Easy PDF Copyright © 1998,2003 Visage Software This document was created with FREE version of Easy PDF.Please visit http://www.visagesoft.com for more details The Oxford Guide to English Usage CONTENTS Table of Contents =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Title Page TITLE Edition Notice EDITION Notices NOTICES Table of Contents CONTENTS Introduction FRONT_1 Grammatical Terms Used in This Book FRONT_2 Abbreviations FRONT_3 Word Formation 1.0 abbreviations 1.1 -ability and -ibility 1.2 -able and -ible 1.3 ae and oe 1.4 American spelling 1.5 ante- and anti- 1.6 -ant or ant 1.7 a or an 1.8 -ative or -ive 1.9 by- prefix 1.10 c and ck 1.11 capital or small initials 1.12 -cede or -ceed 1.13 -ce or -se 1.14 co- prefix 1.15 doubling of final consonant 1.16 dropping of silent -e 1.17 -efy or -ify 1.18 -ei or -ie- 1.19 en- or in- 1.20 -er and -est 1.21 -erous or -rous 1.22 final vowels before suffixes 1.23 for- and fore- 1.24 f to v 1.25 -ful suffix 1.26 hyphens 1.27 -ified or -yfied 1.28 in- or un- 1.29 i to y 1.30 -ize and -ise 1.31 l and ll 1.32 -ly 1.33 -ness 1.34 -or and -er 1.35 -oul- 1.36 -our or -or 1.37 Easy PDF Copyright © 1998,2003 Visage Software This document was created with FREE version of Easy PDF.Please visit http://www.visagesoft.com for more details past of verbs, formation of 1.38 plural formation 1.39 possessive case 1.40 -re or -er 1.41 re- prefix 1.42 silent final consonants 1.43 -s suffix 1.44 -xion or -ction 1.45 -y, -ey, or -ie nouns 1.46 -y or -ey adjectives 1.47 y or i 1.48 -yse or -yze 1.49 y to i 1.50 Difficult and confusable spellings 1.51 Pronunciation 2.0 A. General points of pronunciation 2.1 a 2.2 -age 2.3 American pronunciation 2.4 -arily 2.5 -ed 2.6 -edly, -edness 2.7 -ein(e) 2.8 -eity 2.9 -eur 2.10 g 2.11 -gm 2.12 h 2.13 -ies 2.14 -ile 2.15 ng 2.16 o 2.17 ough 2.18 phth 2.19 pn-, ps-, pt- 2.20 r 2.21 reduced forms 2.22 s, sh, z and zh 2.23 stress 2.24 t 2.25 th 2.26 u 2.27 ul 2.28 urr 2.29 wh 2.30 B. Preferred pronunciations 2.31 Vocabulary 3.0 Grammar 4.0 adverbial relative clauses 4.1 adverbs without -ly 4.2 article, omission of 4.3 as, case following 4.4 as if, as though 4.5 auxiliary verbs 4.6 but, case following 4.7 Easy PDF Copyright © 1998,2003 Visage Software This document was created with FREE version of Easy PDF.Please visit http://www.visagesoft.com for more details can and may 4.8 collective nouns 4.9 comparison of adjectives and adverbs 4.10 comparisons 4.11 compound subject 4.12 co-ordination 4.13 correlative conjunctions 4.14 dare 4.15 double passive 4.16 either...or: 4.17 either (pronoun) 4.18 gender of indefinite expressions 4.19 group possessive 4.20 have 4.21 he who, she who 4.22 -ics, nouns in 4.23 infinitive, present or perfect 4.24 -ing (gerund and participle) 4.25 I or me, we or us, etc. 4.26 I should or I would 4.27 I who, you who, etc. 4.28 like 4.29 -lily adverbs 4.30 may or might 4.31 measurement, nouns of 4.32 need 4.33 neither...nor 4.34 neither (pronoun) 4.35 none (pronoun) 4.36 ought 4.37 participles 4.38 preposition at end 4.39 quantity, nouns of 4.40 reflexive pronouns 4.41 relative clauses 4.42 shall and will 4.43 should and would 4.44 singular or plural 4.45 split infinitive 4.46 -s plural or singular 4.47 subjects joined by (either...) or 4.48 subjunctive 4.49 than, case following 4.50 that (conjunction), omission of 4.51 that (relative pronoun), omission of 4.52 there is or there are 4.53 to 4.54 unattached phrases 4.55 used to 4.56 way, relative clause following 4.57 were or was 4.58 we (with phrase following) 4.59 what (relative pronoun) 4.60 which or that (relative pronouns) 4.61 who and whom (interrogative and relative pronouns) 4.62 who or which (relative pronouns) 4.63 whose or of which in relative clauses 4.64 who/whom or that (relative pronouns) 4.65 Easy PDF Copyright © 1998,2003 Visage Software This document was created with FREE version of Easy PDF.Please visit http://www.visagesoft.com for more details you and I or you and me 4.66 Appendix A. Principles of Punctuation A.0 apostrophe A.1 brackets A.2 colon A.3 comma A.4 dash A.5 exclamation mark A.6 full stop A.7 hyphen: A.8 parentheses A.9 period: A.10 question mark A.11 quotation marks A.12 semicolon A.13 square brackets A.14 Appendix B. Clich‚s and Modish and Inflated Diction B.0 Appendix C. English Overseas C.0 1. The United States C.1 2. Canada C.2 3. Australia and New Zealand C.3 4. South Africa C.4 FRONT_1 Introduction =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- It is one thing to use language; it is quite another to understand how it works. (Anthony Burgess, Joysprick) English usage is a subject as wide as the English language itself. By far the greater part of usage, however, raises no controversies and poses no problems for native speakers of English, just because it is their natural idiom. But there are certain limited areas --particular sounds, spellings, words, and constructions--about which there arises uncertainty, difficulty, or disagreement. The proper aim of a usage guide is to resolve these problems, rather than describe the whole of current usage. The Oxford Guide to English Usage has this aim. Within the limits just indicated, it offers guidance in as clear, concise, and systematic a manner as possible. In effecting its aims it makes use of five special features, explained below. 