Bryson•s Dictionary for Writers and Editors

74
Cohan, George M. / Colman, Ronald
Cohan, George M. (for Michael) (1878–1942) American songwriter
and performer, playwright, and producer.
Cohen-Tannoudji, Claude. (1933–) French physicist, born in Algeria;
awarded Nobel Prize for Physics (1997).
Cointreau. Liqueur.
Coleman, Ornette. (1930–) American jazz saxophonist.
coleus.
Colgate-Palmolive. (Hyphen.) Personal products company.
colic, but colicky.
coliseum, Colosseum. The first applies to any large amphitheater; the
second is a particular amphitheater in Rome.
collapsible. Not -able.
collectible is the normal U.S. spelling, but collectable is an accepted
alternative.
collectives. Deciding whether to treat nouns of multitude—words
like majority, flock, variety, group, crowd, and so on—as singulars
or plurals is entirely a matter of the sense you intend to convey.
Although some authorities have tried to fix rules, such undertakings
are almost always futile. On the whole, Americans lean
to the singular and Britons to the plural, often in ways that
would strike the other as absurd (compare the American “The
couple was married in March” with the British “England are to
play Hungary in their next match”). A common fault is to flounder
about between singular and plural. Even Samuel Johnson
stumbled when he wrote that he knew of no nation “that has
preserved their words and phrases from mutability.” Clearly the
italicized words should be either singular both times or plural
both times. See also number and total.
collisions can occur only when two or more moving objects come
together. If a car runs into a stationary object, it is not a collision.
Colman, Ronald. (1891–1958) English actor.