Which conjunction do English speakers use with the comparative form of adjectives to describe a test applied to 2 nouns in order to select one of those nouns? I have the impression that American English uses, for example, ‘the lower of A or B’ where British English uses ‘the lower of A and B’. I…… Continue reading The lower of one thing or the lower of 2 things?
Tag: Editing
ISO on Plain Language
In June 2023, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) published ISO 24495-1 Plain language — Part 1: Governing principles and guidelines. Scope of ISO 24495 ISO 24495: establishes governing principles and guidelines for developing plain language documents. The guidelines detail how the principles are interpreted and applied. is for anybody who creates or helps create…… Continue reading ISO on Plain Language
Enough of your fancy websites
The way websites are designed these days irritates me more and more. Typically: the amount of text on an page is minute. too much of the screenspace is wasted with blank space and meaningless pictures and graphics. almost no piece of text can be read on a single page. There’s just a teaser introduction and…… Continue reading Enough of your fancy websites
A pause can change syntax and meaning
Trying to write something concisely, I came across a quirk of English. I ran into an example where inserting a pause changes both the syntax of a sentence and its meaning. Here’s the context. Sarah Wells married Joseph Randall, but Joseph died within a few years. After that, Sarah remarried. Her second husband was Louis…… Continue reading A pause can change syntax and meaning
Theta in an index
Here is an oddity: a foreign character appearing in an English book index as the first letter in an indexed phrase. The character is the Greek θ (theta). It appears in that index as the first letter in 5 phrases: θ feature; θ position; θ identification; θ position(s); θ role; θ structure. Where can you…… Continue reading Theta in an index
Not-the best place for-a hyphen
I was reading yesterday about a football club that has 2 ‘co-sporting directors’. That is an odd place to put the hyphen. People do often put a hyphen after the prefix co. Indeed, I often do that myself, to make it easier for readers to see the structure of the word. But in this case,…… Continue reading Not-the best place for-a hyphen
Granting a request
I read today about someone ‘granting a request’. Although that common phrase is perfectly clear, it is unusually condensed. What is being granted? It isn’t really the request, it is the thing that was requested. This phrase is typical of something we often do with language: we shorten a common combination of words into a…… Continue reading Granting a request
Obstructing vision with a transparent adverb
One of life’s great mysteries is the offside law in football. It causes a lot of discussion and controversy among football fans and commentators, as well as among players and managers. A comment on a recent controversial decision about offside made me look at the wording of the offside law. I discovered a surprising (and,…… Continue reading Obstructing vision with a transparent adverb
Users of this car park do so at their own risk
A couple of times recently, I have seen disclaimers saying ‘Users of this car park do so at their own risk’. The meaning is clear, but this is an odd usage. Why is that usage odd? Usually, ‘do so’ is used only to replace a verbal phrase that repeats the same verbal phrase used earlier…… Continue reading Users of this car park do so at their own risk
Collective and distributive readings of ‘their’
I want to use the following sentence: ‘each of the UK’s last 5 Prime Ministers was worse than their predecessor’. That sentence could have 2 readings: A distributive reading: each Prime Minster was worse than that Prime Minister’s predecessor. A collective reading: each Prime Minster was worse than the predecessor of the 1st in that…… Continue reading Collective and distributive readings of ‘their’