Ugly Disagreements

Singular goes with singular, plural with plural. Sounds easy. Yet agreement problems abound in our prose, between subjects and verbs, between nouns and pronouns. The perils are all familiar: phrases intervening between subject and verb that throw us off track; collective nouns that veer from singular to plural; tricky words like “each”; and, of course, that infamous “one of the people who …” construction that we simply refuse to get right.

The only safeguards are greater care in the writing and closer scrutiny in the editing. The latest roundup of lapses:

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All the information, including the official microblog posts, were still controlled by officials who generally knew what to expect, the analysts noted.

The subject is the singular “information,” so the verb should be “was controlled,” not “were.” As so often happens, we were thrown off track by the intervening plural phrase “microblog posts.”

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But the potential for conflicts are particularly acute at ESPN, which has tentacles throughout the sports world and whose mission is to cover sports that it actively promotes.

Here, too, the plural “conflicts” in the intervening prepositional phrase confused us. Make it “the potential … is particularly acute,” not “are.”

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The S.E.A. [Syrian Electronic Army] first emerged in May 2011, during the first Syrian uprisings, when it started attacking a wide array of media outlets and nonprofits and spamming popular Facebook pages like President Obama's and Oprah Winfrey's with pro-Assad comments. Their goal, they said, was to offer a pro-government counternarrative to media coverage of Syria.

This is a surprisingly common problem - shifting to the plural pronoun “they” after a clearly singular noun. It frequently occurs after a reference to a company or organization. It's usually simple to fix by introducing a plural noun in the second reference - “executives,” for example, after a company reference. In this example, the second sentence could begin, “Members said their goal was …”

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Across the street, the Osborne family has been tenants for two years, moving in after the previous owner lost the house in a foreclosure. They are happy to have a decent place to call home but, like many renters, they have not done much to improve the appearance or join the community.

This is a related but slightly trickier problem. “Family” and many other collective nouns can be either singular or plural, depending on whether the emphasis is on the unit or the individuals. But we should avoid switching back and forth. Here, we followed “family” with a singular verb but then the plural “tenants” and “they.” Probably better to keep it plural throughout - or avoid “family” and just say “the Osbornes have been …”

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Each had contracted H.I.V. as teenagers.

Used as a pronoun, “each” is generally singular, so the later references should also be singular: “Each had contracted H.I.V. as a teenager.”

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Allyson Felix of the United States and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica kept on pace for a showdown in the 200, each winning their heats.

The same problem here; make it “each winning her heat,” or change “each” to “both.”

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At the time the results, as stitched together by Chris Marker, seemed more self-congratulatory than coherent, though this may be one of those movies that now has more to say about its own cultural moment than it does about its ostensible subject.

A perennial problem. In this construction, the relative clause describes all the movies in the category, not just the one movie, so the verb and pronouns should be plural: “those movies that now have more to say about their own cultural moments …”

 
In a Word

This week's grab bag of grammar, style and other missteps, compiled with help from colleagues and readers.

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Flashes of the usual brilliance remain but occur less frequently, less consistently, until a player who once seemed anything but beatable is now imminently so.

Eminently, not imminently.

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Digitalization of their titles proceeded slowly.

Digitization, not digitalization. As we noted in May, “digitalization” is formed from “digitalize,” which actually means to administer digitalis drugs to a heart patient. No kidding.

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The wrenched and twisted wreck was, in itself, shocking enough: A passenger bus in Kenya crashed through a barrier at a sharp curve on Thursday, flipping over, tearing off the roof and killing 41 people, according to the Kenya Red Cross.

Redundant; all buses carry passengers.

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At least, some have been saying that to me, when they find out I've spent the summer keeping track of power outages caused by squirrels.

Power outages caused by squirrels are a new hobby of mine, a persnickety and constantly updating data set that hums along behind the rest of my life the way baseball statistics or celebrity-birthing news might for other people.

“Outage” was used throughout this piece. See the stylebook entry:

outage is jargon and a euphemism for failure, shutdown or cutoff (of electricity or water, for example). Use the simpler words.

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[Photo caption] An American college education, or a high school degree, has become a badge of prestige in China. …

Now, many Chinese companies are catering to the expanding ambitions of Chinese parents, and their offspring, by offering summer experiences costing $5,000 to $15,000 for several weeks in the United States, often a first step to an American college education, or a high school degree, which have become badges of prestige here.

