Focusing on Double or Nothing…And No Bussing, Please!
The word focus is, like so many words, “a puzzlement” when it comes to adding suffixes. According to Fowler, the proper inflections are focus, focused, focuses, focusing. Fowler notes, however, that many printers and publishers use the “-ss-” form instead. It is not, apparently, solely a British tendency.
Fowler also points out an interesting exception to the “Double or Nothing” rule that was previously discussed in this column. The word “bus” is not doubled when a suffix is added. That is, when referring to the transportation of people via a bus, one says that they were bused or that busing has been implemented. If you double the consonant (bussed or bussing) you’ve got kissing, not transportation.
Don’t Flaunt Your Tendency to Flout the Rules….
… it might make you look silly. Here are a couple of words that are oh-so-frequently interchanged — incorrectly.
Flaunt (pronounced “flawnt”) means to ostentatiously display your behaviour, to show off. The little girl who has just gotten a new dress will show off, strutting about and making it obvious to everyone that she knows she looks good. She’s flaunting her beauty. The football player who spikes the ball and does the funky chicken in the end zone after making a touchdown is flaunting his accomplishment.
Flout (pronounced as it’s spelled) means to intentionally and overtly disregard a rule or instruction. Highway drivers flout the speed laws all the time. The kid who comes to school in jeans and a T-shirt instead of his uniform is flouting the dress code.
So now you know. Don’t flaunt it if you flout the rules over the holiday. In some communities, fireworks are illegal, and if you flout the laws with an ostentatious fireworks display, you may find that flaunting your patriotism has landed you in the local lockup.
Double or Nothing?
“How do I know when to double the last letter when I want to add -ing to a word?” — A query from a confused blogger, who didn’t identify him- or herself.
Actually, this is a lot simpler than you might think. It all depends on the vowel preceding that last consonant. (Usually. Remember that English is chock full of exceptions to rules.)
Take the words grope and stop. Grope has a long vowel sound before the final consonant, so we do not double the consonant when adding the “-ing” suffix: grope, groping.
Stop, on the other hand, has a short vowel sound before the final consonant, so we must double the final consonant before adding “-ing”: stop, stopping.
Oh, and it’s not just “-ing,” but any suffix that you add to the word. Stop, stopped. Grope, groped.
Who cares? you ask. Well, besides that blogger who e-mailed me, the law apparently does. I heard some time back about a man who received a citation for stopping in a “no stopping” zone. The zone was clearly marked with a sign that read “NO STOPING.” The man went to court and contested the citation and its concomitant fine, as he had not violated the sign’s instructions. Stoping, you see, is a form of the verb to stope, which means to extract mineral ore from a vertical vein. The man was not stoping; he had merely stopped his car to take in the view. The court upheld the man’s contention, as the sign, with its misspelling, did not convey the meaning that would have been required to discourage motorists from parking along the roadway in question. To stop and to stope are, after all, very different things. The judge advised the municipality to change its sign.
So it is important. It can be embarrasing to find that you have misspelled a word in this way. The difference between a sloping hill and a slopping one, which would be engaged in a mudslide, is vast. So is the difference between a hoping bride and a hopping one. I would assume that the former is pleasantly anticipating her nuptials; I would guess that the latter had been trod upon by a careless groom.
I cannot, at the moment, recall any exceptions to this rule, but I am certain that there must be at least one. If I think of it, I’ll add it on. In the meantime, use the vowel-sound rule to save you embarrassment, grief, and communication breakdowns. And maybe even impress your boss.
Y’all Are Making the Grammar Guru Crazy
Okay, look, it’s simple.
Hear means to use your ears or your hearing aid to listen to something that is being said.
If you agree with someone’s statement emphatically, you say, “Hear, hear!”
Here means in this exact place.
So you can say, “I can’t hear you because there is a crazed iguana screeching in here.”
But you mustn’t say “Here this. I have a crazed iguana hear.”
Now What’s That Word Again?
Here’s a few obscure but very useful words for writers looking for a unique descriptive or “that exactly correct” word.
Did you ever wonder what that large flap, or apron, of flesh that hangs down from an obese person’s tummy? Yeah, yeah, a small, beginning one is called a “beer belly” or, for those who aren’t into alliteration, a “beer gut.” But a serious flappity flap of abdominal flesh is called … a pannus. It’s from the Latin word for a rag or scrap of cloth.
And if you are sick of describing those hairpin turns and meandering roadways as “twisting,” “winding,” or “serpentine” … try flexuous. Also from the Latin, this one means “sinuous” or “full of curves.”
Finally, if you need a word for those flesh-colored tights that women wear, the correct term is fleshings.
Clearing up Confusion
Who is the man with whom you were laughing?
Who is the subjective or nominative case of the word; in plain English, who acts as a subject or predicate nominative…most of the time. I don’t know who you are. Who steals my purse steals trash.
Whom is objective case; that is, it must be an object. It will follow a preposition or a verb that requires a direct object. That is the girl to whom I spoke.
