Made. See make. Main clause. See clause.
Main form. Groups of words are built on a core of letters that represents the simplest element of meaning, known as the main form (also called a root). The main form “vid” carries the sense of seeing or sight into such forms as “video” and “evident.” A variant of “vid” is “vis,” which has the same main, or basic, core of meaning related to sight: “vision,” “visible,” “visually.”
Recognizing a main form in words can often help us understand how prefixes, suffixes, or other modifications of the root word have changed or created meaning: “vis” can add the prefix “in-” (meaning not) and the suffix “-ible” (meaning capable or possible) to form “invisible” (meaning not possible to see). “Ject” (which means move or propel) can add the prefix “in-” (in the sense of direction) and the suffix “-ion” to produce “injection” (which means the process of moving or propelling something into something else).
With verbs, the main form, or root, of the verb plus the word “to” makes up the infinitive: “to sleep,” “to wake,” “to rise.”
Make, made, made. An irregular verb in its main, past tense, and past participle forms.
Man, mankind. Do not use these words to refer to people in general, since there are women as well as men in humankind. Say either “woman and man,” “women and men,” “man and woman,” “men and women,” “people,” or “human beings.” “Humanity” or “humankind” is an adequate substitute for “mankind,” as is “human population,” or “human community.” In anthropological writing, use “ancient peoples” or “homo sapiens.” See sexist language for further guidelines.
Mankind. See man.
Many. The comparative forms of the adjective “many” are irregular: “many, more, most.” See comparison.
May. See can.
May be, maybe. These two words have different functions and meanings. “May be” is a compound verb that means “could exist or happen”: “Our neighbors may be coming to dinner.” “Maybe” is an adverb that means perhaps: “Maybe our neighbors will come to dinner.”
Maybe. See may be.
Me, myself. Don’t use “myself” when “me” (the objective case of “I”) is meant. WRONG: “The memo will come from Jones and myself.” RIGHT: “The memo will come from Jones and me.” See “self”
Mean, meant, meant. An irregular verb in its main, past tense, and past participle forms.
Meant. See mean.
Media. “Media” is the plural of “medium” (it retains a Latin plural form) in the sense of devices or modes: “The news media are out in force.” Singular uses of ‘media’ are becoming more common, but they are wrong in formal writing. “Medium” in the sense of one who mediates between realms, especially psychic worlds, has the plural “mediums”: “The mediums all agreed that a great flood would come in five years.”
Meet, met, met. An irregular verb in its main, past tense, and past participle forms.
Met. See meet.
Metaphor. A metaphor is a word or phrase that implies or indirectly expresses a comparison or identity. It often enlivens writing by adding an unexpected dimension to words: “The car, an arrow in flight, sped down the road.” This stylistic device should be used with caution—many of the obvious comparisons have already appeared so often in writing that they have become trite, or clichéd: “The golden orb shed its warming rays on the sunbathers.” See also simile, style, cliché.
Min. The common abbreviation for “minute” is “min.” It is not used in formal, standard English writing, but it often appears in such special styles as scientific, sports, or cooking writing. In more technical writing, “min.” can stand for “minimum” or various measurements (“minim”). Consult a dictionary for these more specialized usages of “min.”
Misplaced modifier. One of the commonest ways of confusing your audience is to misplace adjectives or adverbs—single words or whole phrases or clauses used as modifiers—leaving readers or listeners in doubt about what you mean to say or write.
The answer to this sort of problem is to write and revise with care, noting all adjectives and adverbs of whatever length and complexity and making sure that they are close to the words they modify or are otherwise unambiguously linked to them. Particular care should be taken with inverted sentences, in which phrases or clauses are purposely put where they are less expected and often not very close to the words they modify. The examples that follow are marked “right” and “wrong,” although in many cases it would be more accurate to say that meaning in one is clearer than in another or that meaning differs from one sentence to another.
WRONG: “Aiming carefully, the gazelles were shot by the hunter one after the other.” RIGHT: “Aiming carefully, the hunter shot the gazelles one after the other.” Here the first sentence is incorrect because gazelles don’t use guns and don’t aim them.
WRONG: “The tourist saw a painting in the museum of birds.” RIGHT: “The tourist saw a painting of birds in the museum.” The first sentence could be correct (there could be a museum devoted to birds); but if it is right, it is likely that the museum is called “The Museum of Birds,” or it would be a better sentence if the correct name of the museum were given and capitalized so that readers would not have to wonder if the statement is about a painting of birds or a museum of birds.
WRONG: “I almost completed all my work.” RIGHT: “I completed almost all my work.” The first sentence could be correct, suggesting that you were near to finishing your work or intended to do so; but it leaves some doubt about what precisely you mean. The second sentence leaves no doubt that you did the larger part of your work.
WRONG: “We want to visit the library after our friends.” RIGHT: “We want to visit the library after we visit our friends (or after our friends visit the library or to find our friends).” The incomplete first sentence does not make it clear whether he is visiting his friend first or if he is visiting the library after his friend does, or in order to look for his friend. Depending on what is intended, any of the second variants might be more accurate.
There are dozens of other ways to put modifiers where they don’t belong or in places where your audience can’t tell which word or idea they refer to. Check where you put modifiers so that you don’t confuse more than you clarify. See revision, inversion, and capitalization.
Modifier. Words that qualify or explicate the condition or status or other words (or phrase or clauses) are called “modifiers.” Modifiers of nouns (things or people) are called adjectives, while words that refer to verbs are called adverbs. Because they add so much to the nouns and verbs we use, modifiers are important parts of speech that do a great deal to enliven, enrich, and clarify our statements.
