Origins – Swing and Sway.
Vacillate – note the single c, double l – derives from Latin vacillo, swing back and forth. People who swing back and forth in indecision, who are irresolute, who can,…
Pronouns and Case – Just Like Me.
Traditionally, like is a preposition not a conjunction: My son looks just like me; ?? My son walks just like I did at his age. In this second example, like…
Origins – Saying ‘No!’ to Oneself.
Abnegate is derived from Latin ab-, away (as in absent), plus nego, to deny – self-abnegation, then, is self-denial. Nego itself is a contraction of Latin neg-, not, no, and…
Pronouns and Case – Myself and Other Selves.
The -self words have various more or less acceptable uses in English, including these: X. as emphatic pronouns, as in Even he himself can’t say; I myself swim regularly. (Use…
Origins – The flesh and All.
Carnivorous combines carnis, flesh, and voro, to devour. A carnivorous animal, or carnivore, is one whose main diet is meat. Voro, to devour, is the origin of other words referring…
Putting Nouns into the Plural – Words ending in -F or -FE.
Some of these words change their ending to -ves in the plural, but some end simply in -s. A few allow a choice. Here are some examples: X. ending -s:…
Origins – Soundings.
Cacophony is itself a harsh-sounding word – and is the only one that exactly describes the unmusical, grating, ear-offending noises you are likely to hear in man-made surrounding: the underground…
Grammar – A Batch of Papers Has/Have Arrived.
Generally, a subject consisting of a singular noun plus an of-phrase takes a singular verb: A flock of sheep was seen in the distance. But there are some exceptions: A…