Spelling PSA: Easily Confused Words Edition

discreet, adj.: 1. Careful and prudent in one’s speech or actions, especially in order to keep something confidential or to avoid embarrassment. 1.1 Intentionally unobtrusive (“a discreet cough”)

discrete, adj.: Individually separate and distinct.

(Definitions from Oxford Dictionaries.)

The words are related, but the two different spellings have been assigned to these distinct meanings in English. I mostly see people use “discrete” when they mean “discreet,” just because people are more likely to want “discreet” (especially in fanfiction), but I have seen the confusion going both ways.

Another spelling/grammar PSA

philosopherking1887:

Millennium, meaning a single period of 1000 years, has 2 l’s AND 2 n’s. That’s because it’s derived from the Latin words mille, meaning “thousand,” and annus, meaning “year” (not anus, which means “ring” or… something else. Or “old woman,” but that’s unrelated).

The plural of millennium is millennia, which also has both 2 l’s and 2 n’s. This is because millennium is a second-declension neuter noun in Latin, and the plurals of neuter nouns end in -a. Other examples of this that have been borrowed into English include datum (sing.)/ data (pl.), addendum/ addenda, memorandum/ memoranda, forum/ fora (though I don’t think anyone uses that plural anymore). (Incidentally, opera is the plural of the 3rd-declension neuter noun opus.)

It may be that the language is changing so that millennia becomes the singular form, and if/when it does I will be a relic as with the transitive lay/ intransitive lie distinction… but in the meantime I’m going to be an obnoxious borrowed Latin grammar enforcer.

Another spelling/grammar PSA

Millennium, meaning a single period of 1000 years, has 2 l’s AND 2 n’s. That’s because it’s derived from the Latin words mille, meaning “thousand,” and annus, meaning “year” (not anus, which means “ring” or… something else. Or “old woman,” but that’s unrelated).

The plural of millennium is millennia, which also has both 2 l’s and 2 n’s. This is because millennium is a second-declension neuter noun in Latin, and the plurals of neuter nouns end in -a. Other examples of this that have been borrowed into English include datum (sing.)/ data (pl.), addendum/ addenda, memorandum/ memoranda, forum/ fora (though I don’t think anyone uses that plural anymore). (Incidentally, opera is the plural of the 3rd-declension neuter noun opus.)

It may be that the language is changing so that millennia becomes the singular form, and if/when it does I will be a relic as with the transitive lay/ intransitive lie distinction… but in the meantime I’m going to be an obnoxious borrowed Latin grammar enforcer.

Dialogue Punctuation PSA

philosopherking1887:

While I’m being a horrible pedant (see my recent Grammatical PSA for a prior example of this), I’m going to try to clear up another usage problem that I see a lot in fic, including very well-written fic. Here’s the general principle:

When a line of dialogue is embedded in a sentence of narration, close it with a comma, not a period (though question and exclamation marks are OK) and don’t capitalize the first word of the rest of the sentence if it isn’t a proper name.

Here are some examples of the mistake I see people making and the correct punctuation.

Incorrect: “I have to go.” He said.
Correct: “I have to go,” he said.

Incorrect: “It’s pretty late.” Said Bob.
Correct: “It’s pretty late,” said Bob.

Incorrect: “I’m hungry.” Sam remarked.
Correct: “I’m hungry,” Sam remarked.

Incorrect: “When’s dinner?” Asked Kim.
Correct: “When’s dinner?” asked Kim.

Incorrect: “What a cute puppy!” The touch-starved grad student exclaimed.
Correct: “What a cute puppy!” the touch-starved grad student exclaimed.

I do sometimes see people making a mistake in the opposite direction and closing a quotation with a comma even when followed by a sentence in which it is not embedded.

Incorrect: “I have to go,” he glanced anxiously at the clock.
Correct: “I have to go.” He glanced anxiously at the clock.

I hope this is helpful to some people!