grammar

When Less Is More… I Mean Fewer

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ShoppingCart

So, you’re checking out at the grocery store and you have eight items in your basket. The Express Lane clearly says “10 items or less” and you wait in that line.

You stand there staring at the sign. Wait a minute! Was that was how you were taught to write at school? Surely “less” is wrong! Shouldn’t it be “fewer”?

When less is more...I mean fewer
When less is more…I mean fewer

You’re absolutely right. Grammarians often talk about count nouns and mass nouns. A count noun is something that you can count (one, two, three…), and a mass noun is somehow uncountable.

For example, you can count items. You simply have to look in your grocery cart! But can you really count flour? One flour, two flours, three flours? No, of course not. You could possibly talk about grains of flour, and I wouldn’t envy any grocery store employee tasked with that job!

So, what’s the rule? Use “less” with mass nouns like flour, and “fewer” with items you can count.

Here are a few examples:

Count Nouns                  Mass Nouns

Fewer dollars                                               Less money

Fewer teaspoons of sugar                          Less sugar

Fewer bottles of wine                                 Less wine

Fewer calories                                              Less energy

Fewer brain cells                                         Less brain power

Fortunately, “more” does not present the same dilemma. You can use “more” with count nouns and mass nouns!

 

What on Earth Is a Dangling Participle Anyway?

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Hanging_Off_Cliff

Some people remember that their teachers told them a dangling participle is a bad thing. But that’s all they remember! It’s hard to avoid dangling participles unless you know exactly what they are.

First, a (present) participle is a verb form ending in -ing. Dancing, laughing, eating, drinking, sleeping, dreaming, and so on! (You can also have past participles, but we’ll deal with them in a later article.)

Now let’s use one in a sentence without dangling!

Dancing my way down the garden path, I felt excited as I approached the little house.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Now let’s dangle!

Dancing my way down the garden path, the house instantly made me feel welcome and excited.

The participle (dancing) is dangling because the subject of the sentence (the house) wasn’t dancing! I was. When you use a participle, it should refer to an action performed by the subject of the sentence.

Let’s consider a few more. Try to sort out the danglers from the correct sentences. Which ones are danglers?

  1. Working until the small hours of the morning, the proposal was finally ready for submission.
  2. Studying until the library closed every night, she deserved a little break.
  3. Dangling on the rope that held him captive, the prisoner howled with pain while his captors tortured him.
  4. Considering the impact of global warming, a new bill was passed in the Senate.
  5. Rolling in the grass, the children squealed with delight.
  6. Rolling a cigarette for the last time, the condemned man wondered whether his pardon would be granted.
  7. Smiling in anticipation of a great wine, the cork came easily out of the last bottle he opened.
  8. Bickering and quarreling from start to finish, the dinner was nothing short of a disaster.
  9. Kicking and screaming as loudly as she could, the kidnappers forced the little girl into the waiting car.
  10. Sending what was to be her last text message, her car collided with the oncoming truck.
  11. Roaring in anger, the lion watched the hunters put the bodies of the cubs into the truck.
  12. Realizing that we had to reduce our spending or face certain bankruptcy, our credit cards were locked in our a safe deposit box and used only for emergencies.

And here are the answers!

The danglers: 1, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 12.

 

Discrete or Discreet

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Confused_People

Perhaps the most difficult words to master are the ones that sound alike but have different meanings. I recently wrote an article about the distinction between compliment and complement.

Someone asked me the other day about the words, discreet and discrete. They sound alike, but the spelling can be confusing.

Discreet means tactful or unobtrusive. Some things in life need a gentle and subtle touch. We approach them carefully making sure we don’t offend anybody along the way. That kind of behavior is discreet. The noun associated with it is discretion.

On the other hand, discrete means distinct or separate. We might use it to emphasize that two things aren’t associated with each other. You might find your bedroom flooded because your roof is leaking. On the same day, a plumbing problem caused by your washing machine has caused your basement to flood. These two problems are discrete because the causes are different and separate. Discreteness is the noun associate with discrete.

Although you might be tempted to use these two words interchangeably, you have to remember that they are discrete! Their meanings are very different.

 

Starting Sentences With And or But

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Child_Writing

They often say that you learn most of what you need to know at a very early age. Successful people are very small when they learn to share their toys, play fair, clean up their own messes, flush the toilet, and say they’re sorry.

But one thing that teachers often tell us very early in life is just plain wrong. Children are sometimes told never to start sentences with “and” or “but.” The truth is that it’s perfectly fine to do so, and it can often be quite effective in your writing. It’s a pretty good idea, with any turn of phrase or sentence structure, to ask yourself why you’re doing it that way.

That’s the whole story. And I am sticking to it.

Click here for an interesting discussion of this grammatical superstition. This site, an Oxford University Press blog, also discusses other grammar myths and aspects of language usage.

 

E. I. E. I. – Whoa!

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Thinking_ie_eg

Is it just me, or have you noticed that these two abbreviations are often used interchangeably? They shouldn’t be! While i.e. and e.g. are both abbreviations for Latin terms, i.e. stands for id est and means roughly “that is” or “in other words,” while e.g. stands for exempli gratia, which means “for example.” Not the same thing at all.

Here’s a trick from Grammar Girl for remembering the difference — i.e., which starts with i, means “in other words,” and e.g., which starts with e, means “for example.”