1. Layout. In the Guide the subject of usage is divided into four fields: word formation, pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar. Each field is covered by a separate section of the book, and each of the four sections has its own alphabetical arrangement of entries. Each entry is headed by its title in bold type. All the words that share a particular kind of spelling, sound, or construction can therefore be treated together. This makes for both economy and comprehensiveness of treatment. Note that Pronunciation is in two parts: A deals with the pronunciation of particular letters, or groups of letters, while B is an alphabetical list of words whose pronunciation gives trouble. Easy PDF Copyright © 1998,2003 Visage Software This document was created with FREE version of Easy PDF.Please visit http://www.visagesoft.com for more details 2. Explanation. The explanations given in each entry are intended to be simple and straightforward. Where the subject is inevitably slightly complicated, they begin by setting out familiar facts as a basis from which to untangle the complexities. The explanations take into account the approaches developed by modern linguistic analysis, but employ the traditional terms of grammar as much as possible. (A glossary of all grammatical terms used will be found in FRONT_2. Technical symbols and abbreviations, and the phonetic alphabet, are not used at all. 3. Exemplification. Throughout Vocabulary and Grammar and where appropriate elsewhere, example sentences are given to illustrate the point being discussed. The majority of these are real, rather than invented, examples. Many of them have been drawn from the works of some of the best twentieth-century writers (many equally good writers happen not to have been quoted). Even informal or substandard usage has been illustrated in this way; such examples frequently come from speeches put into the mouths of characters in novels, and hence no censure of the style of the author is implied. The aim is to illustrate the varieties of usage and to display the best, thereby making it more memorable than a mere collection of lapses and solecisms would be able to do. 4. Recommendation. Recommendations are clearly set out. The blob ° is used in the most clear-cut cases where a warning, restriction, or prohibition is stated. The square Ü is occasionally employed where no restriction needs to be enforced. The emphasis of the recommendations is on the degree of acceptability in standard English of a particular use, rather than on a dogmatic distinction of right and wrong. Much that is sometimes condemned as 'bad English' is better regarded as appropriate in informal contexts but inappropriate in formal ones. The appropriateness of usage to context is indicated by the fairly rough categories 'formal' and 'informal', 'standard', 'regional', and 'non-standard', 'jocular', and so on. Some of the ways in which American usage differs from British are pointed out. 5. Reference. Ease of access to the entry sought by the user is a priority of the Guide. The division into four sections, explained above, means that (roughly speaking) only a quarter of the total range of pages need be looked through in order to find a particular entry. Within each section there are many cross-references to other entries; hypertext links are provided for these entries. In addition to the four main sections described at 1 above, the Guide has three appendices: A is an outline of the principles of punctuation; B lists some of the cliches and overworked diction most widely disliked at present; and C gives a brief description of the characteristics of the five major overseas varieties of English. Concise as it is, the Guide may be found by individual users to cover some ground that is already familiar and some that they consider it unnecessary to know about. It is impossible for an entry (especially in the field of grammar) not to include more facts than are strictly part of the question which the entry is designed to answer. Language is a closely woven, seamless fabric, not a set of building blocks or pigeon-holes, capable of independent treatment; hence there are bound to be some redundancies and some overlap between different entries. Moreover, every user has a different degree of knowledge and interest. It is the compiler's