Grammar Girl's Top 10 Language Myths

I've posted these before, but it's always good to get a refresher on these myths.

 

10. A run-on sentence is a really long sentence

Wrong! They can actually be quite short. In a run-on sentence, independent clauses are squished together without the help of punctuation or a conjunction. If you write “I am short he is tall,” as one sentence without a semicolon, colon, or dash between the two independent clauses, it's a run-on sentence even though it has only six words. (See episode 655 [text, audio] for more details.)

 

9. You shouldn't start a sentence with the word 'however'

Wrong! It's fine to start a sentence with “however” so long as you use a comma after it when it means "nevertheless." (See episode 354 for more details.)

 

8. 'Irregardless' is not a word

Wrong! “Irregardless” is a bad word and a word you shouldn't use, but it is a word. “Floogetyflop” isn't a word—I just made it up and you have no idea what it means.  “Irregardless,” on the other hand, is in almost every dictionary labeled as nonstandard. You shouldn't use it if you want to be taken seriously, but it has gained wide enough use to qualify as a word. (See episode 600 for more details.)

 

7. There is only one way to write the possessive form of a word that ends in S

Wrong! It's a style choice. For example, in the phrase “Kansas's statute,” you can put just an apostrophe at the end of “Kansas” (that's AP style) or you can put an apostrophe S at the end of “Kansas” (that's Chicago style). Both ways are acceptable. (See episode 713 for more details.)

 

6. Passive voice is always wrong

Wrong! In passive voice, the subject of the sentence isn’t the person or the thing taking the action. In fact, in a passive voice sentence, the actor is often completely left out of the sentence. An example is "Mistakes were made," because it doesn't say who made the mistakes. Your writing is often stronger if you make your passive sentences active, but if you don't know who is responsible for an action, passive voice can be the best choice. (See episode 302 for more details.)

Almost everyone believes at least one of these myths.

 

5. 'I.e.' and 'e.g.' mean the same thing

Wrong! “E.g.” means "for example," and “i.e.” means roughly "in other words." You use “e.g.” to provide a list of incomplete examples, and you use “i.e.” to provide a complete clarifying list or statement. (See episode 539 for more details.)

 

4. You use 'a' before words that start with consonants and 'an' before words that start with vowels

Wrong! You use “a” before words that start with consonant sounds and “an” before words that start with vowel sounds. So, you'd write that someone has "an MBA" instead of "a MBA," because even though “MBA” starts with M, which is a consonant, it starts with the sound of the vowel E—MBA. (See episode 261 for more details [text, audio].)

 

3. It's incorrect to answer the question 'How are you?' with the statement 'I'm good'

Wrong! You probably learned that verbs need to be modified by adverbs (such as “well”), but “good” isn’t modifying “am” in the sentence “I am good.” Instead, “good” is acting as the subject complement and modifying the pronoun “I.” It's also fine to answer "I'm well," but some grammarians believe "I'm well" should be used to talk about your health and not your general disposition. (See episode 586 for more details that use "bad" and "badly" as examples.)

 

2. You shouldn't split infinitives

Wrong! Nearly all grammarians want to boldly tell you it's OK to split infinitives. An infinitive is a verb form that is usually made up of the word “to” followed by a verb. An example is "to tell." In a split infinitive, another word separates the two parts of the verb. "To boldly tell" is a split infinitive because “boldly” separates “to” from “tell.” (See episode 454 for more details.)

 

1. You shouldn't end a sentence with a preposition

Wrong! You shouldn't end a sentence with a preposition when the sentence would mean the same thing if you left off the preposition. That means "Where are you at?" is wrong (or at least annoying) because "Where are you?" means the same thing. But there are many sentences where the final preposition is part of a phrasal verb or is necessary to keep from making stuffy, stilted sentences: “I'm going to throw up,” “Let's kiss and make up,” and “What are you waiting for” are just a few examples.  (See episode 800 for more details.)

 

You can find more information about each of these myths in the Grammar Girl archives. 

