Active and Proactive

February 1st, 2012

When I left the corporate world to pursue a writing career, I vowed to leave behind the corporate lingo. Catchwords like “proactive” annoyed me. What was the difference in active and proactive? Wasn’t proactive redundant?

Language changes with usage, however. We now hear the term daily, especially in political speeches. Finally I get it. There is a difference in active and proactive.

Active (as opposed to static or idle) means taking action or in a state of movement. But there are two types of action one can take–reactive and proactive. I learned this from my experiences a couple of years ago after I was diagnosed with breast cancer. My oncologist explained that there were two treatment regimens: proactive and reactive. Reactive meant chasing the disease and trying to get ahead of it, as in advanced cancer. Proactive meant preventative treatment to keep cancer removed via surgery from returning. She further explained how proactive was easier than reactive treatment. Preventative medicine isn’t as difficult as remedial.

Fortunately we could be proactive in my treatment. I learned proactive isn’t a redundant form of active. So the next time you hear a public official speaking of proactive or reactive policy, substitute the words preventative or remedial and it will make more sense.

 

 

Noun/verb agreement in terms of quantity

January 5th, 2012

Plural subjects take plural verbs, right? Well…

Most of the time your subject and verb should agree.  He lives in a cabin. An exception occurs with nouns that refer to time, distance, or measurements of money. Those plural subjects are treated as a single unit.

Two days is plenty of time to get to Phoenix.

Lying in the safe was the missing two hundred dollars.

Three cups of flour is all you need for the bread recipe.

Fifty cents isn’t enough for a soda.

Three yards of fabric seems a lot for a mini-skirt.

Who would believe in 1960 that three earth orbits was possible?

If the emphasis is on individual items, though, use the plural verb:

The hours before dinner seemed to drag for the dieters.

The raffle tickets were dropped into the bucket one at a time.

Remember to consider the sense of your subject. Are you using it in the singular sense or the plural?

Happy new year and happy writing!

Merry Christmas, Y’all!

December 15th, 2011

I’ve lived in the southern United States all my life, so I do know what I’m talking about when it comes to “southernisms.” We recently had a discussion in a writing group about the contraction y’all. What is the correct spelling?

Although you may see variations, the contraction of you and all (translated=all of you) is y’all. Don’t be misled by other spellings, such as ya’ll (ya’ll only makes sense if the writer means ya and all, which is the colloquial of the colloquial).

The idea that y’all is singular and all y’all is plural is a myth. If you hear this either the speaker doesn’t understand the meaning of y’all as the contraction of you and all or the speaker is ridiculing southerners. Singular is you, same as anywhere else. Y’all is plural.

As supporting documentation, I have a sweatshirt, a gift from my parents, that reads “Merry Christmas, Y’all.” They purchased the garment at Cracker Barrel. If Cracker Barrel isn’t the definitive southern and country authority, I don’t know what is!

So y’all have a merry Christmas and a happy new year. The Grammar Cop will be back next year with more grammar tips.

Help With Homonyms

December 7th, 2011
Today The Grammar Cop has a guest writer.  Mariana Ashley is a freelance writer who particularly enjoys
writing about online colleges. She loves receiving reader feedback, which can be directed to mailto:mariana.ashley031@gmail.com.
NOTORIOUS HOMONYMS

Today I will
review three pairs of homonyms continually misused in the blogosphere. None of the words are difficult themselves; people just use them incorrectly out of laziness or inattention.
Affect/Effect
A classic among misused homonyms, those guilty of switching affect and effect range from the amateur blogger to the professional journalist. The difference between the two words is simple when you get down to it; it’s simply a difference in describing action. The word “affect” is primarily used as a verb to explain the subject’s influence on an object.
  • “The blizzard affected Jeff’s goggles, causing them to mist.”
  • “Working in England affected Josh’s American accent.”
Notice how I employed affect as a verb to describe the influence or change of the subject. The word “effect” usually describes the state of the change. When used properly, we primarily use the word in its noun form.
  • “Jeff complained about the effect the blizzard had on his goggles.”
  • “We were all puzzled by the effect Josh’s trip had on his accent.”
I used examples from the previous sentence to highlight the difference between the homonyms. In the first pair of sentences, “affect” is the verb that explains how the subject of the sentence changed the object. In the second pair, the word “effect” serves as a noun for the change itself.
Principle/Principal
The easiest is way to differentiate these homonyms is to first address the most common mistake people make when they use them. A “principal” runs a school, and during their tenure at a school they may implement new “principles,” or rules, on the campus. This is an easy enough difference to understand: a principal is an administrative position in a school whereas a “principle” refers to a rule or guideline.It’s more difficult to separate “principle” from another meaning of “principal,” which is an adjective meant to describe something of utmost importance.
  • “The principal concern right now is the school’s budget.”
Try to remember principal’s other meaning by recalling the noun. The school principal is one of the most important members of a school; you could say that a thing of great importance is “principal” in priority. Think of a principal line in a poem, or a principal idea in a discussion as salient examples of the adjective
in action.
Eminent/Imminent
These homonyms crop up less often that do the previous two examples, but they’re no less significant. The word “eminent” is an adjective that refers to something or someone of high respect or prestige. For instance, in the Catholic Church, people address those who serve as Cardinals as “your eminence.” It’s a word meant for distinguished things and individuals.
  • “The eminent governor downplayed the praise from her audience before she spoke about the state’s pressing issues.”
“Imminent,” by contrast, is an adjective that refers to the immediacy of an event. In fact, you could think of the similarities between “imminent” and “immediate” as a means of remembering the meaning of the homonym.
  • “The weather forecaster said to anticipate the imminent arrival of thunderstorms throughout the week.”
Thank you Mariana Ashley for the guest post.