Grog -- from a coarse fabric worn by an admiral

from wordsmith.org

grog (grog) noun
1. An alcoholic drink, especially rum diluted with water.
2. Any strong alcoholic drink.

[After Old Grog, nickname of Admiral Edward Vernon (1684-1757), who ordered diluted rum to be served to his sailors. The admiral earned the nickname from his habit of wearing a grogram cloak. Grogram is a coarse fabric of silk, wool, mohair, or a blend of them. The word grogram is from French gros grain (large grain or texture).]

"Knowing the value of terse composition and wordplay, Mr. Paisley scored a country hit a couple of years ago with 'Alcohol': A droll defense of grog from the drink's point of view ('I've been known to cause a few breakups/And I've been known to cause a few births.')"

--Movies, Performing Arts; The New York Times; Jul 27, 2007.

A Comma Before An Infinitive Phrase Indicates Result, Not Purpose

The following rules may be archaic. (They come from Ruge Rules, assembled by GTOTD recipient Paul Piazza. They comprise the grammar wisdom of Ferdinand E. Ruge, who was in his 70s or 80s when he taught me and several GTOTD subscribers in 1972.)

In contemporary usage, these rules have probably been superseded by Harbrace Rule 12e, "Occasionally a comma may be needed for ease in reading." Nevertheless, it's edifying to know the fine distinction below, even if it doesn't come into practice much.

The Rules: Place a comma before an infinitive phrase that expresses result or an unplanned/unanticipated fact.

Do not use a comma before an infinitive phrase that expresses purpose.

So:
With the bases loaded, he hit a home run, to make the score 12-0. (The infinitive phrase expresses result.)

They returned early from vacation to ready their house for the arrival of important guests. (Expressing purpose.)

They returned from vacation on June 4, to find their house in ruins. (Unplanned/unanticipated fact.)

He intercepted a pass and zigzagged down the field for 43 yards, only to be downed on the 4-yard line. (Same as above.)

Loya Jirga -- Who knew?

University of Chicago-educated New York Times columnist David Brooks has once again sent us diving for our dictionaries.
From his column in today's Times:
"The word [Hillary Clinton] kept coming back to was 'partnerships.' She described an array of different social entities — individuals, the federal government, insurance companies, doctors and hospitals — coming together and exercising shared responsibility for creating a better system.
"It began to sound like a health care loya jirga — indicative of the political vision that has marked so much of her thinking over the years."

Loya jirga, occasionally loya jirgah, is a large meeting held in Afrghanistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and even in Mongolia. In Afghanistan originally attended by Pashtun groups but later including other ethnic groups without really considering them.
The words loya (great/grand) and jirga ("council", "assembly", "dispute" or "meeting") are of Turco-Mongolian origin and originally it means in the Mongolian and Turkic language "great tent" (Ger, meaning tent).

Make Sure Those Pesky Introductory Phrases and Clauses Agree With the Subjects They Modify

Wrong: While riding a bus, the tornado ripped through our town.

The Rule: Make sure introductory phrases or clauses agree with the subjects they modify.

If you can read, mark and inwardly digest this rule and the related Harbrace rule below, it will add many points to your score in the grammar section of the PSAT and the SAT. They both have lots of questions requiring you to correct sentences with imprecise antecedents and dangling modifiers. (See the SAT Question of the Day below for a good "imprecise antecedent" example.)

There are two ways to fix the sentence above:
1) While I was riding a bus, the tornado ripped through our town.
2) While riding a bus, I saw the tornado rip through our town.


This is covered in Harbrace 25b: Revise Dangling Modifiers

Although any misplaced word, phrase, or clause can be said to dangle, the term dangling modifier applies primarily to incoherent verbal phrases and elliptical clauses (that is, clauses with implied subjects and verbs) that do not refer clearly and logically to other words in the sentence.

To correct a dangling modifier, rearrange the words in the sentence to make the modifier clearly refer to the right word, or add words to make the meaning clear and logical.

When verbal phrases or elliptical clauses come at the beginning of a sentence, the normal English word order requires that they immediately precede and clearly refer to the subject of the sentence.

Turn to Section 25 of Harbrace for excellent illustrations of the many kinds of dangling modifiers.

SAT Question of the Day™
NOVEMBER 30, 2005

Part of the following sentence is underlined; beneath the sentence are five ways of phrasing the underlined material. Select the option that produces the best sentence. If you think the original phrasing produces a better sentence than any of the alternatives, select choice A.

Although less important to the early development of jazz than New Orleans and Chicago, New York City's contributions were important toward transforming jazz out of a quaint, little-known folk music into an international genre of great significance.

a) New York City's contributions were important toward transforming jazz out of
b) New York City's contributions were important as they transformed jazz from
c) the contributions made by New York City were important in transforming jazz out of
d) New York City made important contributions toward transforming jazz from
e) New York City made important contributions, they transformed jazz out of

Retired but still honored --emeritus

from wordsmith.org

emeritus (i-MER-i-tuhs) adjective, plural emeriti, feminine emerita

Retired but retaining an honorary title.

