English Usage Hints and Tips

Altitude versus Elevation

nospam@example.com (Administrator) — Wed, 31 May 2023 07:33:00 -0600

"Elevation" is used in a terrestrial context as the ground height above mean sea level. For example, Denver, Colorado is known as the "Mile High City" because it sits at an elevation of 5,280 feet above mean sea level - the number of feet in a mile.

"Altitude" is used in the context of the distance above ground, given in reference either to Mean Sea Level (MSL) or local ground level (Above Ground Level, or AGL). Airplanes are given an altitude at which to fly, for example, 35,000 feet above mean sea level. A drone, however, has a legal height, or altitude, limit of 400 feet above ground level.

From Hartzellprop.com: Absolute altitude refers to the actual distance the aircraft is flying in relation to the ground and is expressed in “feet above ground level.” This type of altitude is generally determined using a radar altimeter, which measures how long it takes radar signals to reach the ground and reflect up to the plane. (May 15, 2018)
https://hartzellprop.com/altitude-measured-aviation/#:~:text=Absolute%20altitude%20refers%20to%20the,reflect%20up%20to%20the%20plane.

From boldmethod.com: True altitude is the vertical distance of your airplane above sea level. Commonly expressed as "feet MSL" (feet above mean sea level), many of the airspace altitudes, terrain figures, airways, and obstacles you'll find on aeronautical charts are expressed in true altitude (MSL), feet above sea level. (Oct 1, 2022)
https://www.boldmethod.com/blog/lists/2022/10/the-five-types-of-flying-altitudes-explained/#:~:text=True%20altitude%20is%20the%20vertical,)%2C%20feet%20above%20sea%20level.

However, "altitude sickness" is the common term for adverse symptoms (including severe headache) that may occur when travelling above 8,000 feet or so of elevation (per the CDC), due to lower oxygen content in the air, when one is not acclimated to such elevations. Since this condition can be fatal, I suggest you read the CDC page about the illness here: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/page/travel-to-high-altitudes

Different From and Similar To

nospam@example.com (Administrator) — Wed, 06 Apr 2022 09:51:00 -0600

Hearing someone say that one thing is "different to" another thing is a dead giveaway that they're using British English and not US English.

In such comparisons, we're usually determining whether two things are different or similar. We may also be looking for ways in which they are different or similar. "Different" and "similar" are opposites, just as "old" and "new", "yes" and "no", "in" and "out" are opposites. We might even say "in to" (or "into") and "out of": "Dan walked into the school just as Sherry walked out of the administrator's office." No one says "in of" or "out to" unless Dan ran from the school out to his car, which could be said as, "Dan ran out of the school to his car."

"To" and "from" are opposites. Dan ran from the school to the car. "To" and "from" can be directional; they define a starting point and an end point. An origin and a destination. Dan's origin or starting point is the school; his destination or ending point is the car.

It's correct to say that red is different from blue or that beige is similar to khaki. These are word pairs that carry opposite meanings.

Since "different" and "similar" are inarguably opposites, and "from" and "to" are clearly opposites, it follows that "different from" and "similar to" are the correct constructs in usage. By what logic would one use "similar to" and "different to"? It appears that saying "different to" clearly muddies the waters.

If you insist on using "to" with "different" it should be said as "different as compared to" - but then, it might correctly be "different as compared with", mightn't it? And that's a whole topic different from this one.

Whose versus Who's

nospam@example.com (Administrator) — Mon, 05 Jul 2021 10:46:00 -0600

"Whose" is a question of possession.
"Who's" is a contraction for "Who is".

Examples:
Q: Whose cat is sitting on the post?
A: That is my cat.

Q: Who's that cat sitting on the post?
A: That cat is Mimi.

Mimi, whose origin is unknown, was a stray given to me by the owners of the feed store. She is a small cat who possesses a large personality, as expressed in her role as self-appointed spokesperson for the housecats.

Continue reading "Whose versus Who's"

"Which" versus "That" - and do I need a comma?

nospam@example.com (Administrator) — Mon, 05 Jul 2021 10:24:00 -0600

"Which" is used to indicate an attribute that is associated with or defines a subject or object, and may be set off with commas.

"That" narrows down the selection of subjects or objects to which the sentence refers and generally does not use a comma.

