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- spokesman 395
Although most writers do not display the reporting period on Sept. 30, said
such voracity for bad language, that Steven M. ———, spokesman for
clumsy barbarism, “s——,” is polluting the Committee to Conserve the
the English tongue. Courts. . . .
A radical weekly uses it regularly But Janet ———, spokesperson for
along with a grotesque plural version: Crime Victims for Court Reform and
Californians to Defeat Rose Bird, said
Spokespeople for most of the momentum is on the side of the anti-
groups he attacks agree that his fac- Bird campaign.
tual research is often . . . accurate.
One of each pair is a “-man” and the
The correct word, of course, is other is a “-person”? Nonsense. Each is
spokesman, plural: spokesmen. A a spokesman.
spokesman, i.e., one who speaks for an-
other or others, may be either male or fe- 2. “-WOMAN”
male. See -MAN-, MAN. Some journalists and broadcasters
The three sample sentences below all who cannot abide the gracelessness and
use the correct word. The first (referring ignorance represented by that illegiti-
to Mrs. Clinton) is from a television fo- mate word are drawn to another three-
rum on PBS. The other two are from The syllable word:
New York Times.
In Washington, the State Depart-
She’s no longer a national spokesman ment’s spokeswoman, Margaret
for him [President Clinton]. Tutwiler, said Kohl was “responding
to the deepest aspirations of his
Kathy Pherson, a spokesman for people for German unity.”
the C.I.A., refused in a telephone in-
terview to confirm or deny the C.I.A.’s “The Sandinistas . . . realize their
involvement in training or advising brand of communism is bankrupt and
the Honduran police and army. obsolete,” said the State Department
spokeswoman, Margaret Tutwiler.
Justice Brennan, 82 years old, hit his
head and received stitches to close the If you consider it necessary to describe
wound, said Kathy Arberg, a the Brontë sisters as “authoresses” and
spokesman for the court. “poetesses,” you will probably want to
use “spokeswoman.”
The Times and Associated Press style Modified in the manner of the final
manuals instruct staff members not to example however, it could be mislead-
use “spokesperson.” ing:
The two passages below, from other
papers, are embodiments of illogic: . . . Some outsiders have also said that
as the chief spokeswoman, she rein-
At its Tuesday/22 general meeting, forced the image of the White House
the club will host White Panther as a preserve of the young and inexpe-
spokesman Tom ——— and a rienced.
spokesperson for the mayor.
“Chief spokeswoman” could suggest
. . . Only $400,000 worth of that ad- that she was the chief only of the White
vertising was aired before the end of House’s female spokesmen. The in-
- 396 staff
tended meaning probably was that she galaxy, with its 100 billion suns, is inde-
served as the chief spokesman for the pendent and self-sufficient. . . . ”
White House; that is, the person in In both instances, stars would be
charge of speaking for the president. preferable to “suns.” A star is a celestial
The Associated Press manual con- body that emits its own light. A sun is a
dones “spokeswoman.” The Times man- star that is the center of a system of plan-
ual says to use spokesman for both men ets, the way the Sun, the star closest to
and women. us, heads our solar system. (The Sun is
often spelled with a lower-case s: “The
sun suddenly emerged from the clouds.”
STAFF. A recording tells callers to a
In an astronomical context, a capital S
city library, “All of our staff are helping
may be appropriate.)
others.” It is not wrong, though it has a
A planet is a large celestial body that
British flavor. Staff is would be the more
is illuminated by reflected light from a
customary way in the United States.
star and revolves around it.
Staff is a collective noun meaning the
employees, assistants, or officers who
STATEMENT. See FACT.
carry out the work of a particular enter-
prise or organization. The plural in that
STATIONARY and STATION-
sense is staffs.
ERY. See Homophones.
A staff is also a flagpole, walking
stick, or rod; or the set of five parallel
Statistics. See Comparison, 1; FRAC-
lines that music is written on. In those
TION; LIFE EXPECTANCY and LIFE
senses, the plural is either staffs or
SPAN; MEAN (noun); Numbers; Range,
staves. A musical staff is sometimes
true and false, 1, 2.
called a stave.
An informal term for a member of a
STATUTE, LAW, and REGULA-
staff is a staffer. Regarding that word,
TION. See REGULATION, STAT-
The New York Times tells its own staff,
UTE, and LAW.
“Do not use for staff member(s) or mem-
ber(s) of the staff.”
STATUTE MILE. See KNOT.
See also Collective nouns, 1; WHO
and WHOM, 1.
STAVE(S). See STAFF.
STAND and RUN. See RUN and
Stealing. See CRIME, MISDE-
STAND; Pronouns, 3.
MEANOR, and FELONY; Crimes, 3.
STANDARD. See CLASSIC. STEREOTYPE. See Clichés.
STANDARD-BEARER. See Joining STICK UP, STICKUP, STICK-UP.
of words. See Crimes, 3.
STAR and SUN. The discovery of a STEVEDORE and LONGSHORE-
MAN. The awkwardness of the sen-
distant galaxy prompted a news agency
to issue this dubious statement: “The tence to be quoted here, from a book on
core apparently contains at least 30,000 language, is not the main point. One
closely packed suns. . . . ” word particularly interests us.
No more precision characterizes a dis-
cussion of galaxy clusters in a book of Clipped forms [such as ad and
popular astronomy: “But not even our gym] . . . have much common use,
- subjunctive 397
from stevedores to executives, in our viewer wrote that a character resented
spoken language and informal written that he had to “share his woman with
language. that baby in her stomach.”
The stomach is an organ of digestion.
The intended meaning is that those Unless each woman had been emulating
forms are often used by people of all the dining behavior of a mythological
classes, including laborers and execu- monster, the anatomical reference in
tives. That is not the literal meaning. A each instance was misplaced. If neither
stevedore is a type of executive. Many the radio man nor the movie reviewer
people, lexicographers among them, had the stomach for womb or uterus,
misconceive him to be a laborer who each could have got by with abdomen,
loads and unloads ships. That is not the belly, or middle. Of those three nouns,
way a stevedore is likely to use the word. abdomen, the part of the trunk between
He sees himself as a contractor who ar- the chest and the pelvis, is the most sci-
ranges the loading and unloading of entific; middle is the vaguest. Belly is a
ships. He does not do the actual labor- standard word, but much of the public
ing; he hires men to do it. The working- feels that it is unrefined. Tummy is baby
men call themselves longshoremen. talk for stomach.
Note the difference between the As a synonym for the abdomen,
names of the companies, such as Steve- “stomach” is suitable only for casual
doring Service of America and conversation, if that. It is best to avoid
Metropolitan California Stevedore Co., using one organ as a synonym for an-
and the names of the labor unions: the other organ, particularly when talking to
International Longshoremen’s Associa- one’s physician.
tion (in the East) and the International An old saw has it that “the way to a
Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s man’s heart is through his stomach.” If
Union (in the West). you believe it, don’t think of being a sur-
geon.
STINT. “Quayle says he’s healthy
STRAIGHTFORWARD. See Ad-
now despite two recent stints in the hos-
pital,” a newscaster announced over a jectives and adverbs.
radio network. The former vice presi-
STUDENT. See PUPIL and STU-
dent did not become a hospital worker;
he was a hospital patient. The broad- DENT.
caster wrongly used “stints” when stays
Subject. See Clauses; Complement;
would have been a better choice of
words. Nouns, 4; Pronouns, 4, 6, 10; Sentence
A stint (noun) is usually an allotment fragment, 1; Verbs, 1A, 3.
of work or piece of work. For instance,
Subjective case. See Pronouns, 10;
“He finished his daily stint at the fac-
tory.” A stint can be also a limitation, of- Pronouns’ classification.
ten an undue limitation.
Subject(ive) complement. See Com-
To stint can mean to limit or restrict
one (verb, transitive) or to limit or re- plement; Verbs, 1F.
strict oneself, to get along on a trifling al-
Subject-verb agreement. See Verbs,
lowance (verb, intransitive).
3.
STOMACH. The host of a radio talk
Subjunctive. 1. Among the moods. 2.
show spoke of a woman’s “carrying that
baby in her stomach.” And a movie re- Forms of the subjunctive. 3. Mistakes.
- 398 subjunctive
1. Among the moods tive. (They resemble and therefore are
Of the three moods, the subjunctive named after tenses in the indicative
mood is used least frequently. For gener- mood, but the term tense would be mis-
ations, writers on language have been leading in the subjunctive, which lacks
declaring the subjunctive “moribund” / clear time distinctions.) We list the three
“almost disappeared” / “just about verb forms (A, B, and C) followed by a
dead.” As long ago as 1860, a writer number of common auxiliary verbs that
found “good reason to suppose that it also express the subjunctive mood (D).
will soon become obsolete altogether.” A. The so-called present subjunctive
While the subjunctive has declined over uses the root, or basic version, of a verb.
the centuries, it stubbornly refuses to ex- It appears in clauses following the
pire. verbs advise, ask, beg, demand, insist,
Most English-speakers handle the order, recommend, request, require, sug-
subjunctive at some time or other. Every- gest, urge, warn, and so on. Often such a
one does who has scrawled “Wish you clause contains the word that. “The boss
were here” on a postcard; sung “If I ordered that she work late tomorrow.” /
Were a Rich Man” or used a variety of “The committee recommended that the
other sentences containing if; uttered or bill pass.” / “Is it necessary that the office
understood such idioms as be that as it be closed?” / “We request that the audi-
may, come what may, heaven forbid, and ence remain standing.” / “I suggest he
perish the thought; or attended formal think twice about it.”
meetings, which commonly make use of Clauses containing lest use that form.
expressions like “I move that members “We must strengthen the levee, lest the
be notified. . . . ” river flood us again.”
Whereas the indicative mood deals The same form is found in many Bib-
with facts or supposed facts and the im- lical passages, like the following. (Sub-
perative mood directly commands a sec- junctive verbs are emphasized.) “. . . I fear
ond person, the subjunctive mood him, lest he come and slay us all. . . .” /
essentially concerns ideas. It presents an “For there is hope for a tree, if it be cut
action or state of being as a mental con- down, that it will sprout again. . . .
ception, not as a fact. More specifically, Though its root grow old in the earth,
it expresses contingencies, desires, ex- and its stump die in the ground, yet at
hortations, hypotheses, impossibilities, the scent of water it will bud. . . . ”
orders (indirectly), prospects, requests, B. The so-called past subjunctive uses
suppositions, and wishes. what in the indicative mood would be
The subjunctive (from the Late Latin the past tense. But the verb be takes were
subjunctivus) was so named because it for all persons. Often would appears in
was considered suitable for subjoined the sentence.
clauses; that is, subordinate clauses. To The past subjunctive appears in
subjoin is literally to append. clauses that follow the verb wish. “I
See also Mood. wish I had a million dollars.” / “She
wishes she lived in Paris.” It is also found
2. Forms of the subjunctive in poetic sentences expressing the mean-
The subjunctive mood may be compli- ing of wish in other ways: “Would God I
cated in some respects, but its conjuga- were the tender apple blossom.” / “O,
tion of verbs is simple: A verb does not that I were a glove upon that hand. . . . ”
change with the person, whether first, It appears also in many conditional
second, or third, singular or plural. sentences: those sentences in which one
Verbs have three forms in the subjunc- action depends on another. Such sen-
- subjunctive 399
tences may contain if and would. The if- wish I was in Dixie” and “I wish I was
clause may be contrary to fact, hypothet- an apple”—demonstrate a common de-
ical, impossible, or unlikely: “If George viation from subjunctive form. We will
Washington returned today, he would be not try to revise those famous old songs.
shocked.” / “I wouldn’t do that if I were Just be aware that to say “I wish it was
you.” better news” or “I wish I was in his posi-
A conditional sentence in which the if- tion”—instead of “it were” and “I
clause expresses a possibility may use were”—may be judged at best colloquial
that pattern (although it does not have and at worst illiterate.
to): “If an emergency arose tomorrow, Furthermore, the meaning can hinge
we would be ready.” / “Would you keep on the choice of mood. The consequence
it confidential if I told you a secret?” As of choosing the wrong one can be misun-
an option, such a sentence may be cast in derstanding. Let us illustrate through
the simple future tense of the indicative two similar sentences.
mood. “If an emergency arises tomor- A. “She suggested that he attend
row, we will be ready.” / “Will you keep meetings regularly.” Using the subjunc-
it confidential if I tell you a secret?” tive, the sentence means that she sug-
C. The past perfect subjunctive is the gested (proposed) his presence at the
only one of the three forms to pertain to meetings.
time. The time is the past. Resembling B. “She suggested that he attends
the past perfect tense of the indicative meetings regularly.” Using the indicative,
mood, it uses had and a past participle. the sentence implies that he goes to the
Its use implies that what is said about meetings already, a fact disclosed by her
a past action or condition is contrary to suggestion (hint).
fact. “If he had run just a bit faster, he The following two examples come
would have escaped.” / “I wish that from a book of travel reminiscences.
Wintergreen had won the election.” / (They are taken out of context deliber-
“Had we bought the land then, we ately to demonstrate the grammatical er-
would be rich today.” rors in both.) Both use the past tense
D. Various auxiliary verbs can also when they should use the present sub-
express the subjunctive mood. Among junctive.
them are could, ought, may, might,
must, should, and would. I suggested we flew along. . . .
The action or condition that one of
those auxiliary verbs pertain to may be But he had insisted they tried again.
either contrary to fact or possible. “I ...
could have danced all night.” / “She
ought to have said no.” / “The dog may Each sentence seems to say that the sub-
be a biter.” / “It seemed for a while as ject made a factual statement about
though the argument might get violent.” something that had already happened:
/ “You must have been a beautiful that we had flown along and that they
baby.” / “If you should get lost, give me had tried again. The context shows the
a call.” / “We would need to pay more.” meaning that was intended; in each case
See also MAY and MIGHT; WAS and the subject was making a proposal for
WERE. future action: “I suggested [proposed
that] we fly along. . . . ” / “But he insisted
3. Mistakes [urged that] they try again. . . . ” (The
The Stephen Foster song “Dixie” and “had” was unwarranted.)
the folk song “Cindy”—which say “I The sentence below, from an autobi-
- 400 subsequent to
ography, contains a similar error in the If an adult picks up their lingo, “teen-
choice of verb form, although the mean- agers would consider it contaminated
ing is not compromised. and stop using it,” Chapman says.
. . . I got a call from Senator Sam Change “picks” to picked. (An alterna-
Nunn’s secretary telling me to make tive is to change “would” to will but ex-
sure that on the next afternoon I clude it from the direct quotation: “If an
watched C-Span, the cable TV chan- adult picks up their lingo, teen-agers will
nel. . . . ‘consider it contaminated. . . . ’ ”) The
appended attribution, “Chapman says,”
It should be “to make sure that . . . I does not affect the main thought.
watch C-Span. . . . ” The secretary was The error in the following example is
recommending future action, not bring- a superfluous word.
ing up past action.
Each of the following three sample It’s recommended that the elderly and
sentences, from news reports, seems to those having trouble should stay in-
be part subjunctive and part indicative. doors.
Such switching of moods within a
thought will not do. Omit “should.” Alternatively, keep
“should” but omit “It’s recommended
OTS Director Ryan imposed mild that.”
restrictions that would apply to Bush Using the subjunctive in place of the
if he again becomes a director of a indicative is a relatively uncommon er-
bank or savings and loan. ror, one that is found in a book on word
usage.
President Clinton made his opposi-
tion clear and the measure would face It’s in the very nature of oral com-
almost certain veto if it passes the Sen- munication between human beings
ate in its present form. that much of it be tentative, inexact,
finding its way.
Newly elected Prime Minister So-
suke Uno said today that he was The statement is presented as a fact. It
deeply concerned that China could be has none of the elements that call for the
isolated internationally if it does not subjunctive. Change “be” to is, thereby
move to end the violence. recasting the sentence in the indicative
mood.
In the first sentence, change “becomes” After the auxiliary verb could, may,
to became. In the second sentence, might, must, should, or would, some-
change “passes” to passed. (As an alter- times the have is erroneously replaced by
native, make each sentence wholly in- “of.” See HAVE, HAS, HAD, 2.
dicative: “restrictions that will apply to See also Tense, 4C.
Bush if he again becomes . . .” and “the
measure will face almost certain veto if it SUBSEQUENT TO. See AFTER.
passes. . . . ”) In the third sentence,
change “does” to did.
Substantive. See Nouns, 1 (end).
The following sentence contains es-
sentially the same error: disagreement in
SUCCESSOR. See PREDECESSOR
mood. The fact that part of it is a quota-
tion makes no difference. and SUCCESSOR.
- suffer 401
SUCH. 1. Adjective, adverb; SUCH A. 3. SUCH AS
2. Pronoun; AS SUCH. 3. SUCH AS. The phrase such as precedes an exam-
ple. It is superfluous to add “for exam-
ple” / “for instance” / “and the like” /
1. Adjective, adverb; SUCH A
“and so on.” A book says, “The power
This sentence is correct: “There is no
bases in the music business aren’t con-
such thing as a ghost.” After no such, the
centrated in any one group (such as, for
article “a” or “an” is not needed.
example, the major agencies . . .).”
Such is usually an adjective, as in the
Delete “for example” and the two com-
preceding example. It has acquired an
mas.
adverbial use too. “I never before saw
Such as normally introduces a noun,
such tall peaks” and “saw peaks so tall”
not a preposition: “They have per-
are now equally idiomatic.
formed in leading cities of Europe, such
Some people use such adverbially in
as in Paris and Rome.” Delete the second
sentences like this one, which to others
in.
may seem incomplete: “I had such a
Another faulty use goes this way: “I
good meal at that restaurant.” It be-
brought only such tools that I needed for
comes complete when we add, for in-
the job.” Make it such . . . as or change
stance, “that I intend to go there again
“such” to the. Modern idiom rejects the
tomorrow.”
pairing of such with “that” (or “which”
or “who” or “where”) in that type of
2. Pronoun; AS SUCH construction. But such that is proper
The use of such as a pronoun is re- here: “The rigors were such that most
sisted by grammarians, though it goes contestants failed to finish.” In the first
back centuries. Among Biblical uses: instance, such precedes the noun; in the
“and of such [livestock] shall be my hire second, such follows the noun and a
[wages]” and “Now Moses in the law linking verb.
commanded us, that such [any adulter-
SUFFER. That which lacks feeling
ess] should be stoned. . . . ”
The critics are vague in scorning cannot suffer. Only a living person or
“Such is life” or “They serve pizza, creature can suffer. Despite that truism,
spaghetti, ravioli, and such.” One finds it we hear on the news:
too casual, another too formal. The
strongest objection is to such in place of A nuclear submarine has suffered
ordinary pronouns, particularly personal some kind of accident in the Norwe-
pronouns. Accordingly in “I have all- gian Sea.
spice and often use such in cooking,”
change “such” to it. In “We have a cat A vessel, even when moving and called
and a dog and love such,” change “she,” is not animate. Find a substitute
“such” to them, or perhaps just add ani- for “suffered” (such as been in or had)
mals, depending on meaning. or restructure the sentence. (“Some kind
This is one of two uses of as such: of accident has happened to . . .” or
“The situation is a hot potato and we “has befallen. . . . ”)
should treat it as such.” Some critics From the North Atlantic theater, we
would replace “as such” with one or move to northern California, where a
that. Others would accept it as id- victim of earth movement “showed city
iomatic. As such is unquestionably an id- engineers the damage his house has suf-
iomatic phrase when it means in itself, as fered” and a temblor struck two play-
in “He craves power as such.” houses:
- 402 suffix
SUPPORTIVE. Supportive has been
. . . [The] Geary Theater suffered
earthquake damage when plaster fell an established adjective. It means pro-
from its proscenium and a lighting viding support or help; e.g., a supportive
grid collapsed. . . . The Golden Gate group. Now we hear the faddish phrase
Theatre suffered damage to a stair- “supportive of.”
well. A mayor of New York wrote, “I have
always felt very supportive of civil
Proper wording (“. . . the damage to his rights.” Before such a circumlocution be-
house” and “The earthquake dam- came a popular habit, he might have
aged . . .”) would not require us to sus- written simply, “I have always supported
pend our disbelief in the suffering of civil rights.”
inanimate objects. The phrase is wishy-washy at best and
See also SUSTAIN. grammatically dubious. It is like “Lord,
be helpful of us” instead of “Lord, help
Suffix. See Adjectives and adverbs (-ly); us.” More illustrations follow.
Gerund (-ing); -IZE ending; Participle;
PEOPLE as a suffix; Plurals and singu- John A—— . . . called the book “a
lars; Pronouns, 3, 4, 5 (-self, -selves); pioneering effort. I’m very supportive
Punctuation, 4D (hyphenated forms); of the book.”
Spelling, 1, 3; UP, 3; -WISE ending; -Y
ending. John should have ended with “support-
ive” and left out the rest.
SULTRY. Oppressively hot, swelter-
ing weather, days, or air may be de- McCarthy . . . was supportive of
scribed as sultry, particularly if humid. this proposal.
Sultry is applied also to figurative heat,
such as feverish passion or temper. That
. . . The rest of the board of direc-
adjective serves loosely in other ways,
tors . . . has been supportive of Mr.
such as a euphemism for sexy. A movie
A——.
reviewer so used it: “Jessica . . . looks
and sounds so sultry . . . that Roger and
. . . The editor of the Hindustan
Eddie find her equally alluring.”
Times, a paper generally supportive of
A restaurant reviewer turned to it for
the Government, said. . . .
help in expressing her fervor for an Ital-
ian appetizer: “The sultry eggplant was
Tightened versions would say, “Mc-
especially good with the fresh sourdough
Carthy supported this proposal” /
bread dipped into the marinade.” A
“. . . The rest of the board of direc-
flowery writer might metaphorically pic-
tors . . . has supported Mr. A——” / “a
ture some Mexican or Asian foods as
paper generally supporting the Govern-
sultry, but the bland eggplant?
ment.”
Possibly using “supportive of” as a
SUN. See STAR and SUN.
model, some writers have brought forth
the abnormity below.
SUP. See DINE.
Superlative. See BETTER and BEST In Baku . . . one historian who took
(etc.); Comparative and superlative de- part in a meeting with Dr. Sakharov
grees; MORE and MOST; MOST with was dismissive of the physicist and
superlative; Numbers, 10D. Nobel Peace Prize winner.
- sustain 403
Weinberger’s antagonist, George marked, “I’m sure it’s not gonna turn
Shultz, was dismissive of Cap’s ap- out to be anything, but you always want
proach. to be sure.” His “sure” was not so sure
as hers would be. If he was really sure of
Change “was dismissive of” to dis- her symptom’s benignity, there need not
missed. have been any “but.”
Uttered by loose lips, “sure” can
SUPREMACY, SUPREMACIST. amount to little more than guessing.
A community had prohibited a demon- Whether it is used strictly or frivolously
stration by a racist group and a come- may not be apparent, so enfeebled has
dian was proposing a compromise: “Any the word become from misuse. To em-
white supremist who wants to enter the phasize certainty, a more reliable adjec-
square should first be able to spell the tive may be certain, which implies that
word ‘supremist.’ ” The trouble with his one’s conviction is based on evidence or
joke was that no such word existed. He experience. If it is based on faith, con-
needed the word supremacist. sider using confident.
A supremacist is one who believes in Sure and secure both originate in the
the supremacy of one race or social Latin securus, free from care, safe.
group or either of the sexes. A common
SURNAME. See LAST NAME and
example is that of the white supremacist,
a believer in white supremacy; that is, SURNAME.
the leading role of the so-called white
SUSPECTED. See ACCUSED, AL-
race.
Changing one letter in supremacist LEGED etc.
gives us suprematist, an adherent of
SUSTAIN. To sustain a loss or injury
suprematism, an artistic movement em-
phasizing abstract, geometric forms. The is to endure it or experience it. An inani-
Russian painter Kazimir Malevich mate object does not endure or experi-
started it in 1913. He was best known ence anything. Therefore “sustained”
for his painting “Suprematist Composi- does not suit this sentence:
tion,” consisting of a white square on a
white background. Except for the coinci- Hundreds of San Francisco build-
dental emphasis on whiteness, ings may have sustained hidden dam-
supremacists have nothing to do with age in Tuesday’s temblor. . . . ”
suprematists.
Better: “. . . may have received” or
SURE. Being sure (adjective) means “Hidden damage may have been done to
having no doubt that something is true hundreds. . . . ”
or will come about. Thus it was a con- Some authorities shun sustain, even
tradiction for a national TV reporter to for people, in the sense of suffering a spe-
say (about the possibility of lawsuits that cific injury. “He sustained a broken
claim discrimination based on looks), “I arm” is a modern, journalistic locution.
hope we don’t have these lawsuits, but They would reserve sustain for a special,
I’m sure we will.” If he was sure that traditional meaning: to bear up under, to
something would happen, how could he stand against without yielding; e.g., “An
reasonably hope that it would not? explorer had to sustain hardship.” / “His
A woman called a radio doctor to ex- troops sustained the siege for a month.”
press fear about possible thyroid cancer. Accordingly, to “sustain” an injury is
Recommending an examination, he re- contradictory when it is fatal.
- 404 swamped
Sustain (verb, transitive) has other Similarly, “bigger” does not appear to
senses: to maintain, prolong, support, or differ substantially from “larger” in that
uphold as valid; e.g., “She sustains my excerpt, from a magazine article.
faith in humanity.” / “I had no desire to
sustain the conversation.” / “He sustains On the East Coast, cocaine supplies
himself by odd jobs.” / “Objection sus- are dwindling and prices are jumping.
tained.” On the West Coast, the white powder
See also SUFFER. is readily available but prices have
rocketed.
SWAMPED. See INUNDATE, IN-
In a story about precipitation in the win-
UNDATED.
ter, “the white powder” may be snow. In
the excerpt above, it is probably cocaine.
SYMPATHY. See MERCY and PITY.
The writer just could not bear to repeat
the word. Note too that on the East
Synonymic silliness. 1. “Elegant Coast prices jump, while on the West
variation.” 2. How it causes confusion. Coast they rocket.