I = in other words

E= example

Also, be sure to use appropriate commas, periods, and parentheses. In the two examples below, both abbreviations are surrounded by commas and/or parentheses.

  • Please arrive home on time, i.e., 6 p.m.
  • Please follow the rules (e.g., getting home by 6 p.m.).

Compliment or Complement

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Question

Two commonly confused words are compliment and complement. It’s easy to see why. After all, they sound the same.

Use compliment when you are talking about an expression of admiration or praise. For example:

  • When I wear my new jacket, I frequently receive compliments.
  • My boss complimented me on my punctuality and orderly approach to my work.
  • When someone pays you a compliment, try not to blush. Just enjoy it!

A complement is something that completes something else. You might go to a restaurant. The food was delicious, but the combination of the food and wine made the meal memorable. So you might say that the wine was a perfect complement to the food. Perhaps the confusion is caused because a complement expresses the idea that things are better together, and that intuitively seems as if one is praising the other! Other examples are:

  • Her jewelry really complements her new outfit. (Each looks good on its own, but the combination really works.)
  • I don’t view elearning as an alternative to instructor-led training, but as a complement. (Our program needs both components to be complete.)
  • Michael’s skills as an analyst complement Latifa’s skills as an articulate advocate for the company. Together they provide ideal leadership for the company. (Both Latifa and Michael are great, but in very different ways. Their combined strengths give them real power.)

 

 

 

 

 

Apostrophes and Plurals

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Grammar

In a previous article, I ranted about the use of apostrophes for plurals. I hate them!

Someone asked me if it was correct to make acronyms plural with an apostrophe. The answer is simple. No. It doesn’t make any difference. You shouldn’t use an apostrophe to make an acronym plural. For example:

  1. There are four ATMs in the mall.
  2. NGOs must conform to the rules established by their boards.
  3. All the VIPs were given a glass of champagne.
  4. I gave away all my CDs.

If you are talking about possession, though, it’s fine to use an apostrophe. (He scribbled on all over the CD’s label.)

The only exception to this rule, according to The Chicago Manual of Style, is “when an abbreviation contains internal periods or both capital and lowercase letters.”

 

Ampersands

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Ampersand

Just think of all the time you’d save if you could type an ampersand instead of writing out the word “and”!

Despite the undisputed benefits, you’d be breaking style conventions and displaying bad taste. The style guide published by Johns Hopkins University makes the point well:

Use only when the ampersand is part of the formal name of a department, division, company, etc.: U.S. News & World Report, Evergreen Museum & Library.

Do not use an ampersand to avoid the repetition of and, as in, The School of Arts & Sciences and the School of Engineering are based at Homewood. Use instead the School of Arts and Sciences and the School of Engineering.

An Everyday Mistake That Some People Make Every Day

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Writing

I don’t want to be one of those nitpicky people who point out little grammar mistakes. Those people frighten me! Because honestly, I know I’m not perfect. I probably make all sorts of grammar mistakes without even realizing it.

But there’s one mistake that kind of amazes me because it’s so common – and even more surprising, I recently saw it in a movie trailer! I don’t think I’ve ever seen a grammar mistake in a trailer before!

The trailer was for a horror movie called “Green Inferno.” I guess the trailer is a little disturbing (what with the horror and all), so instead of linking to it, I’ll just present a screen shot…

GreenInferno

The issue is with the word “everyday.” Everyday (one word) has a different meaning than “every day” (two words).

  • Everyday – Ordinary, commonplace. For example, “Commuting to work is an everyday event.”
  • Every day – Means the same thing as “each day.” For example, “I eat pasta every day.”

If you’re ever in doubt, try using the words “each day” in your sentence. If it makes sense, use “every day” (two words). If it doesn’t make sense, use “everyday” (one word).

  • “I begin each day with a brisk walk.” That makes sense. So you would use “every day.”
  • “This is my each day silverware.” That makes no sense at all. So you would use “everyday.”

So in the Green Inferno trailer, they should have written, “Every day over 80,000 acres of rainforest are destroyed.” I’m sure that trailers cost a lot to make, but I think they should have spent a little bit more on an editor.

 

Where Are Your Principles?

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principal

Two words in English often cause confusion: principal and principle. After all, they have exactly the same pronunciation! You can easily figure out which one to use like this. See if the word, chief, would also work. Let’s think about a few sentences:

  1. The principal investigator is responsible for submitting the final report.
  2. I wouldn’t do that because it’s against my principles.
  3. The principal cause of the failure was a design error.
  4. We used proven principles of instructional design to create this class.
  5. I agree with you in principle, but I need time to think about it.
  6. The board chose Mrs. Desai to be the school’s new principal.
  7. The Peter Principle states that an employee will rise to his or her level of incompetence.

It’s easy to see that chief would work in the first, third, and sixth sentences. Perhaps it’s not exactly the word you’d want to use, but the sentence makes sense:

  •  The chief investigator is responsible for submitting the final report.
  • The chief cause of the failure was a design error.
  • The board chose Mrs. Desai to be the school’s new chief.

As they sometimes say, the chief is your pal. Use principal when it means chief; otherwise use principle.

And when it comes to a loan, remember that the chief thing you tend to think about is the money you borrow rather than the interest. That’s why financiers talk about principal as opposed to interest.

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