21st Century Grammar Handbook (13 page)

However, to save space in nonfiction writing, some briefer dialogues are reported without such paragraphing.

Note that
contractions
appear in the last example. Such less formal elements are common in dialogues, which are, after all, representations of more
colloquial,
informal, dialectic speech, rather than formal, standard writing. Dialogue—real or invented—thus presents the writer an opportunity to relax a formal style and introduce into a document more conversational elements and all the variants they entail. See
dialect, standard English,
and
quotation.

Dialogue can also be reported less directly and therefore without quotation marks or other clear markers of speakers and speeches: “He said that he was scared.” This is called
“indirect quotation.”

Dictionary.
The only way to be sure words are spelled correctly is to look them up in a dictionary. No dictionary is particularly better than any other, except that longer ones tend to have more words, examples, and explanations,
which means you are more likely to find what you want.

Don’t be fooled by finding a word in a dictionary. You might have found a correct spelling of the wrong word for your sentence. See the entries on
homonyms
(sound-alikes) and such words as
“their”
and
“to.”

Different from, than.
The preferred
usage
is “different from” when a distinction is being drawn between things or people: “Old is different from young.” Don’t use “different than” unless you are introducing a
clause
: “That is different than I had expected.” Or: “That is different from what I had expected.”

“Differ with” means disagree and should not be confused with or used for “differ from” (be different).

Dig, dug, dug.
An
irregular verb
in its main,
past tense,
and past
participle
forms.

Direct object.
The
object
of a
verb’s
action is said to be its “direct object,” while someone or something to which that action and object may be transferred is called the
“indirect object”:
“The boss gave the bonus to Horton.” “The bonus” is the direct object, and “Horton” is the indirect object.

Discreet, discrete.
The first word refers to tact or prudence, while the second
adjective
means separate or separable: “People are discrete individuals who are sometimes discreet in their dealings with others.”

Discrete.
See
discreet.

Dive, dived, dived.
An
irregular verb
in its main,
past tense,
and past
participle
forms.

Dived.
See
dive.

Do.
Besides its direct meanings (to perform or act), “do” is an
auxiliary
verb that combines with other
verbs
to change or intensify their meaning: “I do believe you are right.” “It does not seem you agree.” The first example borders on
dialect
and is the kind of
intensifier
that should not be overused.

“Do” is an
irregular verb,
forming its
past tense
and past
participle
in an unpredictable way (see
conjugation):
Present: do, does; past: did; past participle: done. These forms are important because they are commonly used with other verbs when “do” plays an auxiliary role: “I did not see him.” Forms of “do” are also commonly confused or used wrong: “Jan done killed the bug.” “Jan done it.” RIGHT: “Jan killed the bug.” “Jan did it.”

Doesn’t.
The
contraction
of “does not,” which should normally not be used in formal writing.

Dollars.
Put a dollar sign before any amounts in figures, and indicate cents after a decimal: “$1.95.” No additional spaces or
punctuation
is needed. When
spelling
out
numbers,
spell out “dollars” after the figures: “Ten dollars changed hands.”

Sums of dollars can be singular if they are seen as lumps of money rather than individual bills: “A billion dollars is a lot of money.”

If you are dealing with non-American dollars, you can distinguish between currencies by putting an
abbreviation
before the figure and dollar sign—“C$1.95,” indicating Canadian dollars—or, preferably, by following the figure with a parenthetical expression of sufficient length to make the matter clear: “$1.95 (C)” or “$1.65 (Can.).” Dollars of various kinds are used in many countries, so you should be sure to distinguish between any countries that could be confused by single-letter abbreviations.

Don’t.
The
contraction
of “do not,” which should not be used normally in
standard English
writing.

Double negative.
It is wrong in
standard English
to include more than one word in a
sentence, clause,
or verb
phrase
that negates the element. WRONG: “He never did nothing.” RIGHT: “He never did anything.” Having double or multiple negatives in a sentence is a very common error, particularly when phrases or clauses are long and the negation of an early element is forgotten later. Only careful proofreading or revising can catch such mistakes and fix them. Since the error is particularly frowned on in standard English, it is important that you take care when writing to avoid such problems.

Down.
Preposition
governing the
objective case:
“The elephant blew water on Dave’s head, and it dribbled down him.”

Dr.
This
title
is commonly written as an
abbreviation
rather than spelled out. Note that the
pronoun
following a reference
to a doctor by name or in general is not automatically masculine: “Dr. Smith picked up her bag.” “A doctor could forget his or her equipment.” When referring to two married doctors, it is offensive to write “Dr. and Mrs. Smith” or “Drs. John and Mary Smith.” Put instead “Dr. John and Dr. Mary Smith.” The same point applies to coauthors or coinventors. See the entry on
sexist language.
“Dr.” is also an
abbreviation
for “drive”: “3789 West Brookdale Dr.”

Drank.
See
drink.

Draw, drew, drawn.
An
irregular verb
in its main,
past tense,
and past
participle
forms.

Drawn.
See
draw.

Drew.
See
draw.

Drink, drank, drunk.
An
irregular verb
in its main,
past tense,
and past
participle
forms.

