GrammarPhile Blog

And. Retain and before the last item in a series, even though that last item consists of two words joined by and.

Guideline. Unless you have a good reason for doing otherwise, express verbs in the active rather than the passive voice.

While many people may not know what an appositive is, clients use them often in the documents we see on our server. This week's post is on the appositive and how to use it. We use as our guide the venerable Chicago Manual of Style.

A venerable client wrote recently and asked, "Should 'that' be added before 'innovation' in the following sentence?"

It's amazing how loosely the terms in today's quiz are used (and misused) in everyday writing and conversation. Choose the right meaning. Compare your choices with the correct answers at the bottom of this column.

"Well, are you?" he asked.

• Kansas's legislature
• Chicago's lakefront
• Burns's poems
• Marx's theories
• Berlioz's works
• Strauss's Vienna
• Dickens's novels
• the Lincolns' marriage
• William's reputation
• the Williamses' new house
• Malraux's masterpiece
• Inez's diary
• the Martinezes' daughter
• Josquin des Prez's motets
• dinner at the Browns' (that is, at the Browns' home)
• FDR's legacy
• 1999's heaviest snowstorm
• Yahoo!'s chief executive
  Exceptions (for names of two or more syllables that end in an eez sound):
• Euripides' tragedies
• the Ganges' source
• Xerxes' armies
  and (for words and names ending in unpronounced s)
• Descartes' three dreams
• the marquis' mother
• Francois' efforts to learn English
• Albert Camus' novels (the s is unpronounced)
  but
• Raoul Camus's anthology (the s is pronounced)
  Other exceptions:
• for righteousness' sake
• for goodness' sake
• for Jesus' sake
  but
• Jesus's disciples

• the president; George Washington, first president of the United States; President Ford; the presidency; presidential; the Taft administration; Chandrika Kumaratunga, president of Sri Lanka; President Kumaratunga or Mrs. Kumaratunga
• the vice president; Joseph Biden, vice president of the United States; Vice President Biden; vice-presidential duties; Jorge Quiroga, vice president of Bolivia; Vice President Quiroga
• the secretary of state; Hillary Rodham Clinton, secretary of state; Secretary of State Clinton or Secretary Clinton
• the senator; the senator from West Virginia; Senator Robert C. Byrd; Senators Byrd and Trent; Sen. John Glenn, Democrat from Ohio (or D-OH)
• the representative; the congressman; the congresswoman; Henry Hyde, representative from Illinois or congressman from Illinois; Congressman Hyde or Rep. Henry Hyde (R-IL) or Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.); Maxine Waters, representative from California; Congresswoman Waters; the congresswoman or the representative; Representatives Hyde and Waters
• the Speaker; John Boehner, Speaker of the House of Representatives; Speaker Boehner (Speaker is traditionally capitalized)
• the chief justice; [the late] William H. Rehnquist, chief justice of the United States; Chief Justice Rehnquist
• the associate justice; Antonin Kennedy, associate justice; Justice Kennedy; Justices Kennedy and Thomas
• the chief judge; Henry Tonigan, chief judge; Judge Tonigan
• the ambassador; Philip Lader, ambassador to the Court of St. James's or ambassador to the United Kingdom; Ambassador Lader
• the governor; Ruth Ann Minner, governor of the state of Delaware; Governor Minner
• the mayor; Rahm Emanuel, mayor of Chicago; Mayor Emanuel
• the state senator; Olga Parker, Ohio state senator; the Honorable Olga Parker
• the state representative (same pattern as state senator)
• the governor-general of Canada; the Right Honourable David Johnston
• the minister; Motohisa Furukawa, Japanese economics minister; Mr. Furukawa
• the prime minister; the Right Honourable Pierre Elliott Trudeau, former prime minister of Canada; David Cameron, the British prime minister
• the premier (of a Canadian province); the Right Honourable Roy Romanow
• the member of Parliament (UK and Canada); Jane Doe, member of Parliament or, more commonly, Jane Doe, MP (not used as a title preceding the name); Jane Doe, the member for West Hamage
• the chief whip; Tony Yengeni, chief whip of the African National Congress; Yengini
• the foreign secretary (UK); the foreign minister (other nations); the British foreign secretary; the German foreign minister (not used as a title preceding the name)
• the chancellor; Angela Merkel, chancellor of Germany; Chancellor Merkel
• the chancellor of the exchequer (UK); George Osborne; Chancellor Osborne
• the Lord Privy Seal (UK; always capitalized)

• She has published widely in the history of religions.
• They have introduced a course in gender studies.
• He is majoring in comparative literature, and Janie is majoring in biology.
• She is pursuing graduate studies in philosophy of science.
  but
• Jones is chair of the Committee on Comparative Literature.

• I am signing up for Beginning Archaeology.
• A popular course this fall is Basic Manuscript Editing.
  but
• His ballroom dancing classes have failed to civilize him.

• This year's Robinson Memorial Lectures were devoted to the nursing profession. The first lecture, "How Nightingale Got Her Way," was a sellout.

• BA - Bachelor of Arts
• BFA - Bachelor of Fine Arts
• BM - Bachelor of Music
• BS - Bachelor of Science
• DD - Doctor of Divinity
• DDS - Doctor of Dental Surgery
• DMin (D.Min.) - Doctor of Ministry
• DVM - Doctor of Veterinary Medicine
• EdD - Doctor of Education
• JD - Juris Doctor (Doctor of Law)
• LittD (Litt.D.) - Litterarum Doctor (Doctor of Letters)
• MA - Master of Arts
• MBA - Master of Business Administration
• MD - Medicinae Doctor (Doctor of Medicine)
• MS - Master of Science
• MSN - Master of Science in Nursing
• MSW - Master of Social Welfare or Master of Social Work
• PhD (Ph.D.) - Philosophiae Doctor (Doctor of Philosophy)

• Mortimer Snerd, JD, attended Wooden Memorial Law School.

Source: The Chicago Manual of Style.

Two unrelated topics today:

Drunk driving v. drink-driving.
Did you know that what goes for drunk driving in America is known as drink-driving in Britain? That's right - so be careful when editing We need harsher drink-driving penalties for MPs. If it's British, it's correct.