Fogarty - Grammar Girls 101 words every high school graduate needs to know

Contents

Introduction

You may or may not have been taught these words in high school, but theyll serve you well from here on out. Use them in your college entrance essays or during job interviews to show that youre well-read and well-spoken. Even if youre past those stages in life, youll regularly see most of these words in the news.

Since there are so many words that could legitimately be included in this book, for purely organization purposes, Ive tried to adequately represent every letter of the alphabet; to spread the words over various disciplines such as politics, science, and economics; and to include some general vocabulary terms.

Ad Hoc

Ad hoc is literally Latin meaning for this. We use ad hoc in English to describe something temporary, something that was created for a specific purpose or is a one-off. For example, an ad hoc decorations committee could be created for the sole purpose of organizing the prom decorations, and an ad hoc theme song meeting could be called to address the one specific issue of what theme song should be chosen. After their duties are fulfilled, the ad hoc committees disband and the ad hoc meetings adjourn.

Its my belief that [the CIAs] assassinations have always been ad hoc efforts, organized usually at the behest of policymakers above the agencyand usually unsuccessful.

Aldrich Ames, CIA officer who spied for other countries, in William Safires book The Right Word in the Right Place at the Right Time

Ad Hominem

Dont worry, the whole book wont be Latin, but the Latin ad word shows up a couple of times in important phrases. Ad hominem means to the man in Latin. We use it in English to describe a particular type of logical an argument that attacks the opponents character instead of addressing the point of the debate.

An ad hominem attack assumes that just because a person is bad (e.g., a liberal, a conservative, a puppy killer) his or her argument can hold no merit, whereas in reality, a flawed person may still have a good point.

As we all felt keenly throughout the 2010 campaigns, name-calling and ad hominem attacks do more than insult the opponent: They insult the audience, as well.

Margaret McDonald, American columnist

Anecdote

Anecdote comes from a Greek word that means unpublished. Anecdotes are personal stories.

Anecdotes can be useful or deceptive depending on the situation; they can spice up a talk or supply the weak basis for a conclusion. For example, speaking coaches often encourage presenters to engage the audience by including amusing or compelling anecdotes . On the other hand, scientists often caution the public against making too much of mere anecdotal evidence such as the testimonials of a few happy supplement customers when there arent any scientific studies proving the supplement works (or doesnt).

You know everything is not an anecdote . You have to discriminate. You choose things that are funny or mildly amusing or interesting. Your stories have none of that. Theyre not even amusing accidentally!

Steve Martin playing Neal Page (addressing Del Griffith) in the movie Planes, Trains & Automobiles

Antebellum

The next time you hear a Lady Antebellum song, remember that antebellum literally means before the war in Latin ( ante = before; bellum = war). In the United States, antebellum usually refers only to the period before the Civil War; for example, you may read about antebellum architecture or antebellum collectibles that were made during this period. The Old South is sometimes used to describe the antebellum South, although Old South can also have a geographic or political meaning. (Youre much more likely to hear about the antebellum South than about the antebellum North, since there were more changes in the South after the war.)

Cotton was king of the antebellum South, and befitting its regal position many retainers were necessary to bring each years crop from the field to its ultimate destination in the North or abroad.

Marilyn Anne Lavin in William Bostwick, Connecticut Yankee in Antebellum Georgia

Archetype

Archetype comes from a Greek word that means an original, in the sense of an original mold, stamp, or template from which copies are made. Archetype is pronounced like architect with a ki sound in the middle, not a ch sound.

In literature, an archetype is a type of character who appears in stories throughout the ages. The wise wizard (e.g., Gandalf from Lord of the Rings, Dumbledore from Harry Potter ) and the hero who can wield a special weapon (e.g., King Arthur and the sword Excalibur, Luke Skywalker and the Jedi sword from Star Wars ) are examples of archetypes that are often found in literature. Once you start looking for archetypes, youll find them everywhere.

Carl Jung popularized the archetype as a concept in psychology to represent ideas present in the collective unconscious.

Im a man, Fleischman. We are born with an image of woman imprinted on our psyches. We spend our whole lives searching for the embodiment of that female archetype . And there she sits! In the flesh! You tell me what man could resist the fantasy of having her as his wife?

Adam Arkin playing Adam in the TV show Northern Exposure

Austere

Something that is austere is simple, cold, harsh, or severe, especially in a way that limits pleasure or luxury. For example, an ascetic could be said to lead an austere life. A students windowless room with only a simple bed and desk could be said to be austere .

Austere comes from Greek roots that mean bitter, harsh, and dry (as in how your mouth becomes parched). You can remember at least some of the meanings of au ster ity by noting that the ster in the middle is part of ster n and ster ile .

The truth is, theres nothing very utilitarian about fiction or its creation, and I suspect that people are desperate to make it sound like manly, back-breaking labor because its such a wussy thing to do in the first place. The obsession with austerity is an attempt to compensate, to make writing resemble a real job, like farming, or logging.

Nick Hornby in The Complete Polysyllabic Spree

Banal

Something banal is common, mundane, trivial, or lacking originality. The word often carries a sense of how depressing it is to be confronted with such commonness. It comes from the Old French word ban, which described something that was common to the entire community.

These memories lay on the far side of a great divide in time, as significant as B.C. and A.D. Before prison, before the war, before the sight of a corpse became a banality .

Ian McEwan, British writer, in Atonement