Bryson's Dictionary For Writers And Editors (v5.0) (3 page)

Amtrak
for the passenger railroad corporation. The company's formal designation is the National Railroad Passenger Corporation, but this is almost never used, even on first reference.

Amundsen, Roald.
(1872-1928) Norwegian explorer, first person to reach the South Pole (1911).

Anacreon.
(c. 563–c. 478
BC
) Greek poet.

anathema,
pl.
anathemas.

Anaxagoras.
(c. 500–428
BC
) Greek philosopher.

Anaximander.
(c. 611–c. 547
BC
) Greek philosopher.

ancien régime.
(Fr.) “The old order.”

ancillary.

Andalusia.
Region of Spain. In Spanish, Andalucía.

Andersen, Hans Christian.
(1805-1875) Not
-son.
Danish writer of children's tales.

Anderson, Marian.
(1897-1993) Celebrated contralto.

Andhra Pradesh.
Indian state.

Andorra
is a principality; the capital is Andorra la Vella.

Andrejewski, Jerzy.
(1909-1983) Polish novelist.

Andretti, Mario.
(1940–) American racecar driver.

Andrews Air Force Base,
Maryland. (No apos.)

androgenous, androgynous.
The first applies to the production of male offspring; the second means having both male and female characteristics.

Andromache.
In Greek mythology, the wife of Hector.

Androscoggin.
A county, river, and lake in Maine.

and which.
Almost always
and which
should be preceded by a parallel
which
(“The home run, which was his tenth of the month and which was the longest hit in the park this year…”). The stricture applies equally to such constructions as
and that, and who, but which,
and
but who
. See also
THAT, WHICH.

anesthesia, anesthesiologist.

aneurysm.

Anfinsen, Christian B(oehmer).
(1916-1995) American biochemist, awarded Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1972.

anfractuosity.
Having many turns.

Angelico, Fra.
(1387-1455) Florentine painter, also known as Fra Giovanni da Fiesole.

Angkor.
Complex of ruins in Cambodia.
Angkor Wat
is a single temple within the compound.

Angleterre.
French for England.

anglicize.
(Lowercase.)

angora.
Type of wool.
Angora
is the former name of Ankara, Turkey.

Angostura bitters.

angstrom/ångström.
(Abbr. Å.) Unit used to measure wavelengths of light, and equal to one ten-billionth of a meter; named for
Anders Ångström
(1814-1874), Swedish physicist.

Anheuser-Busch.
Brewery.

Anhui.
Chinese province, formerly spelled
Anhwei
.

Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve,
Alaska.

animus,
but
animosity.

aniseed.
A flavorful seed.

anisette.
A drink flavored with aniseed.

Ankara.
Capital of Turkey.

Annabessacook, Lake,
Maine.

Annapolis.
Capital of Maryland.

Annapurna.
A cluster of mountains in the Himalayas, of which the highest peak is Annapurna I (26,545 feet; 8,091 meters).

Ann Arbor,
Michigan, home of the University of Michigan.

Anne Arundel County,
Maryland.

Anne of Cleves.
(1515-1557) Fourth wife of Henry VIII.

annex
for both noun and verb.

Annieopsquotch Mountains,
Newfoundland, Canada.

annihilate.

Ann-Margret.
(1941–) American actress; born Ann-Margret Olsson. Note hyphen and irregular spelling
Margret
.

anno Domini.
(Lat., cap.
D
only.) “The year of the Lord.” See also
AD
.

annus mirabilis.
(Lat.) Remarkable year.

anomaly, anomalous.

anonymous, anonymity.

Anouilh, Jean.
(1910-1987) French playwright; pronounced
an'-wee.

Anschluss.
(Ger.) A union; particularly applied to that of Germany and Austria in 1938.

Antananarivo.
Capital of Madagascar.

Antassawamock Neck,
Massachusetts.

antebellum.
(Lat.) “Before the war” especially applied to the period before the American Civil War.

antecedence, antecedents.
Antecedence
means precedence;
antecedents
are ancestors or other things that have gone before.

antediluvian.
Antiquated, primitive.

ante meridiem.
(Lat.) “Before midday.” Abbr. a.m./AM; not to be confused with
antemeridian
(one word), meaning of or taking part in the morning.

antennae, antennas.
Either is correct as the plural of
antenna
, but generally
antennae
is preferred for living organisms (“a beetle's antennae”) and
antennas
for manmade objects (“radio antennas made possible the discovery of quarks”).

anticipate.
To anticipate something is to look ahead to it and prepare for it, not to make a reasonable estimate. A tennis player who anticipates his opponent's next shot doesn't just guess where it is going to go but is there to meet it.

Anti-Defamation League.

Antigone.
In Greek mythology, daughter of Oedipus; also (in italics) the title of a play by Sophocles.

Antigua and Barbuda.
Caribbean state; capital St. John's.

antipasto.
(It.) Appetizer, hors d'oeuvre; pl.
antipasti.

Antipodean.
Of Australia or New Zealand.

antirrhinum.
Note
-rr-.
A flower, also known as a snapdragon.

Antofagasta,
Chile.

