The Penguin Dictionary of American English Usage and Style : A ...

456 verbs
The portion of sales hedged is based
on assessments of cost-benefit profiles
that consider natural offsetting exposures,
revenue and exchange rate
volatilities and correlations, and the
cost of hedging instruments. . . . For
foreign currency denominated borrowing
and investing transactions,
cross-currency interest rate swap contracts
are used, which, in addition to
exchanging cash flows derived from
rates, exchange currencies at both inception
and termination of the contracts.
. . . Because monetary assets
and liabilities are marked to spot and
recorded in earnings, forward contracts
designated as hedges of the
monetary assets and liabilities are also
marked to spot with the resulting
gains and losses similarly recognized
in earnings.
Popular language has deadwood too.
“In spite of the fact that” can often boil
down to although; “was in attendance
at” to attended; “for the reason that” to
because; “of a friendly (or cheerful etc.)
character” to friendly (or cheerful etc.);
“is in possession of” to has; and so on.
Recent decades have brought many
roundabout expressions, such as “I am
supportive of him” instead of I support
him; “at this point in time” instead of
now; “in terms of” and “all that” used
unnecessarily; “for” free and listen
“up”; and “person” and “people” as
suffixes.
Even a short piece can be too long if it
has unnecessary components. A long
work is not necessarily too long if it is
tightly composed. That means being
concise and to the point; preferring active
verbs to passive verbs and fresh expressions
to clichés; avoiding
highfalutin, obscure, or superfluous
words and phrases; not being too abstract;
illustrating generalities with specific
examples; favoring simple sentences
over complicated ones; using long sentences
sparingly and with clear, consistent
structure; and using grammar, sentence
structure, and vocabulary
carefully.
Verbosity should not be confused
with verbiage, an instance of (not a tendency
toward) an overabundance of
words. Verbiage can also denote a style
of using words, such as legal verbiage in
a court document.
Among pertinent entries are Active
voice and passive voice; ADVOCATE;
“AT THIS POINT IN TIME”; A
WHILE and AWHILE; BOTH; BU-
COLIC; CAUGHT and CAUGHT UP;
CHARACTER; Clichés; CONSENSUS;
DEMOLISH; Expletives; FRACTION;
FREE; IDYLLIC; IN ATTENDANCE;
IN TERMS OF; IS IS; KNOT; LIKE, 3;
MEAN (adjective); OFF and “OFF OF”;
ON, 2; PEOPLE as a suffix; PERSON;
PERSONAL; PRESENTLY; REVERT;
SITUATION; SUPPORTIVE; THAT,
ALL THAT; Twins; UP, 2; WITH.
Verbs. 1. Basic facts. 2. Creation from
nouns. 3. Mistakes in number. 4. Problems
in using auxiliaries. 5. Shortage of
objects.
1. Basic facts
A. What is a verb?
A verb is typically a word of action. It
tells what someone or something does.
“The boy works.” / “This monkey
howls.” / “Paris fell on that day.”
The person, creature, thing, or abstraction—that
is, the subject—need not
act overtly. The subject may just exist in
some way, or something may happen to
the subject. The verb tells us that. “I am
the captain.” / “They live in Detroit.” /
“The city was besieged for two years.”
B. Verb phrase
A verb may consist of more than one
word, usually termed a verb phrase.
“The dog has eaten my manuscript.” /