[From Latin emeritus (one who has served his time), past participle of emerere (to serve out one's term), from merere (to deserve, serve,earn).]

"[Pete] Seeger has been singing out like this since the Great Depression. The earnest troubadour who either co-wrote or popularized canonical songs like 'Where Have All the Flowers Gone,' 'If I Had a Hammer' and 'JohnHenry' has become something like America's folkie emeritus."

-- Michael Hill; Pete Seeger Still Singing at 87; Associated Press; May 17, 2006.

Use parallel structures with correlatives

Perhaps the sneakiest questions in the SAT and ACT grammar sections (see the SAT example below) pertain to parallelism. Some questions turn on a missing "the." There are lots of rules about parallelism, but the following is as good as any for a pre-test snack:

Harbrace Rule 26c: Use parallel structures with correlatives (both ... and; either ... or; neither ... nor; not only ... but also; whether ... or).



In other words, the two items connected by "not only . . . but also" and other constructions showing "co-relativity," must be similar in kind.

So:

Faulty: Either they work or are fired.
Parallel: Either they work or they are fired.

Faulty: Whether at home or when at work he was always busy.
Parallel: Whether at home or at work, he was always busy.

Faulty: Not only practicing at 6 a.m. during the week, but the team also scrimmages on Sunday afternoons.
Parallel: The team not only practices at 6 a.m. during the week but also scrimmages on Sunday afternoons.

Wrong: He not only painted the "Annunciation" but also [painted] the "Mona Lisa."
Right: He painted not only the "Annunciation" but also the "Mona Lisa."

Wrong: He not only played for Washington but also for Detroit and Pittsburgh.
Right: He played not only for Washington but also for Detroit and Pittsburgh.

Wrong: He not only coached soccer but also tennis.
Right: He coached not only soccer but also tennis.

Right: He taught not only physics and chemistry but also algebra and geometry.

Right: He not only taught five periods a day but also coached three sports.


SAT Question of the Day™
FEBRUARY 3, 2005

Part of the following sentence is underlined; beneath the sentence are five ways of phrasing the underlined material. Select the option that produces the best sentence. If you think the original phrasing produces a better sentence than any of the alternatives, select choice A.

With the 1977 publication of Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison both received popular and critical acclaim.

a) both received popular and
b) both received popular and also
c) received popular, along with
d) received popular as well as
e) received both popular and also

Bubbling over with ebullience and other social words sure to be on SATs

An SAT Question of the Day:
Dahntay’s ------- over winning the prestigious prize was ------- only by the fact that his father was unable to attend the ceremony.

incredulity . . . misconstrued
ebullience . . . tempered
bashfulness . . . extended
satisfaction . . . confirmed
relief . . .conveyed

The Eskimos supposedly have 50 different words for snow. In our society, we have an infinite number of words to describe social proclivities, many of which are sure bets to pop up on the SAT.

On the extraverted (or extroverted) side, there's garrulous (talkative, chatty); gregarious (friendly), ebullient (bubbling over with enthusiasm).

On the introverted (no alternate spelling on this one) side, there's diffident (shy, lacking self-confidence), reticent (quiet, shy, withdrawn), stoic (one who so represses his emotions that he is indifferent to pleasure or pain.

On the positive side, there's aplomb (self-assurance, self-possession, especially in difficult or embarrassing situations), panache (literally, a plume in a helmet; swagger, flamboyance, as in "She does everything with panache."), elan (ardor, eagerness, spirit).

On the negative side, there's fractious (extremely irritable, unruly), mendacious (lying), pusillanimous (a mean-spirited and contemptible lack of courage; a stronger word than cowardly), bibulous (addicted to drink), inebriated (drunk), a pariah (an outcast -- a Hindu word).

The answer to a previous SAT Question of the Day turned on the word "salutary" (beneficial, promoting health, ). "Salubrious" means basically the same thing, with more emphasis on bodily health. Both come from the Latin salus, meaning health (or general welfare).
Before you sip the table wine in France, you might raise your glass and say, "Salu." Since "health" has always been a greeting of sorts, we get "salute" as a greeting and the "salutatorian" (usually the No. 2 student in a class) delivering the greeting speech at a commencement exercise. (Note, as every salutatorian must, that the word "Commencement" tells us that graduation is a beginning, not an end. Wow!)
A saluki is an Arabian or Egyptian dog, from Saluq, an ancient city in Arabia, which may have been a healthy place. :-)

The expression mens sana in corpore sano, which you don't hear that much these days,
described the Classical ideal of "a sound mind in a sound body." Perhaps the motto of Major League Baseball, or at least Barry Bonds, should be corpus maximum steroidiis plurimis (the largest body by means of the most steroids).