Antonioni, Michelangelo.
(1912-2007) Italian film director.

Antony and Cleopatra.
Not
Anthony.
Play by Shakespeare (c. 1606).

Antwerpen.
The Flemish name for Antwerp, Belgium; the French name is Anvers.

anxious.
Since
anxious
comes from
anxiety,
it should contain some connotation of being worried or fearful and not merely eager or expectant.

any.
A tricky word at times, as here: “This paper isn't very good, but neither is any of the others.” A simple and useful principle is to make the verb always correspond to the complement. Thus: “neither is any other” or “neither are any of the others.”

anybody, anyone, anything, anyway, anywhere.
Anything
and
anywhere
are always one word. The others are normally one word except when the emphasis is on the second element (e.g., “He received three job offers, but any one would have suited him”).
Anybody
and
anyone
are singular and should be followed by singular pronouns and verbs. A common fault—so common, in fact, that some no longer consider it a fault—is seen here: “Anyone can relax so long as they don't care whether they or anyone else ever actually gets anything done.” The problem, clearly, is that a plural pronoun (“they”) is being attached to a singular verb (“gets”). Such constructions may in fact be fully defensible, at least some of the time, though you should at least know why you are breaking a rule when you break it.

à outrance.
(Fr.) Not
à l'outrance
. To the very last, to the death.

Apalachicola.
Florida river.

Aparicio, Luis.
(1934–) Venezuelan-born baseball player.

Apeldoorn,
the Netherlands.

Apennines
for the Italian mountain range. Note
-nn-
in middle. In Italian, Appennini.

aperitif,
pl.
aperitifs.

Apfelstrudel.
(Ger.) Apple strudel.

aplomb.

apocalypse, apocalyptic.

apogee.
The highest or most distant point, usually in reference to orbiting bodies. Its opposite is
perigee.

Apollinaire, Guillaume.
(1880-1918) French writer and critic; born Wilhelm Apollinaris de Kostrowitzky.

Apollo.
Greek god of light, son of Zeus.

“Apologie for Poetrie, An.”
Title of the essay by Sir Philip Sidney, also published as “The Defence of Poesie” (1595).

aposiopesis.
The sudden breaking off of a thought or statement; pl.
aposiopeses
.

apostasy.
The abandoning of one's faith; pl.
apostasies.

apostatize.

a posteriori.
(Lat.) From what is after; in logic, moving from effect to cause, reasoning from experience.

apothegm.
A witty or pithy maxim.

apotheosis.
Deification (generally used figuratively); pl.
apotheoses.

Appalachian Mountains,
eastern United States.

appaloosa.
Horse. A breed of saddle horse.

apparatchik.
Party functionary, especially of the Communist Party.

apparel.

apparition.

appellant, appellate.

appendices, appendixes.
Either is correct.

applicator.

appoggiatura.
In music, an accented nonharmonized note that precedes a harmonized note.

Appomattox,
Virginia; where the Confederacy surrendered to the Union to end the Civil War (April 9, 1865).

appraise, apprise.
Appraise
means to assess or evaluate.
Apprise
means to inform. An insurance assessor appraises damage and apprises owners.

appreciate
has a slightly more specific meaning than writers sometimes give it. If you appreciate something, you value it (“I appreciate your concern”) or you understand it sympathetically (“I appreciate your predicament”). But when there is no sense of sympathy or value (as in “I appreciate what you are saying, but I don't agree with it”)
understand
or
recognize
or the like would be better.

apprehensible.

après-midi.
(Fr.) Afternoon.

après-ski.
(Fr., hyphen.) The period after a day's skiing.

April Fools' Day.

a principio.
(Lat.) From the beginning.

a priori.
(Lat.) From what is before; in logic, an argument proceeding from cause to effect.

apropos.
In French,
à propos.

Apuleius, Lucius.
(fl. second c.
AD
) Roman satirist.

Apulia.
Region of Italy known in English as Puglia.

Aqaba, Gulf of.
An arm of the Red Sea. Aqaba is also the name of a town in Jordan.

aqua vitae.
(Lat.) “Water of life” used to describe whiskeys and other alcoholic spirits.

aqueduct,
but
aquifer.

aquiline.
Like an eagle.

Aquinas, St. Thomas.
(1225-1274) Italian theologian, canonized 1323.

À quoi bon?
(Fr.) What for? What's the point?

arabic numerals.
Not cap.

Arafat, Yasir.
(1929-2004) Born Mohammed Abdel Raouf Arafat; leader Palestine Liberation Organization (1969-2004), awarded Nobel Peace Prize with Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin (1994).

Aramaic.
Semitic language.

Aran Island
and
Aran Islands
(Ireland) but
Isle of Arran
(Scotland). The sweater is spelled
Aran
.

Arc de Triomphe,
Paris. Officially, Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile.

arc-en-ciel.
(Fr.) Rainbow; pl.
arcs-en-ciel.

archaea.
Type of unicellular organism.

archaeology
is normally preferred, but
archeology
is accepted.

archaic, archaism.

archetype.

Archilochus of Paros.
(c. 714–c. 676
BC
) Greek poet.