Example 1:
Which:
Shabby chic furniture, which may be left with partially-peeling paint, was used to furnish the little rustic cabin by the pond.

That:
In the group of vintage chairs in the workshop, please sand the ones that have peeling paint or faded stain.

Example 2:
First, we use "which" to associate an attribute to a particular group of cats. The tortoiseshell coloring in cats is defined by its combination of mixed orange and black fur. Second, we use "that" to identify a specific X chromosome from the cat's father.

The tortoiseshell cat, which has a combination of orange and black fur, is a representative example of X-inactivation in the female cat's two X chromosomes. (A female cat possesses two X chromosomes, only one of which is left fully activated in each of the cat's cells. Black fur coded by the mother's active X chromosome grows where the father's X chromosome that codes for orange fur is largely inactivated. Orange fur grows due to the active X chromosome inherited from the father where the X chromosome containing the gene for black fur from the mother is mostly inactivated.)

Given a room full of cats, my attention is likely drawn to the ones that have the calico or tortoiseshell coloring.

Mimi, a tortoiseshell cat

Word Pairs

nospam@example.com (Administrator) — Thu, 14 Jan 2021 11:06:00 -0700

Certain words are commonly used in pairs; there will be additions to this list - with examples - over time.

Between-and: Between this and that. In general, between is used when two points exist and you make a reference to what is in between them.
For example: Five is between three and ten.

For a numeric or other type of range, from - to may be used: Let's count from 1 to 100 by fives. Or: It covers everything from "a" to "z".
Or, the context may be a physical span or direction: Hank has travelled from the east coast to the west coast.

Another use of between is when making a choice: Fred needs to decide between going to college and volunteering abroad.

It is INcorrect to say: Fred needs to decide between going to college or volunteering abroad.

Or is used in an either-or choice: Fred will be either going to college or volunteering abroad.

Alternatively, whether can be used when selecting between two choices or among more than two alternatives: Fred will decide whether to go to college or to volunteer abroad. Harold is deciding whether to go to college, join a rock band, or work for his dad.
Whether is used with the to infinitive: Fred is deciding whether to volunteer abroad.
Use if as a simple conditional: Fred needs to decide if he's going to enroll in college. He may prefer to volunteer abroad.

Graduate

nospam@example.com (Administrator) — Tue, 10 Nov 2020 13:44:00 -0700

This is simple and straightforward:

A student graduates from a school.
The school, college, university, etc. graduates the students.

Example:
Ann is going to graduate from middle school in the spring.
Becky graduated from Cornell University last year.

Wilson High School graduated the class of 2020 in May.
The Art Institute will graduate its pottery class next month.

There has been a tendency since the 2000s in which people increasingly say that the student graduated the school. Example: "Mary graduated high school." Regardless of how common that 21st century usage is, it is incorrect. Correct: "Mary graduated from high school."

Misusing 'Only'

nospam@example.com (Administrator) — Fri, 28 Aug 2020 17:46:00 -0600

“Only” is the word that I see misused the most in English. As a matter of fact, I rarely see it used correctly.

Place “only” immediately preceding the word or phrase that you intend to restrict.

“Only” can be used as an adjective, an adverb, or a conjunction, and affects the word or phrase that immediately follows it. As an adjective, it modifies a noun or pronoun. As an adverb it modifies a verb. As a conjunction it joins two parts of a sentence.

If you ate scrambled eggs for breakfast and ate nothing else – no bacon, no waffles - the correct way to say this is:

“I ate only scrambled eggs for breakfast.”

What you’re likely to read or hear more often is the idiomatic usage in which “only” precedes the verb:

“I only ate scrambled eggs for breakfast.”

What that actually says: You didn’t cook them. You didn’t digest them. You only ate them. You might also have cooked and eaten bacon and waffles.

Place “only” immediately preceding the word or phrase that you intend to restrict. Here’s another example:

“I rode my bicycle to the store to buy a pound of ground beef for my mother. She gave me extra change to buy a bottle of root beer to drink on my way home. When I got to the store, they were out of ground beef, so I only bought the root beer.”

What is literally being said is that I “only bought” the root beer. I paid for it but I didn’t drink it. I didn’t bring it home.

Correct: “When I got to the store, they were out of ground beef, so I bought only the root beer.”

