Grammar: All about (P)

Grammar: Which word to use (P)

https://www.theguardian.com/guardian-observer-style-guide-p

 

1. CORRECT USAGE

1.1. Similar words mean different things…

paean, paeon, or peon?

paean song of praise; paeon metrical foot of one long and three short syllables; peon peasant.

palate, palette or pallet?

The palate is the roof of the mouth or sense of taste; an artis.t mixes paint on a palette; a pallet is one of those wooden frames you see on a forklift truck.

partially or partly?

Use partial or partially to mean the opposite of impartial; otherwise partly is generally preferable: “I may be being partial, but booking me to stay in a partly built hotel merits a refund.”

Note “partly sighted” is more grammatically correct than “partially sighted”, but that battle seems to have been lost long ago!

past or last?

often interchangeable; eg in such phrases as “six times in the last week”, “twice in the past year”.

But note the difference between most recent (last) and ever (past):

• “United have beaten Wednesday five times in their last six meetings” (suggesting the six most recent meetings).
• “United have beaten Wednesday five times in their past six meetings” (suggesting they have only ever played each other six times).

pedaller or pedlar?

pedals a bicycle); pedlar peddles drugs.

peremptory or  perfunctory?

not open to challenge; perfunctory careless: eg “if you carry out a task in a perfunctory way, you may face peremptory dismissal.”

perspicacious or perspicuous?

shrewd; perspicuous easily understood.

pixelated or pixilated?

an image divided into pixels or to display a person or object in pixels to disguise their identity;  pixilated drunk.

plane or plain?

a higher plane, not a higher plain (unless literally).

poo or pooh-pooh?

a dog could poo, but you might pooh-pooh someone’s ideas.

popular or populist?.

liked; populist wants to be liked: a party’s policies may be populist, but its politicians may remain unpopular.

pore or pour?
You might pore over the style guide after pouring a cup of coffee.

precede or proceed?

go before; proceed go ahead.

precipitate or precipitous?

sudden; precipitous steep.

prescribe, proscribe,  or prescriptive?

prescribe do something; proscribe, proscriptive don’t: prescriptive grammarians love to tell you what to do and to proscribe things they disapprove of.

prevaricate or procrastinate?

Prevaricate means speaking or acting with intent to deceive and is often confused with procrastinate, which means putting something off.

Those contemplating the use of prevaricate should consider whether equivocate (using ambiguous language to avoid speaking directly) or vacillate (being indecisive) may be closer to the meaning they wish to convey.

principal or principle?

principal = first in importance; principle standard of conduct: “a vital principle, perhaps my principal rule in life, is to always split the infinitive.”

prise or prize?

prise apart, open; prize a reward given to a winner.

psychopathic or psychotic?

A psychopath is a person with a personality disorder characterised by a tendency to commit antisocial and sometimes violent acts, and an inability to feel guilty about them; a person with psychosis has a mental disorder in which their contact with reality is highly distorted.

1.2 Use the right word in context…

penny, pence

1p is one penny, not “one pence”.

picket

noun (one who pickets), not picketer; picketed, picketing

plea, pledge, pleaded

Note the past tense is pleaded NOT pled.

premises

of both buildings and logic.

pretext

by its nature false, so while it may or may not be true that Tony Blair went to war on a pretext, it is tautologous to say he did so on a false one.

pressure

Use put pressure on or pressed to mean apply pressure, ie not “the Baggies pressured [or pressurised] the Wolves defence”.

primate

primate another word for archbishop; eg primate of All England: archbishop of Canterbury; primate of England: archbishop of York [note: “the primate” on second reference]; primates higher members of the order Primates, essentially apes and humans.

pristine

If you restore something to pristine splendour, you have returned it to its original state, not just given it a bit of a clean.

procrastinate

to delay or defer; often confused with prevaricate [see above].

prodigal

means wasteful or extravagant, not a returned wanderer; the confusion arises from the biblical parable of the prodigal son, but he was prodigal because he wasted his inheritance, not because he wandered off.

Thus a prodigal striker is one who misses lots of chances to score goals, not one who has played for lots of clubs (who will also invariably be described as “much-travelled”).

prone

prone face down; supine face up.

protagonist

The person who drives the action, from the ancient Greek meaning “first actor”. Not the same as adversary or rival, so strictly you can’t have “two protagonists”.

purposely

on purpose; purposefully with determination.

2. SPELLINGS

2.1 To hyphenate (or not)?

Note: post is rarely hyphenated: post code / graduate / mortem / natal / war.

