Common Errors Q -- R

Q/G

See "G/Q."

QUANTUM LEAP

The thing about quantum leaps is that they mark an abrupt change from
one state to a distinctly different one, with no in-between transitional
states being possible; but they are not large. In fact, in physics a
quantum leap is one of smallest sorts of changes worth talking about.
Leave "quantum leap" to the subatomic physicists unless you know what
you're talking about.

SQUASH/QUASH

You can squash a spider or a tomato; but when the meaning you intend is
"to suppress," as in rebellions or (especially) legal motions, the more
sophisticated term is "quash."

QUESTION/ASK

When you question someone, you may ask a series of questions trying to
arrive at the truth: "The police questioned Tom for five hours before he
admitted to having stolen the pig." "Question" can also mean
"challenge": "His mother questioned Timmy's claim that the cat had eaten
all the chocolate chip cookies." But if you are simply asking a question
to get a bit of information, it is not appropriate to say "I questioned
whether he had brought the anchovies" when what you really mean is "I
asked whether he had brought the anchovies."

QUEUE

If you're standing in a queue you'll have plenty of time to ponder the
unusual spelling of this word. Remember, it contains two "U's."

THE QUICK AND THE DEAD

The earliest meaning of the word "quick" in English is "alive." When a
baby was first felt to move in its mother's womb it was considered to
have come to life, and this moment was called "quickening." This
original meaning of the word "quick" has now died out except in the
phrase "the quick and the dead," kept alive by the King James
translation of Acts 10:42, which speaks of Jesus as judge "of quick and
dead," but even more by the continued recitation of the Apostles' Creed,
which says of Jesus that "he shall come to judge the quick and the
dead."

People who use this phrase to imply that speed is involved--liveliness
rather than aliveness--sometimes get credit for creating a clever pun
but more often come off as ignorant.

QUIET/QUITE

This is probably caused by a slip of the fingers more often than by a
slip of the mental gears, but one often sees "quite" (very) substituted
for "quiet" (shhh!). This is one of those common errors your spelling
checker will not catch, so look out for it.

QUOTE

A passage doesn't become a quote (or--better--"quotation") until you've
quoted it. The only time to refer to a "quote" is when you are referring
to someone quoting something. When referring to the original words,
simply call it a passage.

QUOTATION MARKS

The examples below are set off in order to avoid confusion over the use
of single and double quotation marks.

There are many ways to go wrong with quotation marks. They are often
used ironically:

She ran around with a bunch of "intellectuals."

The quotation marks around "intellectuals" indicate that the writer
believes that these are in fact so-called intellectuals, not real
intellectuals at all. The ironic use of quotation marks is very much
overdone, and is usually a sign of laziness indicating that the writer
has not bothered to find the precise word or expression necessary.

Advertisers unfortunately tend to use quotation marks merely for
emphasis:

"FRESH" TOMATOES 59 CENTS A POUND

The influence of the more common ironic usage tends to make the reader
question whether these tomatoes are really fresh. Underlining, bold
lettering, all caps--there are several less ambiguous ways to emphasize
words than placing them between quotation marks.

In American usage, single quotation marks are used normally only for
quoted words and phrases within quotations.

"Angela had the nerve to tell me "When I saw 'BYOB' on your invitation,
I assumed it meant 'Bring Your Old Boyfriend'."

British usage has traditionally been to reverse this relationship, with
single quotation marks being standard and double ones being used only
for quotations within quotations. (The English also call quotation marks
"inverted commas," though only the opening quotation mark is actually
inverted--and flipped, as well.) However, usage in the UK is shifting
toward the US pattern, (see, for instance, "The Times" of London);
though the printing of fiction tends to adhere to the older British
pattern, where US students are most likely to encounter it.

Block quotations like this should not be surrounded by any quotation
marks at all.

(A passage this short should not be rendered as a block quotation; you
need at least three lines of verse or five lines of prose to justify a
block quotation.) Normally you should leave extra space above and below
a block quotation.

When quoting a long passage involving more than one paragraph, quotation
marks go at the beginning of each paragraph, but at the end of only the
final one. Dialogue in which the speaker changes with each paragraph has
each speech enclosed in its own quotation marks.

Titles of books and other long works that might be printed as books are
usually italicized (except, for some reason, in newspapers); but the
titles of short poems, stories, essays, and other works that would be
more commonly printed within larger works (anthologies, collections,
periodicals, etc.) are enclosed in quotation marks.

