GRAMMARIAN: All about (A)

Grammar: Which word to use (A)

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

1. CORRECT USAGE

1.1. Similar words mean different things…

abdicate or abnegate?

abdicate renounce high office; abnegate to renounce privileges

abrogate or arrogate?

abrogate repeal, abolish; arrogate take or claim (something) for oneself without justification

abjure or adjure?

abjure renounce; adjure urge

adapter or adaptor?

adapter someone who adapts; adaptor plug

adverse or averse?

adverse unfavourable; averse reluctant

affect or effect?

when used a verb, affect means ‘to influence something’ whereas effect means ‘to bring something about as a result’:

“The weather will affect my plans for the weekend” [influenced] 

“The prime minister effected many policy changes” [actioned]

The difference is clearer when used as nouns; effect is far more common:

“The level of mistakes was not affected (verb) by exhortations in the style guide; exhortations in the style guide had no effect (noun) on the number of mistakes; we hope to effect (verb) a change in this.”

all together or altogether?

all together as one united body: “We are all in it together”; altogether completely, totally: “That’s an altogether different matter.”

among or between?

among belongs to distributive relationships: shared among, etc

between is appropriate when the relationship is essentially reciprocal: eg “fighting between the many peoples of Yugoslavia, treaties between European countries, etc”

amount or number?

amount refers to a quantity; number to something that can be counted:

eg “an enormous amount of energy was exerted by a small number of people.”

appraise or apprise?

appraise to evaluate; apprise to inform

arcane or archaic?

arcane esoteric; archaic antiquated

archetype or stereotype?

An archetype is a perfect or typical specimen, an original model or pattern, or prototype.

A stereotype is based on simplistic generalisations about a particular group.

eg “the matriarch in a typical Woody Allen film might be described as a stereotypical, not archetypal, Jewish mother.”

around or round?

“We were driving around aimlessly all weekend; it nearly drove me round the bend”

as or since?

as is causal: “I cannot check the online style guide as the connection is down.” since is temporal: “Luckily, I have had the latest edition of Guardian Style on my desk since it was published”

auger or augur?

auger used to make holes; augur predict or presage

1.2 Use the right word in context…

amid or among?

amid (or amidst – there is no difference, just stylistic) both mean ‘in the middle of’ or ‘surrounded by’ an uncountable object (such as rain)’;  among means in the middle of a countable object (such as trees)

“Bob walked among the trees, amid the rain”

Note that amid is often incorrectly used to mean ‘against’ something; if something is amid, it’s part of it, and thus completely unremarkable.

Hence, this is wrong: “…the second half of the year was likely to prove more challenging overall amid a weak consumer backdrop.”

alternative

normally a choice between two courses of action; if there are more than two, ‘option’ or ‘choice’ may be preferred.

awaken

Say “I woke up”, “I was woken up” and so on because the forms starting with A are either considered wrong (“I was awoken”) or sound wrong (“I was awakened”).

awhile

“Wait awhile”; but “It was quite a while before we saw him again”

2. SPELLINGS

2.1 To hyphenate (or not)?

YES

arch-rival

African-Carribean

aide-de-camp

aide-memoire

air vice-marshal

A-levels

A-list (celebrity)

alt-right

al-Qaida

Exceptions

anti-ballistic, anti-vaxxer BUT anti war

auto-predict BUT autocorrect

2.2 One word or two?

One word

aircraft, aircrew, airtight BUT air fare, air force, air raid

afterlife/math

anticlimax/ christ / depressants / hero / podean / semetic / social

Two words

all right NOT alright or allright

any more NOT anymore

au pair

avant garde

2.3 Frequently misspelt

abscess NOT absess

accordion NOT accordian

adaptation NOT adaption

(in)admissible NOT (in)admissable

alter ego NOT altar ego

ambience NOT ambiance

anaesthetic

amid NOT amidst

amok NOT amuck

among NOT amongst

arsing about NOT arseing about

aspirin NOT asprin

axing NOT axeing

2.4 Change with form or plural

absorb BUT absorption

analysis BUT analyses

antenna (insect) plural antennae; (radio) plural antennas

annex (verb) BUT annexe (noun)

ascendant BUT ascendancy

apex; apexes (plural)

appendix; appendices (plural)

aquarium; aquariums (plural)

2.5 Take note of capitals

[ic = initial capitals | lc = lowercase]

ic

abbeys: Westminster Abbey

Allah

All Souls College (no apostrophe!)

April Fool’s Day

AGM, AKA, A&E

ic + lc

Alzeheimer’s disease

Advent calendar

A-level

lc

ambassador

allies

second world war allies, the allied invasion, etc

armed forces, armed services BUT British army, Royal Navy, Royal Air Force [proper names]

air vice-marshal [ranks are lc]

3. EXPRESSIONS & STYLE

abbreviations and acronyms

Do not use full points in abbreviations, or spaces between initials, including those in proper names: IMF, mph, eg, 4am, M&S, No 10, AN Wilson, WH Smith, etc.

