21st Century Grammar Handbook (5 page)

All ready, already.
“All ready” is a compound adjective
phrase
that means someone or something is totally prepared. “Already” is an
adverb
that means before or previously. See also
adjective.

All right.
A compound adjective
phrase;
it is not spelled “alright,” a
colloquial
form used only to report or record less than standard speech. See also
adjective.

All together, altogether.
Don’t confuse “all together”—everyone or everything assembled or at the same time (“the giraffes were all together”)—with the
adverb
“altogether”—completely or totally (“the giraffes were altogether edgy”).

Allude, elude.
Although these words sound about the same
(near-homonyms) they
mean different things. “Allude” means to refer to or note in passing. “Elude” means to evade or escape.

Allusion, illusion.
These
near-homonyms
(sound a likes) differ in sense. “Allusion” is a reference to something, while “illusion” is a deception or misperception.

All ways, always.
Like many
compound words
using “all,” “all ways” differs from a similar merged form of the two words—“always.” “All ways” means in all possible manners, while “always” means for all time or every time: “The freelancer is always trying all ways to make a living.”

Along.
Preposition
governing the
objective case:
“The boat sailed along the coast.”

A lot.
Never “alot.”

Alphabet.
See individual
languages
for their alphabets and how to alphabetize words in them. See also
alphabetization.

Alphabetization.
Two systems exist for putting words into alphabetical order, and both of them are correct. Choose the one that is commonly used by your
audience
or that you find better suits your purposes.

Word-by-word
alphabetizing arranges lists of words by letter order until a space is reached in a
compound word,
at which point it arranges all words that begin with the first word of the compound by the order of the word that follows, and then moves on to the next word, compound or not. For example, in word-by-word alphabetizing “fire dog,” “fire screen,” and “fire station” would come before “fireboat,” “firehouse,” and “fireside,” since each of the
compounds of “fire” plus another word after a space is seen as a category of “fire.”

In
letter-by-letter
alphabetizing spaces are ignored, with the result that the words in the example in the previous paragraph would be alphabetized as follows: “fireboat, fire dog, firehouse, fire screen, fireside, fire station.” Both methods of alphabetization ignore
hyphens
and other internal
punctuation
of words or names. This book is arranged by the letter-by-letter method.

There are elaborate procedures,
rules,
and customs for specialized alphabetizing systems used by scholars, libraries,
dictionaries,
and for other purposes. If you need to work in such a system with a long list of terms that present difficult ordering decisions, then it is best to follow the standard guides or in-house documents that are used to resolve alphabetizing problems.

Already.
See
all ready.

Also.
An
adverb
always spelled as one word, never “all so.”

Altar, alter.
This
homonym
pair (sound-alike words) combines a
noun
and a
verb.
The noun “altar” is a sacred place or platform, while the verb “alter” means to change: “The sexton altered the altar by lowering it.”

Alter.
See
altar.

Although.
A
subordinating conjunction
: “Although you speak the truth, I still don’t trust you.”

Altogether.
See
all together.

Always.
See
all ways.

Am.
The first-person singular, present tense of
be:
“I am.” “I am writing.” Also see
agreement, auxiliary, conjugation, number,
and
person.

A.M
. This
abbreviation
of the
Latin
phrase “
ante meridien
” means before noon. It is used to distinguish times from the two halves of the day where a twelve-hour clock or system of time notation is common.

Where twenty-four-hour clocks are used, the abbreviations
A.M
. and
P.M
. are not used, since there is no possibility of confusing one in the morning with thirteen in the afternoon. Since English speakers who write in twenty-four-hour systems still tend to say “one in the afternoon” rather than “thirteen,” the abbreviations still creep into speech even where the twelve-hour clock is no longer used.

The standard use of these abbreviations has them follow the time, in small capital letters, and with
periods. Lower case
and no periods are acceptable in many
styles
and in less formal writing, though you should avoid confusion with the
verb “am.”

Among, between.
The
preposition
“between” is used only when you are talking or writing about two things or people. “Among” links more than two things or people: “I split the assignment between John and Joan.” “I divided the task among Joe, Jean, and Jim.”

This simple
rule
changes if there are more than two
things or people that are conceived as separated into natural or logical pairs: “There are four bridges between the three islands.” Writing “There are four bridges among the three islands” would suggest that the three islands shared four bridges that might or might not link one to the other, while the initial example means that the bridges run from one island to the next.

An.
See
a.

And.
The
coordinating conjunction
“and” links two or more things or people,
phrases, clauses,
or other grammatical, logical, or natural entities. Usually, the things that “and” puts together are of equal weight or significance (“coordinate”). Avoid the construction “and/or” unless the logic of a statement must be extremely precise.

A
comma
usually comes before “and” when it links more than two
nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs,
phrases, or other words or groups of words that are not independent clauses: “The man, the woman, and the boy looked at the pond, the duck standing on the shore, and the large, red, and shiny umbrella.” This poor,
run-on
sentence illustrates the use of the comma in several instances of a
series
joined by “and,” and it shows why most
standard English
styles prefer to retain the second comma in such series—to make it clear what belongs to each series and when a new series begins. However, many
styles
prefer the economy of dropping the second comma in a series (particularly newspapers and often business writing). Adopt the style that is most likely to suit your
audience.