We've slipped on this several times lately. High school graduates are awarded diplomas, not degrees.

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The physician and poet Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. traveled through the gently rolling hills of the Brandywine Valley in southeastern Pennsylvania during the Civil War when he came there to search for his son, whom he feared had been killed in battle.

Who, not whom; it's the subject of “had been killed.”

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He devoted hours of time and thousands of repetitions to mastering pro skills.

“Hours of time” seems redundant.

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“Mostly, though, $3 million to $6,” he said. “I love that market - there are probably 10 times as many people in that market than to buy an eight- or nine-million-dollar house, right?”

“$6″ - that is, six dollars - is presumably not what he said. We could have paraphrased that part of the quote, or simply rendered in words exactly what he said, whatever that was, e.g. “Mostly, though, three million to six.”

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About a week later, he admitted to a Navy investigator that while unloading his weapon, it accidentally discharged, copies of his statements show.

Dangler; the “unloading” does not describe “it.” Make it, “While he was unloading his weapon …”

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He seemingly never has a conversation without referencing Scripture.

Avoid this jargony verb. Make it “citing” or “referring to.”

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The teachers' union is one of the municipal unions itching for retroactive pay raises in contracts that expired under Mr. Bloomberg and need renegotiating.

Make it “retroactive raises”; as the stylebook notes, “pay raises” is redundant.

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For decades, Japanese studios dazzled, terrified and tickled global audiences with monster movies and television shows featuring actors in rubber suits laying waste to scaled-down Tokyos, or dueling atop miniaturized Mt. Fujis.

Mount, not Mt. From the stylebook:

Mount. Capitalize the word as part of a name and spell it out: Mount Vernon. The abbreviation (Mt. Vernon) may be used in headlines, charts, tables and maps.

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[Photo caption] New court filings claim that J. Ezra Merkin, right, questioned the legitimacy of investments by Bernard Madoff, left, leaving court in 2009, even as he steered investors to Mr. Madoff's fund.

The odd placement of the phrase “leaving court in 2009″ makes this caption awfully hard to read.

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If he were known at all to Western security analysts who track the origins of spam, and in particular the ubiquitous subset of spam e-mails that promote male sexual enhancement products, it was only by the handle he used in Russian chat rooms, Engel.

This is just a simple past-tense conditional clause, not a contrary-to-fact condition, so the subjunctive wasn't called for. Make it “If he was…”

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For a moment, it looked like what Paul McCartney needed when he was 71 was not someone to send a valentine or a birthday bottle of wine, but someone to fix his social media accounts.

We should avoid this informal use of “like” as a conjunction; make it “as if” or “as though.”

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In 2006, it looked like the longstanding acrimony between Robert A. Durst, the real estate scion, and his family was coming to an end, with one final separation.

Here, the same problem, also in a lede. As if, not like.

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The generous $3.75 piece of coconut cream pie, slapped unceremoniously into a Styrofoam container and served by Kameron, was an outrageously dense, gloriously goopy, utterly enthralling dessert that would be a runaway hit at twice the price if sold from a Manhattan food truck.

From the stylebook:

Styrofoam is a trademark of the Dow Chemical Company for a polystyrene used in insulation and boat construction. It is not used in cups or food containers; for those, write plastic foam.

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Two-and-a-half years ago, The Times reported horrifying abuse of people with developmental disabilities or mental illnesses by state employees, who were rarely punished for it.

The hyphens weren't needed here.

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Sabathia has endured a drop in velocity, an inability to locate pitches and questions about whether his weight loss has attributed to his decline.

Contributed, not attributed, of course.

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One of the sharpest critics was Geir Thorsteinsson, the president of Iceland's federation, who suggested that Johannsson interest in playing for the United States purley financial.

Ugh. Multiple errors in this early version. We meant “…that Johannsson's interest in playing for the United States was purely financial.”

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“It takes awhile for news to get out,” Ms. Christian said by telephone from Pitcairn on Thursday.

Here we wanted “a while,” two words; it's a noun acting as the direct object of “takes” (As one word, “awhile” is an adverb.)

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It remains to be seen whom that should be, said Paul Anderko, the president of the GPS Conservatives for Action PAC.

Who, not whom.

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When Patinkin reigns himself in, he can be magnificent.

A distressingly common error. Make it “reins,” not “reigns.”

