BARRY FRIEDMAN'S MISCELLANEOUS RULES

SOME OF BARRY FRIEDMAN'S RULES ABOUT PAPERS, ASSIGNMENTS, AND EXAMINATIONS THAT HE USED TO THINK "GO WITHOUT SAYING"

These phrases annoy your instructor to no end and may affect the grade on your paper. The first two are “golden oldies.” The last three have crept into the language fairly recently (I don’t know how or why). They are transitions, but they mean nothing.

● “America”: Do not refer to the United States as "America." When you are referring to the country and using it as a noun, write "United States" (not "U. S."). However, when an adjective is necessary, "American," "United States," and "U. S." are all generally acceptable. It is correct to refer to a U. S. citizen as an "American."

● “different”: Please reserve the word "different" to indicate an actual dissimilarity; e.g., "So that I could watch football on Sunday, I went to church on a different day." When referring to a variety of items, I prefer to use the word "various" to indicate that they are separate and distinct. "One can play various games using a deck of playing cards." Compare these two sentences: (1) "Three different people sent birthday cards to me." (2) "Three people sent birthday cards to me." Don't they mean the same thing? Isn't the word "different" redundant? Can two people ever be the same people rather than being "different" people? Whenever one uses the word "different," the context should specify from what the thing is different. Instead of saying, "I accepted a different challenge today," say, "I accepted a new challenge today."

Theodore M. Bernstein, late assistant managing editor of The New York Times, providing guidance to Times reporters (Watch Your Language, New York: Pocket Books, 1965):

DIFFERENT. “Describing the bribery plot, the prosecutor said that two different men had approached Mr. Jones in his room at the Plymouth Hotel . . .” Naturally, the two men were “different”; what was meant here, apparently, was that two men approached Jones on different occasions (p. 21).

DIFFERENT. “He also said ‘different witnesses’ than those who testified before the original grand jury would be called . . .” The misuse of “than” after “different” apparently follows the analogy of “other,” but it should be remembered that “different” is different from “other.” “Different than” is variously described by the authorities as “colloquial” and “incorrect” (pp. 108‑109).

● “emplace” means to put into physical position, such as “missiles emplaced around the city”; do not use to mean such things as appointing somebody to a job, creating a new government agency or program, or establishing a policy

● “exemplify”: please avoid using this word to mean “give an example.” Reserve the use of this word to mean “serve as an example,” as in “Shakespeare’s plays exemplify creative writing.”

● “feel”: do not use this verb in explaining that somebody has an opinion. Instead of writing, “He feels that Congress should declare war,” write, “He believes that Congress should declare war” or “He thinks that Congress should declare war.”

● “if”: “if” should offer a conditional leading to a conclusion: “If it rains today, then I will stay indoors.” When you are simply evaluating the possibility that some condition does or does not exist, use “whether,” as in “I wonder whether we will have rain today.” By the way, in the phrase “whether or not,” the “or not” is almost always redundant.

● “illustrate”: please avoid using this word to mean “describe” or “explain.” Reserve the use of this word to refer to the use of a drawing, as in “The following graph illustrates the supply-and-demand relationship.”

● “instate” means to install somebody formally into an office or role; do not use to mean such things as “establish” or “implement”

● “public eye”: please avoid the use of this and similar “eye” metaphors; students' uses of the metaphor tend to be awkward.

● “with”: please confine your use of this word to its conventional purpose: “pancakes with syrup”; “he went to the symphony with his wife.” Avoid using it as a catch-all term to indicate things that are happening simultaneously; instead, rewrite the sentence and use the term that more precisely conveys what you are describing (such as “meanwhile,” “in so far as,” “because,” “as a result of,” “given that,” etc.). It may be preferable to write two sentences, instead of crowding descriptions of two separate situations into one sentence.

● “within”: as a preposition, “within” generally means “in or into the interior of or the parts or space enclosed by.” Do not use “within” when “in” is sufficient; for example, do not write, “The president is very influential within his political party.” If you are writing the preposition “within” repeatedly, you are almost certainly misusing it.

Unless you are a Secret Service agent or you are sending messages on blogs to dimwits, do not write POTUS, FLOTUS, SCOTUS, etc.

Always remember this when you write any essay: Every word must mean something. Do not string vague words together, throwing in, let's say, a meaningless noun because the sentence calls for a noun in a certain place. For example, do not write: "Congress has a role in foreign affairs. It needs to pay attention to this area through oversight of the Departments of Defense and State." The word "area" is meaningless in that context, so write something more descriptive. Do not write: "The president needs to garner favor in the public eye." Once I have read a sentence like that, it takes me an hour or so to recover from it. The only thing that would be worse is if someone wrote, "With that being said, the president needs to garner favor in the public eye."

Never submit a paper or other assignment to the instructor until you have examined it. It is risky to turn in a paper that you have just plucked from the printer, pulled out of a book bag containing various papers, etc. Look the paper over to make sure that it’s the correct paper (and the correct version), that it is a complete copy, that it is legible, etc., before you submit it. The paper or other assignment that you submit is the one that will count‑‑for you or against you.

Make sure that anything that you submit for credit is legible. Your instructor will give you no credit for anything that he cannot read. He will not invite you, once he has graded what you wrote, to help him decipher it. If you have a problem with handwriting clearly, etc., alert your instructor in advance so that the two of you can work out an accommodation.