AUTHORS' ANNEXE (English Language Discussions)

[keithgood838]

This manuscript offering addresses the conundrum
of which verb (singular or plural) to use in a two-noun
sentence. It is presented in the form of an open letter
to Bill Bryson:

Mr Bill Bryson
c/o Penguin Books

Dear Bill

As a worshipper at the altar of English I write to say
I have been reading, with growing reverence, your books,
Mother Tongue and Troublesome Words. In the presence
of such towering, Gulliver-like command of the language
landscape, I admit to being discomfited (overawed, blown away,
discombobulated even.) Conversely, it is a blessing to be
content in the knowledge that I am now less likely to suffer
discomfiture (uneasiness) arising from my own, positively
Lilliputian by comparison, literary exploits. Moreover, I shall
be less prone to flaunt (show off) my meagre writing skills
or flout (treat with contempt) the rules of grammar. As someone
who has stanched my flow of ignorance, you deserve to be
rewarded with my staunch support.

I have, however, a matter of a technical nature I wish to raise,
if I may. I refer to your example of an erroneously used verb:
'Prestige is one of the few words that has had an experience
opposite to that described in Worsened Words' - H.W. Fowler,
A Dictionary of Modern English Usage, second edition. I think
I am right in confirming your contention that the verb should be
have because, as I submit, if a sentence contains singular and
plural nouns (in this case prestige and words) the verb should agree
with the nearest noun (here words). Therefore the leading authority,
Fowler, should have written as you say, one of the few words
that have had. (Surely a slip of the pen on Fowler's part.)

I am sure the world is grateful to you for spreading the gospel
of good grammar.

Your obedient tyro

Keith Good

[keithgood838]

While this semantic topic's
silent bell keeps chiming,
I'll try to keep logic's
word-guidance rhyming.

FOR WORSE, FOR BETTER

Events that make a problem worse
will thereby aggravate,
a person who is an annoying curse
is determined to irritate.

The prize for distinguishing each interpretation
is the accolade of the purists' acclamation.


Note. The noun aggravation is often wrongly
used in the sense of annoyance or irritation.
Aggravate means to worsen, from the Latin
aggravare, to make heavier': 'his later fall
aggravated his injury'.

PS I hope I haven't aggravated
any irritation you may have felt
about the foregoing.

[keithgood838]

ON THE SCRAPHEAP

The stalwart phrase in which
has been sacked from the language
and replaced by the shorthand where.

Literature's word tribunal
must adjudicate on this matter
and morally declare
that the move is mainly expedient,
less accurate and most unfair.

Keith

Note. The latest linguistic iniquity
to infiltrate the lexicon is 'an occasion where'.

[keithgood838]

Time for another dose of the didactic medicine,
administered to ease the linguistic digestive process.
Now open up wide ...

SIMILAR SUFFIXES

Like their more humorous t.v. counterparts,
literature's Ant & Ent spring from shared roots
and are pronounced alike.
They are both adept at forming nouns and adjectives;
a distinguishing feature, however, is that Ant
(the leading partner) is the usual form for a noun,
eg participant, and Ent for an adjective, eg concurrent.
And without wishing to understate Ent's role,
it must be said that verbs ending in ate
always take the Ant suffix:
dominate, dominant; exhilarate, exhilarant.

Keith

[mariana44]

That is a good one to remember-it often catces people out.

[keithgood838]

COLLECTIVE NOUNS
(whose names, in the case of wildlife, seem to derive from
their body language, so to speak)

FACTUAL ----------------------FICTIONAL

A murder of crows-------------A column of accountants
A pod of dolphins---------------A body of bouncers
A business of ferrets-----------A classic of composers
A charm of finches-------------A company of clerks
A skulk of foxes----------------A conspiracy of crooks
A tower of giraffes-------------A culinary of cooks
An exaltation of larks----------An egress of escapologists
A pride of lions------------------A havoc of hooligans
A flush of mallards-------------A gabble of incoherents
A mischief of mice--------------A library of literati
A troop of monkeys------------A mystique of magicians
An ostentation of peacocks---A malevolence of misogynists
A kindness of ravens-----------A medley no musicians
A crash of rhinoceroses--------A perambulation of postmen
A wisp of snipe------------------An altruism of Samaritans
A wedge of swans--------------A serenade of singers
A sounder of swine-------------A gathering of taxmen

Note. More actual collective nouns

A shrewdness of apes
A sloth of bears
A pounce of cats
A convocation of eagles
A cloud grasshoppers
A bazaar of guillemots
A deceit of lapwings
A parliament of owls
A clamour of rooks
A splash of seals
A dray of squirrels
A chattering of starlings
A knot of toads
A school of whales
A descent of woodpeckers

[mariana44]

I have had some of those turn up in various quizzes!!

Have we had this explained to us yet--the difference between enquire and inquire--I have a feeling that it sounds familiar , but I could not find it.

Is there a difference---is "inquire" really a word ??

[mariana44]

Hi Keith--going back to your collective nouns--one of them did not seem right--so I had another look--and going by a quiz we had,
I thought it was

"An unkindness of ravens"--not a "Kindess of ravens"--or could it be either??

[Marian]

I have heard "An Unkindness of Ravens" too Marian.

[keithgood838]

Hi ladies, I think 'a kindness of ravens' is correct
because it is based on the legend whereby ravens
protect the Tower of London: 'if the Tower of London
ravens are lost or fly away, the Crown will fall and
Britain with it'. Here are a few more:

A cete of badgers
A covey of partridges
A kindle of kittens
A drove of oxen

Keith

PS Marian(a), I have covered your 'inquire' item in
the context of enquiry and inquiry; go to page 17
of this thread and scroll down to a post titled,
Finding Out, dated 21 Feb.

[Marian]

You could possibly be correct Keith, but there is a book and a film called "An Unkindness of Ravens" and I also found this..

"Since they started scavenging from all those dead people during the Black Plague, crows and ravens have gotten some pretty harsh associations slapped on them. Harbingers of death, bringers of doom, etc. Which is why, to this day, groups of crows are known as murders. Likewise, a group of ravens is called an unkindness."

[keithgood838]

Yes Marian, I had heard of 'an unkindness of ravens'
but I wasn't aware of the background to it; many thanks
for that.
I think the English English and American English dichotomy
is at work here. For example, I believe in the States they
refer to 'a muster of peacocks'.
Marian(a), forgive my hasty reply to your 'inquire' query.
'Inquire' is the verb companion to the noun 'inquiry'.
Thanks to both of you ladies for your enlightening
contribution to this debate.
Keith

[Marian]

Yes Keith, the passage above does sound like an Americanism, if there is such a word, as it refers to 'gotten', but apparently this is a word we have discarded over the years, but we still use 'forgotten' and 'ill gotten gains.'
Marian

[keithgood838]

Yes Marian, there is such a term as Americanism.
In fact I think it is permissible to add the suffix ism
to every national nounal name, eg Irishism.
My last word on this subject: I think a perforation
of woodpeckers is preferable to the prosaic descent.
Keith

[keithgood838]

IN TWO MINDS

Ambivalent means: held back by contradiction,
brakes being applied to your mind.
Ambiguous is when you make a decision
but your thoughts find clouds to hide behind.

Keith

Note. Ambivalent, dictionary definition:
co-existence in one person of opposing
emotional attitudes towards the same object.
Ambiguous: admitting of more than one meaning. Doubtful.