Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words - Bill Bryson [75]
though, although. The two are interchangeable except at the end of a sentence, where only though is correct (“He looked tired, though”), and with the expressions as though and even though, where idiom precludes although.
Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There is the full, formal title of the 1871 Lewis Carroll classic. Note the hyphen in Looking-Glass.
tic douloureux for the disorder of the facial nerves. Its formal medical designation is trigeminal neuralgia.
time often has a curious magnetic effect, attracting extra words to sentences, as here: “Indeed, he likes to say that prostitution is a kind of time-share business, since the property in question is being occupied for a short length of time” (New Yorker). In the most literal way, the sentence could do with less length. Make it “for a short time” and you just say as much, but more crisply. Occasionally, time itself is superfluous, as in constructions of this sort: “The report will be available in two weeks time” (Guardian). Time adds nothing to the sentence but wordiness, and its deletion would obviate the need for an apostrophe after weeks.
time, at this moment in. Unless you are striving for an air of linguistic ineptitude, never use this expression. Say now.
to all intents and purposes is a tautology. “To all intents” is enough.
together with, along with. With in both expressions is a preposition, not a conjunction, and therefore does not govern the verb. This sentence is wrong: “They said the man, a motor mechanic, together with a 22-year-old arrested a day earlier, were being questioned” (Times). Make it “was being questioned.”
A separate danger with such expressions is seen here: “Barbara Tuchman, the historian, gave $20,000 to the Democrats, along with her husband, Lester” (New York Times). How Lester felt about being given to the Democrats wasn’t recorded.
ton, tonne. There are two kinds of ton: a long ton (used principally in the United Kingdom), weighing 2,240 pounds or 1,016 kilograms, and a short ton (used in the United States and Canada), weighing 2,000 pounds or 907 kilograms. Tonne is the British term for what in America is normally called a metric ton; it weighs 2,204 pounds or 1,000 kilograms.
tonnages of ships. Deadweight tonnage is the amount of cargo a ship can carry. Displacement tonnage is the weight of the ship itself. Gross tonnage measures the theoretical capacity of a ship based on its dimensions. When you are using any of these terms, it is only fair to give the reader some idea of what each signifies.
tortuous, torturous. Tortuous means winding and circuitous (“The road wound tortuously through the mountains”). When used figuratively it usually suggests crookedness or deviousness (“a tortuous tax evasion scheme”). The word is thus better avoided if all you mean is complicated or convoluted. Torturous is the adjectival form of torture and describes the infliction of extreme pain. It is the word that should have been used here: “And only a tortuous number of repetitions could seriously increase your abdominal strength” (advertisement in The New York Times).
total. Three points to note:
1. Total is redundant and should be deleted when what it is qualifying already contains the idea of a totality, as here: “[They] risk total annihilation at the hands of the massive Israeli forces now poised to strike at the gates of the city” (Washington Post).
2. The expression a total of, though common, is also generally superfluous: “County officials said a total of eighty-four prisoners were housed in six cells” (New York Times). Make it “officials said eighty-four prisoners.” An exception is at the start of sentences, where it is desirable to avoid spelling out a large number, as in “A total of 2,112 sailors were aboard” instead of “Two thousand one hundred and twelve sailors were aboard.”
3. “A total of forty-five weeks was spent on the study