Bryan A. Garner

Garner’s Usage Tip of the Day: Titular Tomfoolery.

Bryan A. Garner / By
Titular Tomfoolery. Nowadays almost any appositive is likely to be treated as if it were a title. This trend is primarily the fault of newspapers and magazines, which create descriptive titles for people on the fly. So instead of “Timothy McVeigh, the convicted bomber,” journalists want to say “convicted bomber Timothy McVeigh.” Worse yet, some …

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Garner’s Usage Tip of the Day: tipster; tipper. tipster; tipper.

Bryan A. Garner / By
tipster; tipper. tipster; tipper. Both mean “a person who gives a critical piece of information (i.e., a ‘tip’).” “Tipster” often refers to one who gives tips to police in criminal investigations or sells tips relating to speculative or gambling subjects {an anonymous tipster called the police and implicated Mr. Kryder}. “Tipper” shares with “tipster” the …

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Garner’s Usage Tip of the Day: Miscellaneous Entries.

Bryan A. Garner, LawProse Lessons / By
Miscellaneous Entries. tinsel, vb., makes “tinseled” and “tinseling” in American English, “tinselled” and “tinselling” in British English. tintinnabulum (= a small tinkling bell) forms the plural “tintinnabula.” The corresponding adjective, “tintinnabulary,” is more common than the noun; it means “of or relating to bells or their sounds.” E.g.: “Tunes like ‘The Ukrainian Bell Carol’ and …

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LawProse Lesson #138: Why is “’til” considered an error for the preposition “till”?

Bryan A. Garner, LawProse Lessons / By
Why is ’til considered an error for the preposition till? Why can’t it be regarded as an abbreviation of until? That simply doesn’t reflect the history of the words. Till has been considered a perfectly good preposition in general English since about 1300. It first appeared in northern varieties of Old English around 800. Until, …

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Garner’s Usage Tip of the Day: timpani.

Bryan A. Garner / By
timpani. Part A: Spelling Dilemma: “timpani” vs. *”tympani.” In modern print sources, the spelling “timpani” is more common than *”tympani” by a 5-to-1 ratio. The latter ought to be rejected as a variant spelling (though the medical term for “eardrum” is “tympanic membrane,” so spelled). Of course, British English writers solve the problem by using …

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Garner’s Usage Tip of the Day: till; until.

1 Comment / Bryan A. Garner / By
till; until. “Till” is, like “until,” a bona fide preposition and conjunction. Though less formal than “until,” “till” is neither colloquial nor substandard. As Anthony Burgess put it, “In nonpoetic English we use ’till’ and ‘until’ indifferently.” A Mouthful of Air 158 (1992). It’s especially common in British English — e.g.: “He works from dawn …

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Garner’s Usage Tip of the Day: Miscellaneous Entries.

Bryan A. Garner, LawProse Lessons / By
Miscellaneous Entries. timorous; temerarious. These similar-sounding words are antonyms. “Timorous” (/TiM-uh-ruhs/) = timid; fearful. Temerarious (tem-uh-RAIR-ee-uhs/) = foolhardily daring; rash and reckless. tine (= a prong on a fork, pitchfork, or antlers) is the standard spelling. *”Tyne” is a variant. tinge, vb., makes the present participle “tingeing.” tinker’s damn (= something valueless) is the standard …

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Garner’s Usage Tip of the Day: tie.

Bryan A. Garner / By
tie. “Tie” makes, in the present participle, “tying.” *”Tieing,” though common, is incorrect — e.g.: o “Cam Neely scored the tieing [read ‘tying’] and winning goals as Boston improved to 8-0-2 in its last 10 games against the Islanders.” Doug Chapman, “Islanders Marooned by Bruins, Who Can’t Be Beaten,” Providence J.-Bull., 19 Mar. 1995, at …

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Garner’s Usage Tip of the Day: thrust / thrust / thrust.

Bryan A. Garner / By
thrust / thrust / thrust. So inflected. *”Thrusted” is a quite common error — e.g.: o “They thrusted [read ‘thrust’] pens, paper, footballs and jerseys over the fence top for Young to sign.” Gary Swan, “Young Already Trying to Run 49ers’ Camp,” S.F. Chron., 20 July 1998, at C1. o “Kournikova thrusted [read ‘thrust’] her …

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Garner’s Usage Tip of the Day: throes of, in the.

1 Comment / Bryan A. Garner / By
throes of, in the. In this phrase, meaning “struggling in the process of (something very painful or difficult)” {in the throes of childbirth}, “throes” is sometimes mistakenly spelled “throws” — e.g.: “‘I turned on the light and observed my much-loved pet in the throws [read ‘throes’] of a grand mal seizure.’” Liz Quinlan, “A Painful …

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Garner’s Usage Tip of the Day: Miscellaneous Entries.

Bryan A. Garner, LawProse Lessons / By
Miscellaneous Entries. throw / threw / thrown. So inflected. *”Throwed” is dialectal, appearing mostly in reported speech of nonstandard speakers — e.g.: “‘He just changed direction on me real fast and throwed me,’ he [a cowboy] said.” Dan R. Barber, “Hell on Hooves,” Dallas Morning News, 17 May 2001, at S1. *thru, a variant spelling …

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LawProse Lesson #136: Is “good” becoming an adverb? Are we losing “well” as an adverb?

Bryan A. Garner, LawProse Lessons / By
Is good becoming an adverb? Are we losing well as an adverb? A descriptive linguist might well say so. And in the sweep of time—say, two centuries hence—it may well be that these sentences will be considered Standard English: “We played good.” “You did good.”      “I’m doing really good.” “I can’t write very good.” …

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Garner’s Usage Tip of the Day: thoroughgoing.

Bryan A. Garner / By
thoroughgoing. “Thoroughgoing” (a solid word) means “thorough,” but it connotes zeal or ardor. It is not, therefore, merely a needless variant of “thorough” — e.g.: o “There is no question the charter needs a thoroughgoing review and rewrite.” “L.A. City Elections,” L.A. Times, 16 Mar. 1997, at M4. o “[The governor] hasn’t risked one iota …

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Garner’s Usage Tip of the Day: Third World.

Bryan A. Garner / By
Garner’s Usage Tip of the Day Third World. Originally, this term denoted the group of underdeveloped nations (especially in Africa and Asia) not aligned with either Western democracies (i.e., the “First World” — or “Free World”) or Communist countries (i.e., the “Second World”) during the Cold War. But as the world turns, so does the …

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Garner’s Usage Tip of the Day: *these kind of; *these type of; *these sort of.

Bryan A. Garner / By
*these kind of; *these type of; *these sort of. These are illogical forms that, in a bolder day, would have been termed illiteracies. Today they merely brand the speaker or writer as slovenly. They appear most commonly in reported speech, but sometimes not — e.g.: o “What’s disheartening about this, from the Lebanon point of …

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