The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation (11 page)

Both forms are acceptable, although the
Associated Press Stylebook
instructs journalists to always use
backward
.

Staphylococcus is a virulent form of bacteria
. No problem there. But in a sentence like
It's a virulent bacteria
, well, now we have a problem.
Bacteria
is a plural noun; the singular is
bacterium
. So don't write
The bacteria in the cut was infecting it
, because the bacteria
were
infecting it.

Both words do double duty as noun and verb. As a noun,
bail
commonly refers to money deposited to gain a prisoner's freedom, or
bail
that prisoner
out
.

A
bale
is a large, bound or wrapped package of unprocessed material. To
bale
is to make into a bale.

Don't write “baited breath.” The word
bated
, a variant of
abated
, means “lessened in intensity,” “restrained.”

Ball
: a round object; a gala event.

Bawl
: to cry; howl.

Bare
as an adjective means “unconcealed”:
bare arms
. As a verb it means “expose”:
to bare one's feelings
.

Bear
as a noun refers to a wild animal. As a verb it has many meanings, from “carry” (
bear arms
) to “tolerate” (
I can't bear it
) to “steer” (
bear right at the corner
).

This word, especially when it starts a sentence, is probably unnecessary.

The
beech
tree was close to the windy
beach
.

You can't
beat
my recipe for
beets
.

Because
and
since
can be used just about interchangeably to explain the reason for something. But
since
can also refer to a time in the past:
I have waited since yesterday
.

Bell
: a chime or alarm.

Belle
: a lovely woman.

He was a benighted soul in an enlightened time
. Many people associate it with
knighted
and think
benighted
is a good thing to be. Far from it. Note the lack of
a k;
don't think
knight
, think
night
. To be
benighted
is to be “in a state of moral or intellectual darkness.”

Berth
: a built-in bed on a train or boat; a space for a boat to dock.

Birth
: being born; a beginning.

BESIDE, BESIDES
Besides
as an adverb means “in addition” or “moreover”:
It's Albert's birthday, and besides, you promised. Besides
is also a preposition meaning “other than” or “except”:
Who besides me is hungry?

Compare that with
The person beside me is hungry. Beside
is a preposition that means “next to,” “near,” “alongside.”

A lot of people say something is “besides the point.” They mean
beside
the point. When a statement is beside the point, it misses the mark and settles nothing.

Better
: of higher quality.

Bettor
: a gambler.

These words do not all mean the same thing.
Biannual
means “twice a year,” as does
semiannual
, whereas
biennial
means “occurring every two years.”

Don't confuse what your teeth do with
byte
, a computer term for eight bits of information. Adding to the confusion,
sound bite
—a brief excerpt from a longer work—is sometimes mistakenly written “sound byte.”

The more familiar word is
block
, which can refer to many things: a toy, a cube-shaped object, a city street. Not as versatile is
bloc
: a group united for a particular purpose.

Boar
: a wild pig.

Boor
: a vulgar brute.

Bore
: a compulsive chatterbox.

When the
board
called the roll, he was too
bored
to speak up.

Bolder
: more daring.

Boulder
: a large rock.

To be
born
is to be given birth to, as babies are born. Or it can mean “to be created”: ideas are born the moment we think of them. It also means “to arise from”:
Timmy's stomachache was born of wolfing his food
.

Borne
is the past tense of
bear
, in the sense of “carry.” To be
borne
is to be carried:
a mosquito-borne disease
; or to be endured:
Timmy's stomachache had to be borne until it finally went away
.

Few if any would write
boy
instead of
buoy
, a nautical beacon or marker. Nonetheless, both words are traditionally pronounced the same. In
Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words
, author Bill Bryson says, “Unless you would say ‘boo-ee-ant' for
buoyant
, please return to pronouncing it ‘boy.' ”

Use your
brake
before you
break
something.

Bridal
: relating to brides and weddings.

A
bridle
is a head harness, usually for a horse. Not surprisingly, the verb
bridle
means “to control” or “to restrain.” But it also means “to pull back the head quickly in anger.”

They're not interchangeable. You
bring
something here; you
take
something there. The locations of “here” and “there” are from the perspective of the speaker or writer. Your friend asks you to
bring
her a book, so you
take
the book to her home.

To
broach
a topic is to bring it up for discussion:
Now is the time to broach the subject
. As a verb,
broach
also means “to open or enlarge a hole.” The noun
broach
refers to a pointed tool which performs that operation.

A
brooch
, a decorative pin or clip, is nothing like a
broach
. But since they're often pronounced alike, and because ignorance never rests, some dictionaries accept
broach
as an alternative spelling of
brooch
.

