Grammarian: All about (H)

Grammar: Which word to use (H)

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

1.CORRECT USAGE

1.1. Similar words mean different things…

ha ha or ha-ha?

ha ha laughter; ha-ha concealed ditch in a garden or park.

hail or hale?

hail fellow, well met; hale hale and hearty.

hangar or hanger?

hangar aircraft; hanger clothes.

hanged or hung?

“the woman was found hanged; the sheet was hung out to dry”.

hazard or risk?

Scientists use hazard to mean a potential for harm and risk to mean the actual probability of harm occurring.

historic or historical?

A historic event is notable; a historical event simply something that happened in the past.

It’s not necessary to use the word “historical” when the event is clearly in the past; e.g. “Detectives were already investigating allegations of historic child sexual abuse from more than 30 years ago.”

hoard or horde?

a hoard of treasure; a horde (or hordes) of tourists.

homogeneous or homogenous?

homogeneous of the same kind, uniform; homogenous a biological term meaning having common descent; the latter is often misused for the former.

humerus or humorous?

humerus bone; humorous funny

The “funny bone” is the ulnar nerve, which like the humerus is in your arm.

Hence the not very humorous old joke: “Getting hit in the funny bone is not humerus”.

hummus or humus?

hummus you eat it; humus you put it on the garden.

hyperthermia

hyperthermia hot; hypothermia cold.

1.2 Use the right word in context…

headed or heading?

The former is most commonly used as past tense (“we headed for the exit”) and the latter as present participle (“we are heading in the right direction”).

heart attack

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

hijack

of movable objects only; not of schools, embassies, etc.

homage

Note, it’s “a homage”, not “an homage”; pay homage to.

hermaphrodite

is a term used in biology to describe an animal that can reproduce in either a male or female manner. The appropriate term for a person of undetermined sex is intersex

haven

a haven is by definition a place of safety, so you really do not need to call it a “safe haven”

hopefully, it is hoped

this word has caused a great deal of vexation in the editorial world; historically it was used as an adverb – “in a hopeful manner” – but since the 1930s it has acted as a sentence adverb meaning ‘it is hoped’; “Hopefully we will get to the show on time.” 

If possible, use “It is hoped”.

horrendous

sounds like a rather ugly combination of horrific and tremendous, but is in fact from the Latin for fearful; horrific is generally preferable

2. SPELLINGS

2.1 To hyphenate (or not)?

Prefixes such as macro, mega, micro, mini, multi, over, super and under rarely need hyphens.

YES

Prefixes such as half always take a hyphen: half-chance, half-life, half-term, half-time

hat-trick

head-butt

hi-fi

hip-hop

hi-tech, hi-vis

hot-water bottle

high-priced

high-quality

high-water mark

home-town (adj)

EXCEPTIONS

head-on BUT headdress, headhunter, headroom

heart-rending, heart-throb BUT heartbroken, heartfelt, heartsearching, heartwarming

high-flying (adjective) BUT high flyer (noun)

2.2 One word or two?

One word

halfway, halfwit

handbill, handbook, handbuilt, handheld, handmade, handout

hangover, hungover

headteacher

healthcare

helpline

highchair

hitchhiker, hitchhiking

hitlist, hitman

holidaymaker

homebuyers, homeowners

homeland BUT home town

homemade

homeopathy

homepage

horsepower

hotdog, hotpot

hotline, hotspot

houseboat, housebreaker, housebuyer, householder, housekeeper

hydroelectric

Two words

half a dozen, half past six (note: no hyphens)

hard line, hardliner (nouns) BUT hardline (adjective)

hay fever

health care

high net worth individual

home counties

hunky dory

2.3 Frequently misspelt

Habsburg NOT Hapsburg

haemorrhoids

hallelujah NOT halleluljah

halloumi NOT hallumi

Halloween NOT Hallowe’en (no apostrophe)

harebrained NOT hairbrained

Hawaiian

hello NOT hullo or hallo

herculean

hiccup NOT hiccough

horticulturist NOT horticulturalist

hostelling NOT hosteling

2.4 Change with form or plural

halo BUT haloes (plural)

harass BUT harassment

hero BUT heroine

hippopotamus BUT hippopotamuses (plural ) NOT hippopotami!

hippy BUT hippies (plural)

honorarium BUT honorariums (plural)

humorist, humorous BUT humour

2.5 Take note of capitals

[ic = initial capitals | lc = lowercase]

ic

Happy New Year [note: “I wished her a happy new year”, etc]

Hurricane Alex [a named event]

Holy Land, Holy See, Holy Week BUT holy communion, holy grail [the latter are generic]

ic + lc

Blackpool teaching hospitals NHS trust

lc

high street BUT “I went shopping in Windsor High Street” [proper name]

northern hemisphere, southern hemisphere

high court

high commissioner

3. EXPRESSIONS

hear, hear

exclamation of approval…frequently misspelt as “here, here”.

home in on

not hone in on, which suggests you need to “hone your writing skills”.

hospitalised

do not use; say someone was taken (never “rushed”) to hospital.

humanity, humankind

not man, mankind.

4. PUNCTUATION & STYLE

hyphen

YES

• Hyphens should be used to form short compound adjectives, eg two-tonne vessel, three-year deal, 19th-century artist, one-to-one meeting, a 30-second elevator pitch.
• Also use hyphens where not using one would be ambiguous, eg to distinguish “black-cab drivers come under attack” from “black cab-drivers come under attack”.
• [See below for hyphen usage with ‘half’]
• Hyphens are needed with short and common adverbs, eg ever-forgiving family, much-loved character, well-established principle of style (note, however, that in the construction “the principles of style are well established” there is no need to hyphenate).
• When an adverb can also be an adjective (eg hard), the hyphen is required to avoid ambiguity – it’s not a hard, pressed person, but a hard-pressed one; an ill-prepared report, rather than an ill, prepared one.

NO

• There is no need to use hyphens with most compound adjectives where the meaning is clear and unambiguous without: civil rights movement, financial services sector, work inspection powers, etc.
• Do not use hyphens after adverbs ending in -ly, eg a hotly disputed penalty, a constantly evolving newspaper, genetically modified food, etc.

half

YES

Hyphen when used adjectivally: a half-eaten sandwich; a half-cut subeditor; half-time oranges.

Note: the boy is six and a half BUT a six-and-a-half-year-old boy

NO

No hyphen when used adverbially: you look half dead; half wine, half water; his trousers were at half mast; the scores were level at half time.

Silent ‘h’

Note that it’s A not “an”, unless directly quoting: “an historic” is considered old-fashioned, and in modern English “a historic”, “a hotel” and so on sound more natural. Before silent H, the opposite applies: an heir, an honest man, etc.

 

5. GRAMMAR

HANGING PARTICIPLES

An unfortunate example from a leading article in the paper: “Due out in January as a white paper, Ms Kelly may be unable to overcome Mr Blair’s apparent determination to stick with A-levels …”