7/25/2019 Some Dos and Don
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Some dos and don'ts
Anshould be used before a word beginning with a vowel sound (an
egg, an umbrella,an MP) or an h if, and only if, the h is silent
(an honorary degree). But aEuropean, auniversity, a U-turn, a
hospital, a hotel. Historical is an exception: it is preceded byan,
the h remaining silent.
As o(April 5th or April): prefer on (or ater, or since) April
5th, in April.
As to! there is usually a more appropriate preposition.
"ale!in boats and in the hayfield, yes, otherwise bail, bail
out.
"iannualcan mean t#ice a yearor once every t#o years. Avoid.
ince biennial also
means once every t#o years, that is best avoided too.
"icentennial!preferbicentenary(as a noun).
"lac$! in the blac$ means in proit in Britain, but ma$ing
lossesin some places. !sein proit.
%ase!"#here is perhaps no single word so freely resorted to as a
trouble$saver,% says
&owers, "and conse'uently responsible for so much flabby
writing.% ften you can dowithout it. &here are many cases o it
being unnecessary is better as t is oten
unnecessary. it is the case thatsimply means . t is not the
casemeans t isnot so.
%ome up #ith: try suggest, originateorproduce.
%ommit: do not commit to, but by all means commit yoursel
tosomething.
-ee! employees, evacuees, detainees, reerees, reugeesbut,
please, no
attendees (those attending), dratees(conscripts),
escapees(escapers), retirees(the retired), or standees. A divorcee
may be male or female.
Environment!often unavoidable, but not a pretty word. Avoid the
businessenvironment, the school environment, the #or$ environment,
etc. #ry to rephrasethe sentenceconditions or business,at school,
at #or$, etc.Surroundingscansometimes do the *ob.
(act! &he act thatcan often be boiled down to &hat.
(ormer! avoid wherever possible use of the ormerandthe latter.
+t usually causesconfusion.
)entlemen's agreement, not gentleman's.
mportant!if something is important, say why and to whom. !se
sparingly.
*ast!the lastissue of The Economistimplies its extinction prefer
last #ee$'sor thelatestissue. *ast year, in -/, means -5 if you
mean the -0 months up to thetime of writing, write the past year.
#he same goes for the pastmonth, past wee1,
past(not last) ten years. *ast #ee$ is best avoided anyone
reading it several daysafter publication may be confused. &his
#ee$ is permissible.
*iestyle! prefer #ay o lie.
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*ocate, in all its forms, can usually be replaced by something
less ugly. &he missingscientist #as locatedmeans he was ound.
&he diplomats #ill meet at a secretlocationmeans either that
they will meet in a secret placeor that they will meetsecretly. A
company located in &e+as is simply a company in &e+as.
Millionaires!the time has gone when girls in the Bois de
Boulogne would thin1 that the
term millionaireade'uately described the man who bro1e the Ban1
at 2onte 3arlo. +fyou wish to use it, ma1e it plain that
millionaire refers to income (in dollars or pounds),not to capital.
therwise try plutocrator rich man.
Move!do not use if you mean decision, bid, dealor something more
precise. Butmoverather than relocate.
ne!try to avoid oneas a personal pronoun. ouwill often do
instead.
Phone!permissible, especially when preceded by mobile. But use
sparingly, andgenerally prefer telephone.
Photo! not permissible, so use photograph.
Premier, as a noun, should be confined to the first ministers of
3anadian provinces,&erman Lnderand other sub$national states.
4o not use it as a synonym for the primeminister of a country.
Proactive. ot a pretty word: try activeor energetic.
Problem!the problem with problem is it is overused, so much so
that it is becoming a
problem word.
Proper nouns!if they have ad*ectives, use them. #hus a
%aliornian(not%aliornia)
udge, the Pa$istani(not Pa$istan) government, the &e+an(not
&e+as) press.
Pry! useprise, unless you mean peer.
/elationshipis a long word often better replaced by relations.
&he t#o countrieshope or a better relationshipmeans &he t#o
countries hope or better relations.
/elative! fine as an ad*ective, but as a noun prefer
relation.
/oc$eted, not s$yroc$eted.
/un. +n countries with a presidential system you may runfor
office. +n those with aparliamentary one, stand.
Same!often superfluous. +f your sentence containson the same day
that, try on theday that.
Sector!try industryinstead or, for example, ban$sinstead of
ban$ing sector.
Simplistic!prefer simple-minded, naive.
-style! avoid )erman-style supervisory boards, an EU-style
rotating presidency,etc. 6xplain what you mean.
&able! avoid it as a transitive verb. +n Britain to
tablemeans to bring something forwardfor action. +n America it
means exactly the opposite.
