Garner’s Usage Tip of the Day

Remote Relatives (1). Today: Generally. “Every relative word which is used shall instantly present its antecedent to the mind of the reader, without the least obscurity.” Hugh Blair, Lectures on Rhetoric 65 (Grenville Kleiser ed., 1911). Surprisingly few modern grammarians discuss what has become an increasingly common problem: the separation of the relative pronoun (“that,” …

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Miscellaneous Entries. registrant /REJ-i-struhnt/ does not rhyme, in the final syllable, with “restaurant.” Yet somehow, within the influential Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C., the pervasive pronunciation is /REJ-i-stront/, with a moderately strong final syllable. regulable (/REG-yuh-luh-buhl/) = able to be regulated; susceptible to regulation. “Regulatable,”* though incorrect, does occur — e.g.: “Where the …

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remorselessly. Part A: And “unremorsefully.” These two terms are essentially equivalent. “Remorselessly” is far more common and somewhat more pejorative. Part B: Mistakenly Made *”remorsely.” Although “remorsely”* isn’t recorded in the Oxford English Dictionary or other dictionaries, some writers have taken to using it — apparently as a contracted form of “remorselessly.” E.g.: o “Ever …

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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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Miscellaneous Entries. refugee; evacuee. “Refugee” (= one who flees home to seek safety) originally denoted French Huguenots who fled to England in the late 1680s to escape religious persecution. The word has another (rare) sense, denoting a fugitive on the run. “Refugee” had lost most of its connotations of foreignness or truancy when Hurricane Katrina …

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relative to. “Relative to” (= in relation to; in comparison with) is, in Eric Partridge’s words, “gobbledygook” (Usage & Abusage at 263). Though that pronouncement is a bit strong, the phrase can be easily replaced to good advantage — e.g.: o “If you made a list of the worst banking crises relative to [read ‘in …

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reiterate, -tion; iterate, -tion. It is perhaps not too literalistic to use “iterate” in the sense “to repeat,” and “reiterate” in the sense “to repeat a second time [i.e., to state a third time].” But the distinction is observed by only the most punctilious writers, “reiterate” being the usual term in either sense. Since an …

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rein; reign (3). Today: “reign supreme.” As further evidence of Murphy’s Law at work, the opposite error (‘rein’ for ‘reign’) occurs as well — e.g.: o “His rein [read ‘reign’] as Fort Meade’s tobacco-chewing, play-calling leader ended abruptly in September 1993.” Tom Ford, “Fort Meade’s Jamison Brings Stability, Nostalgia,” Tampa Trib., 1 Sept. 1995, at …

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rein; reign (2). Today: “hold the reins.” “Rein” and “reign” are also confused in the noun forms: one holds the “reins,” not the “reigns.” E.g.: o “Ron Low has a hold of the Oilers’ reigns [read ‘reins’] for now, but should he not work out, look for former Canucks and Flyers coach Bob McCammon to …

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Miscellaneous Entries. referable; *referrable; *referrible. The preferred form is “referable” (= capable of being referred to) — which, like “preferable,” is accented on the first syllable; otherwise, the final “-r-” would be doubled. “Referrable”* often mistakenly appears. Although the form is old, it has long been held inferior to “referable.” “Referrible”* is a needless variant. …

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reify. “Reify” (= to make material, or convert mentally into a thing) is a transitive verb — e.g.: o “In his first two years, Clinton’s single biggest mistake was seeking to reify, in one great leap, his panoramic revelation of the perfect healthcare system.” Ronald Brownstein, “Expect Newt Gingrich to Renew Debate About Government’s Role,” …

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regretful; regrettable. Errors made are “regrettable”; the people who have made them should be “regretful.” The most common error is to misuse “regretful” for “regrettable,” especially in the adverbial forms — e.g.: o “Yet regretfully [read ‘regrettably’], there may be less than full understanding that MARTA’s rail-service areas are really a function of trip volume …

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registrate. “Registrate” is an ill-conceived back-formation from “registration,” the verb “register” being standard — e.g.: o “Listeners can qualify by registrating [read ‘registering’] at various local sites.” “Tuned In,” York Daily Record, 10 May 1994, at 1. o “Those interested must apply and be interviewed before registrating [read ‘registering’] for the class.” “Hospice Training Scheduled,” …

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registrable. “Registrable (/REJ-is-truh-buhl/) is so spelled — e.g.: “The stakes are open to all AKC registrable pointing breeds.” Doug Smith, “Walleyes Are Hot on Mille Lacs,” Star Trib. (Minneapolis), 26 May 2002, at C19. “Registerable”* is a common misspelling — e.g.: o “[In] KanPopper, the inevitable deformation of the name . . . makes it …

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Miscellaneous Entries. redemptive; *redemptory; redemptional. “Redemptive” = tending to redeem, redeeming. “Redemptory”* is a needless variant. “Redemptional” = of or pertaining to redemption. red tape. Lawyers and government officials formerly used red ribbons (called “tapes”) to tie their papers together. Gradually during the 19th century, these red ribbons came to symbolize rigid adherence to time-consuming …

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register; registrar. Both terms designate a governmental officer who keeps official records. The Oxford English Dictionary notes that “register” was commonly used in this sense from 1580 to 1800 and that “registrar” is now the usual word. But in American English “register” retains vitality: various levels of government have “registers of copyrights,” “registers of deeds,” …

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regardless. “Regardless” (= without regard to) should not be used for “despite” (= in spite of). E.g.: o “Take heart. Regardless [read ‘Despite’] what happened Saturday, the Broncos will be performing in the Super Bowl Sunday.” Mark Wolf, “Get Over the Broncos: Others Need Support,” Rocky Mountain News (Denver), 7 Jan. 1997, at C2. o …

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regiment. “Regiment” (= a military unit made up of several battalions) is coming to be misused for “regimen” (= a systematic plan designed to improve health, skills, etc.) — e.g.: o “Wealthy people plagued with weak nerves and ‘auto-intoxication’ flocked to the San, as it was known, from all over the world to undergo a …

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regardless of whether. This is the idiomatic phrasing, not “regardless whether”* — e.g.: o “When he wanted to send troops to help end the civil war a year ago, President Clinton told a skeptical public and Congress that they would be withdrawn in December 1996 regardless whether [read ‘regardless of whether’] peace had been achieved.” …

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Miscellaneous Entries. recreational; recreative. “Recreational” is the standard adjective corresponding to the noun “recreation”; it’s about 1,000 times as common as its synonym “recreative,” a needless variant. But “recreative” is genuinely useful in the sense “tending to re-create” — e.g.: “The paradoxically destructive and recreative force of the mythical flood seemed as real to Friday’s …

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