In inverted sentence structure or in question form, occasionally who replaces whom. For example, You are whom? is the inverted form of Who are you? Unless you are comfortable and very confident in the use of who and whom, I recommend avoiding inverted structure.
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Realizing that it was a moot point, I decided to remain mute during the rest of the debate.
Moot and mute are very frequently confused. It’s a simple mistake, and easily corrected.
Mute means “unable to speak” or “silent.” Helen Keller was mute until she was taught to speak in her early teens.
Moot means “irrelevant or insignificant.” Whether or not we should have peanut butter sandwiches is a moot point, as we are 50 miles from home and cannot get any now.
Toward? Towards? The British Bug Bites Again
An urgent request for help has just been received at Grammar Grotto, and the Guru is ready to help.
The question is “I’ve written a poem, and one of the lines is …’she is floating toward him.’ Is it toward or towards?”
And the definitive answer is {drum roll, please} either one!
That’s really helpful, isn’t it? Actually, the Grammar Guru was a bit surprised by this one, having always thought that towards was a Southern colloquialism that should be avoided. Guess what? The Grammar Guru was mistaken!
Every book I have consulted on this question, including Fowler’s, Webster’s, and Nitty-Gritty Grammar has stated that towards is British usage, and toward is common American usage.
So the question is not one of rightness, but one of locality. If you are an American and/or you are writing for an American audience, toward should be your choice. If you are British and/or you are writing for a British audience, go with towards.
Now, for a couple of oft-confused words that occurred to me today…
- A peak is a mountaintop or summit. To peek is to catch a quick or stealthy glimpse of, or to briefly appear. If you will peek out the window, you may see the peak of Rainier peeking through the cloud-cover.
- Breeches are pants (usually knee-length). Breaches are holes. He had to replace his breeches because of the breaches they received in his battle with the rose-bush.
The funniest misuse of this pair of words that I have ever seen came to me in a press release from the Dept. of the Navy some 15 years ago. The release mentioned “breeches in security” and made me wonder what kind of uniforms their guards were wearing.
Toward? Towards? The British Bug Bites Again
An urgent request for help has just been received, and the Guru is ready to help.
The question is “I’ve written a poem, and one of the lines is …’she is floating toward him.’ Is it toward or towards?”
And the definitive answer is {drum roll, please} either one!
That’s really helpful, isn’t it? Actually, the Grammar Guru was a bit surprised by this one, having always thought that towards was a Southern colloquialism that should be avoided. Guess what? The Grammar Guru was mistaken!
Every book I have consulted on this question, including Fowler’s, Webster’s, and Nitty-Gritty Grammar, has stated that towards is British usage, and toward is common American usage.
So the question is not one of rightness, but one of locality. If you are an American and/or you are writing for an American audience, toward should be your choice. If you are British and/or you are writing for a British audience, go with towards.
Now, for a couple of oft-confused words that occurred to me today…
- A peak is a mountaintop or summit. To peek is to catch a quick or stealthy glimpse of, or to briefly appear. If you will peek out the window, you may see the peak of Rainier peeking through the cloud-cover.
- Breeches are pants (usually knee-length). Breaches are holes. He had to replace his breeches because of the breaches they received in his battle with the rose-bush.
The funniest misuse of this pair of words that I have ever seen came to me in a press release from the Dept. of the Navy some 15 years ago. The release mentioned “breeches in security” and made me wonder what kind of uniforms their guards were wearing.
The Care and Feeding of Weird Plurals
There are a number of words in English that do not follow the general rule for creating the plural. They are useful, common words, and the only problem with them is the uniqueness of their plural form. You see, misusing the words makes you sound less than the professional, intelligent, well-informed person that you are. So here’s a list of some of them, singular and plural.
- phenomenon, which means “an unusual occurence.” The plural is phenomena.
- curriculum, which means “a course of study.” The plural is curricula.
- appendix, which means “the additional supporting matter included after the body of a written work.” The plural is appendices (/uh-PEN-duh-sees/).
- index, which means “an alphabetical list of topics covered and the place in which they can be found.” The plural is indices, although indexes is gaining acceptance in the U.S.
- octopus, the plural of which is octopi.
Similarly: hippopotamus, hippopotami; cactus, cacti; radius, radii (pronounced RAY-dee-eye).
If I Eat More Than You, Then I Will Be Fat.
I have been asked to explain the difference between the words then and than. Really, I have never understood the confusion between the two, as they bear no resemblance to one another, not even in pronunciation. But I, too, have seen a disconcerting number of cases where the two have been confused. So, an explanation.
Then is a word marking the passage of time. It can indicate past time, as in We knew how to handle unruly children then. Or it can indicate future time, as in You’re getting married soon; maybe then you will understand. Then can also indicate a conditional outcome: If you don’t stop that, then the dog will bite you.
Than is a comparative word and is always used thus: Mike is taller than Sam, but Sam gets better grades than Mike.
Remember that than is invariably comparative, and ask yourself “Am I comparing two things or am I talking about a point in time?” If you use this memory tool, then you will not misuse these two words.