Slips that pass in the night ...* Time frames. I see this gaffe regularly but most recently in a prominent subscription newsletter: "Carl Bildt Nils Daniel Carl Bildt , KCMG (born July 15, 1949) is a Swedish politician and diplomat, currently serving as Minister for Foreign Affairs in the cabinet of Fredrik Reinfeldt. , Prime Minister of Sweden The Prime Minister (Swedish: statsminister, literally "Minister of State") is the head of government in Sweden. Before 1876, when the office of Prime Minister was instituted, Sweden did not have a formal head of government. from 1991-94, gave ...." Parallel construction requires "to" to follow "from," rather than an en-dash. "From 1991 to 1994." In citing "parallel construction," we're not just spouting spout·ing n. Chiefly Pennsylvania & New Jersey See gutter. See Regional Note at gutter. spouting Noun NZ a. a tired dictum from Miss Thistle-bottom. Lacking it forms a speed-bump for the reader. In this context, "from" in the mind--in a nano-second--looks for "to" and instead slows down at the "-" mark. Never make the reader hesitate, even with a tic as small as an en-dash. * Toward or towards? This is another case of Britain and America being separated by a common language. The British strongly favor towards. While both words are commonly used in the U.S., toward is, in the words of Webster's Dictionary of English Usage, "undoubtedly prevalent." Webster's concludes: "At one time some critics (as Ayres 1881) preferred toward because they believed the -s of towards had died away. Letters from our correspondents sometimes seem to be seeking some semantic basis for a differentiation between these forms, but there is none." * Understated or overstated o·ver·state tr.v. o·ver·stat·ed, o·ver·stat·ing, o·ver·states To state in exaggerated terms. See Synonyms at exaggerate. o ? This from the Society of Professional Journalists' magazine Quill: "The importance of their report, 'Inside the Interrogation interrogation In criminal law, process of formally and systematically questioning a suspect in order to elicit incriminating responses. The process is largely outside the governance of law, though in the U.S. of Detainee de·tain·ee n. A person held in custody or confinement: a political detainee. Noun 1. detainee - some held in custody political detainee 063,' cannot be understated." Considering that the report was cited for winning a journalism award, we have to conclude that its importance cannot be overstated. But we admit that we're a little confounded with this usage. Let's make a case for each word possibly meaning the same thing. Overstate: to state too strongly, to exaggerate: to overstate one's position in a controversy. "The importance of their report ... cannot be exaggerated." Understate un·der·state v. un·der·stat·ed, un·der·stat·ing, un·der·states v.tr. 1. To state with less completeness or truth than seems warranted by the facts. 2. : to state or represent less strongly or strikingly than the facts would bear out; set forth in restrained, moderate, or weak terms. "The importance of their report ... cannot be represented in moderate terms." Help me out on this one, all you grammar geeks out there. Am I misstating the logic? Swift@Newsletterbiz.com. |
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