There are different patterns for regulating how quotation marks relate
to other punctuation. Find out which one your teacher or editor prefers
and use it, or choose one of your own liking, but stick to it
consistently. One widely accepted authority in America is The Chicago
Manual of Style, whose guidelines are outlined below. Writers in
England, Canada, Australia, and other British-influenced countries
should be aware that their national patterns will be quite different and
variable.

I spent the morning reading Faulkner's "Barn Burning," which seemed to
be about a pyromaniac.

Periods are also normally placed inside quotation marks (with the
exception of terms being defined, see above). Colons and semicolons,
however, are preceded by quotation marks.

If the quoted matter ends with a question mark or exclamation point, it
is placed inside the quotation marks:

John asked, "When's dinner?"

But if it is the enclosing sentence which asks the question, then the
question mark comes after the quotation marks:

What did she mean, John wondered, by saying "as soon as you make it"?

Similarly:

Fred shouted, "Look out for the bull!"

but

When I was subsequently gored, all Timmy said was "this is kinda
boring"!

Finally, I must lament that many standard character sets, including
ASCII and basic HTML, lack true quotation marks which curl to enclose
the quoted matter, substituting instead ugly "inch" or "ditto" marks. As
far as I am concerned, there is not a single proper quotation mark on
this page. Some browsers can translate the code for a true quotation
mark (and true, curled apostrophes), but many cannot.

RBI/RBIs

Some people reason that since "RBI" stands for "runs batted in," there
is no need for an additional "S" to indicate a plural, and speak of "120
RBI." However, though somewhat illogical, it is standard to treat the
initialism as a word and say "RBIs." In writing, one can add an optional
apostrophe: "RBI's." Definitely nonstandard is the logical but weird
"RsBI."

The same pattern applies to other such plural initialisms as "WMDs"
("weapons of mass destruction"), "POWs" ("prisoners of war"), and "MREs"
("meals ready to eat"); but "RPMs" ("revolutions per minute") is less
widely accepted.

RPMs/RPM

"RPM" means "revolutions per minute," so it is redundant to add an S at
the end of the abbreviation--it's already plural. Adding the S is so
common among people working with cars that it's not likely to get you
into trouble, but you will impress some by avoiding it.

RACISM

The "C" in "racism" and "racist" is pronounced as a simple "S" sound,
Don't confuse it with the "SH" sound in "racial."

RACK/WRACK

If you are racked with pain or you feel nerve-racked, you are feeling as
if you were being stretched on that Medieval instrument of torture, the
rack. You rack your brains when you stretch them vigorously to search
out the truth like a torturer. "Wrack" has to do with ruinous accidents,
so if the stock market is wracked by rumors of imminent recession, it's
wrecked. If things are wrecked, they go to "wrack and ruin."

RAISE/RAZE

To raze a building is to demolish it so thoroughly that it looks like
it's been scraped right off the ground with a razor. To raise a building
is just the opposite: to erect it from the ground up.

RAMPART/RAMPANT

"Rampant" is an adjective which originally meant a posture seen in
animals on coats of arms: rearing up on their hind legs, but in modern
times it mainly means "wild" or "very widespread." Some people confuse
this word with "rampart," a noun denoting a barricade or fortification.

Crime, disease, and greed may all be rampant, but not "rampart."

RAN/RUN

Computer programmers have been heard to say "the program's been ran,"
when what they mean is "the program's been run."

RANDOM

Kyle can choose the shirt he'll wear for the day at random--they're all
orange. This sort of use of "at random" to mean "by chance," is
perfectly standard. (Kyle should get some new shirts, though.)

Less widely accepted are a couple of slangy uses of the word, mostly by
young people. In the first, "random" means "unknown," "unidentified" as
in "some random guy told me at the party that I reminded him of his old
girlfriend."

The other is to use random to mean "weird," "strange," as in "The party
at Jessica's was so random, not what I was expecting at all!" Evidently
in this expression randomness is being narrowed down to unlikelihood and
that is in turn being connected with strangeness, though randomness in
real life is usually quite ordinary and boring.

Use of either of these two expressions in formal speech or writing is
likely to annoy or confuse your audience.

RAPPORT

Many more people hear this word, meaning "affinity," than read it,
judging by the popularity of various misspellings such as "rapore" and
"rapoire." If you get along really well with someone, the two of you
have rapport.