 

 

 

#Guest Post: WHAT IS SEMANTIC BLEACHING by Grammar Girl

Today we’re going to talk about a totally awesome topic: semantic bleaching. This has nothing to do with words in our language turning white. Instead, it has to do with how the meaning of words can fade over time — just like a colorful shirt fades after it’s been washed too many times.

 

3 Predicable Ways Words Change

For example, sometimes the literal sense of a word develops a figurative use. The verb “to milk” originally meant to draw milk from a cow or other animal. Over time, the meaning extended, and now you can “milk” someone for anything valuable, usually through trickery or extortion. To “escalate” once meant simply to travel up an escalator. Now, it refers to an increase in intensity or scope, for example when you say something like “Well, that situation sure escalated quickly.” 

 

Another predictable way that words change is by having their scope of meaning narrow. For example, back when Old English was spoken, “meat” referred to any type of food. Over time, the meaning narrowed—and today, of course, we use “meat” to refer only to the flesh of animals. “Liquor” used to mean … a liquid. Now, it refers almost exclusively to alcoholic drinks like beer, wine, and whisky. 

 

Words also change by having their meaning broaden. For example, the word “embargo” originally referred to an order prohibiting ships from entering or leaving a port. The word now can refer to any sort of stoppage or prohibition. You could say you’re putting an embargo on listening to any more Grammar Girl podcasts until you finish your homework, for example!

 

A 4th Way Words Change: Semantic Bleaching

Another pattern of language change we’re going to focus on today is called semantic bleaching. That occurs when the specific, often powerful meaning of a word becomes diluted over time through repetition and overuse.  

 

For example, the original meaning of the word “awesome” was “full of awe, profoundly reverential.” Something awesome might be the peak of a snow-covered mountain, breaking through the clouds. The vastness of the ocean. Or the spread of stars above you on a clear night. 

 

But then we had to go and start calling everything “awesome.” Our new shoes are awesome. This one kind of shampoo is awesome. The new Heath Caramel Brownie Blizzard from Dairy Queen is awesome. (I mean, it actually is awesome … but you get my point.) 

 

Through overuse, the word has lost its potency. No one expects a pair of shoes to “fill you with awe.” Awesome is now just a general word that means nifty or cool.

Another example of semantic bleaching is “literally.” Every now and then, we use this word the way it was intended: to indicate that what we’re saying is absolutely true. If you said that you got hit on the head by hail that was literally the size of golf balls, then the hail should have been 1.68 inches in diameter.  

 

But more often, we simply mean that the hail pellets were pretty big. We’re using the word “literally” to intensify what we’re saying, not to label it as factual. 

“Terrible” and “horrible” have also been weakened by semantic bleaching. “Terrible” originally meant “to inspire great fear or dread”; “horrible” meant “extremely repulsive to the senses or feelings; dreadful, hideous, shocking.”  

 

We still use those words to mean these things. But we also say “my lunch was horrible,” or “that tuna salad was terrible.” We may not have liked the tuna, but did it really “inspire great fear or dread?” Probably not. We’re using “terrible,” but with a faded meaning of “yukky” or “unpleasant.”

 

Why Does Semantic Bleaching Occur? And Is It Bad?

So why do we insist on overusing words to the point that they lose their meaning? Why don’t we speak more precisely? Why don’t we say that our “tuna salad has a putrid odor,” rather than just “this tuna salad is horrible?” 

 

In part, it’s because we’re lazy. Or as linguist Donka Minkova puts it, most of us “have no particular talent for words.” We take the easy route in speech (and writing). We default to generalizations and commonly used words — rather than making the mental effort to say precisely what we mean.  

 

Is semantic bleaching bad? On the one hand, yes. Using a word like “awesome” to describe everything from a sunset to a stick of gum can narrow the rainbow of ways you can express yourself to one single color. Using more specific words — speaking of a radiant sunset or a tangy piece of gum — could give your speech more vibrancy and perhaps enrich your experience of life itself.  

