enormous, gigantic, colossal Such

words give us more definite information about nouns.
Words that give us information about nouns are called
ADJECTIVES.
Man also knew that to bring down a deer you had to
aim accurately. To make sure you didn't scare it away,
you had to walk carefully and silently. The words accu-
rately, carefully, and silently give us more definite infor-
mation about the actions of the verbs. They are called
adverbs. They frequently tell us the where, when, how,
or why of the action.
Adjectives and adverbs, therefore, perform the same
duty in a sentence: they give information. (In technical
language they are called modifiers because they are said
to modify, change, or qualify the meanings of other
words.) But while adjectives are always tied to some
noun's apron strings, adverbs may give us information not
only about verbs but about adjectives or other adverbs as
well.

She was a remarkably pretty girl.

— —
(Remarkably an adverb gives us information about
pretty, which is an adjective giving us information about
girl)

He ran unbelievably fast.

(Unbelievably —an —
adverb gives us information about
fast, which is an adverb itself giving us information about
ran.)

TIMESAVERS

Somewhere during the development of language the

need for timesaving words arose.
12 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

It saved time, for instance, to say: "The man caught

and ate the fish" instead of: "The man caught the fish.
The man ate the fish." It saved time to say: "The bear is
under the tall tree near the river" instead of: "See the
bear. See the tall tree. See the river."
These shortcut words and, under, near — are connect-
ing words. They are of two kinds.
Those like near and under are called prepositions.
The nine most frequently used are of, in, to,
prepositions
from, on, with, and by. They have a very special
for, at,
duty. They always connect a noun or a pronoun with
some other word in the sentence. They always form a
phrase with some noun or pronoun:

under the tall tree

near the river

When any of these words are used alone, they are no

longer prepositions. In the sentence: "The man walked
in," in is not a connecting word. It is a word giving infor-
mation about walked, and is therefore an adverb.
The other connecting words are called conjunc-
tions. There are two kinds. The conjunctions and, or,
but, and nor always connect equal things two or more —
nouns or verbs, phrases, and even sentences. They are
called coordinate conjunctions.
The other conjunctions, of which there are many (//, as,

when, where, because, although, since, while, etc.), are

called subordinate conjunctions because they always con-
nect a less important statement with the main part of the
sentence. If you place any one of these conjunctions in
front of the sentence / see you, it immediately destroys its

independence. when I see you, etc. are no

// / see you,
longer independent sentences. They remain suspended until
they are attached to an independent or main clause. For
example: // / see you, I'll tell you. The suspense is over.
We now have the complete statement.
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 13
Pronouns, which act as substitutes for nouns, arc also
timesaving words. Instead of repeating the same noun
over and over again, we use he or she or iU

THE COMPLETE PICTURE

Now let's see what we have.

r NOUNS (name words) -f-f VERBS (action words) ~ KEY WORDS

I |-r forming a
(PRONOtfNS (substitutes) J f^
sentence.

ADJECTIVES + ADVERBS - INFORMATION WORM

or MODIFIERS, giving
details.

PREPOSITIONS 4- CONJUNCTIONS = CONNECTING WORDS.

And there you have them —the parts of speech. That's

all there is to it.

And here they are all over again in an old-fashioned

rhyme, dating back to a time when children .threw theit
heads back and took their grammar straight! —
GRAMMAR IN RHYMB
A noun's the name of anything,
As, school or garden, hoop, or swing.

Adjectives tell the kind of noun;

As, great, small, pretty, white, or brown.

Instead of nouns the pronouns stand:

Their heads, your'fzce, its paw, his hand.

Verbs tell of something being done:

You read, count, sing, laugh, jump, or run.

How things are done the adverbs tell;

As, slowly, quickly, ill, or well.

Conjunctions join the words together;

As,men and women, wind or weather.
14 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English
The preposition stands before
A noun; as, in or through & door.

The interjection shows surprise;

As, oh! how pretty! ah! how wise!

WORDS ON DUTY

When a dictionary tells you that a word is a noun or a

N

verb or a preposition it gives you no guarantee. It is

merely indicating the duty usually assigned to the word.
We know what part of speech a word is only when we see
it on duty on display in a dictionary.
in a sentence, not
Ordinarily, begs would be a verb and ask it would be
a verb and a pronoun forming a complete sentence. Yet see
what happens when we look at these words on duty in
this clever definition:

"A community chest is an organization that puts

all its begs in one ask-it."

Both have become nouns, the names of things!

This is a tricky sentence, of course. But the tricky sen-
tences teach us just as much and they're much more fun.
Here are some more. We'll do the first one together.
What part of speech would you call each of the downs
in the following sentence that might have been taken right
off the airwaves?

"Russell and Hughes of Tech down (a) the kick

halfway down (b) the field, and it's first down (c)
for Aggie at midfield; and remember, folks, you can
come down (d) to our store and with a down (e)
payment of only one dollar you can get one of
our new. .". .

(a) down tells what Russell and Hughes did; therefore

down is a verb.
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 15
(b) down is a part of the phrase down the field, con-
trolling the noun field, and is therefore a preposition.

(c) down is name of a situation in football and

the
is therefore a noun. (You can always recognize a noun
if you find —or can put—an a [an] or the in front of it.)

(d) down you where to come, describing the

tells

action of the verb and is therefore an adverb.

(e) down gives us information about payment, which

is a noun, and is therefore an adjective.

And so we have the word down used as five different

parts of speech!
Here are some more for you to figure out yourself.

SELF-QUIZ

1. He was brave (a), for none but the brave (b) can

brave (c) the violence of the sea.

2. He was accustomed to read his daily (a) while swal-

lowing his daily (b) breakfast of orange juice, toast, and
tea, as well as the pill he took three times daily (c).

3. In their rage they stone (a) the man, who is stone (b)
deaf, with a stone (c) taken from the stone (d) wall.

4. The talk went round (a) the round (b) table as the
members of the panel had another round (c) of drinks to
help them continue the discussion round (d) the clock.

5. I certainly object (a) when the object (b) of my affec-

tions tries to give me an object (c) lesson in public.

6. We must expect to go slowly, for (a) this is a problem

that has vexed mankind for (b) ages.

7. In (a) the auditorium were many people who had gone

in (b) without paying, because they have an "in" (c) with
the management.
16 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

8. Present (a) plans call for a farewell present (b) that

we present (c) to him with everyone present (d).

9. We usually light (a) the corridor, which is not always

very light (b), with a light (c) that is covered with a light
(d) green shade.

10. "Well! (a)" he exclaimed, "I am well (b) and I have

done well (c)."

WORD FORMATION
Not very much would get done in a repair shop if a
mechanic yelled over to his assistant, "Hey, Joe, let me
have a whatsis to fasten this doohickey onto the whatcha-
ma-call-it."
must learn the precise vocabulary of one's
Just as one
it is necessary for you to learn the
trade or profession, so
names of and recognize the different "doodads" that
constitute the parts of a sentence.

In these exercises you are to change the given word to

as many other parts of speech as you can. Words ending
in ing, er, or, or ist are not acceptable.
In the first exercise you are to change the form given
—a verb — to three other parts of speech in the same
family and to label each one as the dictionary does: v,
n, adj, adv.

Example: differ (v), difference (n), different (adj),

differently (adv)

A.

1. compare 5. deceive 8. analyze

2. confide 6. defy 9. resent
3. destroy 7. exclude 10. subvert
4. describe
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 17
B.

(Here you begin with a noun. Sometimes you can change

itto three other parts of speech, sometimes to only two.)

1. accident 5. miracle 8. chaos

2. beauty 6. mischief 9. apology
3. democracy 7. omen 10. prophecy
4. grammar

(Here you begin with an adjective. Sometimes you can

change it to only one other part of speech. But there are
two or even three possibilities for most of them.)

1. generous 5. lonely 8. humid

2. efficient 6. sincere 9. immune
3. formal 7. similar 10. immobile
4. frivolous

D,

(These are some difficult words combining all three [A,

B, and C] we've already done. Remember to label each
form as v., n., adj., or adv. Sometimes you will be able
to change a word to only one other part of speech.)

1. unanimous 8. jeopardy 15. miscellany

2. hypocrisy 9. portent 16. climax
3. tragedy 10. remedy 17. apathy
4. crux 11. ecstasy 18. space
5. contend 12. ambiguous 19. circumstance
6. curious 13. pious 20. prodigy
7. enjoin 14. joke
 —
18 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

Chapter 3

What Is the Mistake Most Often Made?

After some twenty years of lint picking, & S* W

is in a position to say that the grammatical error

that crops up in the paper most often is disagree-

ment between subject and verb. This sort of thing:
"More independence and initiative in agricultural
planning was given today to the farmers. ..." Or
this sort: ". . . the Egyptian version of his remarks
were published."
— Theodore M. Bernstein

PRETEST ON THE MISTAKE MOST OFTEN MADE

Choose the verb in parentheses that you think agrees

with the subject in number.

1. Insofar as the treatment of war prisoners (is, are) con-

cerned, let me make this perfectly clear.

2. He estimated that one out of ten high-stake games

(was, were) played with a marked deck.
3. (There's, There are) bound to be inequities no matter
how the draft is run.

4. Scarcely a hundred yards away across the canal —

(was, were) an Egyptian officer and three soldiers.
* W & S is "Winners and Sinners," a bright and witty bulletin of
second-guessing issued occasionally by Theodore M. Bernstein, assistant
manager of The New York Times until the end of 1969, now editorial
director of the New York Times Book Division. Mr. Bernstein is the
author of Watch Your Language, The Careful Writer, and Miss
Thistlebottom's Hobgoblins.
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 19
5. A
high school diploma or its equivalent (is, are) re-
quired for entrance to certain courses.

6.Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night

from the swift completion of their
(stays, stay) these couriers
appointed rounds.

7. The New York Times, together with other New York

papers, (has, have) been trying to reach a settlement with the
Mailers Union No. 6.

8. There (was, were), of course, some effective blocking,

some nice faking and passing,and some good running.

9. What other steps can be taken in that direction (is,

are) being discussed by the steering group in Washington.

10. About the only thing you can get for a nickel these
days (is, are) five pennies.

11. Nor is it I who (has, have) ever proposed that we

negotiate from a position of weakness.

12. The three astronauts (was, were) in a very cheerful

mood.

In sentence 12 you didn't have to think for even a

second. Your ear let you know at once. The harmony was
pleasing.
No educated person would say (or write) : "They was
here" or "He are a fine fellow." In all these cases the
verb immediately follows its subject and there's no prob-
lem.
But there are times when the verb does not immediately
follow, and there are times when the verb precedes the
subject noun or pronoun. Then even writers may some-
times be trapped. Let's look at the traps in each of the
first eleven sentences.
In numbers 1 and 2 there are words between the subject

and the verb, and your ear is fooled. In number 1, treat-

ment is the subject and of war prisoners is an intervening
20 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

prepositional phrase. In number 2, one is the subject and

out of ten high-stake games is again an intervening phrase.
You have to cut away the intervening words and strip the
sentence down to the real subject.
In numbers 3, 4, and 8 the verb precedes the subject
(it always does in sentences that begin with there). What
you do here is to read the sentence without the word
there (or in 4 without the introductory phrase) and you
have: 3: "inequities are bound to be," 4: "an Egyptian
9
officer and three soldiers were/ and 8: "some effective
blocking, some nice faking and passing, and some good
running were."
In numbers 5 and 6 the two or more subjects are con-
nected not by and which produces a plural but by or and
nor which separate. In such cases you ignore everything
but thelast in the series and so you read 5: "its equiv- —
alent is required" and 6: "gloom of night stays." When
subjects are connected by or and nor, the number of the
verb is determined by the noun that immediately pre-
cedes it. For example, take these two sentences:
"Either you boys or I am going to be in charge" or
"Either I or you boys are going to be in charge."*
In 7, even though "together with other New York pa-
pers" seems to add to the subject, grammar recognizes
only and as an additive. The others, like together with,
along with, in addition to, as well as, etc., are regarded as
merely intervening phrases.
In 9 the subject is the entire clause what other steps
can be taken in that direction, one unit and therefore
singular.
In 10, you may be tempted to use are because it is fol-

lowed by five pennies, but the subject is thing.

In 11, who is a substitute for / and you would say /

have, not / has; therefore who have.
* When many writers use the plural
neither and nor are involved,
form in Grammatically, however, one should write, "Neither
all cases.
the colonel nor the captain WAS ready to talk."
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 21
Now that you know, Be sure to strip each
try these.
sentence down to the real subject and verb when the
verb follows. Be sure to reverse the sentence when the
verb precedes. Remember only and adds, and therefore
makes a plural.

EXERCISE A

1. The senator, like the others, (was, were) shaking every

hand within reach.

2. The power and the presence of the commando move-

ment mushroomed in the last four years.
(has, have)

3. The discharge of industrial wastes (create, creates) a

situation that must be corrected now.

4. (Is, Are) the strategy and the tactics of the two brothers
actually counterproductive to the cause of peace?

5. During the eclipse one of the two things astronomers

will look for (is, are) comets.

6. The use of these facilities (has, have) increased greatly

in the past year.

7. The new model as well as several older models (is,

are) included in the sale.

8. The slum districts of any large city in this country or

any other country (breed, breeds) crime and disease.

9. The loss of eight helicopters (was, were) announced in

an official communique.

10. Neither of the two women (was, were) named in the

bomb-plot indictment.

11. Around the corner on the left (is, are) a theater and a
public library.

12. The value of these daily exercises (lie, lies) in their

being suitable for people of all ages.

13. In any enterprise (there's, there are) many things to

be considered.
22 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

14. Any notions of racial superiority or purity (is, are)

definitely refuted by science.

15. Pollution of the air, the water, and the land (threaten,
threatens) to undo the advances of science.

16. The main target of the President's remarks (was,

were) what he called the neo-isolationists.

17. Once there (was, were) Banzhof and Nader; now there
(is, are) hosts of consumer activists.

18. Neither of these shows (is, are) exceptional, but both

painters make the most of their virtues.
19. A person's actions during a crisis in his life (is, are)
influenced by his basic character.

20. How many liters of oxygen (is, are) required for com-
plete combustion?

21. The color of his eyes (is, are) blue.

22. The basis for all these laws (is, are) prejudice and
hypocrisy.

23. Either you or the previous borrower (doesn't, don't)

care very much about public property.

24. Is he so politically naive that he thinks the butcher, the

baker, or the candlestick-maker still (run, runs) for public
office?

25. Time for recruitment and adequate training (is, are)

needed.

A DEMURRER OR TWO

Even to the cultivated ear a compound (therefore plu-

ral) subject after there's often seems in tune. There's
some ice cream and a piece of apple pie in the refrigerator
doesn't jar the ear. Indeed it pleases, as compared with
the rather stuffy There are some ice cream and a piece of
apple pie in the refrigerator, which is grammatically cor-
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 23
rect. However, in the sentence (There's, There are) three
possibilities, the word are is the only form to use.
A good suggestion is to use there less often. For in-
stance, You will find some ice cream and a piece of apple
pie in the refrigerator doesn't lead to the kind of awkward
construction that you get involved in with there.
I have before me a sentence from David Schoenbrunn's
review of We the Vietnamese: "What is their history,
their religion, their customs, their way of life, their cul-
ture?"
Would anyone fault him for not using are to take care
Would you want to begin with
of the five individual nouns?
What when each subject is
are in this particular case
insulated by commas? That doesn't mean you never say
What are. In What are your plans for the weekend?, the
verb are is compulsory. But in the Schoenbrunn sentence,
sound and style push aside strict grammatical consider-
ations.

FINE POINTS

The Intervening Phrase

The noun in the phrase that intervenes between the
subject and the verb does in certain cases determine the
number of the verb.
Whenever the intervening phrase between the subject
and the verb is equivalent to MANY or SOME, a plural
verb is used.

Half of the apples (many) WERE spoiled.

A lot of people (many) ARE beginning to speak up.
A variety of prizes (many) WERE offered.

BUT
Half of the crop (much) WAS spoiled.
A lot of work (much) IS still needed.
24 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

We see that in such cases the noun following the word

of determines the choice of the verb. Your ear would
direct you correctly, anyhow.

NOW TRY THESE

1. Involved in the research (was, were) all manner of crea-
turesfrom men and monkeys to rats and mice, goldfish, flat-
worms, and Japanese quail.

2. A lot of the action (is, are) effectively filmed in black

and white.

3. A variety of bacteria (is, are) helpful in the digestive

process.

4. There (was, were) a lot of tramps on the road.

5. One-third of the regiment (was, were) wounded.

6. One-third of the soldiers (was, were) wounded.

7. A lot of trouble (was, were) avoided.

8. A number of students (is, are) picketing the embassy.

THE WORD NUMBER

The word number behaves in what seems to be a pe-

culiar fashion.
The number followed by a plural phrase takes a verb
in the singular, as for example:

The number of polluted rivers and lakes has in-

creased.

A number followed by a plural phrase takes a verb in

the plural, as in:

A number of ways of fighting pollution have been

suggested.
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 25
Why is this so? Perhaps because in the first sentence the
word number is statistical number is important),
(i.e., the
whereas in the second sentence you can substitute many
for a number.

TRY THESE

1. A number of displaced civilians (was, were) willing to

leave their country forever.

2. The total number of full-time freshmen on all campuses

(was, were) estimated to be 1.63 million.

3. An increasing number of recruits (is, are) bringing

their civilian-acquired addictions with them to this training
center.

COLLECTIVE NOUNS

For nouns like government, public, management, etc.,

the British favor the plural. It is always The government

are. In the United States we prefer The government is.

We use the singular verb unless there is evidence within

the sentence that the members making up the group are
being considered as individuals.

1. Joe's family was always quarreling.

2. Joe's family were always quarreling.

Both sentences are right, but the first one seems to say that
Joe's family, as a unit, quarrels with the Joneses or the
Smiths.The second seems to imply that the individual
members of Joe's family quarrel among themselves.
With words that end in s in the singular or plural form
of the noun, like politics, ethics, mathematics, we can
apply the same test.

The theme of the book roughly is that politics is the

art of the possible.
26 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

"My politics are not yours, Senator, but I like what

you say."

(Here politics equals political beliefs or acts.)

EXERCISE B

1. Politics (is, are) a career that has attracted many

lawyers.

2. The politics of those on trial (is, are) not in question.

3. His ethics (is, are) in need of overhauling.

4. Ethics (is, are) a branch of philosophy.

5. Athletics (is, are) his chief interest.

One or More?

Horace Greeley, who always word insisted that the

news was plural, once wired to are his star reporter:
there any news? The reply came back promptly: not
a NEW.
There are many words ending in s that have peculiar
habits.
Some, though they may refer to only one thing, are
rarely used in the singular: scissors, pincers, trousers,
pants, for instance.
No one would say, "My trousers is hanging in the
closet."

WHICH, WHO, AND THAT

In which is money the root of love?

a. The great rich Miss Crawley, whom her two

brothers adore, has arrived with her <£ 70,000.
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 27
b. The great, rich Miss Crawley has arrived with
her .£70,000, which her two brothers adore.
(Adapted from Thackeray's Vanity Fair)

It can be seen from the above that which refers to

things and who to persons. That may refer to either. More
will be said about the use of that in the chapter on punc-
tuation, page 203. It is sufficient to say here that who and
which are either singular or plural depending on their
antecedents. We say Boys who are and A boy who is; we
say Stones that (or which) are thrown or A stone that
(or which) is thrown. I, who am never late, overslept.
My you who are always so sure, I have news for
friend,
you. There's not much of a problem there.
The controversy occurs when one of is used. For
example, in He is one of the writers who has or is it —
have? —been officially barred. Grammatically, we can see
that who refers to writers, which is plural, and have should
be used.
But there is an easier way to tell without using gram-
mar. Whenever one of these sentences appears, begin
reading the sentence at the word of. Of the writers who
have — it couldn't be has —been barred, he is one. Your
ear tellsyou that. If you want to argue that who really
tells you about he and you use has, don't worry about it.

It's not that important.

Just for practice, then, do these, remembering to begin
reading the sentence at the word of in solving the prob-
lem.

LOOK, MA, NO GRAMMAR

1. Mr. Smith is one of the writers who (has, have) been
officially barred.

2. Handel's "Saul" is one of those works that (has, have)

remained in limbo, not quite forgotten but probably never
performed entire.
28 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

3. This ballet company possesses one of the greatest chore-

ographers who (has, have) ever lived.

4. I'm one of those people who (thinks, think) it neces-

sary to act —and act soon.

5. Ben Shahn's pen-and-ink drawing "Safe" is one of

several works that (uses, use) baseball as their subjects.

6. Are you one of the 2,000,000 people who (is, are)

going to buy a compact car this year?

7. This is one of those novels that (deal, deals) with the

generation gap.

8. Private Jones was one of the recruits who thought (him-

self, themselves) mistreated.

FOREIGN PLURALS

There are a few words taken over from Latin and

Greek that still retain their original plurals. In some
cases we can use either. Formulas is seen more often than
formulae, but addenda, stimuli, and criteria are found
more often than addendums, stimuluses, and criterions.
However, one must exercise some care to distinguish
between the singular and plural form. The returning alum-
nus who greeted a former professor with, "Don't you re-
member me? I'm an alumni," was properly put in his
place when the professor rejoined with, "How singular!"
It's a touchy business. Many think that media, strata,
bacteria, and phenomena are all singular. They aren't. By
sheer force of usage agenda and insignia have become sin-
gular. Data, a plural, is used both ways.
In a recent best seller, The Andromeda Strain, I came
upon these two sentences:

Perhaps it [intelligent life on a distant planet] was

no larger than a bacterium, (p. 127 in the paper-

back)
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 29
Take up a harmless bacteria and bring it back in a
new form virulent and unexpected, (p. 133)

So there you are! And here if you're interested are some

foreign singular and plural forms of words often used
in English. (An / ending is pronounced eye; an ae ending,
ee.)

Latin: algae (plural, pronounced aljee); dictum,

dicta; effluvium, effluvia; erratum, errata; medium
(a means of mass communication), media; stimulus,
stimuli; stratum, strata.

The following have the normal English plural as well

as the Latin: Those ending in us have the i plural; those
ending in urn have the a plural: cactus, fungus (/ sound
in fungi), nucleus, curriculum, memorandum.

Greek: Words ending in is form their plurals by

changing is to es (pronounced eez) : analysis, crisis,
hypothesis, oasis, synopsis, thesis. Words ending in
on form by changing on
their plurals to a: criterion,
criteria; phenomenon, phenomena.

Hebrew: Plural is formed by adding im: kibbutz,

kibbutzim. (The last syllable, tseem, is accented.)

All of the following sentences were either uttered by

famous men or written in well-known newspapers, and
in every case the form selected for the foreign word was
wrong. The word is easily identified. You are to supply
the proper ending.

1. One great lesson of this phenomen. . . is that the world

will not live in harmony so long as two-thirds of its

inhabitants find it difficult to live at all.

2. A different criteri. . . applies in this case.

3. Now television is also becoming a medi, . . of mounting

importance to religion.
 .

30 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

4. The agency represents over 200 kibbutz. . . throughout

Israel.

5. Therein lies the controversy cutting across every stmt. •

of society.

6. They have developed a bacteri. . . which may com-

bat bubonic plague.

GRAMMAR ON POSTCARD
To the Editor of The New York Times:
Recently, in common with all other registered
voters in this city, I received from the Board of
Elections a form postcard mailed out for the an-
nounced purpose of discovering whether my "name
and address is correct * * *." I was delighted to be
able to inform the board that they certainly is.
Robert J. Cahn
 But Were A /raid to Raise Your Hand 31

Chapter 4

The Case of the Elusive Pronouns

But it's on the talk shows that careless grammar

runs rampant. I have heard David Frost, no less,
say several times to a guest, "I'm sure our next
guest will be entertaining for you and I." Nice
language for an Englishman.
And John Connally, our Secretary of the Trea-
sury, in one interview said twice, "If a person invests
their money in municipal bonds. ." . .

Added to these are the countless "papers laying

on the floor," and "between you and I," and "Who,
in your opinion, will the Democrats pick to run
for President?" Ad nauseam.
—From "Top of My Head"
by Goodman Ace,
Saturday Review, April 17, 1971

The case of the elusive pronouns sounds like a mystery

story. It isn't. There's no mystery. It's easy if you don't
use grammar to solve it. That's right. No grammar.
Just to prove my point we'll tackle the mystery of who—
whom Faced with a choice of who or whom, even
first.

seasoned writers hesitate and finally plunge in blindly.

But while it's still a mystery, try this pretest and see how
well you can solve it your way.

PRETEST
1. Intelligent citizens will vote for (whoever, whomever)
they think is best qualified.
32 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

2. (Who, Whom) shall I say is calling?

3. He is the one (who, whom) I'd like to see win the

election.

4. Stevenson, like Bayh, pointed to the other 75 men

(who, whom) he said were serving terms for murder in
Vietnam.

5. Private sources have offered $100,000 reward for in-

formation leading to the arrest of (whoever, whomever) it

was who bombed the Capitol a week ago.

6. However, he had kind words for all the Republican

prospects and promised to support (whoever, whomever)
was chosen.

7. The Manhattan and Bronx organizations were asked

to pledge their support to (whoever, whomever) wins the
Democratic election.

8. It gives me great pleasure to nominate a man (who,

whom) all of us know to be the best fitted for the job.

9. The security police are rounding up persons (who,

whom) it is suspected might do harm to the State.

10. It was the same tall, heavy infantry officer (who,

whom) we had seen double-timing it into the building a few
minutes before.

YOU CAN DO IT BETTER WITHOUT GRAMMAR

you used grammar in the first sentence of the pretest,

If

you might have fallen into the trap of thinking that who-
whom was either the object of the preposition for or the
following verb think.
The nongr#mmatical approach has no pitfalls: you win
every time, and it's as easy as 1, 2, 3.
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 33
Here are the three simple steps:

Step 1. Consider only the words that follow who

or whom. In sentence 1, you would then be left with:
they think is best qualified.

Step 2. You can see that there's a gap in the thought.

Plug the gap with either he or him, whichever makes sense
and you get:

they think HE is best qualified.

Step 3. Now apply a simple formula: he = who;
him = whom:
Solution: Intelligent citizens will vote for whoever
they think is best qualified.

Easy? Yes.
Let's work out sentence 3 of the pretest together:

Step 1: The words that follow who or whom are:

Yd like to see win the election.

Step 2: Plug the gap:

Vd like to see HIM win the election.

Step 3: him = whom:

Solution: He is the one whom Vd like to see win
the election.

Now go back to the pretest and practice the three steps.

You can be sure of the correct answers without looking
for them on page 245.
34 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

NOW TRY THESE

All of these sentences are taken from the writings of
well-known journalists or famous authors of books. And
all of them made the wrong choice between who or whom!

—
You won't if you use the three steps. You will get all
of them right.

1. In his introduction, he speaks of Mr. Kazantzakis

(who, whom) many consider to be one of the great writers
of our time.

2. I am fortunate enough to be married to a fashion-

conscious man (who, whom) I think has infallible taste.
3. She castigated the Unionist politicians (who, whom)
she said fostered religious hatred for their own ends.

4. Bernard Shaw once wrote: "No! I layan eternal curse

on (whosoever, whomsoever) shall now or at any time here-
after make schoolbooks of my works and make me hated as
Shakespeare is hated."

5. (Whoever, Whomever) it may be, the new coach will

be on hand for the Tarpons' spring practice.

6. Deborah Kerr plays the wife of an American business-

man in London (who, whom) she grows to suspect is an
uncaught murderer.

7. They are making a serious effort now to translate most

writers (who, whom) they think reach a high standard.

8. He told the audience (who, whom) he thought was

responsible for the Credibility Gap.

9. In the film she arrives at the villa of her father (who,

whom) she hasn't seen in a long time.

10. She had a beautiful daughter (who, whom) she hoped

would rise to success.

She met the Baron (who, whom) she knew had many
11.
acquaintances among emigre Russian nobility.
 —
But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 35
12. The man (who, whom) real estate men call Bill is in
debt to numerous creditors.

13. The Governor said only that he would vote for (who-
ever, whomever) would be the Republican Convention
nominee.

14. The award is given to the performer (who, whom)

Cue editors believe showed the greatest achievement in the
year just past.

15. The lyrics are by Johnny Brandon, (who, whom) I

take to be British.

Now that you've gone through all the trouble of decid-

ing between who and whom, let me tell you that you're
almost always safe with who. For centuries famous writers
have been using sentences like "Who was the article
written by?" When who immediately follows the preposi-
tion, as in "By whom was the article written?" or "We're
trying to locate the people wdth whom the suspect as-
sociated while in New York City," your ear prevents you
from using who.
I once heard a receptionist answering the telephone in
a publisher's office ask, "And the message is for Mrs.
Whom?" That's going a bit too far. As a matter of fact, in
conversation (when you have no opportunity to use the
three steps) always use who. If I were given to predic-
tions, I —
would say that in fifty years give or take five
the only form used will be who. After all, which is always
which.
 36 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

I OR ME? HE OR HIM?
WE OR US? THEY OR THEM?

PRETEST

(Some sentences that follow are grammatically correct; some are

not. Decide whether the words in italics are used correctly.)

1. Last summer my aunt and uncle invited my brother

and me to their country home.

2. Although I'm two years younger than my brother, I'm

just as tall as him and much smarter than him.
3. When me and my brother reached the station, my
uncle was there to meet us.

4. In his hand he had two tennis racquets, which he had

just bought for my brother and me.
5. "You weren't worried about we boys, were you, Un-
cle?" I asked.

6. He put his arms affectionately about my brother and /

and said, "I let your aunt do all the worrying."

7. Just between you and /, my uncle was right.

8. When we arrived at the house, my aunt had changed

so much that I wasn't sure it was she.

9. My uncle, who always likes his jokes, knocked loudly

on the door and called in, "There's nobody here except us
chickens!"

10. If you were me, wouldn't you be very happy too?

Nobody has any trouble when there is only the pronoun

involved. —
Nobody with any kind of ear would say: —
1 Me saw the man
or
2. The man saw I.
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 37

Grammatically, in sentence 1 the pronoun is the subject

of the sentence and is therefore in the nominative, or sub-
ject, In sentence 2, the pronoun is the object of
case.
the verb saw and is therefore in the objective case (me).
There's no problem here. The problem occurs when
there are several pronouns linked by and or or, and your
ear is no longer a safe guide.
Let us take these sentences:

1 Me and Bob saw the man

and
2. The man saw Bob and I.

Your ear doesn't help much. We, therefore, must first

strip the sentence down by crossing out the words and and
Bob. We then get
Me saw the man
and
The man saw I.

Now your ear tells you that / belongs in sentence 1

and me belongs in sentence 2. When we put back the

words and and Bob, we get:

Bob and I saw the man

and
The man saw Bob and me.

It's as easy as that. We just cross out what gets in the way
of

PLAYING IT BY EAR

Now try these sentences. Remember to omit whatever

gets in the way so that you reduce each sentence to the
pattern of (I, Me) saw the man or The man saw (I, me).

I'll do the crossing out for you in the first two sentences.
After that you're on your own.
38 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English
1.My uncle invited Fred and (I, me) to go on a fishing
trip with him.

'2. The dean gave some good advice to- George and -
(I,

me).

3. (We, Us) boys would rather fight than switch,

4. Bob and (I, me) have been asked to serve as ushers.

5. My father bought a transistor radio for my brother

and (I, me).

6. I think they should have told Bob and (he, him) about
it

7. This is a question for you and (they, them) to decide,

8. There was no one at home but Spot and (I, me),

9. I think (we, us) fellows should be allowed in free.

10. I remember my sister and (I, me) standing up in front

of the mirror for hours combing our hair.

11. He wrote to us from South Vietnam to pray for (he,

him) and his friends.

12. This is something for (we, us) Americans to be proud

of.

13. Here is a picture of Jennifer, Daddy, and (I, me).

14. Remember to send along best wishes from my mother

and (I, me).

PRONOUNS AFTER COMPARISONS

For pronouns in comparisons 'we change our tactics.

Instead of crossing out words we add them, completing
the words implied after than or as.

My brother is taller than (I, me).

 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 39
The temptation is to use me, but if we complete the
words after than we have than I (am tall). It's probably a
good idea to do this anyhow. Than I seems very bare.
In the paired sentences in Chapter 1 (A 3), it is easy
to answer the question if we complete the sentences.

My husband likes golf better than I (do).

My husband likes golf better than (he does) me.

HERE ARE A FEW TO PLAY AROUND WITH:

1. My friend has always been more fortunate than (I, me).

2. I am not as well informed as (she, her).

3. Do you think he plays as well as (I, me)?

4. We all agreed that no one of our friends was more highly
regarded than (he, him).

5. My younger brother is stronger than (I, me).

In this situation, too, usage has put in a strong bid,

and the objective forms, me, him, her, us, them, are often
heard in speech and seen in informal writing.

PRONOUNS AFTER THE VERB TO BE

You are listening to the broadcast of a baseball game.

The Met pitcher is in trouble, the manager is at the
mound, and Tug McGraw is warming up in the bullpen.
Should the announcer say, "McGraw is ready. The next
pitcher will probably be he"? Or should it be him?
Red Barber, a stickler for good English, always used
to say, "The next pitcher will be he." And he is the gram-
matically correct form. I could give you the grammatical
reason and tell you that he is the predicate nominative
40 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

after will be. Would that help? So again we are going to

solve the problem without grammar.
Here's how. A sentence containing any part of the verb
to be (is, was, were, has been, will be, etc.) is reversible.
We can say:
Tom Seaver is one of baseball's best pitchers.

or
One of baseball's best pitchers is Tom Seaver.

We can say:
His power is great
or
Great is his power.

Now let's reverse Red Barber's sentence The next pitch-

er will be (he, him) and see what happens. We certainly
wouldn't say Him will be the next pitcher. Your ear tells

you that that is wrong. Therefore, The next pitcher will

be he is grammatically correct because when we reverse
the sentence we have He will be the next pitcher.

REVERSE ENGLISH

Now try these sentences and remember you get the

grammatically correct answer by reversing the part of the
sentence that has a part of the verb to be in it.

1. I told you it was (she, her). (Notice we reverse only it

was she, her.)

2. Among the medal winners were Joe and (I, me).

3. The only one at home was (I, me).

4. I could have sworn the guilty one was (he, him).

5. The last one to get back from the party was (she, her).

6. The murderer could not possibly have been (he, him).

 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 41
7. The persons referred to in the news item were (we, us).

8. We look so much alike that people often take him to

be (I, me).

9. He took my brother to be (I, me).

10. At the banquet the guests of honor were my sister and

(I, me).

At this point let me put in a word for usage as opposed

to grammar. You would sound pretty stuffy if you said,
"It's I" or "Who, I?" Some years ago Winston Churchill
put his seal of approval on "It's me." Notice that It is I
is still in general use. Who knows how many years from
now Ifs him, It's her, It's us, It's them may go the way of
It'sme, though Ifs me has the further support of the
analogy that can be made with the French Cest moi.

THE STRANGE CASE OF "BUT"

But, as you know, can be either a conjunction opposed

to and in meaning or a preposition meaning except. In its
use as except it should normally be followed by the ob-

jective case {me, her, him, us, etc.), but the ear is really
the guide. Take the sentence

Who but he [Noel Coward] has written his own

plays and musical comedies, directed them, acted in
them, danced in them, and sung in them songs of
his own composition?

But is a preposition, but to put him after but and

have a sequence such as but him has written jars on the
ear, and he takes over very neatly.
If the but phrase comesend of a sentence, here
at the

in America we usually use the objective case. In England,

42 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

however, the but is construed as a conjunction and the

subject, or nominative, case takes over.

That I suffered in secret and that I suffered exqui-

sitely no one ever knew but I.
(from David Copperfield)

We would be inclined in America to write but me, as

we would write except me. Even the colloquial expression
is, "There's nobody here but us chickens."

THE POSSESSIVE CASE

OF NOUNS AND PRONOUNS

MOURNING BECOMES THE APOSTROPHE

I fear that I shall never be
Quite sure of the apostrophe.

My brain is addled, I confess;

Does it precede or follow S?

My feeble mind has running fits

When I consider its or its.

Now Geoffrey Chaucer never used it

And firmly G.B.S. eschewed it.

Grammarians made the apostrophe,

I think, to harass fools like me!

— Evelyn A. Hammett,
from Word Study,
February, 1963

1. Which may result in an embarrassing situation?

a. The butler was asked to stand at the door and call
the guests names as they arrived.
b. The butler was asked to stand at the door and call
the guests' names as they arrived.
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 43

2. In which case does the dog have the upper paw?

a. A
clever dog knows it's master.
b. A
clever dog knows its master.
3. Which is more likely to be a golf stick?
a. A lady's club.
b. A ladies' club.
4. Which is an invitation to some kind of exhibit?
a. We'd like to have you see our students work.
b. We'd like to have you see our students' work.

I'm not going to give you the answers, but I will give
you some help. Where the apostrophes appear, I'll ex-
plain what they mean:

Pair 1 : the guests' names — the names of the guests

Pair 2: it's — it is

Pair 3 : a lady's club = a club belonging to a lady

a ladies' club = a club to which ladies
belong

Pair 4: our students' work = the work of our stu-

dents

If you are studying French or Spanish or Italian, you

know that those languages always take the long way
around. They don't use the apostrophe to show possession:
it is always the hat of my mother, the guitar of my uncle,
the house of my grandmother, the pen of my aunt.

PRETEST

In the following sentences taken from recent newspa-

pers and magazines, change the words in italics that follow
a noun to the possessive form using the apostrophe.

Example: This is a symbol of the concern of the gov-

ernment for the protection of the rights of its citizens.
44 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English
Rewritten: This is a symbol of the government's con-
9
cern for the protection of its citizens rights*

(Notice that by approaching the problem this way, it is

easier to tell whether the apostrophe precedes or follows
the s, one of the problems mentioned in the poem at the
beginning of this section.)

