Bryson's Dictionary for Writers and Editors - Bill Bryson [74]
less, fewer. The simplest rule is to use less with singular nouns (less money, less sugar) and fewer with plural ones (fewer houses, fewer cars).
Lesseps, Ferdinand Marie, Vicomte de. (1805–1894) French engineer closely associated with the Suez Canal. On second reference, de Lesseps.
L’Étoile. Area around Arc de Triomphe, Paris.
Letzeburgesch. German dialect spoken in Luxembourg.
level, mark. These are often pointlessly employed. “Stock prices once again fell below the 12,000 level” says no more than “…fell below 12,000.”
Leverrier, Urbain Jean Joseph. (1811–1877) French astronomer.
Lévesque, René. (1922–1988) Canadian politician, leader of Parti Québécois.
Levi’s. Jeans produced by Levi Strauss.
Lévi-Strauss, Claude. (1908–) French anthropologist.
Leviticus. Book of the Old Testament.
Levittown, New York and Pennsylvania.
Lewis, Meriwether. (1774–1809) Not -whether. The coleader (with William Clark) of the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804–1806.
Lewis, Wyndham. (1884–1957) English writer and artist.
Leyden jar, but the Dutch town is now usually spelled Leiden.
Lhasa for the capital of Tibet, Lhasa apso for the breed of dog.
liable, likely, apt, prone. All four indicate probability, but they carry distinctions worth noting. Apt is better reserved for general probabilities (“It is apt to snow in January”) and likely for specific ones (“It is likely to snow today”). Liable and prone are better used to indicate a probability arising as a regrettable consequence: “People who drink too much are prone to heart disease” “If you don’t pay your taxes, you are liable to get caught.” A separate but common problem with likely is seen in this sentence: “Cable experts say the agreement will likely strengthen the company’s position.” Used as an adverb, likely needs to be accompanied by one of four helping words: very, quite, more, or most. Thus the sentence should say “will very likely strengthen.”
liaison.
libel, slander. Although nearly all dictionaries define libel merely as a statement that defames or damages a person’s reputation, it is worth remembering that it must do so unreasonably or inaccurately. It is the wrongness of a contention that makes it libelous, not the harshness or hostility of it. Although a libel usually takes the form of a written utterance, drawings and other visual depictions may also be libelous. In all cases, a libel must be published (the word comes from the Latin libellus, meaning “little book”). When defamatory remarks are merely spoken, the term to describe the act is slander.
liberté, égalité, fraternité. (Fr.) “Liberty, equality, fraternity” slogan of the French Revolution.
Liberty, Statue of, was emplaced in 1886. It is officially known as Liberty Enlightening the World. Its designer was Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi. Liberty Island was formerly called Bedloes Island.
Libeskind, Daniel. (1946–) Polish-born American architect.
lichee (or litchi or lychee). Chinese tree and its fruit.
Lichfield for the town and cathedral in Staffordshire, England, and for the photographer Patrick Lichfield (1939–2005), who was formally the Earl of Lichfield, Viscount Anson, and Baron Sober-ton.
Lichtenstein, Roy. (1923–1997) American artist.
lickerish. Greedy, lascivious.
licorice.
Liebfraumilch. White Rhine wine; in German it is Liebfrauenmilch.
Liechtenstein. Diminutive Alpine principality; capital Vaduz.
lifelong. Though the term needn’t be taken absolutely literally in most contexts, it should have some sense of at least approximately covering the whole of the subject’s existence, so that one might be called a lifelong Yankees fan, but not, say, a lifelong drug addict.
lighted, lit. Either is correct. Lighted, however, is more usual when the word is being used as an adjective (“a lighted torch”).
lightning, not lightening.
light-year. The distance that light travels through empty space in one year (about 5.88 trillion miles; 9.46 trillion kilometers).
likable.
like, as. Problems often arise in choosing between like and as. On the face of it, the rule is simple: