Ten Ways To Form a Compound Noun

 

Compound nouns are of three kinds: open, hyphenated, and closed.

As the names imply, “open compounds” are written as separate words, “hyphenated compounds” are written with one or more hyphens, and “closed compounds” are written as a single word.

Many compounds begin as open, progress to hyphenated, and finish as closed. Because of the modern preference to avoid hyphenating words as much as possible, newly created compounds tend to develop closed forms earlier than they might have in the past. Some compounds written as one word in US usage are hyphenated in British usage.

Compound nouns are formed by combining different parts of speech. This list of ten is not exhaustive.

1. noun + noun
wheeler-dealer
bedroom
shoelace

2. noun + preposition/adverb
hanger-on
voice-over
passerby (Br. passer-by)

3. noun + adjective
attorney general
battle royal
poet laureate

4. noun + verb
airlift
haircut
snowfall

5. adjective + noun
high school
poor loser
redhead

6. adjective + verb
well-being
whitewashing

7. preposition/adverb + noun
off-ramp
onlooker

8. verb + noun
singing lesson
washing machine

9. verb + preposition/adverb
warm-up
know-how
get-together
follow-through

10. word + preposition + word
free-for-all
mother-in-law
word-of-mouth

Most compound nouns form their plurals like any other noun: by adding an s to the end of the word: wheeler-dealers, washing machines, onlookers.

A few, like mother-in-law and hole in one do not place the s at the end, but on the most significant word: mothers-in-law, holes in one.

Some compounds of French origin in which the adjective stands last have more than one acceptable plural (depending upon the dictionary):

attorney generals or attorneys general
court martials or courts martial
film noirs, films noir, or films noirs
runner-ups or runners-up

Because there are no hard and fast rules regarding the writing of compound nouns, stylebooks advise writers to consult a dictionary when in doubt.

From: Daily Writing Tips

Unnecessary Uses of Scare Quotes

 

Rules are made to be broken, but more often they are made to be followed, because violation of those rules, in writing as in any other human endeavor, often leads to unintended consequences. One case is the careless use of quotation marks for emphasis.

Scare quotes, as quotation marks employed for this purpose are called, are often used to call out nonstandard or unusual terms, or merely to introduce a word or phrase. However, although this strategy used to be common, scare quotes have taken on a new role that has largely, at least among careful writers, supplanted the old technique: Now, they are better employed to convey derision, irony, or skepticism.

For example, a writer who describes how “the institute offers workshops in ‘self-awareness therapy’” is widely presumed not to be gently preparing the reader for the appearance of an unfamiliar phrase; more likely, they are calling attention to what they feel is preciously New Age-y terminology.

Meanwhile, the statement “The Pentagon’s strategy of ‘pacification’ certainly did make things quieter in the neighborhood” comments on the evasive military euphemism, while “The ‘new’ model strikes me as less sophisticated than the old one” calls attention to an unjustified adjective.

Here are three types of superfluous usage of scare quotes:

1. The astronomers reported Tuesday that they had combined more than 6,000 observations from three telescopes to detect the system of
"exoplanets."
Exoplanets is a term that has only recently entered the general vocabulary, but neologism is not a criterion for use of scare quotes; simply introduce the word, define it, and move on: “The astronomers reported Tuesday that they had combined more than 6,000 observations from three telescopes to detect the system of exoplanets.” (In the article from which this sentence is taken, a definition of exoplanet follows the statement.)

2. They engaged in listening exercises and musical analysis so as to better understand the "musical DNA" of their favorite songs.
If you use an established term in an unfamiliar but analogous sense, trust readers to make the connection; don’t bracket the term in scare quotes: “They engaged in listening exercises and musical analysis so as to better understand the musical DNA of their favorite songs.”

3. So-called “notification laws” require businesses to notify customers when certain unencrypted customer data is improperly accessed.
Never employ scare quotes around a term introduced by the phrase so-called. Yes, you may want to signal to readers your dissatisfaction with the term, but so-called performs that function, so scare quotes are redundant: “So-called notification laws require businesses to notify customers when certain unencrypted customer data is improperly accessed.”

From: Daily Writing Tips

Who vs. Whom

 

No doubt about it, the pronoun whom is in its death throes.

If you need a refresher, here’s the difference: Who is the subject form of the pronoun, so it’s the doer of an action, as in “That’s the man who climbed Everest.” (subject of “climbed”). Whom is the object form of the pronoun, so it receives the action, as in “Whom do you like best?” (object of “like”).

Most grammarians agree that English speakers can get along just fine by using who for both subject and object, as we do with the pronoun you:

You light up my life. (subject)
I love you. (object)

An entrenched idiom like “to whom it may concern” will probably stick around for a while longer. Speakers for whom the who/whom distinction comes naturally will continue to use both forms. Even speakers who use who as an object may continue to use whom when it stands immediately after a preposition, but for the most part, the use of who for whom is a non-issue.

The use of whom for who, however, is another matter.

