Grammar: All about (M)

Grammar: Which word to use (M)

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

1.CORRECT USAGE

1.1. Similar words mean different things…

masterful or masterly?

masterful wilful or domineering; masterly means highly competent: “He gave a masterly demonstration of good grammar.”

margarita or margherita?

margarita cocktail; margherita pizza.

may or might?

may implies that a possibility remains open; might suggests that the possibility remains open no longer:

• “They may have played tennis, or they may have gone boating” suggests you don’t know what they did [may = possibility].
• “They might have played tennis if the weather had been dry” means they didn’t, because it wasn’t [might = not a possibility any longer].

militate or mitigate?

To militate against something is to influence it “his record militated against his early release”; to mitigate means to lessen an offence “in mitigation, her counsel argued that she came from a broken home.”

misanthropist or misogynist?

misanthropist hates everyone; a misogynist hates women.

1.2 Use the right word in context…

mat, matt, matte

• mat floor covering;
• matt non-shiny, as in matt finish;
• matte used to combine images in films.

morbidity

morbidity can mean the state of being morbid (taking an unusual interest in death or unpleasant events); but the morbidity rate also means the relative incidence of a disease in a specific locality.

mortgage borrower, mortgagor

the person borrowing the money is the mortgagor, the lender is both the mortgagee and the mortgage holder; to avoid confusion, call the mortgagor the mortgage borrower and the mortgagee the mortgage lender.

2. SPELLINGS

2.1 To hyphenate (or not)?

YES

man-hour, man-made

meet-and-greet (adjective) “a celebrity meet-and-greet”

mid-to long-term difficulty

money-grubbing

multimillion-dollar

mid-60s, mid-90s, etc

morning-after-pill

EXCEPTIONS

machine-gun (verb) BUT machine gun (noun)

mis-hit, mis-sell BUT misspeak, misspell, misspent

multi-ethnic BUT multicultural, multimedia, multimillion, multinational, multiparty

2.2 One word or two?

One word

makeup / over (noun) BUT make up / over (verb)

manpower

microorganism

multidisciplinary, media, million

menswear

mindset

minibus, minicab, miniskirt, minivan

mishmash

mistakable, unmistakable

Two words

mailbag / van BUT mail train

main land / mast / sail

2.3 Frequently misspelt

mangetout (one word)

manoeuvre, manoeuvring

Marseille NOT Marseilles

marshmallow NOT marshmellow, munchmallow, munchmellow

marshal (military rank) NOT marshall. [Remember using the mnemonic: “Air Chief Marshal Marshall presided at the court martial of the martial arts instructor”].

medieval NOT mediaeval

memorandum, plural memorandums NOT memoranda

meze NOT mezze

miaow (noise made by cats)

mic (abbreviation for microphone) BUT you are miked up

mileage

millefeuille

mimic, mimicked, mimicking

minuscule NOT miniscule

misuse, misused

money-grubbing NOT money-grabbing

moniker NOT monicker

mortise lock NOT mortice

moustache NOT mustache

movable

myxomatosis

2.4 Change with form or plural

manchild, plural manchildren

manifesto, plural manifestos

mantis, plural mantids

memento, plural mementoes

millenary BUT millennium, plural millennia

mongooses (not mongeese) plural of mongoose

mosquito, plural mosquitoes

motto, plural mottoes

mujahid (singular); mujahideen (collective noun for people fighting a jihad)

2.5 Take note of capitals

[ic = initial capitals | lc = lowercase]

ic

Marks & Spencer at first mention, then M&S

Metropolitan police at first mention, then the Met; note: commissioner of the Metropolitan police, Met commissioner is acceptable.

MOT (not MoT)

MP, MPs BUT if spelling out, lc: member of parliament

museums: initial caps, eg British Museum, Natural History Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A on second reference), Metropolitan Museum of Art, etc

lc

magistrates court (no apostrophe)

mayor of London

merchant navy

middle ages

ministers are all lc: prime minister, etc

morse code

moons; lc for the Earth’s moon

3.EXPRESSIONS

magic bullet

magic bullet easy solution; silver bullet as used to kill a werewolf, and by the Lone Ranger. By all means say silver bullet, however, when actually referring to werewolves or, metaphorically, if you are talking about getting rid of something.

manner or manor?

“To the manner born” is a phrase from Hamlet. To the Manor Born was a sitcom.

mass

lc; mass is “celebrated” or “said”, not “read”.

4. PUNCTUATION & STYLE

Mac or Mc?

Follow the person’s own spelling; e.g. Andie MacDowell (actor), Steve McClaren (football manager) etc.

major

a major case of overuse; avoid except in a military context: “big”, “main” and “leading” are among the alternatives.

majority

Unless you are specifically talking about the larger part of a measurable number, “most of” normally sounds more natural: “a clear majority had voted for the opposition candidate, so he resolved to spend most of the next five years in the pub”.

mankind

humankind or humanity are preferable.

Mbps

Mbps megabits per second (communication speed); take care to get such terms right: we referred to a “2mbps internet connection” which, at two millibits a second, is about the speed of smoke signals.

metres

should be written out in full, to avoid confusion with million (an obvious exception would be athletics, eg “she won the 400m”).

midnight

not 12 midnight, 12am or 12pm.

military ranks

Use as abbreviated below on first mention, then just surname, eg Col Tommy Smith, thereafter Smith.

Army: Gen, Lt Gen, Maj Gen, Brig, Col, Lt Col, Maj, Capt, Lt, 2Lt, OCdt, WOI, WOII, SSgt, CSgt, Sgt, CoH, L/CoH, Cpl, Bdr, L/Cpl, L/Bdr, Pte

Navy: Adm, V Adm, R Adm, Capt, Cdr, Lt Cdr, Lt, SLt, Mid, OCdt, WOI, WOII, CPO, PO, LH, AB, Mne

RAF: Gp Capt, Wg Cmdr, Sqn Ldr, Flt Lt, Fg Off, Plt Off, MAcr, WO, Ft Sgt, Ch Tech, Sgt, Cpl, Jr Tech, L/Cpl, SAC, LAC, AC

Not, do not abbreviate: Field Marshal, Admiral of the Fleet, Commodore, Marshal of the RAF, Air Chief Marshal, Air Marshal, Air Vice-Marshal, Air Commodore

Mr, Ms, Mrs, Miss (honorifics)

No full stop in British English [note: American English always uses a full stop after any contraction].

Generally use first name and surname on first mention, and thereafter just surname; eg Wayne Rooney, thereafter Rooney.

Use an honorific, however, if this strikes the wrong tone, or to identify different members of the same family.

Note:

• Use the appropriate honorific after first mention (unless you are writing about an artist, author, journalist, musician, sportsman or woman, criminal or dead person, who take surname only);
• Use Ms for women subsequently unless they have expressed a preference for Miss or Mrs.

5.GRAMMAR

metaphor

traditionally defined as the application to one thing of a name belonging to another, eg bowling blitz, economic meltdown.