Bright Passages

Now, a brief respite from carping, and another small sampling of sparkling prose from recent editions:

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Metro, 9/7:

Kiss Baby, Smile, Check Phone (Over and Over)

New York City's race for mayor this year has featured a number of conspicuous novelties …

Less conspicuous, perhaps only because voters are too busy staring at their own smartphones to notice, is the way the ubiquity of mobile devices has introduced a new peril into candidate-voter interactions: distracted campaigning.

At a forum last month, typical of the scores of such events around the city over the course of the campaign, candidates fiddled ceaselessly with their phones, though they were onstage before an audience of over 1,500 and the event was televised.

The phenomenon is in part a fact of contemporary life - people everywhere check their cellphones constantly - and in part a tacit acknowledgment of a reality of campaigning: It can be boring to listen to the same rival candidates saying the same things day after day, night after night.

Sarah Maslin Nir's observation on the latest campaign-trail trend was full of vivid details and deft phrases.

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Metro, 8/30:

Come On In, Paddlers, the Water's Just Fine. Don't Mind the Sewage.

Some people questioned the wisdom of establishing a boat club at a Superfund site.

But such is the lure of water, even when sludge seems like a more fitting descriptor, that the North Brooklyn Boat Club emerged out of one of New York's most-polluted estuaries, Newtown Creek.

Its docks sit just downstream from a sewage treatment plant and a recycling center. Its clubhouse is flanked by salvage yards and warehouses, not far from an area so contaminated by decades of oil spills that the soil resembles black mayonnaise. And, flashing a winking self-awareness, its logo features a rowboat in a stream gushing out of a sewer spout while a tin can and a dead rat drift alongside.

The understatement of the lead and the telling details drew readers into Emily Rueb's intriguing Brooklyn feature.

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Culture, 8/21:

Democracy May Prove the Doom of WBAI

WBAI likes to call itself “radio for the 99 percent.” But most of the time the station - a listener-supported and proudly scrappy mainstay of the left since 1960 - is lucky to be heard by 0.1 percent of the New York radio audience.

A reader praised this sharp lead by Ben Sisario, which summed up WBAI's challenge in two quick sentences.

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Metro, 8/21:

Nonprofits Are Balking at Law on Disclosing Political Donors

In Albany, where even transparency is discussed in secret, the state ethics commission voted behind closed doors to grant an exemption to Naral Pro-Choice New York, a prominent abortion rights group.

Another reader submission: Tom Kaplan's pitch-perfect observation on business as usual in Albany.

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Obituaries, 7/13:

Jim Buck, Who Made Walking Dogs a Job, Dies at 81

There are eight million occupational stories in New York City, and none cries Gotham louder than that of the professional surrogate - the shrewd city dweller who spies a void that other New Yorkers are too hurried, harried or hard-pressed to fill and rushes enterprisingly in.

Over time, the city has spawned professional car-movers and professional line-standers, but its most visible - and audible - paid surrogates are indisputably its professional dog walkers.

By all accounts, Jim Buck was the first of them.

It's hard to do a “Bright Passages” tally without an entry from Margo Fox - here, from her delightful who-knew? obit for the dean of Manhattan dog-walkers.

 
That Darn Subjunctive

Now, back to the carping. Sparkling prose notwithstanding, the subjunctive continues to torment some writers and editors. We skip it when we should use it - and, more conspicuously, overcompensate by using it when it isn't called for. A recent example of each problem:

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In the case of Roger Federer, every sign of struggle sets the radar on high alert because he's Roger Federer and the current downward slope of his career is monitored as if the sport is watching its own electrocardiogram.

This is a “contrary to fact” condition (the sport is not, in fact, watching its own electrocardiogram). Use the subjunctive: “as if the sport were watching …”

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If he were known at all to Western security analysts who track the origins of spam, and in particular the ubiquitous subset of spam e-mails that promote male sexual enhancement products, it was only by the handle he used in Russian chat rooms, Engel.

Here's the hypercorrection. This is just an ordinary past-tense condition, not a contrary-to-fact condition or a hypothetical construction that would call for the subjunctive. Make it “If he was known at all … it was only by the handle …”

 
In a Word

This week's grab bag of grammar, style and other missteps, compiled with help from colleagues and readers.

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Although there were two voting booths, the couple went sequentially. Ms. McCray, wearing a flowered dress and sandals, voted first.

