Free Writing Tips

Let’s continue our laid-back August tempo with another brief quiz you just might ace. Make your picks.

1. Now that I have pored/poured over the materials you sent me, I feel more confident about my interview next week.
2. The idea of Lauren mentoring Phil is moot/mute now that she’s been transferred to sales.
3. I can’t say we are all together/altogether pleased about losing Lauren to the sales team.
4. Your selection of Todd to head the project shows me you are trusting/trustworthy.

The answers

1. Reading or studying intently has nothing to do with pouring. When we do that, we pore.

2. The verb mute means to silence, and the adjective mute means silent. But if something is no longer relevant (or it’s debatable), it’s moot.

3. This one’s a close call. All together conveys unity. (“We are all together on meeting at noon.”) But when we mean “wholly” or “in total,” we want the word altogether. (“That is an altogether different matter.”)

4. If Al trusts Zelda, he finds her worthy of his trust (trustworthy). At the same time, we can infer that Al is a trusting fellow.

In addition to presenting workshops on writing in the workplace, Norm Friedman is a writer, editor, and writing coach. His 100+ Instant Writing Tips is a brief “non-textbook” to help individuals overcome common writing errors and write with more finesse and impact. Learn more at http://www.normfriedman.com/index.shtml.

Remaining in vacation mode, let’s look at a few more word pairs and a chance to ace another quick quiz. Make your choices.

1. If no one is adverse/averse to extending the meeting, let’s tackle one more item.
2. My grandfather helped nine members of his family emigrate/immigrate to America.
3. Laurie lead/led her team to victory in the final two games of the playoffs.
4. I spotted my cousins cheering with hoi polloi in the left field bleachers/hoi polloi in box seats behind home plate.

The answers

1. Maybe this one’s too tough for summertime. It’s challenging because adverse and averse are both adjectives conveying opposition, but adverse always refers to things (adverse weather, adverse reaction) while averse always applies to people’s attitudes (averse to driving there alone) – and we always see it followed by “to.” So the right choice in #1 is averse.

2. When we immigrate, we come into a country. When we emigrate, we leave. So the answer to #2 is immigrate. An easy way to remember the distinction is that immigrating is the act of coming in; when we emigrate, we exit.

3. The past tense of the verb lead, of course, is led, but this error crops up surprisingly frequently – perhaps because led and the metal, lead, are pronounced the same way. So it’s Laurie led.

4. Hoi polloi may sound as if it refers to the upper crust (or those who think they are) because it reminds us of hoity-toity, but hoi polloi is Greek for the many, or the masses. So hoi polloi are more likely to sit in the bleachers.

Note also that because hoi polloi means the many, we don’t need the in front of hoi polloi, although using the is not considered a serious error. Relax.

In addition to presenting workshops on writing in the workplace, Norm Friedman is a writer, editor, and writing coach. His 100+ Instant Writing Tips is a brief “non-textbook” to help individuals overcome common writing errors and write with more finesse and impact. Learn more at http://www.normfriedman.com/index.shtml.

Continuing our relaxed pace for the last full month of summer, here is another brief quiz. Make your choices.

1. Jill’s poetic captions exquisitely complement/compliment Jerry’s gorgeous photographs from their Canadian Rockies vacation.
2. I love the pieces I bought at the auction, but I am putting them in different rooms because they don’t seem complementary/complimentary.
3. Most of Cal’s interests are sedentary (e.g./i.e., reading, doing crossword puzzles, and playing chess and bridge).
4. The Little League games are too often marred by embarrassing behavior (e.g./i.e., parents berating the umpire).

The answers

1 & 2. We usually want the “i” word, as in “She paid me a compliment” or “These tickets are complimentary.” But when items fit together well or enhance each other, we want the “e” word. Therefore, the answers to 1 and 2 are “complement” and “complementary.”

An easy way to remember the distinction is thinking of the word “complete.” When we want the word that signifies completeness, we want the “e” word.

3 & 4. Both of these abbreviations come from Latin, but don’t worry. The two tricks at the bottom provide a really easy way to remember this distinction, too.

We get “e.g.” from the Latin exampli gratis (“for the sake of example”) and “i.e.” from the Latin id est (“that is”). So when we are providing an example, we can set that up with “e.g.,” and when we are clarifying, we can set that up with “i.e.” Therefore, we want “e.g.” in #3, where we are giving examples of Cal’s sedentary interests, and “i.e.” in #4, where we meant the parents’ yelling is the bad behavior, not that it is just one example.

And recognize that we don’t ever have to use these Latin abbreviations. We can just stick to English and write out “for example” or “for instance” instead of “e.g.” and “that is to say” or “in other words” instead of “i.e.”