“Put the bleached flour in a deep pan warming on the stove. Stirring constantly, blend in the toasted almonds, then the vanilla taken from the beans that have soaked in brandy boiled down until its alcohol has completely evaporated.” In this long passage, the following are modifiers of one sort or another:
“Bleached”: adjectival past participle modifying “flour”
“Deep”: adjective modifying “pan”
“Warming on the stove”: adjectival present participle phrase modifying “pan”
“Stirring constantly”: adverbial gerund phrase modifying “blend”
“Constantly”: adverb modifying “stirring”
“Toasted”: adjective or past participle modifying “almonds”
“Taken from the beans …”: adjectival past participial phrase modifying “vanilla”
“That have soaked in brandy”: adjectival demonstrative pronoun clause modifying “beans”
“boiled down …”: adjectival past participial phrase modifying “brandy”
“Until its …”: adverbial prepositional phrase modifying “boiled down”
“Completely”: adverb modifying “has evaporated”
The simplest relationship between a word and its modifier is for them to be next to each other: “the red house” or “walking quickly.” But groups of words can function as nouns or verbs and also as their modifiers in sentences, and long combinations of words can put modifiers fairly far away from the thing they qualify. Sometimes modifiers get in each other’s way and are said to be misplaced or to dangle (see misplaced modifier). When this happens, your audience will not know what you mean or will have to pause and figure out what the most likely sense of your words is. They will then probably lose concentration, fail to pay attention to what follows the confusing passage, or simply give up on you as a clear or cogent speaker or writer.
To avoid such consequences, make sure your thoughts are in order and that the words you choose to express them match and convey that order (see order of words). Put modifiers as close to the words they refer to as possible, or find a way to make the link between word and modifier unambiguous. Read and reread your writing to listen for adjectives, adverbs, phrases, and clauses that might be heard differently by your audience than you intended. Put yourself in your audience’s place whenever you intend to put a modifier into a sentence or whenever you find an adjective or adverb when you are proofreading or revising. Does it belong where it is? Could it possibly be taken to modify more than one thing in the sentence? Is it in the right place to qualify just the word, phrase, or clause I want modified? Is there something in the sentence to which it refers? Is it the right thing?
Only by asking all these questions of every modifier will you be certain to avoid the ambiguities, stupidities, and irritations that misusing modifiers can cause. See revision and editing.
Mood. Besides tense, indicating time of action, and voice, indicating whether a subject is acting or being acted on, verbs have “mood,” indicating feelings or attitudes toward the action. There are three moods: indicative, the “normal” mood for describing action or condition directly; imperative, the mood of command or request; and subjunctive, the mood of unreal conditions, desires, or needs.
The indicative mood is used for all statements, questions, and so on that aren’t in the imperative or subjunctive. It is the “normal” or neutral mood in which a writer or speaker expresses what is believed to be fact or evident, inquires into aspects of reality, or reports what others have assumed to be ordinary or correct: “The bear hibernates in winter. Is the bear in its den? Scientists believe bears hibernate to survive the cold winters.” Most sentences in most circumstances are indicative, a mood not marked in any way grammatically.
The imperative mood is used for commands or requests: “Go study bears in hibernation, but don’t disturb them.” Imperative statements are often marked by inversion or unusual word order, and they commonly are followed by exclamation points to further distinguish them.
The subjunctive mood is sometimes called “conditional.” It is used to express things that are not real or not certainly matters of fact, to convey wishes, or to state requirements: “If I were to poke that bear, it might wake up, and it might attack me.” Subjunctive verb forms are sometimes different (“I were”), and subjunctive sentences often include words like “if” or “that” to introduce clauses. In the last example, all the verbs have a conditional sense to them.
Sentences should not mix moods. WRONG: “Study hibernation, and you should be careful when you do.” RIGHT: “Study hibernation, and be careful when you do.”
Moral, morale. These two nouns are pronounced differently and have different meanings despite some similarity in their appearance and spelling. “Moral” means a story’s sense, ethical lesson, rule for behavior: “The moral of the story is….” The plural, “morals,” means a person’s ethical rules or behavior. “Moral” is also an adjective that means behaving ethically or in keeping with higher law: “The minister is a very moral person.” “Morale” means spirit or sense of well-being: “Morale was high in the firm because sales results were good.”
Morale. See moral.
More, most. These words are the irregular comparative forms for three adjectives: many, much, and some. See comparison.
Moreover. “Moreover” is a conjunctive adverb suggesting exception or addition.
Most. See more.
Mr. Men addressed formally, as in a business letter, are usually called “Mr.” This title appears directly before their last names unless they are well known to you or the person you are addressing: “Dear Mr. Sirota: It was a pleasure to talk to you and Mr. Wolff about our products. Our company’s representatives, Ms. Patel and Mr. Rachinsky, will call on you next week to continue our discussion.” The title, or honorific, “Mr.” is rarely spelled out as “Mister” unless special attention needs to be drawn to the title itself: “He sees himself as Mister Gish, but I just call him Jim.” The intent of such usage is usually ironic.
Mrs. See Ms.
Ms., Miss, Mrs.. Recently, the designations given to women to indicate their marital status have undergone immense changes. In many instances “Miss” (the title traditionally applied to an unmarried woman or a girl) has become unacceptable and is felt to be derogatory. In the same way, the term “Mrs.,” traditionally applied to married women, conveys a concern with marital status that is unnecessary and may be considered offensive.
For these reasons, the term “Ms.” came into being as a kind of contraction of “Miss” and “Mrs.” It is intended as a direct equivalent to “Mr.” in brevity and age, class, and marital status neutrality. Its use has become widespread, and “Ms.” should be considered the preferred term of address. When the woman in question has expressed a clear preference, it should be honored: “Jane Jones prefers to call herself ‘Mrs. Jones.’ ” See sexist language.
Much. “Much” forms its comparatives irregularly: much, more, most. See comparison.
Myself. See me and -self.