1. The Prime Minister of England quickly said he would

announce the names of the agitators.

2. The newspaper of yesterday announced a record enroll-

ment of about fifty-six million in the schools of the nation.

3. The acoustic tests followed the special matinee for

children.

4. After the speeches of the candidates, a vote was called

for.

5. The celebration was held in Portsmouth, birthplace of

Charles Dickens.

6. The educated guesses of scientists on the total number

of viruses that cause colds range from one hundred to two
hundred.

7. An extraordinary sale of clothes for men, hats for

ladies, and shoes for children was announced in the news-
paper of today.

8. The longest disarmament conference in history is wind-

ing up its fifth summer.

9. The automobiles of next year will cost more than the

automobiles of this year.

10. It is the aim of Indian planners to lift Calcutta to a

place as one of the great metropolises of the world.
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 45

RULES FOR THE APOSTROPHE IN POSSESSIVES

In the preceding exercise you may have encountered

some problems in converting the phrases to possessives.
Probably the biggest problem was deciding whether to
place the apostrophe before or after the s. The rules for
placement of the apostrophe are simple. Applying them
correctly is sometimes difficult.

1. If a noun — singular or plural —does not end in s,

add the apostrophe and s: boy's, men's, women's.

2. If a plural ends in s, there's no problem: you add

only the apostrophe after the s: boys', families', cars',
countries'.

3. If a singular noun or a name ends in s, add either

's or just an apostrophe. A good rule to follow is to write
it the way you pronounce it. If you say "Joneses car,"

then write Jones's car; if you say "the princesses mother,"

then write the princess's mother. (This assumes, of course,
that only one princess is involved. If there were more
9
than one princess, you would write the princesses moth-
er.) Since you don't say "for goodnesses sake," write for
goodness* sake.
A sign on a house in Portsmouth, England, reads:

Charles Dickens' Birthplace

February 7th, 1812

However, the form Dickens's is found just as frequently.

Thus you were right either way in number 5 in the exer-
cise unless you wrote Charles Dicken's. Dicken's is ob-
viously wrong, since his last name was not Dicken.
46 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

People do have trouble deciding where to put the apos-

trophe when a noun or name ends his. I know of a butch-
er shop on Foster Avenue in Brooklyn that was called
"Charle's Meat Market," and the newspapers recently
showed a picture of a sign over a store which read
"Glady's Beauty Shop"!
4. Where the name ending in s is long or where there
are many s's in the name, it's best to settle for the apos-
trophe alone:

Sophocles' seven tragedies, Archimedes' principle,

Achilles' strength, Socrates' philosophy

This rule also holds for singular nouns that end in an s

sound but have no s, as in:

for appearance' sake, for conscience' sake

5. Where there is joint ownership of a single property,

only the last name gets the apostrophe, as in:

Schultz and Murphy's department store, Mary and

John's house

But where two people each own similar but separate prop-
erties, we say: John's and Bill's golf clubs, Pat's and

Sally's dresses.

CAUTION

The possessives of personal pronouns are never in-

dicated by apostrophes. There are no such words as
your's, our's, her's, hi's, their' s, or its', although I've seen
them around — all but hi's.

The word undoubtedly the most manhandled and

its is

misused of all. Even those who should know better misuse

this little pronoun. A great airline boasts of "ifs fine
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 47
cuisine." A
meat-packing house proudly urges us to buy
u
itsproduct because of ifs fine quality."
I can categorically state that the word its never has an
apostrophe. What, never? Yes, never. Because when its
has an apostrophe, its isn't a word; it is two words, it
and is or it and has. A clever dog knows it's master means

that the dog knows that its master no longer has the upper
hand.

EXERCISE IN USE OF THE APOSTROPHE FOR POSSESSIVES

Now you ought to be able to take these in stride. Copy

f
the following sentences, inserting an apostrophe or an s
wherever one belongs.

1. Has anyone seen this mornings paper?

2. Choose from Europe at its best.

3. The new principal is the students, the parents, the

teachers, and the peoples choice.

4. Mark Twains San Francisco is as vivid as Dickens

London.

5. Ulysses dog recognized its master after twenty years

absence.

6. A sale of ladies nylon stockings is advertised in todays

paper.

7. Its also possible to get excellent values in boys and

mens clothes.

8. He is always poking his nose into other peoples affairs,

sometimes even into ours.

9. I don't like that particular boys manners or theirs.

10. The double consonants in embarrassment make its

spelling a problem.
48 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

In the elevator of a hospital in Mount Vernon, N. Y., I

found this sign posted:

Childrens' Floor
No one will be allowed on the childrens'
floor without a visitors pass.

I'm sure you can do better. Print a correct sign.

CAUTION

In your enthusiasm for apostrophes, DON'T begin put-

ting them before the s in plurals. For example, the plural
of nation is nations; the plural of country is countries.

FINE POINT

Use of the Possessive with Gerunds

Agerund is a participle used as a noun (e.g., taking,
having been taken), as in all the examples that follow.
In a sentence like / was surprised at (his, him) behaving
that way, our ear —
if it's & discriminating one leans to- —
ward behaving that way, which is equivalent to at
at his
his behavior. In the sentence / was puzzled at (England's,
England) reacting to the news the way she did, the ear, I
think, is more willing to accept England.
—
At any rate usage is divided divided, it seems to me,
by the Atlantic Ocean. Whereas, generally, American
writers go along with the possessive form, especially with
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 49
pronouns, many modern seem happy with
British writers
the objective case of the pronoun and the noun. I have a
number of such examples from Lawrence and Gerald Dur-
rell, C. P. Snow, E. M. Forster, F. V. Lucas, Kingsley

Amis, and Brian Glanville.

Here they are. Test each sentence with your ear. If your
ear likes it not, use the possessive.

1. This must prevent him achieving stature as an artist.

(B. Glanville)

2. I remember you once quoting to me a passage ...

from Paracelsus. (L. Durrell)
3. I expect you remember me giving you occasional warn-
ings. (C. P. Snow)
4. But he resented him making up to this particular wom-
an, whom he still regarded as his enemy. (E. M. Forster)

5. Her spectacles caught the light and prevented him seeing

where she was looking. (K. Amis)

6. We can only demand that characters shall not be so

eccentric as to prevent us believing or feeling with them.
(F. V. Lucas)

7. I peered upwards, but a slight bend in the trunk [of

the tree] prevented me seeing very far. (G. Durrell)
50 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

Chapter 5

Time Has More Than Three Dimensions

I lived like the Puxi Indians of whom it is said

that "for yesterday, today, and tomorrow they have
only one word, and they express the variety of
meaning by pointing backward for yesterday, for-
ward for tomorrow, and overhead for the passing
day."
—Walden by Henry David Thoreau

1. In which did the sharks have a feast right on the beach?

a. When the old fisherman in Hemingway's The Old
Man and the Sea got to shore, the marlin had been
completely devoured by sharks.
b. When the old fisherman in Hemingway's The Old
Man and the Sea got to shore, the marlin was com-
pletely devoured by sharks.

2. Which is the more horrifying idea?

a. Students at Kensington High School were given

preventive medicine in case any of them came in
contact with the dead boy.
b. Students at Kensington High School were given
preventive medicine in case any of them had come
in contact with the dead boy.

In what kind of institution might the following conver-

3.
sation take place between two of the inmates? Assuming that
each of the terms is the same, which one will soon be free?
a. I'm here for five years.
b. I've been here for five years.
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 51
4. In which case was Joe hiding?
a. When Joe got home, his mother asked him where he
had been.
b. When Joe got home, his mother asked him where he
was.

We all know that there are three kinds of time. We

talk of the present, the past, and the future. There are
three simple uses of the verb that correspond roughly to
these three kinds of time.*
But time as measured by verbs has more than these
three dimensions.For instance, here are two simple state-
ments:

I moved to Washington four years ago. {moved —

past tense)
I live in Washington now. (//ve— present tense)

Suppose we should want to combine these two ideas

into one sentence, using only one verb, not two (moved
and live), how could we say it?
What about, "I have lived in Washington for four
years"? That will do it. It means exactly what we want to
say. It tells of an action begun in the past (four years
ago) and continuing into the present. But notice that it is
neither past nor present. It is a time with a new dimen-
sion. It's another tense called the present perfect.
Let us examine several examples:

Joe was a dentist for ten years.

Joe has been a dentist for ten years.

These two statements, which look so much alike, are

actually contradictory on one point. The first tells us that
Joe has discontinued his practice of dentistry. The second
tells us that he is still a dentist.

* The Chinese order these things better: One form — —

one serves all
purposes. Let's take the verb go. And you can stop right there That's
I

all there is. Then how is time shown? Easy!

Yesterday he go. Today he go. Tomorrow he go.
52 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

People who ignore this tense say:

1. I am a dentist for ten years.

2. Did the bell ring yet?

The first sentence tells of an action begun in the past.

We should not, therefore, use am, a present tense. We
should say have been. In the second sentence yet is an
adverb meaning up to now. And so the present perfect,
has rung, shows better timing —grammatically, though
rarely recognized nowadays.
The present perfect tense has another use, too. It may
tell of something completed at some recent indefinite
time.

I have finished reading the book.

Whenever the past time is definitely indicated, how-

ever, the past tense must be used.

I have finished reading the book yesterday. (Cor-

rect: finished, past tense)*

I did it already. (Better: / have already done it,

since the time is indefinite.

NOW TRY THESE

Which verb is correct?

1. I (went or have gone) to the circus yesterday.

2. I (didn't get or haven't got) my check yet.

3. I (know or have known) him for more than twenty

years.

4. I (already did or have already done) it.

Europeans are likely to make the mistake of using our present

*
perfect tense for a definite past action (I have visited the Van Gogh
exhibit last night) because in their own language the conversational,
past tense is made up like our present perfect the verb has or have —
(sometimes is or are) plus the past participle.
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 53
5. I (am working or have been working) here a month.

6. He (is or has been) in this country only two years.

7. My brother (is or has been) a doctor for ten years.

8. I (made or have made) that point when I said I was

opposed to the bill.

9. I (have or have had) an account in that bank for the

past twenty years.

10. Joe (lived or has lived) on this street for four years.
(Meaning that Joe no longer lives there)

REMEMBER

The past tense — / was there yesterday — is used for

actions entirely in the past or performed at some definite
time in the past.
—
The present perfect / have already been there is —
used for actions begun in the past which continue through
the present, or for actions performed in the recent, indef-
inite past.*

For each verb in parentheses, use the tense (present,

past, or present perfect) that is demanded by the meaning
of the sentence.

1. fifteen members in our club now. Yesterday

There (be)
we our third anniversary. We (hold) meetings
(celebrate)
every Friday. Last year we (hold) no meetings during the
summer vacation. Our club (be) in existence for three years.
* A chart of verb forms that are sometimes troublesome can be
found on pages 57-59.
54 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

2. (be) never to see a Shakespearean play, and I (be)

I
really ashamed of myself. My friend Charles, who (see)
Othello a week ago, (stop) not talking about how much he
(enjoy) it. Therefore I (make) up my mind to see the play
as soon as I can get tickets for it.

THE PAST PERFECT TENSE

Let's look at this pair of sentences:

1. The main speaker left when Joe came in.

2. The main speaker had left when Joe came in.
In which sentence did Joe catch a glimpse of the
speaker?
Obviously in sentence 1. In sentence 2, the verb had
left shows that the speaker's leaving preceded Joe's en-
trance. Whenever two past actions are discussed together
and one of them precedes the other, it is useful to have
the past perfect to indicate the action that came first
When the conjunctions before or after are used, the rela-
tion of the two actions is sufficiently clear to make the
use of the past perfect unnecessary.
Another use of the past perfect tense shows its resem-
blance to the present perfect. Just as the present perfect
tense carries an action from the past up to the present so
the past perfect tense carries an action from an earlier
past to the past indicated by the other verb. The past per-
fect is especially needed when the adverbs already and
not yet are used with the verb expressing the earlier past
time: When Keats was twenty-one, he had already (or not
yet) written his best poetry.

I felt deeply hurt because he had betrayed my

trust. {Had betrayed, the past perfect, is preferred
to betrayed, the past tense, because the betrayal
came some time before the hurt feeling.)
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 55
Jones had played fifty-nine minutes of the game,
when he was replaced by a substitute. (Had played
is called for here, since Jones's playing began in

the past and continued to another point in the past,

his replacement. The announcer at the game, tor
instance, would say, "A substitute is finally going in

for Jones. Jones has played fifty-nine minutes of

the game."

PAST OR PAST PER FECI?

In the sentences that follow, use the past or past perfect

tense for the verbs in parentheses. The first five are home-
grown and easy.

1. I (come) into the room after he (leave).

2. When he (move) to the South, I (know) him for five

years.

3. I (wait) there an hour, when he (come).

4. We already (decide) when you (ask) us.

5. I never (fail) before last term.

6. The spokesman (say) yesterday that a number of

American combat units (serve) in the Con Thien area.

7. The general (explain) in an interview why he (reject)

proposals aimed at relaxing the Spartan atmosphere in the
Marine Corps.

8. She (say) in an interview that she (want) not to stay

at the Waldorf Astoria in the first place.

9. A group of 30 experts on the Soviet Union (conclude)

that Khrushchev's memoirs (be) authentic and (receive) the
approval of the present Soviet leadership.

10. The Defense Department (deny) today that there (be)

conclusive evidence that the United States Army defoliation
programs (be) catastrophic for South Vietnam.
56 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

PRINCIPAL PARTS OF VERBS

When Dizzy Dean, one of the great pitchers of baseball,

was hired as announcer for games played by the St. Louis
Cardinals, he became famous all over again —
this time
for mutilating the English language. His specialty was find-
ing new verb forms for well-established old forms. In his
broadcasts, the pitcher always "throwed" the ball hard
and the batter "swang" at it. A base runner usually "slud"
into second base. When the association of Missouri
teachers of English complained about what he was doing
to their language, he asked, "What do they want me to
say— slidded?"
No, they wanted him to use the correct forms of ir-

regular verbs (those that do not add ed to form the past

tense and past Here is a list of such verbs.
participle).
Some forms may surprise you. For example, do you say,
"He has swum across the lake" or "has swam across the
lake"?
You'll find the answer in its alphabetical place in the
list that follows.

VERB FORMS SOMETIMES MISUSED

Capital letters indicate forms for which incorrect substi-

tutions are sometimes made. The most serious and most
often heard are / seen (for saw) and / done it (for / did
it). have included the present participle because
I it is

sometimes misspelled.
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 57

PRESENT PRESENT PAST PAST

PARTICIPLE PARTICIPLE*

arise arising arose arisen

beat beating BEAT BEATEN
become becoming became BECOME
begin beginning BEGAN BEGUN
bid (request) bidding BADE BIDDEN
bid (make an bidding bid BID
offer
bite biting bit BITTEN
blow blowing BLEW BLOWN
break breaking broke BROKEN
bring bringing BROUGHT BROUGHT
burst bursting BURST BURST
catch catching CAUGHT CAUGHT
choose choosing CHOSE CHOSEN
come coming CAME COME
(not come)
cost costing COST COST
deal dealing DEALT DEALT
dive diving DIVED or dived or
DOVE dove
do doing DID (not DONE
done)
drag dragging DRAGGED DRAGGED
dream dreaming dreamed or dreamed or
dreamt dreamt
drink drinking DRANK DRUNK
drown drowning DROWNED DROWNED
eat eating ATE EATEN
fall falling fell FALLEN
fit fitting fitted or fit FITTED
flee fleeing FLED FLED
fly flying flew FLOWN
forbid forbidding FORBADE FORBIDDEN
forsake forsaking FORSOOK FORSAKEN
freeze freezing froze FROZEN
Used with has or have, had, will have, etc. to form the perfect
*
tenses and with is, was, etc. to form the passive.
58 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

PRESENT PRESENT PAST PAST

PARTICIPLE PARTICIPLE

get getting got got or

gotten
give giving GAVE GIVEN
grow growing GREW GROWN
hang (a hanging hung hung
picture)
hang (a hanging HANGED HANGED
criminal)
hurt hurting HURT HURT
know knowing KNEW KNOWN
lay laying LAID LAID
lead leading LED (not LED
lead)
lend lending LENT LENT
lie (recline) lying LAY LAIN
lie (tell a lying LIED lied
lie)
lose losing lost lost
ride riding rode RIDDEN
ring ringing rang RUNG
shake shaking shook SHAKEN
sing singing sang or sung SUNG
sink sinking sank or sunk sunk or
sunken
slay slaying slew slain
slide sliding SLID SLID
speak speaking spoke spoken
stay staying STAYED STAYED
steal stealing stole STOLEN
string stringing strung strung
swell swelling SWELLED swelled or
(not swole) swollen
swim swimming swam SWUM
swing swinging SWUNG swung
take taking took TAKEN
tear tearing tore TORN
throw throwing THREW THROWN
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 59

PAST PRESENT PAST PAST

PARTICIPLE PARTICIPLE

wake waking waked or waked or

woke woken
wring wringing WRUNG wrung
write writing wrote written
win winning WON WON

PRINCIPAL PARTS

Write the form of the past tense for each of the follow-
ing verbs. Watch your spelling.

Example: steal Answer: stole

1. do 11. bring
2. come 12. seek
3. lead 13. choose
4. lie (to rest) 14. run
5. lie (to tell an untruth) 15. win
6. lay 16. grow
7. see 17. drink
8. pay 18. flee
9. ring 19. give
10. beat 20. slay

In each of the following sentences, select the correct

form of the verb:

1. After the game he (drank, drunk) a whole quart of

water.

2. I (saw, seen) him do it with my own eyes.

3. He (did, done) it again last week.

4. Yesterday he (came, come) in late again.

5. Prices have always (rose, risen) during a war period.

60 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

6. I have (gone, went) home early all this week.

7. He has (ran, run) all the way to tell us the news.

8. The ball is (lieing, lying) where you (threw, throwed)

it

9. Who has (taken, took) my pen?

10. He has (swam, swum) across the lake several times.

11. I (beat, bet) him 21 to 15 in the Ping-Pong finals.

12. He (lead, led) the procession down the street.

FINE POINTS: THE SUBJUNCTIVE

Although the subjunctive is alive and well and living

in France, Spain, Italy, and Germany, it is virtually—
with few exceptions —
dead in England* and America.
Most of us quite naturally say, "If I were you," with-
out realizing that / were is not normally a grammatical
sequence. This is the subjunctive, contrary to fact. // /
were you says / am not you. This use is confined largely
to /. One finds // he was here now (he isn't) perhaps
more often than // he were here in the writings of modern
authors.
Perhaps you have noticed another peculiarity: were, in
// / were there (I am not there), is equivalent to the
present tense.
Do we have a past tense? Yes, and we use it quite
naturally without realizing that we are handling some-
thing as formidable as the subjunctive. We say, // he
had been here yesterday (he wasn't), all the trouble would
have been avoided. What looks like a past perfect tense
(he had been) is the past subjunctive contrary to fact.
* Not quite dead. In a book published in 1970 by a distinguished
British writer, I found this sentence: "Both believed that every work
of art, whether it were a house, a garden, or a poein* should be a
judicious blend of art and nature."
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 61
In the use of this had form we must be careful of two
things:
1. We should not use the ordinary past: // he was (or

were) here yesterday, all the trouble would have been

avoided,
2. We
should avoid using would have in both halves,
even some writers occasionally do so. For example, //
if

he would have been there, all the trouble would have been
avoided.
Why? word would has a future
Let's just say that the
idea in and the tense is obviously past. But you may
it

want to ask, "What about the second part: the trouble

would have been avoided? Isn't that future too?" Yes, it
is; it is future to the first have. If this had been done, this

would have happened. If all this puzzles you, forget it.

Just avoid it and let it go at that.
Sometimes the subjunctive is used to indicate a future
possibility, as in // / were to ask you for help, etc. // /
were to live in a wilderness, etc.

EXERCISE IN SUBJUNCTIVES

Remembering that would as had been is to

were is to
would have, on the following. You can
try yourself out
even say of some sentences that either was or were is
acceptable. Certainly, where // equals whether, was (not
were) should be used. Some sentences may be correct as
they are.

1. Experts agree that if it weren't for the Nixon vote, the

district would have sent a Democrat to Congress.

2. "If I was the Mayor, I'd sit this one out," the Gov-
ernor commented.

3. "If you would have known of this," the judge said,

"you would have realized he was a not-so-innocent little

schoolboy with a bow tie."

62 Questions You Always fronted to Ask about Jbnglish

4. For a moment I wondered if she was going to cry.

5. If anyone said that fifty years ago, he would have

been considered mad.

6. He was asked if it were the usual custom in Mississippi

in primary contests to have a rerun of the two top candidates.

7. Let the court take note of the fact that if I were

permitted to leave the country, there would have been no
criminal plot.

8. One highly placed Turkish official warned that Turkey

was quite willing to fight if she were invaded.

9. Anne would have been particularly obliged to her

cousin if he would have walked by her side without saying a
word.

10. If I knew all the facts, I wouldn't have acted so hastily.

Good Advice
The subjunctive in English on the way out. Say or
is

write what comes naturally. You'll probably do as well as

most writers.

YOU CAN RELAX

Once upon a time a good deal of fuss was made about

whether was even necessary to
to use shall or will It

anticipate the reply you be at the theater

and ask, "Shall
tonight?" because the expected answer would be, "I shall
(or shall not)."
Today will is the verb permissible in all cases except
when a threat, warning, or prohibition is expressed. For
example, "The demonstration shall not take place on the
Capitol steps" means that the protesters are warned
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 63
against using the Capitol steps for their demonstration.
(Will in this sentence would mean that the demonstrators
do not plan to use the Capitol steps.)
Note that most of the Commandments begin with:
"Thou shalt not." Thou shalt not kill is a prohibition.
Thou wilt not kill is an expression of faith and hope.
You can relax even more with should and would. The
use of / should like or / should prefer is rarely heard.
Not one person hundred knows what the difference
in a
between should and would is and not one in a thousand
cares.

THE SO-CALLED SPLIT INFINITIVE

There are some who still worry about splitting an in-

down the middle by inserting an adverb between
finitive

the to and the verb form. You can relax here, too. Is
there a better place for really in: To really understand this
problem, etc. or for steadily in: To steadily increase Can-
ada's foreign aid contributions, etc.
Jimmy Durante once said: "When I goes to work on an
infinitive I don't just split it; I break it in little pieces."
Don't go too far in splitting infinitives by writing a
sentence such as: I'm going to as a favor to you even
though you didn't ask me for it arrange all the details for
your climb up Mt. Rainier.
That's no split; that's a crevasse.
64 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

Chapter 6

If You Speak English Good,

You Don't Speak It Well:
Adjectives and Adverbs

A THIEF'S GRAMMAR CATCHES UP TO HIM

Poison, Montana (AP) —

It is bad enough to split

an infinitive you misspell an adverb you

but if

could be left dangling from your own participle.

One piece of evidence in the case was a note
taken from the safe in the business office. The
locked safe bore this notice:

"This safe contains papers only

for protection from fire."

Above had scrib-

the typed statement, the burglar
bled: "I readand I'll leave it He Ha," plus an after-
thought that proved his undoing: "To cops went
pass me."
The suspect in the case was asked to write the
same sentence and he repeated exactly the mis-
spelled words, confusing adjectives with infinitives

and adverbs with verbs.

—From AP dispatch.

Now that you know some grammar, you know that

the burglar in the AP dispatch obviously doesn't. He has

confused prepositional phrases with infinitives and nouns
with prepositions.
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 65
"To cops" is not an made up of a prep-
infinitive. It is

osition to and a noun cops which would make it a prep-

ositional phrase. What is needed is two, of course, an
adjective to modify the noun cops.
"Pass" all by itself may be either a verb or a noun,
not an adverb. What is needed here is past, a preposition,
with the object me.
Now that we have disposed of the burglar's grammatical
knowledge, try yours on the following sentences concerned
chiefly with adjectives or adverbs.

1. Who will be able to claim a deduction for charitable

contributions?
a. He's done good with the money he inherited.
b. He's done well with the money he inherited.

2. Which statement has a sock in it?

a. It's darned good.
b. It's darned well.

3. Which dog is definitely not a bloodhound?

a. The dog smells bad.
b. The dog smells badly.

4. Which one is more to be feared?

a. He's the kind of fellow who takes life easy.

b. He's the kind of fellow who takes life easily.

5. Which assures you of an easy climb?

a. You will find the mountain trail easy.
b. You will find the mountain trail easily.

6. In which sentence is Joe being sized up?

a. Joe looked careful.
b. Joe looked carefully.

PRETEST
1. I can't stand a person who speaks (indistinct, in-
distinctly).

2. I like a person who dresses (simple, simply), not

(flashy, flashily).
66 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

3. She looks (beautiful, beautifully) in her new outfit.

4. After taking several lessons from the pro he hit the

ball (different, differently).

5. The soft ice cream tastes (delicious, deliciously).

6. She played the Chopin etudes (beautiful, beautifully).

7. To avoid accidents, drive (careful, carefully).

8. She ran as (graceful, gracefully) as a gazelle.

9. He was (near, nearly) dead when they found him.

10. He got along very (good, well) in mathematics but

very (bad, badly) in English.

11. You've done very (good, well) so far; let's try one
more.

12. Nick isn't doing so (bad, badly) with a tail-end club.

ADJECTIVE OR ADVERB?

As you have already seen, an adjective modifies a

noun, generally answering the question, "What kind of?"
(e.g., in a courteous manner, courteous answers the ques-

tion "What kind of?")

An
adverb modifies a verb, an adjective, or another
adverb and answers questions such as "Why?" "How?"
"When?" "How much?"

GOOD OR WELL?

Good an adjective. The adverbial equivalent of good

is

is well. However, the American people, listening to radio

or watching television, reading advertisements or the

comics, are being sold the use of good as an adverb.
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 67
Practically every MC
on a game program gets off a
remark like, "You've done very good so far." TV com-
mercials ask watchers to "rub it in good" or "soak it
good.'* Listeners to a play-by-play report of a baseball
game hear: "His sinker is working good today" or "He
certainly hit the ball good but right into the hands of Willie
Mays." A newspaper advertisement asks the reader to
LISTEN GOOD.
Nevertheless and despite all this, the word to use in all
these instances is well —
if you want to master good English

and speak it (The Usage Panel voted almost unan-

well.
imously against the use of good for well in written English,
while 73 percent found good for well unacceptable in
spoken English.
However, good can and should be used after verbs that
are like the verb to be (e.g., to seem, to appear) and
when verbs like look, smell, taste, feel, etc. are passive in
meaning.
For example: Does she look beautiful or beautifully in
her new outfit?
The answer, of course, is beautiful. She isn't looking
(an active verb) she ; is being looked at (a passive verb).
But the verb look can also show action: She looked
be sure to select the best one.
carefully at the pictures to
Now she is looking and we need an adverb to tell the
how of the action.
Let's look at a few more.

The apple tastes (sweet or sweetly).

The fish smells (fresh or freshly).
The cool air feels (good or well).
You can see that in each of these sentences tastes,
smells, and feels can be equated with is; hence, the ad-
jective follows, not the adverb.
I might add here that for years a controversy has been
raging over whether to say, "I felt bad or I felt badly
68 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

about the tragic situation." Grammatically, bad is correct

but somehow inadequate. Bad seems a weak word for an
emotion that may be very strong. Therefore, some prefer
badly in this case. Editorials have been written in news-
papers on this particular dilemma with no decision
reached. Let your decision rest with the intensity of the
feeling.
There's no such difficulty with good. I felt good or
happy or anxious or euphoric.

EXERCISE CHIEFLY ON GOOD AND WELL

1. He ran into hard luck just as he seemed to be getting

along (good, well) on a 2 to 1 lead in the fourth.

2. Can we force him to do it (different, differently)?

3. The flower smells (sweet, sweetly).

4. Some people take things like that very (serious,

seriously).

5. Let's see how (good, well) we can do in this round.

6. There was no structural damage from the earthquake

but things rattled around pretty (good, well).

7. If I had hit (good, well) I'd still be there, but each

year you don't play (regular, regularly), the worse you get.

8. wish I could sing as (good, well) as Rex Harrison

I

did in My Fair Lady.

9. I have never won anything playing too (cautious,

cautiously).

10. You have to feel (confident, confidently) and take a

big cut at the ball.

11. When he explained the details to me I felt (different,

differently) about the whole situation.

 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 69
12. Congratulations, Andy! You played (marvelous, mar-
velously) today.

13. The contents of the bulging can of soup smelled

(strange, strangely).

14. Whenever I see a sad picture like Love Story, I feel

(bad, badly) for hours afterward.

15. A rose by any other name would smell as (sweet,

sweetly).

ADJECTIVES IN LY

Although we usually distinguish between the adjective

and the adverb form by the ending ly, there are a number
of adjectives that end in ly:

cowardly, daily, motherly, early, friendly, leisurely,

lively, lovely, orderly, etc.

Some of these may be used conveniently as adverbs:

The paper was delivered daily.

It is inadvisable, however, to use most of the others as

anything but adjectives. The following sound pretty bad
(not badly):

She treated me motherly.

They marched out of the theater orderly.
He greeted me very friendly.

In such cases you generally do better if you use a

phrase instead:

She treated me like a mother.

They marched out of the theater in an orderly
manner.
He greeted me in a very friendly way.
70 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

ADVERBS WITHOUT LY

There are a number of short adjectives which may

under certain conditions properly and effectively be used
as adverbs even when there is a corresponding adverb
ending in ly (e.g., traffic sign: go slow; but he went
slowly about his business), A partial list would include,
besides slow, such words as close, deep, direct, fair, fine,
hard, high, loud, low, quick, right, straight, tight, wrong *

Those who are too cautious often add ly unnecessarily

to some of these words and get ineffective or curious
results.
He did fine is certainly better than finely, finely being
reserved for such phrases as finely strung, finely knit.
In the sentence, In this North Sea village you can buy
your fish direct from the fisherman at his hut, the word
direct is to be preferred to directly. And
no one surely
says He hit the ball hardly. Don't be timid; depending on
the meaning, it is all right to use these words with verbs
and without ly endings. Your ear will often be a reliable
guide.

THEY COME IN SIZES TOO

Under the state marketing agreement in California,

olives are graded according to these size standards:

medium, large, larger, mammoth, giant, jumbo,

colossal, and supercolossal

thus making large olives almost the smallest obtainable.

* It obvious that in certain meanings the ly word is the only

is
one He kicked the ball deep into enemy territory but He hurt
to use.
me deeply. Play fair but He was beaten fairly. Note that if we add an
ly to low (which can be used as either an adjective or adverb)
it

becomes lowly (adjective only).

 But Were A /raid to Raise Your Hand 71
Grammatically, however, there are only three sizes:

POSITIVE COMPARATIVE SUPERLATIVE

large larger largest

small smaller smallest

H*y*m*a*n K*a*p*l*a*n once startled his night school

teacher with:

bad worse rotten

good better high-class
cold colder below zero

more orthodox worst, best, and coldest.

instead of the
WhenShakespeare has Marc Antony say, "This was
the most unkindest cut of all," we admire the intensity of
feeling Shakespeare achieved by being ungrammatical.
However, when you do something like that don't expect
congratulations.

Omit more or most if the meaning remains unchanged.

1. He was a more gentler person than people thought.

2. Because of his great wealth he felt more superior.

3. This was the most costliest day for our helicopter

squadron.

4. Confidentially, I think Conrad's plans more preferable.

5. He is a lot more friendlier than his brother.

6. It is a beautiful day but the proclamation of peace has

made it that much more brighter.

Note that the following is correct: "More colder weather

is expected for tomorrow."
72 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

FINE POINTS

Quantitatively Speaking

Don't settle for less where the sense calls for fewer,
and it calls for fewer if the noun following is in the plural
(e.g., less bread, fewer rolls; less time, fewer days).
When Pamela Hansford Johnson (Mrs. C. P. Snow)
in The New York Times Book Review wrote: "We
English use less prepositions than you do," she and The
Times received hundreds of letters protesting the use of
less for fewer. She graciously wrote to the editor: "First,
admission and apologies. No, 'less prepositions' isn't very
nice; I agree. My acknowledgments to all grammarians
who have written privately and publicly."
When considering words of quantity, here's an easy
rule.

little —few
money dollars

much money— many dollars

money—fewer
less dollars

Where a unit of time or money is involved less may be

used.

He had less- than ten dollars with him.

He had served less than three years.

BUT
Fewer troops in Southeast Asia means less mon-
ey spent on the military.

The onlyother adjectives that give this kind of trouble

are this and that (plural these and those) and they give
trouble only when used with the words kind, sort, and
type. We are tempted to say these kind of books and those
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 73
kind of remarks. However, since kind, sort, and type are
singular, they should be preceded by this or that.
When a statesman recently scouted "those sorts of ru-
mors," he was being grammatically accurate. To many
of us, however, "those sorts of rumors" and "that sort of
rumors" seem stilted. Fortunately, we have our choice of
the following correct substitutes:

that sort of rumor (correct)

rumors of that sort (correct)

Almost means very nearly; most means the greater or

greatest number. Except in informal speech it is inadvis-
able to use most in sentences like:
Most everybody makes some kind of mistake in English
usage. (Preferred: almost; 92 percent of the Usage Panel
found it unacceptable in formal writing, but divided almost
evenly on its use in informal speech.
Most can, of course, be correctly used to mean very, as
in / was most pleased by the attention he gave me. (But
even can get you into trouble, as it did one young
this
man who, shaking hands with the new minister on the
church steps, said, "And I suppose that this is your most
beautiful wife?" "My only one," replied the minister.)

EXERCISE ON USE OF LESS AND FEWER,

MOST AND ALMOST
1. Is it true, I'd like to know, that (less, fewer) acci-
dents occur on our highways than in our homes?

2. Her articles in a variety of magazines appear in

(almost, most) all of the national magazines.

3. Stonewall Jackson once sent the following terse tele-

gram to the War Department at Richmond: "Send me more
men and (less, fewer) questions."

4. In France alone it sold 840,000 copies in hardcover

and almost as (much, many) in paperback.
74 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

In the twinkling of an eye and long before the white

5.
pelletvanished (deep, deeply) into the lower right-field stand
(most, almost) everyone in the ballpark knew it was all
over.

6. The test results also brought out that in the elementary

grades there were (less, fewer) pupils below the norm than a
year ago.

7. It was a rare exhibition between two hurlers who had

(most, almost) everything.

8. We then had 228 (less, fewer) ships than we have

now.

9. You would find him (almost, most) every morning at

his easel in the studio.

10. There are now only 300,000 (less, fewer) smoking

women than in 1966 despite a population increase of three
million adult women.

A FEW ODD ONES

Such words as perfect, correct, round, and unique

seem in their original form to express a superlative, and
we are often warned never to use them with more or most
Yet Samuel Johnson, in the introduction to his famous
dictionary, says, "The words here are more correctly
spelled."
And our own Constitution has in its first sentence the
thrilling phrase, "In order to form a more perfect union."
We probably feel that nothing is really perfect, eternally
correct, or absolutely round.
Those who worry about this sort of thing can, if they
wish, say more nearly round, more nearly correct, and
more nearly perfect, while the rest of us go right on up-
holding the Constitution.
Unique, however, which means the only one of its kind,
is unique and nothing can be more unique.
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand
—75

OTHER

Use other when comparing things or persons of the

same kind or class.

Correct: The pitcher works harder than any other

player on the team.

To be strictly logical, we should use other since the

pitcher is included in any player on the team and cannot
work harder than himself.
But leave out other when the two things compared are
in different classifications.

Correct: An elephant can run faster than any human

being.

DUE TO

Ordinarily the word due

an adjective (adverb
is

duly) in such sentences as The due date for the manu-

script was June 1, 1971, or The rent is due.
Strictly construed, therefore, the phrase due to should
be used only where an adjective modifier is called for, as
in the following:

Lateness, due to traffic snarls, is not unusual.

His lateness was due to a traffic snarl.

In spite of the frequent use in writing of due to in an

adverbial position to show causal relation, 84 percent of
the Usage Panel find it unacceptable —even in the face
of such a fixed expression as Due to circumstances beyond
his control*

* If Iwere a betting man, I'd wager that 99 out of 100 business

kind begin with: "Due to increased overhead, new
letters of a certain
."
equipment, and maintenance costs, we have found it necessary. . .
76 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

What shall we use instead?

Due to the muddy roads, the tank offensive was

bogged down. (Strictly: because of or on account
of)

CHANGE THESE IF YOU WANT TO

1. Due to the bad weather, the game between the Mets

and Dodgers was called off.

2. Due in part to the momentum which the President and

his aides generated, Congress last year established five new
national parks.

3. Due to a taxi accident, her right hand was so badly

injured that it is doubtful whether she will ever be able to
play the piano again.
 "
But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 77

Chapter 7

Can You Save a Dangling Modifier

or Participle?

A 'LESSON' IN ENGLISH
And an Army Trainee Learns About
'the Misplaced Modifier*

Pullman, Washington (AP) —

An army trainee in
a Washington State College classroom asked this
question:
"Sir, can you tell us whether we have to take
this English class during the whole gol-dinged nine
months we're here?"
Prof. Lewis E. Buchanan replied:
"Gentlemen, there you see a perfect example of
the misplaced modifier. Obviously what this gentle-
man means is, 'Do you have to take this gol-dinged
English class the whole nine months you are here?'
— From AP dispatch, September, 1970

1. To which question, asked by David Susskind of a panel

of photographers, was one of them justified in answering,

"She's a lousy photographer"?
a. What do you think of Ingrid Bergman as a pho-
tographer?
b. As a photographer, what do you think of Ingrid
Bergman?
2. In which sentence was the baseball battered?
a. In the second inning the pitcher sustained a gash on

the chin from a batted ball that required six stitches.

b. In the second inning a batted ball hit the pitcher's
chin, making a gash that required six stitches.
78 Questions You Always Wanted to Ash about English

3. Which persons valued their lives cheaply?

a. The obituary column lists the names of persons who
died recently for a nominal fee.
b. The obituary column for a nominal fee lists the
names of persons who died recently.
4. Which is unfair to the local fire department?
a. The blaze was put out before any damage was done

by the local fire department.

b. The blaze was put out by the local fire department
before any damage was done.
5. Which arrangement would be a bother for the First
Lady?
a. Our guests are then taken to the famous Hotel
Willow within walking distance of the White House,
where rooms are provided for them.
b. Our guests are then taken to their rooms at the
famous Hotel Willow within walking distance of the
White House.