But what was Mr. de Blasio wearing? Please be careful about such descriptions. (This one was eventually removed.)

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Mr. Byford was made redundant in October 2010 after 31 years with the BBC but remained on the staff with pay for eight months before receiving severance of nearly £1 million (about $1.55 million): a year's salary of £474,500 and the same again in lieu of notice.

Even in a story about Britain, let's avoid this Britishism. Make it “laid off.”

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Athletes with facial hair is not a new phenomenon.

“Athletes” is plural: those with facial hair are not a new phenomenon.

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With the prevalence of fierce bidding wars for apartments in Manhattan, homes that get poached within a day of the open house, and interest rates that keep inching up, a buyer could become so frustrated by hunting for real estate in the 212 area code that he or she might just decide to give up.

This reference is archaic. Since the 1990s, Manhattan has had two additional area codes (646 and 917) that can be either cell or land lines (and Marble Hill is in 718).

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People, not products, are the main cause of food-borne illnesses, and they can be avoided by following certain basic principles of food safety.

O.K., I get what we are trying to say. But in this construction, “they” seems at first glance to refer to “people.”

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In his autobiographical essay written for the Nobel committee after being awarded the prize, he recalled being taken by his father at age 11 to a phrenologist to hear what could be discovered from the shape of his head.

Dangler. Make it “after he was awarded,” since it is not the essay that was awarded the prize, and the phrase goes with “written,” not “recalled.”

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But once rescued, finding new homes for beleaguered birds - de-beaked, atrophied and often suffering from osteoporosis - can be a challenge.

Another dangler. Make it “But once they are rescued,” since what is rescued is the beleaguered birds, not finding new homes.

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For nearly half a decade, on a 10-acre plot that was once owned by Henry Francis du Pont, Mr. Klein, the fashion designer, has been erecting a minimalist palace the likes of which is seldom seen in an area of increasing architectural homogeneity.

Make it, “the likes of which are seldom seen.”

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Indeed, Time Warner Cable executives had said earlier that a reason the company decided to remove the CBS stations in early August was because of the recognition that it would lose leverage the closer it got to the N.F.L. season.

Make it, “a reason … was the recognition”; “because of” is redundant after “reason.”

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But the ballpark it is eyeing for possible games lies not in big sports centers, like London with its Wembley Stadium, or Paris, with the Stade de France, but this midsize Dutch town on land that until about 150 years ago lay deep under water.

For the sentence to be parallel, a preposition must follow “but”: make it, “lies not in … but in this midsize Dutch town …” (Also, “eyeing” in this sense is journalese; perhaps “considering”?)

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But here they are on what used to be Super Saturday, with Federer long gone, and with Nadal ready for Gasquet in a match where the stakes (and the video quality) will be quite a bit higher than it was back at age 13.

“The stakes … will be a quite a bit higher than they were…”

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Mr. Buatta is perhaps the only decorator people outside of the Palm Beach-Upper East Side-Southampton axis could actually name …

Avoid these double prepositions; no need for “of” here.

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[Headline] Facing Fear, With Family, in the Sierras

The Sierras began to form 10 million years ago and are made of speckled granite that shines like crystal.

From The Times's stylebook:

Sierra Nevada; the Sierra (not Sierra Nevada Mountains or the Sierras).

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1:30 p.m. Greets shoppers preparing for Rosh Hashanah at Seasons Supermarket in the Flushing section of Queens.

Plunging headfirst into public diplomacy, Mr. Zarif chose to open his dialogue with fellow users of the social network by extending greetings for the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah.

Our style is Rosh Hashana.

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The two-day visit was Mr. Bezos's first trip to The Post since he agreed to buy the paper in early August for $250 million. Before the deal closes in October, Mr. Bezos made the visit to chat with employees from both the business and editorial sides about his plans for the company.

The agreement, not the sale, came in August. A simple fix would clarify the timing: “since he agreed in early August to buy the paper.”

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Many young adults willingly pay twice as much for a fourth-floor walk-up in Gotham than they would spend in Milwaukee or Tucson for better space.

Make it “twice as much … as they would,” not “than.”

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Money is flowing to elections like never before.

“Like” in this sense is a preposition that should be followed by a noun or pronoun; make this “as never before.”

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The American bar mitzvah, facing derision for Las Vegas style excess, is about to get a full makeover, but for an entirely different reason.