RATE OF SPEED/RATE, SPEED

Lots of people like to say things like "traveling at a high rate of
speed." This is a redundancy. Say instead "traveling at a high rate" or
"traveling at high speed."

RATIO

A ratio is a way of expressing the relationship between one quantity and
another. If there is one teacher to fifty students, the teacher/student
ratio is one to fifty, and the student/teacher ratio fifty to one. If a
very dense but wealthy prince were being tutored by fifty teachers, the
teacher/student ratio would be fifty to one, and the student/teacher
ratio would be one to fifty. As you can see, the order in which the
numbers are compared is important.

The ratios discussed so far are "high"--the difference between the
numbers is large. The lowest possible ratio is one to one: one teacher
to one student. If you are campaigning for more individual attention in
the classroom, you want a higher number of teachers, but a lower
student/teacher ratio.

RATIONAL/RATIONALE

"Rational" is an adjective meaning "reasonable" or "logical": "Ivan made
a rational decision to sell his old car when he moved to New York."
"Rational" rhymes with "national."

"Rationale" is a noun which most often means "underlying reason": "His
rationale for this decision was that it would cost more to pay for
parking than the car was worth." "Rationale" rhymes with "passion pal."

RATIONALE/RATIONALIZATION

When you're explaining the reasoning behind your position, you're
presenting your rationale. But if you're just making up some lame excuse
to make your position appear better--whether to yourself or
others--you're engaging in rationalization.

RAVAGING/RAVISHING/RAVENOUS

To ravage is to pillage, sack, or devastate. The only time "ravaging" is
properly used is in phrases like "when the pirates had finished ravaging
the town, they turned to ravishing the women." Which brings us to
"ravish": meaning to rape, or rob violently. A trailer court can be
ravaged by a storm (nothing is stolen, but a lot of damage is done) but
not ravished. The crown jewels of Ruritania can be ravished (stolen
using violence) without being ravaged (damaged).

To confuse matters, people began back in the fourteenth century to speak
metaphorically of their souls being "ravished" by intense spiritual or
esthetic experiences. Thus we speak of a "ravishing woman" (the term is
rarely applied to men) today not because she literally rapes men who
look at her but because her devastating beauty penetrates their hearts
in an almost violent fashion. Despite contemporary society's heightened
sensitivity about rape, we still remain (perhaps fortunately)
unconscious of many of the transformations of the root meaning in words
with positive connotations such as "rapturous."

Originally, "raven" as a verb was synonymous with "ravish" in the sense
of "to steal by force." One of its specialized meanings became "devour,"
as in "the lion ravened her prey." By analogy, hungry people became
"ravenous" (as hungry as beasts), and that remains the only common use
of the word today.

If a woman smashes your apartment up, she ravages it. If she looks
stunningly beautiful, she is ravishing. If she eats the whole platter of
hors d'oeuvres you've set out for the party before the other guests
come, she's ravenous.

REACTIONARY/REACTIVE

Many people incorrectly use "reactionary" to mean "acting in response to
some outside stimulus." That's "reactive." "Reactionary" actually has a
very narrow meaning; it is a noun or adjective describing a form of
looking backward that goes beyond conservatism (wanting to prevent
change and maintain present conditions) to reaction--wanting to recreate
a lost past. The advocates of restoring Czarist rule in Russia are
reactionaries. While we're on the subject, the term "proactive" formed
by analogy with "reactive" seems superfluous to many of us. Use
"active," "assertive," or "positive" whenever you can instead.

READABLY/READILY

Some people mistakenly say of something easily available that it is
"readably available." The original expression has nothing to do with
reading; it is "readily available," ready at hand.

REAL/REALLY

The correct adverbial form is "really" rather than "real"; but even that
form is generally confined to casual speech, as in "When you
complimented me on my speech I felt really great!" To say "real great"
instead moves the speaker several steps downscale socially. However
"really" is a feeble qualifier. "Wonderful" is an acceptable substitute
for "really great" and you can give a definite upscale slant to your
speech by adopting the British "really quite wonderful." Usually,
however, it is better to replace the expression altogether with
something more precise: "almost seven feet tall" is better than "really
tall." To strive for intensity by repeating "really" as in "that dessert
you made was really, really good" demonstrates an impoverished
vocabulary.