6. In which statement is the Argentinian President accused

of being a troublemaker?
a. Whether the Argentinian Communists deliberately
chose to cause trouble during a period when they
knew their President was going to the United States,
or whether the course of events rose to a natural
climax is hard to tell.
b. Whether the Argentinian Communists deliberately
chose a period when they knew their President was
going to the United States to cause trouble, or
whether the course of events rose to a natural climax
is hard to tell.

7. Which statement is incredible on the face of it?

a. Although a Protestant, the Pope received me most

graciously.
b. Although I am a Protestant, the Pope received me
most graciously.
-*.

It is always best to have a phrase modifier as near as

possible to the word it belongs with. If these modifiers are
 But Were A/raid to Raise Your Hand 79
placed somewhere else, you may come up with a sentence

like this (one newspaper did)

The Dodger outfielder is still raging over the report

that he slugged a photographer carried in an after-
noon paper.

As you can see, that is rather an uncomfortable position

for a photographer to be in. It was the report, of course,
that was carried in an afternoon paper. What to do? Put
"carried in an afternoon paper" where it belongs.

The Dodger outfielder is still raging over the report,

carried in an afternoon paper, that he slugged a
photographer.

On the jacket of The Annotated Walden (edited by

Philip Van Doren Stern) appears this sentence:

Henry David Thoreau lived from July 4, 1845, to

September 6, 1847, in the cabin he had built on
the shores of Walden Pond.

How much better this sentence would be if we were

to put from July 4, 1845, to September 6, 1847, at the
beginning. This is often a good way of dealing with a
stranded phrase. It results in a sentence that ends with a
bang instead of a whimper. (See first sentence below.)

TEST ON MISPLACED MODIFIERS

(The firsteight are taken from newspaper stories or advertise-

ments. Sometimes a remark is added to help you locate the
trouble.)

1. He was born the year after President Lincoln's assassi-

nation at Florence, a farm town in northwestern Alabama.

(And we always thought Ford's Theater was in Washington.)

2. Be sure to purchase enough yarn to finish your article

before you start. (Even a computer couldn't do that.)

80 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

3. You get more U.S. prime quality because our meats

are selected by our perfectionist butchers, aged at least three
weeks. (Not child labor again!)

4. We recommend The Heiress, a gripping story of a

woman's vengeance on the CBS television network. (Still
another attack on the media?)

5. You can order a dress that will be delivered to you

by telephone. (To the wrong number?)

6. Herman Melville had to seek the companionship and

understanding he never received from his mother and father
in other people.

7. The whole family complimented Susan on the fine

performance she gave as they were leaving the auditorium.
(Free open-air concert?)

8. Israel has developed a bulletproof helmet for soldiers

made of plastic. (What will they think of next?)

9. Ellen sat watching the gull fly back and forth over
the dunes in a red bathing suit. (Showing off!)

10. The best fruit he likes is peaches. (Don't people always

like the best?)

PARTICIPLES ARE SOMETIMES LEFT

UP IN THE AIR

One couldn't help but be aware of the stallion Roy-

al Rick sitting in the stands the last couple of nights
of the spring meeting at Toronto Greenwood.
— From Guelph (Ont.)
Standardbred Record

Showing how a racehorse can be made into an

interested spectator.

1. Which judge seems also to be a philanthropist?

a. Having paid my parking fine, I was dismissed by
the judge with a reprimand.
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 81
b. Having paid my parking fine, the judge dismissed me
with a reprimand.

2. Which bus belongs in Disneyland?

a. Hopping from one tired foot to the other, the cross-
town bus finally came into view.
b. Hopping from one tired foot to the other, I finally
saw the crosstown bus come into view.

3. Which boys should be studying Latin or Greek instead

of bucking the line?
a. Being of fragile material, the boys on the football
team are having a hard time keeping their jerseys
intact.
b. Being of fragile material, the jerseys worn by the
boys on the football team are hard to keep intact.

4. Which case should be reported to the American So-

ciety for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals?
a. Having broken both its front legs, they carried the
dog to the veterinarian.
b. Having broken both its front legs, the dog was car-
ried to the veterinarian.

5. In which case have students* rights gone a bit too far?

a. After taking a test, the faculty panel accepted me as
a candidate for a degree.
b. After taking a test, I was accepted by the panel as a
candidate for a degree.

A participle usually performs the function of an adjec-

tive,which gives us information about a noun or pronoun.
You must, therefore, be sure that it is hanging on to a
noun or pronoun which makes the sense you intend.
The sentence, Walking across the street, a truck almost
ran me down, is absurd. Obviously the truck was not
walking; I was. Therefore the sentence should read Walk-
ing across the street, I was almost run down by a truck.
Or we can get rid of the participle and write: As I
walked across the street, a truck almost ran me down.
In the paired sentences you have just completed, each
82 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

of the sentences is correct but the meanings are far apart,

and one suspects that one of the meanings was not in-
tended by the writer.
Make each of the following sentences clearer by giving
the participial phrase something to hang on to by changing
it to a dependent clause. The first six sentences appeared

in print as they appear here:

1 When caught, the hunting knife was still in the subject's

hand, the police said.

2. Having fought in World War II, your August 21

editorial "Civilian Casualties in Vietnam" is puzzling.

3. Sold to the public like a packet of soap powder, the

voters have bought the candidate just before the holes begin
to show in their washing.

4. When visiting Russia, the everyday household chores

may seem very unusual to an American but not to a Euro-
pean.

5. Convinced that widespread reading of this article will

help curb reckless driving, reprints in leaflet form are offered
at cost.

6. Though beginning to fade, I think St. Louis will fur-

nish the closest competition.

7. After being dead for more than 150 years, Beethoven's

music loved by many people.
is still

8. Upon entering the plane, the stewardess gave me a

stick of chewing gum.

9. Walking in from the darkness, a dazzling white, life-

like statue of Lincoln greets you.

10. Walking along the edge of the lake, a fish suddenly

jumped out of the water.
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 83

Chapter 8

Don't Confuse Them or Misuse Them

Once I remember I used the words sarcasm and

irony in an English essay. Mr. H. read them out
and asked me what I meant by them and told the
class he bet I didn't know. I replied that sarcasm
was making fun of people, as he was making fun
of me, but that irony was when the truth was funny.
— From The Golden Echo
by David Garnett

A study of the paired sentences that follow shows how

the mere interchange of words may result in a complete
change in meaning.

WORDS CONFUSED OR MISUSED

1. Which Joe resembles the great Sherlock Holmes?

a. Joe deducted it from the other items presented to
him.
b. Joe deduced it from the other items presented to
him.

2. In which sentence did the first-nighters miss a speech

about the weather?
a. On the opening night a gun refused to fire and a
premature curtain cut off a climatic speech.
b. On the opening night a gun refused to fire and a
premature curtain cut off a climactic speech.
84 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

3. In which production did the actors look like giants?

a. In the production of Our Town no scenery was

used and very little props.

b. In the production of Our Town no scenery was
used and very few props.

4. Which performance made Iago seem real?

a. His performance in the controversial role of Iago
was credible.
b. His performance in the controversial role of Iago
was creditable.

5. Which theater had only six people in the audience?

a. In the audience there were five people beside me.
b. In the audience there were five people besides me.

6. Which is the better deal for the professional boxers?

a. Both heavyweights will get $2,500,000.
b. Each heavyweight will get $2,500,000.

7. Which is by way of being an ultimatum?

a. I'll give you an instant to prove it.
b. I'll give you an instance to prove it.

8. Which was more like a vacation?

a, Joe stood in the country for two weeks.
b. Joe stayed in the country for two weeks.

9. Which would Joe's mother prefer?

a. Joe took the dirty stray dog home.
b. Joe brought the dirty stray dog home.

10. Which was the more complete job?

a. The bandits robbed the truck.

b. The bandits stole the truck.

11. In which case was Joe cashing in on his father's prom-

inence?
a. Joe flouted his father's authority.
b, Joe flaunted his father's authority.

12. Which is an act of generosity?

a. He went to the library to lend a rare book.
b. He went to the library to borrow a rare book.
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 85
13. Which judge would most lawyers prefer?
a. The judge was completely disinterested.
b. The judge was completely uninterested.

14. Which required more ingenuity?

a. He adopted his sister's plan.

b. He adapted his sister's plan.

15. Which does not violate the principle of freedom of

speech?
a. The Commission's report was censored by the Presi-
dent.
b. The Commission's report was censured by the Presi-
dent.

16. In which case did the protesters futilely use feathers?

a. The protesters laid down on the highway to hold up
traffic.

b. The protesters lay down on the highway to hold up

traffic.

17. Which sentence means, "Don't include me"?

a. Leave me out.
b. Let me out.
18. Which shouldn't be said even to a dog?
a. Lie down, Fido.
b. Lay down Fido.
19. In which case is an accusing finger being pointed?
a. The newspaper lay right here.
b. The newspaper lied right here.
20. In which case has the quality of your English im-
proved?
a. Since reading this book I make fewer serious mis-
takes in English.
b. Since reading this book I make less serious mis-
takes in English.
86 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

ACCEPT, EXCEPT

Accept means to take something that is offered; except

means to leave out.

Correct: All those over forty-five are excepted from

this ruling.
Correct: We accept the ruling without protest.

ADAPT, ADOPT

When you adopt something you take it over as it is,

lock, stock,and barrel.
When you adapt something you change it to suit new
circumstances. You can adopt someone else, but you
adapt yourself.

Correct: He adopted a little English girl.

Correct: Margaret tried to adapt herself to her new

environment.

You
can adopt or adapt a plan, depending on whether
you take it as it is (adopt) or change it to suit your needs
(adapt).

ADMISSION, ADMITTANCE

Often used interchangeably, except in the following

instances:

Positively no admittance
The price of admission
A dangerous admission (of fact or evidence)

AFFECT, EFFECT

Affect, as a verb, means to influence. Effect, as a

verb, means to bring about as a result; as a noun it means
the result or consequence.
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 87
Correct: His speech affected the audience greatly.
Correct: The antibiotics effected a remarkable cure
with no noticeable side effects.

ALUMNA, ALUMNAE ALUMNUS, ALUMNI

On the left we have a female graduate and female

graduates (pronounced nee); on the extreme right, male
graduates (pronounced nigh). You can save a lot of
trouble by using the word graduate or graduates.

AMBIGUOUS, EQUIVOCAL

Though generally used interchangeably to mean having

two or more possible interpretations, the nice distinction
made is that while ambiguity is always unintentional,
equivocation may be purposeful, intending to deceive.
An ambiguous statement is made by someone who
doesn't make himself clear, while an equivocal statement
is made by someone who doesn't want to make himself
clear. Anybody can be ambiguous, but you have to be
clever to be able to equivocate —a diplomat, for example,
an official spokesman, the Delphic Oracle, or the witches
in Macbeth, of whom Macbeth complains that they deal
with him in a "double sense: that keep the word of prom-
ise to our ear, and break it to our hope."

APT, LIKELY, LIABLE

When followed by infinitives these three words show the

following differences in meaning:
Apt shows a strong inherent or habitual tendency. She
is apt to exaggerate.
Likely tells of probability. She is likely to arrive at any
time.
Liable emphasizes only a bad outcome. // it liable to

explode in your hands.

88 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

If thesewords bother you, there's an easy way out.

Whenever any doubt use likely. It is the most flex-
there's
ible of the three words and will almost always be satis-
factory for any of the three meanings.

AVENGE, REVENGE

The verb avenge refers to a nobler, more righteous and

more altruistic action than revenge (verb and noun). To
revenge is to seek retaliation for personal gratification.

BET f
BEAT

To bet means to make a wager.

To beat means to win from, to conquer.

BESIDE, BESIDES

Though often interchanged, besides should be used

when the meaning is in addition to; beside, for alongside.

Besides me = in addition to me
Beside me = next to, alongside me

BETWEEN, AMONG

The rule, as generally stated, tells us that between

should be used for two and among for more than two. We
say quite properly: He divided it between my brother and
me, or He divided it among his four children.
However, when among sounds awkward in cases where
we wish to have the items considered separately, we use
between for more than two.
Take, for instance, this sentence from a book review:
"But he has never distinguished, as George Dangerfield
said so well, 'between three quite distinct things: contem-
porary journalism,
"
a sermon —and a Chill Down the
Spine.'
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 89
And I don't think we would say, "What is the differ-
ence among allusion, delusion, and illusion?"
But be sure when using between that there are two
items it can be between.

Avoid:
One of the spectators rose to his feet between each
inning. (Correct: after each inning or between
innings)
We went out to the lobby between each act. (Cor-
rect: between acts)

BORROW, LEND, LOAN

We borrow from; we lend to.

Avoid:
I lent a nickel from him. (Correct: borrowed)
He loaned a hundred dollars from the bank. (Cor-
rect: borrowed)

Lend and loan are now used almost interchangeably,

though lend is still preferred in all cases except where
finances are involved.

A void:
the use of lend as a noun
May I have the lend of your fountain pen for a
minute? (Correct: May I borrow or Please lend me)

BOTH, EACH

Both and each should not be used interchangeably.

Both means two together; each means any number taken
one at a time. The use of both for each results in am-
biguity. Whena sports reporter writes: "Yastzremski got
two singles, both of them driving in two runs," we're not
sure what is meant. How many runs did Yastzremski bring
in? Two or four? It makes it much clearer to say:
90 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

"Yastzremski got two singles, each of which drove in two

runs." Now we can add two and two and get four.

"Do both of these picture frames cost five dollars?"

"No, ma'am. Both cost ten dollars; each of them
costs five." (Correct, proving that the customer is
not always right)

Also notice that we don't put the before the word both:
Both of us, not the both of us.

BRING, TAKE

To bring means to carry toward the speaker or to his

home (analogous to Come here).
To take means to carry away from the speaker (Go
there).
You bring someone home when you are going to your
own home.
You take someone home when you act as an escort.
But don't get uptight about these verbs, the way a
friend of mine, a chemistry teacher, did a long time ago.
He needed a thermos bottle for an experiment he was go-
ing to perform that week. To make sure he'd have it at
school, he decided to write himself a postcard. "Dear
Jess," he wrote. "Bring a thermos bottle to school on
Thursday." He read over what he had written and began to
frown. "Let's see. Bring is right because I want it here at
school. But tomorrow when I get this card, I'll be at home,
so it should really be Take a thermos bottle to school."
He mumbled, "Bring, take; take, bring." Finally, he tore
up the card and wrote another. All it said was, "Don't
forget the thermos bottle."
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 91

CAN, MAY

Can means to be able to; may means to have permission

to. The distinction has become almost completely blurred
by usage.
When my little girl was in 4A
me that whenever
she told
hand and asked, "Can I
a pupil in her class raised his
leave the room?" the teacher invariably replied, "Can
you? How do I know? I don't know whether you are able
to. But you may." Despite these heroic efforts, the dis-

tinction between can and may, especially in questions, is

gradually disappearing.
Avoid the unnecessary use of could when can is what
is meant.

My brother is versatile; he could do anything.

Anagrams is a fine game; any number could play.
(Isn't can better?)

CAPITAL, CAPITOL

Capital is the city; capitol, the building.

CENSOR, CENSURE, CRITICIZE

To censor is to exercise the right of deleting or forbid-

ing; to censure is to scold; to criticize mean to evaluate
favorably as well as unfavorably, though it is more fre-

quently used to mean faultfinding.

CHILDISH, CHILDLIKE

Childish refers to the worst features of a child; child-

like, to the best. If you call a girl childish, she won't like
it; if you tell her she is childlike, in the right tone of voice
— slighdy husky and adoring —she will probably like it.

Childish means like a child in foolishness.

92 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

Childlike means like a child in features, innocence, and

so on.

CLIMATIC, CLIMACTIC

have frequently heard and also seen in print climatic

I
when climactic was meant. Climactic is the adjective form
of climax and therefore the c must appear in the word
and be pronounced.
Climatic is the adjective form of climate and therefore
refers to weather conditions.

COMPLEMENTARY, COMPLIMENTARY

The first serves to fill out or complete; the second ex-

presses or contains a compliment.
The words used at the end of a (Yours sincerely,
letter
Cordially yours, etc. ) are called the complimentary close.

CONTEMPTUOUS, CONTEMPTIBLE

A contemptuous person one who shows contempt for

is

others, who is disdainful of them; a contemptible person

or action is one deserving our contempt.
A cad would be even more contemptible if he were also
contemptuous.

CONTINUAL, CONTINUOUS

A
continuous performance might be continually inter-
rupted by a drunkard in the audience.

Continuous —without a break

Continual — recurring periodically
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 93
CREDULOUS, CREDIBLE, CREDITABLE

A credible performance is a believable one, while a

creditable performance does the actor credit and is there-
fore praiseworthy.
A credulous person is gullible, believing everything he
hears. News can be incredible but a person is incredulous.

DEDUCE, DEDUCT

You deduce something from the evidence given; you

deduct contributions from your income tax.

Deduce — to infer, draw a conclusion

Deduct — to draw on your bank account
Avoid:
From her foreign accent and her languid behavior,
I was able
to deduct that she was a spy. (Correct:
deduce)

DEFENDANT, PLAINTIFF

A defendant has to defend himself in court against

charges brought by the plaintiQ who makes the complaint.

DEFINITE, DEFINITIVE

A definite statement is specific and concrete; a defini-

tive statement is finaland conclusive, the last word on

the subject. A definitive biography is so complete that no
further biographies seem necessary.

DEPRECATE, DEPRECIATE

To deprecate an action is to disapprove of it, generally

because it is injurious to one's own cause. (Literally it

means to pray down — Latin precari, to pray. The word

 —
94 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

precarious, for instance, describes a situation in which

praying is of the essence.)
To depreciate (here the root prec comes from a Latin
word meaning price) is to belittle, to lessen in value
opposed to appreciate which means to value properly or to
increase in value.
Few writers pay any attention to this distinction, using
deprecate and especially deprecatory instead of depreciate
and depreciatory.

DIALECT, DIALOGUE

A dialect is a local variation of a language. Dialogue is

the technical script name for conversation, words ex-

changed between two or more people.
All plays are written in dialogue; some dialogues are
written in dialect. The word dialogue has become a vogue
word to mean something more formal than a conversation,
less formal than a debate, and probably less boring than
a conference. What's more, it guarantees an exchange of
ideas which none of the other words do, and so it con-
tributes a little something extra.

DISINTERESTED, UNINTERESTED

To be disinterested is to be without self-interest, there-

fore, impartial; to be uninterested is to be bored or indif-
ferent.
During a trial a good judge should be a disinterested
but not an uninterested listener.
Despite the frequent use of disinterested for uninter-
ested by many writers, 93 percent of the Usage Panel
termed it "unacceptable."
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 95
ENORMITY, ENORMOUSNESS

Enormity emphasizes the abnormality (the enormity of

his crime);enormousness emphasizes the hugeness.
I never realized the enormity and rich variety of this
land of almost 200 million people. (Preferred: enormous-
ness, immensity, or great size)

ENTOMOLOGY, ETYMOLOGY

Entomology is the study of insects; etymology is the

study of words and their derivations.

FACTIOUS, FACTITIOUS, FICTITIOUS

Factious — putting one's party first (/actions)

Factitious — artificial (manu/acftired)
Fictitious —not true, made up (fiction)

FAMOUS, NOTORIOUS

Both mean well known, but notorious is used only in an

unfavorable sense.

FARTHER, FURTHER

For indicating distance, some people insist on farther,

using further onlywhen the meaning is more. Most of us
use further, quite correctly, for all meanings.

I can walk no farther or further, (either)

discuss this no further, (only)
I will
Expect no further aid from me. (only)

FLAUNT, FLOUT

To flaunt means to make a show or display of; to flout

means to express contempt for, to defy. Webster III re-
 96 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

cords flaunt as a synonym for flout. Such use of flaunt is

rejected by 91 percent of the Usage Panel.

Avoid:
In their new picturethe Warners are flaunting
tradition in a most entertaining way. (Correct:
flouting)

FORMALLY, FORMERLY

Formally refers to manner; formerly, to time.

FORCEFUL, FORCIBLE

Forceful means vigorous, effective, dynamic.

Forcible means accomplished by the use of force.

FORTUITOUS, FORTUNATE

Fortuitous means "accidental," "by chance."

Webster III gives "lucky" as one of the definitions of
fortuitous. The Usage Panel by a vote of 85 percent finds
this use of fortuitous to mean "lucky" or "fortunate" un-
acceptable.

IMPLY, INFER

To imply is to suggest indirectly, hint at, even insinu-

ate; to infer is to deduce, to draw a conclusion. In general
the speaker implies; the listeners infer.

Asked if he meant that Jordan would have to pre-

vent the Palestinians from attacking Israel during
the cease-fire period, Ambassador Rabin replied:
"You can imply that."

Did the Ambassador really mean to say, "You can in-

fer that"? Or was he the astute diplomat turning back a
question with an equivocal, "You said it. I didn't."
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 97
Generally, the error made is to use infer where imply
is correct.

Do you mean to infer that I am telling a lie? (Cor-

rect: imply)

LEAVE, LET

To means to permit.
let

To
leave means to allow to remain.
Let me out means Permit me to go out or, in other
words, / want to get out.
Leave me out means Allow me to remain out or, in
other words, Don't include me.

A void:
Leave go of my arm. Leave George do it. He left
me go. (Correct: let)

LIE, LAY

Even writers confuse and misuse these two verbs more

than any others in the English language.* A third verb,
to lie, meaning an untruth, merely adds to the con-
to tell

fusion already existing between to lie, meaning to recline

or to rest, and to lay, meaning to place or put down an
object. The fact that other forms of these verbs overlap
makes things worse. Watch carefully:

PRESENT: Hie Hay Hie

(recline) (place) (untruth)
PAST: Hay I laid Hied
PRESENT
PERFECT: I have lain I have laid I have lied

* At a conference of teachers of English some years ago, a Southern

novelist was invited to be the speaker. She opened her talk with, "I
don't know why you asked me to address a group like this. Why I
don't even know the difference between lie and lay. My characters
always sit or stand. People in my stories just never get a rest.**
98 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

Correct: I am lying in the sun.

Correct: Now I lay me down to sleep.
Correct: I laid my head on his shoulder.

Notice that while lie is never followed by an object, lay,

meaning to place, always needs an object to complete it.

Avoid:
The hat was laying near the curb. (Correct: lying)
I laid on the beach all morning. (Correct: lay)

This little bit of advice may be of some help to you. Very

often the verb lie can be replaced by a form of the verb
to be. Here's the way it works.

The book 1/e.y on the desk, (is on the desk)

The book lay there yesterday, (was)
The book has lain there all week, (has been)
Before you attempt the exercise that follows, here's an
example of a sentence that is correct, found in a note left
for the milkman one morning: "Dear Mr. Milkman: Please
lay a dozen eggs for me in the milk box."

EXERCISE

(All the sentences that follow appeared in print or were spoken

by someone on radio or television. And every time the wrong
verb was used! You can do better.)

1. A battered marble head that had been (lying, laying)

forgotten in the dust and gloom of the British Museum in
London since 1859 has been identified as that of the Aphro-
dite of Cnidus, carved by Praxiteles in the fourth century B.C.

2. Iwas so overwhelmed when I saw the ball in the cup

after a 260-yard wood shot from the fairway that I just (lay,

laid) down on the green completely speechless.

3. Don't churn acid. Do you (lie, lay) awake when you
want to sleep?
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 99
4. These new submarines can (lie, lay) on the bottom in

600 feet of water and stay there for weeks and weeks.

5. Two men who found $239,000 in cash (lying, laying,

lieing) along a country road were rewarded today for their
honesty with $2,700 from the grateful company.

6. Thus the Pathet Lao can be expected to (lie, lay) low

when its troublemaking stirs the West to speak of diplomatic

intervention or military aid to the beleaguered government.

7. Obviously satisfied, he (lay, laid) down his welding

torch.

8. He told how the police (had laid, had lain) in ambush

for him and two companions in their apartment in Bilbao.

9. One reason is to eliminate any deposit or sediment that

might have collected in the bottle as it (lay, laid) on its side
through the years.

10. I was amazed in round eight, when Ali (lay, laid)

back against the ropes, making Frazier look like an amateur.

11. The general agreed that morale had been hurt because
"so many wounded were (lying, laying, lieing) around wait-
ing to be picked up."

LIKE, AS

In 1957 Clifton Fadiman in an essay called "How to

Speak Videomatic Televenglish" wrote:

I am no Drew Pearson but I prophesy that within

five years the man who boldly defends the heresy
that like is not a conjunction will become the proper
object of scrutiny by the Federal Bureau of Inves-
tigation.

Clifton Fadiman did not know then that a television

commercial in the year 1970 was going to ask its listeners,
"What do you want, good grammar or good taste?" This
repeated question made many listeners, writers among
100 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

them, so self-conscious that they looked with suspicion

on any use of like.

Sentences like The diamond was not really shaped as

a baseball diamond appeared. The only word to use here
is like, which is both good grammar and good taste.
Grammatically, as is almost always a conjunction and
normally introduces a clause (Mr. Stevens visits cultural
outposts as a general visits the front) and like is a preposi-
tion normally followed by a noun or pronoun, not by a
clause. (There'sno friend like an old friend.)
That's grammar, but usage is leaning toward like as a
conjunction in certain constructions. On a TV talk show
a U.S. senator said, "Nations behave very much like in-
dividuals do." Why not stop before do and get "Nations
behave very much like individuals"? He might also have
said, "Nations behave very much as individuals do." In
other words, in the first example like is used as a preposi-
tion with individuals as the object, and in the second
example as is used as a conjunction and introduces a
clause.
But perhaps you have noticed that like is a stronger
word than as, which by the way has several other mean-
ings (see pp. 120-21). Tell it like it is has a mystique of
its own. an accepted cliche. Tell it as it is is weak,
It is

ambiguous, not quite the same in meaning.

To be grammatically correct, you cannot always sub-
stitute as for like. Do you prefer They dance as other

people breathe to They dance like other people breathe?

If your answer is "I don't like either," you have a point.

Obviously, the sentence is much improved by saying,

"They dance as easily as other people breathe."
Therefore, not only a question of choosing as in-
it is

stead of like. Sometimes you need as if or as though,

sometimes the way, sometimes additional qualifying words
as in as easily as.
 But Were A/raid to Raise Your Hand 101
In the exercise that follows you will sometimes have to
use such expressions.

EXERCISE ON LIKE AND AS

(Try to improve these sentences, all taken from newspapers or

television.)

1. Only Bill Hagler performed like a major college player

should.

2. New York, as most major cities, has found that the

general public is very apathetic in helping get rid of junk
cars.

3. Each time when behind in its nine games, Oklahoma

came back to victory and late in the game today it looked
like the Sooners might do it again.

4. We'll show you Rome like nobody can.

5. She is a tall, handsome woman and, as Marian More-

house, was famous in her own right.

6. They could have spent the rest of their lives alone and
trapped on this war-torn island like they were the only two
people on earth.

7. Nobody will miss her like I will.

8. Our Ambassador said today that Lincoln, as we, hated

intolerance.

9. It looks like we're not going to have time for another

question.

10. A twenty-eight-mile wind swept across Buckeye Sta-

dium and the athletes played like they were wearing gloves.

11. Some children in the large-city schools do not have

experiences as those who live in some other places.

12. Sutter Avenue, like most of Brownsville, looked like it

had been visitedby war or riot long before the incident.

102 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English
MATERIAL, MATERIEL

Material (n) —commercial term for goods of any kind.

MateriEL — military term for equipment, supplies.

MITIGATE, MILITATE

Mitigate: to make milder; lessen severity of.

Militate: to work against, fight against. (Related in
origin to the words militant and military, from the Latin
miles, & soldier.
Several times, in print, I have come across the incorrect
mitigate against. Against always follows militate.
To mitigate a punishment is to make it less severe.
Things that militate against one's advancement are
those that work against it.

OCULIST, OPTICIAN, OPTOMETRIST

An oculist is a doctor who specializes in diseases of the

eye. If you want to amaze but not necessarily delight your
friends you may also refer to him as an ophthalmologist,
which is the word always used by doctors.
An optometrist is one who measures refractions and
therefore can prescribe glasses, while an optician is merely
one who sells them.

PERSECUTE, PROSECUTE

To persecute is to plague, to bring suffering to; to prose-

cute is to bring court action against.

POUR, SPILL

To pour means to direct the flow of a liquid, while to

spill means to allow it to run out accidentally.

Avoid:
Spill another cup of coffee for Mr. Westerly. (Cor-
rect: pour)
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 103
PRACTICABLE, PRACTICAL

Something is practicable that can be put into practice,

something that is workable or feasible. Something is prac-
tical that is suited to actual conditions or that is not theo-
retical.
A man can be practical (not a dreamer) but his project
may not be practicable.
A suggestion may be both practical and practicable.

PRINCIPAL, PRINCIPLE

If we quote the disgusted pupil who said, "It's not the

school I don't like, it's just the (principal, principle) of the
thing!" we may spell the word either way, depending on
which meaning is intended.
Principal may be an adjective or a noun. In either case
it means chief: the principal reason, the principal of a
school.
Principle (often principles) means a rule or rules of con-
duct. We say: It is against his principles; he is a man of
principle. It may help you to associate the word "princi-
ples" with rules of conduct.

PROPONENT, PROTAGONIST

It's just nice to know that proponent (not protagonist)

is the opposite of opponent. In a novel or a play the prin-

cipal character is the protagonist (Greek proto, "first").

RAISE, RISE

You have to raise something; a cake or the sun rises.

RECOMMEND, REFER
Perhaps you, too, have heard the nurse in a doctor's

office new patient,

ask a "And who recommended you to

Dr. Blank?" The word that should be used is, of course,

104 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

referred, for it is Dr. Blank who was recommended, not

the patient.
When using the word in this way, remember that it's the
expert who is recommended and that the person who
wishes to consult the expert is referred.

RESPECTABLY, RESPECTFULLY, RESPECTIVELY

Respectably means in a manner worthy of respect.

Respectfully means with respect for someone else.
Respectively refers to a series of items taken in regular
order.

In a letter avoid

Yours respectively. (Correct: Yours respectfully)

RESTIVE, RESTLESS

People in dictatorships are likely to be restive, impa-

tient, or rebellious under repressive control. A restless per-
son is one who cannot rest, who must always have some-
thing to do. Restive has the idea of resist in it.

SCHOLAR, PUPIL

"How many scholars have you in your class, Miss

Finch?"
"None. But I have forty-nine pupils and only thirty-

five seats."
A scholar most often means a learned person generally
devoting himself to research or other erudite activities; a
pupil is one who each morning hopes the school building
will burn down and each afternoon doesn't mind that it

hasn't.
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hanil 105

SENSUAL, SENSUOUS

A
sensuous person receives intellectual pleasure from
him through the senses; a sensual
the beauty that reaches
person seeks physical pleasure from what reaches him
through the senses.

SET, SIT

You set something down; you sit down.

SPECIE, SPECIES

Sidney Smith (1771-1845), Dean of St. Paul's and

famed as a wit, sermons often said very proudly
in his
and patriotically that the English were universally known
for their generosity and for the love of their species. On
one such occasion, the collection was particularly disap-
pointing. Dean Smith thereupon hastily added that he had
apparently made a mistake, for he should have said they
were distinguished for the love of their specie.
Both specie and species are singular. Specie refers to
hard currency, not folding money. Species indicates a dis-
tinct class or category (a strange species of birds, not
specie).

STALACTITE, STALAGMITE

In a natural cave a stalactite comes down from the

ceiling; a stalagmite grows up from the ground.

TRANSPIRE, HAPPEN, OCCUR

Though dictionaries list transpire as a synonym for

occur and happen, discriminating writers still use transpire
in its original meaning of becoming known gradually.
It is still a pleasant shock to come across a sentence
 106 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

like: The hunters, it transpired, had found and marked

some thirty hollow trees in different parts of the forest.
(Gerald Durrell)

TURBID, TURGID

Turbid means muddy, roiled, clouded; turgid means

swollen, inflated, pompous.
An author's writing may be either muddied (a turbid
script) or pompous (a turgid style) or both. When water
is muddy it is turbid.

TYPEWRITER, TYPIST

The machine is a typewriter; the operator of the ma-

chine is a typist.

VENAL, VENIAL

A venal act is a corrupt one, influenced by money. A

venial sin is like a white lie —excusable or forgivable. As-
sociating venial with trivial may help you to distinguish
between the two.

EXERCISE IN WORDS SOMETIMES CONFUSED

1. The Prime Minister indicated that Egyptians would

neither expect nor (except, accept) Soviet military involvement
in combat.

2. He (borrowed, lent, loaned) one hundred dollars from

his brother-in-law.

3. There was disagreement (among, between) theater

owners, restaurateurs, actors, and producers on how the
new time (7:30 curtain instead of 8:30) will (affect, effect)
business.
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 107
4. —
The wife of Eugene O'Neill and this is hard to un-
derstand —was largely (disinterested, uninterested) in the
theater.

5. Every wild life (specie, species) has its own character-

istics.

6. If such a replacement should be (affected, effected)

minorities would be seriously (affected, effected).

7. The Russians, apparently unwilling to show their hand

at this time, are (laying, lying) low.

8. Please (bring, take) this book to the library for me.

9. The Center's choice of a fourth production was some-

what less (fortuitous, fortunate) than its predecessors.

10. The discovery of the laser beam may well be the

(climatic, climactic) achievement of modern science.

11. In the main he regards the press and television as

primarily (complimentary, complementary) rather than com-
petitive.

12. (Beside, Besides) the three police officers whom he ac-

cused of negligence, the Commissioner (implied, inferred)
that there were others equally culpable.

13. For comfort you put a wad of this specially prepared

cotton between (each toe, the toes).

14. Mr. Anderson described the forthcoming trial as the

America.
(climactic, climatic) point of all dissent in

15. Some animals are able to (adapt, adopt) themselves

very quickly to new surroundings.

16. There can be nothing but ultimate confusion and

chaos if court decrees are (flaunted, flouted) whatever the

pretext.

17. In so doing, these candidates (imply, infer) that their

opponents have really no solution.
108 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

18. I say (leave, let) the world rock along yet awhile; there
is yet much to marvel at, much to unravel.

19. The handicap of geography alone has (militated, miti-

gated) against adequate solutions for the problems of poverty,
ignorance, and disease.

20. Earlier he was held in contempt for (implying, infer-

ring) that the court was aiding and abetting the state.

21. The United States Ambassador's only advice to the

tourist groups was not to (flaunt, flout) their wealth.

22. The existence of such a deposit of dense material has

been revealed by its (affect, effect) on orbiting vehicles as
they pass overhead.

23. The (forceful, forcible) shearing of forty long-haired

men at a police station in a working-class suburb of Athens
has resulted in a small political crisis.

24. In planning production of the Bible, Nelson fully

realized the (enormity, enormousness) of the task.

25. He is a big-boned, heavyset man who wears a small

beard and modest moustache, laughs easily, and is given to
mild (self-deprecation, self-depreciation).

26. "I hope that no parents, by their example, will teach

their children to (flaunt, flout) the law," the school super-
intendent said.

27. The Secretary of Defense showed the newspapermen a

rusty piece of oil pipe expecting them to (imply, infer) that

it had been captured during the Laos offensive.

28. At best, pushing the pollution further offshore can

only buy temporary relief for the Jersey coast. It will do
nothing to (militate, mitigate) the progressive pollution of all
the world's seas, a menace to the well-being of every coastal
state and nation.
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 109
29. In the original script the hero was portrayed as a fool-
ish (venal, venial) fellow interested only in looting and black-
marketing.
30. From the evidence produced, no Sherlock Holmes was
needed to (deduce, deduct) that he was a man of (principal,
principle).

HIS VERSUS THEIR

His is singular; it refers to one person.

Their is plural; it refers to more than one.
But words like everyone, everybody, anyone, anybody
confuse the issue.
In a sentence like "Everyone in the room jumped to
(his, their) feet," we face a problem. Some will argue that
since there are many people in the room, the word used
should be their. But strict grammarians shake their heads.
"No," they say. "You don't say, 'Everyone are in the
room'; you say, 'everyone is in the room.' Therefore, the
word to be used is the singular, his, and so 'Everyone
jumped to his feet' is right."
The Women's Liberation Movement has its own ideas
on the subject. In a debate with William F. Buckley, Jr.,
held at Cambridge University in February 1973, Germaine
Greer at one point in her presentation said: "I would have
thought that everyone here regardless of their sex, his sex
— Ibeg your pardon. ." Her apologetic switch to strict
. .

grammatical rules was pointedly sarcastic. His indeed!

So if you want to be strictly grammatical use his when
the word his looks back to everybody, everyone, etc. If you
want to avoid the problem altogether, use all those in the
room. That's always plural: All those in the room jumped
to their ]eet.
110 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

Chapter 9

Words: Fragile! Handle with Care!