The two tricks

If you do want to use “e.g.” and “i.e.” once in a while, these coincidences may come in handy: Imagine you were pronouncing “e.g.” as if it were a word. It would sound like “egg,” right? And the beginning of the word “example” sounds like “egg.”

As for “i.e.,” pretend it stands for “in essence.” It doesn’t, but when we use “i.e.” correctly, that’s precisely what we mean.

In addition to presenting workshops on writing in the workplace, Norm Friedman is a writer, editor, and writing coach. His 100+ Instant Writing Tips is a brief “non-textbook” to help individuals overcome common writing errors and write with more finesse and impact. Learn more at http://www.normfriedman.com/index.shtml.

Last week we discussed a few handle-with-care issues pertaining to the word “impact” – including the irony that although the word seems inherently compelling, it can be vague. Now let’s look at examples of two other commonly used adjectives that don’t always fully deliver.

Unique

Consider these two sentences.
1. We saw a unique play last night that involved the audience in creating the ending. Yeah, that sounds like a one-of-a-kind theatrical experience, all right, so calling the production “unique” seems warranted and clear.

2. Of all the homes we looked at, the property on Lilac Lane struck us as particularly unique. Here, “unique” is not as effective. Why was the property “unique”? Did it have an unorthodox floor plan? A surprisingly expansive yard given the home’s modest square footage? We need to be mindful that merely saying something is unique can be incomplete.

Meaningful

Now consider this sentence.
After the panel discussion, the mayor closed with some meaningful remarks. What did the mayor say? Something inspirational? Something laudatory about the panel? Something deeply personal? We know the mayor’s remarks were worthwhile, but we don’t know why.

(Incidentally, note that “meaningful” can be used in a slightly different way: When our boss announced that a new project would be discussed at the next meeting, Nick shot Carol a meaningful look. Hmm. Once more, we don’t know all the sentence implies, but we can infer that Nick and Carol probably have had a conversation relating to the coming announcement. His look was full of meaning.)

Postscript: Did you catch the glitch?

I set a trap for you. Did you notice the phrase “particularly unique”? Remember, because “unique” means one-of-a-kind, putting an adverb in front of it like “particularly” or “very” makes no sense. “Unique” is an absolute word, like “perfect.”

But – sorry for the hairsplitter – we can put a word like “truly” in front of “unique” or “perfect” because “truly” does not express degree. It signifies that we are being literal.

In addition to presenting workshops on writing in the workplace, Norm Friedman is a writer, editor, and writing coach. His 100+ Instant Writing Tips is a brief “non-textbook” to help individuals overcome common writing errors and write with more finesse and impact. Learn more at http://www.normfriedman.com/index.shtml.

“Impact” is a highly useful, compelling word, but it requires some special handling. Let’s examine four issues.

1) “Impactful” is in the dictionary, but it made its appearance there relatively recently, and some folks consider it nonstandard. You may want to avoid “impactful” for a few decades to see if it gains full acceptance.

2) “Impact,” on the other hand, is universally accepted, but it is often vague. In “The new batting coach has made an immediate impact,” for example, we need more information. Are several players showing more patience at the plate? Are they hitting for more power? Did they get better at bunting?

We can explain the coach’s impact in the next sentence, or, more efficiently, write something like this: “The new batting coach has made an immediate impact on several players’ ability to hit to the opposite field.”

3) Notice also that if we use “impact” as a verb, instead of as a noun as in #2, the clarity issue doesn’t go away. For example: “The recent staffing changes have impacted our budget.” “Impacted” how? Did the changes relieve budget problems or strain the budget? Whichever it is, that’s what we should specify.

4) And there is another reason to think twice about using “impact” as a verb. Many experts reserve the verb for a physical impact, as in, “The rocket shell impacted the south wall of the factory.”

So if you want to avoid the verb “impact,” except when you’re referring to a collision, here are two solutions:
• Use the phrase “make (made) an impact”: Mrs. Foster made an indelible impact on her third-grade students.
• Substitute “affect”: Mrs. Foster dramatically affected her third-grade students.

Just be aware that when we use one of these solutions we will generally still want to specify how the students were changed. (Did Mrs. Foster give the students a permanent aversion to public speaking? Let’s hope her impact was more on the lines of instilling a lifelong love of reading and writing.)

In addition to presenting workshops on writing in the workplace, Norm Friedman is a writer, editor, and writing coach. His 100+ Instant Writing Tips is a brief “non-textbook” to help individuals overcome common writing errors and write with more finesse and impact. Learn more at http://www.normfriedman.com/index.shtml.