1. “Elegant variation” Hernandez said all ivory revenue
H. W. Fowler called it “elegant varia- must go toward the conservation of
tion,” probably in sarcasm. Usually elephants and development programs
more silly than elegant, it is a conspicu- for communities whose crops, homes
ous introduction of synonyms, stemming and lives are threatened by the world’s
from the misbelief that repetition per se largest land mammal.
is undesirable and repeating a word in a
sentence or paragraph (or other unit) is The writer’s substitute for elephant(s)
an evil. It is characteristic of journalists was “the world’s largest land mammal,”
but not restricted to them. Six newspa- but he could have used them. (Some
pers, a magazine, and a book supplied writers’ favorite elephant substitute is
the examples in this section. “pachyderm,” a term that includes the
hippopotamus, the rhinoceros, and
Fifth-seeded Todd Martin beat other thick-skinned beasts.)
10th-seeded Mark Philippoussis 6–3, The paragraph below is the fifth in a
7–5. . . . Sixth-seeded Michael Stich news story about Suffolk County, New
overwhelmed Andrei Medvedev 6–4, York.
6–1. . . . Defending champion Jana
Novotna ousted Anke Huber 6–4, At a news conference here, Mr.
6–4. Halpin said that the bill would cost
the county on eastern Long Island
In the absence of any clear-cut distinc- businesses millions of dollars for addi-
tions among the beating, the overwhelm- tional worker benefits—principally
ing, and the ousting, we must conclude for eye care—and that it had already
that the three tennis victories were func- discouraged many new companies
tionally equal. from settling in Suffolk and made sev-
eral existing ones consider relocating.
As concert halls became bigger, and
audiences larger, music became gradu- The writer had used the name “Suffolk”
ally more and more difficult to under- three times. He wanted to refer to Suf-
stand at first hearing. folk businesses but felt that he simply
- synonymic silliness 405
had to find a substitute for Suffolk. So he “a little.” The phrases are almost oppo-
found it, a phrase of six words, and sites.
heedlessly stuck it into a sentence that In broadcasts, Hawaii has repeatedly
would be long and complex even with- become “paradise”; the John F. Kennedy
out it. “Suffolk” appears later in the sen- household, “Camelot”; Mars, “the red
tence anyway. If the writer had inserted planet”; Microsoft, “the software gi-
his six-word synonym there, it might be ant”; the New York Stock Exchange,
tolerable. As it is, the readers read that “the big board”; Elvis Presley, “the
“the bill would cost the county on east- king”; and the U.S. Supreme Court, “the
ern Long Island businesses,” and they high court.”
soon have to retrace their steps.
2. How it causes confusion
Rabies caused the death of a 13-year- The drive to avoid repetition and find
old boy, the first human in San Fran- a synonym at all costs can result in more
cisco to die of the rare disease in than just ungainly expression. The dan-
nearly half a century, health officials ger of confusing the reader or listener is
have reported. far more serious than the danger of bor-
The victim . . . died Dec. 15 but ing him.
was not diagnosed as having the rare In telling what is new, if the writer
disease until several days later. . . . varies not only that which changes but
also that which remains constant, the
The writer wanted to avoid repeating readers may have trouble grasping what
“rabies” but seemed to have no qualms is new. Three press examples follow:
about repeating “the rare disease,”
which is more conspicuous than the Shorter work shifts for young doctors
name of the disease and probably unnec- replaced the customary 36-hour shifts
essary, given the frequency. for medical interns and residents.
Similarly, in the passage below,
“AIDS” conspicuously becomes “the Did hospitals replace “medical interns
deadly disease” twice and then “the fatal and residents” with “young doctors”
disease.” when reducing the work shifts? Probably
not; one phrase is probably the writer’s
CHICAGO—Companies must ed- synonym for the other. But if the staff
ucate employees about AIDS to pre- members did not change, why change
vent “groundless hysteria” when a what we call them? It was not even nec-
co-worker contracts the deadly dis- essary to use nouns twice. A pronoun
ease, the U.S. surgeon general said would have worked: “Shorter work
Tuesday. . . . shifts for medical interns and residents
Koop said company education pro- replaced their customary 36-hour
gram should tell employees how the shifts.”
deadly disease is spread. When a topic is unfamiliar or exotic,
The fatal disease has no cure. readers (or listeners) may not realize that
two terms are supposed to mean the
A book of popular science asks, in re- same thing. A news story about the dis-
ferring to the change in weight of a ra- covery of an enzyme in the stomach con-
dioactive object, “Would not its surface tains this sentence:
dust off a little, or corrode that much?”
The (two) authors appear to have intro- People have higher blood levels of al-
duced “that much” to avoid repeating cohol when the substance is injected
- 406 systematic and systemic
into the blood than they have when servatives face a parliamentary elec-
they drink the same amount of alco- tion as the underdogs.
hol.
The story never explains outright that
It is reasonable for readers to think at the Liberal Democratic Party is the “rul-
first that “the substance” is the enzyme. ing conservatives.” American readers
But the context indicates it is alcohol. who are uninitiated to Japanese politics
The writer was just synonymizing and and unaccustomed to finding liberals de-
never thought to use the pronoun it. scribed as conservatives may be excused
This is about an election in Japan: if they mistake them for two different
parties.
It also is the first time since the
SYSTEMATIC and SYSTEMIC.
Liberal Democratic Party came into
existence in 1955 that the ruling con- See Confusing pairs.
- T
TABLE as verb. See CHAIR, 2. to what Europe can do,” as though dis-
tinguishing them from infinite limits.
TAKE and BRING. See BRING and That last quotation illustrates another
TAKE. meaning of tautology: the unnecessary
repetition of a word, phrase, or sen-
TAKEN and TOOK. See Tense, 5A. tence, or its meaning; or an example of
such repetition. A synonym is redun-
TAKE PLACE. See HAPPEN, OC- dancy (noun). That which is unnecessar-
CUR, and TAKE PLACE. ily repetitious is redundant (adjective). A
term with similar meaning is pleonasm,
TALK TO. See SPEAK TO, TALK the use of more words than are neces-
TO. sary to express an intended meaning;
or an example thereof. (The words are
Tautology. The country had heard pronounced taut-TOL-uh-gee, re-DUN-
many tributes to the late Justice Thur- dense-see, re-DUN-dent, and PLEA-uh-
good Marshall but nothing else quite nazm.)
like a statement by the moderator of a Repetition per se is not wrong; it can
television forum: “His funeral this week be beneficial when it aids clarity. More
marked the end of his life.” confusion results from efforts to avoid
It was a type of tautology, a statement repetition than from repetition.
that is undeniable but uninformative Here, however, we consider unneces-
and usually characterized by the repeti- sary repetition. It may be obvious: “This
tion in essence of a thought. It may con- evening ABC will have a special Prime
tain contradictory elements, as in a Time special.” Usually it is somewhat
sentence from a well-known book: more subtle.