hope, however, that all will be instructed and enriched by any incidental gains Easy PDF Copyright © 1998,2003 Visage Software This document was created with FREE version of Easy PDF.Please visit http://www.visagesoft.com for more details in understanding of the language that the use of this Guide may afford. FRONT_2 Grammatical Terms Used in This Book =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- absolute used independently of its customary grammatical relationship or construction, e.g. Weather permitting, I will come. acronym a word formed from the initial letters of other words, e.g. NATO. active applied to a verb whose subject is also the source of the action of the verb, e.g. We saw him; opposite of passive. adjective a word that names an attribute, used to describe a noun or pronoun, e.g. small child, it is small. adverb a word that modifies an adjective, verb, or another adverb, expressing a relation of place, time, circumstance, manner, cause, degree, etc., e.g. gently, accordingly, now, here, why. agent noun a noun denoting the doer of an action e.g. builder. agent suffix a suffix added to a verb to form an agent noun, e.g. -er. agree to have the same grammatical number, gender, case, or person as another word. analogy the formation of a word, derivative, or construction in imitation of an existing word or pattern. animate denoting a living being. antecedent a noun or phrase to which a relative pronoun refers back. antepenultimate last but two. antonym a word of contrary meaning to another. apposition the placing of a word, especially a noun, syntactically parallel to another, e.g. William the Conqueror. article a/an (indefinite article) or the (definite article). attributive designating a noun, adjective, or phrase expressing an attribute, characteristically preceding the word it qualifies, e.g. old in the old dog; opposite of predicative. auxiliary verb a verb used in forming tenses, moods, and voices of other verbs. case the form (subjective, objective, or possessive) of a noun or Easy PDF Copyright © 1998,2003 Visage Software This document was created with FREE version of Easy PDF.Please visit http://www.visagesoft.com for more details pronoun, expressing relation to some other word. clause a distinct part of a sentence including a subject (sometimes by implication) and predicate. collective noun a singular noun denoting many individuals; see "collective nouns" in topic 4.9 collocation an expression consisting of two (or more) words frequently juxtaposed, especially adjective + noun. comparative the form of an adjective or adverb expressing a higher degree of a quality, e.g. braver, worse. comparison the differentiation of the comparative and superlative degrees from the positive (basic) form of an adjective or adverb. complement a word or words necessary to complete a grammatical construction: the complement of a clause, e.g. John is (a) thoughtful (man), Solitude makes John thoughtful; of an adjective, e.g. John is glad of your help; of a preposition, e.g. I thought of John. compound preposition a preposition made up of more than one word, e.g. with regard to. concord agreement between words in gender, number, or person, e.g. the girl who is here, you who are alive, Those men work. conditional designating (1) a clause which expresses a condition, or (2) a mood of the verb used in the consequential clause of a conditional sentence, e.g. (1) If he had come, (2) I should have seen him. consonant (1) a speech sound in which breath is at least partly obstructed, combining with a vowel to form a syllable; (2) a letter usually used to represent (1); e.g. ewe is written with vowel + consonant + vowel, but is pronounced as consonant (y) + vowel (oo). co-ordination the linking of two or more parts of a compound sentence that are equal in importance, e.g. Adam delved and Eve span. correlative co-ordination co-ordination by means of pairs of corresponding words regularly used together, e.g. either..or. countable designating a noun that refers in the singular to one and in the plural to more than one, and can be qualified by a, one, every, etc. and many, two, three, etc.; opposite of mass (noun). Easy PDF Copyright © 1998,2003 Visage Software This document was created with FREE version of Easy PDF.Please visit http://www.visagesoft.com for more details diminutive denoting a word describing a small, liked, or despised specimen of the thing denoted by the corresponding root word, e.g. ringlet, Johnny, princeling. diphthong see digraph. direct object the object that expresses the primary object of the action of the verb, e.g. He sent a present to his son. disyllabic having two syllables. double passive see "double passive" in topic 4.16. elide to omit by elision. elision the omission of a vowel or syllable in pronouncing, e.g. let's. ellipsis the omission