See
boy, buoy
.

See
bite, byte
.

As a noun,
cache
refers to a hidden supply of valuables, such as food, jewels, and
cash
. But it can also refer to the hiding place where you keep those items. The verb
cache
means “to hide treasure in a secret place”:
He cached all his cash in a cache
.

I can go
means I have the ability and freedom to go.

I may go
means I have either an option or permission to go.

Cannon
: a large, mounted gun.

Canon
: a body of writings; a principle or set of principles.

One word; avoid “can not.”

Canvas
is a durable fabric.

Canvass
as a noun or a verb refers to the door-to-door gathering of votes or opinions.

Just remember: the
o
means it's a building. A
capitol
is a government building where a state legislature meets, and the
Capitol
is the building where the U.S. Congress meets.

A
capital
is a city that serves as the seat of government.
We got a tour of the capitol when we went to the capital
.

Most of the confusion is caused by
carat
and
karat
because both are associated with jewelry. The purity of gold is measured in
karats
.
Twenty-four-karat gold is 99.9 percent pure, but so soft that it is considered impractical for most jewelry
.

A
carat
is a weight measurement for gemstones:
a two-carat diamond set in an eighteen-karat gold ring
.

A
caret
has nothing to do with any of this. It is a mark an editor makes in a document to show where additional material should be inserted.

Grammar sticklers are a stubborn lot. They use
career
the way everyone else uses
careen
. It is
career
, not
careen
, that means “to veer out of control”:
The car careered wildly across three lanes. Careen
means “to lean or tip over,” and strictly speaking, it's more suitable for describing boats than cars.

Cast
: a group of actors or individuals.

Caste
: a social class; a rigid system of social distinctions.

People constantly refer to “cement” sidewalks, driveways, walls, etc. However,
cement
is a powder that, when mixed with sand or gravel and water, becomes
concrete
.

They sound similar, and both words deal with negative criticism.
Censor
as a verb means “to remove unacceptable material.” As a noun, it means “someone who censors.”

Censure
as a verb means “to disapprove of” or “to criticize strongly.” As a noun, it means “disapproval,” even “scorn.”

The lecture will center around the economy
. The center is the middle point. Would you say “point around”? This common, muddleheaded expression results from scrambling
center on
and
revolve around
. Because those idioms are roughly synonymous, if you use them both enough, they merge in the mind.

Cereal
: a breakfast food.

Serial
: a story told in regular installments (noun); ongoing, in a series (adjectives).

This example of cultural dyslexia should be avoided at all costs. The correct term is
chaise longue
, meaning “long chair” in French.

Both are comparisons with children. The difference is that
childish
is unflattering; it's equivalent to
infantile
and only a small improvement on
babyish
. Someone is childish when acting unreasonable or bratty.

Not so with
childlike
, a word that extols youthful virtues, such as sweetness, purity, and innocence.

If life were fair,
Chile
with an
e
would refer only to a country in South America, and
chili
with a second
i
would refer to a type of pepper, and also to a spicy stew. These spellings are recommended, but with the caveat that not everyone agrees. In New Mexico, the stew they eat is
chile
, not
chili
. The stylebook of the
Los Angeles Times
says the dish is
chili
, but the pepper is a
chile
. And there are even some who spell the pepper or the dish
chilli
.

It started out as
champing at the bit
, which is still preferred by most dictionaries.

Choral
: relating to or sung by a choir.

Coral
: an underwater organism that makes up reefs; a shade of orange.

A
chorale
can be both a piece of music and a singing group.

A
corral
is an enclosure for horses or other livestock.

When two or more musical tones are sounded simultaneously, the result is a
chord
.

A
cord
is a rope or strand of flexible material.

Cite
: to quote; to praise; to mention; to order to appear in court.

Sight
: the ability to see; a scene or view.

Site
: a location or position.

Classic
, adjective or noun, is a term of high praise: “of the finest quality” or “a prime example of”:
a classic play, a classic pizza
.

The adjective
classical
applies to traditions going back to the ancient Greeks and Romans:
The house featured an array of classical influences
.

Classical music
is marked by formal, sophisticated, extended compositions.

It's a noun, not an adjective. Yet more and more you see or hear things like
I know it sounds cliché, but
…Make it
I know it sounds
like a
cliché
.

A
click
is a brief percussive noise, but some mistakenly write it when they mean
clique
, a close, exclusive group of people.

