Verbs

“She totally condescended to him.”

Verbs

I heard this last night on the TMZ television program.

Problem:
The “totally” adverb reveals that the verb was not used correctly.

Explanation:
The reporter on the TMZ TV program used “totally” to indicate that the woman about whom the reporter was speaking was rude to the man identified by “him” in the statement.

In other words, the reporter essentially was saying that the subject of the sentence — “She” — was rude to the object of the sentence — “him”.

One may condescend “to” someone, but the verb “condescend” when used in this way means to put aside one’s superiority and assume equality with another person normally considered inferior.

In contrast, the reporter clearly indicated that the subject of the sentence did NOT put aside her feeling of superiority, so the subject did NOT condescend to the object of the sentence.

Solution:
“She was totally condescending with him.”

“… separate out [something] …

Common English Blunders, Verbs

I heard this on Fox News Channel a couple of days ago.

Problem:
The preposition “out” is unnecessary here.

Explanation:
I frequently see and hear “separate out” in sentences such as these three:

  • “This will separate out the men from the boys.”
  • “Can you you separate out the results from the two groups?”
  • “Economists can separate out the values of buildings.”

Here is yet another perfectly understandable verb — “separate” — that has become seen by many speakers and writers of American English as requiring the preposition “out” after it. It doesn’t!

Look at the same three example sentences with “out” removed:

  • “This will separate the men from the boys.”
  • “Can you you separate the results from the two groups?”
  • “Economists can separate the values of buildings.”

We do not lose any clarity by removing “out” from each of the original sentences, Instead, we gain clarity because the listeners or readers are not wondering why “out” was added.

Solution:
“… separate [something] …”

“… when one of the levees breached.”

Common English Blunders, Passive Voice, Verbs

I heard this on Fox News Channel yesterday.

Problem:
The verb “breach” requires an object.

Explanation:
The word “breach” — spelled with an E and an A — is both a noun and a verb.

Its meaning as a verb is to make an opening in.

In other words, the verb “breach” is a transitive verb — a verb that takes a direct object.

Examples of transitive verbs include “open” and “hit”.

The expression that I heard on television yesterday used “breached” as if it were an intransitive verb — a verb that does not require or cannot take a direct object.

Examples of intransitive verbs include “sleep” and “rain”.

“Breach” is a transitive verb. “The water breached the levee.” is a grammatically correct example.

I believe that the grammatically incorrect expression “… when one of the levees breached” comes from speakers who hear the grammatically correct, passive-voice expression “… when one of the levees was breached” but do not notice the “was” in such a passive-voice expression.

As a result, these speakers — and writers — drop the “was” and get an active-voice but grammatically incorrect expression.

Solution:
“… when one of the levees was breached.”