THEY JUST DON'T SPEAK ENGLISH HERE

—
Richmond, Va., May 19 Karl Archibald, a Lon-
doner, was telling friends his confusion at American
word usage. He dwelt on the word "fix":
"I am invited to dinner and my host asks how I
would like a drink fixed. He means mixed. My
hostess calls us to hurry because dinner is all fixed
—and she means prepared. My host says he must
get a flat tire fixed —and he means repaired.
"You say you are on a fixed income. You mean
steady and unchanged. You say you will fix some-
thing to the wall —you mean attach. And you say
you'll 'fix him' — and you mean get revenge.
"Finally you remark that you are in 'a hell of a
fix,' and you may have some comprehen-
I see that
sion of my predicament in trying to follow your
simplification."
—New York Post

Years ago when travel to Europe was by steamship

only, thoseon board used to be regaled each day with a
copy of the ship's paper. The most interesting reading
was not so much the news but the advertisements of
European health resorts. One such advertisement fasci-
nated me then. The years have not robbed it of its charm.

SANATORY OBERWALD NEAR ST. GALL

Always open and visited for winter and spring cures

very liked. Two approved physicians and one female
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 111
physician. Also for reconvalescents and adopted es-
pecially for finishing cure. In autumn fruit and
grapes cure. In winter inure and winter-sport cures.

Best success of cure at even all diseases. (Non ac-

cepted are Tuberculosis and mad injured.) Special
part for femal diseases.

Even one doesn't know if there is to be preferred

picturesque lakescape or the grandiose high-moun-
tainsand then it is again the changing richly formed
foreground which makes the whole to a unique, the
senses so refreshing landscape.

Marks 10-18 already on staying of 3 days.

What's wrong with it? It contains English words and

there aren't any errors in grammar that you can point
your finger at. Yet it isn't English as we know it. Its

peculiarities are not the peculiarities of English but of

some other language. That's what's wrong with it.
For each language has its own peculiar way of saying
things. You can't just carry words over bodily from one
language to another. You can't translate words; you have
to translate meaning. An American correspondent in Mos-
cow found that out when he tried to send his report to
his newspaper. In his story, he wrote that the American
Ambassador "stood within a stone's throw of Stalin." The
Moscow censor raged at him for his colossal rudeness.
Finally, when the reporter was permitted to explain what
the American expression really meant, the censor said,
"Oh, in that case we change it. We change it to read like
this: The American Ambassador stood near Stalin. He
threw no stones!' "
When we respect the peculiarities of a language, when
we remain faithful to its word order, we are speaking it

idiomatically.
This chapter will deal with some of the characteristics
of idiomatic English, pointing out pitfalls in our path.
112 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

None of us would say "best success of cure at even all

diseases," but there are less obvious traps, set by preposi-

tions, that we sometimes walk into. Because prepositions
are especially treacherous we start with them.

PREPOSITIONS

However, there's one thing you don't have to worry

about. One of the popular misconceptions about preposi-
tions is you should not end a sentence with a prepo-
that
sition. Ridiculous! Here's one with five:

Little Johnny complained to his mother as she sat

down to read to him: "What did you bring that
book I didn't want to be read to out of up for?"

In a very successful comedy Forget-Me-Not Lane —

the father, a comic, straitlaced character, solemnly, like
Polonius, gives his son this advice: "Never tell a lie. Never
be unfaithful to your family and to your friends. And
never end a sentence with a preposition."
Later on in an angry exchange with his father, the son
asks, "What are your sleeves rolled up for?" A stern look
appears on Dad's face. His son promptly rephrases his
sentence to: "Up for what are your sleeves rolled?" His
father is all smiles.
Well, you can be all smiles too. Don't worry about end-
ing a sentence with a preposition. Sometimes it is the bet-
ter way; sometimes it's the only way:

It's a good rule to go by is certainly better than It's a

good rule by which to go.

What it's all about. Try to say this by tucking in the
preposition somewhere within the sentence. Almost im-
possible!
Winston Churchill nailed this nonsense down when he
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 113
once retorted with, "That is something up with which I

shall not put."

IDIOMATIC PHRASES

Occasionally these pesky little prepositions cling like

barnacles to certain verbs, adjectives, or nouns. These
clinging prepositions sometimes have become fused with
these words into an indestructible idiom. Often there is
no rhyme or reason for urging the use of one preposition
rather than another. Some of the most frequent idiomatic
uses are given here along with misuses sometimes heard:

accepted at or by (not to a college)

accompanied by (preferred to with, when speaking
of persons)
adapted for (meaning suited to)
adapted from (meaning changed from)
adapted to (meaning adjusted to)
arrive at or in (not to)
at someone's home (rather than over, up, by)
coincide with (not on)
deals with (rather than about)
deprived of (not from)
destructive of (rather than to)
different from (although than is coming up strong;
see page 116)
discourage them from attacking (not to make an
attack)
forbidyou to do this (not from doing this)
meanwhile or in the meantime (not in the mean-
while)
identical with (rather than to)
in accordance with (not to)
inferior to (not than)
in my opinion (not to)
in relation to (not with)
in respect to (rather than of)
114 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

in search of (rather than for)

off (not off of)
preferable to (not than)
related to (not with)
similar to (not with)

VERBS WITH PREPOSITIONS

There are many verbs which require a preposition to

complete their meanings. Sometimes we incorrectly omit
it. Here are some glaring examples.

GRADUATE (FROM)

Avoid:
I graduated Abraham Lincoln High School. (Cor-
rect: / graduated from)

OPERATE

This verb should be followed by on or upon. To operate

alone means merely to work something. The word sur-
gery is replacing operation.

Avoid:
My father is going to be operated this afternoon.
(Correct: operated on)

TEACHES

When the institution is mentioned, at or in should be

used.

Avoid:
My brother-in-law teaches college, but my sister
teaches high school. (Correct: at college, in high
school)
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 115

VERBS WITHOUT PREPOSITIONS

If some of us who omit a preposition where

there are
it is needed, there are others —
probably the same ones
who put one in where it is wrong to do so. Again some
glaring examples:

ANNOUNCED
Takes a direct object without benefit of prepositions.

Avoid:
He announced about the important meeting to be
held on Monday.

DISCUSSED

Always needs a direct object.

Avoid:
We discussed about world affairs for hours.

It is always better to follow this verb with some direct

object. It sounds a bit awkward to say: "We sat up all

night and discussed."

JOIN or MEET

These words are better off without prepositions.

The Cambodian army's objective was to join up

with the forces of South Vietnam. (Why not just
join?)

Avoid:
We met up with some delightful people at that
party.
116 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

MENTION

Is always followed by a direct object.

Avoid:
Don't mention about what I told you.

COMPARE TO or WITH

When the comparison is an actual one (between things

in the same category) with is a slight preference.
In the sentence The Senator compared our missile ca-
pability with Russia's the word with is preferred, although
to is widely used.
However, when the comparison is a poetic one —
simile —
only to should be used. Shakespeare begins one
of his sonnets with: "Shall I compare thee to a summer's
day?"

DIFFERENT FROM, DIFFERENT THAN

Different than is now found so frequently in print that

concessions must be made to its use, especially where
than saves words or avoids an awkward construction.

The enforcement of the First Amendment has a

different meaning today than at the end of the
eighteenth century.

(If from were used, you would have to write from the
one it had. )

Statistics indicate that the propaganda scales are

weighted these days somewhat differently than pop-
ularly imagined.

(There's really no smooth way of writing this sentence

with from unless you prefer the awkward from what is

popularly imagined.)
 .

But Were A/raid to Raise Your Hand 117

However, when a prepositional phrase (preposition and
from is to be
object) follows immediately after different,
preferred to than. Here are some examples:

Give complete address if different from the above.

He is different from me in every way.
The TV version is using a cast different from the
off-Broadway version.

REPEATING THE PREPOSITION FOR CLARITY

Often in order to make a sentence absolutely clear it is

wise to repeat the preposition when there are several

parallel phrases connected by than or as well as.

1. Craig's wife thought more of her home than

her husband.
2. Craig's wife thought more of her home than of
her husband.

Both statements happen to be true, but the first means

that Mr. Craig thought less of his home than his wife
did, whereas the second sentence means that her home
meant more to Mrs. Craig than her husband did. Repeating
a preposition will often avoid ambiguity.

He looks better in a bathing suit than a tuxedo.

(Clearer: than in a tuxedo)

When phrases in series are suspended, no prepositions

should be dropped.

I am in favor (of), not opposed to, the bill.

The article gives stimulation (to) and actual prac-

tice in . .
118 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

OVERUSED COMPOUND PREPOSITIONS

AS TO

There is a tendency to make this an all-service preposi-

tion. Often a more appropriate preposition may be used or
as to may be left out altogether.

He had peculiar notions as to one's rights in a

democracy. (Preferred: about one's rights)

Apropos of is also an abused expression. It is often a

pompous way of saying about.
Avoid:
He was sarcastic apropos my tennis playing. (This
is a double fault, for the expression is apropos of
and even then it is a pompous substitute for the
more accurate preposition, about.)

IN CONNECTION WITH

Generally the simple preposition on or about is more

effective and less affected.

He wanted to have a long talk with me in connec-

tion with my future. (Preferred: about)
The legislature ought to do something in connec-
tion with eliminating pollution. (Preferred: about
eliminating)

(OF) THE FACT THAT

Except when it comes at the beginning of a sentence,

this phrase can usually be cut down to that.

We were not certain of the fact that he was coming.

(Preferred: that he was coming)
He should have been told of the fact that deductions
can be made for medical expenses. (Preferred: that
deductions, etc.)
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 119

SUPERFLUOUS WORDS

Have you friends who are doctors or dentists who begin

a story with, "I have a patient of mine"? Do you point
out to them that they are repeating an idea, that when
they say / have a patient they don't need to add of mine,
or that they can simply say "a patient of mine"?

In each of the following sentences one or more words

can be omitted because they are unnecessary or repeat an
idea already there.

Example: This here book (Omit here)

1. If all of us cooperate together, we'll get somewhere.

2. He sold ties, socks, shirts, and etc.

3. The purpose of this resolution is to get people off of

the welfare rolls and back into productive activities.

4. He was guilty of a false misstatement.

5. It was the general consensus of opinion that war was

inevitable.

6. They had nothing in common with each other.

7. A seat off the aisle would be more preferable.

8. Asked as to what effect this would have on inflation,
he replied very briefly.

9. He shook his fist as he rose up to speak.

10. I am enclosing herewith a check for fifty dollars.

11. After the catch Harrelson returned back to first base.

12. He must now realize the fact that we are no longer

able to help him.

13. I typed up three copies of the contract in about five

minutes.
120 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

14. I must first do this before I go.

15. It all happened at 4:30 p.m. in the afternoon.

16. He carefully examined each and every entry.

17. He immediately placed the business on a more sounder

basis.

18. In my opinion, I think the situation has grown worse.

19. In spite of tremendous losses the offensive continued
on with unabated fury.

20. The smoking of a Harvester cigar is a pleasure reserved

exclusively for men only.

21. I have a friend of mine who always goes there.

22. His score for eighteen holes never exceeded more than
75.

23. He should have been told of the fact that deductions

are made for lateness as well as for absence.

24. In the meanwhile, the operator cut us off.

25. It made people wonder as to what he was going to do

next.

26. He was miraculously restored back to health.

27. I will let you know later whether or not I can attend
the dinner.

28. He was elected unanimously by all the members.

29. I am not sure as to whom I shall vote for.

30. He is now at work on a biography of Florence Night-

ingale's life.

TROUBLESOME WORDS

AS

As is best used in comparisons or in the sense of at the

same time. Any other use must be viewed with suspicion.
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 121
It should not be used instead of that.

Avoid:
I don't know as he wants to. (Correct: that or
whether)
I'm not sure as how he can do better. (Correct: that
or whether)

As is a weak substitute for because or since.

My father, a student at the University, did not

complete his studies as he enlisted in the 1914 war.

How much more precise because would be!

I left the party early, as I was not having a good
time. (Preferred: because or since)

Don't use as alone to introduce an enumeration. Don't

be afraid to use like.

"The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The

I prefer stories as
Black Cat." (Preferred: stories such as, such stories
as, or like)

TYPE

Don't omit the of after type.

Avoid:
Our soap is especially designed for that type beauty.
(Preferred: that type of beauty)
There is opportunity in the defense industries for
that type man. (Preferred: that type of man)
(Ninety-four percent of the Usage Panel found this use
of type without of unacceptable!)

FOR THE WASTEBASKET

The following words are strictly for the wastebasket or

whateveris handy! They have no reason for being.
122 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

ANYWAYS, ANYWHERES, SOMEWHERES, EVERYWHERES

There should be no S at the end of any of these words.

Avoid:
It's a long ways from here. (Correct: way)

BEING THAT

Don't use being that or being as how to express a causal

idea. Since will express the idea adequately.

Avoid:
Being that he was in the city, we decided to meet
him there. (Correct: Since he was in the city, etc.)

COULD OF, WOULD OF

In speaking, this error is not noticeable; in writing, it

is a sign of illiteracy. If you want to indicate that some-

one is using the contracted form, write could've, would've,
etc.

EXSETERA (and so forth)

The word is et cetera (Latin for and other things).

ENLARGEN

No such word. Use enlarge.

ENTHUSED
Not really a wastebasket word —
a pet prejudice.
just
(Seventy-two percent of the Usage Panel found it unac-
ceptable.) Say: He was enthusiastic about.
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 123
HAD OUGHT, HADN'T OUGHT
Correct: He
ought to have done it.
Correct: He
ought not to have done it.
"He hadn't ought to lead this country down the
road to war." (Correct: He ought not to have led,
etc.)

IN or WITH REGARDS TO

If you wish, you can close a letter with "With regards to

Aunt Minnie," but for the phrase meaning in reference to
you must use in regard to or with regard to.
In regards to the matter you talked about last
night, I wish, etc. (Correct: in regard to, with
regard to, or as regards, omitting to)

IRREGARDLESS

No such word. The objection to irregardless is seen

more clearly in the word unmerciless. The prefix un
means not and the suffix less means without, so that the
—
word if it existed, which it does not would mean not —
without mercy. Merciless is correct. So is regardless.

MOMENTO
Please! The word is memento, something to remember
a person or occasion by — even though Webster III lists
momento as a variant.

PORTENTIOUS

No such word! The word is portentous.

PRESUMPTIOUS

No such word. Throw it away and use presumptuous.

124 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

PROPHESIZE

No such word! The verb is prophesy (sigh); the noun

is prophecy (see).

SECONDHANDED

No such word. Use secondhand.

UNDOUBTABLY

Undoubtedly wrong.

UNEQUIVOCABLY

Unequivocally wrong!

EXERCISE ON IDIOMS

Improve the following sentences:

1. In our English class we discussed about world affairs.

2. Being that it was raining we stood home.

3: Yes, he did mention about the trip you are going to

take.

4. The official spokesman compared the enemy airplanes

with a swarm of locusts.
5. Recently she was accepted to the University of Wis-
consin.

6. InAlabama Blacks have repeatedly accused the regis-

tration board of Montgomery County with discrimination.

7. An average smoker can expect to lose five and one-

half years of his life as compared to a nonsmoker.

8. No all-star game has produced so many hitters who

have fashioned as many home runs by midseason than this
one.
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 125
9. I'm glad I got that off of my mind.

10. She is the only girl in the large cast who looks old
enough to have graduated high school.

11. The avowed purpose of this bill is to take people off

of welfare and put them in productive activities.

12. The new site is within five miles from the old one,

13. He entered the army on November 1970.

14. There's very little more to say in regards to that matter.

15. My cousin is going to the hospital to be operated

tomorrow.

SOME TROUBLESOME CONCEPTS

In order to speak English idiomatically we have to

respect not only the grammatical rules of the language but
the habits that have been formed through many years of
use. Some of the problems in which language habits not —
—
grammar must be our guides are taken up here.
Although two negatives do not ordinarily make an
affirmative,* they do make an embarrassing situation for
anyone who wants to write or speak English correctly.
The following headline from The New York Times of
November 19, 1965,

DOUBLE NEGATIVE TRAPS THIEF

WHO SOUGHT ALMS IN A NOTE

shows other trouble one can get into! Most of us instinc-

shy away from sentences like:
tively

He ain't no piccolo player. (Correct: is no or isn't

a)

* One of the exceptions is the singing commercial: "Everybody

doesn't like something, / But nobody doesn't like Sara Lee."
 126 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

That don't make no difference. (Correct: doesn't

make any)
He isn't never coming here no more. (Correct:
ever . . . any more)

There are, however, other double negatives not so ob-

vious as these, which should nevertheless be avoided.
Don't use a negative verb with hardly, scarcely, neither,
only, or but (meaning only).

Avoid:
1. They don't hardly do any work. (Correct: do
hardly any)
2. I won't scarcely have time. (Correct: I'll scarce-
ly)
3. Hardly no people play here mornings. (Correct:
hardly any)
4. I don't believe in it neither. (Correct: either)

EXERCISE IN CORRECTION OF DOUBLE NEGATIVES

In correcting the following sentences don't do what

one bright boy did when asked to correct She didn't
know nothing about nothing. He rewrote the sentence and
came up with: She was completely ignorant
All you need to do is to get rid of the word or words
that double the negative idea.

1. He hasn't hardly a friend left.

2. The rest are left to wander in the lowlands of West

Bengal without hardly a trace of food or shelter.

3. He wasn't scarcely three years old when his parents

decided his future for him.

4. I haven't seen neither his brother nor him.

5. Because of the snow I haven't been out of the house

only once since Christmas.

6. No state nowhere would allow such a situation to exist.

 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 127
7. From a booklet given to American forces in North
Africa: "You must not talk to Moslem women. Under no
circumstances."

8. The Italian government warned tonight that, unless

adequate aid were not tendered at once to that country, a real
crisis might result.

9. The government's reluctance is based on doubts that

the former Vietcong would not be trustworthy.
10. At this time I would not like to see Congress limit
the restrictions on bombing Cambodia.

Numbers 8, 9, and 10 take a little time to figure out.

They are "double takes" like what the owner of a summer
adult camp said when a performance scheduled for 8:30
had not yet begun at 9:00. He was heard to ask in an
angry stage whisper, "What's holding up the delay?"

PARALLEL STRUCTURE

It is not too much to expect stylistically that when sev-

eral items are connected by the coordinating conjunctions
and, or, but, nor the same constructions be used for all
the items.

For example, the sentence She was required to take

dictation, to type letters,and filing all correspondence is a
little jarring on the ears because and filing all correspon-

dence breaks the structural sequence. It would be better

to keep all of the items parallel and end the sentence with
and to file all correspondence.
Improve the sentences in the following exercise.
128 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

EXERCISE IN PARALLEL STRUCTURE

1. Dr. Stockmann had the choice of giving up his ideals

and principles or to remain faithful to them.

2. His style is clear, sparkling, and a delight to read.

3. On his European trip, the President motored through

downtown Madrid, and rural Irish towns, consulted with
American diplomats, visited the graves of ancestors, and
placing a wreath at a monument to the Yugoslav Unknown
Soldier.

4. Modern novelists have two common weaknesses: first, a

lack of philosophy; and second, they are obsessed by a need
to reproduce contemporary life with almost photographic
accuracy.

5. Contestants were also required to dance to both rock

and waltz rhythms and explaining why they liked their jobs.

6. Please explain why you left your former college, why

you wish to attend this one, and your academic and profes-
sional goals.

7. The foundations give large grants to aid institutions of

learning, to promote research, and for various human needs.
8. There comes a time in every nation's history when that
nation must begin to question why it exists, for whom it
exists, and changes necessary in order to insure its future
existence.

FIRST AID!

The word Jack Benny uses most is marvelous.

Everything he likes and describes is marvelous.
When he was in vaudeville he used this adjective to
describe almost every act. A
letter he received from
a fan caused him to be careful how he used the
word. The letter read: "Enjoyed your performance
very much. Like everything about you but the word
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 129
marvelous. Am sending you a list of words you can
use in the place of marvelous. Except for that, Mr.
Benny, you are marvelous/'*
The word marvelous is not like the words we've just

talked about, which fill meaningless gaps, because you

need it or some other descriptive word. It's just over-
worked and exhausted, and what we need for it and
other catchall words is a first-aid kit of fresher, more
exact words that can take its place.

First-Aid Kit for Overworked Words

For a change try these:

marvelous — pleasant, beautiful, superb, excellent,

magnificent, amazing, thrilling, fine, agreeable,
skillful (depending on the shade of meaning
you want)
groovy — delightful, entertaining, amusing, charming,
excellent, magnificent
nice — beautiful, fine, pleasant, agreeable, charming
awfully — very, remarkably, unusually, unbelievably,
exceedingly
OK—all right, certainly, very well, surely, fine, yes,

of course
lousy —Some years ago, a Brooklyn man wrote to
the editor of one of the tabloids: "Your editorials
are masterpieces of insipid, stupid, inane, corrupt,
demagogic, bigoted, dishonest, putrid, rotten, de-
spicable, poverty-stricken,low-down, unmitigated,
pestiferous, peerlessand matchless yellow journal-
ism, charlatanry, bamboozling, and flimflam."

On the subject of overused words, U.S. News & World

Report of August 9, 1971, has an article containing this

interesting statement:

* Sidney Skolsky in the New York Post.

130 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

The Nixon speech writers have been told to avoid

such words as "viable," "meaningful, " and "rele-
vant." Explanation from a White House source:
"These are among the vogue words of the so-called
intellectual set and they have taken on trite and
pretentious stature."

TRITE EXPRESSIONS—CLICHES
There are other expressions which were once colorful
and fresh but which constant use has robbed of some of
their luster and made stale. We call such expressions trite
or hackneyed. Trite literally means rubbed; that is, rubbed
threadbare or having the shine rubbed off. A hackney is a
hired horse, and a hackneyed expression is one that is as
overworked as such a horse usually is.
This doesn't mean that such expressions are never to
be used. Often, cliches are a shortcut to communication
and though a bit tarnished are nevertheless useful. You
just don't want to use them too often.
If you overburden your conversation or correspondence

with such expressions as those listed here, your writing

will lack freshness, individuality, sincerity —
and suspense.

A Partial List of Trite Expressions

*a battle royal
a good time was had by all
all sorts and conditions
as luck would have it
* beggars description

better late than never

bolt from the blue
breathed a sigh of relief
busy as a bee
by hook or by crook
by leaps and bounds
checkered career
conspicuous by his absence
cut to the quick
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 131
*dance attendance on
*do justice to the meal
doomed to disappointment
*favor us with a song
few and far between
a long-felt want
*fiil

from the ridiculous to the sublime

galore —flowers galore, fellows galore, etc.
in the last analysis
in this day and age
irony of fate
it goes without saying
it'sa small world after all

last but not least

life and limb
my better half
nipped in the bud
none the worse for wear
no sooner said than done
no time like the present
*point with pride
*poor but honest
*proud possessor
* reigns supreme
senses reeled
snare and a delusion
sticks out like a sore thumb
take a dim view of
to all intents and purposes
too numerous to mention
and tribulations
trials
view with alarm
* wended our way home

Words fail me

Nevertheless, you can see that many of the expressions

given here axe at times clearly unavoidable.* But those

* Trying to avoid "like a bolt from the blue," a journalist describing

a situation that suddenly became a near riot has just come up with-
"like a bolt of lightning from a clear sky." Maybe it's better to go
along with rather than around cliches,
132 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

starred, which are either pompous, stilted, bookish, or

outdated, should be avoided like the plague (another
useful cliche).
And if you do use a cliche, at least get it right. Here
are a number I have collected over the years. Rewrite
them correctly.

Malcliches
Overheard Over the Years
1. I slept like a lark.

2. He has it down to a pat.

3. The burglar struck her and she fell down with a thug.

4. They're as alike as three peas in a porridge.

5. He's rotten to the cork.

6. He and my husband were childish friends.

7. This biography is interesting, not cut and dry like some

others I've read.

8. He behaved like a bull in a china closet.

9. It's an error to be human.

10. The fog was so thick it was like a knife.

11. My husband's so busy. He's working like a Trojan

horse.

12. I never take airplanes. I like to be on terra cotta.

13. She sticks to him like a leash.

14. She burnt the candle with both hands.

1 5. That's the whole thing in a bombshell.

 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 133

CHOICE OF WORDS

At this point you may well feel like asking, "Look. If

we're going to avoid words and expressions listed
all the
Roughly about half a million
in this chapter, what's left?"
words. From among them you can choose those words that
will express your thoughts best. And choosing the right
word is a real achievement. The long-suffering customer
who answered the headwaiter's question, "Have you given
your order?" with, "Yes, but please make it an entreaty,"
spoke with a feeling for words made keener by hunger.
Many of us, instead of learning how to use the simple,
familiar words effectively, go off in search of long words
or strange words, thinking to improve our speech and
writing in that way.
Do you remember Wilkins Micawber? The first words
Mr. Micawber ever spoke to David Copperfield David —
—
was only nine then were: "Under the impression that
your travels in these parts of the metropolis have not yet
been extensive, I shall be happy to call this evening and
install you in the knowledge of the nearest way." What he
meant was: "Since you don't know much about the city,
I'll be glad to show you about this evening."

Writing in 1876, William Matthews, professor of En-

glish literature at the University of Chicago, deplored the
use of pretentious "swelling words and phrases" and told
this anecdote:

"Never, perhaps, did a college professor give a bet-

ter lesson in rhetoric than was given by a plain
farmer in Kennebec County, Maine, to a school-
master. 'You are excavating a subterranean channel,
it seems,' said the pedagogue, as he saw the farmer

at work near his house. 'No, sir,' was the reply, 'I
am only digging a ditch.' "*
* From Words, Their Use and Abuse by William Matthews.
134 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

Long words merely make our speech pompous, flabby,

What then?
or inaccurate.
If you want to get rid of conversational B.O. (Boring
Others) here are a few simple suggestions:

1. be brief. If you can say something effectively in

ten words, don't use twenty-five or a hundred. One of
the most desirable of all economies is the economy of
words. Think of the music critic who wrote, "An amateur
string quartet played Brahms here last evening. Brahms
lost." Don't clutter up what you say with useless words.
If you have a choice between a short word and a long

one, choose the short one. It will usually convey your

meaning more clearly and more vigorously.
2. be specific. A concrete word is always better than
an abstract word. A specific detail is always better than
a vague generality. A yacht or tugboat is better than a
ship and "a dirty British coaster with a salt-caked smoke-
stack" is best of all. It's John Masefield and it's concrete,
specific, and vivid. Occasionally try to find words that
make your listener see as well as hear what you are say-
ing. And occasionally try to listen. It often shows a fine
command of language to say nothing.

3. be yourself. Don't be afraid to be yourself. Don't

be afraid to be natural. The most attractive thing to be is
YOU.

A FINAL WORD

If you want to write well, respect all the don'ts in this

chapter and observe all the do's. Then add this bit of
general advice: Write the way you speak —
naturally and
without affectation —with important difference, that
this

in writing you have time to think before you write and an

opportunity to revise after you have written. If you do
 But Were A/raid to Raise Your Hand 135
this, the result will be you, and that's worth all the long
words in an unabridged dictionary and all the flowery
words in a thesaurus.
When your conversation reaches new levels of vocab-
ulary and gains greater flexibility, your writing will, too.
And what's more important it will still be genuinely you,
not an imitation.
136 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

Chapter 10

Stop, Look, and Listen: Spelling

FOOTBALL PLAYER POOR IN SPELLING

Phoenix, Ariz. (AP) —

Shanty Hogan, football coach
at Phoenix Junior College, claims this is a true story.
He asked all of his freshman players to fill out
a card in case of a serious injury. The card lists
whom to notify and such information. One blank
is for religion. One player wrote, "Bhaptizz."
Hogan chuckled and then asked the lad, "Now
son, what religion are you?"
The boy answered, "Presbyterian."
"But you wrote Baptist," the coach said.
"I know," the player said, "but I can't spell
Presbyterian."
—From AP dispatch

Unfortunately, our football candidate was born some

three centuries too late, for strangely enough at one time
spelling did depend on the whim and fancy of the speller.
One authority tells us that Shakespeare spelled his name
in some ways (Shakspere, Shakespeare,
thirty different
Shaxpere, Schackspere, Shaxpur being some of the more
frequent variations). The grandson of James II, writing
about his father, refers to him sometimes as Jems and at
other times as Gems! Spelling was a grand and glorious
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 137
free-for-all.You spelled the way words sounded to you,
and it was almost a game to see in how many different
ways you could achieve a recognizable word.
Even as late as 1764, James Boswell, famous biographer
of Samuel Johnson, in a letter written to his friend William
Temple, misspelled, according to our standards, the words
agreable, allready, stile (style), beleive, ifs (for its), corn-
pleat, freind, immediatly, satisfy'd, english, nonsence,
realy, smoak, yeild, corespond, chuse (choose), chearfull,
allmost, releiving, sollicited, abhorr, and awefull. If Bos-
well had consulted his friend's celebrated dictionary, pub-
lished nine years earlier, he would have spelled all but
two (compleat and chuse are given as variant spellings)
as we spell them today. Twenty-one spelling mistakes in
one letter! Poor Boswell! Miss Finch would never have
let him pass in English 1.
Many attempts to reform English spelling have been
made one hundred years. M. T. Shields in a
in the last
recent letter toThe Economist reminds us that G. B.
Shaw, among others, was one of the champions of spelling
reform. Shaw suggested that one letter be changed or elim-
inated each year in order to give people time to adjust to
the change. Shields' scenario is simplicity itself!

For example, in Year 1 that useless letter "c"

would be dropped to be replased by either "k" or
"s," and likewise "x" would no longer be part of the
alphabet. The only kase in which "c" would be re-
tained would be the "ch" formation, which will be
dealt with later. Year 2 might well reform "w"
spelling, so that "which" and "one" would take the
same konsonant, wile Year 3 might well abolish "y"
replasing it with "i," and Iear 4 might fiks the "g-j"
anomali wonse and for all.
Jenerally, then, the improvement would kontinue
iear bai iear, with Iear 5doing awai with useless
double konsonants, and Iears 6-12 or so modifaiing
vowlz and the rimeining voist and unvoist konso-
138 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English
nants. Bai Ier 15 or sou, it wud fainali bi posibl tu
meik ius ovridandant letez "c," "y" and "x"
thi
bai now jast a memori in the maindz ov ould
—
doderez tu riplais "ch," "sh" and "th" rispektivli.
Fainali, xen, aafte sam 20 iers ov orxogrefkl
riform, wi wud hev a lojikl, kohirnt speling in ius
xrewawt xe Ingliy-spiking werld.

You can see how absurd this kind of spelling "improve-

ment" can be. So there's no sense in sitting around on
our inertia waiting for reforms. Let's roll up our sleeves
and get to work.

POWER OF OBSERVATION

How many /'s and p's are there in Phi ? i ? ines? How
many fs and n's in Bri ? a ? ica? How many r's and s's

inemba ? a ? ing? How many /'s in acce ? erate?

A good, natural speller is gifted with a photographic

mind. He can recall the word in print and count the num-
ber of r's, az's, s's, and /'s in a word.
But not all of us have this power of observation. We
have a vague idea of what the word looks like. Besides,
none of us could accurately photograph the thousands of
words we need to know the spelling of. And yet we need
to know how to spell. It is just as disgraceful to misspell
as to make illiterate mistakes in usage and speech.
Fortunately, there are ways of improving our spelling.
There are easy ways of getting ourselves to look at words
more closely and more effectively. There are ways of im-
proving our powers of observation. But before we go into
that, try these paired sentences.
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 139

DOES IT MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE TO YOU?

1. In which was the legendary bowman surprisingly care-

less?
a. Robin Hood was about to loose his arrow.
b. Robin Hood was about to lose his arrow.

2. In the days when primogeniture meant everything,

which was the more likely expostulation of the eldest son?

a. I was there first.

b. I was their first.

3. Which sounds conspiratorial?

a. We'd like to invite you to dessert with us tomorrow
evening.
b. We'd like to invite you to desert with us tomorrow
evening.

4. Which draft board's needs were the greatest?

a. The medical board accepted men with perforated

eardrums.
b. The medical board excepted men with perforated
eardrums.

5. Which statement is concerned with ethical standards?

a. The principles in the case are well known.

b. The principals in the case are well known.

6. Which Joe is the eager beaver?

a. Joe submitted to many orders.
b. Joe submitted too many orders.
7. Which question would an investigator ask about a
specific group?
a. Were there voices raised in protest?
b. Were their voices raised in protest?
8. Which sounds like the title of an ode by Keats, Shelley,
or Wordsworth?
a. Too Early Spring.
b. To Early Spring.
140 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

9. In which case are the chains not firmly fixed?

a. You have nothing too loose but your chains.
b. You have nothing to lose but your chains.

10. Which headline reveals a scandalous situation?

a. SALE OF NARCOTICS b. SALE OF NARCOTICS

IN HOSPITAL BARRED IN HOSPITAL BARED

1. THE ARCHITECTURAL APPROACH

If we look closely at words, we shall find that most

words are not one word but often two or three or four
—
words put together or parts of words that we see over
and over again in other words. If we look closely at words
we shall see that there are family relationships and re-
semblances. Imagination and imaginative are descendants
of image, the parent word. Accelerate and celerity are first
cousins, certainly. Definitely, finish, finite, and infinity are
not strangers. Notice what we've accomplished already.
We are not likely to put two m's in imagination if we
know it comes from image. We won't spell it definately if
we know it's related to finish and finite. So, first, we must
observe relationships of words.
This will become easier if we become architects and

wreckers, if we up and then knock them down

build words
again. Unbusinesslike and unimaginative are good words
to begin with. They're easy to break down.

un busy ness like

(We'll find out later why the y changes to i.)

un imag(e) in(e) ative

(We'll find out later why the e's are dropped)

If we do it with other words we see hidden relation-

ships:

pre par ation

se par ation
 —
But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 141
and we know that separate is not spelled sep(e)rate.
When we are able to see words in all their parts, see
the bricks that put them together, we are well on the road
to becoming intelligent —not hit-or-miss — spellers.
The bricks with which we build words are of three
kinds. The central part of the word — one
the that tells

you what family it belongs to — is called the root.

con sci ence

con sci ous

Sci is the root. The brick we place to the left of the root
(or before it) is called the prefix. The brick we place to
the right of the root (or after it) is called the suffix.
Notice that we can add another prefix and suffix to
conscious and get un con sci ous ly or we can take a prefix
away from conscience and get science. And now con-
science and conscious should never give us any trouble.
We've taken them apart, and we've seen what makes them
tick.

Using this process, see how quickly spelling demons are

tamed and spelling mysteries solved.

rep ? tition e or i? Clue word petition Solved

reco ? endation one or two? m Clue word commend Solved
hum ? rous e or ol Clue word humor Solved
caf ? teria a, i, or el Clue word cafe Solved
exhil ? rate e a, or ol y Clue word hilarious Solved
incrim ? nate a, e, or i? Clue word criminal Solved
i ? idescent one r or two? Clue word iris Solved
 )

142 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

2. THE MATHEMATICAL APPROACH

To the building and wrecking process we're going to

apply a little simple arithmetic. We're going to add the
last letter of the prefix and the first letter of the word to
which it is attached.
Let's take words beginning with dis as an example:
dis -f- appoint (1 -J- = 1 s)

dis -[-sect (1 -f 1 = 2s's)

(By the way there is no such word as disect. The word is
either dis -f- sect, to cut up into many pieces, or bi -f-
sect, to cut in two.
Now try these and decide by arithmetic whether there
should be one s or two.

1. di (ss) olve, 2. di (ss) ervice, 3. di (ss) appear, 4. di

(ss) ent, 5. di (ss) illusioned, 6. di (ss) array, 7. di (ss)
ident, 8. di (ss) ability, 9. di (ss) integrate, 10. di (ss) agree,
11. di (ss) imilar, 12. di (ss) approve, 13. di (ss) atisfied,

14. di (ss) assemble, 15. di (ss) unity, 16. di (ss) uade, 17.
di (ss) engage, 18. di (ss) onance, 19. mi (ss) pell, 20. mi
(ss) appropriate.

Did you notice that if a recognizable word appeared

after (ss), there was only one s? Why?
Now we'll look at the end of the word and add the
first letter of the suffix and the last of the central word.

The Suffix ly

accidental -f-
ly Problem: one /or two?
Solution: 1 + 1=2
usual + ly Problem: one /or two?
Solution: 1 + 1=2
Try the suffix ness yourself:

mean -j- ness Problem: one n or two?

stubborn -f-
ness Problem: one n or two?
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 143

Some of the dragons have been slain. Disappoint is

easy now. It has only one s. Why? Because 1 -f = 1.

No more trouble from especially. 1 —|- 1 = 2.

It is easy to see now that when a prefix ends in a
vowel (re, pro) it will be followed by a single, not a
doubled, consonant (0 1 + =
1). That settles profes-
sional andrecommend.
Do some word building and wrecking on your own. Just
to make sure you develop a pre and suf Fixation, here
are a variety of prefixes and suffixes. Notice especially
how the 1 +
1 and 1+0
rule operates.

sym metrical cor respond

ir responsible com mission
un necessary dis illusioned
in oculate dis solution
il legible drunken ness
im migration practical ly
ab origines beautiful ly
ab breviate usual ly

3. SPELLING BY EAR

So far we have stopped to look at the word to see what

it ismade of. Now we're going to listen to listen before —
and after we spell a word.
The following misspellings are all due to slovenly pro-
nunciations:

goverment for government heighth for height

libary for library preform for perform
congradulations for congratulations umberella for umbrella
pronounciation for pronunciation suprise for surprise
athaletics for athletics reconize for recognize
lenth for length hinderance for hindrance
144 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

The following misspellings would never occur if you

tried to pronounce the words after writing them:

villiage for village tradegy for tragedy

similiar for similar villian for villain
barbarious for barbarous intergrate for integrate
captian for captain mischievious for mischievous

You cannot spell some words correctly unless you pro-

nounce them correctly! And when you have spelled a
word you must be able, with the letters in the order in
which you have written them, to pronounce it correctly.
If you spell necessary with two c's, you will have to

pronounce it neksessary; if you spell occasion with two

s's it must rhyme with passion.

These are the big rules in spelling: stop! look! listen!