YES

pick-up

panic buy (noun(; panic-buy (verb)

part-time

performance-related pay

photo-finish

play-off

point-to-point

pre-eminent

president-elect

phone-hacking scandal (adj)  BUT phone hacking (noun)

EXCEPTIONS

pre-Raphaelite BUT prepubescent / teen / war

2.2 One word or two?

One word

passerby

pay check

payday

percent

pipeline

postcard

paperclip

payback, paycheck, payday, payoff, payout, payslip, paywall BUT  pay packet

penknife

photocall, photocopy, photofit, photojournalism, photoshoot BUT photo opportunity

pipebomb, pipeline

placename, plainclothes (detectives)

pocketbook, pocketknife BUT pocket money

policyholder, policymaker, policymaking

prefab, prefabricated

proofreader, proofreading

propeller

Two words

post office BUT postwar

prizewinner BUT prize winner [note: one word for prizewinners in general, two words if referring to a specific prize]

2.3 Frequently misspelt

panelled, panelling, panellist (two Ls)

panic, panicking (-ed) NOT panicing

parallel, paralleled

permissible

perseverance NOT perseverence

phoney NOT phony

phosphorus NOT phosphorous

pixelated

plagiarise NOT plagerise

plebeian NOT plebian

pluses rather than plusses

pollack NOT pollock

poncey NOT poncy

poppadom

possession NOT posession

precis (singular and plural

predilection NOT predeliction

preventive rather than preventative

privilege NOT priviledge, privelege

pronunciation NOT pronounciation

prophecy (noun); prophesy (verb)

prosecco

protege (male and female)

publicly NOT publically

pyrrhic

prima facie

playwright (although they do write!)

protester NOT protestor

practice (noun(; practise (verb)

2.4 Change with form or plural

palazzo; plural palazzos

paparazzo; plural paparazzi

paraphernalia takes a singular verb: I save all the paraphernalia that accompanies every box set

passerby; plural passersby

peccadillo; plural peccadilloes

pendant (noun); pendent (adjective)

pigsty; plural pigsties

prima donna; plural prima donnas

peninsula (noun); peninsular (adjective)

phenomenon; plural phenomena

plateau; plural plateaux

platypus; plural platypuses

privy council but privy counsellor

proviso; plural provisos

pygmy; plural pygmies,

pyjamas NOT pajamas

Note: program in Australia and the US, and for computer programs everywhere; otherwise programme in the UK: “I saw a fascinating TV programme about computer programs.”

2.5 Take note of capitals

[ic = initial capitals | lc = lowercase]

ic

Pac-Man

Ps and Qs

Pacific Ocean

planets take initial cap: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune; the sun and the Earth’s moon are lc, but named moons are capped up,: Europa, Io, etc.

Post Office cap up the organisation, but you buy stamps in a post office or sub-post office.

ic + lc

page 1 etc BUT Page 3 girl [it’s an institution!]

Houses of Parliament BUT parliament, parliamentary.

prizes; lc for “prize”: Man Booker prize, Nobel prize, Whitbread prize, etc.

political parties; lc for the word “party”: Labour party, Green party, Communist party of Great Britain (Marxist-Leninist), UK Independence party, etc.

police forces; lc for police: Metropolitan police (the Met after first mention), West Midlands police, New York police department (NYPD at second mention), etc, but note Royal Military Police and British Transport Police [part of the name].

police forces are normally plural: Kent police are investigating, etc.

police units; lc: anti-terrorist branch, flying squad, fraud squad, special branch, vice squad, etc.

lc

plaster of paris

platform 2, platform 9¾, etc

the pope, the papacy, pontiff

parmesan cheese BUT Parma ham [region-specific]

president lc except in title: President Obama, but Barack Obama, the US president.

prophet; the prophet Muhammad

3. EXPRESSIONS

pale

The expression “beyond the pale”, meaning unacceptable, outside the boundary, has nothing to do with buckets; it is derived from the Latin palus, a stake used to support a fence, from which palisade is also derived.

parents

Partners have children with, not by, a woman; “Joe Bloggs has three children with his wife, Jo”, not “three children by Jo”.

patients

patients are discharged from hospital, not released.

pinstripe

pinstripe suit, not pinstriped.

pointe

(ballet); on pointe, not on point or en pointe.

prime

We should say that someone is “in his prime” rather than the football commentator’s cliche “in his pomp”.

prior to, previous to

use before instead.

profession

To enter a profession you need a specific qualification, such as that acquired by a doctor, lawyer, social worker or teacher, otherwise use trade or craft.

protest/appeal

need a preposition after: against, over or about – not “protest the election result”, “appealed the sentence” etc.

purchase

as a noun, perhaps, but the verb is buy.