Climactic
—note that middle
c
—means “exciting” or “decisive.” It is often confused with
climatic
, which means “resulting from or influenced by climate.”

This phrase is a pompous and redundant way of saying “near.”
Proximity
does not mean “distance”; it means “nearness,” so
close proximity
means “close nearness.”

Coarse
means “rough, lacking in fineness of texture” or “crude, lacking in sensitivity.”

Course
is usually a noun and has several meanings, mostly having to do with movement or progress, whether it be a
course
taken in school or the
course
of a river.

Your friend is a crony, confidant, or collaborator, but not a cohort. In ancient Rome, a
cohort
was a division of three hundred to six hundred soldiers. So careful speakers and writers avoid
cohort
when referring to one person. Your
cohort
is not your comrade, ally, teammate, or assistant. It's a whole group, gang, team, posse:
A cohort of laborers went on strike
.

To
coin a phrase
is to make one up. But many misuse it when citing or quoting familiar expressions:
His bright idea was, to coin a phrase, dead on arrival
. Since
dead on arrival
is a well-known idiom, the writer didn't “coin” it; he merely repeated it.

See
irony.

Both are acceptable, but
collectible
has a slight edge in popularity, especially as a noun.

A
collision
involves two moving objects. A car does not
collide
with a lamppost; it
crashes
into a lamppost.

As both noun and verb,
complement
refers to an added element that enhances, rounds out, or puts a final touch on something.

Compliment
, noun and verb, is about nice words or gestures.
Try this perfect complement to your order, with our compliments
.

These words are often unnecessary. What is the difference between
a complete meltdown
and
a meltdown
? How is
completely exhausted
different from
exhausted
?

Possibly the most abused two-syllable word in English. It means “contain,” “consist of,” “be composed of.” Most problems could be avoided by remembering this mantra:
The whole comprises its parts
.

Consider this misuse:
Vegetables comprise 80 percent of my diet
. The correct sentence is
Eighty percent of my diet comprises vegetables
. My diet
consists of
vegetables; vegetables do not consist of my diet.

This sentence looks right to most people:
Joe, John, and Bob comprise the committee
. But it's the other way around:
The committee comprises Joe, John, and Bob
.

Another common misuse is the phrase
comprised of
, which is never correct. Most people use
comprised of
as an elegant-seeming alternative to
composed of
. An ad for a cleaning service states, “Our team is comprised of skilled housekeepers.” Make it “Our team comprises skilled housekeepers,” “Our team is composed of skilled housekeepers,” or, perhaps the best choice, “Our team consists of skilled housekeepers.”

Since
comprise
already means “composed of,” anyone using
comprised of
is actually saying “composed of of.”

One person cannot make a
concerted
effort. A concert implies an orchestra. As Paul Brians points out in his
Common Errors in English Usage
, “To work ‘in concert' is to work together with others. One can, however, make a
concentrated
effort.”

See
cement, concrete
.

Confidant
: a trusted adviser.

Confident
: certain, self-assured.

One who
connive
s pretends not to know while others are collaborating on something sneaky, wrong, or illegal.

To
conspire
is to work together on a secret scheme.

Denote
is used for descriptions that stick to the facts. The word “dog”
denotes
a domesticated animal.

Connote
reveals additional meanings beyond what is clinical or objective. It is used when expressing what a word implies or reminds us of. The word “dog”
connotes
loyalty.

The difference between
continual
and
continuous
is the subtle difference between
regular
and
nonstop
. If your car
continually
breaks down, it also runs some of the time.

A faucet that drips
continuously
never stops dripping, twenty-four hours a day. If a faucet drips
continually
, there are interludes when it's not dripping.

To many, these two are synonyms, but there are shades of difference. Someone might be persuaded, while at the same time, not convinced:
She persuaded me to do it, but I'm still not convinced it was right
. When something or someone
persuades
us to act, it might be by using reason or logic, but it could also be by using force, lies, or guilt.

Convince
refers to an unforced change of mind and heart that precedes action. We consider the evidence, and if it is strong enough, it
convinces
us and changes our perspective.

In formal writing,
convince
never takes an infinitive, but
persuade
almost always does. You cannot be convinced
to do
something; you can only be convinced
that
something, or be convinced
of
something.

See
choral, coral
.

See
chord, cord
.

See
chorale, corral
.

Council
: a group of people meeting for a purpose.

Counsel
: advice (noun); an attorney (noun); to give advice or guidance (verb).

The
of
stays. These days, even veteran communicators are saying and writing “couple miles from here” or “costs a couple bucks.” That used to be the jargon of tough guys in gangster movies.