--{ brief notes on dmau }-----
Hey, some very brief notes on Bryan Garner's Dictionary of Modern American Usage.
The author:
The author is Bryan Garner, who is apparently a lawyer and a lexicographer. He's even the editor-in-chief of the seventh edition of Black's Law Dictionary, so he's actually probably a pretty good authority for this kind of thing.
Organization:
The dictionary is basically organized by word, alphabetically. If you're wondering about how a word should be used, say, "that," you just look up "that."
"Essay Entries:"
The dictionary also has a number of "essay entries," which "address larger questions of usage and style." An index at the front of the dictionary lists all of the essay entries.
Essay entries include guidance on how to make words agree grammatically (concord), ways to use numerals, where to place adverbs, how to avoid miscues, when to use numerals, and how to properly use punctuation. Other essay entries discuss common phrases thought to be redundant, and grammatical notions thought to be superstitions.
Word use:
The types of word usage addressed by this dictionary include:
* What prepositions go with what words (e.g., the word accompanied is used with by, and not with.)
* Out of two similar phrases, which one should be used (e.g., use per rather than as per, because "as per" is actually redundant for "per"; use as or as if rather than like, in some instances, because "like" is a preposition that governs nouns and noun phrases, not a conjunction that governs verbs or clauses.)
* Distinguishing words with similar meanings (e.g, addiction is primarily physical, while dependency is primary psychological.)
* Distinguishing similarly spelled words with different meanings (e.g., canvas is heavy cloth and canvass is to examine in detail, to discuss or debate, to solicit orders or political support, or to take stock of opinions.)
* Discussing a class of word usage (e.g., (1) out of words that are used causally, such as as, because, since, and for, because is the strongest, and (2) out of words that are used to denote levels of religious skepticism, such as atheist, agnostic, unbeliever, nonbeliever, and freethinker, atheist is the strongest.)
* What punctuation should be used with certain words (e.g., "Generally, the word because should not follow a comma. The reason is that when a dependent clause (the because clause) follows the main independent clause of the sentence, a comma does not separate the two. . . . Yet a comma may be all but necessary when the sentence is long or complex.")
Random fun things:
Under animal adjectives there is a whole huge list of animal adjectives -- did you know that "larine" means "like a gull" and struthionine" means "like an ostrich"?
Under governmental forms there is a whole list of words denoting "almost every conceivable form of government" -- did you know that "ergatocracy" means "government by workers" and "hagiocracy" means "government by saints" and "kakistocracy" means "government by a country's worst citizens"?
"Catty-cornered" derives from the Middle English phrase catre-cornered, with catre coming from the Latin word quattor.
There's a list of all the diacritical marks and their uses.
The symbol / (sometimes called a "slash") is more formally known as a virgule.
Some notable differences from the Gilman Style:
"February 1985 is better than February of 1985." (p. 186) Unlike many of the entries, this is not explained.
"Traditionally speaking, pleaded is the best past-tense and past-participial form. [Examples of vitriol from commentators regarding "pled".] The problem with these strong pronouncements, of course, is that pled and plead have gained some standing in American English . . . . The variant forms might not be the best usage, but neither can they be condemned as horrible. Still, pleaded is the predominant form in both American English and British English."