Bryan A. Garner

This phrase (meaning “shocked or stunned, usu. by something someone has done”) is sometimes wrongly written — or wrongly said — *"taken back." E.g.: o “Never one to be taken back [read ‘taken aback’] by a new situation, even at the age of eight, Paula had learned a technique for disarming people.” Walter B. Barbe, …

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“Take is inflected “take/took/taken.” The form *"tooken" is low dialect. It occasionally shows up in quoted speech — e.g.: o “And how he absolutely hated ‘to get tooken [read ‘taken’] out of a ball game.’” Garret Mathews, “Ol’ Diz Would Have Struck Out in Broadcasting Today,” Evansville Courier & Press, 22 Jan. 1999, at B1 …

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In sailing, a “tack” is a change in course made by turning the vessel or the sail so that the wind strikes the other side of the sail. To change “tack,” then, is to change course. Sometimes writers using this idiom pick the more familiar “tact” (= discretion, diplomacy), possibly because the idiom suggests an …

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“Table” has nearly opposite senses in American English and British English. By “tabling” an item, Americans mean postponing discussion for a later time, while Britons mean putting forward for immediate discussion. Thus Americans might misunderstand the following sentences: o “MPs from both sides of the Commons will tomorrow table parliamentary questions demanding to know what …

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talk to; talk with. The first suggests a superior’s advising or reprimanding or even condescending {I want to talk to you about the work you’re doing}. The second suggests a conversation between equals, with equal participation {I want to talk with you about our project}. The distinction is chiefly relevant when the parties have different …

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Today: Ambiguities. Occasionally an ambiguity arises with synesis — e.g.: “There is now a variety of antidepressant drugs that can help lift these people out of their black moods.” If the sense of “a variety of” is “several,” then “are” is the appropriate verb; if the sense of the phrase is “a type of,” then …

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Today: Nouns of Multitude. Among the common nouns of multitude are “bulk,” “bunch,” “flood,” “handful,” “host,” “majority,” “mass,” “minority,” “multitude,” “percentage,” “proportion,” and “variety.” Each of these is frequently followed by “of” [+ plural noun] [+ plural verb]. Though singular in form, these nouns can justifiably take plural verbs — e.g.: o “Republicans in California …

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Today: Sense over Syntax. In some contexts, meaning — as opposed to the strict requirements of grammar or syntax — governs subject-verb agreement. Henry Sweet, the 19th-century English grammarian, used the term “antigrammatical constructions” for these triumphs of logic over grammar. (Expressions in which grammar triumphs over logic are termed “antilogical.”) Modern grammarians call the …

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Although these are synonyms (= the act or process of forming syllables, or of dividing words into syllables), prefer “syllabification,” since it corresponds to the more common verb “syllabify” (as opposed to *"syllabicate"). But the two nouns are almost equally common — e.g.: o “Other dictionaries use the same syllabification with a slightly different pronunciation: …

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As a verb, “swoon” means either (1) “to faint” or (2) “to be overjoyed or enraptured” — e.g.: “Like a latter-day St. Theresa swooning in ecstasy, her visage is simultaneously lost in a spiritual trance and abandoned in carnal reverie.” Christopher Knight, “Branching Out: Victor Estrada’s Work at Santa Monica Museum Is Both Inventive, Grim,” …

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So inflected. The dialectal *"swang" is fairly common — e.g.: o “One of [the boys] swang [read ‘swung’] erratically, topping his ball, which rattled a few yards along the grass and disappeared into a drainage ditch.” Don Gillmor, “Scot on the Rocks,” Sun-Sentinel (Ft. Lauderdale), 27 Feb. 1994, at J1. o “As the youngster performed …

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symposium. The plural is :symposiums.” *"Symposia" is a pedantry. synagogue, n., is the standard spelling. *"Synagog" is a variant. synchronous; *synchronic; *synchronal. The second and third are needless variants. synonym for “pseudonym” (= a pen name) is a bizarre error — e.g.: “All of the contributors used synonyms [read ‘pseudonyms’]: Etienne George signed himself as …

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“Swapping horses while crossing the stream” is H.W. Fowler’s term for vacillating between two constructions (Modern English Usage 589 [1st ed.]). Thus, someone writes that “the rate of divorce is almost as high in Continental Europe, other things being equal, than it is in the United States.” The first “as” needs a second one in …

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“Sustained injuries” is officialese for “was injured” — e.g.: “Also since the series, parents have filed lawsuits alleging two area children sustained injuries [read ‘were injured’] at unsafe play areas.” Rosa Salter, “L.V. Dad Envisions Playground Safety Network,” Morning Call (Allentown, Pa.), 25 Nov. 1996, A.M. Mag. §, at D1. Why prefer an edit that …

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The third edition of Garner’s Modern American Usage reflects several new practices. Invariably inferior forms, for example, are now marked with asterisks preceding the term or phrase, a marking common in linguistics. The most interesting new feature is the Language-Change Index. Its purpose is to measure how widely accepted various linguistic innovations have become. Such …

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swat (= to swing at [something] with a slapping movement) is the standard spelling. *”Swot” is a variant. sweetbrier, denoting a type of European rose, is so spelled — not *”sweetbriar.” swivel, vb., makes “swiveled” and “swiveling” in American English, “swivelled” and “swivelling” in British English. *sworn affidavit is a common redundancy. syllabus. The plural …

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