This compound modifier needed a hyphen: “Las Vegas-style excess.”

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My father, A.R. Schwartz, known as Babe, was a member of the Legislature between 1955, two years before I was born, until 1980, when I was in college and he was swept out of office with the Reagan tide.

Make it “between 1955 … and 1980,” or “from 1955 … until 1980.”

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There were guilty grimaces when asked if they regularly composted their food scraps.

Another dangler; it's not natural to read the participle “asked” to refer to the pronoun within the following subordinate clause. Rephrase, e.g., “There were guilty grimaces when the candidates were asked …”

Close but Not Quite

These aren't the usual homophone missteps - bare for bear, or palate for palette. But in each case we seemed to have mixed up two vaguely similar words. Working too fast? Dictionary shelf too far away?

Whatever the causes, this makes our writing and editing look ramshackle at best.

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Mr. Thompson responded in his statement that the trust had been told “in writing and orally” about the severance payments, including the one to his deputy, Mark Byford, whose job was eliminated, and about the savings that would incur.

“Incur” is a transitive verb (it takes a direct object). It means “acquire” and usually refers to something undesirable - incurring a debt, for example. I assume in this case we meant “accrue,” meaning to accumulate.

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The book offers numerous reminders of how Mr. Crystal has spent his career capably serving multiple contingencies: young and old, celebrity pals and the mensch on the street.

We must have meant “constituencies”; hard to figure how we missed this one.

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Now Ms. Upton delivered a bravado performance, clearing up confusion about discounted cash flow and how to price bonds, tossing out Christmas candy as rewards.

Based on the context, it seems that we meant “bravura,” meaning brilliantly skillful. “Bravado” is a noun, not an adjective, and describes an often false show of courage.

 
In a Word

This week's grab bag of grammar, style and other missteps, compiled with help from colleagues and readers..

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The Cohen family said that after Ms. Cohen's death, Mr. Perelman crashed a family bar mitzvah and spent most of the celebration assessing Robert Cohen's capacity, who at the time was in a wheelchair.

The possessive “Robert Cohen's” - which functions as an adjective, not a noun - cannot serve as the antecedent of the pronoun “who.” Rephrase.

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But scientists say there is still much that is unknown about the unusual compounds, sometimes referred to as “flammable ice,” and that the commercial production of gas from them is still far-off.

We needed “that” after “say,” to be parallel with the later “that.” Also, no hyphen for this use of “far off.”

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But it has, so far, been ignored in New York State, one of only two states - the other is North Carolina - that sets the age of adult criminal responsibility at 16.

Recorded announcement. The subject of “sets” is “that,” which is plural because it refers to the plural “two states.” Make it “only two states … that set the age …”

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Flowers were again to the fore at Burberry Prorsum, where the English rose - its petals showering the finale - were in the mind of the designer.

The English rose was in the mind of the designer, not were.

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If some players were more presentable in tailored separates “it was cliché,” he added, noting that though many other players employ stylists, he chooses pieces on his own because, akin to being a point guard, he likes control. …

Mr. Westbrook was born in Los Angeles to Russell Westbrook Sr. and Shannon Westbrook, the oldest of two (his brother, Raynard, 22, is a running back for the University of Central Oklahoma). …

Growing up, his mother used to buy his clothes for him and she was always “following and knowing what the trends were.”

Several problems here. First, “akin” is an adjective; it can't be used this way. Second, make it “older of two.” And the third example is a dangler; he, not his mother, was growing up.

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The city sold nearly half as many permits in 2012 as it did in 2010 - a drop to 7,265 from 12,774.

This does not say what we meant. The 2012 figure is well over half of the larger figure, not “nearly half.” We presumably meant that the number declined by almost half, but that seems overstated, since the 2012 figure is about 57 percent of the 2010 total.

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Her extended family, she said, most of whom live in and around New York City, is planning a 60th anniversary commemoration of Firefighter Sullivan's death next year at his old Engine 319 firehouse, a two-story building wedged between one- and two-family houses on 67th Road in Middle Village, Queens.

Avoid treating “family” as plural and singular in the same sentence. Make it: “Members of her extended family, most of whom live in and around New York City, are planning…” (And insert a hyphen in “60th-anniversary commemoration.”)

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But true to the concerns of the women who met with Ms. Quinn in July, some allies thought the campaign could have handled the tricky matter of being a woman candidate with more finesse.