A great many speakers–including professional news reporters–fall into what I call the something-between trap. When something–a subordinate clause or a stock phrase like “in my opinion”–comes between the subject pronoun and its verb, the writer may stumble and use whom instead of who.

Observe the problem in the following examples.

1. The heroine is teen-aged Frenchy Hercules, whom one suspects is the director’s wife,

2. A Chicago man whom police believe is responsible for 11 burglaries to sheds and garages in the village is scheduled to appear in court Sept. 24 on theft charges, authorities said.

3. Fire personnel radioed deputies to stop the driver, whom, according to reports, appeared to have been under the influence of intoxicants.

4. Before we started coming to BBBA, I [had] taken him to numerous pitching and hitting coaches whom in my opinion were out for the money and not the overall improvement of my son’s baseball ability.

In each example, the whom should be who.

If the errors jumped out at you as soon as you read the sentences, you may as well stop reading now. If you’re not quite sure why these uses of whom are incorrect, read on.

Whom is an object form–like him–but in each of these sentences, the whom being used as the subject of a verb. Who is the subject form.

Writers can avoid falling into the something-between trap with whom by taking a close look at all the verbs.

Because whom can only be an object, eliminate all the subjects first. Determine which subject word goes with which verb.

1. The heroine is teen-aged Frenchy Hercules, whom one suspects is the director’s wife.
This sentence contains three verbs: is, suspects, and is.
The subject of the first is is “heroine.”
The subject of suspects is “one.”
The subject of the second is is “who” (not whom).
The in-between trap is “one suspects.”
NOTE: the verb “suspects” is what tripped the writer up. In another context, suspects. could be used transitively: He’s the man whom the detective suspects. In this sentence, suspects has no object.

2. A Chicago man whom police believe is responsible for 11 burglaries to sheds and garages in the village is scheduled to appear in court Sept. 24 on theft charges, authorities said.
This sentence contains four finite verbs: believe, is responsible, is scheduled, and said.
The subject of believe is “police.”
The subject of is responsible is “who” (not whom).
The subject of is scheduled is “A Chicago man.”
The subject of said is “authorities.”
NOTE: The in-between trap is “police believe.” In another context, “believe” could take an object, but not here.

3. Fire personnel radioed deputies to stop the driver, whom, according to reports, appeared to have been under the influence of intoxicants.
This sentence contains two finite verbs: radioed and appeared.
The subject of radioed is “Fire personnel.”
The subject of appeared is “who” (not whom).
The in-between trap is “according to reports.”

4. Before we started coming to BBBA, I [had] taken him to numerous pitching and hitting coaches whom in my opinion were out for the money and not the overall improvement of my son’s baseball ability.
This sentence contains three finite verbs: started, had taken, and were.
The subject of started is “we.”
The subject of had taken is “I.”
The subject of were is “who” (not whom).
The in-between trap is “in my opinion.”

If all this seems like too much grammar to deal with, there’s a second option for avoiding the something-between trap with whom. Stick with who. (Now isn’t that an interesting construction!)

From: Daily Writing Tips

Sentence Adverbs

 

From: Daily Writing Tips

Not all adverbs end in -ly, but many do.

Like all adverbs, -ly adverbs are used to add meaning to verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. For example:

Jones deals honestly with all his customers. (adverb modifying the verb deals)

The lecture on adiabatic and isochoric kinetics was mercifully brief. (adverb modifying the adjective brief)

The concert is over. You have arrived unfortunately late. (adverb modifying the adverb late)

Some -ly adverbs can also be used to modify an entire sentence. For example:

Honestly, most television comedies are unbearably vulgar. (adverb modifying entire sentence)

Mercifully, the blast was prevented by the swift arrival of the fire brigade. (adverb modifying entire sentence)

Fortunately, the ship stayed afloat long enough for all the passengers to be rescued. (adverb modifying entire sentence)

In each of these examples, the adverb at the beginning of the sentence is set off by a comma and conveys the attitude of the speaker toward the entire thought being expressed.

Generally speaking (as opposed to more precise classifications in linguistics) adverbs used in this way are called “sentence adverbs.” Here is a list of other adverbs that may be used as sentence adverbs:

actually
apparently
basically
briefly
certainly
clearly
conceivably
confidentially
curiously
evidently
hopefully
ideally
incidentally
interestingly
ironically
naturally
presumably
regrettably
seriously
surprisingly
thankfully
truthfully

Note: Some last-ditch language sticklers reject the right of hopefully to be included in this list. According to these cranky holdouts, the only meaning for hopefully that “careful writers” should recognize is “with hope,” as in “My dog Cash stared hopefully at the treat jar.” They reject the notion that hopefully can also be used to introduce a sentence with the sense of “I hope” or “it is to be hoped,” as in this sentence: “Hopefully, the new millage will pass, and we can expand the library.”

English speakers have been using hopefully as a sentence adverb for eighty years at least—possibly longer. “Careful writers” may continue to avoid its use as they wish, but ridiculing its use by others is bad form.