1. Look word, see
at the it in its component parts:
build up a short word, break down a long word. Be ob-
servant. Become syllable-conscious. Get a pre and suf
/zxation.
2. In adding prefixes and suffixes, also add the ini-

tial and final letters of the central word — +

1 1=2,
1 + 0=1,0 + 1 = 1.
3. Listen to the sound of words. Pronounce them cor-
rectly before you spell them. Be able to pronounce them
correctly after you spell them.
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 145

WHICH VOWEL IS IT: A f E f I, 0, or U?

Sometimes listening will not help you much, because

vowels may lose their identity when they appear in an
unaccented syllable. Words like med ? cine and mir ? cle
present such a problem. Is it an a, e, i, o, w, or y where
the question mark now appears? Your ear doesn't give you
the answer.
Spell itmed (a) cine, med (e) cine, med (i) cine, med(o)
cine, or —
med (u) cine, and if you hit the accented syllable
—
med hard all five will be pronounced exactly alike. For
we are dealing with an indeterminate, neutral vowel sound
that is now represented in all dictionaries by the symbol a
— known as the schwa. Therefore the words medicine and
miracle appear in dictionaries as

med'a-san and mir'a-kal

Because our longer words there are more unaccented

in
syllables than accented ones, the schwas probably out-
number all the other vowels put together. But that's noth-
ing to cheer about, because to spell many of the words
correctly, we must unmask the schwa and restore the
vowel's identity.
How do we do this? By finding a related word in
which the vowel in doubt (the schwa) appears in an
accented syllable: for MEDicine the clue word would be
meDICinal and for MIRacle the clue word would be
mirACulous.
Don't let this explanation throw you. It's really very
easy, as you will see when you come to do the exercise.
146 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

THE SCHWA UNMASKED

(The first eight clue words have been supplied and the accented
syllables indicated by capital letters, After that you are on your
own.)

VOWEL IN QUESTION CLUE WORD UNMASKED VOWEL

1. aCAD ? my acaDEMic ?
2. apPROXim ? tely approxiMAtion ?
3. arisTOCr ? cy aristoCRATic ?
4. aRITHm ? tic arithMETical ?
5. AUth ? r auTHORity ?
6. CENS ? r cenSORious ?
7. CHA ? s chaOTic ?
8. COLL ? ge colLEgiate

9. comp ? TItion 35. inFLAMm ? tory

10. conSERV ? tory 36. INflu ? nee
11. cor ? NAtion 37. MAGn ? tism
12. CUSt ? dy 38. MED ? cine
13. DEFin ? te 39. MIR ? cle
14. deMOCr ? cy 40. MOL ? cule
15. disCRIMin ? tory 41. moNOT ? nous
16. disPENS ? ry 42. NARr ? tive
17. DOMin ? nee 43. NEUtr ? 1

18. DYn ? sty 44. not ? RIety

19. d ? SPAIR 45. NUm ? rous
20. eCON ? my 46. NUtr ? tive
21. EMph ? sis 47. obSERV ? tory
22. exhil ? RAtion 48. paRAL ? sis
23. exPLAN ? tory 49. persp ? RAtion
24. ECst ? sy 50. PREV ? lent
25. FAL1 ? cy 51. PROD ? gy
26. FEL ? ny 52. reCIPr ? cate
27. FRIV ? lous 53. reFORM ? tory
28. GRAMm ? r 54. REL ? tive
29. horIZ ? n 55. REM ? dy
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 147
30. hyGI ? ne 56. repreSENT ? tive
31. hyPOCr ? sy 57. RHAPs ? dy
32. idioSYNcr ? sy 58. SCHOL ? r
33. iMAGin ? tive 59. SPECt ? cle
34. INfin ? te 60. SYN ? nym

DANGEROUS CROSSING: SILENT E

When we cross over from a silent e to ing or able or

any other suffix beginning with a vowel the e is dropped.

come —coming —
mortgage mortgagor
write—writing —
prime primal
love—lovable fortune— fortunate
—grievance
grieve sense— sensible
—pleasant
please —
futile futility
serve— service store—storage
—delegation
delegate —
sterile sterilize

Exception 1: Words ending in ce or ge keep the e before

able and ous in order to retain the s and / sound.

changeable, noticeable, courageous

Exception 2: Some few words keep the e even before ing

in order to retain their meaning clearly.

singeing, dyeing, shoeing, hoeing, toeing

Exception 3 mileage
:

Exception 4: Before able the e may be retained: loveable,

moveable, etc.

When, however, we cross over to a suffix beginning with

a consonant, the e does not drop out.

sincere — sincerely bore —boredom

care — careful immediate —immediately
Exceptions: judgment, acknowledgment (preferred in
America), wholly, duly, truly, and argument.
Caution: Be sure to keep the e in words like loneliness,
likelihood, livelihood, etc.
 148 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

DANGEROUS CROSSING: Y

When crossing over from a word ending in y, change

the y to an i before all suffixes except ing.

try — tried country — countries

busy — business marry —marriage
lonely — loneliness penny — penniless

BUT
studying, hurrying, marrying

Exception 1 : Words ending in ay, ey, and oy do not change

the y to L

valleys, monkeys, boyish

Exception 2: laid, paid, daily, gaily (or gayly), gaiety (or

gayety)

DANGEROUS CROSSING: FINAL CONSONANTS

Watch the crossing carefully when there's a final conso-

nant. An was once very much embarrassed when
editor
his newspaper in writing a laudatory column about one of
the town's leading citizens called him a "battle-scared
veteran." To make amends the editor wrote a correction
for the next morning's edition. Unfortunately, the typeset-
ter got there first with "a bottle-scarred veteran."
Words of one syllable that end in one consonant pre-
ceded by one vowel double the consonant before ing, ed,
and er.

hop — hopped — hopping — hopper

plan — planned — planning — planner
bar — barred — barring
step — stepped — stepping — stepper
beg - begged — begging — beggar
 dui were Ajrma 10 ntnse i our nana I4.y

When the word has more than one syllable, listening

becomes our most important guide, for it is only when the
accent falls on the syllable containing the consonant that

we double the consonant. Notice how this rule works in

the words given below:

reFER —reFERRing, but REFerence

preFER—preFERRing, but PREFerence and PREF-
erable
ocCUR —ocCURRing—ocCURRence
conTROL— conTROLLing—unconTROLLable
beGIN— beGINNing—beGINNer
eQUIP—eQUIPPed, but eQUIPment because the
does not begin with vowel
suffix a
comMIT—comMITTing—comMITTee, but com-
MITment

BUT
QUARrel QUARreling
TRAvel TRAveling
BENefit BENefiting
COLor COLoring
WORship WORshiping
MARvel MARvelous MARveling

Exception: In England this rule is not strictly adhered to.

You can usually recognize an English novel by its double
/ and double p spellings (marvellous, travelling, wor-
shipped). We prefer streamlining and apply the rule
rather strictly. Considering the many words involved, we
have very few exceptions:

chagRINed, CANcellation (but CANceled), CRYS-

METallurgy, HANdicapped, HANdicapper,
tallize,
and KIDnapper (with one or two p's).
150 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

DANGEROUS CROSSINGS: MISCELLANEOUS

Words ending in c add a k before joining with ed, ing,

or y in order to keep the hard sound of c.

picnicking, panicky, picnicker, shellacking

Verbs ending in ie usually drop the e and change the i

to y before joining with ing.

die — dying, tie — tying, lie — lying, vie —vying

OTHER PROBLEMS

Most of our other problems deal with the endings of

words, all except the first one.

IE or El?

When the sound is ee and you don't know whether to

use ie or ei, remember that ei follows the letter c, and ie

all other letters.

ceiling, receive, belief, chief, besiege

Exceptions: seize, weird, leisure, neither, sheik, and inveigle

(the last four words are not really exceptions since the
ei is sometimes pronounced differently)

When any other sound is produced, use ei.

foreign, forfeit, neighbor, height, heinous

Exceptions: sieve, handkerchief, mischief, mischievous (the

last three are really not exceptions since they are related
to the word chief)
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 151

ABLEorlBLE?
There is no very good rule, but here's a homemade one
that works for many words. When you can form a word
ending in ation, ABLE should be used. When you can
form a word ending in ion, tion, id, or ive, IBLE is usually
correct.

ABLE WORDS
indispensable (dispensation) execrable (execration)
commendable (commendation) excitable (excitation)
estimable (estimation) irritable (irritation)
durable (duration) inviolable (violation)

IBLE WORDS
accessible (accession) digestible (digestive)
audible (audition) indefensible (defensive)
collectible (collection) irrepressible (repressive)
comprehensible (comprehensive) irresistible (resistive)
convertible (conversion) suggestible (suggestive)

CEED, CEDE,orSEDE?
Only three words end in ceed: exceed, proceed, and
succeed. Only one word ends in sede: supersede. All other
words end in cede: accede, intercede, precede, etc.

CE or SE?

In general, where the noun and verb are similar the

noun ends in ce, the verb in se.

advice — advise device — devise prophecy —prophesy

We spell license, defense, and pretense with se but the
English prefer ce. The word suspense, however, can be
spelled only with an se.
152 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

ER, RE?

words that we spell er as in

British spelling prefers re in
maneuver, caliber, etc. In order to keep the
theater, center,
hard sound of c and g we use re in ogre, acre, massacre,
and mediocre, but not in eager and meager.

OR, OUR?
In America, true to the principle of streamlining, we
choose or when confronted with a choice of or or our.
The only word we honor (not honour) with the our
spelling is glamour (but glamorous).

OUS or US?
Nouns end in us, adjectives in ous.
Nouns: callus , mucus, phosphorus, fungus
Adjectives: callous, mucous, etc. i

OS or OES?
Words that end in o give difficulty when the plurals
are formed. (They should give no trouble in the singular,
though there are those who like to put an e on potato
and hero.) The best way to look at this problem is to
say that the usual way to form the plural is to add es
and call all the others exceptions.
Exception 1 : Words ending in io or eo add only s: cameos,
ratios, studios.

Exception 2: Words that are musical terms add only s:

sopranos, altos, oratorios, virtuosos.

Exception 3: Words that are clipped forms add only s:

photos, curios, dynamos.

 — —————— — —— —
But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 153
Exception 4: Words recently adopted add only s: com*
mandoSy gauchos, generalissimos.

WORDS SOMETIMES CONFUSED

Here, too, the right pronunciation will help.

accept, except (see page 86)

affect, effect (see page 86)
angle, angel — an angle is a part of a triangle, an an-
gel isn't.

coarse, course coarse is opposite of fine or refined.

cite, site, sight cite (v) means quote; site (n)
means place.
canvas, canvass — to canvass means to solicit or seek
orders.
capital, capital (see page 91)
complement, compliment complement is related to
complete.
consul, council, counsel
desert (v), desert (n), dessert (n) dessert is the
sweet course.
human, humane humane means kind.
its, it's it's equals it is, sometimes it has.
later, latter later is opposite of earlier.
lose, loose loose is opposite of tight.
moral, morale — the morale of a people is its capac-
ity to take it.

past, passed passed is the past of pass.

principal, principle (see page 103)
quiet (adj), quite (adv) quiet is still.

stationary (adj), stationery (n) —we write on sta-

tionery.
than, then —then answers the question "when?"
their, they're, there they're equals they are; their
means belonging to them.
two too means too much or
to, too, also.
weather, whether —we talk about the weather.
who's, whose who's means who is.
 154 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

SPELLING: SILENT E AND FINAL CONSONANTS

If ing were added to each of the following words, would the
word have a doubled consonant?

B
1. sin 1. compel
2. bar 2. permit
3. stoop 3. signal
4. din 4. unwrap
5. bat 5. credit
6. hope 6. linger
7. scrap 7. allot
8. dine 8. outwit
9. hug 9. profit
10. dot 10. forget
11. ship 11. differ
12. sun 12. confer
13. lag 13. counsel
14. shine 14. overstep
15. write 15. travel

SPELLING: El AND IE

Copy each of the following words, inserting either ei or ie in

the blank space.

1. y Id 6. s smic
2. bel ve 7. rec pt
3. bes ge 8. ch ftain
4. unw ldy 9. sover gn
5. dec ve 10. s zure

III

Rewrite the following sentences, filling each of the blanks with

one of the words that appears in parentheses.

1. . . . are good reasons why about to sell . . . house.

(there, their, they're)
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 155
2. . . . not . . . late . . . give the cat . . . milk, (its, it's,

to, too)

3. If . • . going home, take . . . books with you. (your,

you're)

4. Do you know ... the ... is pleasant there? (weather,

whether)

5. They . . . known for a long time that you would . . .

y
gone if you had heard . . . the game in time, (have, of, ve)

6. Where . . . are many opinions, most people feel . . .

justified in holding on to . . . own; and while . . . several

scientific explanations for this stubbornness, ... be few
changes unless we can convince men that they ought to be
f
more open-minded, (there, their, they re, there're, there'll)
7. My . . . objection to the ... of that school is that he
is a man of no . . . (principal, principle)

8. Not until will you be able to . . . tell whether you

have more ... you need, (than, then)

9. If your strap is ... , you may . . . your books, (lose,

loose)

10. Not even in the . . . would I . . . the table before ....

(desert, dessert)

11. ". . . going to punch . . . nose?" demanded Jerry bel-

ligerently, (whose, who's)

IV

SPELLING DEMONS

In each of the following groups, one of the words is mis-

spelled. In each case spell correctly the misspelled word.

1. already, altogether, alright, always

2. publicity, accidently, essentially, legibly
3. absence, license, suspence, defense
4. disease, agreement, buisness, bicycle
5. accumulate, surround, accomodate, collaborate
6. biscuit, consious, vicious, spacious
 .

156 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

7. sacrafice, obstacle, realistic, miracle

8. friend, decided, resistence, anoint
9. dining room, trapped, comming, stopped
10. recomend, accurately, committee, interrupt
11 dissatisfied, dissappoint, disappearance, misspelled
12. quantities, grammer, beggar, calendar
13. cafeteria, adequate, mathamatics, medicine
14. illegible, eligible, oblige, privelege
15. posesses, assistant, harass, balance
16. cemetery, referee, seperate, inoculate
17. ninth, sincerly, jewelry, truly
18. library, balloon, suprise, February
19. acheivement, ceiling, foreign, siege
20. suddenness, succeed, until, accross
21. shriek, beleive, seize, chief
22. controlled, begining, quarreling, allotted
23. amount, aviator, opinion, vallies
24. origin, conqueror, auther, whether
25. pleasant, beautiful, repitition, enemies
26. tradgedy, cavalry, recognize, perform
27. persuading, conscience, persuing, finally
28. attacked, ammunition, artillery, writting
29. coolly, disected, meanness, innocent
30. couragous, judgment, noticeable, valuable
31. pronunciation, bachelor, charachter, children
32. enviorment, strength, government, temperature
33. descendants, discipline, dissolve, discription
34. envelope, elaborate, servicable, ninety
35. independence, existance, attendance, convenience
36. humerous, mysterious, barbarous, courtesy
37. imaginary, immitate, immature, immigration
38. personally, scarcely, immediatly, really
39. beautiful, especially, continually, definately
40. arctic, bookkeeping, neccessary, escape
41. predjudice, college, etc., colossal
42. conquering, occassionally, parallel, incidentally
43. familiar, occurence, equipped, omitted
44. changeable, livelihood, lonliness, desirable
45. casualities, similar, athletics, umbrella
46. chocolate, banana, commitment, stomache
47. opportunity, murmer, burglar, nickel
 But Were A/raid to Raise Your Hand 157
48. concensus, countries, refugees, exercise
49. village, captain, villian, lieutenant
50. assassin, embarrass, career, dessicated

SPELLING BONERS

Here are some boners (usually connected with books

students studied and were required to write about) that
I have collected over the years. They are choice in the

sense that they make sense anyhow and fit amusingly into
the context of the sentence. Wherever it is a book that
is discussed, the title is indicated. Correct the spelling of
the crucial w ord.
T

1. Israel Hand tried to kill Jim Hawkins with a cutlet.

(Treasure Island)

2. Beret was a religious woman, and the customs and

morality of the New World prayed on her mind. (Giants in
the Earth)

3. Here Charles Lindbergh tells the story of his long

months of planing before his epic flight. (The Spirit of St.

Louis)

4. At the end of Edith Wharton's tragic story, Ethan and

Mattie, seeing no other way out, decide to go on a slay ride.
(Ethan Frome)

5. Godfrey Cass was the kind of person who gets angry

slowly but surly. (Silas Marner)

6. By nightfall David had walked only an infinidecimal

par* of the way to his aunt's house. (David Copperfield)

7. Just by looking at Osric, as he fanned himself with

his hat, you could tell he was self-scented. (Hamlet)

Everyone thought that she was a sweet, lovely child

8.

but she had killing in her blood —

she was a congenial mur-
derer. (The Bad Seed)
158 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

9. Charles Lamb's "Dissipation on Roast Pig" is the kind

of literature that helps one to relax.

10. Count Vronsky was a very good-looking man and had

courted many women without ever marring them. (Anna
Karenina)

11. What he enjoyed most was the power he wheeled over

his students. (Good-bye, Mr. Chips)

12. He was so popular he was elected anonymously,

13. He was so famished, he just gouged himself.

14. Ibsen's A Doll's House teaches a lesson to people who

are married and even to those who are singular.

15. At the climax of the play, Nora, realizing that she

has been playing a doll for a husband who has been inter-
ested only in himself, says angrily, "Now the masterade is
over." (A Doll's House)

CAPITAL OR SMALL LETTERS?

The purpose of beginning a word with a capital letter is

to give the word proper prominence or to pay it due

respect. Here are a few reminders.
1. Capitalize the names of peoples, their languages, and
their religions.
English, Chinese, Negro, Indian, American, Chris-
tian, Buddhist

2. Capitalize street, bank, professor, governor, war, high

school, river, county only when they are used with names that
designate them as specific places or persons.
Fifth Avenue, First National Bank, Professor Boas,
the Civil War, New York University
a. The word President when it means the President of
the United States, even though the name is not used.
b. The South only when it specifically means the south-
ern states.
c. Don't capitalize spring, summer, fall or winter.
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 159
3. Titles of books, articles, magazines, newspapers, and
songs. Capitalize the first word and all others except articles
and short prepositions and conjunctions.
Henrik Ibsen's An Enemy of the People

4. In a letter only the first and last words of the salutation

and only the first word of the complimentary close.
My dear Sir:
Yours very sincerely,

5. All adjectives derived from proper nouns begin with

capitals.
French fries, Danish cheeses, Polish hams, Amer-
icanknow-how, British actors, Italian films
6. We capitalize the names of all religions and of the deity
and all pronouns referring to Him (except who, though there
is divided usage here).
God, Lord, the Almighty, the Creator
However, the word god is not capitalized when referring to
the gods of mythology, but the names of individual gods and
goddesses are: Athena, Juno, Zeus, Thor, Isis.

7. The names of sacred books are capitalized without

quotation marks.
the Bible, the New Testament, the Koran, the
Talmud
8. In relationships —
out of respect to the person addressed
or referred to —
we use capitals.
Please, Mother, I want to do it myself.

or

I called Mother last night.

but

I called my mother last night. (The word my

seems to take the place of the capital letter.)
 160 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

EXERCISE ON USE OF CAPITAL LETTERS

Rewrite the passages below correctly, deciding whether the

words should begin with a capital letter:
italicized

The president —with the approval of the senate —

sent a commission to the west last summer to study
the customs and history of the indians living on
government reservations. The commission, which
consisted of two republicans and three democrats,
was headed by captain Olaf Jorgensen, who lives on
seventy-second street in this city.
The captain is of norwegian ancestry and is an
honor alumnus of this high school. When he was a
senior, he was president of the g.o. and a member
of the chess club. At commencement he won awards
in english, mathematics, and social studies. He went
on michigan state university, where he specialized
to
in sociology, and where he was elected to phi beta
kappa in his junior year. After spending two years
as a pilot in world war II, he went to a university
to complete work on his ph.d.
The captain's report, which he intends to call "an
inquiry into the customs and history of the ameri-
can Indian," should be of great value to the secretary
of the interior when he goes before the interested
congressional committees to urge them to formulate
the necessary legislation.

SPELLING BEES

Long popular in America, the old-fashioned spelling bee

has formany years, with the help of the microphone, been
an annual contest.
If you are going to be a contestant in a spelling bee,
here's a good list to study. If you are going to stage a
spelling bee, here's your ammunition. Make sure the
spelling master knows how to pronounce the words cor-
rectly.
 But Were A/raid to Raise Your Hand 161

Light

400 words in constant use sometimes misspelled by you

and me. Some of these may be too easy to use in a spelling
bee, but will serve to limber up one's vowels and conso-
nants. The easier words are printed in italics.

absence arrival carriage conquer

accept article carrying conscience
accident association ceiling conscious
accurately athletic celebrity considerable
achievement attacked certain continually
across attendance changeable controlled
address author changing convenience
adequate audience chaos corner
advice aviator character council (group)
agreement awkward chief countries

airplane balance children consul

aisle (theater) beautiful chocolate courageous
allege because choose course (n)
all right before chosen courteous
almost beggar climbed courtesy
already beginning clothes crowd
altogether believed cloud crucial
amateur bicycle coarse (not fine) deceive
among brakes (car) collar decided
amount break college decisively

annual breathe colonel definite

answer buried color dependent
anxious business coming descendant
appearance cafeteria committee description
appreciate candidate common desirable
approaching capitol competition despair
argument (building) completely desperate
around captain compliment dessert (sweets]
aroused career conceal destroy
arrangements careful confident determine
162 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English
develop explanation hurrying misspelled
device extremely identity mournful
dictator familiar imaginary movable
didn't fascinating immediately murmur
different fatigue indefinitely muscle
dining room February independence mysterious
disappeared finally influential naturally
disappointed financial instead necessary
discussed forcibly integrate neither
disease foreign interfere nevertheless

dissatisfied foresee interrupt nickel

divided formerly invitation niece
doctor (time) its (possessive) ninety
doesn't forth jealous ninth
dropped (ahead) jewelry noticeable
dying forty judgment oblige
easily fourteen knowledge obstacle
effect (result) fourth ladies occasion
efficiency friend laid occurred
eighth fugitive latter o'clock

eligible future led (v) officer

eminent generally legible omitted
enemies genius lieutenant operate
emphasize government library opinion
English grammar lightning (flash) opportunity
entirely grievance literature organization
environment guarantee livelihood origin
equipped guard loneliness paid
especially handle loose particular
essentially handful losing partner

etc. handsome loveliness passed (v)

everybody (adj) lying pastime
exceed harassed magazine perform
excellent hasn't marriage perhaps
exercise height meanness permanent
excitement hoping meant personally
exhausted humorous medicine persuading
existence hundred merely physically
expense hungry minutes piece
experience hurriedly miracle (fragment)
 But Were A /raid to Raise Your Hand 163
planning received shriek too (too cold)
pleasant recognize siege toward
politics recommend similar tragedy
portrayed referee sincerely transferred
possesses reference specimen tries
possible referred speech truly
practically refugee stationary twelfth
preceding relieve (fixed) until
preference religious stomach unusual
preferred remedy stopped useful

prejudice repetition stories usually

preparations representative straight (direct) valleys
presence requirements strength valuable
principal (chief) resistance stretched varied
principles resources strictly vegetable
(rules) respectability striking village
privilege restaurant studying villain
probably rhyme succeed wasn't
proceeded sacrifice suddenness weather
professional safety summer Wednesday

professor sandwich surely weird

prominent Saturday surprise welfare
proved scarcely surround whether
pursuing scene suspense (or not)
quantities schedule technical which
quarreling secretary temperature whose (poss.)
quarter seize tendency woman (one)
quiet (still) sentence their (poss.) women (many)
quizzes separate those wonderful
realize sergeant threw wouldn't
really severely tobacco writing
receipt shining together written
164 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

Medium

350 words often used, many of which will knock out the
run-of-the-mill spelling experts.

abscess apparatus boycott contemptibly

abysmal apparent brilliancy convalescent
academy appeasement bulletin coolly
accessible appetite buoyancy corporal
accidentally appropriately burglar corpuscle
accommodate approximately calendar (dates) correspondence
accumulate architecture camphor corridor
acknowledge artillery casualties corroborate
acquaintance assassination catastrophe counterfeit
acquiescent assessment cavalry criticism

acquisition assimilate cemetery crocheting

acquittal astronaut charisma cruiser
advantageous asylum chauffeur crystallize
affidavit auspicious clientele cylindrical
affiliated bachelor coincidence deficiency
aggressor banana collaborator delineation
agreeably bandage collateral development
allegiance bankruptcy colossal digestible
allotted barbarous column dilemma
almanac bargain communique diphtheria

ambassador battalion comparatively disastrous

ambiguity beleaguered compelling discernible
ammunition belligerent competent disciplinary
analysis beneficiary compulsory discriminatory
annihilation benefited concentration dissection
anniversary bigoted conciliatory disseminate
anoint biscuit conqueror dissertation
anonymous blasphemous conscientiously dissipation
anticipate bookkeeper consensus drunkenness
apologetically bourgeois contagious dynamic
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 165
eccentricity guillotine irritable obstreperous
ecology gymnasium isolationist occasionally
ecstasy helicopter jocose occurrence
effervescent hindrance khaki ominous
elimination hygiene laboratory onerous
elucidate hypnotism lavender optimistic
embarrassment hypocrisy legitimate orchestration
emigrate hypothesis likelihood pantomime
emphasize illegible liquefy parachute
encyclopedia illiterate macaroni parallel

enigma imitation macaroons paralysis

enthusiastically immigration mahogany parliamentary
epitome imminent maintenance particularly
erratic impair maneuver pasteurized
erroneous inaccuracy massacre pavilion
espionage incessant materiel perilous
etiquette incidentally (military) permissible
exaggerate indispensable mathematics perseverance
exhibition inevitable mechanically persistence
exhilarated inexhaustible medieval personnel

exonerate inexorable mediocre perspiration

extraordinarily inflammable melancholy pessimistic
extravagance ingenious millionaire phenomenon
facetiously (clever) miniature Philippines
facilities ingenuous mischievous physician
fascism (naive) miscellaneous physiological
felicitating inimitable molasses picnicking
feminine innocence momentous picturesque
fictitious innumerable monastery pinnacle
fiery insistence monopoly plebiscite

foreboding insurrection monotonous plenipotentiary

forfeit intellectual mortgage poisonous
fundamentally intelligence mucilage pollution
furlough intercede naive posthumous
gelatin intimacy narrative pneumonia
goddess intricacy nauseous prairie
granary irascible negligence precipice
grievous irrelevant neuralgia predominant
guerrilla (also irreparable obedience prevalent
oner) irretrievable obituary primitive
166 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English
procedure reveille strenuous torpedoed
pronunciation rheumatism subsistence tortoise
propaganda rhythm successfully totalitarian
prophecy salient superfluous tourniquet
propeller satellite supersede treachery
propitious scissors superintendent tuberculosis
psychological scurrilous superstitious tyrannically
questionnaire serviceable supremacy unaccustomed
receptacle shepherd surgeon unanimous
recipe silhouette surreptitious undoubtedly

reconnoiter singeing surveillance unforgettable

(also tre) simultaneously syllable unnecessarily
recuperate solicitous symbolic unprecedented
reinforcements sophomore symmetrical vacuum
renowned sophisticated symptomatic vengeance
repetitious specifically synonym ventilation
rescind spontaneous tariff wholly
reservoir statistician tenant wiry
resiliency strategy thousandth

Heavy Artillery A

100 words occasionally used and guaranteed to knock

out almost any speller.

abeyance chameleon genealogy irresistibly

accelerator chrysanthemum gherkin jeopardy
accolade cinnamon hemorrhage jodhpurs
aeronautics connoisseur hieroglyphics kaleidoscopic
amethyst diaphanous hippopotamus kimono
antediluvian dyspepsia homogeneous laryngitis
archipelago ecclesiastical hydrangeas malleable
asphyxiated eczema hypochondriac mayonnaise
bailiwick ellipsis idiosyncrasies metallurgical
bouillon (broth) ephemeral impecuniosity metamorphosis
boutonniere escutcheon impresario millennium
broccoli esophagus innuendo mineralogy
catarrhal feasibility inoculate moccasin
cenotaph fricassee iridescent neophyte
 But Were A/raid to Raise Your Hand 167
neurasthenic piccolo rhinoceros synonymous
obeisance pomegranate rhododendron tattooist
omniscient prescience rhythmically tobogganing
opprobrium prophesied saboteur truculent
ordnance pseudonym saccharine ukulele
(army) pyorrhea (or (adj) vacillation
pachyderm rrhoea) sacrilegious vermilion
panacea rarefy sarsapariJla veterinarian
paraffin recalcitrant saxophone vicissitude
paroxysm reconnaissance soliloquies victuals
paraphernalia resuscitating spaghetti violoncello
phosphorus (n) ricocheting* stereopticon xylophone

Heavy Artillery B

50 words rarely used and wheeled out only for the

knockout blow in the last round of a spelling bee.

adscititious caoutchouc lackadaisical pterodactyl

acetylene centripetal mausoleum pusillanimous
agoraphobia chrysoprase miscegenation ratiocination
amanuensis cirrhosis mnemonics rococo
anemone cloisonne ocarina schizophrenia
apocalypse cuneiform onomatopoeia synecdoche
apocryphal daguerreotype overweening syzygy
autochthonous desiccate pharmaceutical thaumaturgist
baccalaureate eleemosynary philately tintinnabulation
butyraceous erysipelas predaceous triptych
cachinnation euthanasia prestidigitator troglodyte
cacophony hyperbole psittacosis
caffeine isosceles ptarmigan

* One t when pronounced ri-co-SHAY-ing; two f s when ri-co-SHET-

ting.
168 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

Chapter 11

Punctuation —Who Needs It?

A COMPLETE
GUIDE TO
MODERN
PUNCTUATION
\ Punctuation Marks
(Recognizing That Punctuation Marks Are Really the
Traffic Signals of Clear Writing)

All kinds of detailed comments and amendments

have to be debated before the text can be adopted.
It, in fact, took ten months to agree on every word

and every comma (and members here will know

that punctuation is almost as important as language
in a document of this kind).

—From a speech made in Geneva on December 1,

1960, before the First Committee of the United
Nations by Mr. Ormsby-Gore, then Minister of
State of the United Kingdom.

As if to prove the truth of what Mr. Ormsby-Gore said

about the importance of punctuation, the three headlines
 But Were A /raid to Raise Your Hand 169
printed below appeared in The New York Times between
the years 1963 and 1965.

COMMA LEGALIZES SLAVERY

MISPLACED COMMA PUTS

DE GAULLE OUT OF FOCUS
FOR WANT OF HYPHEN
VENUS ROCKET IS LOST

PUNCTUATION AS AN AID TO INSTANT CLARITY

Try this series of sentences. You will discover a good

reason for giving attention to punctuation. Read the fol-
lowing ten sentences quickly. Just read them —nothing
more.

1. If you wish to shoot the attendant will load the gun

for you.

2. For some time after Philip was brokenhearted.

3. In the middle of a performance we saw Danny Kaye

suddenly spied a six-year-old girl in the audience.

4. While we were eating the dog began to bark.

5. To write a history of the past ten years of research is a

minimum requirement.

6. Two years before World War I had begun.

7. On the path leading to the cellar steps were heard.

8. I ran quickly for the bus was about to start.

9. Our team still has to play Lincoln and Madison must

play Central High School.

10. Without the warm affection Bert felt in Uncle William's

family life in Oregon was hard.
170 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

Did you understand the intent of these sentences at first

sight? Or did you have to read some or all of them a
second or third time to be sure of their meaning? Obvious-
ly something is missing in each sentence —
some signal to
warn the reader to slow down. Go back now and put in
the slow-down commas which make the sentences instantly
clear!
Now you ought to be able to answer the question that
the chapter title asks: Punctuation: Who Needs It? The

answer is obvious. The reader does.

TRAFFIC SIGNS AND SIGNALS

Marks of punctuation are the traffic signs and signals

They tell him where to
that act as guides for the reader.
stop or slow down; they tell him where the writer has
taken a detour or a shortcut. Marks of punctuation
prevent collisions among words. They make reading safer
and surer. The following chart shows how certain punc-
tuation marks are related to traffic signs:

STOP!

The period •

The question mark ?

The exclamation point !
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 171

SHORTCUT

Quotation marks " "

The period .

The comtna ,

Ellipses • • •

The comma
The dash
The colon
The semicolon

DETOUR

Commas in pairs
Dashes in pairs ——
9 ,

Parentheses ( )

Brackets [ ]

Punctuation marks are used in sentences for the same

reason thattraffic regulations and signs are used on the

road:
 172 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

1. To avoid collisions (between words);

2. To eliminate confusion (in meaning);
3. To point out the right direction (of the thought);
4. To indicate a detour (from the main thought);
5. To show that a shortcut has been taken.
And just as roads have become speed highways through
the elimination of curves, the construction of overpasses,
and the judicious placing of traffic signs, so today punc-
tuation has also become streamlined. This is especially true
of commas, which are ysed only where they'll do the
most good.

STOP SIGNS: THE PERIOD,

THE QUESTION MARK, THE
EXCLAMATION POINT

The Period
1. Which expresses greater regret?
a. I'm sorry. You can't come with us.
b. I'm sorry you can't come with us.

2. Which sign would be better on (or over) a receptacle for

litter?
a. You can help. Throw it here.
b. You can help throw it here.
3. Which is the incomplete job?
a. That's all. I've finished.
b. That's all I've finished.

Everyone knows that a period (the British call it a

"full stop")comes at the end of a sentence. The only
catch is that many don't know when to stop, don't know
when one sentence ends and They are
another begins.
like careless drivers who slow down but do not come to a
full stop at a stop sign. In writing, such carelessness re-
sults in the error variously referred to as a run-on sentence
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 173

or a comma splice — joining two sentences with a comma

instead of separating them with a period. Let's look at the
following:

Our team was lucky to win the game, with only

seconds left to play Jones ran seventy yards to a
touchdown.

A careful reading will show that there are two sentences

here and that a full-stop sign (a period), not a slow-
down sign (a comma), is needed between game and
with.
Listed below are sentence fragments (incomplete sen-
tences), complete sentences, and run-on sentences (two
or more sentences written carelessly as one). Copy the
number of each sentence and after each write F, C, or
RO, depending on whether the sentence is a fragment, a
correct or complete sentence, or a run-on sentence.

1. Although I don't usually enjoy poetry, I like this poem

very much.

2.Especially the part in which the fight between the cap-

tain and the pirates takes place.

3. I admire many of the characters in the book I have

just read, although the novel as a whole did not appeal to me.

4. For example, Jim Hawkins who was a very brave

young fellow.

5. She'll never go through with it.

6. Unless she has more courage than we give her credit

for.

7. His fishing line was hopelessly tangled, all attempts

to straighten it out were futile.

8. You go and see what he wants, I'll wait here for you.

9. Because I can't stand being treated as if I were a

stranger.
174 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

10. I'll never go to his house again, I'm sick of watching

television all day.

Question Marks and Exclamation Points

Of course, the question mark and the exclamation point

may also be used at the end of a sentence. If someone
asks you what terminal mark
it, yourto use with / did
proper answer should be, "I don't know. You'll have to
tell me what the writer means by / did it."

For example, which of the terminal marks would you

use for each of the meanings given in parentheses below?

I did it — (a simple admission or confession)

I did it — (a denial with strong doubt of otherthe
person's sanity implied)
I did it — (the greatest achievement Edison's
since
invention of the electric light)

Obviously, a question mark or an exclamation point at

the end of a sentence is more expressive and says more
than a period. For example, there's the story told about
Victor Hugo, who, shortly after the appearance of Les
Miserables in the bookshops, carried on the shortest cor-
respondence on record — if we are to believe the story.
Hugo's letter to his publisher contained only the fol-
lowing:

To which the reply was:

Hugo was a happy man, for he thus knew that Les

Miserables was selling surprisingly well.
In The Medium Is the Massage, by Marshall McLuhan
and Quentin Fiore, appears this sentence: "The hydrogen
bomb is history's exclamation point. It ends an age-long
sentence of manifest violence."
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 175
Even youngsters know they can play tricks with punc-
tuation marks. On a lake in the Adirondacks there ap-
peared this sign:

PRIVATE
NO SWIMMING
ALLOWED

By judiciously placing one of each of the three ter-

minal marks of punctuation, pranksters changed this warn-
ing against trespassing into a public invitation to use the
lake.
Can you do it? Use one period, one question mark, and
one exclamation point.

CAUTION

The question mark should be used only for such direct

questions as:

Are you leaving today?

Why is the departure of the plane being held up?

It is not used if the question is an indirect one:

He asked me whether I was leaving today.

I asked why the departure of the plane was being

held up.

We also do not use the question mark when we are

merely making a request or when we expect no answer:

May I congratulate you on your recent appoint-

ment. (No answer is expected.)
176 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

Will you please let all your friends know about the
meeting. (This is merely a request.)

May we have your attention for a moment. (This,

too, is merely a request.)

Note: Occasionally question marks and exclamation points

are used within sentences, as in the following:

Civil rights and the ballet —

do they seem like
strange companions? —
clasped hands last night in a
stirring new production at the City Center.

Civil rights as the —

theme of a ballet what a stirring
combination they made!
tiveness of the City Center.
—
proved again the inven-

EXERCISE IN THE USE OF TERMINAL PUNCTUATION

Now you can try your hand at using the period, the
question mark, and the exclamation point in the following
prose adaptation of a poem by Robert Browning.
In the quoted material — for the present —place all

punctuation marks inside the terminal or closing quotation

marks. This practice will be more fully explained on pages
223—35, in the section dealing with quotation marks.
Copy the paragraphs on a separate sheet of paper,
inserting the necessary end punctuation. You'll find that
reading the passage aloud will help you to determine not
only where sentences end and new ones begin but also
what the nature of the terminal punctuation marks should
be. Capitalize the first letter of new sentences.

