Literary Lapses 101: Lesson 6--Al or All?

I notice that a lot of people have a hard time deciding whether or not to mash a couple of words together. Now sometimes it may be a typing problem; I personally have trouble hitting the space key hard enough, so I have to constantly re-read and correct.  Today we look at the Als, proper and im--alot, already, altogether, and alright.




ALOT or A LOT?
The big one comes first. Alot is NOT A WORD. There is a word allot, but every time I see this four letter word, it really should be TWO words--a lot. A lot of people misuse it constantly. I see it a lot in lots of blogs AND published books. In fact, this blog was prompted by a book I just read, one that was poorly edited. A lot of is a phrase equal to lots of. Interchangeable, but I don't know if that will help anyone remember.




ALREADY OR ALL READY?  
Not interchangeable. Already means previously, at an earlier or time, or so soon. She's already asleep. I already finished my homework. Do you have to go already?


All ready means something "is prepared and completely set."  The plans for the house are all ready. The papers are all ready for your signature. 




ALTOGETHER OR ALL TOGETHER?


Once upon a time I wasn't sure that both words existed, but they do. All together means 'all in the same place' or 'all at the same time.'  We were gathered all together in a tiny room. The crowd was working all together to find the earthquake victims.


This time the mashed word is more commonly used, and it is not equivalent to all together. Altogether can mean: with everything included; completely or  utterly; on the whole. And naked.  Altogether, that will be ten dollars. This adventure is altogether ridiculous. Altogether, it was a horrible tragedy. He got so drunk that he walked outside in the altogether. 






ALRIGHT or ALL RIGHT?
Alright is considered as a non-standard version of all right, but it is used so much that it is more or less accepted, at least for informal purposes. It is used as a synonym of okay or correct. That's alright with me.  Alright, I'll go.  


It's always safe to use all right. But if you insist on using alright, Answers.com differentiates thusly:

Things that are honest and honorable are "all right," and that's "alright" (satisfactory or correct) with me!

All right is in proper working order or just average. Your engine is running all right now. The quarterback is all right, but not great. 


The sources I looked at posit that the use of alright grew from use of already and altogether, both of which are now acceptable for standard usage. This is one that I have often wondered about, but, as I stated, all right is always safe. Save alright for conversational and colloquial stuff.

Literary Lapses 101 #5: Peeked, Peaked, or Piqued?

Thanks to Grace Bridges for reminding me about this one. This confusion is one I see often enough, but I had forgotten about it, and since Grace brought it up a few days ago, I have seen two glaring mix-ups in online magazines.

Easiest one first: PEEKED. When a guy glanced quickly at something he wasn't supposed to see, he peeked. If a girl was blindfolded for pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey and could see under the bottom of the blindfold, she peeked. The game babies love to play is peek-a-boo.



The incidents we notice most often with book and other reviews come about when someone writes about interest or curiosity being aroused by something. My personal theory: it is so widely confused because people have often heard the phrases but not seen them written out.

This review has piqued my interest.
Her curiosity was piqued by his bizarre behavior.
BUT:
My interest peaked a couple of days ago, but now it bores me.
Alice's curiosity peaked when the rabbit popped into a hole; she had to follow him. 

PIQUED comes from Old  French for pricked. It's a synonym for incited, aroused, goaded, stimulated, stirred. It can also mean vexed or irritated, as in Margo was piqued when the governor ignored her. It seems to go in two different directions, but the core meaning goes back to the origin.

PEAKED has to do with a point, an apex, the summit or highest or maximum degree. So, your interest in something or someone may peak, reaching a climax or high point, and then plateau or decrease. However,  your interest is piqued when you first feel excited about something (or someone). Notice the difference in how peaked and piqued are used with curiosity or interest.