Commas also appear before “and” when it introduces an independent clause: “The woman looked at the duck, and the man stood on the shore.” Be sure not to use a comma before “and” when it links compound
verbs
or compound
subjects,
adjectives,
predicates,
and so on. WRONG: “The man, and the woman looked longingly to sea.” No comma is needed in this sentence.

Traditionally, writing teachers and guides have warned against starting
sentences
with “and.” But many good writers commonly do so to good effect. Just as too strict observance of this
rule
limits your flexibility in writing, so overindulgence in breaking it is not wise. Too many sentences that begin with “and” can indicate a failure on your part to think through the logical and grammatical connections between your thoughts and the way you express them. And it can get boring.

An other, another.
Distinguish between the
compound word
“an other” (which means “a different”: “You saw a heron, but I saw an other one”) and the
indefinite
pronoun “another” (which means one more of the same kind or number: “You saw three herons, and I saw another three”). See
pronoun.

Another.
See
an other.

Antecedent.
It is important to keep in mind the
number
and
person
of words to which
pronouns
refer or which they replace—their “antecedents”—so that you ensure they
agree. Many grammatical mistakes are made because antecedents are not carefully determined. See
agreement.

Anybody, anything.
These
indefinite
pronouns are third-
person
singular. Note that “any body” is a phrase referring to some physical being and is not the same as “anybody,” which means any person: “Anybody can see that any body lying on the floor is a murder victim.” See
pronoun.

Any one, anyone.
Don’t confuse “any one”—a phrase referring to any single thing or person—and “anyone,” which is an indefinite pronoun that agrees with
third-person
singular
pronouns
and
verbs.
“Any one of the people will know the answer.” “Anyone knows that answer.”

Anyone.
See
any one.

Anything.
See
anybody.

Apostrophe.
Apostrophes are
punctuation
marks used to form
possessives, contractions,
and a few
plurals.
Be careful not to use apostrophes where they are not needed.

Possessives are formed by adding an apostrophe and “S” to singular or collective words, or plural words that don’t end in “s,” no matter how they are spelled (“Zeus’s thunderbolt,” “the boss’s idea,” “the team’s captain,” “children’s manners”) or by adding an apostrophe to plural words that do end in “s” (“dogs’ fleas”). Possessive
pronouns
don’t use apostrophes. See
collective noun
and
collective pronoun.

Contractions use apostrophes to replace omitted letters
(“don’t,” “can’t”). No matter how many letters are dropped from or changed in a contraction, only one apostrophe appears to mark the shortening of the word (“will not” becomes “won’t”).

Plurals are usually formed by adding “S” without an apostrophe to words (“elephants,” “1990s,” “three capital Ds”). However, in some cases this might prove confusing, and an apostrophe is added before the “s”: “Ph.D.’s,” “A’s are good grades,” “I’s are thin letters,” “Look at the x’s on the graph.”

Appositive.
When
nouns
or
pronouns
do not convey enough information on their own, other nouns or pronouns are sometimes put next to them to add identity or information to the initial words. The added nouns or pronouns are said to be “appositives”: “The car, a Ford, was slow” “My accountant, Smith, said she would help” “Tolstoy’s novel
War and Peace
is long.”

Note that some of the appositives in the examples are set off by
commas
while others are not. The distinction being made here is between a
restrictive phrase
and
nonrestrictive phrase,
one of the most confusing and troublesome concepts in
grammar.
Most simply put, nonrestrictive phrases add information that is not essential to the sense of a sentence while restrictive phrases provide more specific, required information. Thus in the examples, the car is slow no matter what its brand name, which is added to clarify the
sentence
but which does not introduce any information that affects the basic notion of a slow car (presumably not all Fords are slow and some cars of other brands are slow). Similarly, the accountant’s offer to help does not depend on her name,
which is nonessential, additional information in this sentence. But the name of Tolstoy’s novel is required to distinguish it from his other works; therefore, no comma appears to set off the appositive
War and Peace.

Appositive pronouns need to agree with their
antecedents
in
gender, number,
and
case:
“The doctor helped all of us, Jane, Jim, and me. She, the doctor, applied all possible remedies, all her tricks of the trade, and her solid scientific knowledge. We gave her a check, our form of payment.” See also
agreement.

Elaborate appositive phrases or
lists
can be set off from the nouns or pronouns they supplement by
colons,
as we have done with many of the examples in this book: “We presented the instances in which one uses apostrophes: possessives, contractions, and some plurals.”

Appraise, apprise.
These
near-homonyms
(sound-alikes) are often confused. “Appraise” means to estimate a value of something. “Apprise” means to inform or keep informed.

Apprise.
See
appraise.

Arabic.
There are many systems for representing Arabic language words in English letters. Consult a reliable source book or the style guide in force for your
audience
to be sure of the preferred method for rendering such names as “Qaddafi” (“Gaddafi,” “Quadaffi,” “Kadafi”) and “Koran” (“Quran,” etc.). If someone has expressed a preference that his or her name be spelled a certain way, that request should take precedence over any
rule
or
style
book.

Some figures from the Arab world’s past and some places have been given Western names or versions of their names that have become accepted in English: Avicenna (“ibn-Sina” in Arabic) and Mecca (“Makka”). The choice of which form to use depends on your audience’s expectations—you might abandon the common English form for the Arabic when writing for Arabic specialists, nationals, or the like.