May 13, 2024

Further and Farther

TOPICS: , ,

If you want to follow the examples from professional publishing, use "farther" only for physical distances and "further" for senses that don't refer to physical distances.

Click player above to listen to the podcast

'Metamorphosize'? Some words I looked up recently
Posted by June on May 13, 2024
LABELS:

Some people think that professional editors and writers are walking encyclopedias of English usage. I don’t correct them. But the truth is that, the more of a “pro” you are, the more time you probably spend checking a dictionary. (And I can’t tell you what a relief it was when I finally figured out that I don’t have to memorize the answer to every possible writing conundrum before I could call myself a pro.)

Here are a couple of interesting things I've look up in dictionaries recently.

metamorphosize

This one came up in an article I was editing, in a sentence like “accessories metamorphosize an entire ensemble.” I wasn’t so sure. I checked a couple dictionaries and found no such word. But, from their entries, I could tell that the writer wanted verb metamorphose. No "ize." So accessories can  metamorphose an ensemble, but the dictionary says they don’t do it with an “ize.”

acronym

A lot of people think that CIA, FBI, and IBM are acronyms. But it depends on which dictionary you follow. Webster’s New World long took the position that initials do not an acronym make: “a word formed from the first (or first few) letters of a series of words, as radar, from radio detecting and ranging”

According to this definition, if you pronounce each letter individually, it’s just initials (or, if you prefer, an initialism). Only if you use those letters to form a new word does it count as an acronym.

Merriam-Webster’s, however, allows “acronym” to mean initialism.

forevermore

Before I saw it in print, I would have guessed this was three words. Or at least two. But no, according to Webster's New World, this one-word spelling of this adverb is correct.

June Casagrande is a writer and journalist whose weekly grammar/humor column, “A Word, Please,” appears in community newspapers in California, Florida, and Texas. more

The Best Punctuation Book, Period

A Comprehensive Guide for Every Writer, Editor, Student, and Businessperson

The most comprehensive punctuation guide ever, “The Best Punctuation Book, Period” doesn’t just cover the basic rules. It delves into gray areas of punctuation left unclear by the other rule books, showing how the rules differ in four different editing styles. There's also an A to Z reference of commonly mispunctuated terms. more

Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies

A Guide to Language for Fun and Spite

What do suicidal pandas, doped-up rock stars, and a naked Pamela Anderson have in common? They’re all a heck of a lot more interesting than reading about predicate nominatives and hyphens. June Casagrande knows this and has invented a whole new twist on the grammar book. more

Mortal Syntax

Mortal Syntax takes on the 101 most frequently attacked usage choices. Dedicating one short chapter to each, Casagrande brings her subject to life, teaching English usage through lively and amusing personal anecdotes. more

It Was the Best of Sentences, It Was the Worst of Sentences

Your story may be brilliant. Your insights may be groundbreaking. Your characters may be so real you can almost touch them. But they're not worth a thing if you can't bring them to life in well-written sentences. more

  • Should you capitalize 'city' in 'city of Boston'?

    M Actually, Chicago capitalizes City if you're talking about the government entity but not if it's talking about the area, so the City of Boston's ordinance vs. the city of Boston's population.

  • 'All told' or 'all tolled'?

    PJB Toll also means to add up. So, all tolled, as in, accounted for, is still correct.

  • Should you pronounce the T in 'often'?

    David Merriam-Webster online lists the spoken T first. I'd say it's a toss-up.

  • Is There an Apostrophe in Presidents Day?

    Janet Earl When I was in school we celebrated two presidents birthdays, Lincoln’s and Washington’s and it was my understanding that since they were so close they were combined into one holiday. That was maybe in the 1950’s or 1960’s.

  • Another sentence structure to hate

    Marina In general I agree with you about this sentence structure, but for examples like this one you'd need to include a query to the author for technical accuracy. The first version of the sentence allows for the possibility that some, but not all, lye-based products clear debris out of pipes. The edited version means that lye-based products as a category do so. That edit needs fact-checking.