The Grammar Factor (Factorial's twin)

January 2010

From Mary Morel
Consultant, trainer and author
www.themfactor.com.au and www.onlinegrammar.com.au

Nauseous and nauseated and more than and over

Reading Grammar Girl’s e-newsletters during the Christmas break, I discovered that I use nauseous incorrectly. I would say I feel nauseous, rather than I feel nauseated. The Macquarie Dictionary gives a definition of nauseous as ‘experiencing feelings of nausea’, but says this usage does not have universal acceptance.

I am not sure I will change my current usage. It’s a bit like the difference between more than and over. I think over is now used interchangeably with more than. For example, Westpac in Australia boasts it is ‘bringing back over 600 local bank managers’, not more than 600 local bank managers. Which usage do you prefer?

Grammar questions

Reader’s question: What’s the difference between an ‘appendix’ and an ‘addendum’? Can they be used interchangeably or should we be using one over the other in specific circumstances?

My answer: My first reaction was that these terms are not interchangeable, but when I looked in a dictionary, I was surprised to find that one definition of an addendum was ‘an appendix’. Another definition was ‘an addition’, and that’s how I regard an addendum. I distinguish between these words as follows.

An appendix supplements the body of a document, providing detailed information that not everyone will want to read. Appendices are often statistical, historical or technical.

An addendum is extra information that the writer discovered after writing the report, such as a new study on the topic. It’s a bit like a PS.

Reader’s question: When do you use an apostrophe with ‘its’?

My answer: You use an apostrophe when it is short for ‘it is’ or ‘it has’. For example: It’s a lovely day.

You don’t use an apostrophe when you use its possessively as it is already a possessive pronoun, such as his, hers, theirs. For example: The dog ate its dinner.

Reader’s question: Can you use an apostrophe to indicate that you have abbreviated a word? For example, could you say Coro’, short for Coromandel?

My answer: I wouldn't use an apostrophe to shorten Coro, but you could put it in single quotes to indicate that you are using it colloquially.

The reason I wouldn't use an apostrophe to shorten Coro is that we don't usually use apostrophes at the beginning or end of words to indicate contractions. We mainly use them in the middle of words, for example, can’t, let's, shouldn’t.

However, there are exceptions. We use an apostrophe at the beginning of dates to show we have left out numbers, for example, ’90s, ’09.

And I found one phrase that uses an apostrophe at the end of a word – rock ’n’ roll. Can you think of any others?

PS Why does will not become won't? It doesn't seem logical.

Word of the month — noughties

In the Australian press, the last decade has been called the noughties.

I have noticed the US uses the following terms: naughties, aughties and oughties.

What do you think this decade will be called? Teens? Teenies? I read somewhere that second decades aren’t usually given a nickname, but this decade may be different.

Regards

Mary Morel

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