Bloomsbury Good Word Guide [antikvár]

Introduction Never has the need to communicate effectively been more important; in almost every walk of life those who express themselves clearly are significantly more successful than those to whom words do not come easily. For this reason alone it is important to keep our skills in communication well-polished. Modern communications systems, particularly television, have demonstrated without doubt how important it is to project ourselves effectively. Politicians and the like who have failed to take this message seriously have paid the price. They have faded into obscurity. At the heart of successful self-projection lies confidence with language. No matter how well we know our subject, the impact is lost if we do not choose the appropriate language to express it. Of course pitch of voice, pleasantness of demeanour, skilful use of hands, appropriateness of dress, absence of irritating personal mannerisms, and general self-confidence help as well, but when it gets down to basics, the words have it. Being articulate is a precious attribute but it is not necessarily inborn; it can be acquired. Its acquisition, as is the case with so many skills, is easier, less painful at school level than in adulthood, but this is not always possible. Somehow an amazing number of people, for one reason or another, come out of the conveyor belt of education singularly inarticulate. Some are the victims of trendy educational whims, some simply missed out somewhere along the educational line. If you are one of the large sector of the population who feel some hesitancy about launching into speech or writing, what is to be done to help you in your task? There is something essentially amorphous about the English language that can be extremely daunting, but a few ground rules will help. These ground rules inevitably involve some help with English usage. Although some of us may feel that we ought to be perfectly confident with a language learnt at our mother's knees, this is not necessarily the case. English is a language full of such quirks and seeming inconsistencies that a little guidance does not come amiss even to the most educated among us. Some standard of authority is essential to see us through the many spelling, pronunciation, and usage pitfalls that beset us. Any relatively comprehensive dictionary will give assistance with the first two of these categories, although you may have to forage to find what you want. When it comes to usage, however, a more specialist reference book is required. In general we have moved on from the days when dictionaries and other reference books were totally prescriptive about language. Nowadays the emphasis is on the descriptive role, the statement of what is actually happening in language rather than what ought to be happening. Inevitably there are some who are not happy about this change of emphasis. There is a school of thought prevalent mainly among older people which seeks to impose a kind of restriction on language that is not imposed on other areas of life. It is as if, in an age of uncertainty and kaleidoscopic change, they look to language to provide a safe, unchanging structure. In many ways this is an impossible dream. Language, as it is the substance of communication, holds up a mirror to life, which itself is ever-changing. At the very least we cannot hold back vocabulary additions which are created in response to new inventions, new discoveries, new concepts—think of compact disc, persona! identification number. Jacuzzi, and affirmative action to name but a few. But change is by no means restricted to new vocabulary additions devised to describe the new. Staying at the level of vocabulary we find many existing words altering their meanings in some way, some taking on additional meanings alongside their old, some suffering almost a complete sea change. A few examples spring to mind. Hopefully is a word whose secondary meaning has become at least as widely used as its original meaning. Hopefully ('it is to be hoped that') we'll get there on time coexists with The dog looked hopefully ('with hope') at the joint of beef. The new meaning of gay, on the other hand, has almost totally eclipsed the earlier meaning of the word. We can be happy, merry, or even frolicsome, but it is difficult to be gay without overtones or homosexuality. There was no acceptable informal word for homosexual and so gay has been left to fill the gap. On the usage front, too, changes occur. For example it is no longer uncommon to find media accompanied by a singular verb although it is a plural noun. As a knowledge of the classics has diminished with the decrease of the teaching of Latin and Greek in schools, so has the confidence to deal with the various forms of seemingly unusual words, such as referendum and phenomenon. Coexisting with all these relatively new bugbears are older problems which have been around for some time but which have become more of a difficulty with the virtual demise of formal grammar and related subjects. Should we say it wasn't I or it wasn 't me; between you and me or between you and /; different from, different to, or different than; less bottles of milk or fewer bottles of milk} Dealing with problems of usage, whether these be related to style, grammar, spelling, or pronunciation may seem, on the face of it, a relatively simple task. Unfortunately this is not the case. As language becomes less rigid, it is becoming more and more difficult to distinguish between the correct and the incorrect on linguistic grounds. Language, as has already been suggested, is in a state of permanent flux and guidelines are difficult to establish. Yet guidelines there must be if all of us are to exert our right of freedom of expression. Expression may have the indulgence of freedom but it must be subjected to some form of linguistic discipline in order to communicate. The problem with right and wrong, correct and incorrect is that the contrast is too great, too black and white. Nothing is as simple as that, let alone life itself. So why should language be pigeon-holed into the kind of clear-cut categories that are held to be impossible to establish in other areas of life and experience? In any area of extremes it is usually relatively safe to take the middle course. So it is with language, as long as you explain your rationale, your terms of reference. By taking the so-called middle course you may not please everyone, but on the other hand, you are unlikely to offend everyone. The Bloomsbury Good Word Guide presents the reader with the facts associated with the relevant word and makes recommendations. Where a supposed alternative is in fact wrong this is clearly stated, but where alternatives exist these are equally clearly stated together with the justifications for these. Sometimes distinctions have to be made between the habits of the careful user, who wishes to use English correctly and cogently, and the run-of-the-mill user, who frequently sacrifices care and correctness in the VI