CL1VE
(Adapted from Robert Browning's poem of the same name)

When General Clive was a young man, he went

to work as a clerk in India for the East India Com-
pany one evening he was honored by an invitation
to play cards with a party of young army officers of
But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 177
the Queen a young captain whose name has never
been told sat next to Clive as he passed the cards to
Clive, the captain said, "Cut"
Clive rose and said quietly,"Have you discov-
ered a new way you kept back a card
to cut cards
when you handed them to me you cheated"
The other officers immediately jumped to their
feet, amazed that one of their number had been ac-
cused of cheating to settle the difficulty at once and
to uphold the honor of the army, a duel was ar-
ranged with pistols at ten paces as a nervous Clive
and the confident captain stood facing each other,
Clive's pistol accidentally exploded missing the cap-
tain's head only by inches.
It was now the captain's privilege —
according to
the laws of dueling —
to shoot at Clive from where
he pleased he strode over to the young man delib-
erately and held the pistol to Clive's temple exclaim-
ing, "What was that you said to me"
"Captain," replied Clive slowly and steadily, "be-
foreyou gave me those cards you took one out of
the pack you know you did you cheated" The cap-
tain lowered his hand and then raised it again as
if to fire again his hand dropped and he finally

shouted, "You have the devil and God on your side,

and I can't fight the three of you I did cheat"
Then he rushed out of the room for a moment
the officers remained speechless, being too stunned
to do or say anything then recovering from their
shock, one of them shouted, "Get after him he's
disgraced the uniform he must be punished"
"Just a moment," Clive said blocking their way
"you didn't think him a cheat a minute ago, did you
yet he was just as much a cheat then you were will-
ing to see me murdered did you try to find out
whether my accusation was just no that man treated
me more fairly than you have"
Clive looked about the room, and when he had
made a mental note of those present, he concluded,
 178 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

"If any one of you in this room ever breathes a

word against the captain, I promise not to be as
charitable to you as he was to me"

SHORTCUT

The Period in Abbreviations

The period is one of the most obvious ways of taking a

shortcut. In addressing mail or when writing a letter, we
may write "Ave." instead of "Avenue," "St." instead of
"Street," "Calif." instead of "California." We do this
because often the space accommodates the abbreviations
better. (Sometimes we do it because we don't want to
hazard the spelling of Massachusetts or Connecticut. ) The
United States Post Office has standardized abbreviations
for each of the states.
Don't carry abbreviations over to cities. Don't write
Pgh. and have your reader or the postman try to guess
whether it's Pittsburgh or Poughkeepsie. And don't ab-
breviate the names of streets or avenues. If you do, you'll
probably have your letter returned to you.
Avoid homemade abbreviations of any kind in formal
writing. Stick to those that have been standardized.

SOME STANDARD ABBREVIATIONS

Here are some standard abbreviations in which periods
are necessary:

55 b.c.

a.d. 1942 (the number of the year always precedes

B.C. and generally follows a.d.)

U.S.A.

U.S.S.R.
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 179
Ave. and St. (when the names precede)
Mr., Mrs., Dr. (when names follow)

RECOGNIZING ABBREVIATIONS

What do the following abbreviations stand for? Those

starred often omit the period(s).

1. No. 8. P.S. 15. Md.

2. cc* 9. Jr. 16. P.T.A.*
3. Hon. 10. Ph.D. 17. Va.
4. CO. 11. M.A. 18. V.A.
5. Sr. 12. A.M. 19. R.S.V.P.
6. R.N. 13. P.M. 20. co.d.
7. vs. 14. M.D. 21. R.F.D.*

Here are some Latin abbreviations, many of which you

will come across frequently, especially in footnotes, when
doing research.

1. i.e. 6. et seq.
2. c. or ca. 7. ib., ibid.

3. cf. 8. op. cit.

4. e.g. 9. q.v.
5. et al. 10. viz.

ABBREVIATIONS WITHOUT PERIODS

The tendency to use capitals without periods is strong.

No periods are used for call letters of radio or TV
stations or for such points of the compass SSW,
as SW
(unless S.W. is a section of a city, as in London S.W. 1).
There is also a definite tendency to omit periods alto-
gether in abbreviations of recent origin: NASA, NATO,
SEATO, SAC, ESP.
As a matter of fact, in recent years organizations (gov-
ernmental and otherwise) have tried to find a succession
of capitals that form not only an easily pronounceable
word but one that is meaningful and descriptive:
180 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

ZIP Code stands for Zone Improvement Plan and gives

promise of speedier mail deliveries.
CARE stands for Cooperative for American Relief
Everywhere and is self-explanatory.
PLATO stands for Programed Logic for Automatic
Teaching Operation and, as every schoolboy knows, Plato
was Socrates' pupil and Aristotle's teacher.
Some other recent acronyms (words formed from initial
letters) have dropped the capital letters altogether:

scuba: Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus.

laser: Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Ra-

diation. The laser beam has a great future.
snafu: Originally, Army slang for Situation Normal—-All
Fouled Up. The word, however, has gained respectabil-
ity, being used frequently in newspaper headlines to

describe a chaotic condition that was not altogether

unexpected.

The Comma

A SUBSTITUTE FOR AND OR OR

One of the ways the comma serves as a shortcut is

by replacing an and or an or in a series of words, phrases,
or clauses. Notice the two ways in which the following
sentences can be written:

Either Or
a. I bought eggs and cheese a. I bought eggs, cheese,
and bread and butter. bread, and butter.

b. He hopped and skipped b. He hopped, skipped, and

and jumped his way down the jumped his way down the
street. street

c. He walked on busy c. He walked on busy

streets and signed postcards streets, signed postcards bear-
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 181
bearing his picture and ing his picture, and shook
shook hands all around. hands all around.

d. This is as true of the d. This is as true of a

doctor pondering a diagnosis doctor pondering a diagnosis,
or a lawyer studying a client's a lawyer studying a client's
claims or a legislator weighing claims, or a legislator weigh-
the merits of a new law. ing the merits of a new law.

e. This does not mean that This does not mean that
e.

all actions have been wise or all have been wise,

actions
that the emphasis has always that the emphasis has always
been well judged or that been well judged, or that
things could not have been things could not have been
done differently. done differently.

In a the nouns eggs, cheese, bread, and butter are called

words in a series. In b we have the verbs hopped, skipped,
and jumped as words in series. In c and d we have phrases
in series and in e we have clauses in series. Usually there
are at least three items of equal rank in a series. When
we have such a series, whether it is made up of words,
phrases, or dependent clauses, all items are separated
from one another by commas. Even though we assume
that the comma is used to take the place of and or or,
its use is recommended even before the and between the

last two items in the series so that these last two items
may be considered separately, not in combination.
For example, when we say "The colors of our country
are red, white, and blue," there's a little pause after white
that seems to ask for a comma to make blue just as im-
portant as red and white, and not merely a combination
of white and blue. This is a small point, admittedly. If
you wish to follow the usage of The New York Times,
most newspapers in the country, and the mass-circulation
magazines,* you may omit the comma before and in a
* Mass-circulation magazines such as Life, Time, Newsweek, Look,
Reader's Digest don't use the serial comma before and or or. The New
Yorker, Saturday Review, Atlantic Monthly, Harper's, and The New
York Review of Books do.
182 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

series. But be consistent. Either always leave out the

comma before the last of the series or always put it in.
And by the way, always place a comma before etc.
whether it is in a series or alone.

CAUTION

Don't, in your eagerness to insert a comma before the

last item in a series, also put one after the last item.
Which comma is wrong in the following examples?
The driver's inability, his lack of knowledge of his
car, the condition of roads and traffic, and irre-
sponsible recklessness, are the main causes of high-
way accidents.

The President, his wife, the bride, the bridegroom,

and all the principals, were present at the rehearsal
today.

In both sentences, the last comma is wrong and should

be eliminated.

A REPLACEMENT FOR WORDS THAT ARE "UNDERSTOOD"

Sometimes the comma replaces other words that are

easily understood:

Chief, Division of Finance

Chairman, English Department
(In both cases, the words of the are left out.)

Once we had much; now, nothing.

(The comma stands for "we have.")

Dave owns a Mustang; Harry, a Valiant

(The comma stands for "owns.")
 But Were A /raid to Raise Your Hand 183

PUNCTUATION OF ADJECTIVES IN SERIES

1. By which statement would Mrs. Grant be more flattered?

a. Mrs. Grant is a pretty generous woman.
b. Mrs. Grant is a pretty, generous woman.

As can be seen above, two adjectives can constitute a

series. We can say either:

I exercise my rights as a free and independent

American.
or
I exercise my rights as a free, independent Ameri-
can.

The comma is again a shortcut for and. That's really the

guide to whether to use a comma between two consecutive
adjectives. If you can connect the adjectives with and
sensibly; if the adjectives are parallel, of equal significance
—then the comma is used.
However, you say, "He scaled a high brick wall
if

easily," high and brick are not parallel. It is not a high

and brick wall, but a brick wall that is high. Therefore
no comma is used.
To sum it up, don't use a comma if the first adjective
qualifies the meaning of the combination of the second
adjective and noun, as in: large delivery truck, modern
elementary school, a delicious chocolate ice-cream soda.

EXERCISE IN USE OF COMMAS WITH ADJECTIVES

Below is a list of sentences and phrases to test your in-
genuity. Place commas wherever you feel they are neces-
sary. In some instances your placement of commas will be
a matter of interpretation.

1. lapped by clean clear water

2. a strong advocate of the two-party political system

184 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

3. The induction of Casey Stengel and Ted Williams into

Baseball's Hall of Fame will probably cause a monumental
traffic jam in this quiet lakeside community.

4. a devastating aerial bombardment

5. to shut out the din of screaming high-pitched yells

6. indispensable to a full rich life

Fine Point:
When the adjectives follow the noun, the first adjec-
tive is separated from the noun by a comma: With-
out these he would have produced a textbook, duti-
ful, static, and virtually unreadable.

The Ellipsis

An ellipsis (. . .) is really a shortcut which says, "At

this point we have omitted words that were in the original."
If the incomplete quotation comes at the beginning of
your sentence, three dots are used. If it comes at the end
of one of your sentences, four dots are used three dots —
for the incomplete quotation and one dot for the period
that actually concludes your sentence.
The ellipsis is often used in advertising movies, books,
or plays, when the advertiser wishes perhaps to leave out
some less flattering intervening remarks:
". . nears the edge of greatness."
.

"This book has everything. ." . .

Advertisers for the big department stores like to lay

down a barrage of ellipses between ecstatic phrases of
fulsome praise of their products. Here's a not untypical
sentence from a sales advertisement for fur-lined coats:

Don't miss these rare values now when you . . . . . .

need them most . . not at the height of the- cold

.

wintry weather.
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 185
Nothing is left out —except the proper punctuation. The
three dots often save the writer the trouble of deciding
whether to use a comma, a dash, a colon, an exclamation
point, or a period.
When gossip columnists and others have an assortment
of rather short items they like to use ellipses to separate
the items. The ellipsis is used instead of a new paragraph
and thus saves space.
The only need you will have for the ellipsis is in the
writing of a research paper in which you quote some
authority and you use the three or four dots to show where
you have omitted material that appeared in the original.

THE COMMA AND THE

DASH AS "SLOW" SIGNS

The Comma
1. Which sentence shows extraordinary powers of per-
suasion?
a. I left him convinced he was a fool.
b. I left him, convinced he was a fool.

2. Which wiJl require a lot of postage?

a. Shall I stick the stamps on myself?
b. Shall I stick the stamps on, myself?

3. Which headline is unfair to eight million people?

a. POPULATION OF NEW YORK CITY, BROKEN DOWN BY
AGE AND SEX
b. POPULATION OF NEW YORK CITY BROKEN DOWN BY
AGE AND SEX
186 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

4. Which is merely a repetition of information previously

given?
a. Again the temperature in New York City is 73.
b. Again, the temperature in New York City is 73.

5. Which is a denial that politics had anything to do with

the appointment?
a. Joe did not get the appointment, because he was a
Republican.
b. Joe did not get the appointment because he was a
Republican.

6. In which statement does the general command the larger

number of marines?
a. Lieut. Gen. Lewis W. Walt now commands 64,816
marines, more than took the field in the entire Kore-
an war.
b. Lieut. Gen. Lewis W. Walt now commands 64,816
marines more than took the field in the entire Korean
war.

7. Which expresses disagreement tactfully?

a. It isn't so, dear.
b. It isn't so dear.

8. Which makes certainty seem an objective hard to attain?

a. It's sometimes a little difficult to be sure.

b. It's sometimes a little difficult, to be sure.

THE COMMA AS A DIVIDER

We are dealing here only with the comma that divides,

the comma that avoids collisions between words. The eight

parallel sentences above show what a difference in mean-
ing this comma can sometimes make.

EXERCISE IN THE USE OF COMMAS FOR CLARITY

Through the use of a single comma make each of the

following sentences immediately clear to the reader.
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 187
1. In writing such sentences need commas to make their
meaning clear.

2. While I watched my father changed the back tire.

3. By the way things are going very well for me this year.

4. Just as I was about to leave my parents drove up in

their car.

5. When he fired the bullet always hit the target.

6. As we understand the proposal does not undermine

our commitments nor does it prejudge the results of the
pending study.

7. If you can afford to go to St. Thomas for the Christmas

vacation.

8. Despite its problems the region had managed to sur-

vive thanks to the Americans.

9. Hemingway captured the essence of what it is for a

man to be alienated better than anyone writing today.

10. They recognize that the FBI's report was by no means

complete and say it could not have been given the time and
circumstances.

The first seven sentences in the exercise follow the

pattern of having words, phrases, or dependent clauses
come before the main thought. Therefore, we need to

use a comma to avoid a collision between two words that

should not be run (or read) together.
When commas were more frequently used, there was a
188 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

rule that all dependent clauses (like the when clause in

this sentence) had to be set off from the main clause by a
comma. Today the writer uses his judgment, inserting the
comma only when he thinks it will be of some help to
the reader. However, if you are you may use a
in doubt,
comma whenever comes first. It isn't
the dependent clause
wrong. It's just not always needed. It's an "optional
comma."
When the dependent clause* comes after the main
clause, we do not ordinarily use the comma to separate the
main from the dependent clause:

I'll tell you when I see you. (No comma)

When I see you, I'll tell you. (The comma is op-
tional, though unnecessary and a bit wasteful.)

A mere reading of these two sentences will show you

why. You can slow doWn if you wish to in your reading
of the second sentence after the word you, but no such
slowing down is indicated in the first sentence.
Exceptions? Of course! Though and although seem to
be special and whether they come fore or aft I have seen
commas used almost always.

SOME FINE POINTS

He did not get the appointment because he was a

Republican.

This sentence, without a comma before because, means that

he got the appointment on merit, not because he was a
Republican. Put the comma before because and the
* A dependent clause — —
in case you've forgotten is a sentence whose
independence has been destroyed by placing a conjunction like if,
when, because, although, etc. in front of it. I see you is a sentence
but if I see you, when I see you, etc. are no longer sentences; they
are dependent clauses. They now need a main clause to complete
them: If I see you I'll tell you. There are also who, which, and that
clauses.
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 189
sentence charges that he was discriminated against because
he belonged to the wrong party —because he was a Re-
publican.
Conjunctions like as, since, and while when they follow

the main clause do not have a comma before them when

only time is meant. But if some other meaning is expressed,
a comma is often helpful to the reader. It warns him that
time is not meant. Look at the following sentences:

He arrived as I left. (Time)

I applauded, .as did everyone else in the audience.

(Other meaning than time)
I haven't seen him since he was five years old.
(Time)

I won't tell him anything, since he is a person you

can't trust with a secret (Here since means be-

cause, )

I'm going to sit here and watch you while you write
(Time)
that letter.

We went to the movies, while the rest of the gang

preferred to watch the Mets' game. (While equals
whereas. )

Too much for you? Forget it! Instead, remember the old
rhyme:

When in doubt
Leave it out.

THE COMMA WITH PARTICIPIAL PHRASES

When the participial phrase comes first, as it often does,

we not only put a comma after the phrase but we must be
careful to make sure that the word after the comma is the
doer or the receiver of the action expressed in the par-
ticiple.
 190 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

There are three things to remember here:

1. Place a comma after an introductory participial

phrase.

2. Make sure the next word is the doer or receiver of

the action of the participle.

3. If the participial phrase comes at the end of the

sentence a comma precedes it // the participle refers to the
subject of the sentence.

"I left him, convinced he was a fool" means that /

was convinced he was a fool. The comma shows that con-
vinced and him are not to be read together. The omission
of the comma in "I left him convinced he was a fool"
means that I was able to convince him that he was a fool.

THE COMMA AT OTHER SLOW-DOWN POINTS

Whenever the relationship of words anywhere in the

sentence can be or needs to be made clearer by a slow-
down signal, use a comma.
1. If the sentence adds a concluding question (like
the French rtest-ce pas?) we use a comma:
You wouldn't do that, would you?

You're sure, aren't you?

It's true, isn't it?

2. When a phrase introduced by not comes at the

end of a sentence, a comma should precede it to show the
break:

The talk in Hollywood studios is about TV, not

movies.

A great number of movies are being made this sum-

mer but the action is in Europe, not in Hollywood.

 —
But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 191

3. To avoid confusion use a comma between side-by-

side repetition of the same word or phrase in a sentence:

Too many people who suffer, suffer alone.

4. When a word is repeated for emphasis, a comma is

desirable:

It took place many, many years ago.

I found the incident very, very funny.

5. Use a comma to separate a quoted sentence from

the phrase he said or its equivalent:

Charles pleaded, "Give me another chance."

"Please try to be there," Susan begged.

6. Although various punctuation marks may be used

before expressions like namely, for example, and that is,

be careful to use a comma after them.

We don't want to ignore the clear need of the

United Nations for adequate authority if it is to do
its original job: namely, to maintain the peace of

the world.

It is a work of infinite complexity; you will find,

for example, a. total of eight intricate variations on
the same theme.
I really can't make it that is, I'd like to come, but
it's impossible this weekend.

7. When the month, day, and year are given, the ac-
cepted practice is to put commas after the day and the
year:

On October 14, 1966, the town of Hastings cel-

ebrated the anniversary of the famous battle fought
there in 1066.

The Atomic Age began July 16, 1945, about fifty

from Alamogordo, New Mexico.
air miles
 192 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

When only the month and year are given, the favored
practice is to leave the commas out:

I started school in September 1958.

8. In writing addresses commas are used between

each of the various items in the address and a final comma

is used after the last item in the address. Commas are al-

ways used around the state or the country when it follows

the name of the city.

Please write to me at 1750 Newcastle Road, Tulsa,

Oklahoma, after you have reached a decision.

Cliff and Nancy Richey of San Angelo, Texas, made

history today by becoming the first brother and
sister to win national singles championships in the
same year.

9. To avoid confusion, commas are placed between

numbers in situations like the following:

Instead of 12, 24 appeared at the party.

In 1930, 400 men were dismissed.

10. For convenience in reading we separate hundreds,

thousands, millions, billions, etc., with commas:

4,572 42,691 91,567,000

THE COMMA IN THE COMPOUND SENTENCE

Where, in the following sentences, would you place a

comma so that the meaning is clear to the reader?

1. The gallery has been carpeted with artificial grass and

some large potted plants have been introduced to help the r:

visitor visualize the sculpture in a natural site.

2. In the afternoon Penn State will meet San Francisco

and
Villanova will take on St. John's.
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 193
3. Mrs. Harriet Craig was interested only in her home
and keeping her husband's love didn't seem to be as impor-
tant to her.

4. All the houses are one-family homes with neat little

gardens around them and trees line the street on both sides.

5. We saw them both yesterday afternoon and last night

we had a theater date together.

6. Nolan Ryan walked Brooks Robinson and Frank Rob-

inson hit a home run over the right-field wall.

7. I went to the theater with my mother and my sister

went to the ballet with my father.

8. One division is guarding the supply lines between the

two forces and patrols are scattered throughout the area.

In the sentences you have just punctuated, two state-

ments of equal importance are connected by and. We call
such sentences compound sentences because they have
two independent clauses.
There used to be a hard-and-fast rule about sentences
connected by the coordinating conjunctions and, but, or,
and nor: If you had a sentence on each side of the con-
junction, a comma was used.

S S
, and
S
, but

The comma before and and or, however, is gradually

disappearing. Very often one sees the comma only when
both parts are rather long or when a misinterpretation
might result if a comma were not used. There are many
compound and and or sentences where no comma is used.

Ernest Hemingway had loved firearms all his adult

life and it may have been fitting that he received his
194 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

death from one yesterday morning at Sun Valley,

Idaho.

Ifyou are uncertain about leaving out the comma, you

may use commas before the and or or in all compound
sentences. With but and nor the comma appears more
frequently because of the negative nature of the conjunc-
tions.
With for, the use of the comma is strongly recommended
in order to give the sentence immediate clarity. It is easy
to see that with a sentence like "I shall remember him for
his kindness gave me my first start," a comma before for
would help to make the meaning of the sentence clearer.

CAUTION

Do comma before and or or unless there is

not use the
a complete sentence on each side of the conjunction. Don't
use a comma between two nouns, two verbs, two phrases,
or two dependent clauses connected by and, or, or even
but. WORRY ABOUT THIS; DON'T WORRY ABOUT
PUTTING THE COMMA BEFORE AND IN COM-
POUND SENTENCES.

EXERCISE IN USE OF COMMA BEFORE CONJUNCTIONS

In the following sentences indicate whether the comma

before and, but, or, and for is:

1. wrong
2. optional (not really necessary but all right to

use)
3. necessary for immediate clarity

Examples of the three different kinds:

 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 195
I don't like his superior attitude, and his witless re-
marks. (Wrong. Here and separates two nouns, not
two sentences.)

I don't like his superior attitude, and I don't care for

his witless remarks. (Optional. Though the comma
is —
not necessary even though separating two sen-
tences —
some people feel safer using it.)
I don't like his superior attitude, and his witless re-
marks make me writhe. (Necessary if you want to
make the sentence immediately clear to the reader.)

1. He urged the President to withdraw hfs personal ap-

proval, or at least hold up export licenses for the tractors.

Major Collins became the first man to go outside his

2.
more than once, and on the second excursion he
spacecraft
became the first man to retrieve an object from another
satellite.

3. A dispute between Oxford dons is always something

the British enjoy, and there added relish when the clash is
is

between two of Britain's most prominent historians.

4. The trouble is that the government is promising more

than it has to give, and is acting without a set of priorities.

5. Matthew Arnold believed that literature is a criticism

of life, and that literature is valueless unless it illuminates our
understanding of ourselves and the universe that surrounds us.

6. By 1974 the supersonic jetliner will be as long as a

football field, and capable of carrying 500 persons from one
place to another at 1,800 miles per hour.

7. He protested that he had been a soldier under orders,

and that the legal guilt lay with those who had given the
orders.

8. He performed his task with efficiency, and evident

enthusiasm.

9. Altogether there are seventeen white tigers alive in

captivity, and only three have found their way outside India.
196 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

10. The present exhibition affords immense pleasure, for it

illustrates why Gainsborough was considered one of the most

impressive artists of his period

Trends in Comma Usage

A sentence that needs too many commas is a poor
sentence —no matter who writes it. And having said that,
I'm going to stick my neck out a little and quote
further
a sentence* taken almost at random from The Turn of
the Screw by Henry James:
This person proved, on her presenting herself, for
judgment, at a house in Harley Street, that im-
pressed her as vast and imposing this prospective—
patron proved a gentleman, a bachelor in the prime
of life, such a figure as had never risen, save in a

dream or an old novel, before a fluttered, anxious

girl out of a Hampshire vicarage, f

No modern writer would use any of the first four com-

—
mas James used or need to. For example, here's a sen-
tence from The New York Times of September 10, 1966:

The parents of one of five boys barred from regular

classes at the high school here because their hair is

long said today that their son had not told the truth
when he said that they supported his refusal to cut
his hair.

Nary a comma and clear as crystal!

So even if you read no further in this section I can say
something very important to you:
Use commas sparingly. Don't make them crutches on
*From The Two Magics by Henry James, reprinted by permission
of The MacmiUan Co.
t is concerned, this sentence is not unfair to
So far as punctuation
Henry James. A
study made by Professor George Summey, Jr. (Modern
Punctuation, Oxford University Press), shows that Henry James uses
6.8 marks of punctuation per sentence, second in this respect to
Walter Pater.
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 197
which your sentence has to lean. A good sentence should
be able to stand on its own feet. One of the chief pur-
poses of this section is to get you to use fewer commas
and to use those few more effectively.
Gore Vidal put it very well when he recently wrote:
"As to commas, those of us brought up on Fowler used
to allow them to swarm like gnats upon the page. Now
the comma is used sparingly and I prefer the new econ-
omy."

THE DASH

One of the most eye-catching signals is the dash,

used chiefly and dramatically to imitate the sponta-
neity of speech —
the sudden hesitation, the switch-
ing of controls that give the emphasis of gestures.
Emily Dickinson (who hoarded so much drama)
was full of dashes. And so was Conrad. "Mistah
— —
Kurtz he dead."
Nona Balakian in The New York Times
November 27, 1965

Which is a warning intended for drivers?

a. Go slow— children.
b. Go slow, children.

—
As can be seen, the dash a more dramatic slow-down
—
mark of punctuation than a comma generally signals a
198 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

sharper turn. It is a versatile mark of punctuation that

can be used to make an abrupt turn in thought, to em-
phasize a remark, to introduce a summary, or to add sus-
pense. It sometimes even says, "Look out; something
surprising or amusing is coming."
Here are some examples of sentences using a dash.
Notice the use of the dash in each of these sentences:

1. "We were up
over four hundred miles," Commander
Young of Gemini 10 said, "and Columbus was right the —
world is round."

2. Among the first things a traveler notes on entering

Rumania is that the airport signs carry information in En-
glish, Rumanian, French, and Italian —not Russian.
3. Freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from
—
want, freedom from fear these are the fundamentals of a
moral world order.

Yesterday President De Gaulle spoke to a cheering

4.
crowd in Cambodia, but much of what he said was intended
for a different audience Americans. —
5. We need more money for housing, health, hospitals
every area of public life.

6. City Patrolman Boyce McCall says a man he sought to

arrest for drunkenness followed the lead of his dog —and
bit him.

7. "Then I went up to this other fellow who was looking

at me —but you're not listening!"

8. The year 1985 may well see man's greatest crisis, a

crisis in performing an elementary task —
feeding himself.

9. He who laughs — lasts.

10. To be or not to be, that is —

the infinitive.
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 199

CAUTION

It's very tempting to use the dash. Don't overuse it.

Don't use it where a comma would be just as effective.

Always have some legitimate or important reason for doing
so. Use dashes sparingly —
and therefore effectively.

DETOUR
DETOURS USING COMMAS,
DASHES, PARENTHESES,
AND BRACKETS

Commas
In the following sentences notice how commas affect
meaning.

1. Which indicates that there were only two people in

the car?
a. The two passengers who were seriously hurt were
taken to a nearby hospital.
b. The two passengers, who were seriously hurt, were
taken to a nearby hospital.

2. In which has the speaker pried into the private lives of

his friends?
a. Everyone I know has a secret ambition.
b. Everyone, I know, has a secret ambition.

3. Which sentence has cannibalistic overtones?

a. We are going to eat, John, before we take another
step.
b. We are going to eat John before we take another
step.
 200 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English
4. Which is a matter of identification?
a. He is the one, I believe.
b. He is the one I believe.
5. Which the dedication of a self-confessed polygamist?
is
a. book to my wife, Edith, for telling me
I dedicate this
what to leave out.
b. I dedicate this book to my wife Edith for telling me
what to leave out.

6. If a Democrat were President, which prediction would

forecast a change in administration?
a. The Republicans, say the Democrats, are sure to win
the next Presidential election.
b. The Republicans say the Democrats are sure to win
the next Presidential election.

7. In which case is the Prime Minister probably feeling

more alone?
a. The Prime Minister, who was recently ousted by the
Korean citizens and his wife, arrived in Hawaii yes-
terday.
b. The Prime Minister, who was recently ousted by the
Korean citizens, and his wife arrived in Hawaii yes-
terday.

8. In which case has the speaker managed to change his

friends' attitude toward him?
a. Now, my friends, listen to me.
b. Now my friends listen to me.
9. Which is the neurotic personality?
a. She too eagerly awaits the spring.
b. She, too, eagerly awaits the spring.

10. Which is a blanket endorsement of all Democratic

candidates?
a. The President urged voters to elect Democratic sen-
ators and congressmen, who would be sure to sup-
port his program to the hilt.
b. The President urged voters to elect Democratic sen-
ators and congressmen who would be sure to sup-
port his program to the hilt.
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 201

COMMAS WITH NONESSENTIAL CLAUSES AND PHRASES

Sometimes commas, instead of being used between

words (like the single commas discussed in the preceding
chapter), are used around words, phrases, or clauses to
indicate a detour from the main thought. Two commas
are needed for such detours (when they occur within the
sentence): one comma to show at what point we begin
the detour, the other to show at what point we return to
the main road of the sentence. Such commas are like
(parentheses) or [brackets]. You always need a pair of
them. They fence in or enclose in much the same way as
parentheses and brackets do, but to a lesser degree.
Let us look more closely at several sentences and see
what actually happens when detours from the main road
occur. The following sentence consists only of a main
road: there are no detours.

The subcontinent of India can someday become one

of the world's great powers.

This sentence is the main road for sentences a, b, c, d,

and e that follow.

a. The subcontinent of India, a nation of more than

500 million people, can someday become one of
the world's great powers.

The phrase a nation of more than 500 million people is

a detour. It is not an essential part of the main thought;

it does not identify India. It can be left out without chang-
ing the meaning of the sentence. We, therefore, fence it

in with commas to leave the main road clear. Technically,

we call a nation . . . people a phrase in apposition or an
appositive phrase.
202 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

If we were to diagram this sentence it would look

something like this:

The subconti nent of India _—— .

j
can someday become one of the world's great
\
powers.

The heavy black line indicates the main road, or main

thought.The broken line indicates the detour, a nation of
more than 500 million people. The arrows show where
the commas are used —
one to take us off the main road,
the other to bring us back on to it, thus keeping the lines
of communication open between the two parts of the main
road of the sentence.

b. The subcontinent of India, inhabited by more

than 500 million people, can someday become
one of the world's great powers.

Here in b the detour words, inhabited by more than 500

million people, are again not an essential part of the
sentence. Therefore, we put commas around them. Tech-
nically, inhabited . . . people is called a participial phrase.

c. The subcontinent of India, which has a popula-

tion of 500 million people, can someday become
one of the world's great powers.
The detour in c is a relative clause introduced by the
relative pronoun which.

d. The subcontinent of India, ladies and gentlemen,

can someday become one of the world's great
powers.

This sentence is evidently part of a speech. The interrupt-

ing words, the detour ladies and gentlemen, are said to
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 203
be in direct address. All words in direct address are de-
tours; they don't affect the main thought of the sentence.
Notice, however, that if ladies and gentlemen came first
only one comma would be needed after gentlemen. If —
ladiesand gentlemen came at the end of the sentence there
would be only one comma before ladies. The comple- —
mentary commas have, in one case, been absorbed by the
capital letter at the beginning of the sentence; in the other
case, by the period at the end of the sentence.

e. The subcontinent of India, in my opinion, can

someday become one of the world's great powers.

In my opinion is a parenthetical expression, an interrupter,

thrust into the sentence. We, therefore, place detour com-
mas around it. Other parenthetical phrases or clauses that
might have been used and would generally be fenced in
by commas are / think, I believe, I'm sure, I know, if I
may be permitted to venture an opinion, etc. All such
interrupters of the main flow of thought, all such detours
from the main road, are marked off with commas.

NO COMMAS WITH ESSENTIAL CLAUSES

Not all who or which clauses are detours. Sometimes

they are essential parts of the main thought; they identify
what has gone before, as in the following sentence:

Milk which has been allowed to stand in the sun

for a long time is unfit to drink.

If we place detour commas around the relative clause

which has been allowed to stand in the sun for a long
time, the main thought becomes Milk is unfit to drink,
which is obviously nonsense and is not what the sentence
intends to say. The sentence means that only a certain
kind of milk is unfit to drink. Therefore the relative clause
which . . . time is essential to the thought of the sentence;
 204 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

it identifies the kind of milk —not any milk but only that
which has been exposed sun for a long time.
to the
It is interesting to note that we can substitute that for

which; indeed, that was at one time the relative pronoun

used in sentences like this one. The pronoun that helps to
point or identify.
For example, in the sentence, "George Washington,
who was our first President, is still one of our national
i heroes," would be impossible
it to substitute that for who.
George Washington is already sufficiently identified. On
the other hand, in the sentence, "The George Washington
who lives on our block says he is a direct descendant of
our first President," we could substitute that for who and
we would use no commas. The who (or that) lives on our
block is essential, for it identifies the particular George
Washington we're talking about.

EXERCISE IN USE OF COMMAS WITH RELATIVE CLAUSES

The following sentences have all been taken from

newspapers and magazines, but the commas around non-
essential relative clauses have been removed. Examine
these sentences and put commas around the nonessential
relative clauses. sure you use two commas unless the
Be
comes at the end of a sentence; then
nonessential clause
you would only use one comma before the first word in
the clause. Whenever you are in doubt when you are —
not sure whether a clause is essential or not —leave out
the commas.
Hint: If you can substitute that for who or which, you
can be pretty sure that the clause is essential or identifying
and that no commas are needed. Further hint: Sometimes
when means "at which time" and where means "at which
place" and are, therefore, treated in the same way as
relative pronouns.
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 205
Humphrey Bogart who was a popular movie star in
1.

his own time and has become a legend since bis death is the
subject of a new biography called Bogie.

2. Students who chose voluntarily to go to summer

school did so to lighten their credit loads in the next semester.

3. Severe economic measures have been threatened against

Cuban workers who fail to learn to read or write by the end

of this year.

4. Many of the fountains which were ordered shut down

are again flowing.

5. Leontyne Price who may possess the most beautiful

soprano voice on the musical stage today could scarcely have
sung more gloriously than she did last night.

6. pilot who escaped from a North Vietnamese

The Navy
prison and reached safety after a twenty-three-day trek
through the jungle was identified today as Lt. Dieter Dengler.

7. Lt. Dengler's brother Martin who works in a bakery

in San Francisco was very happy when he got the news.

Extra policemen have been concentrated at two trouble

8.

spots since Thursday night when an eleven-year-old boy was

slain in the street after a clash between two rival youth
groups.

9. Hiroshima which was destroyed by the world's first

atom bomb observed the event today with names still being
added to the list of victims.

10. Last month's disastrous floods which severely dam-

aged so many Italian works of art contributed to the dis-
covery of an ancient fresco in Pisa.

COMMAS WITH PARTICIPIAL AND APPOSITIVE PHRASES

Participial and appositive phrases must be tested, as sub-
ordinate clauses are, to determine whether they are essen-
tial and identifying or are merely giving additional infor-
206 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

mation. Notice the participial phrase in the following

sentence:

The man crossing the street is my uncle.

We use no commas to enclose this participial phrase be-
cause crossing the street identifies the man. It is saying
"Not any man, but the one crossing the street is my
uncle."
Now examine the function of the participial phrase in
the following sentence:

My uncle Jack, crossing the street carelessly, met

with an accident.

We use commas here because my uncle Jack is sufficiently

identified, and the participial phrase crossing the street

carelessly merely gives additional information about him.
It does not identify.
In which of the two following sentences would you not
use commas to enclose the appositive phrase?

1. John Keats the great English poet died when he

was only twenty-six.

2. The great English poet John Keats died when he

was only twenty-six.

Obviously, no commas are used in the second sentence

because John Keats identifies which one of the great En-
glish poets, of whom there are many, is meant. In the first
sentence, however, the detour commas are used. The
phrase the great English poet supplies additional infor-
mation for the uninformed.

Who has more than one brother: A or B?

A: My brother David is going with me.
B: My brother, David, is going with me.
A says that only his brother David is going with him;
his other brother or brothers are staying at home.
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 207

B says —when we remove what's between the detour

commas — that his brother is going with him. B has no
other brothers. His brother's name happens to be David.

Note: A related but slightly different use of the detour

comma is seen in the following sentences. Notice that
commas enclose the phrases introduced by or. These "or
phrases" give a brief definition of what has gone before.

This year the excavations will continue in the agora,

or marketplace, of ancient Corinth.

New Testament Greek was not that of Aristotle or

Euripides, but rather the "Koine" Greek that was
the lingua franca, or unifying language, of the
Roman Empire.

EXERCISE I. DOUBLE OR NOTHING:

COMMAS WITH APPOSITIVE PHRASES

The following sentences, taken from newspapers and

magazines, all contain appositive phrases. The commas,
however, have been removed. Read these sentences and
insert commas wherever you feel they are necessary. (Not
all of the sentences require commas.) Remember that to
make a detour with words or phrases in apposition you
need two commas (except at the end of a sentence) thus
keeping the lines of communication open. Be sure, too,
that you put the second comma in the right place, for
what is left after you remove the words surrounded by
commas should make complete sense.

1. Al Kelly one of the few public speakers to use double

talk on purpose will receive an award on Sunday.

2. Spaghetti and meatballs once a strictly Italian dish

now has become the seventh most popular fare in the United
States.
 208 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

3. A coelacanth one of the oldest species of fish in the

world and very rarely caught was recently shipped to the
United States in a refrigerated box.

4. The American freighter Export Buyer brought the

specimen to the United States.

5. The meaning of neutrality a rather straightforward

business for the man in the street but an involved affair for
diplomats is what the conference is all about.

6. Astrology the art of predicting events from the location

of the stars and planets is one of the oldest professions in
India.

7. Elizabeth and Essex a play by the poet and playwright

Maxwell Anderson was revived at the City Center last night.

