21st Century Grammar Handbook (6 page)

Capitalization, punctuation,
and other grammatical concepts are also represented in different ways in different systems of transliteration that bear greater or lesser resemblance to Arabic originals, depending on one’s writing purpose and point of view. Some systems represent sound rather accurately, while others strive for letter-by-letter accuracy, and so on. All systems struggle with the
accents
(also called “diacritical marks”) that represent breathing points and sounds in Arabic. Some transliterations become quite complex and are suitable only for scholarly writing or linguistic treatises. Others simply omit this important feature of the languages. Whatever you choose or need to use, be consistent and sensitive to your audience’s need for authenticity versus visual or graphic complexity. See
languages.

Are.
The
second-person
singular and first-, second-, and third-person plural
present tense
of
“be”:
“we are,” “you (singular or plural) are,” “they are.” “You are reading.” Also see
agreement, auxiliary, conjugation, number,
and
person.

Are, our.
In some speech
dialects
these words sound more like each other than in others. But they are still commonly
confused by writers who might not say or hear them as the same. The first is a
verb
form of
“be”
(second-person singular and all forms of the plural
present tense),
while the second is a
possessive
pronoun (first-person
plural):
“‘Are our homes in danger?’ we asked.”

Around.
See
about.

Article.
“A” “an”
and
“the”
are articles. They come before
nouns
to indicate degrees of definitiveness: “a house, the house.” See entries for the specific words for more information on their use,
spelling,
and meaning.

As.
The
subordinating conjunction
“as” should not be confused in
standard English
with the
preposition
“like.” “As” introduces
clauses
rather than simple noun
objects:
“I see it as you do.” Often the
verb
in the clause that follows “as” is omitted: “The consultant acted as a troubleshooter [would].” Dropping the verb makes it appear that “as” is a preposition followed by a
noun;
for that reason, people sometimes make the mistake of using “like” when the
conjunction
“as” is called for. This sometimes also leads to misuse of pronoun
cases.
WRONG: “The speaker talks like me.” RIGHT: “The speaker talks as I do.” See
pronoun.

The confusion of “like” and “as” has become so common that the grammatically correct
usage
sometimes sounds stilted or affected. If your writing or speaking seems to suffer from this distortion, adopt the form that makes you more comfortable or that fits your
audience
better. But for formal moments, the standard
style
is the better choice.

Sentences like “He was frightened as this was his first visit to the dentist” are not acceptable because it is unclear whether “as” refers to time or causation. Was he afraid because this was his first visit to a dentist, or was he frightened on the occasion of his first visit to the dentist? The distinction is perhaps minor in this example, but it should be made clear in other sentences by using words like “because” or “when” instead of “as.” See also
simile.

Asian languages.
The many languages of Asia are often written with different characters than are used in English, which means that there are differing ways of representing words and names in those languages in English. Follow appropriate or accepted
style
guides,
rule
books, and so on, allowing personal preferences to overrule any system or approach. If a person named Ching prefers to be called “Qing,” so be it.

Note that some countries have expressed preferences for certain spellings (“Beijing” has largely replaced “Peking,” for instance, along with “Mao Tse Tung” giving way to “Mao Dsedong” or other versions). And countries have changed their names (“Cambodia” became “Kampuchea”) and names of cities within them (“Saigon” to “Ho Chi Minh City”). Consult up-to-date references to make sure you are using the most recent and appropriate
spellings
for your
audience
as well as consistent and sensible
capitalization, punctuation,
and so on. See
languages.

Assure, ensure, insure.
These words are commonly confused because they are similar in sound and
spelling.
But they differ markedly in meaning and proper use.

“Assure” means to convince or promise. “Ensure” means to make certain or safe. “Insure” means about the same as “ensure,” but it is most commonly and properly used to refer to specific protection of items or people for money: “To ensure that our children will be well provided for, we will insure each other and our property.”

Asterisk.
The asterisk
symbol
(*) can be used to mark special parts of writing: indented or separated
paragraphs
for
emphasis;
footnotes or endnotes; or subdivisions of chapters,
lists,
or other segments of writing. Don’t overuse asterisks—their role is to be a special marker, and special-ness disappears with repetition. Asterisks also should not be used in place of the strings of three or four periods called
ellipses,
which indicate omitted words in
quotations.

At.
Preposition
governing the
objective case:
“Kim threw the stick at him.” Don’t add “at” to “where” statements unless it has an
object.
WRONG: “Where is it at?” RIGHT: “Where is it?”

Ate.
See
eat.

Audience.
Audience means the people to whom you are speaking and writing, whether a single person well known to you or humankind through the ages to come.

Most of us write or speak a good deal in business or public relationships, toward which many of the points in this book are directed—the general, standard readers and speakers of English who are interested in hearing or reading what you have in mind as clearly, briefly, and efficiently as
possible. You undoubtedly address many other audiences in your daily, personal, educational, and other lives. In each instance you need to consider with care who your audience is and what set of grammatical
rules
they will expect you to observe in your communications with them. If you don’t know your audience personally—because it is too big, hidden from you behind business or bureaucratic titles, or simply because you have not yet had a chance to meet with it or figure out who its members are—then your best choice is to follow the rules of
standard English
as closely as possible.

