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Appreciate.
When used with the meaning "to be thankful for," the verb appreciate requires an object.
NOT: We would appreciate if you would return the car by July 5.
BUT: We would appreciate it if you would return the car by July 5.
OR: We would appreciate your (not you) returning the car by July 5. (Noun clause as object.)
We will always appreciate the help you gave us. (Noun as object.)
I will appreciate whatever you can do for us. (Noun clause as object.)
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Common, Ordinary, Everyday Adjectives.
Are you guilty of using "everyday" as a noun? Don't do it. The one-word form is only an adjective, as in "an everyday occurrence." Never write, "I exercise my brain everyday." Now, see how you do with the rest of these adjectives.
1. distaff: (a) disgruntled; (b) distant; (c) female; (d) odd.
2. bucolic: (a) relating to or typical of rural life; (b) relating to or typical of urban settings; (c) marked by recurrent episodes of prolonged and uncontrollable crying and irritability in an otherwise healthy infant that is of unknown cause and usually subsides after three to four months of age; (d) having the bodily conformation and temperament held characteristic of such predominance and marked by sturdiness, high color, and cheerfulness.
3. equine: (a) of, relating to, or resembling a mosquito or the mosquito family; (b) of, relating to, or resembling a horse or the horse family; (c) of, relating to, or resembling a dog or the dog family; (d) of, relating to, or resembling a pig or the pig family.
4. abbatial: (a) of or relating to an abbot, abbess, or abbey; (b) of or relating to an abscess; (c) of or relating to aberrance; (d) of or relating to a slaughterhouse.
5. bumptious: (a) ignorant; (b) disposed to or characterized by bold or confident assertion; (c) presumptuously, obtusely, and often noisily self-assertive; (d) slow of mind.
6. brumal: (a) freshly swept; (b) disgustingly unpleasant; (c) of a dull or muddy color; (d) indicative of or occurring in the winter.
7. pro bono: (a) being, involving, or doing professional and especially legal work donated especially for the public good; (b) acting in anticipation of future problems, needs, or changes; (c) likely to be or become true or real; (d) U2 aficionado.
8. luculent: (a) having fleshy tissues that conserve moisture; (b) clear in thought or expression; (c) ardently or earnestly wishing; (d) free from other living organisms.
9. torpid: (a) moderately warm; (b) marked by baseness or grossness; (c) ardent, passionate; (d) lacking in energy or vigor.
10. specious: (a) vast or ample in extent; (b) having a false look of truth or genuineness; (c) lacking in qualities that interest, stimulate, or challenge; (d) juvenile, puerile.
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Answers: 1:c 2:a 3:b 4:a 5:c 6:d 7:a 8:b 9:d 10:b Rate Yourself: Lost.
3 to 5 correct: Challenged.
6 to 7 correct: Typical.
8 to 9 correct: Advanced.
All 10 correct: Superior.
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| Weekly Grammar Tip |
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William Zinsser on Verbs.
Today's GT is excerpted from On Writing Well by William Zinsser. We highly recommend this fine book to all our subscribers!
Verbs.
Use active verbs unless there is no comfortable way to get around a passive verb. The difference between an active-verb style and a passive-verb style--in clarity and vigor--is the difference between life and death for a writer.
"Joe saw him" is strong. "He was seen by Joe" is weak. The first is short and precise; it leaves no doubt about who did what. The second is necessarily longer and it has an insipid quality: something was done by somebody to someone else. It's also ambiguous. How often was he seen by Joe? Once? Every day? Once a week? A style that consists of passive constructions will sap the reader's energy. Nobody ever quite knows what is being perpetrated by whom and on whom.
I use "perpetrated" because it's the kind of word that passive-voice writers are fond of. They prefer long words of Latin origin to short Anglo-Saxon words--which compounds their trouble and makes their sentences still more glutinous. Short is generally better than long. Of the 701 words in Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address, a marvel of economy in itself, 505 are words of one syllable and 122 are words of two syllables.
Verbs are the most important of all your tools. They push the sentence forward and give it momentum. Active verbs push hard; passive verbs tug fitfully. Active verbs also enable us to visualize an activity because they require a pronoun ("he"), or a noun ("the boy"), or a person ("Mrs. Scott") to put them in motion. Many verbs also carry in their imagery or in their sound a suggestion of what they mean: glitter, dazzle, twirl, beguile, scatter, swagger, poke, pamper, vex. Probably no other language has such a vast supply of verbs so bright with color. Don't choose one that is dull or merely serviceable. Make active verbs activate your sentences, and try to avoid the kind that need an appended preposition to complete their work. Don't set up a business that you can start or launch. Don't say that the president of the company stepped down. Did he resign? Did he retire? Did he get fired? Be precise. Use precise words.
If you want to see how active verbs give vitality to the written word, don't just go back to Hemingway or Thurber or Thoreau. I commend the King James Bible or William Shakespeare.
From On Writing Well, by William Zinsser, HarperCollins Publishers, 2001, pp. 68-69.
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| Word of the Week |
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funicular
Pronunciation: few-'ni-kew-lar
Function: noun
Etymology: New Latin, from Latin, diminutive of funis rope
Date: 1911
Definition: a cable railway ascending a steep slope; especially, one in which an ascending car counterbalances a descending car. It is also called an inclined railway or inclined plane, or in England a cliff railway. A funicular is a system of transportation in which cables attach to a tram-like vehicle on rails to move it up and down a very steep slope. The vehicle is specially designed for the particular inclination, so that seats and/or floors remain roughly horizontal. Typically the steepness of the track does not vary much, which differentiates the funicular from a cable car on rails. It is thus a hybrid between cable transport and rail transport. Two cars at the end of a cable go alternately up and down on either two tracks or one track which splits and rejoins in the middle.
Comment: As an adjective, this word means having the form of or associated with a cord usually under tension (1664).
Example: "An Austrian court cleared 16 ski-resort workers, train operators, and inspectors of negligence in the 2000 fire on a funicular that left 155 dead." (Wall Street Journal, 2/20/2004)
Definition source: Merriam-Webster's Eleventh Collegiate Dictionary and the Web.
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