Kirk Mahoney . com

I saw this yesterday in a letter.

Problem:
The word “final” is not a verb.

Explanation:
The letter came from the City of Houston Code Enforcement Division.

The full sentence was “Also, you may have outstanding inspections that were never finalled on this project as listed below.”

The problem with this sentence is that “final” is a noun or an adjective, but never a verb.

So one cannot “final a project”, and therefore one cannot use “final” as a verb in passive voice, either.

It is ironic that the next sentence in the letter contained the correct verb.

For fun, I searched Google for “finalled” (with the quotation marks, to avoid matches for such phrases as “final LED”) and got about 6,230 matches.

This indicates that very people are making the mistake made by in the form letter from the City of Houston Code Enforcement Division.

Solution:
“… inspections that were never finalized …”

This is one of my favorite words.

An article at Wikipedia identifies the adjective “verklempt” as a Yiddish word used by English-speaking Jews.

I know very little Yiddish, but I love this word because it describes in two syllables a very specific state that humans experience.

The adjective “verklempt” means choked or overcome with emotion or (emotionally) stuck.

“The standing ovation made me verklempt.” is a good example of how to use this adjective.

If you have never heard this word, of if you do not know that Yiddish words are generally pronounced like German words and do not know how to pronounce German words, then you probably will mispronounce it.

The correction pronunciation — in pseudo-phonetics — is “fair-klempt”.

The Wikipedia article says that the Yiddish adjective “verklempt” — with an M-P-T on the end — is derived from the German adjective “verklemmt” — with an M-M-T on the end.

Whether you prefer “verklempt” or “verklemmt”, consider adding it to your vocabulary.

You might be surprised by how useful this adjective will become to you.

I heard this yesterday on NPR.

Problem:
The indefinite article is incorrect.

Explanation:
I was listening yesterday to an interview on NPR’s “Morning Edition” about Barack Obama’s pending presidential inauguration when I heard, “It can be cast in an heroic way.”

The problem with this sentence is that the “h” in the adjective “heroic” is never silent.

So just as one should not say or write “an helpful man”, one should not say or write “an heroic way”.

I believe that the tendency among some speakers of American English to use the indefinite article “an” in front of the adjective “heroic” is a form of hypercorrection — as if to say, “If ‘a’ is correct, then ‘an’ must be more correct.”

For fun, I searched Google for each of the following (with the quotation marks, to avoid variations) and got about the indicated numbers of matches:

• ” a heroic” — 1,330,000 matches
• ” an heroic” — 184,000 matches

This tells me that Web authors have used the correct ” a heroic” versus the incorrect ” an heroic” by a ratio of 22.6-to-1, which is good but not great.

Solution:
“It can be cast in a heroic way.”

I saw this yesterday in an email message.

Problem:
An apostrophe is missing.

Explanations:
The email message was talking about social-work efforts, and “Childrens Protective Service” — with “Childrens” spelled C-H-I-L-D-R-E-N — was the title of one of the sections in the message.

I believe that the absence of a required possessive apostrophe in “Childrens” can be attributable to:

• A typographical error;
• Ignorance about possessive apostrophes.

Given how often I see the apostrophe-free “Mens” and “Womens” in department stores, I doubt that “A typographical error” applies to this situation.

That leaves us with “Ignorance about possessive apostrophes”.

I believe that this ignorance is consistent with my “Devolution toward Simpler” hypothesis.

It is simpler to write possessive words without apostrophes than to write them with apostrophes.

Solution:
“Children’s Protective Service”

I occasionally see or hear this phrase.

Problem:
The word “shuddered” is incorrect here.

Explanation:
I see or hear the phrase as part of a full sentence such as “The shuddered windows protected the glass from the hurricane.”

The intransitive verb “shudder” — with two “d”s and from which the word “shuddered” is derived — means to tremble or shake convulsively, as from cold, fear, or horror.

So the past participle “shuddered” cannot be used as an adjective to modify “windows” for two reasons:

1. The verb “shudder” is intransitive and therefore its past participle cannot be used as an adjective.
2. Even if “shuddered” could be used as an adjective, it would make no sense to use it to modify the noun “windows”.

The solution comes from realizing that Americans often mispronounce “t”s (as in “tango”) as “d”s (as in “David”).

So the word “shudder” — with two “d”s — is a typical mispronunciation, at least by Americans, of the word “shutter” — with two “t”s.

And given that the transitive verb “shutter” means to close with shutters, we have the solution.

For fun, I searched Google for each of the following (with the quotation marks, to avoid variations) and got about the indicated numbers of matches:

• “shuttered windows” — with two middle “t”s as in “tango” — 98,800 matches
• “shuddered windows” — with two middle “d”s as in “David” — 97,400 matches

This tells me that Web authors have used the meaningful “shuttered windows” versus the meaningless “shuddered windows” by a ratio of 1.01-to-1, which is absolutely dreadful.

Solution:
“shuttered windows”

I often hear these two words used interchangeably.

Problem:
These two words, whether as adjectives or as adverbs, are not quite synonyms.

Explanation:
Although it is true that “farther” and “further” have been used interchangeably for years, grammarians today increasingly consider these two words to have a physical-versus-metaphorical distinction.

As an adjective, the primary meaning of the word “farther” is more remote or distant than some place or something closer.

An example of the use of “farther” as an adjective is “The truck is on the farther side of the warehouse.”

As an adverb, the primary meaning of the word “farther” is to or at a great distance.

An example of the use of “farther” as an adverb is “Chuck Yeager flew farther toward outer space than did any of his contemporaries.”

