158 lines
5.2 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
158 lines
5.2 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
topics
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about-us
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style-book
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simon-heffers-style-notes
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7928047
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-----
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# Style notes 28: February 12 2010
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11:42AM GMT 12 Feb 2010
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Dear Colleagues
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There have been some difficulties with grammar since I last wrote. Lay is a
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transitive verb (I lay down a case of claret every month; she laid the table),
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lie an intransitive one (he lies over there; she lay in bed until noon). Do
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not confuse them. Prepositions require accusatives: we wrote that something
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had been done "by my cameraman and I" when it should have been "me". Practice
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is the noun and practise the verb. Most scruffiest is a tautology. The style
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book instructs on the use of "compare with" and "compare to". Split
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infinitives are never necessary. You have less of one thing and fewer of many
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(less sugar, fewer sweets). The passive participle of the verb to show is
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shown ("they were shown to have been there"), not showed. Someone who escapes
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is an escaper, not an escapee. There cannot be the eldest of two: it is the
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elder. There is no such word as adaption. A woman who went to a university is
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an alumna of it; women are alumnae. We have also had two unfortunate examples
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of the greengrocer's apostrophe: "policymaker's" and "how soldier's found
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Hitler's body", the second of which appeared in the paper as a strapline over
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a picture.
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Spelling has been below par too. A program is not on television; it is on the
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hard drive of a computer. Cadbury's are at Bournville, not Bourneville. One
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should learn how to spell Connecticut long before writing about it in public.
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An aurochs is not plural. They are aurochses. Untying is spelt thus.
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Peninsular is the adjective; the noun is peninsula. The poison is spelt
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strychnine. The plural of journey is journeys. Only the Americans spell the
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word "neighbor".
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There have also been some gruesome homophones, mostly confined to the web, but
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"insight" and "incite" were confused in the paper. We have also had 24 carrot
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gold, hospital patience, lessoning the problem, pearl as a stitch in knitting
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(it is purl), sensors for censors and past for passed. There are perennial
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problems with there, their and they're. There have been no familiar near-
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misses with imminently for eminently and effect for affect. The second happens
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too often and is easily avoidable; the first is just bizarre.
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We are usually strong on facts, but there have been some aberrations lately.
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The terms "rifle" and "shotgun" are not interchangeable. A rifle is a
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precision weapon that fires bullets. A shotgun fires cartridges loaded with
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shot that scatters in a pattern and kills or wounds anything in its path.
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Gourmand and gourmet are not interchangeable either. The latter is a
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connoisseur of food and the former simply greedy. Buckinghamshire is not in
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the Cotswolds. Do not describe former concentration camps situated in Poland
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as "Polish death camps". This gravely offends Poles who think we are accusing
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them of having run these shocking places. They are to be described as Nazi
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camps.
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I should just like to remind you about some fundamental matters of style. We
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refer to members of the Royal family by any title they hold and not by their
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Christian names: so it is the Prince of Wales, and not Prince Charles, and the
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Earl of Wessex, not Prince Edward. We give the name of a person and only then
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the title of the job or position he or she holds: so it should be Gordon
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Brown, the Prime Minister, and Sir Terry Leahy, Chief Executive of Tesco, and
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not the other way round. Clergymen are never "the Rev Smith". They are the Rev
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John Smith, or the Rev Mr Smith, and always Mr Smith at second and subsequent
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mentions. We have had too many crackdowns and too much vowing, which are nasty
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tabloidisms, and "gobsmacked" is a term only to be used in self-conscious
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satire. Our newspapers are always to be referred to as The Daily Telegraph and
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The Sunday Telegraph.
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Finally, do remember that all news stories should be in reported speech; and
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as such pay attention to tenses. Do not write that "Mr Jones said he will pay
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the fine"; he would pay the fine.
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_Best wishes _
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_Simon Heffer _
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_Associate Editor _
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_The Daily Telegraph_
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[What are these?][2]
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* Share: [Share][1] [ ][3] [ ][4]
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[Tweet][5]
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/about-us/style-book/simon-heffers-style-
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notes/7928047/Style-notes-28-February-12-2010.html
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Telegraph
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## [Simon Heffer's Style Notes][6]
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[What are these?][2]
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Share:
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* [ ][1]
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* [ ][3]
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* [ ][4]
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* [Tweet][5]
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* Advertisement
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![][7]
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Advertisement
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[EDITOR'S CHOICE »][8]
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### [Gil Scott-Heron: 'A voice for Shakespeare'][9]
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[![Gil Scott-Heron][10]][9]
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Composer, musician, poet and author whose writing provided a vivid commentary
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### [Beekeeping diary: the new colonies arrive][11]
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