Use all capitals if an abbreviation is pronounced as the individual letters (an initialism): BBC, CEO, US, VAT, etc; if it is an acronym (pronounced as a word) spell out with initial capital, eg Nasa, Nato, Unicef, unless it can be considered to have entered the language as an everyday word, such as awol, laser and, more recently, asbo, pin number and sim card. Note that pdf and plc are lowercase.

If an abbreviation or acronym is to be used more than once in the same article, put it in brackets at first mention: so Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo), seasonal affective disorder (Sad); alternatively, use the abbreviation with a brief description, eg the conservation charity the RSPB.  If an organisation is mentioned only once, it is not necessary to give its abbreviation or acronym.

Cap up single letters in such expressions as C-list, F-word, “the word assassin contains four Ss”, etc.

accents

Use on French, German, Portuguese, Spanish and Irish Gaelic words (but not anglicised French words such as cafe, apart from exposé, lamé, résumé, roué which might cause confusion with other English words).

People’s names, in whatever language, should also be given appropriate accents where known. Thus: “Arsène Wenger was on holiday in Bogotá with Rafa Benítez”.

addresses

like this: 90 York Way, London N1 9GU.

all mouth and trousers

NOT “all mouth and no trousers”.

4. PUNCTUATION

apostrophes

There are different (acceptable) schools of thought; for consistency and ease of use, the following is recommended:

i. Use apostrophes

• Possession or missing letter [see 5. Grammar below].
• After a single capital letter: He received straight A’s.
• Before a word or number: He was elected in ’08, ’Twas the night before Xmas.

ii. No apostrophes

• Groups of two or more capital letters: MPs, ABCs, M.D.s.
• Digits and numbers: the 1990s.
• Adjectives: He’s a United States citizen, We liked that Beatles song.

adverbs & hyphens

Most adverbial phrases do not need hyphens.

Never use them after adverbs ending in -ly, eg constantly evolving newspaper, genetically modified food, hotly disputed penalty, wholly owned subsidiary.

For adverbs that do not end in -ly, use hyphens only when there would be a possibility of ambiguity without one, eg an ill-prepared speech.

But phrases such as ever forgiving, near fatal, now defunct, once popular, etc do not need hyphens.

Exceptions: much and well when used before a noun, eg a much-loved character (but a character who is much loved), a well-founded suspicion (a suspicion that is well founded), etc.

5. GRAMMAR

adverbs

An adverb is a word or set of words that modifies verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs; Adverbs answer the questions how, when, where, why, or to what extent—how often or how much (eg, daily, completely).

• He speaks slowly (tells how).
• He speaks very slowly (the adverb very tells how slowly).
• She arrived today (tells when).
• Let’s go outside (tells where).
• Bernie left to avoid trouble (this adverb phrase tells why).

i. Form with ‘ly’

Add ‘ly’ to the verb if possible:

• We performed badly, she thinks quickly.
• She thinks fast [you can’t have fastly].

Note, when an adverb changes to become an adjective:

• She thinks quickly [adverb]; she is a quick thinker [adjective]

apostrophes (possessive)

Indicate a missing letter or letters (can’t, we’d) or a possessive (David’s book).

Consider these four phrases, each of which means something different:

• my sister’s friend’s books (refers to one sister and her friend).
• my sister’s friends’ books (one sister with lots of friends).
• my sisters’ friend’s books (more than one sister, and their friend).
• my sisters’ friends’ books (more than one sister, and their friends).

i. Not ending in ’s’ = apostrophe + s 

Plural nouns that do not end in s take an apostrophe + s:

• children’s games, old folk’s home, people’s republic, etc.

Note that most phrases are treated as singular nouns:

• butcher’s knife, collector’s item, cow’s milk, goat’s cheese, pig’s blood, hangman’s noose, writer’s cramp, etc.

If two people possess the same item, put apostrophe + s after the second person only:

• Mary and Maribel’s home is made of wood, Maribel’s and my home.
• BUT Mary’s and Meribel’s homes [if don’t possess the same item].

Note, nouns ending in ‘y’:

• Take apostrophe + s in the singular: the company’s policy.
• Change to ies + apostrophe in the plural: three companies’ policies.

ii. Ending in ’s’ = s + apostrophe + s

The possessive in words and names ending in S normally takes an apostrophe followed by a second S:

• names: Jones’s, James’s (although there is room for debate here – Joneses’ is also technically correct).

iii. Plural apostrophe = s + apostrophe

Always be guided by pronunciation and use the plural apostrophe (s’) where it helps:

• Mephistopheles’, Waters’, Hedges’ rather than Mephistopheles’s, Waters’s, Hedges’s.
• time or money: three days’ leave, two cents’ worth [where the time period modifies a noun], but not when the time period is modifies an adjective: three weeks old, nine months pregnant [old and pregnant are adjectives].