And while I'm at it, I thought about this phrase I heard all my life but didn't know how to spell--until I looked it up this morning. If someone looks pale and sickly, my Kentucky relatives always said "he  looks a little [peekid]." It doesn't follow the meanings of any of the three words, so which one do you think is the right word? (No peeking ahead now)

He looks a little peaked is correct. Go figure. (Actually, my aunt would say "a might peaked")

LITERARY LAPSES 101, Part 4--Apostrophes

It seems like nearly everyone gets confused about apostrophes now and then. Even though we all 'learned' about their proper use back in elementary school, there often hasn't been a refresher course since then. For many of us, let's admit it, that was an eon ago.

Basically, with a few exceptions, apostrophes have two uses. 1) They are used in contractions to replace the letters that have been removed. 2) They are used for the possessive form of NOUNS (not pronouns). Let's look at the two main uses first, then a bit about exceptions that are fairly common.

1) Contractions. The main difficulty here is just where to put the apostrophe, and sometimes then how to spell the rest of the word. Apostrophes replace letters that have been removed. Can not becomes can't--the ' replace no. She will = she'll. It's = it is. In poetic language, we get 'tis for it is and o'er for over. There are a few contractions that mess with normal spelling ( one thing you can count on in English is an exception to every rule) like won't for will not. Of course, there's the curious case of ain't which seems to replace just about any negative to be verb in nonstandard English. Contractions come in quite handy for writing dialect: somethin', 'cause (because), s'up? (what's up--contraction of a contraction), gov'nor, ha'penny, 'ere now!, 'at's right...

   Special contractions to note: Ma'am--this is really a contraction of Madam
                                              Y'all-- If I had a nickel for every time I saw this one mangled! It means YOU
                                                         ALL, so the ' replaces ou in you

2) Possessives of Nouns. Placement is again part of the confusion. It mainly depends on if the noun is plural or singular.
     Singular (and plurals that don't end with s)--write the word followed by 's: the boy's hat; John's mother; the dog's bone; the children's homework; the men's  bathroom
     Plural with final s--the ' comes after the s: the dogs' food; The Smiths' car; the girls' laughter; my cats' meows.

  This is for possessive of NOUNS, not pronouns. Therefore, it's means it is and not belonging to it. HOWEVER . . . a few exceptions, as always, for some indefinite pronouns:
   anyone's guess; everyone's business; somebody's fault; one's best

Important: Apostrophes are NOT used to make plurals. . . Usually...
Many of us are under the mistaken idea that we need an apostrophe to form the plural for letters or numbers. Actually, this is an old style that is out of favor now (see grammar.about.com  and Write Express ) Most of the time those plurals are like all the others: PhDs; CDs; your Gs look like Js; there are too many 4s in that zip code; Heather was born in the 1990s.
EXCEPTION: if the meaning might be otherwise unclear. Remember to dot your i's--if you write is, it looks like the verb. The 0's are smudged. Here it means zeroes, but without the apostrophe could be confused for capital Os. AND for certain phrases and clichés: watch your p's and q's (confusion for ps); no if's, and's or but's (I don't know the reasoning behind that one).

Is this helpful or more confusing? I hope it serves as a quick refresher and useful guide.

Literary Lapses 101: Part 3--Accept or Except

Today's diatribe concerns another extremely common confusion--whether to use accept or except. Probably part of the confusion is due to the way these words are pronounced. I pronounce them differently, but in some dialects they sound like homophones.

To accept something is to agree to something, to believe something is true, or to willingly receive something. Accept is a verb.

I accept this contract.

Do you accept the Bible as God's Word?

Maria didn't feel like she could accept the extravagant gift.

Except (usually a preposition or conjunction) means with the exception of, excluding, but or otherwise than.

Everyone was going to the ball except Cinderella.

I'm okay except for a headache.

It was a good plan except we didn't have enough money to carry it out.

It may help to think of the ex (X) in except as crossing something out. It's left out, excluded. Just like an ex-boyfriend is out of the picture. Accept, on the other hand, starts with an A like agree. Like a-okay. Tricks like these often help people remember troublesome words: I have to use a few memory jabbers as well.

