When to use 'than' or 'then'

The difference between then and than is fairly simple, but many people, including experienced English speakers, have difficulty with these two words. In fact, “than” and “then” are different parts of speech, used in entirely different ways; the confusion is probably linked to the fact that they sound very similar in spoken English, making it difficult to tell which word is being used. Knowing the difference between then and than will greatly improve the readability and quality of your written English.

The word “than” is a conjunction, which means that it connects two clauses and it establishes a relationship between two clauses. For example, you could say that “A mango is bigger than a lemon,” or “The book was better than the movie.” Any time you are comparing two things, “than” is the appropriate word to use.

On the other hand, “then” is an adverb, meaning that it modifies a part of speech or a clause. It joins two clauses which are separated by time; “then” telling you when something happened (or is going to happen). For example, you could say “he went to the store (first), and then stopped by the park,” or “please do your homework, and then you may watch television.” In both of these sentences, the word “then” could be replaced by “after that,” and the sentences would make sense.

Try this quick quiz:

1.       I like rice better ______ potatoes.

2.       We went to the Mall and _____ we went to see a movie.

3.       She put on her raincoat, _____ she put on her hat.

4.       An elephant is bigger _____ a mouse.

5.       We turned right. _____ we turned left.

6.       The girls decided they would rather just go to town______ drive all the way to the city._____

they changed their minds and drove to the city!

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I shall post the answers tomorrow!

Robert

Oxford Dictionary Word of the Year for 2018

Oxford Dictionaries has announced that its Word of the Year for 2018 is toxic, which visitors to its websites searched for not only in isolation but as an element in multiple phrases.

Toxic, which derives ultimately from the Greek term toxon, meaning “arrow,” came to apply to poison delivered on the point of an arrow. In Greek, toxikon meant “poison arrow,” and later, the Latin word toxicum pertained to poison itself. The primary definition of the adjective toxic is “poisonous,” though by extension, it has come to mean “harmful” or “malicious.”

Although several phrases frequently used in searches on the Oxford Dictionaries sites pertain to the literal meaning of toxic—reflecting concerns about pollution—several pertain to the latter senses, including “toxic culture” and “toxic environment,” which allude to a physical realm that is unhealthy for one’s psychological (and therefore physical) health, such as a company or other organization that tacitly condones sexist or unethical behavior, or a dysfunctional domestic situation.

A toxic relationship, meanwhile, is one in which one of the parties is emotionally and/or physically abusive toward the other, and toxic masculinity is the concept of a distorted perception about what it means to be a male in modern society; symptoms of this malady include aggression and excessive competitiveness, as well as sexism and homophobia.

Toxicity is the quality of being toxic, and a toxin is a poison; antitoxin is an antidote to poison. The study of poisons, meanwhile is toxicology, and one who studies poisons is a toxicologist. (Toxic- and toxico- are combining forms referring to poisons.)

The Oxford Dictionaries also listed other words and phrases that were most frequently entered in search boxes on its websites this year, including a couple that are little known in the United States—and, interestingly, they all are associated, more or less, with toxic behavior.

One British English–centric term is cakeism, which alludes to the saying “You can’t have your cake and eat it, too,” meaning that one should not be greedy or try to have two things that are incompatible. Cakeism, by contrast, suggests that one can or should exploit two alternative opportunities at once. The other is gammon, extrapolated from the term for salted pork leg (which turns pink when cooked) and describing a white person, especially one with a conservative sociopolitical worldview, who develops a florid complexion due to the person becoming emotionally exercised about an issue such as Brexit, the controversial and contested decision by the United Kingdom to withdraw from the European Union.

Other terms on the list also reflect current events and reactions to them. The phrase “big dick energy,” for example, pertains to an outsize confidence that suggests that the person in question (generally, a celebrity) has such an attitude because he is genitally well endowed, though the term is applied to charismatic women, too (and the idea is not to be confused with toxic masculinity, though someone with BDE may be a toxic person).

The term gaslighting, referring to psychological manipulation to undermine a person’s confidence or sanity, is inspired by the title and plot device of the 1938 stage play Gas Light and its subsequent film, television, and radio adaptations (the titles of which treated the phrase as a closed compound), in which a man surreptitiously dims the gas-fueled lighting in the home he shares with his wife and then insists to her that the lights are as bright as usual, among other tactics, to drive her insane.

Incel is a truncation of the phrase “involuntary celibate,” describing a man whose difficulty forming healthy relationships with women (or even obtaining dates with them) leads to sexual and emotional frustration that escalates to hostility toward not only women but also the men incels resent for being successful in sexual and romantic pursuits. The term applies especially to virtual communities of men who commiserate with each other in online forums, which, as closed (and therefore toxic) environments, amplify the condition.

Orbiting, meanwhile, is when someone no longer communicates directly with another person through social media but still keeps track of that person online; the term, suggesting someone periodically looming over someone else, is a loose synonym for lurking (though lurkers usually leave no trace of their visit) and differs from ghosting—the term for a sudden, complete cessation of contact, generally from someone one has been dating—in that an orbiter leaves evidence of a continuing (and perhaps toxic) interest.

