Writing & Grammar: Idiomatic Expressions

by Jennie Ruby  

On the long, traffic-bemired trip back from Thanksgiving, my car passengers contributed their pet peeves to this week's challenge. Do you know these? Are they your pet peeves also? Please select the one you think is correct and send me your answers. Results next week. 

1. He got fired because he would not toe the line/tow the line about the new company policy.
2. If he wants to get his job back, he has a long row to hoe/road to hoe.
3. Whether he will still get his pension payment is the sixty-four dollar question, sixty thousand dollar question/ sixty-four thousand dollar question/ sixty-four million dollar question. [ignoring number and dollar sign style-which is the right amount?]
4. I'm sure he still attributes/contributes his firing to anything other than his own actions.
5. But I think it is a mute/moot point whether he re-applies for the job, because our boss will never hire him again.

Answers to last week's challenge are brought to you by Michele Rose, who missed only one word (which I have corrected here). No one reached 100% this time! Honorable mentions go to Carla Craddock, Chris Zimmel and Mary Saunders, who missed only two each. I especially loved the fact that Michele Rose pointed out that should would be a better (more formal and professional sounding) option than had better, and that she pointed out that you should leave out the word figuratively and use neither figuratively nor literally. 

1. I wish someone had apprised me of the situation with the angry client.
2. I thought the books had already been shipped.
3. When I left on Friday, the books were all ready to go.
4. When I got back to work on Wednesday, I found out the shipment had been held so we could send the books and the other items all together.
5. Meanwhile, the client had told us it was all right to send the items separately.
6. I was loath to make the phone call, because I was not sure how to handle the situation.
7. Nevertheless, I made the phone call without further ado.
8. Because I called right away, I was able to soothe the client's temper.
9. Because of our mix-up, I decided to offer the client a discount on a future purchase.
10. However, the client said she couldn't care less about getting a discount.
11. Instead, she tried to persuade me to give her the entire shipment for free.
12. I said that getting good service was different fromgetting products for no cost.
13. I then decided I had better ["should" might be a better option] offer overnight shipping on the order.
14. Once she agreed, I could hardly wait to get off the phone and do a victory dance.
15. After our discussion, the client was [neither--it's figurative, but there is no need to include the word] on fire with enthusiasm for our business.

different from	67%
because of	56%
all right	44%
couldn't care less	44%
all together	33%
loath	33%
because	22%
persuade	22%
had better	22%
could hardly wait	11%
apprised	0%
already	0%
all ready	0%
ado	0%
figuratively	0%

The most difficult choice this week was between different fromand different than. I was not surprised, because the difference in usage is rather hard to describe, let alone follow easily. Grammarians and other linguistics experts have argued about the difference, if any, for literally decades (yes, literally). Many people consider different than to be incorrect most of the time, but different from is always correct, if you don't mess up the two things you are comparing. Different from is the preferred usage unless your sentence ends up comparing nonparallel items:

*I see the argument different from you.

Here, I've ended up comparing argument with you. To fix it using from, I would have to say

I see the argument in a way that is different from the way you see the argument.

That is more than twice the words, and ugly, to boot. This is where the word than comes in:

I see the argument in a different way than you [do].

By the way, if you are thinking of using the word differently, you do have a point. But the word different has a second meaning that is actually an adverb, synonymous with differently. So it would not technically be wrong to say

I see the argument different [or differently] than you.

My personal shortcut for this is to use than in adverbial phrases, and from only when comparing two nouns or gerunds [-ing verbs functioning as nouns]. In the challenge, I was comparing two gerunds : getting this versus getting that.

Due to is an adjective, because of is an adverb. A thing is due to something; an action is taken because of something. In the challenge, I did the action of deciding something because of our mix-up.

Alright is always all wrong.

The phrase couldn't care less is used to indicate how little a person cares. How little does the person care? So little that it would not be possible to care any less. The person already does not care at all, and thus could not care less. If you misspeak--and this is a VERY common error--and use could care less, then you have mistakenly indicated that the person does care to some extent that is not zero, since there is room for them to care less than they currently care.

Altogether means thoroughly, all together means all at the same time or in one package.

Loathe is a verb that means hate and requires a direct object: you have to loathe [hate] something. Loath is an adjective meaning reluctant. I am loath [reluctant] to do something that I do not like.

Being as how is less incorrect than beings as how. (I have not found evidence for this, but my sense is that the s is actually short for the word as, so that being's means being as, and thus being's as is redundant. But I am just going on my own judgment without corroboration there.) But both expressions are archaic, although they are used in colloquial and conversational English especially in the South. The common grammarian wisdom here is always use because instead in writing.

Persuade means to try to get someone to do something

Convince means to get someone to agree with an idea. So you try to persuade me to give you a discount, but you try toconvince me that giving a discount is a good idea.

Had better is the correct expression, and using better by itself is incorrect. Again, speaking just from my own theories, using better by itself comes from mishearing and then misspeaking the contracted forms I'd better, you'd better, etc.

Could hardly wait is the proper expression. Putting a negative word in there negates the adverb that indicates the slightness of your ability to wait, hardly, creating a sort of double negative that cancels itself out and ends up meaning the opposite.

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