“This uncertain change toward warmth When a participant in a televised talk
may go on or it may not.” show called a detective in a murder case
An American general exhibited tauto- racially prejudiced, the host jumped in,
logical mastery. As secretary of state, he informing all, “It’s an alleged allega-
addressed the Organization of American tion.” No one asked him, “What other
States and imparted this intelligence kind of allegation is there?”
about the Falkland Islands: “It is quite Interviewed on television about a kid-
clear that the crisis has reached a critical naping, a policeman said, “We’ve had a
point.” Later, in a so-called presidential canine dog in the area, trying to locate
debate, he said, “There are finite limits the suspects.” The interviewer failed to
tautology 407
- 408 team of
ask him, “What other kind of dog is See also Twins; Verbosity; and the
there?” cross-reference Repetition and its avoid-
An anchor woman announced in a ance.
national news program, “Washington
TEAM OF. See Collective nouns.
has been expecting Russia to expel an
American diplomat, but so far that
TEAR, TORE, TORN. A hurricane
hasn’t happened yet.” The sentence did
not need both “so far” and “yet.” in Florida was being described for a na-
In a report on a straw poll at a con- tional radio audience: “There were roofs
vention in Florida, a TV man said, completely tore up.”
“Each one of those votes cost him [Sena- “Tore” was wrong. It is standard En-
tor Dole] about $1,800 apiece.” Either glish only as the past tense of the verb
“Each one of” or “apiece” could have tear: “He tore the book.” The past par-
been discarded. ticiple of tear is torn, which should have
This is from a newspaper: “The legal been used: “There were roofs completely
defense group’s report said women in torn up” (or, better, “Roofs were com-
particular are being singled out for ha- pletely . . .”). Other examples: “He has
rassment” (in the military). They “in torn the book” and “The book is torn.”
particular” are being picked on if they
TEMBLOR and TREMBLER. A
are being “singled out.”
Another newspaper said the “Party of temblor is an earthquake. A trembler is
the Democratic Revolution . . . will likely someone or something that trembles. To
choose . . . its two-time presidential also- tremble is to shiver or quake, so the
ran in 1988 and 1994” to run for mayor words are close enough to be easily con-
of Mexico City. The paper could have fused.
left it to the readers to add one and one. In commenting on a terrorist attack
Still another paper said a man was on U.S. servicemen in Saudi Arabia, a
convicted of making a “false misrepre- panelist on a television forum sought a
sentation in the sale of a security”—as picturesque metaphor. U.S. forces were
distinguished from a true misrepresenta- “in a deep fault between the twentieth
tion? century and the eleventh century,” he
Three hosts of talk shows on a radio said. “This was a trembler.” He meant it
station uttered these remarks: (In sup- was a temblor.
port of car travel rather than public tran- Both words seem to have originated in
sit to save time:) “Forty-five minutes is the Latin tremulus, trembling. But tem-
forty-five minutes.” (On commitments blor came via Spanish, in which it means
made by news media:) “Off the record is a tremor or shiver; while tremble(r)
off the record.” (Of the president and his came via French, in which trembler
aides:) “To the extent that they should means to tremble.
be held accountable, they should be held
Tense. 1. Definitions. 2. Don’t swap
accountable.”
Most of us, authors included, are oc- tenses in the middle of a sentence. 3. Fit
casional tautologists. A book about quoted and nonquoted parts together. 4.
books tells us, “Every book is a book yet Look to the future grammatically. 5. Per-
each one is an individual combination of fect your perfect tenses. 6. Tell the story
author, content, publisher, timing” (etc.). in the past or present, not both.
It is indisputable that a book is a book, a
rose is a rose, boys will be boys, business 1. Definitions
is business, a deal is a deal, and that’s Tense is a form of a verb that indicates
that. the time of an action: past, present, or
- tense 409
future. It usually says something also whether or not it has already started.
about the completion or continuation of (“The staff will have totaled all the
the action. receipts by tomorrow noon.”)
Mistakes in tense are rife in print, let
alone speech. We will turn to illustrations E. The progressive tenses (or pro-
in later sections, headed by suggestions gressive forms). They indicate that an
for the orderly use of tenses. Here we list action was, is, or will be continuing.
the main tenses and some typical uses. (“I was running.” / “The Lees are vis-
iting us.” / “He will be singing.”
A. The past tense (also called the
preterit or preterite). It indicates that Some general principles, quotations,
an action occurred in the past (“She and commentary follow. The discussions
went home an hour ago”) or that a here concern the indicative mood; that
state or condition existed in the past is, the ordinary verb form for communi-
(“It was the best of times”). cating information. For other forms,
B. The present tense. It indicates consult Mood; Subjunctive. The basic
that an action occurs now (“The earth form of a verb is discussed under Infini-
revolves around the sun” / “He is tive, which includes 3, the perfect infini-
here”) or occurs customarily (“I go to tive. See also Verbs.
work daily”) or that something exists
now (“The house still stands”). 2. Don’t swap tenses in the middle of a
C. The future tense. It indicates sentence
that an action is going to take place. It seems that the writer of the follow-
(“A courier will deliver the letter.” / ing sentence, a columnist, could not de-
“I’ll be there.”) cide whether to tell his story in the past
D. The perfect tenses. Perfect in tense or the present tense, so he used
grammar indicates when an action both.
was, is, or will be completed. Three
are as follows: He then took off at breakneck speed
and as I zoomed down the road at 60
• The past perfect tense (or mph this guy pulls alongside and
pluperfect)—the action was points at the laundry.
completed before a given time in
the past or before a certain other The passage is fairly clear but untidy. It
occurrence. (“They had fled is as though the writer wore one black
Germany by the time the war shoe and one white. He should have cho-
started.”) sen one tense or the other and stuck to it,
• The present perfect tense—the action at least for the duration of the sentence.
is completed now. This tense links (A comma after “60 mph” would have
the past with the present. It may helped also.)
refer to an action or actions that The quotation below should have
began in the past, continuing or been entirely in the past tense. It is not
recurring until the present. plausible the way it stands.
(“Business has been good.” / “Man
has hunted since prehistoric times.”) . . . William Lowe, president of
Or it may refer to a past action that I.B.M.’s entry systems division, said
affects the present. (“They have earlier this year that the company is
given the police clues.”) investing as much in future RISC-
• The future perfect tense—the action based products as it has put into its
will be completed in the future, PS/2 personal computer line.
