Maeve Maddox on Language 2010 - American English Doctor

Links to Maeve’s 2010 essays at DWT (Daily Writing Tips)

November 2010

30: The term high concept
29: Prima Donna
26: Affiliate, Franchise, and al-Qaeda
25: Inhibit vs Prohibit
24: Is into after invade really necessary?
23: What’s Your Novel’s Log Line?
22: Sin is Bad
19: Word Count and Book Length
18: Blatantly and patently
17: A Knight Errant and an Arrant Knave
16: Are You Writing a Memoir?
15: A Besetting Sin
12: Three Peeves in One Newspaper Article
11: Rhubarb is not just a Vegetable
10: Clean out of spondulicks!
09: Chick Lit, Genre or Insult?
08: This is so gay!
05: There’s and There are
04: Embezzlement, Peculation, and Connotation
03: Explaining the Explanation Regarding “than he“
02: The Action/Adventure Genre
01: The Spellings of /Shun/

October 2010

29: Trooper or Trouper?
28: What is Pulp Fiction?
27: Peace of Mind and A Piece of One’s Mind
26: Expanded and Extended
25: Cleave, Cleaver, and Clove
22: Taller Than He
21: Is Your Novel Mystery, Thriller, or Suspense?
20: Heart-rending and Gut-wrenching
19: English words Don’t (usually) End withÂ U
18: Types of Ignorance
15: Using zeitgeist Coherently
14: Virtue is spelled Virtue
13: Parley and Parlay
12: What’s a “Literary” Novel?
11: In the Last Throes
08: Semi-, Demi-, and Hemi-
07: Democrat is a Noun
06: How to spell in lieu of
05: Myth and Misconception
04: What is Experimental Fiction?
01: What/s an Ambigram?

September 2010

30: Quit as Predicate Adjective
29: Warbling and Garbling
28: Despite or In Spite of?
27: Language Lovers Unite!
24: The Writer’s 5 Ws
23: What’s a “glitz” novel?
22: Interpreters and Commentators
21: Flounder and Founder
20: Ma’am and Regional Colonialism
17: Trifecta Not Always Appropriate
16: Noun Clauses
15: Irish Potatoes and Pennsylvania Dutch
14: Foiled Again!
13: Parallel Construction
10: Loanwords and Calques
09: To Tide You Over
08: The Difference Between Discreet and Discrete
07: Here Is What People Are Saying About Our Book
07: Surprising or Not Surprising
06: Five Misleading Names
03: The Ambiguity of Afraid
02: Continue and Continue on
01: Capitalizing Titles of People and Groups

August 2010

31: One Die, Two Dice
30: Some Perennial Grammar Questions
27: Near East vs Middle East
26: Where to Put the Stress in irrevocable?
25: Compare and Contrast
24: The Cardinal Connection
23: Breach and Break
20: Pronouncing Words That End in -lm
19: Life Passed Me By
18: Restrictive Appositives
17: The Curious History of Bead
16: Stanch and Staunch
13: Bust, Burst, and Arrest
12: Vaccination and Baccalaureate
11: Dictionaries and Lexicons
10: Is that a Hapax Legomenon?
09: Understanding the Gist of the Matter
06: Fleshing Out and Flushing Out
05: Safety and Security
04: Empathy With or Empathy For?
03: Beside and Besides
02: Awoken or Awakened?

July 2010

30: Using May in a Question
29: Albatross and Alcatraz Island
28: Participles and Perfect Verb Tenses
27: Do You Write Like Stephen King?
26: Repudiate, Refute, and Reject
23: Sleazy and “slazy“
22: Fun, Funner, Funnest?
21: Spasmodic
20: Learn the Forms of drink, Please!
19: Bunting and Bunting
16: A Friend of Jim’s
15: What Exactly is Folk Etymology?
14: Confronting and Affronting
13: A Blessing in Blood
12: Aerial, Areal, and Ariel
09: Spitting Image
08: Using the Adjective Lackadaisical
07: Curbs and Sidewalks
06: Bob’s Your Uncle!
05: Take Care with Album
05: One Sheep, Two Sheep, One Fish, Two Fish . . .
02: Hear, Hear!
01: One Fell Swoop
01: The Difference Between Shade and Shadow