4. PUNCTUATION & STYLE

parentheses

parentheses punctuation

If the sentence is logically and grammatically complete without the information contained within the parentheses (round brackets), the punctuation stays outside the brackets:

• After three weeks on set, the cast was fed up with his direction (or, rather, lack of direction).  [full stop outside parentheses]
• We verified his law degree (Yale, class of 2002), but his work history remains unconfirmed. [comma outside parentheses]

parentheses usage

• List – Numbered or lettered lists should use a pair of parentheses to enclose the numbers or letters; eg Please submit the following four items with your application: (1) a cover letter, (2) a resume, (3) a college transcript, and (4) a list of professional references.
• Time zones – following the time; The conference call will be held at 9:00 a.m. (EST).
• Short translations in unquoted text can be placed in parentheses (note: use square brackets for translations in quoted text); His knowledge of Portuguese is limited to obrigado (thank you) and adeus (goodbye).
• Year of birth & death when the person is first mentioned. If there is uncertainty about the year, a question mark should follow it. Note that an en dash, rather than hyphen, is used between the years; Guido Cavalcanti (1255?–1300) had a profound influence on the writings of Dante.
• Abbreviation & acronyms upon first use, either place the abbreviation – New York police department (NYPD) – or the full term – CKO (chief knowledge officer) – in parentheses.

per

avoid; use English: “She earns £30,000 a year” is better than “per year”. If you must use it, the Latin preposition is followed by another Latin word, eg per capita, not per head. Exception: miles per hour, which we write mph.

per cent

% in headlines and copy.

percentage rises

seem to give us a lot of problems: eg “an increase from 3% to 5%” is a 2 percentage point increase or a 2-point increase, not a 2% increase.

Hence, any sentence saying “such and such rose or fell by X%” should be considered and checked carefully.

plc

not PLC.

poetry

Ideally, run line by line, as it was written:

“I struck the board and cry’d, ‘No more;

I will abroad.’

What, shall I ever sigh and pine?

My lines and life are free; free as the rode,

Loose as the winde, as large as store.”

If you don’t have room to run it line by line, separate the lines with spaces and a slash:

I struck the board and cry’d, ‘No more; / I will abroad.’ / What, shall I ever sigh and pine? / My lines and life are free; free as the rode, / Loose as the winde, as large as store.

Italics are acceptable, though not essential

pound

in text, symbol £ only when figures are used (Britain saves the pound; Oliver saved £1; pound (weight) abbreviates to lb, eg 2lb.

police ranks

use abbreviation at first mention, then just surname, eg DCI Jane Tennison, thereafter Tennison.

Other abbreviations: PC (for both male and female police constables), Sgt, DS (Detective Sergeant), Insp, DI, Ch Insp, DCI, Supt, Ch Supt, Det Supt (Detective Superintendent), DCS.

Do not abbreviate commissioner, commander, etc.

prime minister

David Cameron, the prime minister; not prime minister David Cameron or prime minister Cameron.

5. GRAMMAR

Pronoun

Takes the place of a noun: I, me, he, she, herself, you, it, that, they, each, few, many, who, whoever, whose, someone, everybody, etc.

Personal pronouns

Subjective: used as the subject of the sentence, before the verb: I, he, she, we.

Objective: used as the object of a verb or after a preposition; me, him, her, us, them.

Possessive: mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs.

Reflexive: end in -self or -selves: myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, oneself, ourselves, yourselves, and themselves.

• He went to bed early / Rose spent the day with me / I left university in 1990 = subjective.
• The audience loved him / The dog followed us / I bought a ticket for her = objective.

SO

• Jake and I spent the day with Rose = correct.
• Rose spent the day with Jake and me = incorrect.

Prepositions

Indicate either location (in, near, besides) or express the relationship between a noun/pronoun and other parts of the sentence (about, after, besides, instead of).

A preposition usually goes before its noun or pronoun.

Be careful when using like:

• You look like your mother = correct [You look like your mother does = incorrect].

If in doubt, substitute as, as if, as though, or the way when using like as a comparative:

• You look the way your mother does.
• You look as if you’re angry [note: You look like you’re angry].

Ending with a preposition

A preposition usually goes before its noun or pronoun, but there are times when it is unavoidable….otherwise you end up sounding like Yoda!

i. In some passive expressions:

• The dress had no.t even been paid for. [Paid for the dress had not even been].
• The match was rained off .[Rained off was the match.]

ii. In relative clauses and questions that include verbs with linked adverbs or prepositions:

• What did you put that there for? [For what [reason] did you put that there?]
• They must be convinced of the commitment they are taking on. [Of the commitment they are taking on they must be convinced.]