target Not so long ago target was almost unknown as a verb, except when used to mean provide with a shield. Now it turns up everywhere, even though aim or direct would often serve as well.
terrorist Use with care, preferably only to mean someone who uses terror as an organised system of intimidation. Prefer suspected terrorists to terrorist suspects.
testament, testimony A testament is a will; testimony is evidence. It is testimony to the poor teaching of English that journalists habitually write testament instead.
the Occasionally, the use of the definite article may be optional:
Maximilien Robespierre, the leader of the Committee of Public Safety, is preferable to Maximilien Robespierre, leader of the Committee of Public Safety, but in this context the the after Robespierre is not essential. However, Given that leaders of mainstream left and right parties means something different from Given that the leaders of both mainstream left and right parties. Likewise, If polls are right means something different from If the polls are right. They include freedom to set low flat taxes is similarly, if subtly, different from They include the freedom to set low flat taxes. In each of these examples the crucial the was left out. See also grammar and syntax.
there is, there are Often unnecessary. There are three problems facing the prime minister is better as Three problems face the prime minister.
throe, throw Throe is a spasm or pang (and is usually in the plural). Throw is to cast or hurl through the air. Last throws may be all right on the cricket pitch, but last throes are more likely on the battlefield.
ticket, platform, manifesto The ticket lists the names of the candidates for a particular party (so if you split your ticket you vote for, eg, a Republican for president and a Democrat for Congress). The platform is the statement of basic principles (planks) put forward by an American party, usually at its pre-election convention. It is thus akin to a British party’s manifesto, which sets out the party’s policies.
Platform has also acquired two modern meanings: a standard for the hardware of a computer system, determining what software it can run, and an opportunity to voice one’s views. Both are permissible.
time If you have to give an exact time, you should write 6.25am, 11.15pm, etc. But it is permissible to write two o’clock, 11 o’clock, half past ten, a quarter past four, if you wish to be less precise.
times Take care. Three times more than X is four times as much as X.
titles The overriding principle is to treat people with respect. That usually means giving them the title they themselves adopt. But some titles are ugly (Ms), some misleading (all Italian graduates are Dr) and some tiresomely long (Mr Dr Dr Federal Sanitary-Inspector Schmidt). Do not therefore indulge people’s self-importance unless it would seem insulting not to.
Do not use Mr, Mrs, Miss, Ms or Dr on first mention. Plain Barack Obama, David Beckham or other appropriate combination of first name and surname will do. But thereafter the names of all living people should be preceded by Mr, Mrs, Miss or some other title. Serving soldiers, sailors, airmen, etc should be given their title on first and subsequent mentions. Those (such as Colin Powell, but not Pervez Musharraf) who cast aside their uniforms for civvy street become plain Mr (or whatever). Governor X, President Y, the Rev John Z may be Mr, Mrs or Miss on second mention.
On first mention use forename and surname; then drop the forename (unless there are two people with the same surname mentioned): Nicolas Sarkozy, then Mr Sarkozy
1 Avoid nicknames and diminutives unless the person is always known (or prefers to be known) by one: Joe Biden Tony Blair Bill Emmott Maggie Smith Tiger Woods
2 Avoid the habit of joining office and name: Prime Minister Brown, Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn. But Chancellor Merkel is permissible.
3 Knights, dames, princes, kings, etc should have their titles on first and subsequent mentions. Many peers are, however, better known by their former names and can be given those on first mention. After that, they should be called by their titles. Life peeresses may be called Lady, not Baroness, just as barons are called Lord. Note that some people choose not to use their titles. So Sir Donald Tsang, for instance, prefers to be just Mr Tsang. (See British titles below.)
4 If you use a title, get it right. Rear-Admiral Jones should not, at least on first mention, be called Admiral Jones. On second and subsequent mentions the shorter form is acceptable.
5 Titles are not necessary in headings or captions, although surnames are: no Baracks, Davids, Gordons, Hillarys, etc. Sometimes they can also be dispensed with for athletes and pop stars, if titles would make them seem more ridiculous than dignified.
6 The dead: no titles (including Mr, etc), except those whom you are writing about because they have just died. Dr Johnson and Mr Gladstone are also permissible. There is no need to use first names for well-known people such as Einstein or Keats, though you might choose to do so for people whose second names are more common, like Inigo Jones.
7 Ms is permissible, though avoid it if you can. To call a woman Miss is not to imply that she is unmarried, merely that she goes by her maiden name. Married women who are known by their maiden names – eg, Aung San Suu Kyi, Jane Fonda – are therefore Miss, unless they have made it clear that they want to be called something else.
8 Foreign titles: take extra care.
9 Dr: use Dr only for qualified medical people, unless the correct alternative is not known or it would seem perverse to use Mr. And try to keep Professor for those who hold chairs, not just a university job or an inflated ego.
10 Middle initials: omit except in cases where confusion would be caused otherwise. George W. Bush (and George H. W. Bush) are allowed; but nobody will imagine that the Lyndon Johnson you are writing about is Lyndon A. Johnson or Lyndon C. Johnson.
