Grammar: All about (I)

Grammar: Which word to use (I)

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

 

1. CORRECT USAGE

1.1. Similar words mean different things…

imply or infer?
To imply is to suggest; to infer is to conclude – Many people use infer when they mean imply:

Homer: “What are you inferring?”

Lisa: “I’m not inferring anything. You infer; I imply.”

Homer: “Well that’s a relief.”

immigrate or emigrate?

immigrate to arrive in a country; emigrate to leave one

Hence immigrant, immigration, emigrant, emigration

impracticable or impractical?

Reference books typically define impracticable as “not practical”, and impractical as “not able to be done”.

In other words: for all practical purposes, they mean the same thing; use impractical, as it’s shorter

in or on?

in the team (UK), on the team (US).

incidence or incident?

incidence amount, eg a high incidence of incidents; incident has political connotations, so attack or clash is often preferable, as incident can suggest something minor.

insidious or invidious?

insidious means subtly or gradually harmful (“an insidious disease”); easily confused with the invidious, which means likely to arouse resentment (“she put herself in an invidious position”)

insure or ensure?

insure against risk; assure life; ensure make certain

intense or intensive?
intense extreme; intensive thorough

interned or interred?

interned imprisoned; interred buried

interpreter or translator?

interpreter works with the spoken word; often confused with translator, who works with the written word.

into or in to? 

If you go into a room or look into something, it’s one word; if you call in to complain, listen in to someone’s conversation, or go in to see them, it’s two.

inveigh

inveigh attack; inveigle coax

1.2 Use the right word in context…

immune to 

not immune from

inflammable

means the same as flammable, which is preferable, as the negative is non-flammable

inquiry

not enquiry

invalid

means not valid or of no worth, so should not be used to refer to disabled or ill people

invariable, invariably

invariable unchanging; often used wrongly to mean hardly ever changing

invite

invite verb; you do not send someone an “invite” – you send them an invitation.

2. SPELLINGS

2.1 To hyphenate (or not)?

YES

ice-cream

[all isotopes: carbon-14, uranium-235]

EXCEPTIONS

inner-city (adj) BUT inner city (noun)

in-tray BUT inpatient

2.2 One word or two?

One word

inasmuch

infrared

insofar

insomuch

Two words

ice age

2.3 Frequently misspelt

impostor NOT imposter

inadmissible NOT -able

indispensable NOT indispensible

innocuous

innuendo, innuendoes (plural)

inoculate NOT innoculate

install, BUT instalment

instil, instilled, instilling

iridescent [one R]

Note: in British-English, always use -ise not -ize at end of word, eg maximise, synthesise (exception: capsize)

2.4 Change with form or plural

impinge BUT impinging

index, indexes (plural), indices (for scientific and economic)

2.5 Take note of capitals

[ic = initial capitals | lc = lowercase]

ic

Ironbridge, Iron Bridge BUT iron age, iron curtain

Ivory Coast not “the Ivory Coast”

lc

income tax

international date line

3. EXPRESSIONS

4. PUNCTUATION

Latin expressions:

Do not use full stops

ie

eg

Is : as in dotting the Is and crossing the Ts

introducing people

Do not use the following construction to introduce a speaker or a subject:

• “Foreign secretary Philip Hammond said … ” 
• Use the definite article and commas to separate the job from the name, like this: “Philip Hammond, the foreign secretary … ” (there is only one person with this specific post).

Commas are not used if the description is more general and could apply to more than one person, like this:

• “The health minister Norman Lamb said … ” (there are several health ministers); or like this: “
• The Liberal Democrat MP Norman Lamb said … ” (after the 2010 election, there were 57).

introductory words

at the start of a sentence such as “However”, “Nonetheless”, “Instead”, should be followed by a comma

italics

• Use roman for titles of books, films, etc; eg The Merchant of Venice.
• Use italics for foreign words and phrases (with roman translation in brackets); poetry and scientific names.
• Never use italics in headlines or standfirsts

5. GRAMMAR