 

On the other hand, semantic bleaching isn’t bad or good; it simply is. It’s one of the predictable ways that we’ve observed language to change, ever since people have been observing changes in language. It’s kind of like the tide; it erases sandcastles, but also deposits a bounty of treasures on the shore that you can build with the next day. 

 

In short, whether it’s awesome or terrible, semantic bleaching is literally here to stay. 

 

 

Link to article:

https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/what-is-semantic-bleaching

 

About the Author

Samantha Enslen, Writing for Grammar Girl 

 

Samantha Enslen is an award-winning writer who has worked in publishing for more than 20 years. She runs Dragonfly Editorial, an agency that provides copywriting, editing, and design for scientific, medical, technical, and corporate materials. Sam is the vice president of ACES, The Society for Editing, and is the managing editor of Tracking Changes, ACES' quarterly journal.

 

 

 

GRAMMAR GIRL: Top Ten Grammar Myths

10. A run-on sentence is a really long sentence. Wrong! They can actually be quite short. In a run-on sentence, independent clauses are squished together without the help of punctuation or a conjunction. If you write “I am short he is tall,” as one sentence without a semicolon, colon, or dash between the two independent clauses, it's a run-on sentence even though it has only six words.

9. You shouldn't start a sentence with the word “however.” Wrong! It's fine to start a sentence with “however” so long as you use a comma after it when it means "nevertheless."

8. “Irregardless” is not a word. Wrong! “Irregardless” is a bad word and a word you shouldn't use, but it is a word. “Floogetyflop” isn't a word—I just made it up and you have no idea what it means.  “Irregardless,” on the other hand, is in almost every dictionary labeled as nonstandard. You shouldn't use it if you want to be taken seriously, but it has gained wide enough use to qualify as a word.

7. There is only one way to write the possessive form of a word that ends in S. Wrong! It's a style choice. For example, in the phrase “Kansas's statute,” you can put just an apostrophe at the end of “Kansas” (that's AP style) or you can put an apostrophe S at the end of “Kansas” (that's Chicago style). Both ways are acceptable.

6. Passive voice is always wrong. Wrong! In passive voice, the subject of the sentence isn’t the person or the thing taking the action. In fact, in a passive voice sentence, the actor is often completely left out of the sentence. An example is "Mistakes were made," because it doesn't say who made the mistakes. Your writing is often stronger if you make your passive sentences active, but if you don't know who is responsible for an action, passive voice can be the best choice.

5. “I.e.” and “e.g.” mean the same thing. Wrong! “E.g.” means "for example," and “i.e.” means roughly "in other words." You use “e.g.” to provide a list of incomplete examples, and you use “i.e.” to provide a complete clarifying list or statement.

4. You use “a” before words that start with consonants and “an” before words that start with vowels. Wrong! You use “a” before words that start with consonant sounds and “an” before words that start with vowel sounds. So, you'd write that someone has "an MBA" instead of "a MBA," because even though “MBA” starts with M, which is a consonant, it starts with the sound of the vowel E--MBA.

3. It's incorrect to answer the question "How are you?" with the statement "I'm good." Wrong! You probably learned that verbs need to be modified by adverbs (such as “well”), but “good” isn’t modifying “am” in the sentence “I am good.” Instead, “good” is acting as the subject complement and modifying the pronoun “I.” It's also fine to answer "I'm well," but some grammarians believe "I'm well" should be used to talk about your health and not your general disposition.

2. You shouldn't split infinitives. Wrong! Nearly all grammarians want to boldly tell you it's OK to split infinitives. An infinitive is a verb form that is usually made up of the word “to” followed by a verb. An example is "to tell." In a split infinitive, another word separates the two parts of the verb. "To boldly tell" is a split infinitive because “boldly” separates “to” from “tell.”