Do not use “woman” as a modifier. Make it “a female candidate.”

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With Mr. Ruto's appearance before the court in The Hague for his role in the violence that rocked the country after the disputed 2007 election, a process began that could influence not only the future of Kenya but also of the much-criticized tribunal as well.

A parallelism problem. The phrase after “but also” should be grammatically parallel to the phrase after “not only.” Make it “the future not only of Kenya but also of the much-criticized tribunal.” (Also, “as well” is redundant after “also.”)

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If a 17-year-old was caught smoking a joint in Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado, would federal prosecutors argue that the state wasn't sufficiently tough on enforcement?

We wanted the subjunctive for this hypothetical condition: were, not was.

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[Op-ed] In Syria, for two-and-a-half years, we've given the regime a green light, and the killing has escalated from 5,000 a year to 5,000 a month - and, last month, to a poison gas attack that was perhaps the biggest massacre in the war.

The hyphens weren't necessary here.

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Black voters preferred a white liberal with a black wife, an unapologetically progressive agenda and a son with an epic afro to the black centrist who almost unseated Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg four years ago.

No reason for the slang in a serious news context; what's more, “epic” seems outdated at this point. And Afro should be uppercase.

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As we observe the five-year anniversary of the financial crisis - Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy five years ago this coming weekend - the most intriguing hypothetical question about those fateful days is what would have happened had the government bailed out Lehman.

“Five-year anniversary” is redundant; make it “fifth anniversary.”

Words We Love Too Much

We've described things as eggplant-centric, beer-centric and sausage-centric. We've noted what's New York-centric, Manhattan-centric and L.A.-centric. There's more: curly-centric, couch-centric, Harley-Davidson-centric, LeBron-centric and derrière-centric, all in our pages in recent months.

A careful reader pointed out this increasingly common device: modifiers coined by tacking “centric” on to just about every noun in sight.

By my count, we've used “-centric” almost 150 times in print stories so far this year - compared with 72 times in 2000 and just 24 in 1995. Or, in visual terms (thanks to a data tool from my colleague Alexis Lloyd):

A few more examples from recent months:

female-centric
veteran-centric
row-centric
African-American-centric
baseball-centric
hayseed-centric
Gen-X-centric
steak-centric
kindergarten-centric
fundamentals-centric
apocalypse-centric
Wi-Fi-centric
quarterback-centric
tight-end-centric
long-ball-centric
iOS-6-centric

It may have been fresh and engaging once; not anymore. Let's try to be more judicious and look for alternatives.

 
Too Many Vibes

Another close reader laments that the slang vibe also seems rampant in recent months. A get-away-from-it-all vibe, a child-friendly vibe, a hockey-related vibe, a futuristic vibe, an easygoing, sunny vibe - you get the idea. Here's what it looks like when you graph it:

I say, let's give it a rest.

 
In a Word

This week's grab bag of grammar, style and other missteps, compiled with help from colleagues and readers.

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Foreign, 9/21:

With His Remarks on Sexual Morality, a Surprise Pope Keeps on Surprising

“First, you have to get consensus based on the force of the vision, and then you find the men,” said the Reverend Pierangelo Sequeri, dean of the Theological Faculty of Northern Italy. “I don't think the cardinals expected him to act in that way.”

Style is to abbreviate: “the Rev.”

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Sports, 9/22:

Jets Overcome Their Mistakes With One Long Pass

From that brightness came a football, which left quarterback Geno Smith's right hand as if shot by an arrow. It landed on Holmes's fingertips like a bird returning to its nest, and he cradled it as he scampered into the end zone.

As a reader pointed out, it would have to be shot by a bow, not by an arrow. And the sudden switch from arrow to bird muddles the metaphor further.

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Metro, 9/23:

A Mayoral Hopeful Now, de Blasio Was Once a Young Leftist

Mr. de Blasio remained supportive of the Sandinistas, often referred to by their acronym, F.S.L.N., even after they lost power.

F.S.L.N. is an abbreviation but not an acronym, which is an abbreviation pronounced as a word.

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Dining, 9/22:

Trendy Green Mystifies France. It's a Job for the Kale Crusader!

Kristen Beddard, a 29-year-old American, has been pushing to get Parisians to embrace kale as a menu staple, much like legions of American chefs do.

Much as, not much like.