Drive, drove, driven.
An
irregular verb
in its main,
past tense,
and past
participle
forms.

Driven.
See
drive.

Drove.
See
drive.

Drunk.
See
drink.

Due to.
See
because of.

Dug.
See
dig.

During.
Preposition
governing the
objective case:
“The conductor coughed during the concert.”

Each.
“Each” is an
indefinite
pronoun that is always singular, even when it is followed by plural
phrases:
“Each of them is here.” See also
pronoun
and
plural.

Each other.
See
reciprocal pronoun.

Eat, ate, eaten.
An
irregular verb
in its main,
past tense,
and past
participle
forms.

Eaten.
See
eat.

Ed.
The common
abbreviation
for “edition,” “edited (by),” or “editor” “ed.” belongs mainly in endnotes or footnotes and should be spelled out in most text rather than appearing in its short form.

Editing.
Once you have written something for the first time, you need to go back several times to check for errors, appropriateness of
style,
and general
efficiency
of communication. This process of checking your writing is called “editing” or
“revision.”
During editing, pay attention to your
audience
and make sure that it will understand you clearly, quickly, and simply. No piece of writing is complete until it has been edited at least once, and most work should be edited several times.

Effect.
See
affect.

Efficiency.
It may seem odd to see a discussion of “efficiency” in a
grammar
book. But the whole point of grammar
rules
and discussions of
usage, style,
and so on is to make it clear how to say most directly and simply what has to be said. This book intends to help you communicate most efficiently with your
audience.

Poetry, styles of other eras or for other occasions than simple communication, and the like might require or allow us to write or speak without concern for efficiency. Telling a story at great leisure and with elaborate digressions and meanderings, for instance, is an important part of all our lives at some moments and of many cultures’ greatest glories. But most of the writing and speaking you do requires directness,
clarity,
and efficient communication.

Keep in mind that errors of
agreement
or mistakes with
antecedents,
poor choice of
vocabulary,
and so on keep your reader or listener from hearing or seeing what you mean most quickly and clearly. Such deficiencies in your writing or speaking thus hinder efficiency of communication. That is why it is important to master the rules of grammar and apply them strictly in most statements.

Besides looking up the words italicized in this entry, review the entries on
bland writing, editing,
and the related topics those entries mention for further guidance on how to achieve efficient communication.

E.g.
This
abbreviation
stands for the
Latin
“
exempli gratia
,” which means “for example.” While it is a handy way to shorten text a bit, some readers will not be
comfortable with the expression or might find it too academic. It is better to use the English “for example.”

Elicit, illicit.
These
near-homonyms
(sound-alikes) are different
parts of speech
and have different meanings. The
verb
“elicit” means to draw out or nonindent; the
adjective
“illicit” means illegal.

Ellipsis.
The omission of text for any reason from a reported statement or incomplete thought is called an ellipsis (plural: ellipses).

It is normally represented by three consecutive
periods
with or without space surrounding them and separating them: “He said, ‘The ten points to remember are … and don’t forget them.’ ” If the ellipses come at the end of a
sentence,
a fourth period is added to represent the end of the sentence. This is particularly common when ellipsis are used to indicate a thought that is left incomplete or allowed to trail off: “But that is another story. …” Four ellipsis points also appear between sentences in
block quotations
when other sentences between them have been omitted.

Ellipses that come before other parts of sentences can be followed by other
punctuation:
“The four points are the nature of organization, the structure of firms …, and the management scheme.”

Since ellipses represent the omission of text or the incompleteness of thought, they can present the reader with gaps in information or logic. Ellipses should therefore be used with care to preserve the sense of a quoted source and the full intent of the shortened sentence. Overuse of ellipses leads a reader to feel that a writer is manipulating a quoted
source and probably changing its meaning or is not arguing or presenting a case cogently and completely. Finally, too many sentences that end in trailing ellipses can seem quite coy and off-putting—if there is more to be said, say it.

Elude.
See
allude.

Emigrate, immigrate.
Both of these words derive from the
verb
“migrate,” meaning to move, and refer to living beings changing their living place over fairly significant distances. The two commonly confused forms in this entry
(neax-homonyms)
are verbs that denote human migratory movement out of someplace (“emigrate” from Europe) and to someplace (“immigrate” to America). Closely related are the
nouns
“emigration,” “immigration,” and “migration.”

Emphasis.
There are many ways to add emphasis to
sentences, phrases, clauses,
and whole statements. But their use should be resisted in most cases: If you have not presented your ideas clearly and forcefully enough through careful choice and
order of words,
it is unlikely that adding one of the emphasizing devices to your words will in fact make them any stronger. Still, there are moments when it helps your reader to stress what is important by using one of the following methods.

Underlining is a typographical device to indicate a particularly important part of a text. Needless to say, lots of underlined text is no more distinctive than no underlined text. With today’s machines, many writers turn to other
typefaces
to do what underlining did on a typewriter—draw attention. But the presence of a lot of different typefaces in a document is usually more distracting than anything else, and an overabundance of
italic type, bold type,
and so on doesn’t improve logic or expression.