1. You shouldn't end a sentence with a preposition. Wrong! You shouldn't end a sentence with a preposition when the sentence would mean the same thing if you left off the preposition. That means "Where are you at?" is wrong (or at least annoying) because "Where are you?" means the same thing. But there are many sentences where the final preposition is part of a phrasal verb or is necessary to keep from making stuffy, stilted sentences: “I'm going to throw up,” “Let's kiss and make up,” and “What are you waiting for” are just a few examples.

About the Author:

Mignon Fogarty is the founder of Quick and Dirty Tips and the author of seven books on language, including the New York Times bestseller "Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing." She is an inductee in the Podcasting Hall of Fame, and the show is a five-time winner of Best Education Podcast in the Podcast Awards. She has appeared as a guest expert on the Oprah Winfrey Show and the Today Show.

Website: https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-girl

Grammar Girl's Top 10 Language Myths

10. A run-on sentence is a really long sentence. Wrong! They can actually be quite short. In a run-on sentence, independent clauses are squished together without the help of punctuation or a conjunction. If you write “I am short he is tall,” as one sentence without a semicolon, colon, or dash between the two independent clauses, it's a run-on sentence even though it has only six words. (See episode 237 for more details.)

9. You shouldn't start a sentence with the word “however.” Wrong! It's fine to start a sentence with “however” so long as you use a comma after it when it means "nevertheless." (See episode 354 for more details.)

8. “Irregardless” is not a word. Wrong! “Irregardless” is a bad word and a word you shouldn't use, but it is a word. “Floogetyflop” isn't a word—I just made it up and you have no idea what it means.  “Irregardless,” on the other hand, is in almost every dictionary labeled as nonstandard. You shouldn't use it if you want to be taken seriously, but it has gained wide enough use to qualify as a word. (See episode 94 for more details.)

7. There is only one way to write the possessive form of a word that ends in S. Wrong! It's a style choice. For example, in the phrase “Kansas's statute,” you can put just an apostrophe at the end of “Kansas” (that's AP style) or you can put an apostrophe S at the end of “Kansas” (that's Chicago style). Both ways are acceptable. (See episode 35 for more details.)

6. Passive voice is always wrong. Wrong! In passive voice, the subject of the sentence isn’t the person or the thing taking the action. In fact, in a passive voice sentence, the actor is often completely left out of the sentence. An example is "Mistakes were made," because it doesn't say who made the mistakes. Your writing is often stronger if you make your passive sentences active, but if you don't know who is responsible for an action, passive voice can be the best choice. (See episode 302 for more details.)

5. “I.e.” and “e.g.” mean the same thing. Wrong! “E.g.” means "for example," and “i.e.” means roughly "in other words." You use “e.g.” to provide a list of incomplete examples, and you use “i.e.” to provide a complete clarifying list or statement. (See episode 539 for more details.)

4. You use “a” before words that start with consonants and “an” before words that start with vowels. Wrong! You use “a” before words that start with consonant sounds and “an” before words that start with vowel sounds. So, you'd write that someone has "an MBA" instead of "a MBA," because even though “MBA” starts with M, which is a consonant, it starts with the sound of the vowel E--MBA. (See episode 261 for more details.)

3. It's incorrect to answer the question "How are you?" with the statement "I'm good." Wrong! You probably learned that verbs need to be modified by adverbs (such as “well”), but “good” isn’t modifying “am” in the sentence “I am good.” Instead, “good” is acting as the subject complement and modifying the pronoun “I.” It's also fine to answer "I'm well," but some grammarians believe "I'm well" should be used to talk about your health and not your general disposition. (See episode 586 for more details that use "bad" and "badly" as examples.) 

2. You shouldn't split infinitives. Wrong! Nearly all grammarians want to boldly tell you it's OK to split infinitives. An infinitive is a verb form that is usually made up of the word “to” followed by a verb. An example is "to tell." In a split infinitive, another word separates the two parts of the verb. "To boldly tell" is a split infinitive because “boldly” separates “to” from “tell.” (See episode 454 for more details.)

