Bryson's Dictionary for Writers and Editors - Bill Bryson [118]
temporary respite is redundant; all respites are temporary.
tempus fugit. (Lat.) “Time flies.”
tendentious. Biased.
Tenerife, Canary Islands.
Tennyson, Alfred, Baron. (1809–1892) English poet; poet laureate (1850–92); known as Alfred, Lord Tennyson.
Tenochtitlán. Aztec capital on site of modern Mexico City.
Teotihuacán. Site of ancient Mexican city.
tepee. Not tee-; North American Indian tent.
tequila.
tera-. Prefix meaning 1 trillion.
Terence. Properly Publius Terentius Afer (c. 190–159 BC); Roman comedy writer.
teriyaki. Japanese marinated meat dish.
terminus, pl. termini/terminuses.
terracotta.
terra firma. Dry land.
terra incognita. (Lat.) Unknown territory.
terrazzo. Stone flooring material.
terrine. An earthenware bowl, and the food prepared in it.
Tesla, Nikola. (1857–1943) Croatian-American scientist and inventor.
Tess of the D’Urbervilles. Novel by Thomas Hardy (1891).
tetchy. Touchy, ill-tempered.
tête-à-tête.
Tevere. Italian name for the Tiber River.
Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, England; but Tewksbury, Massachusetts.
TGV. Train à Grande Vitesse, high-speed French train.
Thackeray, William Makepeace. (1811–1863) English novelist.
thalassic. Pertaining to the sea.
thalassocracy. Dominance of the seas.
than. Three small but common problems need noting.
1. In comparative constructions than is often wrongly used, as here: “Nearly twice as many people die under 20 in France than in Great Britain” (cited by Gowers). Make it “as in Great Britain.”
2. It is wrongly used after hardly in sentences such as this: “Hardly had I landed at Liverpool than the Mikado’s death recalled me to Japan” (cited by Fowler). Make it “No sooner had I landed than” or “Hardly had I landed when.”
3. It is often a source of ambiguity in sentences of the following type: “She likes tennis more than me.” Does this mean that she likes tennis more than I do or that she likes tennis more than she likes me? In such cases, it is better to supply a second verb if it avoids ambiguity, e.g., “She likes tennis more than she likes me” or “She likes tennis more than I do.”
Thanksgiving Day. Fourth Thursday in November in the United States, second Monday in October in Canada.
that (as a conjunction). Whether you say “I think you are wrong” or “I think that you are wrong” is partly a matter of idiom but mostly a matter of preference. Some words usually require that (assert, contend, maintain) and some usually do not (say, think), but there are no hard rules. On the whole, it is better to dispense with that when it isn’t necessary.
that, which. To understand the distinctions between that and which it is necessary to understand restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses. A nonrestrictive, or nondefining, clause is one that can be regarded as parenthetical: “The tree, which had no leaves, was a birch.” The italicized words are effectively an aside and could be deleted. The real point of the sentence is that the tree was a birch; its leaflessness is incidental. A restrictive, defining clause is one that is essential to the sense of the sentence. “The tree that had no leaves was a birch.” Here the leaflessness is a defining characteristic; it helps us to distinguish that tree from other trees. In correct usage that is always used to indicate restrictive clauses and which to indicate nonrestrictive ones. Restrictive clauses should never be set off with commas and nonrestrictive clauses always should.
“Their’s not to reason why,/Their’s but to do and die” are the correct lines and original (but incorrect then too) punctuation from Tennyson’s “Charge of the Light Brigade.”
Theophrastus. (c. 372–286 BC) Greek philosopher.
therapeutic.
Thermopylae. A pass in Greece between the mountains and the sea, used throughout history as an invasion route.
Thermos. (Cap.)
Theron, Charlize. (1975–) South African–born actress.
thesaurus, pl. thesauri/thesauruses.
thesis, pl. theses.
Thimphu. Capital of Bhutan.
thingamabob, thingamajig.
thinking to oneself, as in “I thought to myself: ‘We’re lost,’” is always tautological; there is no one else