 | 
The
glossary will be growing soon. . . . This
glossary includes terms of grammar, usage, and rhetoric, as well as others you
may find useful. The glossary also includes some allusions and terms one is likely
to come across in general academic writing. For more detailed help, consult a
good dictionary like the Random House Dictionary or the Oxford English
Dictionary, or a specialized work like the Merriam-Webster Dictionary of
English Usage. If
you'd like a term added to the Glossary, send
me a note.
Abbreviations
used in the glossary
M-W:
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary of English Usage
RH: The Random
House Dictionary of the English Language, 2nd ed. |
| blog:
Short for web log. Online chat room, journal, archive attached to a web
site. | | entry:
Definition. | | five-paragraph
essay: An elementary essay format many students learn in high school.
The essay comprises precisely five paragraphs: an introduction; three body paragraphs,
each of which makes a separate point or provides a separate example; and a conclusion.
The model is useful for introducing the basics of structure, but it can become
a straitjacket that leads some students to distort their arguments to make them
fit the rigid 5-part structure (see Procrustean bed).
| | entry:
Definition. | | hopefully,
adv. A perfectly sensible word, as usage guides have routinely noted. But
its quick rise in popularity in the 1960s led it to be widely attacked by self-styled
language purists, who usually argued that one couldn't tell what the adverb was
modifying as it was typically deployed ("Hopefully it'll stop raining soon.").
But the same charge can be brought against many adverbs, which often modify entire
statements (see, for instance, the entry on sentence adverbs in M-W). Despite
lacking a rational basis, disdain for the term lingers. |
| infinitive:
Definition. | | nominalization:
Definition. | |
official
style: Definition. | |
passive
voice: Definition. | |
prepositional
phrase. Definition. | | Procrustean
bed, figure of speech. In classical mythology, Procrustes not
only waylaid those who came upon him, but he stretched or amputated their limbs
to make them fit his bed. Used figuratively for inflexible and zealously applied
standards. | | split
infinitive. Syntactical construction in which an adverbial modifier
comes between to and the infinitive. As the definition implies, "the
term is actually a misnomer, as to is only an appurtenance of the infinitive"
(M-W). It's perfectly okay to split infinitives--except that many people will
think you're making an ignorant mistake. Do so at your own risk. |
| tense.
| | toward
or towards, preposition. The former is more common in American
English, the latter in British English. But both are proper: "Both words
are commonly used in the U.S." (M-W) | |
voice:
Definition. |
|
The
Nuts and Bolts of College Writing