1. You shouldn't end a sentence with a preposition. Wrong! You shouldn't end a sentence with a preposition when the sentence would mean the same thing if you left off the preposition. That means "Where are you at?" is wrong (or at least annoying) because "Where are you?" means the same thing. But there are many sentences where the final preposition is part of a phrasal verb or is necessary to keep from making stuffy, stilted sentences: “I'm going to throw up,” “Let's kiss and make up,” and “What are you waiting for” are just a few examples.  (See episode 269 for more details.)

You can find more information about each of these myths in the Grammar Girl archives.

Mignon Fogarty is Grammar Girl and the founder of Quick and Dirty Tips. Check out her New York Times best-seller, “Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing.”

 

GRAMMAR GIRL: Top 10 Language Myths

10. A run-on sentence is a really long sentence. Wrong! They can actually be quite short. In a run-on sentence, independent clauses are squished together without the help of punctuation or a conjunction. If you write “I am short he is tall,” as one sentence without a semicolon, colon, or dash between the two independent clauses, it's a run-on sentence even though it has only six words.

9. You shouldn't start a sentence with the word “however.” Wrong! It's fine to start a sentence with “however” so long as you use a comma after it when it means "nevertheless."

8. “Irregardless” is not a word. Wrong! “Irregardless” is a bad word and a word you shouldn't use, but it is a word. “Floogetyflop” isn't a word—I just made it up and you have no idea what it means.  “Irregardless,” on the other hand, is in almost every dictionary labeled as nonstandard. You shouldn't use it if you want to be taken seriously, but it has gained wide enough use to qualify as a word.

7. There is only one way to write the possessive form of a word that ends in S. Wrong! It's a style choice. For example, in the phrase “Kansas's statute,” you can put just an apostrophe at the end of “Kansas” (that's AP style) or you can put an apostrophe S at the end of “Kansas” (that's Chicago style). Both ways are acceptable.

6. Passive voice is always wrong. Wrong! In passive voice, the subject of the sentence isn’t the person or the thing taking the action. In fact, in a passive voice sentence, the actor is often completely left out of the sentence. An example is "Mistakes were made," because it doesn't say who made the mistakes. Your writing is often stronger if you make your passive sentences active, but if you don't know who is responsible for an action, passive voice can be the best choice.

5. “I.e.” and “e.g.” mean the same thing. Wrong! “E.g.” means "for example," and “i.e.” means roughly "in other words." You use “e.g.” to provide a list of incomplete examples, and you use “i.e.” to provide a complete clarifying list or statement.

4. You use “a” before words that start with consonants and “an” before words that start with vowels. Wrong! You use “a” before words that start with consonant sounds and “an” before words that start with vowel sounds. So, you'd write that someone has "an MBA" instead of "a MBA," because even though “MBA” starts with M, which is a consonant, it starts with the sound of the vowel E--MBA.

3. It's incorrect to answer the question "How are you?" with the statement "I'm good." Wrong! You probably learned that verbs need to be modified by adverbs (such as “well”), but “good” isn’t modifying “am” in the sentence “I am good.” Instead, “good” is acting as the subject complement and modifying the pronoun “I.” It's also fine to answer "I'm well," but some grammarians believe "I'm well" should be used to talk about your health and not your general disposition.

2. You shouldn't split infinitives. Wrong! Nearly all grammarians want to boldly tell you it's OK to split infinitives. An infinitive is a verb form that is usually made up of the word “to” followed by a verb. An example is "to tell." In a split infinitive, another word separates the two parts of the verb. "To boldly tell" is a split infinitive because “boldly” separates “to” from “tell.”

1. You shouldn't end a sentence with a preposition. Wrong! You shouldn't end a sentence with a preposition when the sentence would mean the same thing if you left off the preposition. That means "Where are you at?" is wrong (or at least annoying) because "Where are you?" means the same thing. But there are many sentences where the final preposition is part of a phrasal verb or is necessary to keep from making stuffy, stilted sentences: “I'm going to throw up,” “Let's kiss and make up,” and “What are you waiting for” are just a few examples. 

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