Group items tagged noun - LumpysCorner

shared by John Lemke on 05 Mar 14 - No Cached

Abstract nouns such as courage, cowardice, intelligence, and happiness are mass nouns because they cannot be combined with an indefinite article. For example, one can’t speak of “a courage” or “a cowardice.” Mass nouns cannot be preceded by a numeral without specifying a unit of measurement: “a ton of coffee,” “a modicum of intelligence.”
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shared by John Lemke on 11 Apr 14 - No Cached

The Chicago Manual of Style prescribes spelling out United States as a noun in running text and reserving US for the adjective form only. CMOS also prefers US without periods, to match the US postal codes like AR, MI, and WY.
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The AP Stylebook recognizes U. S. as a noun as well as an adjective. It calls for periods when the U.S. appears in a running text, but US without periods in a headline.
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When it comes to formal speaking and written text, however, reserve the abbreviation for adjectival use and write out United States as the noun.
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shared by John Lemke on 24 Jun 14 - No Cached

shared by John Lemke on 05 May 14 - No Cached

In regard to American usage, the Chicago Manual of Style recommends that writers consult Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary for “tricky” compounds like fathers-in-law, courts-marital, and chefs d’oeuvre, adding, “For those not listed, common sense can usually provide the answer.”
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Compound nouns are of three kinds: open, closed, and hyphenated.
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Some speakers have trouble with nouns that end in -ful, puzzling, for example, between cupfuls and cupsful. This is a case in which common sense should probably advise against consulting M-W. Although the M-W entries for cupful, handful, and armful list the plurals cupfuls, handfuls, and armfuls first, they give cupsful, handsful, and armsful as alternative spellings. In addition, the spelling handfull is in there as an “also.” My American spellchecker does not countenance any of these alternatives. Cupsful doesn’t cut it because compound nouns are made up of two or more words that can be used on their own. For example, the words in the compound policeman can be used separately: “The man called for the police.” The element ful in cupful is not a word; it’s a suffix. Common sense tells me that cupsful is incorrect.
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shared by John Lemke on 27 Jun 14 - No Cached

shared by John Lemke on 11 May 14 - No Cached

The easiest way to write well is to edit your writing. The best person to edit a manuscript, article or blog post is the author herself.
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Leave your writing alone for a while
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Pay attention to what jumps out at you as awkward.
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You’ll catch clunky sentences, missing and repetitive words, and misspellings.
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Make a list of your most common offenders. Then search for those words and see if you can take them out without altering your intended meaning.
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Take a look at each sentence and see how many words you can cut out.
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Check to make sure you put commas before direct address in dialog.
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The most mutilated verbs are lay, sink, drag, swim, and shine.
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Flowery verbs such as quizzed, extrapolated, exclaimed, and interjected, stick out. Instead, use said and asked, with an occasional replied or answered.
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When sentences begin with “it was” and “there were,” readers are left wondering exactly what “it” is. These words are vague. “It was hot today” can easily be replaced with “the sun baked his shoulders,” which paints a clearer picture. Think: strong nouns and verbs.
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shared by John Lemke on 29 Jun 14 - No Cached

cynic comes from a Greek word meaning “dog-like, currish, churlish.”
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The word cynosure comes from a Greek word meaning “dog’s tail.” This was the name given by the Greeks to the northern constellation Ursa Minor, the “Small Bear” in whose tail is the Pole-star, also known as the North Star. Because the North Star is bright and a means of finding the direction of north, the word cynosure acquired the figurative meaning of “something that is bright and serves as a guide.”
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In modern usage, a cynic is a person disposed to find fault with everything and to rant about it to everyone. A cynic trusts no one’s sincerity or good intentions. The adjective is cynical; the noun is cynicism.
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...1 more annotation...
Unlike cynic, the word cynosure has positive connotations. A cynosure is someone or something that serves for guidance or direction, a “guiding star.
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