Adjectives

More about “Nauseous” vs. “Nauseated”

Adjectives, Common English Blunders, Devolution toward Simpler, Versus

I wrote a blog post in November 2007 about “Nauseous” vs. “Nauseated”.

I recently heard an actress on a TV drama say that she felt nauseous when she should have said that she felt nauseated.

She made me think again about the two words.

And I realized something: Saying “nauseous” when one should say “nauseated” instead is consistent with my “Devolution toward Simpler” linguistic hypothesis.

Many Americans say “nauseous” as if it had only two syllables, as in NAW-SHUHS, instead of pronouncing all three syllables, as in NAW-ZEE-UHS.

Either way, it is simpler to say the two- or three-syllable “nauseous” than it is to say the four-syllable “nauseated”.

“If we all row in the same directions, …”

Adjectives, Nouns, Plurals

I saw this in a corporate announcement.

Problem:
The noun should be singular, not plural.

Explanation:
The full sentence was “If we all row in the same directions, we will ultimately climb the mountains and be successful.”

Beyond this sentence’s mixed metaphor (more on that in tomorrow’s post), there is a problem with the “If” clause.

First, we must agree that anyone can row in only one direction at any given time.

Now, suppose that you are rowing in a direction and that I am rowing in a direction.

Suppose further that these two directions are identical.

Then there is one and only one direction in which the two of us are rowing.

We would call this “the same direction”.

By the way, it is incorrect to say that the adjective “same” always modifies a singular noun.

An example of the adjective “same” correctly modifying a plural noun appears in “Jack and Jill like the same fruits.”

Solution:
“If we all row in the same direction, …”

“Think different.”

Adjectives, Adverbs

My blog post yesterday made me remember this slogan from Apple.

Problem:
The Macintosh computer maker used an adjective where an adverb was required.

Explanation:
Apple Computer used “Think different.” in the 1990s as one of its advertising slogans.

The word “different” is an adjective.

Adjectives modify nouns, not verbs, but Apple used “different” to modify a verb (“Think”).

Apple was trying to tell the viewer how to think.

This requires an adverb.

Many adjectives can be converted to adverbs by appending the L-Y suffix.

“Different” is one of those adjectives.

This gives us the solution.

I suppose that Apple and its advertising firm were trying to be catchy or edgy by using an adjective where an adverb was required.

But I view this grammatical mistake as encouraging the decline of the distinction between adjectives and adverbs.

Solution:
“Think differently.”