Last week I gave a few examples of words and distinctions made clear in a pamphlet from 1922 titled S.O.S.: Slips of Speech. Here are a few more excerpts. Statements in parentheses are mine. Divide Up As divide means to “separate into pieces,” “cut asunder,” “apportion,” or “distribute in shares,”, up is redundant and absurd. Each/Every Each as an adjective is […]
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Here are a few more fine distinctions from the 1922 pamphlet S.O.S. Slips of Speech by Frank H. Vizetelly, Litt.D., L.L.D. 1.Hypercritical/Hypocritical Hypercritical means overly or excessively critical. Hypocritical signifies deceptive, sham, for hypocrisy is false pretense. 2.Idea/Opinion Idea implies something undetermined in the mind; Opinion is formed after deduction or reflection and therefore is determined 3.Idleness/Laziness These words are not synonymous. Idleness describes
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Email misjudgments can land people in jail. Just ask James A. Brown, ex-Merrill Lynch executive who wrote in an email that Enron had “promised” that Merrill would get their money back in a suspicious Enron deal involving barges off the coast of Nigeria. According to the Wall Street Journal (10/23/10) “a possible turning point came when investigators
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Hyphens connect multiple words to make one word. They often have a significant impact on the meaning of the word. Sometimes they turn a verb phrase into a noun. Sometimes they connect several words to make an adjective. For example: Set-Up Set up is a verb phrase composed of the verb set and the adverb up. Up tells you in what
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Last week I gave a few examples of words and distinctions made clear in a pamphlet from 1922 titled S.O.S.: Slips of Speech. Here are a few more excerpts. Statements in parentheses are mine. Divide Up As divide means to “separate into pieces,” “cut asunder,” “apportion,” or “distribute in shares,”, up is redundant and absurd.
Commonly Misused Words 2: Wisdom from 1922 Read More »
