Random Thoughts

RandomThoughtsHere are a few things that I’ve come across lately and thought you might find interesting:

  1. Publically or Publicly? I changed the spelling of “publically” in a document recently and was told that it was a correct alternative spelling and to leave it that way. So I’ve researched it a little bit. It appears “publically” is gaining in popularity, but the majority still favors “publicly” as the correct spelling.
  2. Preventive or Preventative? According to Dictionary.com, the definitions are:

Preventive:

A. Medicine/Medical. Of or noting a drug, vaccine, etc., for preventing disease; prophylactic.

B. serving to prevent or hinder: preventive measures.

Preventative (actually refers you back to Preventive):

A. Medicine/Medical. of or noting a drug, vaccine, etc., for preventing disease; prophylactic.

B. serving to prevent or hinder: preventive measures.

Yep, they are the same. “Preventive” has been used in writings much longer, but “preventative” is gaining ground. “Preventative” is used more frequently outside the United States, while “preventive” is used more here in the U.S., so either is correct.

  1. Various different. I saw this recently in something I was proofreading. Unfortunately, both words mean the same thing. Again, according to Dictionary.com, “various” means: “of different kinds, as two or more things; differing one from another” while one of the definitions of “different” is: “various; several.” So in this case, pick one. Use either “various” or “different,” but not both of them together.
  1. Coming down the pipe or pike? This question was raised to me recently. It looks like “coming down the pike” is the original idiom from back when the “pike” was shortened from “turnpike.” However, “coming down the pipe” is gaining in popularity, because lots of things come down a pipe. Since “turnpikes” have fallen out of common language in favor of “freeway,” more people understand “pipe.” So the more common version in today’s lingo is “coming down the pipe.”
  1. Postliminary. I had this word come up in something I was proofreading recently. Since I hadn’t heard that word before, I looked it up. Merriam-Webster defines it as: done or carried on after something else or as a conclusion; subsequent —opposed to preliminary. While I’m not sure it is a great replacement for “after,” I kind of like it. So you will have preliminary, main, and postliminary.
  1. Thank-you. I’ve seen this word hyphenated before and just thought, without a doubt, that it was wrong. Someone told me recently it is correct. Apparently, it IS correct. Merriam-Webster online defines “thank-you” as “a polite expression of one’s gratitude.” Grammar Girl even says “thank-you” can be used as a noun or an adjective. However, when I search for “thank-you” on Google, the vast majority of the returns are not hyphenated. I believe I’ll stick with the unhyphenated version.
  1. Myriad of. “Myriad” is defined by Dictionary.com as “a very great or indefinitely great number of persons or things.” People say that since “myriad” originally meant 10,000 and you wouldn’t say “a 10,000 of trees,” that saying “a myriad of” is incorrect. However, common practice is to use “myriad” as both a noun and as a adjective, so it is becoming more commonplace to say “a myriad of.” Personally, I prefer “myriad” all by its little lonely self, and have corrected it myriad times (see what I did there?). But if the author insists, “a myriad of” is not incorrect.

Well that’s my list of petty annoyances that I’ve been keeping lately. Do you have any petty annoyances you’d like to share? Email those to me at [email protected].

Confusing Words of the Week

It’s time for “Confusing Words of the Week” where I take a set of two or three words that get confused and give you definitions and try to give you a memory trick to help you remember when to use which word. If you have words that confuse you, use the Ask PTB tab on the website or send an email to [email protected] and they may appear here soon!

This week’s words are:

Elicit – to draw forth

  • He was trying to elicit a confession from his son.

Illicit – Unlawful

  • Stealing a car is an illicit act.

Tips to help remember:

Illicit – Illegal

Elicit – think of the legs of the “e” as trying to pull something out of the “back” of the “e”

Replay Thursday

Thursday ReplayIt’s time for a review of recent blog posts just in case you’ve missed them. We call this Replay Thursday. Here are posts from Proof That proofreading blog and 60 Is The New 60 blog during the past week.

Emphasis Added

Step Back and Regroup

Grammar Giggle – Somthing Worse Did Happen

Grammar Giggle – Payements

Confusing Words of the Week

The Line

Confusing Words of the Week

Words of the WeekIt’s time for “Confusing Words of the Week” where I take a set of two or three words that get confused and give you definitions and try to give you a memory trick to help you remember when to use which word. If you have words that confuse you, use the Ask PTB tab on the website or send an email to [email protected] and they may appear here soon!

A friend asked about some confusion over two words. Here they are as this week’s words:

  • inquire – ask for information from someone; investigate; look into.
  • enquire – ask for information from someone; investigate; look into.

Yes, they are the same. Traditionally, “enquire” meant to ask, while “inquire” was used for more formal investigation. In the UK, either word is appropriate, but “inquire” is most common. Here in the US, “inquire” is the preferred word.

So you would be correct to use “inquire” in the US when you are asking for information or investigating something, although “enquire” is not incorrect. And the same would be true in the UK.

Replay Thursday

Thursday ReplayIt’s time for a review of recent blog posts just in case you’ve missed them. We call this Replay Thursday. Here are posts from Proof That proofreading blog and 60 Is The New 60 blog during the past week.

Grammar Giggle – Derserve

Grammar Giggle – Sneak Peak Part Three

Confusing Words of the Week

Grammar Giggles – 880%

 

Emphasis Added

Emphasis AddedI had a question during a presentation I was making about whether the phrase “emphasis added” when used with a quotation was treated in the same font as the emphasized language, for example, if the emphasized language is bolded, is the phrase “emphasis added” bolded?

According to the Bluebook Section 5.2(d)(i),

Use a parenthetical clause after the citation to indicate when the source quoted contains an addition of emphasis . . . .

Their example has the emphasized language italicized and the “emphasis added” in parentheses, but not italicized or bolded.

Other information I found shows the following:

She said she would consider “a very short extension of the deadline, but only under the most extraordinary circumstances [emphasis added].”

  • You can also note the emphasis outside the quotation using parenthesis and as a separate sentence:

She said she would consider “a very short extension of the deadline, but only under the most extraordinary circumstances.” (Emphasis added.)

  • Or you can put the parenthetical at the end of the sentence which contains the quotation:

She said she would consider “a very short extension of the deadline, but only under the most extraordinary circumstances” (emphasis added).

  • Most other sources indicate that the words “emphasis added” should be at the end of the sentence, either in parentheses and lowercase letters before the quoted sentence’s ending punctuation or in parenthesis with upper case “e” in “emphasis” after the quotation’s ending punctuation with a period within the parenthesis. See the examples above.

The one common thread through all the sources was to be careful not to overuse emphasis in your writing.

I did not find anywhere that the words “emphasis added” should ever be italicized or bolded to match the quoted language being emphasized. My suggestion is that since the Bluebook specifically says to use a parenthetical clause after the quotation and their example shows it added before the quotation’s ending punctuation as in the third example above, that would be the safest way to use it.

Confusing Words Of The Week

It’s time for “Confusing Words of the Week” where I take a set of two or three words that get confused and give you definitions and try to give you a memory trick to help you remember when to use which word. If you have words that confuse you, use the Ask PTB tab on the website or send an email to [email protected] and they may appear here soon!

This week’s words are:

explicit – clearly expressed

  • Joe gave Bill explicit instructions on how to feed the dog while Joe was gone.

implicit – implied

  • It was implicit in the instructions that Bill would also give the dog water every day.

A tip to help remember:

EXplicit = EXpressed

IMplicit = IMplied