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Culture, 9/19:

Professor Says He Has Solved A Mystery Over a Slave's Novel

Professor Gates said that Professor Hecimovich's discovery answers one of the large and lingering questions that has vexed him for more than a decade about the author of the book.

Recorded announcement. Make it “questions that have vexed him.” Or, if there really is just one such question, say that: “answers a large and lingering question that has vexed him …”

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Sports, 9/18:

Harvey Will Put Off Surgery, at Least for Now

He struck out two premier sluggers, Miguel Cabrera and Jose Bautista, swinging on filthy sliders, and Adam Jones, swinging on a 98 mile-per-hour fastball.

Let's avoid this hyped-up sports slang. (Also, we needed another hyphen in 98-mile-per-hour fastball.)

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Foreign, 9/23:

Humble Chinese Village Basks in Legacy of Three Kingdoms Era

Residents of Longmen, China, playing Mah Jong.

It's “mah-jongg,” per the stylebook.

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Opinionator blog, 9/23:

A Very Violent Gentleman

[Teaser] The life and times of Brig. Gen. Daniel W. Adams, who moved between the rarified aristocracy and the violent world of the 19th Century South.

It's “rarefied,” not rarified; it even has its own stylebook entry. Also, lowercase century and hyphenate the modifier: the 19th-century South.

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Culture, 9/23:

Met's Maestro Heading Back to His Podium

He said that surgeries and therapy had helped him not only to recover from his fall, but had also freed him of the debilitating back pain he was suffering before that, which led to many cancellations and contributed to his decision in 2011 to resign as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Not parallel. Make it “had not only helped him recover from his fall, but also freed him of the debilitating back pain.”

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Culture, 9/23:

A Glittering Runway, as Stars Sashay Into Top Couture Ranks

Ms. Danes proved up to the task, turning out in a Giorgio Armani tulle confection that showed off an ethereal, if slightly skeletal, frame. What Ms. Danes lacked in pulchritude, Lena Dunham of “Girls” supplied in abundance, wearing a coral-rose-patterned Prada gown that (somewhat sloppily) showed off her curves.

“Pulchritude” means beauty, which doesn't seem to be what we intended here. The contrast seems to be between curvy and skinny, not between pulchritude and a lack thereof.

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Foreign, 9/18:

Security Council Returns to Role in Syria Conflict

The diplomats, who declined to be identified, said Russia, Syria's most important ally, was resisting components of the draft, composed by the three Western permanent members - Britain, France and the United States - that discuss the threat of force to ensure Syrian compliance, whether to condemn the Syrian government for chemical weapons use and whether suspected users should be referred to the International Criminal Court for war crimes prosecutions.

Six commas and a couple of dashes are a warning sign. This overstuffed sentence is almost impossible to read.

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National, 9/16:

Newcomers Challenge Leadership in the House

Their approach has prompted backlash, like when House Republicans stripped Mr. Amash, 33, and others of plum committee assignments after they repeatedly challenged the leadership.

Make it as, not like.

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Science, 9/19:

Mars Rover Comes Up Empty in Search for Methane

And in 2003, it looked like methane was plentiful on Mars. Scientists reported seeing huge plumes of it, and their findings set off a surge of speculation and scientific interest.

It looked as if methane was plentiful, not like.

Close but Not Quite

It's commendable to add nuance or texture to our prose with a word that's slightly out of the ordinary. Just be sure the word you pick is the right one, used the right way. It's not enough to be in the general vicinity. And a misstep is all the more glaring if the word is unusual.

For example:

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Mr. Long [a reformed turnstile-jumper] was never caught, he said, but it had been a decade since he pilfered the system.

“Pilfer” is more striking than a number of other words that refer generally to stealing. And it has a connotation of petty crime, appropriate for this context. But there's a problem. “Pilfer” functions like “steal,” not like “cheat” or “defraud” - the direct object should be the thing stolen, not the victim. You pilfer towels from the hotel; you don't pilfer the hotel.

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The CNN interview, recorded on Tuesday and broadcast on Wednesday, was part of an energetic publicity campaign by Mr. Rouhani to distinguish himself from his bombastic predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was known in the West for denigrating Israel's right to exist, denying the Holocaust and criticizing what he routinely described as the West's doomed imperialist agenda.

Were we looking for a longer, fancier version of “deny”? “Denigrate” means to defame or to attack the character of. He may have denigrated Israel, but not Israel's right to exist. It seems we simply meant “deny,” “reject,” or something similar.

