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- ONTO OR ON TO?
an OFFICIAL visit
an OFFICIAL invitation
OFFICIOUS = fussy, self-important, interfering
an OFFICIOUS secretary
an OFFICIOUS waiter
often
(not offen)
omission
omit
omitted, omitting
See ADDING ENDINGS (iv).
one
This can be a useful impersonal pronoun:
ONE never knows.
However, it can be difficult to keep up in a long
sentence:
ONE never knows if ONE'S husband is likely to
approve of ONE'S choice but that is a risk ONE has
to take.
Use 'one' sparingly and beware the risk of
pomposity.
only
The position of 'only' in a sentence is crucial to
meaning.
See AMBIGUITY (ii).
onnist
Wrong spelling. See HONEST.
onto or on to?
There are circumstances when the words must
always be written separately. We will consider these
first.
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- OPHTHALMOLOGIST
Always write the words separately if 'to' is part
of an infinitive (e.g. to eat, to speak, to be, to
watch, etc.):
She drove ON TO test the brakes.
As a matter of interest you can double-check the
'separateness' of the two words by separating
them further:
She drove ON because she wanted TO test the
brakes.
Always write the words separately when 'to'
means 'towards':
We cycled ON TO Oxford.
Once again, the two words can be further
separated:
We cycled ON the few remaining miles TO
Oxford.
It is permissible to write 'onto' or 'on to' when
you mean 'to a position on':
The acrobat jumped ONTO the trapeze.
The acrobat jumped ON TO the trapeze.
It should be borne in mind, however, that many
careful writers dislike 'onto' and always use 'on to'.
'Onto' is more common in American English but
with the cautions expressed above.
ophthalmologist
(not opth-)
opinion
(not oppinion)
opposite
oral
See AURAL OR ORAL?.
150
- OUT OF
organise/organize
Both spellings are correct.
original
originally
original + ly
ought
'Ought' is always followed by an infinitive (to visit,
to read, to do, etc).
We OUGHT to write our thank-you letters.
The negative form is 'ought n ot'.
We OUGHT NOT to hand our work in late.
The forms 'didn't ought' and 'hadn't ought' are
always wrong.
He didn't ought to say this.
He OUGHT NOT to say this.
He hadn't ought to have hit her.
He OUGHT NOT to have hit her.
ours
There are eight possessive pronouns:
mine, thine, his, hers, its, ours, yours, theirs. They
never need an apostrophe:
This house is OURS.
outfit
outfitted, outfitting, outfitter
(exception to 2-1-1 rule).
See ADDING ENDINGS (iv).
out of
Avoid using 'of unnecessarily:
He threw it OUT OF the window.
He threw it OUT the window.
151
- OUTRAGEOUS
outrageous
(not outragous)
See SOFT c AND SOFT G.
over-
Take care when adding this prefix to a word already
beginning with r-. You will have -rr-:
overreact
overripe
overrule, etc.
overreact
over + react
ovum (singular) ova (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
owing to
See DUE TO/OWING TO.
152
- ^•^H
packed
We took a pack lunch with us.
We took a PACKED lunch with us.
paid
(exception to the -y rule; not payed)
See ADDING ENDINGS (iii).
paiment
Wrong spelling. See PAYMENT.
pajamas
American spelling. See PYJAMAS.
palate, palette, pallet
PALATE = the top part of the inside of your mouth
PALETTE = a small board with a hole for the
thumb which an artist uses when mixing paints
PALLET = a platform used to lift and to carry
goods
panic
panicked, panicking, panicky
See SOFT c AND SOFT G.
paparazzo (singular) paparazzi (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
paraffin
paragraphing
There is no mystery about paragraphing although
many students find it difficult to know when to end
one paragraph and begin another.
A paragraph develops a particular point that is
relevant to the overall subject. If you wish to write a
letter or an essay that develops five or six points,
then each point will have its own paragraph and you
will add two more, one by way of an introductory
153
- PARAGRAPHING
paragraph and another at the end as a conclusion.
There are no rules about how long a paragraph
should be. Some paragraphs, often the introduction
or the conclusion, may be a single sentence; other
paragraphs may be a page or more long. Too many
short paragraphs in succession can be very jerky; too
many very long ones can look forbidding. It is best
to mix long and short paragraphs, if you can.
You may also find that a paragraph which is
becoming very long (a page or more) will benefit
from being subdivided. The topic of the paragraph
may be more sensibly developed as two or three
subsidiary points.
Clear paragraphing is not possible without clear
thinking. Think of what you want to say before you
begin to write. List the topics or points you want to
make in a sensible order. Then develop each one in
turn in a separate paragraph.
A paragraph usually contains within it one
sentence which sums up its topic. Sometimes the
paragraph will begin with this sentence (called a
topic sentence) and the rest of the paragraph will
elaborate or illustrate the point made. Sometimes the
topic sentence occurs during the paragraph. It can be
effective, from time to time, to build up to the topic
sentence as the last sentence in a paragraph.
Careful writers will try to move smoothly from
one paragraph to the next, using link words or
phrases such as: on the other hand; however; in
conclusion.
In handwriting and in typing, it is usual to mark
the beginning of a paragraph either by indenting it
by 2cm or so, or by leaving a clear line between
paragraphs. The only disadvantage of the latter
method is that it is not always clear, when a
sentence begins on a new page, whether a new
paragraph is also intended.
154
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