8. Digging to discover the site of Camelot court of King

Arthur and his knights of the Round Table will start soon
near a Somerset village.

9. The poet and playwright Bertolt Brecht may be con-

sidered to have made the major German contribution to
world literature in our time.

10. Joseph Priestley of England and Antoine Lavoisier of

France eighteenth-century contemporaries are generally con-
sidered to be the fathers of modern science.

EXERCISE II. PLACEMENT OF COMMAS FOR CLARITY

I found the following mispunctuated sentences in print.

The only liberty I have taken is to shorten some of them.
What you have to do is (1) insert a missing comma, (2)
take a comma already there and put it where it belongs,
or (3) remove a comma that is not altogether necessary.
Notice that the use of one comma where two (a pair) are
needed acts as a roadblock. The lines of communication
are cut and are not restored until we put in the other

comma.
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 209
Check: After you enclose a clause or phrase in commas,
can you read what's left outside the commas and does it
make sense? If it does not, the commas probably should
not be used.

1. Driving a car in London he found out, was a night-

marish experience.

2. The author, one of the most thoughtful and literate of

jazz critics has just completed a new book on the subject.
3. Diplomatic observers though taken by surprise by
General Mobutu's charges, indicated they had noticed an
unusual degree of political agitation in the city during recent
days.

4. All living creatures, no matter how small or insignifi-

cant were treated with kindness and respect by Dr. Albert
Schweitzer.

According to Dr. Spotnitz, group psychotherapy con-

5.
stitutes the third Psychiatric Revolution —
the previous two
being symbolized by Philippe Pinel (1745-1826), the French
specialist in mental disease and Sigmund Freud.

6. These diplomats feel that the American delegation, to

NATO headed by Ambassador Harlan Cleveland, spent all
its energy ineffectively.

7. The aspiring teacher must be fairly, if not thoroughly

versed, in gathering information for a talk.

8. This makes it difficult for the two leaders, when they

move from the realm of television generalities to the hard
realities of political facts and military defense to agree on
what to do.

9. For many years the prevailing opinion among educa-

tors was that while parents could help prepare children for
later learning, the actual teaching should be left to teachers.

10. The Surgeon General regrets that despite two and a

half years of intensive educational efforts, half of the nation's
teen-agers are smoking by the time they are eighteen.
 210 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

Dashes, Parentheses, and Brackets

Dashes parentheses ( ), and brackets [

,
] are
used for material that is obviously or strongly a detour
from or an interruption of the main thought of the sen-
tence.

DASHES

In the following sentence there is a major detour, a

break in the thought. The writer, therefore, uses dashes
rather than commas to contain it.

The auditor — shall we call him a knave or a fool?

approved an inaccurate statement.

Often where the significance of detour commas might

not be clear we use dashes to make reading easier. In the
following sentence dashes are used around the apposi-
tional phrase because the phrase itself already contains
several commas.
As a statement of the principal environmental issues
—
confronting the nation water pollution, air pollu-
tion, inadvertent modifications of weather and cli-
mate, disposal of solid wastes, problems of land use
and of noise, pesticides and radiation this article —
is lucid, comprehensive, useful.

PARENTHESES

The old-fashioned method of putting in a comma

(or even a stronger stop) whenever a reader would
naturally pause to take a breath when reading
aloud (as at this point in this sentence) has little
reason to recommend it.

—Chambers Encyclopedia ( 1 89 )

Though detour commas might have been used for the

first parentheses in the quotation above, the second inter-
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 211
Note also the parentheses
jection requires parentheses.
around 1891. Enclosure of dates is one of the chief uses
of this mark of punctuation.

BRACKETS

Brackets around words in a quotation indicate that the

words so bracketed do not appear in the original quota-
tion or citation. They have been put in by the person
quoting or citing them in order to give information to the
reader.

"He [John Adams] was weak in punctuation," said

his [Thomas Boylston
great-great-great-grandson
Adams], "but strong in everything else."
—
Quoted from The New Yorker

Sic is a Latin word meaning "thus" or "so." In English

it most often comes wrapped in brackets. When tossed into
a quoted passage, the [sic] points an accusing finger at the
word immediately before it and says to the reader: "This
is the way it appeared in the original. Don't hold me re-
sponsible for this misspelling or misuse. I know better."
On rare occasions when it is necessary to have paren-
theses within parentheses, brackets are used for the inner
parentheses.

EXERCISE IN CHOICE OF DETOUR MARKS

In the following sentences, indicate whether to use

detour commas, dashes, parentheses, brackets, or nothing
around the italicized words. Watch the // clauses especially
—sometimes they are essential and it is better not to have
detour commas around them. Justify your choice, remem-
bering that sometimes one choice may be as good as
another. Just be sure you have a good reason.
212 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

1. The groups in which we grow up and live family,

school, community, profession, etc. exert a profound influence
on us.

2. Other archaeologists are extremely cautious and believe

that although they appear to be very old the tools found may
be much more recent.

3. Behind every great achievement the building of the

Pyramids, the winning of a war for liberty, the creation of
new machines, the revelation of inventions stands a great
mass of anonymous persons.

4. seems possible," Professor Robinson said, "that

"It
this head from an acrolithic statue a statue with head and
is

extremities of stone and that the wooden body as well as

the back of the marble head was covered by real drapery."
(The italicized words were not part of Professor Robinson's
statement.)

5. The Italian border province of Alto Adige called

South Tyrol by Austrians has a German-speaking majority.

6. Wellington was a truly remarkable man; success and

he was prodigious in terms of both achievement and worldly
reward never altered him a jot.

7. The government is trying hard too hard, according to

some more foreign tourists.
critics to attract

8. Five leaders in arts and journalism Aaron Copland,

Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., Archibald MacLeish, James Res-

ton, and Robert Penn Warren discussed the future of their
fields.

9. The bronze is a life-size head of a boy some scholars

say it is a youthful portrait of the Emperor Nero and is dated

from the first century.

10. An eminent British archaeologist said today he was

"almost certain" that Camelot King Arthur's legendary castle
had been found.

11. If baseball men are smart and this is sometimes

doubted greatly they'll never let him go.
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 213
12. A knuckleball the most difficult pitch to throw has no
spin.

THE SEMICOLON AND THE

COLON AS "SLOW" SIGNS

The Semicolon
And what of the semicolon? Is it really to be
scrapped? Not, surely, while there are writers
around whose ideas follow a lateral pattern, who
no sooner finish a thought than they feel another of
—
equal weight emerging all leading to a final note
of elucidation.

—Nona Balakian in The New York Times

November 27, 1965

is a contemporary British biographer

Peter Quennell
(of Shakespeare and Byron) and an essayist who writes
some of today's best prose. In his book of essays called
The Sign of the Fish, Quennell uses 4.5 semicolons per
page. (I counted forty-five semicolons on pages 120 to
129 inclusive.) Walter Kerr, drama critic of The New
York Times, in his article of October 23, 1966, called
"While a Novel Can Roam, a Play Must Stay Home,"
used fourteen semicolons.
Quennell and Kerr must be among those writers "who
no sooner finish a thought than they feel another of equal
weight emerging."

THE SEMICOLON'S MAIN FUNCTION

A semicolon is like the fulcrum on an old-fashioned

pair of scales, balancing the equal weights on each side
of it.
 214 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

Here is a recent example of just such a sentence from

a speech made by Hubert H. Humphrey to a gathering of
college students:

Knowledge without commitment is wasteful;

Commitment without knowledge is dangerous.

The two ideas are equally balanced with the semicolon

acting as the fulcrum. The thought could also have been
written.

Knowledge without commitment is wasteful, and

commitment without knowledge is dangerous.
or

Knowledge without commitment is wasteful. Com-

mitment without knowledge is dangerous.

Of these three ways of expressing the thought which do

you think is the most effective? My vote goes to the one
with the semicolon; there's a kind of inevitability to it —
swiftness, a strength, a vigorous balance of ideas that the
other two somehow lack.
A semicolon, then, is used to separate (and, paradox-
ically, at the same time connect) two or more closely con-
nected thoughts where you feel that a comma plus and
would weaken their effectiveness or a period would keep
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 215
them too far apart. This is the chief function and use of
the semicolon. It is a safe rule to say that you know a
semicolon is correct if you could have alternatively used
a period to separate the sentences involved.
Notice the difference the semicolon makes in the fol-
lowing sentences:

1. Which officials should be dismissed?

a. Seven officials knew the secret, all told.
b. Seven officials knew the secret; all told.

2. Which headline has a taint of cannibalism about it?

a. Senate group eats chickens, cabinet wives, sweet-

breads.
b. Senate group eats chickens; cabinet wives, sweet-
breads.

Here again you can see that in each of the sentences

a period could have been used instead of a semicolon.

Seven officials knew the secret. All told.

Senate group eats chicken. Cabinet wives (eat)
sweetbreads.

OTHER USES OF THE SEMICOLON

1. There are certain connecting words and phrases such

as however, therefore, nevertheless, consequently, more-
over, besides, indeed, in fact, of course, on the contrary,
etc. that need more than a comma to separate them from
the preceding sentence.
It is not considered good punctuation to write:

Their aims and ideals seem admirable, however,

their methods are questionable.

You can see that this sentence, thus punctuated, lacks

instant clarity: you read past the word however before
you realize that another thought is beginning. It is in
such cases that the semicolon is useful. We can write this
sentence in one of two ways:
216 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

Their aims and ideals seem admirable; however,

their methods are questionable.

or

Their aims and ideals seem admirable. However,

their methods are questionable.

There is a growing tendency to place the however within

the second sentence, thus:

Their aims and ideals seem admirable. Their meth-

ods, however, are questionable.

2. Where sentences are short and all deal with a con-

tinuing idea, we may have semicolons in series. The gen-
eral practice is to use the semicolon before the final and,
as this sentence shows:

By October, publishers are committed; the catalogues

have been distributed; the advertising campaign is
under way; the bookstores are ordering; and even
such peripheral members of the trade as reviewers
and critics have a fairly good idea of what is
coming.

3. When the items in series are clauses that already

have commas, the semicolon is sometimes used as a
stronger barrier between the clauses in series:

The teachers-to-be, working with experts and simul-

taneously with schoolchildren, are learning how soil
absorbs moisture or, if it is hard-packed, shunts it
aside; how trees and plants survive; and how some
of the most fascinating studies of nature can be
carried on in a houselot, a city park, or even a
schoolyard.

4. When either or both of the thoughts in a compound

sentence (and, but, or, nor, for) already have commas the
need for a stronger and less confusing mark than a comma
is sometimes indicated:
 But Were A /raid to Raise Your Hand 217
His nation ought to get — in our interest as well as
theirs —
all the help we can give them; and they

ought to get it, as the President proposes to give it,

without strings or political interference.

It is easy to see that a comma before and would be over-

whelmed by both halves of the sentence; therefore, a
stronger barrier — the semicolon — is used to avoid confu-
sion.

5. When a series ordinarily using commas has commas

within the items, then again a less confusing barrier, the
semicolon, is advisable:

Besides Mr. Rogers and Mr. Siseo, the relief con-

ference included Samuel DePalma, Assistant Secre-
tary of State for International Organization Affairs;
George Bush, the chief United States delegate; and
Francis L. Kellogg, a special assistant to Mr. Rog-
ers for refugee and migration affairs.

The Colon
I was startled to find out how much I —and others
—used the colon in the Forties. Like; a blare of
French horns introducing a significant theme, the
colon was used almost as much (and as irritatingly)
as Sterne's dashes.
—Gore Vidal
The colon is used a great deal today and in just the
way that Gore Vidal has so eloquently described: "like a
blare of French horns introducing a significant theme."
That's how the colon differs from the semicolon: it in-
troduces, it supplements, it explains, it adds something that
is a part of what the sentence itself is saying or it is

related to it. On the other hand, the semicolon in its

chief use separates; it separates two sentences closely con-

218 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

nected in thought and is virtually equivalent to a period

between those sentences.
Diagramed, the difference between the semicolon and
colon looks like this:

SEMICOLON

Sentence ; Sentence.
Sentence ; however, Sentence.
Sentence (with comma) ; and Sentence.

COLON

Sentence* : one word completing thought.

1. The reaction of the New York Mets to the billiard-table

surface now used for an outfield in the Astrodome can be
summed up in one word: phooey.

Sentence* : a phrase*
2. All the inain economic indicators point the same way:
toward a tapering upward climb of the economy,
off of the

Sentence* : dependent clause.

3. Everybody agrees on one thing: that the present trend

of policy has to be changed.

Sentence* : Sentence.

4. Yet there was no clear answer to the question: How

could either side back away without losing face?

Notice that when a sentence follows the colon: 1) If

is still a part of the initial thought and 2) It may begin
with a capital letter especially when it is a question. (An
initial capital letter is never used after a semicolon.)
* Note: The sentence to the left of the colon need not he totally com-
pleted or specific in meaning; indeed, %t*s what £oUows the colon that
often completes the thought.
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 219
Another way of looking at the use of the colon is to
realize that the colon is always used when the word
following appears in the initial sentence:

Please send me the following articles: three ball-

point pens, two boxes of paper clips, and a box of
carbon paper*

If the word following does not appear, it is generally

implied. Look back at the four sentences given above
and you will see that in each of them the word following
could be substituted or supplied for what is there.

Sentence 1: "summed up in the (following) word"

Sentence 2: "point the (following) way"
Sentence 3: "agrees on (the following) thing"
Sentence 4: "answer to the (following) question"

CAUTION

Don't use a colon after the word are if the items are
immediately listed.

His good qualities are honesty, integrity, and cour-

age. (In this sentence honesty, integrity, and courage
are predicate nouns.)

Only if tabulation occurs or if the word following ap-

do we use the colon after a form of the verb to be.
pears,
(In tabulation, capitals are often used for each item.)

The three pillars we must build on are:

A strong economy;
A sense of duty; and
A spacious vision.
 220 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English
OTHER USES OF THE COLON

Other uses of the colon are purely arbitrary. They are:

1. To indicate time, separating the minutes from the

hour.

It is now 12:30 p.m.

2. After he said, etc., if the quotation is a long one or

an important statement by an important person.

The Queen in her address to Parliament said:

3. In business letters after Dear Sir, Gentlemen, etc.

(Here, too, you can see that the colon is saying: "I am
writing the following.")

4. To set off the subtitle of a book.

All About Words: An Adult Approach to Vocab-

ulary

Fine Points

Sometimes when both halves are complete sentences a

semicolon or a colon or even a period may be used, de-
pending on whether you want the second sentence to be
an explanation of or supplement to the first or just
another sentence containing a related thought.

Senator Fulbright added: "I believe that the citi-

zen who criticizes his country is paying an implied
tribute: At the very least it means that he has not
given up on his country, that he still has hopes for
it."

(A semicolon or a period would do, though the colon

shows that the second half is supplemental or explanatory.

The colon the more sophisticated mark of punctuation.)

is

Though a dash should not be used after a colon, it can

sometimes substitute dramatically for it. But be wary.
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 221
This dismal book can be summarized in one word —
rubbish. (The original sentence had a colon. The
dash is a bit more dramatic.)

REVIEW EXERCISE

Some of the following sentences call for semicolons

or colons; some need other punctuation marks. Put in
all the necessary marks. But be careful. Some sentences
may require only a comma or even nothing. No dashes,
please. The first ten sentences in the exercise are fairly
easy to punctuate. You may find that the final ten require
more thought.

1. Mr. Fleming is a graduate of three celebrated English

educational institutions Eton Sandhurst and Fleet Street.

2. The other members of the delegation are Charles D.

Cook Francis Carpenter and William Bradford.

3. Such a pitcher hurling toward such a batter poses a

problem in ballistics what happens when an almost unhittable
pitch is aimed at an almost superhuman batter.

Every fresh study reaches the same grim conclusion

4.
the world is on a treadmill when it comes to feeding the

growing populations of developing countries.

5. The other stops will be Asuncion Paraguay June 12

Santiago de Chile June 13 La Paz Bolivia June 15 and Lima
Peru June 16.

6. The revival of dramatic classics is to one critic de-

plorable it seems to him a sign of the anemia of the modern
age.

7. The evidence is incontrovertible therefore I urge you

to act.

8. Among the few home remedies of that era that have

survived only one is still prominent aspirin.
 222 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

9. We are enclosing the information requested however

our backlog of mail orders is so great we cannot promise
that there will be seats available.

10. Sandy Koufax is the finest pitcher of modern baseball

indeed he may be the best baseball has ever had.

11. We mean a nation free of those things that afflict a

mans body and restrict his mind crime ignorance poverty and
disease.

12. The building inspectors found no major violations

nevertheless they insisted on the installation of brighter elec-
tric lights in the hallways.

13. Among the guests were Erich Leinsdorf director of the

Boston Symphony Howard Hanson of the Eastman School of
Music in Rochester and Rudolf Serkin and Andre Watts
pianists.

14. The humanities are the study of man his languages his
literature his philosophies and his culture.

15. There are many experts supported by popular opinion

who makes any effort worth
believe that our national prestige
the cost no matter how great but there are also those who
believe we can spend the money to better advantage on earth
than by shooting into space.

16. Let me not pretend to learning I do not have though I

studied Greek in college most of it to my shame has gone
with the wind.

17. The skeptics admit something must have been seen

the question to be answered is what was it.

18. In most espionageefforts there are three elements the

individual has access to secret material the contact man
who
who persuades him to steal it and the agent who transmits it
to where it is wanted.

19. Television is in the middle of a new controversy over

old problems how good areits programs and who should

make them better.

 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 223
20. Think of all that has happened in the last five decades
spaceships and penicillin computers and electric dishwashers
air conditioners and atomic power five-day workweeks and
movies in the skies.

SHORTCUT

QUOTATION MARKS
Radio made the words quote and unquote so popular
that some people, when they are writing, use these words
in addition to quotation marks. Only the quotation marks
should be used, of course, for in writing they are the
we use for the words quote and unquote.
shortcuts
Notice how the use of quotation marks and related
punctuation affects the meaning in each of the following
pairs of sentences.

1. In which sentence is someone rebuking his friend for

thinking badly of himself?
a. You're always saying I'm stupid.
b. You're always saying, "I'm stupid,"

2. In which is there a hint of hurt pride?

a. "Why are you so surprised?" he asked me.
b. Why are you so surprised he asked me?
3. In which sentence does the scientist imply that he is

not frightened?
a. What great scientist recently wrote an article begin-
ning with the three-word sentence, "I am frightened?"
b. What great scientist recently wrote an article begin-
ning with the three-word sentence, "I am frightened"?
224 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

Recording Conversation
1. All conversation (except in play form) is
indicated
by quotation marks, preferably with a separate paragraph
for each change of speaker.

Either Or (in play form)

"I am here at last," he shouted. He (shouting) I am here
:

at last
"I am so glad," she sighed. She (sighing) : I am so
glad.

2. When the speech is interruptedby he said, she re-

plied, etc. additional quotation marks are needed, as in
this pre-TV anecdote:
"What man," Benjamin Franklin was once asked,
"deserves most to be pitied?"
"A lonesome man," he replied slowly, "on a
rainy day who does not know how to read."

Or this more modern example from a speech made by

Dr. Anna Freud, seventy-five-year-old daughter of Sig-
mund Freud, at a congress of psychoanalysts, held in
Vienna, as reported in The New York Times of July 31,
1971.

"My father said that the first man to use abusive

words instead of his fists was the founder of civiliza-
tion," Miss Freud said, "and I would like to pro-
pose that the first man to use weapons instead of
his fists was the originator of war."

More on Interrupted Quotations

Before he said or he asked, we may have a comma,
1.

a question mark, or an exclamation point, but not a

period.

"What you say," he said, "is absolutely true."

"I'm going home," he said. "Where are you going?"
"Where are you going?" he asked. "I'm going home."
 But Were A/raid to Raise Your Hand 225
"What a foolish thing to do!" he said. "I'm going
home."

2. After he said or he asked, we may have a comma, a

semicolon, or a period, depending upon the nature of the
interruption.

Ti
I'mgoing," he said, "and I mean right now."
I'm going home," he said; "I can't stand it any
longer."
Tm going home," he said. "You do what you
wish."

For Direct Quotations

The chief use of quotation marks, therefore, is to show

that the writer is recording the exact words that were
either written or spoken. If, for example, we wish to
ascribe the sentence Victory has a hundred fathers and
defeat an orphan to the person who originally said it,
is

we have We might do it in any

to use quotation marks.
one of the following ways:

"Victory has a hundred fathers and defeat is an

orphan," John F. Kennedy once said.

or

John F. Kennedy once said, "Victory has a hundred

fathers and defeat is an orphan."

or

"Victory has a hundred fathers," John F. Kennedy

once said, "and defeat is an orphan."

Notice that in each instance concluding commas and

periods are placed within the closing quotation marks.
The rule in the United States is to place commas and
periods inside closing quotation marks.
Here are three more examples, showing the placement
of the comma and the period within the closing quotation
marks:
226 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

1. With five shows now rehearsing on Broadway, the mood

is, in the word of one producer, "euphoric."
2. When Puck said, "I'll put a girdle round about the
earth in forty minutes," Shakespeare's audience knew well
enough that this was fantasy like the rest of MidsummerA
Night's Dream.

3. Dr. William Haddon, Jr., said there was overwhelming

evidence to show that "about one-half of our fatal crashes are
initiated at least in part by the prior use of alcohol."

The British have somewhat different rules. In sentences

like the three just given they would place the period or
comma outside the closing quotation marks. The British
are really more logical than we are, since the period or
comma is not part of a quoted word, phrase, or clause.
When long sentences are quoted, however, the British
generally tuck the period inside the closing quotation
marks.
Though the occasion does not arise often, always place
a semicolon or colon after the closing punctuation marks.
In the following sentence either a semicolon or a colon
might be used:

There was reason to doubt him when he said, "I'll

pay you back tomorrow"; he never had made good
on any of his debts.
There is no special reason for our practice in the United
States of always placing periods, commas, semicolons, and
colons in a specific place. The rules have just been devised
for simplicity and uniformity. The writer doesn't have to
make decisions; he simply follows the rules.
There is, however, some room for variation when ques-
tion marks and exclamation points are used. They must
be placed where they are most useful and where they make
the most sense. Notice the position of the question marks
and the exclamation points in the following sentences:
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 227
"Is it going to rain?" he asked.

He asked, "Is it going to rain?"

"I never want to see you again!" he screamed.

He screamed, "I never want to see you againl"

Simple? Yes. But let's look at this sentence:

Did he say, "I'll never go there again"

Where shall we place the question mark now? Easy. The

quoted words do not ask the question; the question is

contained in Did he say. Therefore we write:

Did he say, "I'll never go there again"?

The question mark comes at the very end of the sentence,

outside the quotation marks. Notice that there is no period
after again. The question mark at the end is all the punc-
tuation needed.
Now let us look at a sentence that presents a slightly
more complex problem:
What character in the play says, "What's going to
happen to all of us"

Here both the introductory statement and the quoted

wards are questions. Where do we place the question
mark? Most people agree that it is more important to
identify the quoted words as the question. We, therefore,
place the question mark inside the final quotation marks:

What character in the play says, "What's going to

happen to all of us?"

We do not use two question marks: one inside and one

outside the quotation marks. One is enough.
Generally we treat the exclamation point with quotation
marks exactly we do the question mark. Exclamation
as
marks, like question marks, are placed outside the closing
quotation marks unless the quotation itself is an exclama-
228 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

tion. Notice the position of the exclamation marks in the

following sentences:

What a comedown for him to have to say, "I don't

know the answer"!
He screamed, "I'll never forgive him!"

(Note that there is no period after answer in the first

sentence.

CAUTION

1. Be sure you use quotation marks only when the

exact words of the speaker are quoted. There are no
quotation marks in the following sentences. Why not?
The press secretary said there would be no party.
A birthday cake had been ordered, he said, but
the President and his wife planned to dine alone.

In spite of the phrase he said, we use no quotation marks,

because we are not quoting the press secretary's exact
words. He actually said, "There will be no party. They
have ordered a cake, but the President and his wife plan
to dine alone."

2. A comma does not follow he said if the word that

intervenes:

The press secretary said that the President and his

wife plan to dine alone.

The exact words of the secretary are quoted, but the word
thatmakes the comma superfluous and wrong.
3. When a quotation appears within a quotation, single
quotes are used:

"What American patriot," asked Miss Finch, "once

said, 'A house divided against itself cannot stand'?"
 But Were A/raid to Raise Your Hand 229

Quotations of More Than One Paragraph

When a quotation has more than one paragraph, quo-

tation marks are used at the beginning of each paragraph
but are only placed at the end of a paragraph when the
quotation is entirely finished. This practice is exemplified
in the following excerpt from the sports page of The New
York Times:
"There's no cure and it isn't getting any better,"
he told friends. "I can't throw the curve the way I
used to. And I can't try to learn any new pitches,
because that would bring new motions and new
strains into play, and only disable me faster.
"And I'm no masochist. I don't enjoy pain. I'll
stand it because it's necessary to accomplish a goal,
but there will come a point when I won't take it
any more. I don't want to be crippled. It hurts, and
it's going to continue to hurt, and it won't improve."

The same holds true for stanzas of poetry when they

are quoted as below.
Three hundred years ago Sir John Suckling gave
what may be considered definitive advice to lovesick
youth when he wrote:

"Why so pale and wan, fond lover?

why so
Prithee, pale?
Will, when looking well can't move her,
Looking ill prevail?
Prithee, why so pale?

"Why and mute, young sinner?

so dull
why so mute?
Prithee,
Will, when speaking well can't win her,
Saying nothing do't?
Prithee,why so mute?
"Quit, quit for shame! This will not move,
This cannot take her.
230 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English
If of herself she will not love,
Nothing can make her;
The devil take her!"

Other Uses of Quotation Marks

1. Quotation marks are placed around the titles of

songs, short stories, short poems, essays, articles. They
are also used to indicate chapter titles or other subdivi-
sions of books. (The titles books, mag-
of longer works —
azines, newspapers, movies, operas,and full-length plays
are often indicated by quotation marks but underlining is
generally preferred. In printed material, underlined titles

are set in italics.) Some examples of the use of quotation

marks around titles follow:

I've just finished reading Somerset Maugham's short

story "The Letter."

"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" is one

of Frost's most popular poems.

"Where Do We Go from Here?" in last month's

Harper's led to a heated argument.

(Notice in this last sentence that Harper's the name of

a magazine, is you had been writing this title
in italics. If
by hand or on the typewriter, you would have underlined
it to show that it should be italicized.)

2. Words used in a special or unusual way are some-

times enclosed in quotation marks. For example:

Some foreign words have become "naturalized";

they are so much a part of our everyday speech that
there is no need to set them off in italics.

(Here the word naturalized is enclosed in quotation marks

because it is a somewhat special use of the word; generally
we speak of people, not of words, as being naturalized.)
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 231
3. Slang expressions, colloquialisms, newly coined
words, and technical expressions that are apt to be strange
to the reader are often put in quotation marks. However,
this is a device that should not be overworked. Some
examples of its use follow:

I always thought he was a real "weirdo."

The Post Office Department "hiked" its rates again

yesterday.

He thought the design of the interior was too

"campy."

4. If a nickname is not apt to be familiar to the reader,

you can enclose it in quotation marks. You would not,
for example, need to put quotation marks around Babe
in Babe Ruth's name, but you might use them in this
sentence:

Though his name was Charles, for some reason he

was called "Gus."

5. Foreign words and words referred to as words are

sometimes enclosed in quotation marks. The preferred
practice, however, is to underline these expressions as an
indication that they should appear in italics.

With his bench depleted by injuries the skipper sent

in an untried rookie faute de mieux, and luckily the
youngster delivered.

Whenever he utters the word but, you know you're

going to be subjected to a lengthy explanation in
which you'll have little or no interest.

(If you were writing these sentences by hand or on the

typewriter, you would underline the words italicized
above.)
232 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

CAUTION

1. Don't use quotation marks around expressions that

have been accepted as part of our language.

2. Don't use quotation marks around the titles of your

compositions or reports —
unless your title happens to be
a quotation that isn't too well known. (I wouldn't, for
example, put quotation marks around To Be or Not to
Be if I were going to use it as a title.)

EXERCISE I: FROM INDIRECT TO DIRECT QUOTATION

In the following sentences change the indirect quota-
tions to direct quotations. Revise the punctuation as neces-
sary.

Example: Our teacher said that we had to have a parent's

permission to attend the play.

Change to: Our teacher said, "You have to have a parent's

permission to attend the play."

1. One of the marines said he still couldn't believe that he

would be leaving for home soon.
2. The crowd cheered when their leader said that he would
never surrender.

3. President Nixon today told Congress that he was making

an immediate consignment of two million tons of food to
East Pakistan.

4. The congressman said that official wiretapping is so

widespread that nobody in Washington could be sure his
telephones are private.

5. The students had appealed to him, the college president

said last night, and a hearing had been set for 9 a.m. Mon-
day.
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 233
6. When
Dr. Gibbons was asked whether the council was
setting up a lobby in Washington, he replied that they were
using citizen influence to affect legislation.

EXERCISE II:

QUOTATION MARKS AND OTHER PUNCTUATION

Add all of the necessary punctuation marks to the fol-

lowing sentences.

1. Common or international English avoids phrases that

are used primarily by Americans —such as cut it out or wait
up. It relies instead on such expressions as stop it or wait for
me which are universally understood.

2. I believe there was a King Arthur said Sir Mortimer

Wheeler and the chances are 6 to 4 that he lived at South
Cadbury.

3. Its like Hamlet Paul Edward who plays the CIA agent
said everybody gets it in the end.

4. Dont kiss the babies she advised you'll lose the vote
of the mother who thinks you're spreading germs.

5. Too many college programs Senator Fulbright said

allow their liberal arts students to drift through their educa-
tion without exposure to the exact sciences and the classical
disciplines.

6. Its fantastic said Commander Charles Conrad Jr the

command pilot of Gemini 11 I've got India at the left win-

dow and Borneo under my nose.
7. W. Somerset Maughams story The Verger is in our
literature anthology.

8. The dance floor was in constant use and the jukebox

regularly blared out Nancy Sinatra's These Boots Were Made
for Walkin.

9. I always thought he was chicken and this last incident

proves it.
234 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

10. Dr. Albert Schweitzer scorned every form of luxury,

Once traveling by train he bought a third-class ticket. Why
do you travel third class he was asked because there is no
fourth class he replied.

EXERCISE III: ASSORTED PUNCTUATION MARKS

Punctuate the following AP dispatch, paying special at-

marks and the surrounding commas
tention to quotation
and periods but also including any other punctuation
needed.

KANSAS HONORS GIRL

WHO URGED LINCOLN
TO GROW WHISKERS

Delphos, Kans., Aug. 8 (AP) —

Gov William H
Avery dedicated a monument here today to Grace
Bedell Billings who wrote a letter to Abraham Lin-
coln suggesting he grow a beard
Mrs Billings who died in 1936 at the age of 88
was a homesteader with her husband G N Billings
in 1869 She was 11 years old and lived at Westfield
N Y when she wrote to Lincoln during the Presi-
campaign of 1860
dential election
On Oct 15 1860 after seeing Lincolns shaven face
on a campaign poster young Grace wrote to him as
follows
I have got four brothers and part of them will
vote for you anyway and if you will let your whisk-
ers grow I will try to get the rest of them to vote
for you You would look a great deal better for your
face is so thin All the ladies like whiskers and they
would tease their husbands to vote for you and
then you would be president
Four days later Lincoln responded stating in a
letter to Grace
As to whiskers having never worn any do you
not think people would call it a piece of silly affec-
tation if I were to begin it now
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 235
But on Feb 16 1861 after he was elected presi-
dent Lincoln stopped at Westfield and called for
Grace to come forward
In recalling the incident later Mrs Billings said
He climbed down and sat with me on the edge of
the platform Grace he said look at my whiskers
Ive been growing them for you Then he kissed me
I never saw him again
Lincolns letter to Mrs Billings was purchased last
March 22 for $20000 by David Wolper a Holly-
wood television producer and collector of rare
documents
The monument was dedicated by Governor Avery
Ottawa County centennial celebration.
as part of the

/mergingV
\trafficx

HYPHENS

1. To which question can the answer be: "In a seafood

restaurant"?
a. Where can you see a man eating shark?
b. Where can you see a man-eating shark?
2. In which company would you rather be personnel
manager?
a. In normal times the company I work for employs a
hundred odd men and women.
b. In normal times the company I work for employs a
hundred-odd men and women.
3. In which are the advantages due to environment?
a. A
big-city child has certain advantages.
b. A
big city child has certain advantages.
236 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

4. Which refers specifically to the Trojan horse?

a. Beware the gift-bearing Greeks.
b. Beware the gift bearing Greeks.

In one of its chief uses the hyphen tells the reader

that two (or more) words not ordinarily joined or —
—
merged are to be taken in combination as a unit to
modify the noun that follows. Probably the longest such
unit modifier is one that Theodore M. Bernstein of The
New York Times used in a review: "The authors adopt
an I-can-laugh-at-it-now-but-it-was-no-laughing-matter-at-
the-time attitude." In such a series you must be sure you
use hyphens to join all of the words that modify the noun.
We see hundreds of such combined, or unit, modifiers
every day. Notice how the hyphen in the following phrases
prevents us from misreading the phrase — just as the hy-
phens in the paired sentences at the beginning of the
chapter did.

an extra-base hit (not an additional base hit but

one good for extra bases)
a fine-tooth comb (not a fine toothcomb, which
would be a comb for your teeth, but a comb that
has closely set teeth)

Here are some more examples. You might try to figure

out some of the distinctions made by the hyphens.

small-scale attacks
all-night discussions
around-the-clock police protection
eight-year-old son
hard-to-please audience

(Note that in all cases if the hyphenated words were to

follow the noun you would use no hyphens: for example,
an audience that was hard to please.)
However, as in most punctuation where meaning is
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 237
clear and readability is not helped by using additional
punctuation, we do not ordinarily use the hyphen:
child welfare plan
civil service examination
flood control agency
high school student
special delivery mail

Participial Modifiers

The hyphen appears frequently in combinations in

which one element is a present participle (verb form with
an -ing ending) or a past participle (verb form with an
-ed or -en ending)

good-looking teen-ager free-wheeling style

drought-stricken area best-dressed woman
law-abiding citizens rosy-fingered dawn
much-needed rest well-groomed young man
But if the past participle is modified by an adverb ending
in ly we do not use the hyphen:
neatly dressed student
eagerly awaited telephone call
carefully performed duty
highly praised achievements

Nouns from Verb Phrases

Verb phrases composed of a verb and a preposition
usually become solid, unhyphenated words when used as
nouns. For example:

to let down becomes a letdown

to drop out becomes a dropout
to splash down becomes a splashdown
to take over becomes a takeover
to break through becomes a breakthrough

Exceptions are recently created combinations or any

words that might not be instantly recognizable. Would you
238 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

immediately know what a puton, tiein, sitin, and comeon

were? That's why we hyphenate such words: a put-on, a
tie-in, a sit-in, a come-on.

Compound Words
The tendency in compound words is to avoid hyphens
and write them either as two words or as one solid word.
If the first part of the compound is a one-syllable word,
J

the result is usually written as one word:

housekeeper textbook bookkeeper

bedroom footnote taxpayer
tugboat shoemaker lighthouse

If the first part consists of a word of more than one syl-

lable, the result is two separate words:

lighthouse keeper history book

living room gentleman friend
sailing boat dining car

However, I find troublemaker and tailorshop given as

solid words in Webster III. Therefore, the best rule of all

is: When in doubt, consult a dictionary.

When two prefixes are combined with the same noun
to form separate, consecutive words, there is no hyphen
between and and the second prefix:

pro- and anti-Communist demonstrations

pre- and post- World War II conditions

Prefixes and Combining Forms

There are certain prefixes and combining forms that usu-

ally are separated by a hyphen from the word they are
attached to, but there is not always general agreement
about them. Here is a list of some prefixes that appear
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 239
before words (and that are not ordinarily a part of those
words) with some indication of when the hyphen is used.

self: almost always takes the hyphen, as in self-conscious,

self-defeating, self-satisfied, self-control.

half: hard to pin down. When followed by a past par-

is

it is generally hyphenated, as in half-fried, half-

ticiple
witted (but halfhearted).. It is hyphenated in half-
moon, half-truth, half-mast, half-dollar, but written
as one word in halfback and as two words in half
brother and half shell.

ex: is when followed by a noun, as

generally hyphenated
in ex-serviceman, ex-champion. For dignitaries the
word former is preferred to ex-, as in former President
Johnson, former chairman of the committee.

co: is usually hyphenated before nouns, as in co-author,

co-pilot, co-star, but generally becomes part of a verb,
as in cooperate and coordinate.

and: Despite its strong meaning and usually becomes

part of the word except when an i follows, as in anti-

intellectual.

re: is hyphenated chiefly to avoid misreading such words

as re-form (to form again) and re-cover (to put a
new cover on).

Some Latin and Greek combining forms like crypto-

(hidden), neo- (new), pseudo- (false), quasi- (almost
like) nearly always take the hyphen except when they
appear in established words like cryptogram, neophyte, or
pseudonym.

Before and After Capitals

Almost any prefix or combining form when joined to a

word beginning with a capital letter has a hyphen:
anti-Communist pre-Columbian
240 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

mid- Atlantic pro-British

neo-Nazi un-American

When a word is made up of an initial capital letter we

use the hyphen:

H-bomb V-necked
X-ray L-shaped
T-shirt U-turn

Numbers
When compound numbers or fractions are written out,
we use the hyphen:

Forty-second Street one-tenth

twenty-one three one-hundredths

When the compound contains a numerical first element,

we use a hyphen:

6-hour day 36-inch ruler

10-minute delay 42-foot boat

EXERCISE WITH HYPHENS

Put in all necessary hyphens.