Although the meaning is generally interpreted correctly, that is not always the case. It is best to learn and use the correct word placement. It bears repeating:

Place “only” immediately preceding the word or phrase that you intend to restrict.

Does My 'But' Need a Comma?

nospam@example.com (Administrator) — Fri, 28 Aug 2020 16:22:00 -0600

What is a conjunction?
Simply put, a conjunction is a short word used to connect related parts of a sentence. In the sentence below, “and” is used as a conjunction:

“I’m going to happy hour after work, and then I’m meeting Danielle for dinner.”

Conjunctions are words such as “and”, “but”, “or”, “so”, and “yet” that are commonly used to connect the main idea stated in the beginning of a sentence with a closely related idea that follows. These, along with “for” and “nor”, make up seven words known as coordinating conjunctions. (A separate article focusing on conjunctions will be forthcoming.)

What are clauses?
For our purposes here, we will be talking about both independent clauses (also known as main clauses) and dependent clauses (also known as subordinate clauses) as parts of a sentence that are joined by a conjunction. As an over-generalization, we might say that independent clauses are usually separated by a comma, which precedes the conjunction; and that an independent clause followed by a dependent clause does not use a comma. But that's an oversimplification.

Independent clauses
If both parts (clauses) of the sentence could stand alone as complete sentences, each containing a subject and a verb, then these are independent clauses. The conjunction joining them normally would be preceded by a comma. (This definition assumes that it is not a run-on sentence that should be split into two separate sentences.)

Example: “I’m going to meet Pam at the corner, and we are going to go to the café for lunch.”

Explanation: Each of these clauses could stand alone as a complete sentence with a subject and predicate. We don’t make them two separate sentences, because they’re conveying closely related thoughts, and separating them would sound choppy and stilted.

“I’m going to meet Pam at the corner.”
“We are going to go to the café for lunch.”

This rule includes the case in which the subject of the clause may not be explicitly stated but is implied, such as in an imperative statement in which “you” is understood but not stated.

“Meet Pam in the theater lobby, and take her to the café for lunch.”

Exception: Short, closely-related clauses do not require the comma.

“Pam ate lasagna and I had calzone.”

Exception to the exception: A list of short clauses does use commas.

“Pam ate lasagna, Peter ordered pizza, I had calzone, and Jerry wolfed down a whole cherry pie."

Dependent clauses:
A dependent clause could not stand alone as a sentence and have the same meaning, and no comma is used before the conjunction.

“I’m going to change into shorts after school and run around the block.”
“Peter said that he will come over today and bring lunch.”

No comma is used with a restrictive dependent clause that follows a main clause. Examples of restrictive words are “if” and “when”. (These belong to a group of words called subordinating conjunctions.)

“Let’s go to a movie this afternoon if it rains.”

However, a comma is used if the restrictive dependent clause precedes the main clause:

“If it rains this afternoon, let’s go to a movie.”

A dependent clause that is supplementary or parenthetical (adds information without changing the meaning) should be preceded by a comma.

"Peter went fishing, for reasons known only to himself, in spite of the afternoon rainstorm."
"Peter kept fishing through the downpour, for reasons known only to himself."

In some cases, use of the comma determines the meaning of the sentence:

“I didn’t leap across the raging creek because I was fearful.”

The above sentence, with no comma, means: I leaped (or leapt) across the raging creek, but not because I was fearful.

“I didn’t leap across the raging creek, because I was fearful.”

With the comma, the sentence means that I did not leap across the raging creek, and the reason I didn’t is that I was fearful.

It could be restated more clearly:

“Because I was fearful, I didn’t leap across the raging creek.

Reference materials:
1. Chicago Manual of Style, 16th edition.
2. Website “Daily Writing Tips”. https://www.dailywritingtips.com/8-types-of-parenthetical-phrases/. Article: “8 Types of Parenthetical Phrases” by Mark Nichol.

You Lie in the Sun (and lay down a book)

nospam@example.com (Administrator) — Sun, 04 Aug 2019 15:43:00 -0600

Lie versus Lay

One of the most commonly misused pair of verbs in the US: lie and lay. Although it's correct to say, "I'm going to go out and lie in the sun for an hour," even professionals and experts very often say, "I'm going to go out and lay in the sun," which is incorrect.

