SJC-style-and-production-guide-2012

Eearlier, later It is a tautology to use ‘earlier’ or ‘later’ when each is patently obvious. So anexpression such as ‘The ship arrived earlier today’ clearly contains an unnecessary word ifthe writer means merely that the action occurred before the report. Be specific: ‘Tuesdaymorning’, unless it is for radio or television. Similarly, the expression ‘A verdict will beannounced later this week’ is equally fatuous unless the writer is comparing in time two ormore incidents.early adopters in new media circles are people who get onto the next new thing.ellipsis are the devices used to signify omission of words in a quoted passage. The devicerequires a space before and after use: ‘The committee oversees health policy . . . and regulatesworkplace safety.’ See also dash to set up MSWord to automatically set an ellipsis.elicit to draw out an answer, confession or admission. Illicit not legal.elude to evade or escape capture; allude to make indirect reference to. ‘The policewomanalluded to the man’s involvement in the assault, without directly accusing him’.emigrate is to leave permanently a home country; immigrate is to arrive at a new country,having emigrated, with the intention of making it home. Migrate covers both processes.embarrass, harass Note that the longer of the two words is the one with two ‘r’s.enquiry (See inquiry.)envelop (v) envelope (n).espresso not expresso.euphemism The process of finding a ‘nicer’ or apparently more palatable alternative word isconstant in English and may be sometimes difficult to detect. Conservative style should treatnew, ‘nicer’ words with suspicion and favour the existing usage: the US State Department,deciding it would no longer use ‘killing’ in reports on human rights, said it would use‘unlawful or arbitrary deprivation of life’ (Mencher, 1987: 152). (Help! Help! I’m beingunlawfully or arbitrarily deprived of life!) Similarly, military jargon/euphemism used‘collateral damage’ as the preferred military way to describe killing in the Persian Gulf war.Prefer the euphemism ‘undertaker’ to the very euphemistic ‘bereavement counsellor’. If aparrot or person is dead, use ‘dead’, not one of the many euphemisms, such as ‘passed away’.every day, everyday This is an example of two clear meanings. ‘Every day’ means ‘each day’,while ‘everyday’ means ‘ordinary’. Supermarket chains advertising ‘everyday savings’ areadmitting the savings are pretty poor.evoke and invoke are often confused. The first means to summon or trigger a memory:‘the music evoked strong memories of a happy childhood’. The second means to refer tosomething or ask: ‘The priest invoked God’s name in the blessing of the fishing fleet’.exact/extract are often confused. The first means to force, require or compel: ‘He exactedpayment for his time.’ ‘It was an exacting task to fit the machine parts together; they had tofit exactly’. This also suggests the everyday meaning of exact: precise, accurate. The secondword means to draw out by force: ‘He extracted juice,’ ‘She extracted a tooth’.exclusive this word is overused and thereby devalued. Usually coupled with ‘revealed’. Do notuse, unless instructed to by seniors. It’s nakedly self-promoting. After all the core business ofUQ SJC STYLEBOOK 2012 – PAGE 38