Ode to the Master

 

 

 

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? (Sonnet 18)

William Shakespeare, 1564 - 1616

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimmed;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,
Nor shall death brag thou wand’rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to Time thou grow’st.
     So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
     So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Know When to Use A Hyphen in Compound Words

by JENNIFER ROVA

There are  several types of compound words:

1    1. Single word, no hyphens

           hindsight, babysit, baseball, kindercare, background, antebellum, carpetbagger

2. Do not use a hyphen unless it serves a purpose. If a compound adjective cannot be misread  
    and its meaning is recognized, do not use a hyphen:

            high school curriculum

            health care reform

            day treatment program

            play date

            grade point average

     

3. Hyphenated words acting as adjectives before a noun they modify if the term can be 
    misunderstood or if the term expresses a single thought:

            well-baby exam

            able-bodied man

            three-legged race

            well-intended plan

            triangle-shaped house

                 

4.  Compounds in which the base word is a proper noun or is                             

           a number: post-2001

           an abbreviation: pre-NALP trial

           capitalized: pro-British, German-speaking Austrians

           more than one word: non-qualifying-senior students

5. All "self-" compounds whether they are adjectives or nouns:

            self-report

            self-esteem

            the test was self-paced

            self-centered actor

6. Words that could be misunderstood:

            re-pair [pair again]

            re-form [form again]

            re-construction plans

            re-enact the murder

            re-carpet

7. Words in which the prefix ends and the base word begins with the same vowel:

           meta-analysis

           anti-intellectual

           co-occur

        

8. Use a hyphen to join a word to a past participle to create single objective preceding the noun 
     it modifies. If a compound adjective follows the term, do not use a hyphen, because 
     relationships are sufficiently clear without one:

well-intended plan; the plan was well intended

            hand-iron-shaped mark; the mark was in the shape of an hand iron

            same-sex children; children of the same sex

9. Write most words formed with prefixes as one word:

            aftereffect

            extracurricular

            multiphase

            socioeconomic

10. When two or more compound modifiers act together, the hyphens are retained in all    
       except the last modifier:

            long- and short-term memory

            2-, 3-, and 10-min trials

            pre- and post-war crimes
            red-, yellow- and green-tinged hues appear

11. Do not hyphenate compound words that end in “-ly” even if they precede a noun:

          fully developed plan

          heavily fortified troops

          stringently enforced rules

          accurately reported data word

12. When splitting a multiple syllable word at the end of a sentence. Split the word after a 
       syllable:

         I wrote the illustrated, minia-

         ture book in six months.

         He fished until his sun-     

         burned head hurt too much.

         Mary hurried through her college appli-

         cations.

(adapted from the sixth edition of the APA Publication Manual, 2010)

(english.com/grammar/00000048.htm)

Friday Fun with The Word UP

Jennifer Rova

I received this in an email today and smiled. The author is unknown but he seemed to be up for writing something funny. The word UP in English has more meanings than any other two-letter word.  It is listed in the dictionary as an [adv],  [prep], [adj], [n] or [v]. To  be knowledgeable about the proper uses of  UP, look UP the word UP in the dictionary. In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4 of the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions. If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don't give UP, you may wind UP with UP to a hundred uses or more.

 It's easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, 

 but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake  UP?

At  a meeting, why does a topic come UP? Why do we speak UP, and why 

are the officers UP for  election; if there is  a tie, it is a toss UP.  Why is it UP

to the secretary to write UP a  report?  We call UP our friends, brighten UP a 

room, polish UP the  silver, warm UP the  leftovers and clean UP the kitchen.  

We lock UP the house and fix UP the  old car.

At other  times, this little word has real a special meaning. People stir UP trouble, 

line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses. To  be dressed is one thing but to be dressed UP is special.

And  this UP is confusing:  A drain must be opened UP because  it is  blocked  UP.

We  open UP a  store in the morning but we close it  UP at  night. We seem to be

 pretty mixed UP about  UP!

When  it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding  UP. When the sun comes out, 

we say it is clearing UP.  When it rains, it soaks UP the  earth.  When it does not 

rain for awhile,  things dry UP. 

One could go on and on, but I'll wrap it UP, for now . 

 My time is UP!