 
When Spell-Check Can't Help

Then there are the more ordinary, and annoying, homophone mix-ups. Make sure these are on your better-check-twice list:

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Archer Blood, the counsel general in Dacca, sent an angry cable that detailed the atrocities and used the word “genocide.”

It's “consul general,” not counsel. (“General counsel,” of course, describes a company's top lawyer.)

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After Officer Celena Hollis, who patrolled Park Hill, was shot and killed at the concert while trying to break up a fight between gang members, Mr. Roberts and other activists gathered at her police precinct to thank officers for their work and to diffuse tensions.

A remarkably common error, given the relative rarity of the words involved. The word we want is “defuse” - the analogy is to removing the fuse from a bomb. “Diffuse” as a verb means to spread out.

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General Atomics, which has decades of experience in nuclear power, but is probably best known for producing the Predator drone, is pursuing what it calls an “energy multiplier” reactor module on the same general principal.

One of the most common homophone lapses. Make it “principle.”

 
In a Word

This week's grab bag of grammar, style and other missteps, compiled with help from colleagues and readers.

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Three new Fox series did relatively well, the comedies, “Dads” and “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” and the drama “Sleepy Hollow.”

The latter was a full-court effort.

Several problems here. Use a colon or dash after “well” to introduce the list. The names of the two comedies shouldn't be set off with commas; this is a “restrictive” construction, in which the names are necessary to the sense, not merely additional information. Also, in precise usage, “latter” is used with two alternatives, not more.

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But at age 27, Mr. Murphy, who has his own financial planning business, does not feel like he should still be living in his childhood home in Massapequa, Long Island.

Avoid this colloquial use of “like” as a conjunction, introducing a full clause. “Like” is properly used as a preposition. Make it “as if” or, here, simply “that.”

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As a resident of haute bourgeois Park Slope and the owner of a rapidly appreciating row house, the middle-aged Mr. de Blasio seems unlikely to embrace property expropriation.

Copy editors, please save our writers from themselves. Do not allow them to use a foreign phrase unless you are both prepared to swear that it is correct. And then, still don't do it. “Haute” is a feminine adjective, “bourgeois” masculine; they don't go together. (“Bourgeoisie,” the noun, is feminine, hence “haute bourgeoisie,” which unfortunately is not what we had here.)

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A record haul of cocaine, found in suitcases here on an Air France flight arriving from Venezuela, is raising a multitude of questions about the security of the baggage scanning system and the possibility of collusion by either airport or airline staff members both in Venezuela and France.

This sentence is cumbersome and could be streamlined. In any case, what comes after “and” should be parallel to what comes after “both.” Make it “in both Venezuela and France” or “both in Venezuela and in France.”

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It is one of the few rituals of our political system that respects the experience and common sense of the ordinary citizen, and that puts a premium on an open mind.

Recorded announcement. Make it “the few rituals that respect … and that put …”

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Western diplomats said the resolution would be legally binding and would stipulate that if Syria fails to abide the terms, the Security Council would take measures under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, the strongest form of a council resolution. …

The diplomatic breakthrough on the Syria came as Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad- Zarif, said progress had been made toward a resolution of the nuclear dispute between his country and the West. …

The Syria resolution was a major milestones for the United Nations after years of largely unproductive discussions in the Security Council over the civil war in Syria, which has killed more than 100,000. …

There were several other stumbles in this story as well. We may have faced deadline pressure, but all these errors made it into at least the first print edition.

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If the shutdown drags on for weeks, as it did in 1995 and 1996, the 38-foot-long, seven-ton T-Rex may have to stay out West a little longer before making the trip.

“T. rex” would be the correct style for the short form (or T. Rex in a headline, as we had it). Just like E. coli, which is in the stylebook.

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“We're tall building engineers. We wanted to see what we can do to help on the sustainability side.”

How tall are these folks? And what difference does that make? Oh, right. Tall-building engineers.

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This week's earthquake struck Tuesday afternoon with a magnitude of 7.7 on the Richter scale, and was felt across the country, causing a small island to rise from the Arabian Sea. But it hit hardest near its epicenter in western Baluchistan Province.

Delete this phrase. The Richter scale is no longer in use. For clearer guidance on magnitudes, see the stylebook entry on earthquakes.