Garner’s Usage Tip of the Day

Sexism (3). Today: Better Solutions. For the persuasive writer — for whom credibility is all — the writer’s point of view matters less than the reader’s. Thus, if one is writing for an unknown or a broad readership, the only course that does not risk damaging one’s credibility is to write around the problem. For …

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Sexism (2). Today: The Pronoun Problem. English has a number of common-sex general words, such as “person,” “anyone,” “everyone,” and “no one,” but no common-sex singular personal pronoun, just “he,” “she,” and “it.” The traditional approach has been to use the masculine “he” and “him” to cover all people. That this practice has come under …

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Sexism (1). Today: Generally. If you start with the pragmatic premise that you want to avoid misleading or distracting your readers, then you’ll almost certainly conclude that it’s best to avoid sexist language. Regardless of your political persuasion, that conclusion seems inevitable — if you’re a pragmatist. But does avoiding sexism mean resorting to awkward …

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sewn up. “Sewn up” (= [of an outcome] made certain) is sometimes mistakenly written *"sown up," as if the metaphor had to do with sowing (as opposed to sewing) — e.g.: o “It seems that the powerful had the game sown [read ‘sewn’] up from the start.” James Gill, “Justice for Those Who Can Pay,” …

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seven seas. This figurative term has been used since antiquity, but its meaning has varied among cultures. To the ancient Romans, the “seven seas” were a group of saltwater lagoons near what is now Venice. At about the same time, the Persians called the streams that flowed into the Oxus River the “seven seas.” Much …

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Miscellaneous Entries. *self-confessed is a common redundancy — e.g.: “A court that frees a self-confessed [read ‘confessed’] murderer on a technicality would seem to bear responsibility for any harm that criminal may do in the future.” Mario Pei, Words in Sheep’s Clothing 86 (1969). Language-Change Index — *"Self-confessed" for “confessed”: Stage 3. selvage (= a …

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Miscellaneous Entries. secretive; secretory. The first is the adjective (“inclined to secrecy, uncommunicative”) corresponding to one sense “secrete” (“to hide”; the second is the adjective (“having the function of secreting”) corresponding another sense of “secrete” (“to exude from glands”). “Secretive” is best pronounced /SEE-kruh-tiv/ for sense 1 and /si-KREE-tiv/ for sense 2. “Secretory” is pronounced …

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Sesquipedality (3). Today: A Synthesis of Style. The problem remains: to what extent is it advisable to use big words? The Fowler brothers generally thought it inadvisable: “Prefer the familiar word to the far-fetched.” H.W. Fowler & F.G. Fowler, The King’s English 14 (3d ed. 1931). But “prefer” raises an important question: how strong is …

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Sesquipedality (2). Today: Traditional Approaches. Hard words have a legitimate literary tradition. English has inherited two strains of literary expression, both deriving ultimately from ancient Greek rhetoric. On the one hand is the plain style now in vogue, characterized by unadorned vocabulary, directness, unelaborate syntax, and earthiness. (This style is known to scholars as Atticism.) …

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Sesquipedality (1). Today: Generally. Sesquipedality is the use of big words, literally those that are “a foot and a half” long. Although the English language has an unmatched wealth of words available for its users, most of its resources go untapped. The Oxford English Dictionary contains more than 600,000 words, yet even highly educated people …

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Miscellaneous Entries. Seattleite; *Seattlite. The first is the standard spelling; the second is a variant form. seaworthy. One word — not hyphenated. second-guess, v.t. Hyphenated thus. secretariat (= the position or quarters of a secretary) is the standard spelling. *"Secretariate" is a variant. secretary is pronounced /SEK-ruh-tair-ee/ — not /SEK-uh-tair-ee/. secrete = (1) to hide; …

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series. Though serving as a plural when the need arises, “series” is ordinarily a singular {the series is quite popular}. But it is also a noun of multitude, so that phrases such as “a series of things” take a plural verb — e.g.: o “A series of motivational meetings were held in the early evening.” …

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seraph. “Seraph” (/SER-uhf/), referring to a six-winged angel, has two plurals: a Hebrew one (“seraphim”) and a native English one (“seraphs”). “Seraphim” is about six times as common in print, and it sometimes even appears alongside the anglicized plural for “cherub” — e.g.: “Her ‘Angels’ is a similar exposition, where the angelic hierarchy (angels, seraphim, …

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Miscellaneous Entries. schizophrenic; schizoid. Each of these words can function as both adjective (= characterized by schizophrenia) and noun (= a person with schizophrenia). But both words are most often adjectives, and “schizophrenic” is the more common term. If any difference exists, it’s that a “schizoid” (or “schizoid personality”) is someone who is seclusive, shut …

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Miscellaneous Entries. scan is ambiguous: it may mean either (1) “to examine carefully, scrutinize,” or (2) “to skim through, look at hurriedly.” In American English, as it happens, sense 2 now vastly predominates. That usage may be bolstered by the ubiquitous electronic scanner, which contributes to the idea of haste. scarcely any is sometimes mistakenly …

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Sentence Adverbs. Sentence adverbs qualify an entire statement rather than a single word in the sentence. A sentence adverb does not resolve itself into the form “in a ___ manner,” as most adverbs do. Thus, in “Happily, the bill did not go beyond the committee,” the introductory adverb “happily” conveys the writer’s opinion on the …

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sensational; sensationalistic. “Sensational” answers to “sensation” (excitement) and may mean either “awesome” {a sensational performance by the orchestra} or “commanding attention” (in the sense, actually, of “awful”) {the sensational O.J. Simpson trial}. “Sensationalistic” (= overblown; distorted to shock the emotions), answering to “sensationalism,” always carries strongly negative connotations — e.g.: “Print media are being just …

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*self-complacent. *"Self-complacent" is redundant, "complacent" being sufficient — e.g.: o “You will remind the self-complacent [read ‘complacent’] to stop and think of their fellow men.” Joe Fitzgerald, “Unsung Heroes Suffer While Pols Play Budget Games,” Boston Herald, 11 Jan. 1996, at 18. o “In the end, . . . his approach strikes one as limited …

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Miscellaneous Entries. save and except is a fairly common but unjustifiable redundancy — e.g.: “LifeCo is ‘basically prepared to go forward with obtaining a final judgment of foreclosure save and except for the fact [read ‘except’]’ that it does not yet have a complete list of tenants renting space in the garage.” Alex Finkelstein, “LifeCo, …

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*self-admitted. *"Self-admitted," like *”self-confessed,” is a redundancy — e.g.: o “Hawkes is a self-admitted [read ‘an admitted’] toy buff.” Amy Wu, “Toycrafter Sales Spinning Up,” Rochester Democrat & Chron., 21 Dec. 2002, at D9. o “He’s commercially successful — selling just about everything he paints — and a self-admitted [read ‘self-described’ or delete ‘self-admitted’] happy …

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