- 410 tense
“Earlier this year,” when he talked about books’ so that no one thinks “their”
then current spending, he “said . . . that refers to “the chain store.”)
the company was investing” as much Here an adverb pertaining to the pre-
in the future products “as it had put sent purports to modify a verb in the
into” the personal computer line. We do past:
not know what the company “is invest-
ing” now or has invested since “earlier Currently, 30 people on Death Row
this year.” nationwide committed murder when
Such shifting from past to present or they were under 18.
to future is common in the popular
press, and it is not always a product of Opening the sentence with “currently”
ignorance. On one newspaper, the city sets the scene in the present for the
editor told us staff members that it was whole sentence. Therefore the main verb
considered ungrammatical to write that cannot be “committed” or any other
way, but he instructed us to do it any- verb in the past. Place “currently” after
how. “people,” or else revise the rest of the
In a normal sentence, if the main verb sentence. One possible revision adds two
is in the past, the verb of a dependent words: “Currently, 30 people who com-
clause also goes in the past. “He said mitted murder when they were under 18
[main verb] that he did [dependent are on Death Row nationwide.”
verb].” In the present, “He says that he An attribution, like he said or she
does” is correct. “He said that he does” said, parenthetically inserted in a sen-
is incorrect and illogical. tence, usually does not affect the other
A book mixes the past and the pre- verbs. This excerpt is acceptable: “To-
sent: ward that end, she explained, DHS is
working with . . . universities. . . . ”
Supper of desert survival rations, de- While generally favoring consistency
hydrated stew and rice, was delicious in tense, most authorities would make
when you’re hungry. an exception for supposed timeless
truths: “He said that the universe is fi-
“Was” clashes with the contracted are in nite,” rather than “was finite.” / “It
“you’re.” Make it either “is delicious showed that crime does not pay,” rather
when you’re hungry” or “was delicious than “did not pay.” Some, more conser-
when you were hungry.” vative, would not make that exception.
The following passage adds an awk- You may decide for yourself.
ward mixture of plural and singular to See also 6; Anachronism, 2.
its shift from past to present.
3. Fit quoted and nonquoted parts to-
But all five books became best sell- gether
ers. And while the chain stores even- Parts of a sentence must fit together
tually jumped aboard the sales grammatically, whether or not some of it
bandwagon, it was independent is a quotation.
bookstores that are responsible for In the second sentence below, the
their success. quoted part does not match the non-
quoted part. The passage is from a his-
Better: “. . . it was the independent tory book.
bookstore that was responsible . . .” or
“independent bookstores were responsi- No one, Tory or Whig, could design a
ble. . . . ” (And change “their” to the British victory out of what had hap-
- tense 411
pened at Lexington and Concord. obsolete in the United States and even
Nor had the peasants “ran for their disappearing in England, prescribed
lives.” shall for the simple future in the first per-
son and for determination, obligation,
The two halves of the second sentence inevitability, etc. in the second or third
do not jibe. It starts out in one tense person. Will was used the other way: for
(pluperfect) and finishes in another the simple future in the second or third
(preterit). You may not say the peasants person and for determination etc. in the
“had . . . ran. . . . ” A change like this first person.)
would put the whole sentence in one
tense, yet keep the quotation intact:
B. Dependent clauses
Two types of recurrent mistakes con-
Nor was it true that the peasants “ran
cern a dependent, or subordinate, clause:
for their lives.”
An alternative would be to keep the first • Repeating will in a dependent clause
half of the sentence but change the quo- instead of using the present tense.
tation, making it indirect: “The administration of Mayor
Harris will end at noon tomorrow
Nor had the peasants run for their when John Bradley will take office as
lives. mayor.” The second “will” is
superfluous. Change “will take” to
The quotation marks must be removed takes.
because the quotation no longer is exact. • Using will in a dependent clause
(Anyway, the book fails to indicate who when the main verb is in the past
is being quoted.) tense. “Edison predicted that he will
perfect the incandescent lamp.”
4. Look to the future grammatically Inasmuch as predicted is in the past
tense, will has to go in the past tense
A. WILL and SHALL too; its past tense is would. “Edison
The modern use of the future tense is predicted that he would. . . . ” It is
fairly easy. Will with an infinitive usually the future from his standpoint, years
does the job. “When will they ever ago. “Will”—the future from our
learn?” / “I will be there with bells on.” / standpoint—makes no sense.
“You will do fine.” In colloquial speech Similarly, “. . . Smythe . . . was told
only half of will may be needed: “I’ll be that he will be sent back to . . . Maze
seeing you.” The present can indicate the Prison” needs correction: “was told
future in some constructions: “He per- that he would be sent back.”
forms here tomorrow.” So can a progres- The same principle holds when
sive tense: “He will be performing here” the future is suggested in other ways:
or “He is going to perform here” (which “K—— said he plans to present the
becomes, in loose colloquial speech, case to the district attorney.” /
“He’s gonna perform . . .”). “M—— said she plans to fight the
Shall usually implies determination or denial in court if necessary.” Change
legal requirement. “We shall overcome.” “plans” to planned. We know their
/ “It shall be unlawful to. . . . ” Now and plans at the time they were
then shall is otherwise needed: “Shall we interviewed, but their plans may
dance?” / “Shall I draw up the papers?” have changed by now. Expect,
(The formal use of the two words, now forecast, intend, look forward to,
- 412 tense
and predict are among other verbs Sapoa they will present the govern-
that suggest the future. ment with a list of prisoners that they
had wanted liberated yesterday.
C. Conditional sentences
Another problem concerns the condi- To be compatible with “said,” which is
tional sentence: a sentence in which a fu- in the past tense, “will” should go in the
ture action depends on something else past tense: would. “Will” says some-
happening. The problem takes two thing is going to happen. In actuality, the
forms: presentation of the list may be com-
pleted already. A further correction (this
• Mixing “will” and some verb in the foreshadows section 5) is to omit “had.”
past subjunctive, which are It wrongly implies that the directors’ de-
incompatible: sire for a liberation preceded the Sapoa
event, five days ago, and then ended.
But the assistance will be sus- The tenses below are so badly con-
pended late in November if any of founded that the time of the main action
the major Congressional commit- is not apparent.
tees dealing with the money ob-
jected to its continuation. Upon completion of that term,
[Judge] Jackson put him on super-
Either change “objected” to objects vised probation for a year, meaning
or change “will” to would. The that he must report regularly to a pro-
latter gives us the subjunctive mood. bation officer and be subject to peri-
(See Mood; Subjunctive.) Such use of odic drug tests.
would should not be confused with
would as the past tense of will in the It seems to be saying that two events oc-
indicative mood, the ordinary verb curred in the past; that after the convict
form. finished serving his term, the judge put
him on probation. That is not the in-
• Mixing the subjunctive “would” and tended meaning. The phrase “Upon
some verb in the indicative, which completion of that term” should have
are incompatible: been followed by a clause like this, in the
future tense: “he will be on supervised
The government estimates that probation.” Instead, the phrase is fol-
Hong Kong . . . would lose as lowed by the irrelevant clause “Jackson
many as 20,000 jobs if Bush put him . . . ,” which falsely unites with
doesn’t extend the trading agree- it.
ment.
