LawProse Lessons

that (1). Today: And “which.” You’ll encounter two schools of thought on this point. First are those who don’t care about any distinction between these words, who think that “which” is more formal than “that,” and who point to many historical examples of copious “whiches.” They say that modern usage is a muddle. Second are […]

Miscellaneous Entries. the case of. This flotsam phrase is almost always best omitted. their; they’re. A book like this one need not explain such elementary distinctions. So it will not. But: “Liberals are again trying to explain why they lost their fifth presidential election in 20 years. They’ve been talking about what they’re [read ‘their’]

thank you (and its responses). “Thank you” remains the best, most serviceable phrase, despite various attempts to embellish it or truncate it: “thanking you in advance” (presumptuous and possibly insulting), “thank you very much” (with a trailer of surplusage), “thanks” (useful on informal occasions), “many thanks” (informal but emphatic), *”much thanks” (archaic and increasingly unidiomatic),

thankfully. “Thankfully” = in a manner expressing thanks; gratefully {after being saved so unexpectedly, they thankfully said goodbye}. E.g.: “Obligations are thankfully acknowledged to a long line of etymologists, lexicographers, and philologists, whom it would be mere pedantry to call by name.” James Bradstreet Greenough & George Lyman Kittredge, Words and Their Ways in English

Garner’s Usage Tip of the Day than (4). Today: “Than whom.” In the awkward and (fortunately) now-rare inverted construction (e.g., T.S. Eliot, than whom few critics could be considered better), one might expect the nominative “who” to be the preferred pronoun. “Than” is treated as a conjunction in formal usage, not a preposition, so the

than (2). Today: For “then.” This error is so elementary that one might fairly wonder whether it is merely a lapse in proofreading. But it occurs with some frequency — e.g.: “Mr. Bennett did wake up several times, hoping to hear good news, if not about himself, than [read ‘then’] at least about the two

than (1). Today: Verb Not Repeated After (“than is,” “than has”). Often it’s unnecessary (though not ungrammatical) to repeat “be”-verbs and “have”-verbs after “than,” especially when a noun follows — e.g.: o “Jonathan Lipnicki . . . became a national favorite as the too-cute son in ‘Jerry Maguire.’ He’s still cute, probably more so than

Miscellaneous Entries. text, vb. ; texting. As a verb, “text” (= to send a text message) has sprung into favor with the popularity of instant-messaging systems — e.g.: “If you’re shopping for a new plan, analyze your calling, texting and data-download patterns.” Liz F. Kay, “Finding New Ways to Trim Your Cell Phone Expenses,” Baltimore

territory; dependency; commonwealth. The distinctions in American English are as follows: “Territory” = a part of the United States not included within any state but organized with a separate legislature (Webster’s 11th). Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands are territories of the United States; Alaska and Hawaii were formerly territories. “Dependency” = a land or

tenure; tender. “Tenure” (= [1] a holding by right, as of an elected office; [2] the time spent in such an office; or [3] an entitlement to a professional position, esp. at a university, with protection against dismissal) is sometimes used where the intent was “tender,” vb. (= to offer something, esp. in settlement of

tenterhooks. A tenter is a frame for stretching cloth to dry, and tenterhooks are the hooks or nails placed in the tenter to hold the cloth. The set phrase “on tenterhooks,” then, refers to being stretched, therefore strained and nervous. Because the unfamiliar word “tenterhook” is rarely seen outside that phrase, it is prone to

tentative. “Tentative” (/TEN-tuh-tiv/) is often mispronounced, and therefore mistakenly written, as if the word were *”tenative” — e.g.: o “At the all-star break, he was making 42 percent (126 of 300) of his field goals, looking tenative [read ‘tentative’] with the ball.” David Aldridge, “Harvey Grant Has Found That He Could Get to Like Starting

Miscellaneous Entries. termagant (= a quarrelsome, overbearing woman) is pronounced /TUHR-muh-guhnt/, not /-juhnt/. terminus; terminal, n. “Terminus” = the place at the end of a travel route, esp. a railroad or bus line. The plural is “termini” or (much less commonly) “terminuses.” “Terminal” = a station on a transportation route. terra cotta. The noun is

Tenses (6). Today: Threatened Obsolescence of Perfect Tenses. Perhaps the heading here is overdrawn, but a distressingly large number of educated speakers of English seem at least mildly hostile to perfect tenses. There are three: the present perfect, the past perfect (or pluperfect), and the future perfect. And they’re worth some attention. First, the present

Tenses (5). Today: Sequence Errors with “seemed” and “appeared.” The infinitive-related problem with sequence of tenses occurs frequently with the verbs “seemed” and “appeared” — e.g.: o “Ripken appeared to have enjoyed [read ‘appeared to enjoy’] passing Kinugasa more than he enjoyed passing Gehrig.” Mark Maske, “Officially, Ripken Is on Top of the World,” Wash.

Tenses (4). Today: Sequence Errors with Infinitives. An exceedingly common sequence-of-tenses problem occurs with infinitives, which, when put after past-tense verbs, are often wrongly made perfect infinitives — e.g.: o “Remembering how busy General Maxwell Taylor must have been as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1963, how would you have liked to

Tenses (3). Today: Errors in Sequence of Tenses. Examples may be readily found in which the primary sequence of tenses is mangled — e.g.: “Mrs. Yager faces a possible sentence of up to 60 years in prison, although neither side expects that the maximum sentence would [read ‘will’] be imposed if she was [read ‘is’]