The concept of the deleterious effects of excessive numbers of travelers to a vacation destination, including damage to historical sites and the local environment as well as negative impacts on the location’s residents, is called overtourism.

Finally, techlash describes negative and hostile attitudes toward large technology companies because of the pervasive influence on society of their products, erosion of privacy for people who use them, and their inability to prevent identify theft. The term is a construction based on backlash, which means “adverse reaction” (or “sudden backward movement”), from the notion of a whip or rope inflicting pain or damage as it unexpectedly strikes someone or something when one uses the whip or rope.

Source: https://www.dailywritingtips.com

When to use hyphens

Hyphens Guide: Functions and Examples

The functions the hyphen appear to be straightforward, but exceptions and inconsistencies abound. This post serves as a guide to the recommendations of The Chicago Manual of Style regarding hyphenation.

Hyphens are often introduced when new noun compounds are created, including in technological vocabulary, but such terms usually become closed compounds, though there are exceptions, such as mind-set and light-year. Other exceptions include constructions with certain first or second elements, such as in the case of self-respect and president-elect, and noun combinations such as city-state and writer-director.

Some terms that include letters linked to nouns retain hyphenation (A-list, T-bone, X-axis). Omission of a hyphen in email is trending, but similar terms such as e-commerce resist this evolution. Some prefixes take hyphens (anti-inflammatory, “non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma,” and nouns preceded by ex, such as ex-partner), though most prefixes do not require them. Hyphens also represent expression, in isolation, of a prefix or a word element (pre-, -er) when construction of a word using that prefix would otherwise not require a hyphen. Another use of hyphens is with words to be distinguished from nonhyphenated homographs (co-op, re-creation).

Other special cases for hyphenation with nouns include relationship terms preceded by great (great-grandmother) and in-law as well as combinations using in-law (sister-in-law), some compound nouns beginning with vice (vice-consul), constructions ending in odd (hundred-odd), and terms for compound nationalities where the first element is altered to end in o (Anglo-American), but not others that are no so altered (Italian American).

Hyphens link some double and even triple and quadruple surnames (“Lobelia Sackville-Baggins”), though not all double-, triple-, or quadruple-barreled surnames, as they are also called, are hyphenated (“Sacha Baron Cohen”). They also sometimes connect double first names, as in “Jean-Paul,” although this usage is rare in English names. Some company and product names use hyphens (Bristol-Meyers Squibb, EZ-Kleen).

Hyphens are employed in spelled-out numerical terms representing different place values (twenty-four), in fractions (as in one-third), and in number sequences, such as phone numbers and Social Security numbers, and number groupings, such as dates styled entirely in numerals.
One of the most common uses of hyphens is in words in phrasal adjectives preceding but not following a noun (“short-term investment,” “off-the-cuff remark”) and when combining similar-looking constructions that begin with comparative adverbs such as better, much, and well (“best-kept secret”).

Some style manuals (but not this site) recommend that phrasal adjectives be hyphenated regardless of their position, and a few such expressions (such as far-reaching) are always hyphenated regardless of position or style authority. Also, a letter space should never intervene when a hyphen connects two words or numbers, except when suspending the first use of a word common to two or more phrasal adjectives (“fifteen- and thirty-day increments”).

If a hyphenation links one word with an open compound, use an en dash rather than a comma to clarify that the symbol links the word to the entire compound, not just the element of the compound adjacent to the symbol: “pre–ice age migration,” “post–World War I recovery,” “mountain lodge–style ambience,” “Stephen Curry–level ball handling.” (The rule does not apply to abbreviations standing for open compounds, so use a hyphen, for example, in “US-Mexico border.”) If a compound is already hyphenated, use an additional hyphen to connect a word or prefix, as in “non-English-speaking actors” (extending from “English-speaking actors”).

When are hyphens used erroneously? When adverbs ending in -ly are mistakenly attached to the words that follow (as in “richly-detailed design”) and when adjectives are wrongly hyphenated to nouns (“near-term”). And although verb phrases are often hyphenated (test-drive), those words, as used in “I’m taking it for a test drive,” do not constitute a verb phrase.

When in doubt about whether to insert or omit a hyphen, consult a dictionary or a style manual, or check a publication’s or organization’s house style guide if you are writing for one.

Hyphens are also employed to break a word across two lines of type. Such breaks should occur between syllables, as demonstrated in a dictionary, but many publications choose to avoid this use of hyphens for aesthetic and practical reasons. If they are employed, it is recommended that type be adjusted so that no more than two end-of-line hyphens appear in a row and that they not be used at the end of the last line of a column or a page. (In addition, words that already include a hyphen should not be broken across two lines of type except at the existing hyphen.) Also, they are not advised for headlines and other large-type elements.

An issue related to hyphenation is capitalization of hyphenated terms in headlines and titles. Capitalize the following elements according to the recommendations of The Chicago Manual of Style:

• the first element
• subsequent elements except for articles; prepositions; coordinating conjunctions (and, but, for, nor, and or); and flat, sharp, and the like following letters denoting musical keys and chords
• the second element if it is a proper noun or proper adjective following a prefix or similar form that does not stand by itself as a word (Anti-, Pre-, and so on)
• the second element in a hyphenated spelled-out number (Fifty-One, Twenty-Fifth, and so on) or hyphenated simple fraction (“Two-Thirds Vote”).