LITERARY LAPSES 101, Part 1

Okay. This has been weighing on my mind for quite some time now, and I just can't take it any more! Hardly anyone reads my blogs, I know, but I've got to let it out even if no one else sees it or benefits from it. What is this? The murder of the English language being carried out in published books and blogs that are written by people who consider themselves some sort of experts. The language is dying a slow death, but it seems to have sped up in recent years as people seem to be less and less aware that words really DO have meaning!

I know that everyone makes typographical errors; in fact, I am one of the worst for that because my fingers are terribly clumsy. Anyone who blogs or writes something for others to read should proofread before sending it, or publishing it, of course, but it's easy to miss things. After all, I know what I meant to write, so I may not notice a wrongly typed letter or two, and spellcheck doesn't always catch it.

But I'm not talking about typos. This isn't about email, chats, or dialog, either. Dialog should be conversational, so the non-standard English is fine. The problem is in blogs and, worse yet, articles and stories that are published. Not the dialog and conversational parts, but in narration. The narrative needs to adhere to the rules of accepted standard English or we don't communicate as well as we should. And as Christians, we are told, "whatsoever you do, do it heartily as unto the Lord, and not unto men." (Col. 3:23) Yet so much of what is done in the name of Christ is just so-so, not our best, and non-believers don't expect anything Christian to be much good.

In the last two weeks, I read two books, already published, that look as if no one did any editing to them at all. If someone edited these two books, they didn't earn their pay.

So I'm going to try some weekly lessons on common goofs that I have seen in books, articles, professional blogs, and even the news! Today I'm picking on three error I have seen way too often.

1. THEN/THAN

This so messed up! THEN refers to time, the opposite of now. I went to the bank, and then I went to the mall. THAN is a word for comparison. This is more than enough. I like coffee more than tea. Your brother is nicer than mine.

Probably everyone reading this will agree and wonder why I even mentioned it, but I see it over and over again in blogs, articles, and even in the published novel I just read. The mistake is usually using then instead of than. I think most of the problems could be solved if the writer just thinks about what he or she already knows when proofing the writing.

2. LOOSE/LOSE

This is one I have seen in four or five published novels in the past year--something I wouldn't have imagined before. It has appeared in lots of other writing as well.

LOOSE can mean to set free when used as a verb; in its more common use as an adjective, it means something that is not tight. A loose pair of pants might fall off. A loose woman or loose morals has to do with a tendency to be immoral. Loose rhymes with goose, moose, and noose. A goose on the loose needs to be caught. A loose noose might mean that the guy getting hung will live another day and even slip out.

LOSE, on the other hand, is pronounced with a -z- sound. None of the words spelled like it--at least none that I can think of--sound like it. Perhaps part of the confusion in spelling is because it rhymes with choose. Lose is the opposite of find or gain. I want to lose weight. Lose the attitude, mister. John knew that if he told Mary the truth, he would lose her forever.

Some of the sentences I read made humorous confusions (samples are not exact quotes):

-He had to loose that detective and fast. Is the detective bound and needs to be set free, or is he hot on the trail?

-Go on; let her loose. Is she chained up or in handcuffs, or does it looks like her gambling isn't going to pay off?

Other times it just doesn't make sense, but I was seriously confused sometimes and had to backtrack in my reading.

3. SNUCK/SNEAKED

Snuck might be used commonly in everyday speech, but according to the dictionaries and grammar guides I consulted, it is NOT the accepted standard past tense for SNEAK (There was one exception that called it acceptable as an alternative in American English ). Now this is one mistake I started slipping into myself; when we hear and read something often enough, it starts to confuse the inner editor. That's why I looked it up several times now.

They like to sneak up on their dad when he's sleeping. But when they sneaked up on him this morning, they scared him.

When you write dialog or conversation, feel free to use snuck or brung or swang. If it fits your character, that is. In another lesson, I'll get into some other past tense puzzlers.