REALTOR

For some reason, this word is often mispronounced as "real-a-ter"
instead of the proper "ree-ul-ter." Incidentally, realtors insist that
this is a term originally trademarked by the National Association of
Real Estate Boards (now renamed the "National Association of Realtors"),
that it must be capitalized, and that all non-members of that
association are mere "real estate associates." Common usage, however,
calls both "real estate agents," despite their protests.

REAP WHAT YOU SEW/REAP WHAT YOU SOW

When you plant seeds you sow them. Galatians 6:7 says "A man reaps what
he sows" (harvests what he plants, gets what he deserves). This
agricultural metaphor gets mangled frequently into "you reap what
you sew." At best, you might rip what you sew; but you probably wouldn't
want to tell people about it.

REASON BECAUSE

We often hear people say things like, "the reason there's a hole in the
screen door is because I tripped over the cat on my way out." The phrase
"is because" should be "is that." If you wanted to use "because," the
sentence should be phrased, "There's a hole in the screen door because I
tripped over the cat." U. "The reason being is" should be simply "the
reason being."

The similarly redundant common expression "the reason why" is generally
regarded as standard now, although some people still object to it.

REBELLING/REVOLTING

Even though "rebel" and "revolt" mean more or less the same thing,
people who are revolting are disgusting, not taking up arms against the
government.

REBUT/REFUTE

When you rebut someone's argument you argue against it. To refute
someone's argument is to prove it incorrect. Unless you are certain you
have achieved success, use "rebut."

RECENT/RESENT

There are actually three words to distinguish here. "Recent," always
pronounced with an unvoiced hissy S and with the accent on the first
syllable, means "not long ago," as in, " I appreciated your recent
encouragement." "Resent" has two different meanings with two different
pronunciations, both with the accent on the second syllable. In the most
common case, where "resent" means "feel annoyed at," the word is
pronounced with a voiced Z sound: "I resent your implication that I gave
you the chocolates only because I was hoping you'd share them with me."
In the less common case, the word means "to send again," and is
pronounced with an unvoiced hissy S sound: "The e-mail message bounced,
so I resent it." So say the intended word aloud. If the accent is on the
second syllable, "resent" is the spelling you need.

RECOGNIZE

In sloppy speech, this often comes out "reck-uh-nize." Sound the "G."

RECREATE/REINVENT

The expression "no need to reinvent the wheel" loses much of its wit
when "recreate" is substituted for the original verb. While we're at it,
"recreate" does not mean "to engage in recreation." If you play
basketball, you may be exercising, but you're not recreating.

RECUPERATE/RECOUP

If you are getting over an illness, you are recuperating; but if you
insist on remaining at the roulette table when your luck has been
running against you, you are seeking to recoup your losses.

REDICULOUS/RIDICULOUS

You may ridicule ideas because you find them ridiculous, but not
rediculous.

REDO IT OVER/REDO IT, DO IT OVER

"Redo it over" is redundant; say either "redo it" or "do it over." The
only time this phrase makes sense is in the phrase "redo it over and
over again."

REDUNDANCIES

There are many examples of redundancies in these pages: phrases which
say twice what needs to be said only once, like "past history."
Advertisers are particularly liable to redundancy in hyping their
offers: "as an added bonus" (as a bonus), "preplan" (plan), and "free
gift" (but look out for the shipping charges!). Two other common
redundancies which are clearly errors are "and plus" (plus) and "end
result" (result). But some other redundancies are contained in phrases
sanctioned by tradition: "safe haven," "hot water heater," "new
beginning," and "tuna fish."

REEKING HAVOC/WREAKING HAVOC

"Reeking" means "smelling strongly," so that can't be right. The phrase
simply means "working great destruction." "Havoc" has always referred to
general destruction in English, but one very old phrase incorporating
the word was "cry havoc," which meant to give an army the signal for
pillage. To "play havoc with" means the same thing as to "wreak havoc."
Avoid as well the mistaken "wreck havoc."

REFRAIN/RESTRAIN

"Restrain" is a transitive verb: it needs an object. Although "refrain"
was once a synonym for "restrain" it is now an intransitive verb: it
should not have an object. Here are examples of correct modern usage:
"When I pass the doughnut shop I have to restrain myself" ("myself" is
the object). "When I feel like throwing something at my boss, I usually
refrain from doing so." You can't refrain yourself or anyone else.


REFRIDGERATOR/REFRIGERATOR

Although "fridge" is short for "refrigerator," there is no "D" in the
longer word.