To lie is to recline; the subject is not acting on a direct object.

To lay is what the subject does to something else; the subject acts upon an object. But, "now I lay me down to sleep," is correct, because you as the subject are acting upon yourself as the object.

The "grammarly" blog (https://www.grammarly.com/blog/lay-lie/) says to remember them like this:
Lie means to recLIne; lay means to pLAce.
A simple and effective tool!

Lie (present) -- lay (past) -- lain (past participle)
Lay (present -- laid (past) -- laid (past participle)

"Lay" being the past tense of "lie" as well as its own present tense verb just adds to the confusion.

Today I lie down. Yesterday I lay down. As a child, I had lain here to nap in the sun on many an afternoon.

I now lay the book on the shelf. Yesterday I laid the cookbook on the table. Prior to buying the bookshelf, I had laid all my books on the table.

Watch the chicken lay an egg! Yesterday two hens laid eggs. It's spring now, but no hens had laid eggs during the winter.

Got it!?

Good! (Whew - but that was exhausting! Go lie down and take a well-deserved rest!)

Does My Adjective Need a Comma?

nospam@example.com (Administrator) — Sun, 04 Aug 2019 14:59:00 -0600

Adjective categories and their orders

Adjectives are the descriptive words that "modify" nouns. They describe the attributes of the noun with which they’re associated. Usually adjectives in English precede the nouns they modify, and these are the ones we'll discuss here. We'll also discuss when to use a comma to separate our adjectives.

If you have grown up speaking English, you may have noticed a natural tendency to place different descriptive words in a particular order: "three cute kittens," for example, wouldn't be re-ordered "cute three kittens." Why not? Whether or not we were aware that there was a rule for the ordering of adjectives, we may have grown accustomed to a particular order. It just "feels" right.

But yes, there is a rule, and here is the order (in simplified form). (I should note that different sources specify varying order for the items listed in 2, 3, 4, and 5, below; other source categories may be less granular and use fewer categories.)

1. First come the articles (a, an, the); possessive pronouns (your, their); demonstrative pronouns (these, those, this, that); and numbers and other expressions of quantity (five, some). These are the "determiners," and will not be followed by a comma.

2. Opinions, attitudes, observations (lovely, odd)

3. Size (tiny, huge, short)

4. Physical quality (smooth, lumpy, burly)

5. Shape (triangular, square, round)

6. Age (young, new, middle-aged)

7. Color (red, blue, yellow)

8. Origin/National origin (Armenian, Turkish)

9. Material (oak, tin)

10. Type (three-legged)

11. Purpose or qualifier: a noun used as an adjective, or an "-ing" adjective (bird dog, cooking pot, washing machine)

We don't use commas in this example:
Sue came home from the flea market dragging a large iron three-legged cooking pot.
Why not?
Each adjective belongs to a different category:
(a) "large" describes the size, our category # 3.
(b) "iron" describes the material, our category # 9.
(c) "cooking" describes the purpose or qualifier, our category # 11.

To comma or not to comma

In short, if the adjectives fall within the same category (coordinate adjectives), use a comma between them.

Do not use commas between cumulative adjectives - those in different categories. (But then, examples in some sources do place commas between cumulative adjectives.)

So, here's the test:
If ...
(a) the order of the adjectives could be reversed and still make sense;
and
(b) the adjectives could be separated with "and" and sound right;
and
(c) all variations of adjective order would deliver the same message,
then treat them as coordinate adjectives and separate them with commas.

Do not use a comma after the determiner. Remember, the determiners, which are listed in category 1 above, are these:
.articles (a, an, the);
.possessive pronouns (your, their);
.demonstrative pronouns (these, those, this, that);
.numbers and other expressions of quantity (five, some)

Sue's morning was spent in a hot, sweaty cooking lesson.

You could say sweaty, hot cooking lesson and hot and sweaty cooking lesson, but you wouldn't say sweaty, cooking, hot lesson. So a comma is used between sweaty and hot, but not between hot and cooking.

In our "three cute kittens" example, you wouldn't say three and cute kittens, so it fails the coordinate test. Besides, a comma is not used after a number or quantity.

Does this help?

I won't get into the Oxford comma here; we'll save that for another day....but I always use them!