As an adjective, the primary non-”farther” meaning of the word “further” is more extended.

An example of the use of “further” as an adjective is “Any further delay in our flight home would mean that we would not be home for Christmas.”

As an adverb, the primary non-”farther” meaning of the word “further” is to or at a more advanced point.

An example of the use of “further” as an adverb is “I may not go further with my studies until I pass that exam.”

Solution:
Use “farther” only for physical distance; prefer “further” for metaphorical distance (in space or time).

I often hear these words used interchangeably.

Problem:
It was not clear — at least not to me, anyway — which word is correct.

Explanation:
The word “preventive” as an adjective means serving to hinder or prevent.

The word “preventive” as a noun means a preventive measure or agent.

The word “preventive” dates back to 1630-1640.

The word “preventative” is noted by some dictionaries as being a synonym of the word “preventive” — whether as an adjective or as a noun.

However, at least one dictionary — Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary — says that “preventative” is incorrectly used instead of “preventive”.

Solution:
Given these facts, use “preventive” instead of “preventative” — as either an adjective or a noun.

I kept hearing this the other evening in a TV drama.

Problem:
“Safety” is the wrong adjectival modifier here.

Explanation:
I was watching an episode of the Fox TV show “Fringe”, and the drama began with thieves using a bizarre method to break into a bank safe filled with depositors’ boxes so that they could steal a particular box.

All of the actors referred to the mystery box in question as a “safety deposit box”.

The correct phrase is “safe deposit box” because the deposit boxes reside in a safe.

Using “safety” instead of “safe” in front of “deposit box” seems to be a common English blunder.

For fun, I searched Google for each of the following (with the quotation marks, to avoid variations) and got about the indicated numbers of matches:

• “safe deposit box” — 4,570,000 matches
• “safety deposit box” — 2,000,000 matches

This tells me that Web authors have used the correct “safe deposit box” versus the incorrect “safe deposit box” by a ratio of 2.29-to-1, which is awful.

Solution:
“Safe Deposit Box”

I thought again about these two forms after hearing someone claim that only one of these was correct.

Problem:
The verb “feel” can take an adjective or an adverb.

Explanation:
The verb “feel” is a loaded verb in that it relates to a state of health or emotion as well as to the sense of touch.

The verb “feel” can be used as a linking verb, which is called a “copula” in linguistics.

A linking verb ties the subject of a sentence with the predicate of the sentence.

As described elsewhere, the verbs “be”, “become”, and “seem” are called true linking verbs because they can be nothing else.

Examples include:

• “I am rich!”
• “You became wealthy.”
• “They seem nice.”

In contrast, each of the following verbs can act as an action verb or as a linking verb:

• “appear”;
• “feel”;
• “grow”
• “look”;
• “prove”;
• “remain”;
• “smell”;
• “sound”;
• “taste”;
• “turn”.

Here are examples of these verbs used as action verbs, each of which can be modified by one or more adverbs:

• “She effortlessly appeared from the bushes.”
• “He barely feels that tack in the carpet.”
• “Mary often grows hibiscus plants.”
• “Look now at that cow crossing the road!”
• “Can you quickly prove this theorem?”
• “I can remain here.”
• “Everyone should always smell the flowers.”
• “Paul Revere urgently sounded the alarm.”
• “Can they barely taste the ginger in that dessert?”
• “Please slowly turn the car to the right at the next light.”

Here are examples of the same verbs used as linking verbs, each of which is followed by an adjective:

• “She appears ill.”
• “He feels odd.”
• “Mary grows angry when she sees her hibiscus flowers destroyed.”
• “Darling, you look marvelous!”
• “Purchase of Manhattan proved inexpensive.”
• “The dishes remain dirty.”
• “You smell delightful.”
• “His argument sounds correct.”
• “This dessert tastes delicious.”
• “His face turns red when you embarrass him.”

Solution:
Use “I feel bad.” to describe the current state of your emotions or health. Use “I feel badly.” to describe your ability to feel with your sensory neurons.

I saw this on a website.

Problem:
The adjective is misspelled — in capital letters, no less!

Explanation:
The adjective “visible” — misspelled as V-I-S-A-B-L-E — appeared in a banner advertisement on the MEN7 website, which I discovered after seeing a television program called “MEN7″ on the ION network a few nights ago.

The website’s banner ad was for something called “Billionaires Car Club”.

The full text of the all-capital-letters ad was “LAMBORGHINI, MURCIELAGO | PRICE TO OWN $350K | ALWAYS VISABLE | SEE IT ON BILLIONAIRES CAR CLUB”.

I was not surprised to see the adjective “visible” misspelled by a website and TV program focused on fast cars and the male equivalent of “Cosmopolitan” magazine instead of on more intellectual pursuits.

But seeing the adjective “visible” spelled with an “a” in the middle made me wonder how typical this blunder was.

For fun, I searched Google for each of the following (without the quotation marks) and got about the indicated numbers of matches:

• “visible” — 238,000,000 matches
• “visable” — 723,000 matches

This tells me that Web authors have used the correct spelling versus the incorrect spelling by a ratio of 329-to-1, which is superb.

However, nearly three-quarters of a million misspellings tells me that spelling the adjective “visible” with an “a” is a common English blunder.

I believe that this blunder is consistent with my “Devolution toward Simpler” linguistic hypothesis.

It is simpler to pronounce this adjective as if there were an “a” in the middle than to clearly pronounce the “i” in the middle.

And I believe that this mispronunciation drives the misspelling.

Solution:
“ALWAYS VISIBLE”