ellipses are not semicolons; ellipses are not dashes--nor are they colons: They're ellipses
Showing posts with label grammpages. Show all posts
Showing posts with label grammpages. Show all posts
between vs among
Did I ever tell you kids about the difference between "between" and "among"?
No?
Maybe?
I can't remember either, but it's probably kind of mildly important, so I'll (possibly) repeat it:
Use "between" when you're referring to two things; use "among" when you're referring to more than two things.
That's about it. Really. No really--it's that easy.
What? Why would I lie about this?
Okay here're some examples:
Jim-Bob had to choose between his sister and the squirrel he loved.
The squirrel had to choose among Jim-Bob, Jim-Bob's sister, and its cache of acorns.
But while you're here and we're on the topic, ever wonder what the difference is between "among" and "amongst"?
I see people use "amongst" all the time, and I wonder if there's really any difference or if they're just being...uh...whatever attitude goes with attaching "st"s to the ends of words.
Anyway, as far as I can tell, there's no difference; the "st" is a holdover from the Middle English word "amonges," which probably means something like "co-mingle."
present perfect tense versus present perfect progressive tense
The present perfect tense describes an action that occurred at some indefinite or unmentioned time in the past or originated in the past and is still going on.
Present perfect tenses are formed by putting "has" or "have" with the past participle of the verb (which usually ends in -ed).
Your sea monkeys have arrived. (occurred at some time in the past)
I have worked here for years. (is still going on)
The present perfect progressive tense describes an action that originated in the past, is still going on, and may keep going on in the future.
Present perfect progressive tenses are formed by putting "has been" or "have been" and the present participle of the verb (which usually ends in -ing).
I have been coughing up blood since 12:30 a.m.!
commas and independent clauses
Staple this to some tender area so you don't forget: A comma separates independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction.
That means if each clause can stand alone as its own sentence, and both are connected by "and," "but," "or," "nor," "so," etc. you use a goddamn comma.
terror vs horror
"terror" means, "intense, sharp, overmastering fear"
"horror" means, "an overwhelming and painful feeling caused by something frightfully shocking, terrifying, or revolting"
At first glance, there doesn't appear to be much of a difference between the two terms. However, a more careful reading of the definitions reveals the two as separate feelings: "Terror" is a feeling of fear, whereas "horror" is a feeling of pain (albeit a pain brought on by something frightful). Both feelings, though, are overpowering, so there is a similarity.
So how does this happen?
horror => horrific
terror => terrific
If you describe something as "horrific," you're saying that it causes a feeling of horror; but if you describe something as "terrific," you're not saying it causes a feeling of terror--just the opposite: you're saying it's a good thing.
What's the deal?
According to dictionary.com, "terrific" did, at one time, mean something close to "causing terror," but over time that meaning changed:
1667, "frightening," from L. terrificus "causing terror or fear," from terrere "fill with fear" (see terrible) + root of facere "to make" (see factitious). Weakened sensed of "very great, severe" (e.g. terrific headache) appeared 1809; colloquial sense of "excellent" began 1888.
All we can say is that this kind of transientness of meaning is just scary.
difference between gerund and participle
Want to know the difference between a present participle and a gerund? Shut up, of course you do.
Gerunds are nouns--the noun forms of verbs--and they end in -ing. So verbs like "look," "touch," "satisfy," etc. become "looking," "touching," "satisfying."
Simple.
The problem is that there are these other things called present participles that also end in -ing--and so they look disturbingly like gerunds.
But, where gerunds are nouns, present participles are parts of verb phrases--though they can also modify nouns and verbs, too, but we'll get to that in a moment.
Participles are often the last words in a verb phrase, which is made up of an auxiliary verb (such as "be," "could," "will," etc.) and a main verb (such as a bunch of other verbs). That's not especially important right now, but it makes us look legit.
The way you tell them apart from gerunds is pretty much the same way you tell verbs and nouns apart. For example, in the sentence,
Though right now I am looking, I prefer touching.It's pretty clear that "touching" is a noun and "looking" is a verb. See? You can tell: "Looking" even has its own little auxiliary verb, "am."
It's easy to spot this form of the participle, but what about when it's a modifier? Try the sentence,
She gave me a touching look.Obviously "touching" is an adjective modifying "look."
Now for a tough one:
Looking but not touching is not satisfying.It's pretty clear that "looking" and "touching" are nouns, but "satisfying" is a bit more difficult. Is it a noun or a verb phrase or a modifier? Well, depending on how you read the sentence, it could be a modifier describing the act of looking but not touching, or it could be a noun contrasted with the act of looking but not touching.
Either way, we're confused, so we'll just end it here with the quick and dirty way to differentiate the two:
If it's a noun, it's a gerund; everything else is probably a participle.
Anger on the Internet?
"Some people are just bitter and angry," said psychiatrist Dr. Terry Eagan, medical director of the Moonview Sanctuary in Santa Monica, California. "Sometimes, they're against everyone, other times against a specific group. That person can get really stimulated and can say all sorts of horrible things. But I don't think it's not like they didn't exist before."Full story here, dammit!