June 2010

30: Verbally and Orally
29: Is She a Lady or a Woman?
28: Lucky Expressions
25: Have vs Having in Certain Expressions
24: Could Have and Would Have
23: Make Peace With and Come to Terms With
22: Let’s Hear A Little Respect for the Pluperfect
21: Bored with, or bored of?
18: Gratitude or Gratefulness?
17: Nonce-words, For the Nonce, and Nonce
16: Cement or Concrete?
15: What’s a Factoid?
14: Latter, not Ladder
11: Abroad and Overseas
10: Abstruse and Obtuse
09: Normality and Normalcy
08: Can a Chimera be Real?
07: Adequate is Adequate
04: Difference between Pressing and Ironing
03: I Pity the Full!
02: Plumber and Related Words
01: To Open a Pandora’s Box

May 2010

31: Imminent, Immanent, and Eminent
28: About and For with Adjectives
27: Event and Occasion
26: Fluent in Speech and Affluent in Wealth
25: This Sink Needs Fixed
24: Submissions and Submittals
21: Taking and Bringing
20: Telling a Good Poem from a Bad One
19: A Lesson in Spelling Definite
18: Peers and Piers
17: Based in and based out of
14: Clamoring and Clambering
13: The Quasi-adjective Couple
12: Hordes of People Shouldn’t Hoard
11: Whaling May Result in Weals
10: The Present Participle of Verbs Ending in -ie
07: Excited ABOUT, not “for“
06: Correct Use of the Adjective ï¿½Reincarnateï¿½
05: Hale and Haul
04: When did Beware Become a Noun?
03: Please Let Your Interest Be Piqued

April 2010

30: Ipso Facto and Other Factos
29: Shakespeare’s Vocabulary
28: Corporate English
27: The Word is Careless
26: Whelps are Puppies
23: Sources of Titles Drawn from Shakespeare
22: Book Titles from Shakespeare
21: Replacement for and replacement of
20: 3 Common Latin Expressions
19: Dandelions and Medallions
16: Excuse me!
15: Icicle, Another Good Word Down the Tubes
14: What the heck are learnings?
13: Everybody Speaks Hamlet
12: Wrapping Things Up and “Rapping Things Up“
09: Opinion of, Opinion on, Opinion about
08: The Noun is Plea, the Verb is Plead
07: Take An Example
06: 20 Movies Based on Shakespeare Plays
05: 38 Letters of the Alphabet
02: The Adjective is Immune
01: Preposition near Doesn’t Need a to

March 2010

31: Don’t Waste Decimate
30: When to Spell Out Numbers
29: What Color is Wan?
26: Weltering in Gore
25: Homing In and Plain Honing
24: Access and access to
23: Act of God and Vis Major
22: When to use an
19: Hard Sales and Hard Sells
18: The Many Meanings of Sweat
17: No Hyphen in Ramshackled
16: Reverse and Invert
15: Use of the word Latest
12: Why Noon is no longer the Ninth Hour
11: What’s Going On with “Underestimate”?
10: One-Off is not a New Expression
09: What To Do About Non-standard English
08: An Ultimatum IS Final
05: “Urk” is not a standard spelling
04: What does in camera Mean?
03: Meaning of the suffix -ee
03: Hell-bent and Hell-for-leather
02: No Talent for Writing
01: Economic or Economical?
01: Euhemerism and the Gods

February 2010

26: What is an Entree?
25: The Past of Pay is Paid
24: Some Advice about Advise
23: But, it’s in the Dictionary!
22: What’s the Time?
19: Do We Really Need Verbiage and Verbage?
18: Character and Caricature
17: Is Prepone a Word?
16: Slink, Shrink, and Wink
15: Being and Been
12: Comparative or Superlative?
11: Crapulence Doesn’t Mean That
10: Individual or Person?
09: 20 Criminal Terms You Should Know
08: Having a Yen
05: Octaves and Decibels
04: Not All Memes are Bad
03: The Triple Threat of Sures
02: Mankind, Humankind, and Gender
01: The Use of I in First Person Narration

January 2010

29: Threw and Through
28: Don’t Snite in Public
27: And Also
26: 30 Religious Terms You Should Know
25: Truth or Fact?
22: Motherland or Fatherland?
21: Getting a Raise and Getting a Rise
20: What Do You Call the Enemy?
19: “Human Readers” A Tautology?
18: Electric Cars and Electrical Engineers
15: Completed Suicide
14: Musings on the Uses of Abash
13: How Do You Fare?
12: Warning, This Post May Be Stolen
11: The Naked Truth About Gym and Gymno
08: Time on Your Hands
07: Broadcast vs Broadcasted as Past Form
06: Certified and Certificated
05: To Put It Bluntly . . .
04: Waiting with Bated Breath
01: Step into the GLM Time Machine

NOTE:Electronic rights to the articles linked from this page belong to Daniel Scocco. All other rights (print, translation, etc.) belong to Maeve Maddox, a.k.a. Margaret Joan Maddox, Ph.D.