5. Perfect your perfect tenses
This time, “would” should be will.
An alternative is to change “doesn’t” A. Be sure of the participle and use it
to didn’t or did not. with an H-word
The past perfect tense uses (1) had
D. Distortion of meaning and (2) the past participle of a verb.
More than grammatical tidiness may (“They had eaten, so they were not hun-
be involved. Confusion of tenses made gry.”)
the two excerpts opaque and misleading. The present perfect tense uses (1) have
or has and (2) the past participle of a
The directors of the Nicaraguan Re- verb. (“I have worn this suit for years.” /
sistance, the Contra alliance, said at “She has shown courage.”
- tense 413
H. L. Mencken listed over 100 past Although “spoke” was accepted as the
participles (or “perfect participles”) that past participle of speak from the four-
he found misused in “common” or “vul- teenth to eighteenth centuries, now it is
gar” American speech. Often they were spoken. Spoke is the past tense.
used in place of the past tense; for in- A travel book leaves out the participle
stance, “I been” and “I done” instead of altogether:
I was and I did. He said such misuse was
an old practice, common in other En- but it is quite possible thousands of
glish dialects but particularly well F-M listeners have or will hear it from
marked in the American dialect. this exact spot.
The opposite, the use of the past tense
in place of the past participle, is another “Have” does not go with “hear.” A cor-
old practice. At one time, Mencken rection: “have heard or will hear. . . . ”
wrote, “even the best writers were ap- (A hyphen in FM is unnecessary.)
parently unconscious of its inelegance”: See also Participles.
Shakespeare’s plays contain such forms
as “I have wrote” / “I am mistook” / and B. Do not confuse the sequence of
“he has rode.” (Written, mistaken, and events
ridden are now standard.) A sequence of events is subject to con-
Such lapses are rare in published ma- fusion in the press. When a writer fails to
terial nowadays but not in oral speech. make it clear which events came first,
In broadcasts a Washington state legisla- second, and third, the problem may
tor and a Washington, D.C., correspon- amount to shortcomings in the use of the
dent for a newspaper muffed has run perfect tenses.
and have run respectively: “The fact that An account of a shooting rampage
the child has ran away could be for any contains this passage:
number of reasons.” / “He [Gingrich]
would never have ran for president.” Bobby S——, 20, was in fair condi-
The sentences below were uttered by tion at Denver General Hospital. He
members of the general public and heard escaped from the restaurant and ran
on the air. (Correct forms are in brack- to nearby apartments to call police.
ets.)
“I must have ate [eaten] lunch with The escape and the run took place before
fifteen MPD patients.” / “It shouldn’t his stay in the hospital. Therefore the
have broke [broken] like that.” / past perfect (not the past) is the tense to
“Maybe they should have gave [given] use: “He had escaped from the restau-
him some treatment program.” / “She rant and run. . . . ” (Following that sen-
had just took [taken] her car to the car tence, if a still earlier event was
wash.” Each speaker wrongly used a described, the past perfect tense would
past tense in place of a past participle. be used again; for instance, “He had
Another erred the opposite way: “I been cleaning the kitchen when the
looked over to the left and I seen [saw] a shooting began.”)
tornado.” Conversely, the next sentence uses the
Sometimes an incorrect participle gets past perfect tense unnecessarily in lieu of
into print: a simple past tense.
Egypt’s chief religious official has His client and the two cops were
also spoke on behalf of Abu Zeid, say- yelling and cursing when the lieu-
ing he could not be ordered to di- tenant on duty showed up. Incredibly,
vorce. . . . less than a minute later, the lieutenant
- 414 tense
had hauled off and punched W—— in 2. Omit “have” and insert had before
the face. “recruited”: “F.B.I. officials previ-
ously acknowledged [they did so in
The punching followed the yelling and the past] that the agency had recruited
cursing. Therefore it is most clearly de- an informer. . . . ” (The phrase had
scribed in the past tense. For example: recruited is in the past perfect. The
“Incredibly, within a minute, the lieu- agency had done the recruiting be-
tenant hauled off. . . . ” fore the officials did the acknowledg-
Next, the sequence of two events is ing.)
mistakenly reversed by the use of the 3. Change “have” to had and insert had
present perfect instead of the past per- before “recruited,” using the past per-
fect: fect twice: “F.B.I. officials had previ-
ously acknowledged that the agency
The Mohajir group called the strike had recruited. . . . ” (Again the recruit-
to demand the release of more than ing preceded the acknowledging. The
100 of its workers it says have been officials had done the acknowledging
kidnaped by members of the Pakistan before something else happened: viz.
Students Federation. . . . the latest news was made public.)
“Previously” is unnecessary with the
The alleged kidnaping came first; then past perfect but may be used for extra
the Mohajir group called the strike and clarity.
talked. So change “have been kidnaped”
to “had been kidnaped.” (Still better: To combine have or has with “pre-
“. . . 100 of its workers who, it said, had viously” or “in the past” creates a
been kidnaped”—adding the relative monstrous nontense. (Dare we dub it
pronoun and placing the talking with the the highly imperfect?) A favorite of
striking.) writers of scientific papers, it has stum-
bled its way into the popular press as
C. Mind your P’s and H’s well.
The press often shows misunderstand-
ing of the perfect tenses and their rela- Contra spokesmen have previously
tion to the past and present. Sometimes stated they use Claymore mines. . . .
the problem is the intrusion of a certain
word or phrase. Omit “previously.” As an alternative,
omit “have” and put “use” in the past
F.B.I. officials have previously ac- tense: “Contra spokesmen previously
knowledged that the agency recruited stated they used. . . . ”
an informer . . . to join Cispes.
The private meeting, which hasn’t
The present perfect tense is functionally been disclosed previously, could cre-
equivalent to the present tense. Its have ate additional political and legal prob-
or has does not mix with “previously” lems for the embattled attorney
or “in the past.” Here are three alterna- general. . . .
tive ways to repair the sample sentence: In the past, Mr. Meese has main-
tained he had an “extremely limited”
1. Omit “previously,” using the present role with the pipeline. . . .
perfect correctly: “F.B.I. officials have
acknowledged. . . . ” (They made the In the upper sentence, “previously”
acknowledgment at an indefinite time could well be changed to until now. In
before this moment.) the lower, leave out “In the past.”
nguon tai.lieu . vn