REFUTE/REJECT

To refute someone's argument is to prove it incorrect. If you attempt no
such proof but simply disagree with an argument the word you want is
"reject."

REGARD/REGARDS

Business English is deadly enough without scrambling it. "As regards
your downsizing plan . . ." is acceptable, if stiff. "In regard to" "and
"with regard to" are also correct. But "in regards to" is nonstandard.
You can also convey the same idea with "in respect to" or "with respect
to."

REGIME/REGIMEN/REGIMENT

Some people insist that "regime" should be used only in reference to
governments, and that people who say they are following a dietary regime
should instead use "regimen"; but "regime" has been a synonym of
"regimen" for over a century, and is widely accepted in that sense.

However "regiment" is an error in this sense. The only way you could
follow a strict regiment would be to march behind a highly disciplined
military unit. Your diet or exercise routine is not a "regiment."

REGRETFULLY/REGRETTABLY

Either word can be used as an adverb to introduce an expression of
regret, though conservatives prefer "regrettably" in sentences like
"Regrettably, it rained on the 4th of July." Within the body of a
sentence, however, "regretfully" may be used only to describe the manner
in which someone does something: "John had to regretfully decline his
beloved's invitation to go hang-gliding because he was terrified of
heights." If no specified person in the sentence is doing the
regretting, but the speaker is simply asserting "it is to be regretted,"
the word is "regrettably": "Their boss is regrettably stubborn."

REIGN/REIN

A king or queen reigns, but you rein in a horse. The expression "to give
rein" means to give in to an impulse as a spirited horse gives in to its
impulse to gallop when you slacken the reins. Similarly, the correct
expression is "free rein," not "free reign."

REKNOWN/RENOWN

When you won the national spelling bee you achieved great renown (fame).
Now you are a renowned speller (notice the -ed ending on the adjectival
form).

Many people mistakenly suppose that because "renown" has to do with
being well known the word should be spelled "reknown," but in fact it is
derived from the French word nom and has to do with gaining a name. In
French, fame is renomee.

RELIGION

Protestants often refer to "the Catholic religion." Catholicism is a
faith or a church. (Only Protestants belong to "denominations.") Both
Catholics and Protestants follow the Christian religion.

RELIGION BELIEVES/RELIGION TEACHES

People often write things like "Buddhism believes" when they mean to say
"Buddhism teaches," or "Buddhists believe." Religions do not believe,
they are the objects of belief.

RELIGIOSITY/PIETY

The main modern use of "religiosity" is to describe exaggerated or
ostentatious showing off of one's religiousness. A better word to label
the quality of being truly religious is "piety."

RELUCTANT/RETICENT

"Reticent" denotes only reluctance to speak; do not use it for any other
form of reluctance.

REMOTELY CLOSE

"Not even remotely close" is a fine example of an oxymoron. An idea can
be "not even remotely correct," but closeness and remoteness are
opposites; it doesn't make sense to have one modify the other. There are
lots of lists of oxymorons on the Web, but they mostly mix jokey
editorializing ("military intelligence" and "Microsoft Works") with true
oxymorons. Good for a laugh, but not providing much guidance to writers.
If there's a truly helpful oxymoron site you know of, I'd like to hear
about it.

REMUNERATION/RENUMERATION

Although "remuneration" looks as if it might mean "repayment" it usually
means simply "payment." In speech it is often confused with
"renumeration," which would mean re-counting (counting again).

REPUNGENT/REPUGNANT, PUNGENT

"Repungent" is an amusing mash-up of "repugnant" (disgusting) and
"pungent" (strong, especially used of smells). It is used for repulsive
smells; and though it is vivid, it's not standard English and may get
you laughed at.

RIFFLE/RIFLE

To rifle something is to steal it. The word also originally had the
sense of "to search thoroughly," often with intent to steal. But if you
are casually flipping through some papers, you riffle through them.

RONDEZVOUS/RENDEZVOUS

The first syllable of "rendezvous" rhymes with "pond" but is not spelled
like it. It comes from a word related to English "render" and is
hyphenated in French: "rendez-vous." In English the two elements are
smooshed together into one: "rendezvous."

REOCCURRING/RECURRING

It might seem logical to form this word from "occurring" by simply
adding a RE- prefix--logical, but wrong. The word is "recurring." The
root form is "recur," not "reoccur." For some reason "recurrent" is
seldom transformed into "reoccurrent."

