Category Archives: Uncategorized

“Supposable” = capable of being supposed; presumable. E.g.: “He learns more about himself and the supposable dimension of man’s future.” Dick Richmond, “A Sequel to ‘The Celestine Prophecy,’” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 16 May 1996, at G7. “Suppositious” and “supposititious” sometimes … Continue reading →

supplicant; *suppliant. “Supplicant” is the standard term meaning “one who earnestly beseeches; a humble petitioner” — e.g.: o “Upstairs in a darkened room of the Edina home in which he was staying, Sakya Trizin, supreme head of one of Tibetan … Continue reading →

susceptible – properly sounded /suh-SEP-tuh-buhl/ — is sometimes mispronounced, even by educated speakers, /suhk-SEP-tuh-buhl/. suspendable; *suspendible. The latter is a needless variant. Though *"suspendible" is the only form listed in Webster’s Third New International Dictionary and the Oxford English Dictionary, … Continue reading →

Today: Four More. “Never Use ‘between’ with More than Two Objects”: “When Miss Thistlebottom taught you in grammar school that ‘between’ applies only to two things and ‘among’ to more than two, she was for the most part correct. ‘Between’ … Continue reading →

Today: “Never Use ‘since’ to Mean ‘because.’” o “There is a groundless notion current both in the lower schools and in the world of affairs that ‘since’ has an exclusive reference to time and therefore cannot be used as a … Continue reading →

 Today: “Never Begin a Sentence with ‘Because.’” So novel and absurd is this superstition that few authorities on writing have countered it in print. But here’s one: “This proscription ['Never begin a sentence with because'] appears in no handbook of … Continue reading →

 Today: “Never Write a One-Sentence Paragraph.” o “A paragraph may contain but one sentence . . . [or] two sentences; but usually it contains more than two.” Adams S. Hill, The Foundations of Rhetoric 23-24 (1896). o “To interpose a … Continue reading →

suppressible. So spelled — not *"suppressable." Surinamese; *Surinamer. For a citizen of Suriname, the first is standard; the second is a needless variant. surprise, n. & vb., is surprisingly often misspelled *"surprize" — e.g.: “There are other benefits that come … Continue reading →