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A newsletter for the students, faculty and staff of the Collin County Community College District. Published monthly. For information or submissions, call 972.599.3142. Cougar News welcomes student and faculty submissions. Next deadline: March 10. All submissions are due by 5 p.m. on the due date. Photos cannot be returned. Text should be emailed to mrobinson@ccccd.edu or sent on disk. Please submit copy that is proofed, edited and saved in Word format. Cougar News staff: Lisa Vasquez, director; Mark Robinson, editor; Marcy Cadena-Smith, contributor; Dana Schmitz, contributor; Sydney Portilla-Diggs, student correspondent; Stephanie Hall, student correspondent; Nick Young, special contributor, photography and layout.
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The Write Way
This month’s column continues emphasizing correct usage, for, as students soon learn, the most beautifully organized essay is worthless if its diction leaves learned readers scratching their heads. Slight as the distinction may be, discerning word variation is a prerequisite to advancing our writing skills.
Underlined words in the following sentences below are sometimes confusing ones. If they are incorrect, do you know the correct parenthetical replacement?
1. "The sweater she gave me was (exactly the same / the exact same) one I almost purchased for myself."
2. "My favorite uncle always feels (like / as if) he'll never recover from his knee surgery."
3. "The audience glared at the hostess, not appreciating her (tongue-in-cheek / tongue-and-cheek) remarks as she introduced the reading club's guest."
4. ("As time progressed / As time passed), the student grew more hopeful about the employment opportunities awaiting him."
5. "History will record the (infamous / notorious) legacies of leaders of this century just as it recorded those of similar evil leaders of the last century."
6. "The supervisor does not want to (utilize / use) the old printer now that we have a new one."
Answers:
• Sentence #1 reveals a troublesome pair rapidly invading our casual speech—so much so that we don't give a second thought to the redundancy in the expression "exact same." After all, the word "exact" means the same as "same," doesn't it? Corrected, then, the sentence should read this way: "The sweater she gave me was exactly the same one I almost purchased for myself.”
• Sentence #2 should avoid the much abused pair "like" and "as." The word "like" cannot introduce a subject and verb properly, for only subordinating conjunctions can function this way ("as" and "as if" are subordinating conjunctions). The word "like" otherwise should function either as a verb ("She likes you") or as a comparative preposition ("She looks like my best friend"). Moreover, if one replaced the word "feel" with "think" or "believe" when emotions are not the focus, one wouldn't be inclined to misuse "like."
• Sentence #3 makes sense if you know the origin of the expression, namely: To indicate a humorous remark or a deliberate falsehood, people stick their tongues in their cheeks. Corrected, the sentence should read: "The audience glared at the hostess, not appreciating her tongue-in-cheek remarks as she introduced the reading club's guest." Of course, here the expression is hyphenated as a modifier (adjective) of the word "remarks," but it's correct this way, too: '"The audience glared at the hostess, not appreciating that her remarks as she introduced the reading club's guest were with tongue in cheek."
• Sentence #4 contains a common but illogical expression in "as time progressed." After all, how does an event in time progress? Logic informs us that it can only pass. Corrected, the sentence should read this way: "As time passed, the student grew more hopeful about the employment opportunities awaiting him."
• Sentence #5 can use either word correctly, for each one has an unfavorable connotation. No matter how famous, if the intention is to describe admirable qualities, writers must avoid describing events and human beings in these terms. (Examples: “America's first president is a famous, not notorious or infamous, figure. Even in his own time, the third Roman emperor Caligula was notorious for his depravity and extravagance.”)
• Although the sixth sentence is correct with either infinitive form, using "use" instead of "utilize" is preferable. For one thing, the word "utilize" suggests putting something to use in an unintended way, such as a pillow case as a laundry bag. For another thing, the word "use" is simple, short, and practical, a workable (and non-pretentious) word in most circumstances.
As always, I welcome suggestions from students, staff, and faculty for these monthly columns and shall try to use their contributions in future columns. (Thank you, Brooke, for the suggestion to address the differences between "like" and "as".) Should other readers have a topic for future columns, please write me at jmiller@ccccd.edu or telephone me at 972.881.5981. Students wishing improved writing skills will find useful links to a dozen or so English grammar sites at http://iws.ccccd.edu/jmiller/jmiller.htm .
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