REPEL/REPULSE

In most of their meanings these are synonyms, but if you are disgusted
by someone, you are repelled, not repulsed. The confusion is compounded
by the fact that "repellent" and "repulsive" mean the same thing. Go
figure.

REPLETE/COMPLETE

"Replete" usually means "stuffed," "full to overflowing." After eating a
complete ten-course meal, you are replete.

Although it has been used as a simple synonym for "complete," this is
now an unusual usage, and it is better to stick with the more common
word "complete" when you have a choice.

REPLY BACK/REPLY

"Reply back" is redundant because "reply" already conveys the idea of
getting back to someone. The same is true of "answer back" except in the
rather old-fashioned use of the phrase to describe the behavior of a
lippy kid rudely refusing to submit to the wishes of parents or
teachers.

REPORT INTO/REPORT ON

You can conduct an investigation into a matter, like a scandal or a
crime; but the result is a report on or of the results. You don't make a
report into anything. You could eliminate "into" altogether by using the
simpler "investigate" instead.

REQUEST/ASK

If you want something you can request it or you can ask for it. Many
people like "request" because it sounds more formal, more elegant; but
to other people it just sounds pretentious. There are many instances in
which plain old "ask" works better: "I'm asking my buddies to go camping
with me." "She asked him to walk the dog." Except on wedding
invitations, try to avoid "request" where "ask" will do as well.

RESIGNATE/RESONATE

When an idea gives you good vibes it resonates with you: "His call for
better schools resonates with the voters." Not resignates--resonates.

RESISTER/RESISTOR

A resistor is part of an electrical circuit; a person who resists
something is a "resister."

RESPIRATORY

Even health professionals tend to mispronounce this word by smooshing
the second and third syllables into one. This word has several possible
pronunciations, but "resp-uh-tory" is not one of them. However you say
it, try to at least hint at all five syllables.

RESPOND BACK/RESPOND, REPLY

It's possible that some people think they have to write "respond back"
to distinguish a reply from other kinds of responses, like groaning and
cursing, or chucking a request in the wastebasket; but most of the time
the context makes perfectly clear that "respond" means "answer" and the
"back" is redundant. Or you can just say "reply."

RESTIVE

"Restive" can mean "stubborn," "impatient," or "restless," but never
"relaxed" or "rested."

RETCH/WRETCH

If you vomit, you retch; if you behave in a wretched manner or fall into
wretched circumstances, you are a wretch.

RETROSPECTIVE/RETROACTIVE

"Retrospective" has to do with looking back, as is shown by the
similarity of its middle syllable to words like "spectacles." A
retrospective exhibit looks back at the earlier work of an artist.

"Retroactive," on the other hand, refers to actions, and is about making
a current change applicable to the past, especially in law. Retroactive
punishment is generally considered unjust. For instance, the city
council can't pass an ordinance retroactively punishing you for having
sung off-key in the karaoke bar on Main Street last Saturday night.

RETURN BACK/RETURN

"Return back" is a redundancy. Use just "return," unless you mean to say
instead "turn back."

REVELANT/RELEVANT

"Revelant" is both spoken and written frequently when "relevant" is
intended. The same is true of "revelance," a misspelling of "relevance."

REVERT/REPLY

The most common meaning of "revert" is "to return to an earlier
condition, time, or subject." When Dr. Jekyll drank the potion he
reverted to the brutish behavior of Mr. Hyde. But some pretentious
people have begun to use it mistakenly instead of "reply," writing when
they want you to get back to them about something, "revert to me at this
address." This would literally mean they are asking you to become them.

REVOLVE/ROTATE

In ordinary speech these two words are often treated as interchangeable,
though it's "revolving credit account" and "rotating crops." Scientists
make a sharp distinction between the two: the earth revolves (orbits)
around the sun but rotates (spins) around its axis.

REVUE/REVIEW

You can attend a musical revue in a theatre, but when you write up your
reactions for a newspaper, you're writing a review.


RHETORICAL QUESTIONS

A rhetorical question implies its own answer; it's a way of making a
point. Examples: "Aren't you ashamed of yourself?" "What business is it
of yours?" "How did that idiot ever get elected?" "What is so rare as a
day in June?" These aren't questions in the usual sense, but statements
in the form of a question.

