Month: December 2008

103 Words

Foreign Languages, General

I have yet another book to recommend.

It is titled 103 Words that will make YOU A well-rounded Conversationalist!.

As with 101 Words … and 102 Words … by Kim Rogers, this book would be a wonderful gift for a teenager or adult.

“Comestible” is one of the words in this book and is a good example of the value of learning another language.

“Comer” is the Spanish verb for “to eat”; “comestible” in Spanish means edible or comestible in English.

So, although “comestible” in Spanish is pronounced differently than “comestible” in English, these two words with identical meanings have identical spellings.

In other words, “comestible” is a Spanish/English true cognate.

This book contains many words that are not at the tip of my tongue. I recognized all of them but would have failed at correctly providing all of their definitions.

So, as with 101 Words … and 102 Words …, I can imagine some of these words appearing on an SAT exam.

And, as with 101 Words … and 102 Words …, the price is right, too.

No matter whether English is your native language or is a foreign language, I highly recommend that you read what the author says about this book and then buy it!

“CAUTION Large Trucks”

Commas, Hyphens, Imperatives

My wife and I saw this yesterday while exiting a parking facility.

Problem:
The significance of the caution sign was unclear.

Explanation:
The sign was a landscape-oriented sign above the exit from an underground parking structure, and “CAUTION Large Trucks” — with absolutely no punctuation — appeared in a single line on the sign.

My wife and I had just left a department store, and we were waiting in a queue of automobiles that were exiting the parking structure.

The sign appeared above an opening through which we had to pass and then make a sharp right turn (no left turns allowed) so as to travel up a one-way ramp that let cars enter a street.

The ramp began to the left of the opening.

What therefore became unclear was what the sign maker intended to say.

A possible but unlikely meaning was “Please caution the drivers of large trucks.”, but I could not tell you why I as a reader of the sign should caution the drivers of large trucks.

Here are two possible, rational meanings:

  1. “Take caution! Large trucks are approaching from your left as you focus on turning right onto this one-way ramp that leads up to the street.”
  2. “If you are driving a large truck, then take caution while turning to your right so as to avoid scraping the walls surrounding this exit ramp that leads up to the street.”

If I were to rewrite the first rational meaning in as few words as I could, then I would write, “CAUTION: Large Trucks Approaching from Left!”

If I were to rewrite the second rational meaning in as few words as I could, then I would write, “CAUTION: Turn Large Trucks Carefully!”

Notice that both rewritten forms had to include additional words but also had to include punctuation, which the original sign lacked.

In other words, brevity taken to the extreme can lead to confusion.

Solution:
Use punctuation on a sign such as this one to ensure that readers know what they are supposed to do.

102 Words

General

I have another book to recommend.

It is titled 102 Words that will make YOU Sound even Smarter Right Away!.

As with 101 Words … by Kim Rogers, this book would be a wonderful gift for a teenager or adult.

Also inspired by the author’s father, who apparently learned every single word in a 50,000-word dictionary, this book is obviously a work of love.

I can imagine some of these words, too, appearing on an SAT exam.

Anyone who knows the definitions of these words definitely has an advantage over anyone else who does not know them.

As with 101 Words …, the price is right, too.

The author has lovingly identified yet more English words that are not all at the tips of the tongues of most Americans.

As my father loved to say, “Learning never ends,” and this follow-up book is an example of what we all need: continual intellectual stimulation and growth.

No matter whether English is your native language or is a foreign language, I highly recommend that you read what the author says about this book and then buy it!