All about Words: back again
All about Words is back.
During my break from this newsletter, I continued with my board-paper work, took an overseas trip and revamped my online courses. I will tell you more about the courses in the coming months.
Parallelism
Parallelism, often called parallel structure, refers to matching structures in a pair or series of related words, phrases or clauses.
When parallelism is used for effect, the writing can be powerful. For example:
‘Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal.’
T.S. Eliot, ‘Philip Massinger’
‘Today’s students can put dope in their veins or hope in their brains. If they can conceive it and believe it, they can achieve it. They must know it is not their aptitude but their attitude that will determine their altitude.’
Jesse Jackson
When your writing lacks parallel structures, it doesn’t flow well. In traditional grammar, this is known as faulty parallelism.
Read the rest of the blog.
Grammar questions
Position of adverbs
Q: Which is correct – quickly change or change quickly?
A: Adverbs can go walkabout, but adverbs of manner usually come after the verb they modify. Read what Richard Nordquist has to say about adverbs of manner.
Data
Someone reading my website found an entry on data where I state:
Many writers, knowing its Latin origins, insist that data must take a plural verb.
The data were analysed after they were collected.
rather than
The data was analysed after it was collected.
Both usages exist today, but often the distinction will be made based on whether you are treating data as a count or noncount noun (also known as a mass noun).
When data is a count noun (items that can be counted), the plural makes sense.
The data used were out of date.
In that type of sentence, you could replace data with another count noun such as ‘facts’.
However, when data is treated as a noncount noun (items cannot be counted), the singular makes sense.
The data used was out of date.
The reader wanted clarification on noncount nouns. Here’s what The Chicago Manual of Style has to say:
‘A mass noun (sometimes called a noncount noun) is one that denotes something uncountable, either because it is abstract {cowardice} {evidence} or because it refers to an indeterminate aggregation of people or things {the faculty} {the bourgeoisie}; the latter type is also called a collective noun. As the subject of a sentence, a mass noun usually takes a singular verb {the litigation is varied}. But in a collective sense, it may take either a singular or a plural verb form {the ruling majority is unlikely to share power} {the majority are nonmembers}. A singular verb emphasizes the group; a plural verb emphasizes the individual members.’
Commonsense or common sense?
I posed this question in the Facebook group (do join us) and received some interesting responses. What do you think?
Interesting stuff about writing
Unanswered emails were the bane of my life – until I spent a month in search of inbox nirvana, Guardian article.
This author had over 16,000 unread emails – I can’t imagine that. The first thing I do most days is delete all the junk. Sounds like I’m perfect! I wish… sometimes I delete too ruthlessly and miss things. How do you manage your emails?
‘Ass’ doesn’t just mean ‘butt’
This Facebook video is very funny – worth watching!
What is a ‘milkshake duck’? Macquarie’s 2017 word of the year explained
This was a new word to me. Read what it means.
Personal pronouns are changing fast
How transgender rights are changing the language. Read more.
Grammar blooper
I try to tune out errors when I’m reading, but this one leapt out at me. It’s from Time magazine:
[Serena] Williams revealed she was having a baby over social media in April, months after winning the Australian Open title while
Email me your grammar bloopers.
Wonder of words
It’s always easy to find fault, so I thought I’d add a section on the wonder of words. I am reading David Mitchell’s Slade House and this line delighted me:
‘The damp sky’s the color of old hankies.’
Let me know what words that have delighted you.
Quote of the month
‘Grammar is not a precise, logical or mathematical system – it has fuzzy edges. Or, as the linguist Edward Sapir once neatly put it, “all grammars leak”.’
Kate Burroughs, Australian linguist
