Grammarian: All about (C)

Grammar: Which word to use (C)

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

1.CORRECT USAGE

1.1. Similar words mean different things…

caddie or caddy?

caddie golf; caddy tea.

canvas or canvass?

canvas tent, painting; canvass solicit votes

careen or career?

careen to sway or keel over to one side; often confused with career, to rush along.

can not or cannot

can not is optional “you can not eat if you don’t want to”; cannot is compulsory “you cannot eat porridge with a knife”.

censor, censure, censer?

censor prevent publication; censure criticise severely; censer container in which incense is burned.

childish or childlike?

Laughing when someone breaks wind is childish; laughing when someone is flying a kite is childlike.

contemptible or contemptuous?

contemptible deserving contempt; contemptuous displaying contempt.

continual or continuous?

continual refers to things that recur repeatedly but not constantly; continuous indicates an uninterrupted sequence: “My car continually breaks down because the radiator leaks continuously.”

compare to or with?

compare to means liken to; compare with means make a comparison; so unless you are specifically likening someone or something to someone or something else, use compare with.

comprise, consist, compose or constitute?

comprise or consist of mean “made up of” while compose and constitute mean “make up”.

So you might say a band comprises guitar, bass, drums and keyboards or that it consists of guitar, bass, drums and keyboards.

You can also say the band is composed of those instruments. Alternatively, you could say guitar, bass, drums and keyboards compose or constitute the band.

[note: uses consists of rather than comprised of]

conservator or conservationist?

A person who works to repair and preserve cultural objects is a conservator, as opposed to a conservationist who works to preserve and manage the natural environment

convince or persuade?

Having convinced someone of the facts, you might persuade them to do something, although you can be persuaded to do something without necessarily being convinced that it’s the right thing

1.2 Use the right word in context…

cardiac arrest 

when the heart stops beating unexpectedly, as opposed to a heart attack, when blood flow to the heart is blocked

cement 

not interchangeable terms: cement is an ingredient of concrete, which is a mix of aggregates (sand and gravel or crushed stone) and paste (water and portland cement); so a “cement mixer” should always be referred to as a concrete mixer

chronic

means lasting for a long time or constantly recurring, too often misused when acute (short but severe) is meant

contemporary

of the same period, though often wrongly used to mean modern; a performance of Shakespeare in contemporary dress would involve Elizabethan costume, not 21st-century clothes

2.SPELLINGS

2.1 To hyphenate (or not)?

YES

catch-22

cha-cha-cha

chock-a-block

clear-cut

counter-attack

cost-effective

EXCEPTIONS

catchup TV not catch-up TV

sixth-century remains, 21st-century boy, etc (adjective) BUT sixth century, 21st century (noun)

check-in (noun) BUT checkout (adjective)…so you might, “check in at the check-in after checking out the checkout desk”

co-op BUT cooperate

2.2 One word or two?

One word

cameraman

campuswide, citywide

candlelight / stick / power

cannot

carload

cashflow

catchphrase

chatroom, chatshow

checkup (noun) BUT check up (verb)

cherrypick, cherrypicker

chickenpox

classmate / room

cleanup (noun) BUT clean up (verb)

close out (noun) BUT close out (verb)

clickbait

cliffhanger

climbdown (noun) BUT climb down (verb)

clingfilm

closeup

coalfield, coalmine, coalminer

coexist

commonsense (adj) BUT common sense (noun)

conman

cookout (noun) BUT cook out (verb)

cosponsor

Two words

credit card, debit card, sim card BUT scratchcard, smartcard, swipecard

car park, car bomb BUT carmaker

cloud cuckoo land

coarse fishing

course work

cut off (verb) BUT cutoff (noun, adjective)

2.3 Frequently misspelt

chocoholic NOT chocaholic

coconut NOT cocoanut

collectible NOT -able

convener NOT convenor

consortium & consortiums (plural ) NOT consortia

convertible NOT -able

Christmassy

2.4 Change with form or plural

cabby (not cabbie) BUT cabbies

chassis (singular and plural)

cherub BUT cherubim

complacent (self-satisfied) BUT complaisant (obliging)

confidant (male) BUT confidante (female)

2.5 Take note of capitals

[ic = initial capitals | lc = lowercase]

ic

Central Line, Centre Court (Wimbledon)

Cheshire cat but cheshire cheese

ic + lc

the Channel (not the English Channel)

lc

central London

chicken tikka masala

champagne [so well known and generic, even though it derives from the Champagne region]

3,EXPRESSIONS

champ at the bit

NOT chomp at the bit

consult 

NOT consult with

4.PUNCTUATION & STYLE

Contraction

Contractions are a type of abbreviation in which letters from the middle of the word are omitted.

• Titles: Dr, St, Ltd, Revd
• More than one word: I’ll, we’ve, shouldn’t

Note: You do not need to use a full stop at the end of contractions, because the last letter of the original word is still present [although American-English always uses a full stop at the end of contractions!]

Capitalisation

A very quick ready-reckoner, as the details are covered by letter in section 2.5 ‘Take note of capitals’:

YES

• Any name – personal, company, brand, manmade structure, streetname BUT lc ‘the’ unless it’s part of the name: the Titanic, the Olympic Games, the Hoover Dam

NO

• Animals BUT ic when includes a ‘name’; black bear BUT Bengal tiger
• Foods (ic as per animals); bluefin tuna BUT Russian dressing
• Heavenly bodies ex planets (Mercury, Venus etc): moon, sun
• Elements  always lc, even when including a ‘name’: californium
• Seasons always lc: winter, the winter solstice

5.GRAMMAR

COMPOUND SUBJECTS

Two nouns joined by and are normally treated as plural and take a plural verb:

eg “Speed and accuracy are top of the list.”

• The verb should agree with the subject(s)

“The little girl, together with her friend Kerry, was filling her bucket with sand.” [singular verb]

“The little girls, together with their friend Kerry, were filling their buckets with sand” [plural verb]

• If in doubt, think of the sentence without the extra element; [“the little girl…was”], especially if ambigious

“More than one in ten health club members ?admit/?admits to joining a gym for social reasons.”

The subject of this sentence is plural not singular; i.e. members rather than one member. You therefore need to use the plural verb admit.