Common English Blunders

“Jealous” vs. “Envious”

Adjectives, Common English Blunders, Devolution toward Simpler, Versus

I often hear one adjective used when the other adjective is the appropriate one.

Problem:
The adjectives “jealous” and “envious” are not exactly synonyms.

Explanation:
The adjective “jealous” means feeling uneasiness toward another person because of resentment of that person’s success or from suspicion or fear of rivalry.

The adjective “envious” means feeling covetous toward another person’s possessions.

I often hear American English speakers use “jealous” when they mean “envious” instead.

I believe that the use of “jealous” when “envious” is the right adjective is consistent with my “Devolution toward Simpler” hypothesis. It’s simpler to say the two-syllable “jealous” than to say the three-syllable “envious”.

Solution:
Use “jealous” when talking about one person’s attitude toward another person. Use “envious” when talking about one person’s attitude toward another person’s possessions.

“FIRE FIGHTING EQUIPMENT”

Common English Blunders, Hyphens, Nouns

I saw this on a sign in an office-building stairwell.

Problem:
A hyphen is missing.

Explanation:
When a noun plus a noun modify a third noun, the first and second nouns must be joined with a hyphen to form the modifier of the third noun.

So the first noun “FIRE” plus the second noun “FIGHTING” must be joined with a hyphen to form the modifier of the third noun “EQUIPMENT”.

Unfortunately, many sign makers drop hyphens because they believe that hyphens are unnecessary or make signs less attractive.

Although this isn’t the best example, there are many examples where the absence of a required hyphen leads to confusion and double- or triple-pass reading of a sign to understand what the sign writer meant.

Solution:
“FIRE-FIGHTING EQUIPMENT”

“… something that I and our team appreciate.”

Common English Blunders

I saw this in an email message.

Problem:
The writer incorrectly put himself first.

Explanation:
There seems to be a growing lack of courtesy in spoken and written American English.

One place where this lack of courtesy appears is in word order.

In particular, some speakers and writers put themselves before others in lists. Here are some examples:

  • “I and James are going to the store.”
  • “Please give it to me and him.”
  • “His work over the years is something that I and our team appreciate.”

I don’t know whether these writers and speakers were “absent that day in English class” or whether they’ve forgotten what they learned, but the standard, which is based on courtesy, is to put others before oneself in a list.

Rewriting the above examples, we get the following:

  • “James and I are going to the store.”
  • “Please give it to him and me.”
  • “His work over the years is something that our team and I appreciate.”

Solution:
“… something that our team and I appreciate.”