Garner’s Usage Tip of the Day

The verb is inflected “strew” / “strewed” / “strewn.” “Strewed” is sometimes misused as a past-participial form — e.g.: o “Cars were strewed [read ‘strewn’] haphazardly in parking lots.” David Montgomery, “Flood Waters Leave Widespread Ruin in Their Wake,” Wash. Post, 23 Jan. 1996, at A1. o “It’s been 13 years since her [Georgia O’Keeffe’s] …

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“Straitlaced” (= rigidly narrow in moral matters; prudish) referred originally, in the 16th century, to a tightly laced corset — “strait” meaning “narrow” or “closely fitting.” Over time, writers have forgotten the etymology (or they never learned it in the first place) and have confused “strait” with “straight.” Hence the erroneous form *”straightlaced” — e.g.: …

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straitjacket. The "strait" in this word means "close-fitting." *"Straightjacket" is a common but undesirable variant for "straitjacket" — e.g.: "Teachers of the subject assigned editorials by rhetorical types until it was realized that such straightjacketing [read ‘straitjacketing’] of students was destructive of talent, not a developer of it." Curtis D. MacDougall, Principles of Editorial Writing …

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straighten; straiten. These two verbs have different meanings. "Straighten" = to make or become straight. "Straiten" = (1) to make narrow, confine; or (2) to put into distress, esp. financial hardship. Because "straiten" is the rarer word, it is sometimes wrongly displaced by "straighten" — e.g.: o "Brookes may pride itself on a different sort …

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Miscellaneous Entries. stoic, adj.; stoical. Neither form is rare enough to be called a needless variant. But H.W. Fowler rightly observed that “stoical” appears more often as a predicate adjective {his behavior was stoical}, while “stoic” is better used attributively {stoic indifference} (Modern English Usage 1st ed. at 565). Unless specifically referring to the ancient …

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stomping ground; stamping ground. The first outnumbers the second by a 3-to-1 ratio in modern print sources. When the first edition of this book appeared in 1998, only one major American dictionary listed "stomping ground." Now almost all dictionaries have it, and about half give it priority over "stamping ground." It's perfectly idiomatic to say …

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stink / stank / stunk. So inflected. *Stinked is a dialectal past tense and past participle. "Stunk" often appears erroneously as a simple-past form, especially in figurative uses — e.g.: o "When I coached, the calls stunk [read 'stank'] then and the calls stink now." Howard Manly, "Patriots, Ch. 4 Winners," Boston Globe, 8 Dec. …

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stimulus. The plural is "stimuli." This word has not traditionally made a native-English plural, but a few writers have nevertheless experimented with *"stimuluses" — e.g.: o "The octopus is meant not to symbolize industry or productivity, but as an example of the kind of visual stimuluses [read 'stimuli'] that America is producing." Robert W. Duffy, …

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stigma. Part A: Plural. “Stigma” (/STiG-muh/) can be pluralized in two ways: “stigmas” and “stigmata” (/stig-MAH-tuh/). The English plural (“-mas”) is preferable in most contexts. But “stigmata” carries the specialized sense “bodily marks resembling the crucifixion wounds of Jesus Christ.” In this sense the word is sometimes pronounced /STiG-muh-tuh/, after the Greek and Latin. Part …

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Miscellaneous Entries. stick with; stick to. Both phrases are acceptable in figurative senses {stick with it!} {stick to it!}. “Stick with” predominates in American English, “stick to” in British English. stiletto. The plural is “stilettos.” still life. Although the usual plural of “life” is “lives,” the phrase “still life” makes the plural “still lifes.” stock; …

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stick / stuck / stuck. So inflected. The exception occurs in hockey and other sports, in which “sticked” (= [1] hit with a stick, or [2] having used a stick) is ubiquitous — e.g.: o “No one has pogo-sticked farther.” John Walters, “The Question Is Why?” Sports Illustrated, 2 Nov. 1998, at 16. o “Lightning …

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staunch; stanch. "Staunch" is preferable as the adjective ("trustworthy, loyal"), "stanch" as the verb ("to restrain the flow of [usu. blood]"). But in practice the adjective is sometimes undesirably used as a verb — e.g.: o "Until now, his most notable move was staunching [read 'stanching'] the flow of red ink by closing New York …

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statutory; *statutorial. "Statutory" = (1) of or relating to legislation {statutory construction}; or (2) legislatively created {the law of patents is purely statutory}. *"Statutorial" is a needless variant not recognized in the dictionaries. But it sometimes appears in print — e.g.: "Now if you think this statutorial [read 'statutory'] change is something that would cause …

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statistic. "Statistic" (= a single term or datum in a statistical compilation) is a back-formation from "statistics" dating from the late 19th century. Today its correctness is beyond challenge. E.g.: o "This statistic is a dramatic turnaround from surveys done as recently as five years ago." Vince Vawter, "Snapshot Shows City Growing in Multiple Ways," …

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Miscellaneous Entries. statutory rape (= sexual intercourse with a female below the age of consent, regardless of whether it occurs against her will) is an Americanism that originated in the 19th century. Originally, statutory-rape laws applied only to female victims, but today the great majority of American states have sex-neutral legislation dealing with this offense. …

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stated otherwise. "Stated otherwise," when used at the very beginning of a sentence, is a pompous version of "in other words." E.g.: "Stated otherwise [read 'In other words'], while conservatives contend UDI by Quebec after a victorious Yes vote would be revolutionary and seditious, pragmatists claim Ottawa's refusal to heed the clearly expressed wishes of …

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Standard English (3). Today: Sociolinguistics. Although some linguists are fond of saying that a standard language is preferred not for any linguistic reason but merely for social reasons, the social factors that affect language users can’t readily be — and shouldn’t be — divorced from linguistics. That is one of the tenets underlying the field …

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Standard English (2). Today: Social Disapproval. Throughout the 20th century, commentators noted (sometimes in strong terms) the social disapproval that attaches to nonstandard English. Mostly this is put in negative terms. If you don’t speak Standard English, you’re at a social and professional disadvantage — e.g.: o “The intelligent people of America use reasonably pure …

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Standard English (1). Today: What Is It? This is a troublesome term: we all think we know what it is, but a definition proves elusive. Broadly speaking, it is the English used by educated people. Some Britons contend that it is the English used by educated Britons, and that whatever is used by educated people …

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Miscellaneous Entries. statistics = (1) the mathematics of collecting and analyzing numerical data; or (2) numerical data. Sense 1 is singular {statistics is an exacting discipline}. Sense 2 is plural {the statistics aren’t yet in}. status (/STAT-uhs/ or /STAY-tuhs/) forms the plural "statuses" (or, in Latin, "status"), not *"stati." status quo; status quo ante; *status …

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