If you don’t know your audience, you run the risk that those who hear or read you will see grammatical mistakes or attempts to play with the rules of grammar as evidence of your inability to speak or write clearly or correctly. Perhaps as important, those who detect grammatical errors in your statements will have to waste time figuring out just what you meant to say or how you meant to say it. Grammatical errors thus certainly fail to meet one of the goals of ordinary communication—efficient transmission of information—and they probably undermine
clarity
and brevity as well. We sometimes recognize that our writing or speaking doesn’t meet audience expectations when those we address don’t respond as we want.

It is true that many rules of
grammar
are less than absolute, open to interpretation, and flexible, depending on circumstances and your stylistic and personal preferences. But all such invitations to bending or breaking the rules of standard grammar have to be weighed against how such departures from common practices will be taken by your audience. If you are completely confident that a substandard
construction like “ain’t” will amuse or be tolerated by those who listen to or read you, then use the word. If you are at all uncertain how such a word—or any other mistake or deviation from standards—will be received, then stick to the rules.

Briefly put, audience is the single greatest determining factor in your choice of rules to observe, twist, or abandon. Be very sure of your ground—of your skill as a writer or speaker, which amounts to your ability to judge and properly address your audience in an appropriate
style
—if you choose anything but the strictest observation of grammatical rules.

Auxiliary.
Verbs
are often made up of more than one word. The verb words in such clusters break down into main verbs and helping verbs, which are also known as “auxiliary verbs.” The most common auxiliaries are
“be,” “can” “could,” “have,” “may,” “might,” “must,” “shall,” “should,” “will,”
and
“would.”
“Be,”
“do,”
and “have” and their various forms can also be main verbs.

Auxiliaries combine with many verb forms to produce
tenses,
the
passive
voice,
moods,
and other verb phrases and effects. See also
voice, main form.

A while, awhile.
“Awhile,” an
adverb,
modifies
verbs.
“A while,” a compound of an
article
and a
noun,
cannot modify verbs but can be the
object
of prepositions: “The law will stand awhile, which means that in a while it might be repealed.” See
modifier.

Awhile.
See
a while.

Awkwardness.
There is no clear definition of “awkwardness.” It is simply something felt or noticed by a writer or
audience
in speech or writing. If you sense it in your work, look for some common symptoms:

•
Subject, verb,
and
subject complement
are far apart or not clearly linked together.

•
Clauses
do not tie neatly and clearly together because they are too long or too wordy.

• The
antecedents
of
modifiers
or
pronouns
are unclear, remote, or not linked carefully and clearly to each other.

Many other mistakes contribute to awkwardness. Try reading sentences aloud to listen for mistakes, then try other versions of sentences to see if they sound and work better. See
editing
and
revision.

Bad, badly.
“Bad” is an
adjective
and can therefore only modify
nouns;
“badly” is an
adverb
that modifies only
verbs:
“This really is a bad manuscript, but I feel badly about its rejection.” See
modifier.

Badly.
See
bad.

B.C., B.C.E.
These
abbreviations
stand for “before Christ” and “before the common era,” and they refer to the time before the birth of Christ. They are added to dates to distinguish where the dates fall in the commonly accepted Western dating system. These abbreviations are usually not spelled out, follow the whole date, and appear in capital letters with
periods.
Using
lower case
or dropping the periods is acceptable in many
styles
and less formal writing, though
A.D.
(“anno Domini” or after Christ), B.C., and B.C.E. usually appear in more formal works, where the standard
rule
should be followed. See
capitalization.

In many Western cultures, years are counted forward from the birth of Christ to the present (“A.D. 1989 was four years ago”), while years are counted in reverse order back from that date into so-called prehistory (“426 B.C. is a later date than 537 B.C. but comes before A.D. 426”). Of course, non-Western cultures don’t all see time this way, and even many Western cultures use alternate systems. Jews (or at least some Israelis) use the Hebrew calendar that
sets the beginning of time at the Creation, which took place, in their view, about 5,500 years ago. Some people prefer not to date time from the birth of Christ but accept the commonest Western dating system by adding C.E. and B.C.E. (after the “common era” or before it) to dates.

B.C.E.
See
B.C.

Be.
“Be” is the
main form
of the common
linking verb
and
auxiliary.
In its many forms it is probably the most used verb or verb form in English, often overused in
bland writing
or weak writing. Because its
conjugation
is irregular, “be” is also frequently misused. See
agreement
and
irregular verbs.

The forms of “be” are

The
future tense
is regular (“I will be …”); the present
participle
and
gerund
are “being” and the past participle is “been.”

Errors in the use of forms of “be” are quite common.
Some contend that many such “errors” are in fact dialectical
usages
that should not be seen as incorrect (see
dialect).
However, any statement in
standard English
or that is likely to be judged by your
audience
by the standards of formal English should not contain either errors or dialectical forms. Thus “I be here” might be admissible in some specific circumstances that accept dialect or nonstandard speech or writing, but such constructions should never appear in everyday business, school, or other common communications. Also see
black English, grammar, rules,
and
style.