from a sentence of words needed to complete a construction or sense. elliptical involving ellipsis. feminine the gender proper to female beings. finite designating (part of) a verb limited by person and number, e.g. I am, He comes. formal designating the type of English used publicly for some serious purpose, either in writing or in public speeches. future the tense of a verb referring to an event yet to happen: simple future, e.g. I shall go; future in the past, referring to an event that was yet to happen at a time prior to the time of speaking, e.g. He said he would go. gerund the part of the verb which can be used like a noun, ending in -ing, e.g. What is the use of my scolding him? govern (said of a verb or preposition) to have (a noun or pronoun, or a case) dependent on it. group possessive see "double passive" in topic 4.16. hard designating a letter, chiefly c or g, that indicates a guttural sound, as in cot or got. if-clause a clause introduced by if. imperative the mood of a verb expressing command, e.g. Come here! Easy PDF Copyright © 1998,2003 Visage Software This document was created with FREE version of Easy PDF.Please visit http://www.visagesoft.com for more details inanimate opposite of animate. indirect object the person or thing affected by the action of the verb but not primarily acted upon, e.g. I gave him the book. infinitive the basic form of a verb that does not indicate a particular tense or number or person; the to-infinitive, used with preceding to, e.g. I want to know; the bare infinitive, without preceding to, e.g. Help me pack. inflexion a part of a word, usually a suffix, that expresses grammatical relationship, such as number, person, tense, etc. informal designating the type of English used in private conversation, personal letters, and popular public communication. intransitive designating a verb that does not take a direct object, e.g. I must think. intrusive r see item 2 in topic 2.21 linking r see "r" in topic 2.21. loan-word a word adopted by one language from another. main clause the principal clause of a sentence. masculine the gender proper to male beings. mass noun a noun that refers to something regarded as grammatically indivisible, treated only as singular, and never qualified by those, many, two, three, etc.; opposite of countable noun. modal relating to the mood of a verb; used to express mood. mood form of a verb serving to indicate whether it is to express fact, command, permission, wish, etc. monosyllabic having one syllable. nominal designating a phrase or clause that is used like a noun, e.g. What you need is a drink. nonce-word a word coined for one occasion. non-finite designating (a part of) a verb not limited by person and number, e.g. the infinitive, gerund, or participle. non-restrictive see relative clauses. Easy PDF Copyright © 1998,2003 Visage Software This document was created with FREE version of Easy PDF.Please visit http://www.visagesoft.com for more details noun a word used to denote a person, place, or thing. noun phrase a phrase functioning within the sentence as a noun, e.g. The one over there is mine. object a noun or its equivalent governed by an active transitive verb, e.g. I will take that one. objective the case of a pronoun typically used when the pronoun is the object of a verb or governed by a preposition, e.g. me, him. paradigm the complete pattern of inflexion of a noun, verb, etc. participle the part of a verb used like an adjective but retaining some verbal qualities (tense and government of an object) and also used to form compound verb forms: the present participle ends in -ing, the past participle of regular verbs in -ed, e.g. While doing her work she had kept the baby amused. passive designating a form of the verb by which the verbal action is attributed to the person or thing to whom it is actually directed (i.e. the logical object is the grammatical subject), e.g. He was seen by us; opposite of active. past a tense expressing past action or state, e.g. I arrived yesterday. past perfect a tense expressing action already completed prior to the time of speaking, e.g. I had arrived by then. pejorative disparaging, depreciatory. penultimate last but one. perfect a tense denoting completed action or action viewed in relation to the present; e.g. I have finished now; perfect infinitive, e.g. He seems to have finished now. periphrasis a roundabout way of expressing something. person one of the three classes of personal pronouns or verb-forms, denoting the person speaking (first person), the person spoken to (second person), and the person or thing spoken about (third person). phrasal verb an expression consisting of a verb and an adverb (and preposition), e.g. break down, look forward to. phrase a group of words without a predicate, functioning like an adjective, adverb, or noun.