Garner’s Usage Tip of the Day

*slanderize. *"Slanderize" is a needless variant of "slander," vb. It seems to occur mostly in speech — e.g.: o "'If you're a politician, you should give an awful lot of thought to what you're saying, particularly when you're going to slanderize [read 'slander'] your opponent.'" Sam Howe Verhovek, "Sticking with One of Their Men," N.Y. …

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Miscellaneous Entries. signal, vb., makes "signaled" and "signaling" in American English, "signalled" and "signalling" in British English. significance; signification. These should be distinguished. "Significance" = (1) a subtly or indirectly conveyed meaning; suggestiveness; the quality of implying; or (2) the quality of being important or significant. "Signification" = (1) the act of signifying, as by …

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Skunked Terms. When a word undergoes a marked change from one use to another — a phase that might take ten years or a hundred — it’s likely to be the subject of dispute. Some people (Group 1) insist on the traditional use; others (Group 2) embrace the new use, even if it originated purely …

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skew; skewer. To "skew" is to change direction; to "skew" statistics is to make them misleading, especially by including some factor that is irrelevant to the inquiry. To "skewer" is (1) to impale, or (2) figuratively, to satirize or criticize. As a noun, a "skewer" is (1) a stick or rod that food is impaled …

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site; sight. This is yet another example of homophonic confusion. A "site" is a place or location; a "sight" is (among other things) something seen or worth seeing. This example is an unusually close call: "The intern liked to ask the 42-year-old lawyer, who was working for the firm as an independent contractor, for advice …

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Miscellaneous Entries. sibylline (= prophetic; mysterious) is often misspelled *"sybilline" — e.g.: There were Joan's often sybilline [read ‘sibylline’] remarks — Of course, we always do Tibet from the north. Nicholas Haslam, Joan Lady Camrose: Family Fortunes, Guardian, 29 May 1997, at 17. The word is pronounced /SIB-uh-lIn/. sic, vb.; sick, vb. "Sic" means to …

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sink / sank / sunk. So inflected. Occasionally the past participle ousts the simple-past form from its rightful place — e.g.: o "When the Montreal Expos announced that they had selected outfielder Errick L. Williams in the annual Rule 5 draft, it caused barely a ripple of interest. Until it sunk [read ‘sank’] in exactly …

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single most. This grating redundancy (“single” adds nothing to the superlative it precedes) appears most often in quoted speech, but it’s also common in edited text — e.g.: o “To see or not to see? Stratford is a must for every big-bus tour in England, and probably the single most [read ‘most’] popular side-trip from …

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Part A: As Adjectives. “Single” = (1) only one in number; sole; individual {a single strand of hair at the crime scene}; or (2) unmarried {single white male seeks single female for conversation and possible romance}. “Singular” = (1) exceptional, remarkable, one-of-a-kind {a singular achievement}; or (2) odd, eccentric {singular behavior}. In the following example, …

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Language-Change Index. 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 …

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sing / sang / sung. So inflected. The past-participial "sung" is often misused as a simple-past verb — e.g.: o "She sung [read ‘sang’] the title track." Timothy Finn, "Williams Rocks, Sways Through Raw, Earnest Concert," Kansas City Star, 13 Dec. 1998, at B8. o "But the poet’s more than 1,500 songs, including many soulful …

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since. This subordinating conjunction may bear a sense either of time or of logical connection. Despite the canard that the word properly relates only to time, the causal meaning has existed continuously in the English language for more than a thousand years. In modern print sources, the causal sense is almost as common as the …

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simulcast / simulcast / simulcast. So inflected — e.g.: o “TNT . . . actually produced the game broadcast that Channel 56 simulcasted [read ‘simulcast’].” Howard Manly, “Ratings Points, Few for Style,” Boston Globe, 16 Sept. 1997, at C7. o “‘Kickoff’ will be simulcasted [read ‘simulcast’] on Channel 13 and Home Team Sports.” Milton Kent, …

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Miscellaneous Entries. should; would. “Should” appears with the first, second, or third person to express a sense of duty {I really should go with you}; a condition {if Bess should call, tell her I’ll be back at 4 o’clock}; or an expectation {they should be here in five minutes}. “Would” appears with any of the …

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simplistic. “Simplistic,” a pejorative adjective meaning “oversimple, facile,” became a vogue word during the 1980s and 1990s: “With adults, a word catches on and it becomes a hobbyhorse that we ride to death. Remember when early critics of President Reagan’s economic plans called them ‘simplistic’? It was a word seldom used until then, but once …

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simpatico. Like “sympathy,” the adjective “sympatico” derives from the Greek word “sympatheia” (= sympathy). But “simpatico” (= mutually fond or understanding) came to English in the 19th century as a loanword from either Italian or Spanish — probably the former. In good English the word has always had the “sim-” spelling. Stumbling on the pattern …

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signee. “Signee” = a high-profile recruit, often an athlete, who is signed up by a school, employer, etc. Although the signee is the one who signs (active voice), the passive “-ee” makes sense in most contexts because the signee “is signed” by an organization. E.g.: o “Prairie has Husky signee Dan Dickau and is expected …

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signatory, n.; signatary; *signator. H.W. Fowler and George P. Krapp both recommended in the 1920s that “signatary” be adopted as the preferred noun (Modern English Usage 534 [1st ed. 1926]; A Comprehensive Guide to Good English 540 [1927]). Today, however, “signatary” is virtually never used. Most dictionaries record only “signatory,” and that form is 1,000 …

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Miscellaneous Entries. shelf. The plural is "shelves." shellac, n. & vb., is the standard spelling. *"Shellack" is a variant. But the proper inflections for the verb are "shellacked" and "shellacking." sherbet /SHUHR-buht/ is commonly mispronounced with an intrusive “-r-“: /SHUHR-buhrt/. Because of this mispronunciation, the word is sometimes wrongly spelled *”sherbert.” Language-Change Index — (1) …

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sight unseen. From a strictly logical point of view, the phrase makes little sense. In practice, however, it has an accepted and useful meaning: “(of an item) bought without an inspection before the purchase.” Sometimes the phrase is erroneously written *"site unseen" — e.g.: “Experts say the Web could be even more dangerous than the …

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