11 Some titles serve as names, and therefore have initial capitals, though are also descriptions: the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Emir of Kuwait. If you want to describe the office rather than the individual, use lower case: The next archbishop of Canterbury will be a woman. Use lower case in references simply to the archbishop, the emir: The Duchess of Scunthorpe was in her finery, but the duke wore jeans.
British titles Long incomprehensible to all foreigners and most Britons, British titles and forms of address now seem just as confusing to those who hold them. Snobbery, embarrassment and obscurity make it difficult to know whether to write Patricia Scotland, Lady Scotland, Baroness Scotland, Lady Patricia Scotland or Baroness Patricia Scotland. Properly, she is Patricia, Baroness Scotland, but on first mention the following are preferable: Patricia Scotland or Lady Scotland. On subsequent mentions, Lady Scotland is fine.
On first mention all viscounts, earls, marquesses, dukes should be given their titles (shorn of all Right Honourables, etc). Thereafter they can be plain Lord (except for dukes). Barons, a category that includes all life peers, can always be called Lord. The full names of knights should be spelled out on first mention. Thereafter they become Sir Firstnameonly.
clerical titles Ordained clerics should be given their proper titles on first and subsequent mentions, though not their full honorifics (no need for His Holiness, His Eminence, the Right Reverend, etc).
But:
the Rev Michael Wall (thereafter Mr Wall)
Father Ted (Father Ted)
Bishop Cuthbert Auckland (Bishop Auckland)
Archbishop Desmond Tutu (Archbishop Tutu)
Imams, muftis, ayatollahs, rabbis, gurus, etc should be given an appropriate title if they use one, and it should be repeated on second and subsequent mentions, so:
Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri (Ayatollah Montazeri)
Rabbi Lionel Bloom (Rabbi Bloom)
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (Sri Sri Ravi Shankar)
to or and? To try and end the killing does not mean the same as to try to end the killing.
tortuous, torturous Tortuous means winding or twisting. Torturous means causing torture.
total is all right as a noun, but as a verb prefer amount to or add up to.
transitive and intransitive verbs The distinction between transitive and intransitive verbs is often now disregarded, to the distress of those brought up to respect it. Transitive verbs require a direct object; intransitive do not. Many verbs are both transitive and intransitive, and some ditransitive, meaning they appear to govern two objects, one direct and one indirect (as in She gave her husband a piece of her mind).
But not all. Commit is transitive. By committing yourself to the wrong person, you would be committing a mistake, but at least it would be grammatical. Deplete, too, is transitive: stocks do not deplete, they are depleted. Deliver also requires an object, which is implicit in commands like “Stand and deliver!” and questions like “Do you deliver?” Reduce is also transitive. If you want to use it intransitively, try diminish. Halve is another verb that needs an object: do not write The growth rate has halved (rather it has fallen by half). And do not obsess.
Many intransitive verbs need to be followed by a preposition, either explicitly or implicitly. Agree is one such. If something is involved, you must agree to, on or about it. If somebody is involved, you may agree with him, or perhaps agree to do something. Similarly, you may appeal against this injunction, but you may not appeal it. Nor may you cascade it to your colleagues, still less migrate it or pause it. Do not progress it, either, if by that you mean advance it. Progress is also intransitive. If you wish to protest, it must be against something, not at it. And if you live in a pleasant city, do not call it liveable. Life may be liveable there, and life is for living; but cities are lived in, not lived.
Embark and disembark are both transitive and intransitive. But take care if you use them transitively: you may disembark people or goods from a ship or aircraft, but you may not disembark the ship or aircraft yourself even when instructed to.
Avoid table as a transitive verb. In Britain to table means to bring something forward for action, and should be kept to committees. In America it sometimes means exactly the opposite.
In the past the intransitive use of present was seldom used except in obstetrics. Now symptoms present intransitively in every surgery, and other things elsewhere too. All such manifestations are unpleasant.
Even in the age of presentations, keep present transitive.
transpire means exhale, not happen, occur or turn out.
transportation in America, a means of getting from A to B; in Britain, a means of getting rid of convicts.
tribe Regarded as politically incorrect in some circles, tribe is widely used in Africa and other places. It should not be regarded as derogatory and is often preferable to ethnic group. See also ethnic groups, political correctness.
trillion A thousand billion (see figures), written as trn.
trooper, trouper An old trooper is an old cavalry soldier (supposedly good at swearing), old private soldier in a tank regiment, or old mounted policeman. An old trouper is an old member of a theatrical company, or perhaps a good sort.
Turk, Turkic, Turkmen, Turkoman, etc see place-names.
twinkle, twinkling In the twinkling of an eye means in a very short time. Before he was even a twinkle in his father’s eye means Before (perhaps just before) he was conceived. So, more loosely, Before the Model T was even a twinkle in Henry Ford’s eye could mean Before Henry Ford was even thinking about a mass-produced car. Before the internet was even a twinkle in Al Gore’s eyes, however, suggests Al Gore invented the internet.