1. The play it safe, pass the buck, don't stick your neck
out policy is sapping the vitality and morality of our people.
2. A 66 year old tuxedo clad pianist sat down at the key-
board today in a West German cafe to begin a 44 day, trans
atlantic piano marathon.

3. Mid and late Victorian melodramas were far more

sophisticated than those of earlier days.

4. The Defense Department is speeding up development

of a strap on jet flying device that could make Buck Rogers

green with envy.

5. Earlier the satellite hopping astronauts had pulled away

from their own Agena rocket, to which they had been at-
tached for nearly 30 hours.
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 241
6. The President said today that our overall objective
should be to continue to move toward balance of payments
equilibrium.

REVIEW EXERCISE

Insert the necessary punctuation marks in the following

passages:

1. Ernest A
Seeman director of the University of Ala-
bama Press writes that Miss Emily Dickinson of Amherst
Massachusetts is becoming one of the most in of the
fast in
poets of the 1960s some eighty years after her death.
2. In short while its true that in a hitters world happiness
is a home run it is also true that home runs like happiness
seldom result from conscious eager pursuit.

3. There are now four radios in the average American

household in other words practically every individual in this
country owns his radio set. Auto radios alone are now
installed in more than 60,000,000 U.S. cars in the peak radio
popularity year of 1946 there were 6,000,000 auto radios.
Overall around 242,000,000 radios are now being operated
in the United States a figure greater than the total population.

4. The book A Left Handed Manifesto is well documented

by the author he declares that there are twenty million left
handed Americans and he also names a list of famous lefties
from Alexander the Great the Greek conqueror to two former
Beatles Paul and Ringo.

Nicolas Horberry a sort of modern day Phileas Fogg

5.
was week on another leg of his around the world tour
off this
a hitchhiking trip across the United States. But unlike the
hero. of Jules Vernes novel Around the World in 80 Days
the twenty year old Englishman has 524 days in which to
make his world tour.
 Answers

CHAPTER 1 (pp. 1-7)

PAIRED SENTENCES A. (p. 2): 1. b 2. a 3. b 4. b 5. b 6. b 7. a

8. b 9. a 10. a 11. a 12. b 13. b 14. a 15. b 16. a 17. b 18. b 19. b
20. b

PAIRED SENTENCES B. (p. 4) : 1. b 2. a 3. a 4. b 5. b 6. b 7. a

8. b 9. b 10. b 11. a 12. a 13. b 14. a 15. a

CHAPTER 2 (pp. 8-17)

SELF-QUIZ (p. 15): 1. a (adjective) b (noun) c (verb) 2. a

(noun) b (adjective) c (adverb) 3. a (verb) b (adverb) c (noun)
d (adjective) 4. a (adverb) b (adjective) c (noun) d (preposition)
5. a (verb) b (noun) c (adjective) 6. a (conjunction) b (preposi-
tion) 7. a (preposition) b (adverb) c (noun) 8. a (adjective) b
(noun) c (verb) d (adverb) 9. a (verb) b (adjective) c (noun)
d (adverb) 10. a (interjection) b (adjective) c (adverb)
WORD FORMATION (p. 16)
A. comparison (n.), comparative or comparable (adj.), com-
1.

paratively or comparably (adv.) 2. confidence (n.), confident

(adj.), confidently (adv.) 3. destruction (n.), destructive (adj.),
destructively (adv.) 4. description (n.), descriptive (adj.), de-
scriptively (adv.) 5. deceit (n.), deceptive (adj.), deceptively
(adv.) 6. defiance (n.), defiant (adj.), defiantly (adv.) 7. exclusion
(n.), exclusive (adj.), exclusively (adv.) 8. analysis (n.), analytic
or analytical (adj.), analytically (adv.) 9. resentment (n.), resent-
ful (adj.), resentfully (adv.) 10. subversion (n.), subversive
(adj.), subversively (adv.)

243
244 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

B. 1. accidental (adj.), ly (adv.) 2. beautify (v.), beautiful (adj.),

ly (adv.) 3. democratic (adj.), ally (adv.), democratize (v.) 4.
grammatical (adj.), ly (adv.) 5. miraculous (adj.), ly (adv.) 6.

mischievous (adj.), ly (adv.) 7. ominous (adj.), ly (adv.) 8.

chaotic (adj.), ally (adv.) 9. apologize (v.), apologetic (adj.),

ally (adv.) 10. prophesy (v.), prophetic (adj.), ally (adv.)

C. 1. generosity (n.), generously (adv.) 2. efficiency (n.), effi-

ciently (adv.) 3. formalize (v.), formality (n.), formally (adv.)

4. frivolity (n.), frivolously (adv.) 5. loneliness (n.) 6. sincerity
(n.), sincerely (adv.) 7. similarity (n.), similarly (adv.) 8. humid-
ity humidify (v.) 9. immunize
(n.), (v.), immunity (n.) 10.
immobilize (v.), immobility (n.)
D. 1. unanimously (adv.), unanimity (n.) 2. hypocritical (adj.),
ly (adv.) 3. tragic (adj.), ally (adv.) 4. crucial (adj.), ly (adv.)
5. contention (n.), contentious (adj.), ly (adv.) 6. curiosity (n.),
curiously (adv.) 7. injunction (n.) 8. jeopardize (v.) 9. portend
(v.), portentous (adj.), ly (adv.) 10.remedial (adj.), ly (adv.)
11. ecstatic (adj.), ally (adv.) 12. ambiguity (n.), ambiguously
(adv.) 13. piety (n.), piously (adv.) 14. jocose (adj.), ly (adv.)
15. miscellaneous (adj.), ly (adv.) 16. climactic (adj.), ally (adv.)
17. apathetic (adj.), ally (adv.) 18. spatial (adj.), ly (adv.) 19.
circumstantial (adj.) 20. prodigious (adj.), ly (adv.)

CHAPTER 3 (pp. 18-30)

PRETEST (p. 18) : 1. is 2. was 3. There are 4. were 5. is 6. stays

7. has 8. were 9. is 10. is 11. have 12. were

EXERCISE A (p. 21): 1.was 2. have 3. creates 4. are 5. is 6. has

7. is 8. was
breed 9. 10. was 11. are 12. lies 13. there are 14. are
15. threatens 16. was 17. were, are 18. is 19. are 20. are 21. is 22. is
23. doesn't 24. runs 25. is

NOW TRY THESE (p. 24): l.were 2. is 3. are 4. were 5. was

6. were 7. was 8. are

TRY THESE (p. 25): l.were 2. was 3. are

EXERCISE B (p. 26): 1. is 2. are 3. are 4. is 5. is

LOOK MA (p. 27): l.have 2. have 3. have 4. think 5. use 6. are

7. deal 8. themselves

FOREIGN WORDS (p. 29): l.-on 2. -on 3. -urn 4.-im 5.-um

6. -um
 But Were A/raid to Raise Your Hand 245

CHAPTER 4 (pp. 31-49)

PRETEST (p. 31) : 1. whoever 2. who 3. whom 4. who 5. whoever

6. whoever 7. whoever 8. whom 9. who 10. whom
NOW TRY THESE 34): 1. whom 2. who 3. who
(p. 4. whosoever
5. whoever 6. who 8. who 9. whom 10. who
who 7. 11. who 12.
whom 13. whoever 14. who 15. whom

PRETEST ON / OR ME (p. 36) C = correct; W = wrong :

1.C 2. W 3. W 4. C 5. W 6. W 7. W 8. C 9. C 10. W
PLAYING IT BY EAR (p. 37): 1. me 2. me 3. we 4.1 5.me
6. him 7. them 8. me 9. we 10. me 11. him 12. us 13. me 14. me
A FEW TO PLAY AROUND WITH (p. 39): 1. 1 2. she 3. 1 4. he
5.1

REVERSE ENGLISH (p. 40): 1. she 2.1 3.1 4. he 5. she 6. he

7. we 8. me 9. me 10.

POSSESSIVES: PAIRED SENTENCES (p. 42): 1. a 2. a 3. a 4. b

PRETEST 43): I.England's, agitators' 2. yesterday's, nation's

(p.
3. children's candidates' 5. Dickens' or Dickens's 6. scientists'
4.
7. men's, ladies', children's, today's 8. history's 9. next year's, this
year's 10. planners', world's

APOSTROPHES FOR POSSESSIVES (p. 47): morning's 2. its

1.

3. students', parents', teachers', people's 4. Twain's, Dickens' or

Dickens's 5. Ulysses' 6. ladies', today's 7. It's, boys', men's 8. peo-
ple's, ours 9. boys', theirs 10. its
children's, visitors' (p. 48)

POSSESSION WITH GERUNDS (p. 49): 1. his 2. your 3. my

4. his 5. his 6. our 7. my

CHAPTER 5 (pp. 50-63)

PAIRS (p. 50): l.b 2. a 3. b 4. b

NOW TRY THESE
(p. 52) 1. went 2. haven't got 3. have known
:

4. have already done 5. have been working 6. has been 7. has been
8. made 9. have had 10. lived
EXERCISE A (p. 53): 1. have been, celebrated, hold, held, has
 246 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English
been 2. have never been, am, saw, has not stopped, enjoyed, have
made
PAST OR PAST PERFECT (p. 55): 1. came, had left 2. moved,
had known 3. had waited, came 4. had already decided, asked
5. had never failed 6. said, had served 7. explained, had rejected

8. said, had not wanted 9. have concluded, are, had received

10. denied, was, had been

PRINCIPAL PARTS (p. 59): 1. did 2. came 3. led 4. lay 5. lied

6. laid 7. saw 8. paid 9. rang 10. beat 11. brought 12. sought 13.
chose 14. ran 15. won 16. grew 17. drank 18. fled 19. gave 20. slew

IN SENTENCES (p. 59): 1. drank 2. saw 3. did 4. came 5. risen

6. gone 7. run 8. lying, threw 9. taken 10. swum 11. beat 12. led

SUBJUNCTIVES (p. 61): 1. hadn't been 2. were 3. had known

4. correct 5. had said 6. was 7. had been 8. correct or would be
9. had walked 10. had known

CHAPTER 6 (pp. 64-76)

PAIRED SENTENCES (p. 65): 1. a 2. b 3. b 4. b 5. a 6. a

PRETEST (p. 65): 1. indistinctly 2. simply, flashily 3. beautiful

4. differently 5. delicious 6. beautifully 7. carefully 8. gracefully
9. nearly 10. well, Jbadly 11. well 12. badly

EXERCISE CHIEFLY ON GOOD AND WELL (p. 68): l.well

2. differently 3. sweet 4. seriously 5. well 6. well 7. well, regularly
8. well 9. cautiously 10. confident 11. different 12. marvelously 13.
strange 14. bad, though badly is acceptable 15. sweet

EXERCISE ON COMPARATIVES (p. 71): 1. omit more 2. omit

more 3. omit most 4. omit more 5. omit more 6. omit more

EXERCISE ON FINE POINTS (p. 73): 1. fewer 2. almost 3.

fewer 4. many 5. deep, almost 6. fewer 7.almost 8. fewer 9. almost
10. fewer

EXERCISE ON DUE TO (p. 76): 1. Because of or on account of

2. Because of 3. Because of

CHAPTER 7 (pp. 77-82)

PAIRS (p. 77): 1. a 2. a 3. a 4. a 5. a 6. b 7. a

 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 247
TEST ON MISPLACED MODIFIERS (p. 79): l.End sentence
with after President Lincoln's assassination 2. Begin with Before
you start 3. aged, etc. after meats 4. Begin with On the CBS, etc.
5. Begin with By telephone 6. in other people after seek 7. Begin

with As they were leaving 8. which never, etc. after watch 9. Begin
with In a red, etc. 10. best after likes

PARTICIPLE PAIRS (p. 80): 1. b 2. a 3. a 4. a 5. a

TEST ON PARTICIPLES (p. 82): I. When caught, the suspect

still, etc. 2. / found, etc. after World War
After powder, the II 3.
candidate bought by the voters, etc. 4. After Russia, an Amer-
is

ican may find the everyday chores, etc. 5. After driving, the Traf-
fic Department is offering reprints, etc. 6. After fade, St. Louis

will, I think, furnish, etc. 7. After years, Beethoven is still, etc. 8.

After plane, I was given, etc. 9. After darkness, I was dazzled, etc.

10. After lake, I saw a (Important: In each of these

fish, etc.
sentences, the participial phrase can always be changed to a
subordinate clause, thus necessitating no change in the rest of the
sentence. For example:
When the suspect was caught, he
1. . . .

Although Beethoven has been dead for more than

7.

150 years, his music . . .

8. When I entered the plane, the stewardess . . .

10. As I walked along the lake, a fish . . .

CHAPTER 8 (pp. 83-109)

PAIRS (p. 83): 1. b 2. a 3. a 4. a 5. b 6. b 7. a 8. b 9. a 10. b 11. b

12. a 13. a 14. b 15. b 16. a 17. a 18. b 19. b 20. b

LIE VS. LAY (p. 98): 1. lying 2. lay 3. lie 4. lie 5. lying 6. lie
7. laid 8. had lain 9. lay 10. lay 11. lying

LIKE VS. AS (p. 101): 1. as 2. like 3. as if 4. the way (or as)

5. like 6. as if 7. as much, the way 8. like us 9. as if, as though
10. as if 11. like 12. as if

WORDS CONFUSED (p. 106): 1. accept 2. borrowed 3. among,

affect 4. uninterested 5. species 6. effected, affected 7. lying 8. take
9. fortunate 10. allusion 11. complementary 12. besides, implied
13. the toes 14. climactic 15. adapt 16. flouted 17. imply 18. let
19. militated 20. implying 21. flaunt 22. effect 23. forcible 24. enor-
mousness 25. self-depreciation 26. flout 27. infer 28. mitigate 29.
venal 30. deduce, principle
248 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

CHAPTER 9 (pp. 110-35)

SUPERFLUOUS WORDS (p. 119): Omit the following words in

each case: 1. together 2. and 3. of 4. false 5. general and of opinion
6. with each other 7. more 8. as to 9. up 10. herewith 11. back
12. the fact 13. up 14. first 15. in the afternoon 16. and every
17.more 18. In my opinion or I think 19. on 20. only 21. of mine
22. more than 23. of the fact 24. In the 25. as to 26. back 27. or
not 28. by all the members 29. as to 30. 's life

IDIOMS 124): 1. Omit about 2. Since it was raining we stayed

(p.
at home Omit about 4. Change with to to 5. Change to to by or
3.

at 6. Change with to of 7. Preferably use with instead of to 8.

Change than to as 9. Omit of 10. Insert from after graduated
11. Omit of 12. Change from to of 13. Change on to in 14. Change
in regards to to either in regard to or as regards 15. Insert on or
upon after operated or change to undergo surgery
DOUBLE NEGATIVES (p. 126) Omit or change the following
:

words in each case: 1. hardly 2.Omit hardly or change without to

with 3. n't 4. n't or use either and or 5. n't 6. nowhere to anywhere
7. no to any 8. not or change unless to if 9. not 10. limit to increase

PARALLEL STRUCTURE (p. 128): 1. (of) remaining 2. delight-

ful 3.and placed 4. first, they lack a philosophy 5. and explain
6.and what your academic and professional goals are 7. and to
take care of 8. what changes are necessary

MALCLICHES (p. 132): 1. log 2. omit a 3. thud 4. two peas in a

pod 5. core 6. childhood 7. cut and dried 8. shop 9. to err is human
10. you could cut it with a knife 11. either like a horse or like a
Trojan 12. terra firma 13. leech 14. at both ends 15. nutshell

CHAPTER 10 (pp. 136-67J

PAIRS (p. 139): l.b 2. b 3.b 4. a 5. a 6.b 7.b 8.b 9. a 10.

THE MATHEMATICAL APPROACH (p. 142): 1. ss 2. ss 3. s

4. ss 5. s 6. s 7. ss 8. s 9. s 10. s 11. ss 12. s 13. ss 14. s 15. s 16. ss

17. s 18. ss 19. ss 20. s

WHICH VOWEL 146) : 1. e 2. a 3. a 4. e 5. o 6. o 7. o 8. e 9.

(p.
e
a 15. a 16. a 17. a 18. a 19. e 20. o 21. a
10. a 11. o 12. o 13. i 14.
o 27. o 28. a 29. o 30. e 31. i 32. a 33. a
22. a 23. a 24. a 25. a 26.
a 44. o 45. e
34. i 35. a 36. e 37. e 38. i 39. a 40. e 41. o 42. a 43.
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 249
46. i 47. a 48. y 49. i 50. a 51. i 52. o 53. a 54. a 55. e 56. a 57. o
58. a 59. a 60. o

DOUBLING CONSONANT (p. 154):

A. l.yes 2. yes no 7. yes 8. no 9. yes 10. yes
3. no 4. yes 5. yes 6.
11. yes 12. yes 13. yes 14. no no 15.
B. 1. yes 2. yes 3. no, but sometimes spelled with two l's 4. yes
5. no 6. no 7. yes 8. yes 9. yes 10. yes ll.no 12. yes 13.no 14. yes
15. no
EI or IE (p. 154): Lie 2. ie 3. ie 4. ie 5. ei 6. ei 7. ei 8. ie 9. ei
10. ei

REWRITE (p. 154): 1. There . . . they're . . . their 2. It's . . .

too ... to ... its 3. you're . . . your 4. whether . . . weather

5. have ... 've ... of 6. There . . . they're . . . their; there're
. . . there'll 7. principal . . . principal . . . principle 8. then . . .

than 9. loose . . . lose 10. desert . . . desert . . . dessert 11. who's

. . . whose
SPELLING DEMONS (p. 155): 1. all right 2. accidentally 3. sus-
pense 4. business 5. accommodate 6. conscious 7. sacrifice 8. resis-
tance 9. coming 10. recommend 11. disappoint 12. grammar 13.
mathematics 14. privilege 15* possesses 16. separate 17. sincerely
18. surprise 19. achievement 20. across 2L believe 22. beginning
23. valleys 24. author 25. repetition 26. tragedy 27. pursuing 28.
writing 29. dissected 30. courageous 31. character 32. environment
33. description 34. serviceable 35. existence 36. humorous 37. im-
itate 38. immediately 39. definitely 40. necessary 41. prejudice 42.
occasionally 43. occurrence 44. loneliness.,45, casualties 46. stomach
47. murmur 48. consensus 49. villain 50. desiccated

SPELLING BONERS (p. 157): 1. cutlass 2. preyed 3. planned

4. sleigh 5. surely 6. infinitesimal 7. self-centered 8. congenital 9.
dissertation 10. married 11. wielded 12. unanimously 13. gorged
14. single 15. masquerade

CAPITAL LETTERS (p. 160): President, Senate, Indians, Repub-

licans, Democrats, Captain, Seventy-second Street, Norwegian,
G.O., English, Michigan State University, Phi Beta Kappa, World
War II, Ph. D., "An Inquiry into the Customs and History of the
American Indian," Secretary of the Interior, Congressional Com-
mittees.
250 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English

CHAPTER 11 (pp. 168-241)

INSTANT CLARITY (p. 169): 1. shoot, the attendant 2. after,

Philip 3. saw, Danny Kaye 4. eating, the dog 5. past, ten years
6. before, World War I 7. cellar, steps 8. quickly, for 9. Lincoln,
and 10. family, life

PERIOD PAIRS (p. 172): 1. b 2. a 3. a

SENTENCES (p. 173) : 1. C 2. F 3. C 4. F 5. C 6. F 7. RO 8. RO

9.F 10. RO
SIGN (p. 175): PRIVATE? NO! SWIMMING ALLOWED
CLIVE (p. 176): When General Clive was a young man, he went
to work as a clerk in India for the East India Company. One
evening he was honored by an invitation to play cards with a
party of young army officers of the Queen. young captain A
whose name has never been told sat next to Clive. As he passed
the cards to Clive, the captain said, "Cut." [or "Cut!"]
Clive rose and said quietly, "Have you discovered a new way
to cut cards? You kept back a card when you handed them to
me. You cheated!"
The other officers immediately jumped to their feet, amazed
that one of their number had been accused of cheating. To settle
the difficulty at once and to uphold the honor of the army, a duel
was arranged with pistols at ten paces. As a nervous Clive and
the confident captain stood facing each other, Clive's pistol acci-
dentally exploded missing the captain's head only by inches.
It was now the captain's privilege — according to the laws of
dueling — from where he pleased. He strode over
to shoot at Clive
to the young man and held the pistol to Clive's
deliberately
temple exclaiming, "What was that you said to me?"
"Captain," replied Clive slowly and steadily, "before you gave
me those cards you took one out of the pack. You know you did.
You cheated!" [or ."] The captain lowered his hand and then
raised it again as if to fire. Again his hand dropped and he finally
shouted, "You have the devil and God on your side, and I can't
fight the three of you. I did cheat." [or I"]
Then he rushed out of the room. For a moment the officers
remained speechless, being too stunned to do or say anything.
Then recovering from their shock, one of them shouted, ''Get after
him. He's disgraced the uniform. He must be punished!" [or ."]
"Just a moment," Clive said blocking their way, "you didn't
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 251
think him a cheat a minute ago, did you? Yet he was just as much
a cheat then. You were willing to see me murdered. Did you try
to find out whether my accusation was just? No! That man treated
me more fairly than you have."
Clive looked about the room, and when he had made a mental
note of those present, he concluded, "If any of you in this room
ever breathes a word against the captain, I promise not to be as
charitable to you as he was to me."

RECOGNIZING ABBREVIATIONS (p. 179): 1. number, north

!
2. cubic Honorable 4. Conscientious Objector 5.
centimeters 3.
! Senior 6. Registered Nurse or Royal Navy 7. versus (against)
8. postscript or public school 9. Junior 10. Doctor of Philosophy
1

11. Master of Arts 12. ante meridiem (before noon) 13. post
meridiem (after noon) 14. Doctor of Medicine 15. Maryland 16.
!
Parent-Teachers Association 17. Virginia 18. Veterans' Administra-
j
tion 19. Repondez s'il vous plait (Please reply) 20. cash on deliv-
ery or collect on delivery 21. Rural Free Delivery

LATIN ABBREVIATIONS (p. 179) : 1. id est (that is) 2. circa

(about, around, approximately) 3. confer (compare or check)
4. exempli gratia (for example) 5. et alii (and others) 6. et
sequentia (and the following) 7. ibidem (in the same place)
8.opere citato (in the work cited) 9. quod vide (which see)
10. videlicet (namely)

ADJECTIVES IN SERIES: PAIRS (p. 183): 1. b

USE OF COMMAS (p. 183): 1. clean, clear 2. none 3. none
4. none 5. screaming, high-pitched 6. full, rich

PAIRS (p. 185) : 1. a 2. a 3. b 4. b 5. b 6. b 7. a 8. a

CLARITY (p. 186) : 1. writing, such 2. watched, my» father 3. way,
things 4. leave, my parents 5. fired, the bullet 6. understand, the
proposal 7. to, go 8. survive, thanks 9. alienated, better 10. been,
given

COMPOUND SENTENCE (p. 192): 1. grass, and 2. San Fran-

cisco, andhome, and 4. them, and 5. afternoon, and 6. Brooks
3.
Robinson, and 7. mother, and 8. forces, and

BEFORE CONJUNCTIONS (p. 194): 1. wrong 2. optional 3.

optional 4. wrong 5. wrong 6. wrong 7. wrong 8. wrong 9. optional

10. necessary for immediate clarity

DETOUR PAIRS (p. 199): 1. b 2. a 3. b 4. a 5. b 6. a 7. a 8. b

9. a 10. a
252 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English
RELATIVE CLAUSES (p. 204): 1. , who . . . death, 2. none
3. none 4. none 5. , who . . . today, none 6. 7. , who . . . San
Francisco, 8. , when 9. , which . . . bomb, 10. , which ... art,

DOUBLE OR NOTHING (p. 207): 1. , one . . . purpose, 2.,

once . . . dish, 3. , one . . . caught, 4. none 5. , a . . diplomats,
.

6. , the . . . planets, 7. , a . . . Anderson, 8. , court . . . Table,

9. none 10. , eighteenth . . . contemporaries,

COMMAS FOR CLARITY (p. 208): 1. , he 2. critics, 3. though

,

4. insignificant, 5. disease, 6. take out comma before to and place

one before headed 7. Take out comma after versed and place one
after thoroughly 8. defense, 9. , while 10. , despite

DETOUR MARKS (p. 211): 1. dashes 2. commas 3. dashes 4.

brackets 5. commas 6. dashes 7. dashes or parentheses 8. dashes
9. dashes 10. commas 11. dashes 12. commas

REVIEW EXERCISE (p. 221): I.Eton, Sandhurst, and Fleet

Street 2. Cook, Francis Carpenter, and William Bradford 3. either
ballistics: What ? (sophisticated), or two sentences ballistics.
. . .

What ? 4. conclusion: The, or two sentences 5. Asuncion,

. . .

Paraguay, June 12; Santiago de Chile, June 13; and so on 6. colon,

semicolon, or period after deplorable 7. incontrovertible; there-
fore 8. prominent: 9. requested; however, 10. baseball; indeed 11.

man's . . . mind: crime, ignorance, poverty, and disease. 12. viola-

tions; nevertheless, 13. Leinsdorf, director . . . Symphony; Howard
Hanson . . . Rochester; and Rudolf Serkin . . . Watts, pianists.
14. man, his languages, his literature, his philosophies, and his
culture. 15. experts, supported . . . opinion, . . . cost,no matter how
college, most
v

great; but . . . space. 16. have; though . . . . . .

17. seen; or. 18. elements: the individual . . . material, the con-
tact ...and ... 19. problems: how good ... 20. decades:
it,

spaceships and penicillin, computers dishwashers, air condi- . . .

tioners power; five-day

. . . . . .

QUOTATION MARKS (p. 223 ) : 1. b 2. b 3. a

EXERCISE I (p. 232): 1. said, "I . . . that I . . ." 2. said, "I will

never surrender." Congress: "I am making Pakistan."3. told . . .

4. said, (or :) "Official . can be sure private." 5. "The . . . . .

students have appealed to me," the college president said last night, '\

"and a hearing has been set Monday." 6. was asked, "Is the"! . . .

council Washington," he replied, "We are using . legislation." I

. . . . .

EXERCISE II (p. 233): 1. "Cut it out," "Wait up," . . . "Stop it," \

 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 253
"Wait for me," Arthur," said . . . Wheeler, "and . . ."
2. "I . . .

3. "It's like Hamlet (or 'Hamlet')," Paul . said. "Everybody . . . . .

end." 4. "Don't . babies," she advised. "You'll . . . germs."

. .

5. "Too programs," Senator Fulbright said, "allow . .

. . .
disci- .

plines." 6. "It's fantastic," said Commander . . Conrad, (or no ,) .

Jr., the command . . . Gemini 11. "I've . . . nose." 7. Maugham's

. . . "The Verger" ... 8. "These . . . Walkin'." 9. "chicken"
Sinatra's
10. "Why . . . class?" he was asked. "Because class," he replied. . . .

EXERCISE III: Assorted Punctuation Marks (p. 234)

KANSAS HONORS GIRL
WHO URGED LINCOLN
TO GROW WHISKERS
Delphos, Kans., Aug. 8 (AP) Gov. William H. Avery dedicated —
a monument here today to Grace Bedell Billings, who wrote a letter
to Abraham Lincoln suggesting he grow a beard.
Mrs. Billings, who died in 1936 at the age of 88, was a home-
steader with her husband G. N. Billings in 1869. She was 11 years
old and lived at Westfield, N.Y., when she wrote to Lincoln during
the Presidential election campaign of 1860.
On Oct. 15, 1860, after seeing Lincoln's shaven face on a cam-
paign poster, young Grace wrote to him as follows:
"I have got four brothers and part of them will vote for you
anyway, and if you will let your whiskers grow I will try to get
the rest of them to vote for you. You would look a great deal
better, for your face is so thin. All the ladies like whiskers and
they would tease their husbands to vote for you and then you
would be President."
Four days later, Lincoln responded, stating in a letter to Grace:
"As to whiskers, having never worn any, do you not think people
would call it a piece of silly affectation if I were to begin it now?"
But on Feb. 16, 1861, after he was elected President, Lincoln
stopped at Westfield and called for Grace to come forward.
In recalling the incident later, Mrs. Billings said: (or ,)
"He climbed down and sat with me on the edge of the platform.
*Grace,' he said, 'look at my
them for whiskers. I've been growing
you.' Then he saw him again."
kissed me. I never
Lincoln's letter to Mrs. Billings was purchased last March 22
for $20,000 by David Wolper, a Hollywood television producer
and collector of rare documents.
The monument was dedicated by Governor Avery as part of the
Ottawa County centennial celebration.

PAIRS (p. 235) : 1. a 2. b 3. a 4. b

254 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English
EXERCISE WITH HYPHENS (p. 240): 1. play-it-safe, pass-the-
buck, don't-stick-your-neck-out policy. 2. 66-year-old tuxedo-clad
. . . 44-day, trans-Atlantic 3. Mid- and Late- Victorian 4. strap-on
5. satellite-hopping 6. over-all . . . balance-of-payments.

REVIEW EXERCISE (p. 241):

1. Ernest A. Seemann, director of the University of Alabama
Press, writes: "Miss Emily Dickinson of Amherst, Massachusetts,
is fast becoming one of the most 'in' of the 'in' poets of the 1960's
(or 1960s) —some- eighty years after her death."
2. In short, while it's true that in a hitter's world happiness is

a home run, it is also true that home runs like happiness seldom
result from conscious, eager pursuit.
3. There are now four radios in the average American house-
hold; in other words, practically every individual in this country
owns his own radio set. Auto radios alone are now installed
inmore than 60,000,000 U.S. cars; in the peak radio popularity
year of 1946, there were 6,000,000 auto radios. Overall, around
242,000,000 radios are now being operated in the United States —
figure greater than the total population.
4. The book A Left-Handed Manifesto (or quotation marks) is
well-documented by the author. He declares that there are twenty
million left-handed Americans, and he also names a list of famous
lefties, from Alexander the Great the Greek conqueror to two— —
former Beatles, Paul and Ringo.
5. Nicolas Horberry, a sort of modern-day Phileas Fogg, was

off this week on' another leg of his around-the-world tour —

hitchhiking trip across the United States. But unlike the hero of
Jules Verne's novel Around the World in 80 Days (or quotation
marks), the twenty-year-old Englishman has 524 days in which to
make his world tour.
 But Were A/raid to Raise Your Hand 255

Index

Abbreviations, 178-80 Alumnae, alumni, 87

Accept, except, 86 Ambiguous, equivocal, 87
Ace, Goodman, 31 Apostrophe, 42-47
Adapt, adopt, 86 Apt, likely, liable, 87
Adjectives As, care in use of, 120-21
agreement with noun, 72-73 Avenge, revenge, 88
compound (hyphenated),
235 Balakian, Nona, 197, 213
defined, 11 Beat, bet, 88
degree, 70-71 Bernstein, Theodore M., 18,
distinguished from adverb, 236
66-69 Beside, besides, 88
ending in ly, 69-70 Between, among, 88-89
punctuation, 183-84 Borrow, lend, loan, 89
Admission, admittance, 86 Boswell, James, 137
Adverbs Both, each, 89-90
defined, 11 Brackets, 211
distinguished from adjective, Bring, take, 90
66-69 Brown, John Mason, 7
without ly, 70 But, as a preposition, 41-42
Affect, effect, 86-87
Agreement of verbs and Can, may, 91
noun Capital, capitol, 91
collective nouns, 25 Capitalization, 156-60
exceptions, 22-23 Censor, censure, 91
explained, 19-20 Childish, childlike, 91-92
foreign nouns, 28-30 Clauses
intervening phrase, 23-24 essential, identifying, 203-04
nouns ending in s, 25-26 nonessential, 201
the word number, 24-25 relative, 204-05
256 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English
Cliches, 130-32 Double negatives, 125-27
Collective nouns, 25-26 Due to, 75-76
Colon, 218-23
Commas Ellipsis, 184-85
apposition, 201 Entomology, etymology, 95
as definitions, 207 Exclamation point
compound sentence, 192-94 within the sentence, 176
dates, 191 with quotation marks, 227-28
direct address, 202-03
for clarity, 186-87
Factious, factitious, 95
in series, 180-84
Fadiman, Clifton, 99
introductory elements, 187-88
Famous, notorious, 95
omitted words, 182
Farther, further, 95
parenthetical expressions, 203
Flaunt, flout, 95-96
participial phrases, 189, 205
Forceful, forcible, 96
quotation marks, 224-25
Foreign plurals, 28-30
Compare to or with, 115 Formally, formerly, 96
Complementary, 92 Fortuitous, fortunate, 96
Conjunctions Future tense, 62-63
defined, 12
coordinate, 12
Garnett, David, 83
subordinate, 12
Gerunds
Contemptuous,
defined, 48
contemptible, 92
with possessives, 49-50
Continual, continuous, 92
Good or well, 66-67
Credible, creditable, 93
Graduate (from), 114
Grammar in rhyme, 13-14
Dangling participles, 80-83
Hammett, Evelyn A., 42
Dash
Hyphens, 235-40
in pairs, 210
single, 197-99
Dean, Dizzy, 56 Idiom
defined, 111
Deduce, deduct, 93
list of phrases, 113-14
Defendant, plaintiff, 93
Definite, definitive, 93 Imply, infer, 96-97
Dependent clause, 188n Interjection, 14
Deprecate, depreciate, 93
Dialect, dialogue, 94 Johnson, Pamela Hansford,
Different from or than, 117 72
Disinterested, uninterested,
94 Leave, let, 97
Double comparatives, 71 Less or fewer, 72-74
 But Were Afraid to Raise Your Hand 257
Lie or lay, 97-99 Persecute, prosecute, 102
Like or as, 99-101 Phrases
defined, r2

Macluhan, Marshall, 174 punctuated, 87, 201

Malcliches, 132 Possessive case
Material, materiel, 102 names, 46
Misplaced modifiers, 77-80 pronouns, 45-48
Mitigate, militate, 102 rules for apostrophe, 45-47

Modifiers with gerund, 48-49

defined, 11
Pour, spill, 102
misplaced, 77-80 Practicable, practical, 103
Most or almost, 73 Prepositions
at end of sentence, 112
defined, 12
Nonexistent words, 122-24
in idioms, 113-14
Nouns
overused, 118
apostrophe with, 45-46
repeated for clarity, 117
collective,25
unnecessary, 115-16
ending in s, 25-26
with verb, 1 14
Number, 24-25
Present perfect tense, 51-53
Principal parts of verbs, 56-
Object 60
defined, 10 Principal, principle, 103
of preposition, 12 Pronouns
of verb, 37 after comparisons, 38-39
Oculist, optician, 102 after the verb to be, 39-41
Other with comparisons, 75 agreement with noun, 27
Overused compound case: / or me, etc., 36-38
prepositions, 118 defined, 13
Overworked words, 128-30 his vs. their, 109
possessive, 46-47
Parallel structure, 127-28 self forms, 7n
Parentheses, 210 who(m), 32-35
Participle Proponent, protagonist, 103
dangling, 80-83 Punctuation
phrase, 202 aid to instant clarity, 169-70
punctuation, 189, 205-06 decrease in, 196-97
Parts of speech, 13-17
Past perfect tense, 54-55
Past tense, 53-54 Question mark
Period in indirect questions, 175
abbreviations, 178-80 in requests, 175
full stop,172-74 within the sentence, 176
with quotation marks, 225-26 with quotation marks, 226-27
258 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask about English
Quotation marks ei or ie, 150, 154
conversation, 224-27 er or re, 152
for emphasis, 230-31 or or our, 152
interrupted quotation, 224 os or oes, 152
position of other marks, 225 ous or us, 152
single quotation marks, 228 y, changing to i, 148
with paragraphs, 229 Stalactite, stalagmite, 105
with titles, 230 Style, 133-35
Subject
Recommend, refer, 103 defined, 10
Respectable, etc., 104 use,37
Restive, restless, 104 Subjunctive, 60-62
Superfluous words, 119-20
Scholar, pupil, 104
Semicolon Thoreau, Henry David, 50, 79
chief function, 213-15 Transpire, occur, 105-06
compound sentence, 216 Trite expressions, 130-32
in series, 217 Turbid, turgid, 106
with however, etc., 215-16 Type, 121
with quotation marks, 226 Typewriter, typist, 106
Sensual, sensuous, 105
Set, sit, 105 Usage panel, xi-xii
Shields, M. 137
T.,
Specie, species, 105 Venal, venial, 106
Spelling Verbs
architectural approach, 140 defined, 10
by ear, 143-44 future tense, 62-63
mathematical approach, 142 present perfect tense, 51-53
simplified, 137 past perfect tense, 54-55
unmasking hidden vowel, past tense, 53-54
145-47 principal parts, 56
words confused, 153 subjunctive, 60-62
Spelling bees, 160-67 Vidal, Gore, 197, 217
Spelling boners, 157-58
Spelling demons, 155-57 Which, who, that
Spelling problems agreement with antecedent,
able or ible, 151 27
adding a k to c, 150 after "one of," 27-28
ce or se, 151 distinction, 27
doubling final consonant, Who or whom, 31-35
148-49 Word formation, 16-17
e, dropping or retaining, 147, Words, nonexistent, 122-24
154 Words confused, 86-106
In which case has the dog the upper paw?
(a) A clever dog knows its master.
(b) A clever dog knows it's master.
Which required greater imagination?
(a) I lay on the psychiatrist's couch for almost an
hour.
(b) I lied on the psychiatrist's couch for almost an
hour.

Which sounds conspiratorial?

(a) We'd like to invite you to dessert with us tomor-
row evening.
(b) We'd like to invite you to desert with us tomor-
row evening.
Forty paired sentences like these are found in Chap-
terOne and there are many more throughout the book.
In this delightful way, Maxwell Nurnberg presents a
comprehensive modern manual of English usage, vo-
cabulary, spelling, and punctuation.

A WASHINGTON SQUARE PRESS BOOK

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