Source: https://www.dailywritingtips.com

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41 Words That Are Better Than Good

The soul of writing is specificity, yet all too often, we lean on general-purpose words instead of choosing the most precise ones. Most of our daily communication probably depends on less than 1,000 words.

Of course, that includes words such as you, I, is, are, of, and for, which are already the best words for the job. I admit that sometimes in conversation, I deliberately limit my vocabulary because I don’t want others to look at me quizzically: “Who does he think he is, anyway: one of the authors of a writing tips blog?”

The result is vague, even boring, conversation, using words so general, they could fit almost everything in the world.

How was your trip? Fine.

How do you feel? Good.

Choosing other words is no improvement, if we always choose the same words. A world where everything is cool or awesome is not much more interesting than a world where everything is fine or good.

So let’s buck the trend. Here are 41 alternatives to good that can’t be used to describe everything in the world because they each have specific meanings, or at least, different connotations.

1. breathtaking – amazing, surprising, astonishing, enough to make you gasp with pleasure, and almost enough to make you forget to breathe.
2. choice – preferred, prized, specially selected. In New Zealand, the exclamation “Choice!” is used similarly to “Great!” in the United States.
3. dazzling – amazing, splendid, brilliant, shining so bright that it’s hard to see it.
4. delectable – highly delicious, usually describing food, from the Latin for “delight.”
5. delightful – causing joy, delight or pleasure, producing positive emotion, with the same Latin root as “delectable.”
6. deluxe – high quality, related to luxury, from the Latin for “excess.”
7. enjoyable – pleasant, bringing pleasure and satisfaction – bringing joy.
8. excellent – superior, best in its class, of the highest quality, making a person shout “Excelsior!”
9. exceptional – uncommon, rare, and better for being so.
10. exemplary – an example of high quality, a model for others.
11. fine – delicate, exquisite, almost as good as it gets. Related to the French and Latin words for “finished” and “exact.” Overused until often it merely means “acceptable.”
12. exquisite – exceptionally fine or rare, with the sense of extreme
13. favorable – helpful, encouraging, positive, convenient, such as getting hoped-for results.
14. first-rate – exceptionally good, in the highest class. Describing a British naval vessel with more than 100 guns.
15. first-string – the starting players on a sports team; that is, the best of them. Many other expressions begin with the word first.
16. five-star – from the hotel rating system in which a five-star hotel is among the world’s best.
17. formidable – causing awe, respect, wonder or even fear, perhaps because it’s so large or strong.
18. gilt-edged – high quality, from the practice of putting a thin layer of gold on the edges of a book.
19. gratifying – pleasing, satisfying, making someone content.
20. incredible – amazing, beyond belief, almost too good to be true.
21. luxurious – fine or comfortable, such as an expensive hotel room. I use it to show gratitude for a gift that is too fancy for my tastes.
22. magnificent – splendid, elegant, noble. From the Latin word for “great deeds.”
23. opulent – showy, extravagant, magnificent, sumptuous – more than luxurious, with the sense of “more than you really need”
24. pleasing – giving cheer, pleasure, or enjoyment – something that pleases you
25. positive – certain, good, favorable. Currently used in expressions such as “positive energy” or “positive vibes.”
26. precious – beloved, valuable, worthy, of high price. “Precious” writing is euphuistic: overly cute and takes itself too seriously.
27. prime – first, as in first quality.
28. rare – uncommon, scarce, and therefore valuable. The gravestone of an influential English playwright is inscribed with the (misspelled) tribute “O rare Ben Johnson”.
29. satisfying – sufficient, pleasing, more than adequate.
30. select – privileged, specially chosen, high-quality.
31. shipshape – well-organized, fully prepared, meticulous, tidy. Before you embark on an ocean voyage, you want your ship to be in shape.
32. sound – healthy, solid, secure, complete. If a floor is sound, you won’t fall through.
33. sterling – of high, verifiable value, as in sterling silver, which is 92.5% pure silver. Originally referring to British coins, which had a star or a starling on them in the Middle Ages.
34. striking – impressive, memorable, calling to mind the striking of a coin.
35. sumptuous – costly, expensive, as in a meal with many courses of great variety. We’ve got a whole article about sumptuous.
36. top-notch – belonging to the highest level, possibly from some 19th century game that used notches to keep score.
37. subtle – clever and crafty, though that’s an older meaning. A subtle flavor is not overbearing, and the chef will be pleased if you tell him so.
38. up to snuff – meeting the standard, adequate, sharp. Snuff is a more expensive powdered tobacco, which was sniffed by higher-class gentlemen as a stimulant in the 19th century.
39. valuable – worthy of esteem, having high worth or value.
40. welcome – anticipated, a pleasure to see, received with gladness, as in “welcome news.” From the Old English for “a wished-for guest.”
41. well-made – built right, properly constructed, sound.

Source: https://www.dailywritingtips.com/41-words-that-are-better-than-good/

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