Many people mistakenly suppose that any nonsensical question, or one
which cannot be answered, can be called a rhetorical question. The
following are not proper rhetorical questions: "What was the best thing
before sliced bread?" "If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears
it, does it make a sound?" "Who let the dogs out?"

Sometimes speakers ask questions so they can then proceed to answer
them: "Do we have enough troops to win the war? It all depends on how
you define victory." The speaker is engaging in rhetoric, but the
question asked is not a rhetorical question in the technical sense.
Instead this is a mock-dialogue, with the speaker taking both roles.


RIGHT OF PASSAGE/RITE OF PASSAGE

The more common phrase is "rite of passage"--a ritual one goes through
to move on to the next stage of life. Learning how to work the
combination on a locker is a rite of passage for many entering middle
school students. A "right of passage" would be the right to travel
through a certain territory, but you are unlikely to have any use for
the phrase.

RING ITS NECK/WRING ITS NECK

Wring the chicken's neck; and after you've cooked it, ring the dinner
bell.

RIO GRANDE RIVER/RIO GRANDE

Rio is Spanish for "river," so "Rio Grande River" is a redundancy. Just
write "Rio Grande." Non-Hispanic Americans have traditionally failed to
pronounce the final "E" in "Grande", but they" ve learned to do it to
designate the large size of latte, so perhaps it's time to start saying
it the proper Spanish way: "REE-oh GRAHN-day." Or to be really
international we could switch to the Mexican name: "Rio Bravo."

RISKY/RISQUE

People unfamiliar with the French-derived word "risque" ("slightly
indecent") often write "risky" by mistake. Bungee-jumping is risky, but
nude bungee-jumping is risque.

ROAD TO HOE/ROW TO HOE

Out in the cotton patch you have a tough row to hoe. This saying has
nothing to do with road construction.

ROLE/ROLL

An actor plays a role. Bill Gates is the entrepreneur's role model. But
you eat a sausage on a roll and roll out the barrel. To take attendance,
you call the roll.

ROLLOVER/ROLL OVER

A rollover used to be only a serious highway accident, but in the
computer world this spelling has also been used to label a feature on a
Web page which reacts in some way when you roll the ball inside a mouse
or a trackball over it without having to click. It also became an
adjective, as in "rollover feature." However, when giving users
instructions, the correct verb form is "roll over"--two words: "roll
over the photo of our dog to see his name pop up."

Since most people now use either optical mice or trackpads the term
"rollover" has become technically obsolete, but it persists.

ROMANTIC

If you are studying the arts, it's important to know that the word
"romantic" is used in such contexts to mean much more than "having to do
with romantic love." It originated in the Middle Ages to label
sensational narratives written in romance languages--rather than
Latin--depicting events like the fall of King Arthur's Round Table (in
French, novels are still called "romans" whether they depict love
affairs or not). In literature and art it often refers to materials that
are horrifying, exotic, enthralling, or otherwise emotionally
stimulating to an extreme degree. A romantic art song is as likely to be
about death as about love.

ROOT/ROUT/ROUTE

You can root for your team (cheer them on) and hope that they utterly
smash their opponents (create a rout), then come back in triumph on
Route 27 (a road).

ROUGE/ROGUE

You can create an artificial blush by using rouge; but a scoundrel who
deserves to be called a rogue is unlikely to blush naturally.

RUBBAGE

Although the generally obsolete form "rubbage" persists in some
dialects, many people will assume if you use it that you are confusing
"rubbish" with "garbage."

RUEBEN/REUBEN

Diner owners who put "Rueben sandwiches" on their menus may rue the day
they did so when they encounter a customer who cares about the correct
spelling of this classic American concoction of corned beef, sauerkraut,
Swiss cheese and Russian dressing on rye bread. Although the origin of
the sandwich is obscure, being credited to several different
restaurateurs, all of them spelled their name "Reuben," with the E
before the U.

RUFF/ROUGH

The slangy spelling "ruff" for "rough" is not appropriate in formal
writing, but your spelling-checker won't flag it because "ruff" has a
traditional meaning of its own, denoting a frilled collar.

RURAL

In some US dialects, the second R in "rural" is not pronounced, so
that it sounds like "ROO-ull" or even "rull." The dominant standard
pronunciation sounds both Rs, to rhyme with "plural."

RYE/WRY

"Wry" means "bent, twisted." Even if you don't have a wry sense of humor
you may crack a wry smile. No rye is involved.