Miscellaneous Entries. voyage; passage. A slight differentiation is possible. “Voyage” denotes a journey, especially by sea. “Passage” is almost synonymous with “voyage” in that sense, but it does not have as much connotation of returning. That is, “passage” usually denotes some sort of one-way change, such as (1) a progression from one place or state …

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what (3). Today: Plural “what” Uses. Part A: In a Noun Clause Followed by a Plural Predicate. In this construction, “what” means “the things that” — e.g.: “What the judge principally wants to hear are the relevant cases.” Glanville Williams, Learning the Law 163 (11th ed. 1982). Although some would say that the following sentence …

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what (2). Today: Singular “what” Uses. Part A: In a Noun Clause Followed by a Singular Predicate Noun. This construction is the easiest: “what” means “the thing that” and takes a singular verb. E.g.: “Unfortunately, what is needed is a return to terms and manners now maybe almost lost to our society.” Elliott Brack, “Phone …

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what (1). Today: Singular or Plural? Eric Partridge opined that “what,” as the subject of a clause, generally takes a singular (third-person) verb regardless of what follows (not “what follow”) (Usage & Abusage at 362). Thus: o “What she wants is a new house.” o “What we need in this company is more type-A personalities.” …

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Miscellaneous Entries. volitional; *volitive. “Volitional” = of or belonging to volition (i.e., an act of willing or resolving); pertaining to the action of willing. E.g.: “Mary Ann Sandoval . . . testified that she believed Stuart’s memory loss and behavioral problems were self-serving and volitional.” Ginny McKibben, “Suspect Cleared for Slay Trial,” Denver Post, 29 …

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wet / wet(ted) / wet(ted). This verb has both a regular and an irregular past and past participle form. In most contexts, “wet” is the predominant form — e.g.: o “She wet her whistle with a sip of water.” Warren Gerds, “Peters Pours on the Charm at Weidner Concert,” Green Bay Press-Gaz., 29 Sept. 2002, …

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welsher; welcher. “Welsher” is the usual form; the term means “one who shirks his or her responsibility” and most commonly refers to one who does not pay gambling debts. E.g.: “But I don’t suppose he had a fermenting punter after him shouting ‘Welsher!’ at the top of his voice.” P.G. Wodehouse, The Return of Jeeves …

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Wellerisms. A wellerism (after Sam Weller or his father, two noted characters in Charles Dickens’s Pickwick Papers [1836-1837]), is a statement, especially a proverbial or allusive one, in which the speaker puts the words in a new light or a surprising setting, often by means of punning. E.g.: o “‘That’s food for reflection,’ as the …

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Miscellaneous Entries. virtue of, by; *in virtue of. “By virtue of,” not *”in virtue of,” is now the idiomatic phrase. The latter is archaic. virtuoso. The plural is preferably “virtuosos” — not *”virtuosi” (a pedantic form that is less than half as common in modern print sources). virus. The plural is “viruses.” visor (= a …

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weep / wept / wept. So inflected. The erroneous form *”weeped” sometimes appears — e.g.: o “Players from both teams weeped [read ‘wept’] and prayed.” Jarrett Bell, “Terrifying Injury Ends Player’s NFL Career,” USA Today, 23 Dec. 1997, at A1. o “‘I can’t stand up. I can’t stand up,’ [Carolyn] Sims weeped [read ‘wept’] as …

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weave / wove / woven. “Weaved” is correct only in the sense “moved in a winding or zigzag way” — e.g.: “Like scores of Saturday shoppers, Potter found himself in the middle of a 40-minute foot chase that began near the Capitol, weaved in and out of State Street buildings, and ended with the arrest …

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Miscellaneous Entries. vindictive; vindicatory; *vindicative. “Vindictive” = given to or characterized by revenge or retribution. “Vindicatory” = (1) providing vindication {a vindicatory eyewitness account}; or (2) punitive, retributive {vindicatory actions against the company}. Because sense 2 verges closely on the domain of “vindictive,” “vindicatory” should be reserved for sense 1. *”Vindicative” is a needless variant …

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Weasel Words. Theodore Roosevelt said, in a speech in St. Louis on May 31, 1916: “One of our defects as a nation is a tendency to use what have been called weasel words. When a weasel sucks eggs it sucks the meat out of the egg and leaves it an empty shell. If you use …

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wear / wore / worn. So inflected. The simple-past “wore” is sometimes mistakenly used as a past participle — e.g.: o “And Imler turned out to be a pleasant surprise, using his quickness to create shots and gaining confidence at the point as the season has wore [read ‘worn’] on.” John C. Cotey, “The 2 …

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weaponize. For a long time — probably beginning in the 1970s — this “-ize” neologism was in the exclusive domain of military and international-relations jargon. Uses were infrequent, but the word occurred as early as 1984 — e.g.: “‘Absolutely no work is being done to develop, manufacture, store or weaponize biological warfare agents,’ the [Pentagon] …

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