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.(or Monsieur) Portzamparc, notde Portzamparc.Poseidon.Greek god of the sea; identified with the Roman god Nep-tune.position.Often a pointer to verbosity. They now find themselves ina position where they have to make a choice would be immea-surably better as  They now have to make a choice.possessives.Problems with possessives are discussed in some detailin the Appendix under apostrophe, but three especially com-mon faults are worth mentioning here.1.Failure to put an apostrophe in the right place.This is par-possible / Poulters Company 273ýÿticularly frequent with words like men s, women s, and chil-dren s, which all too often appear as mens , womens , andchildrens.2.Failure to put an apostrophe in at all.This practice spellingthe words mens, womens, and childrens and so on is partic-ularly rife among retailers.It is painful enough to beholdthere, inexcusable elsewhere.3.Putting an apostrophe where none is needed.Possessivepronouns his, hers, ours, theirs, and so on do not take anapostrophe.But sometimes one is wrongly inserted, ashere:  I don t think much of your s (Independent head-line).(See also  ours is not to reason why. )possible is wrongly followed by may in constructions such as thefollowing:  It is possible that she may decide to go after all(Daily Telegraph).Make it either  It is possible that she will de-cide to go after all or  She may decide to go after all. Togetherthe two words are wrong and unnecessary.posthaste.(One word.) With speed.posthumous.After death.postilion.postmeridian, post meridiem.The first means related to or happeningin the afternoon.The second, also pertaining to the period afternoon, is the Latin term better known to most of us as the abbre-viation p.m.Note the different terminal spellings.postpartum.After birth.postprandial.After dinner.potage.Soup.potpourri, pl.potpourris.Poughkeepsie, New York.Poulenc, Francis.(1899 1963) French composer.Poulters Company.London livery company; not Poulterers.274 pour, pore / precondition, preplanning, prerecordedpour, pore.The first means to flow or rain heavily; the second meansto examine carefully.pourboire.(Fr.) A gratuity.pour encourager les autres.(Fr.)  To encourage the others.Poussin, Nicolas.(1594 1665) French painter.Powell, Anthony.(1905 2000) British novelist; pronounced pole.powwow.A conference.Powys, John Cowper.(1872 1963) English poet and novelist; thenames are pronounced cooper and po-iss.PPI.Abbreviation of producer price index; in economics, a measureof changes in commodity prices.practical, practicable.Anything that can be done and is worth doingis practical.Anything that can be done, whether or not it isworth doing, is practicable.practice, practiced, practicing.praemonitus praemunitis.(Lat.)  Forewarned is forearmed.praeseodymium.Chemical element.Praetorian Guard.Elite Roman army unit.Praha.Czech spelling of Prague.Praia.Capital of Cape Verde.precautionary measure is a common phrase, but it can nearly alwaysbe shortened simply to precaution.precipitant, precipitate, precipitous.All three come from the same root,the Latin praecipitare ( to throw headlong ).Precipitous meansvery steep: cliff faces are precipitous.Precipitant and precipitateboth indicate a headlong rush and are almost indistinguishablein meaning, but precipitant tends to emphasize the abruptnessof the rush and precipitate the rashness of it.The most commonerror is to use precipitous to describe actions ( his precipitousdeparture from the cabinet ).Precipitous can describe onlyphysical characteristics.precondition, preplanning, prerecorded, etc.Almost always redundant:precursor / presumptive, presumptuous 275ýÿ A lot of headaches can be avoided with a little careful preplan-ning (Chicago Tribune).All planning must be done in advance.Pre- adds nothing to its meaning and should be deleted, as itshould have been in these examples:  There are, however, threepreconditions to be met before negotiations can begin(Guardian);  The company s music performance reflected boththe volatility and opportunities for growth in the worldwidemarket for prerecorded music (advertisement in the Econo-mist).precursor.Not -er.predilection.prehensile.Able to grasp.premier, premiere.The first means first in position or importance.The second is a debut.Preminger, Otto.(1906 1986) Austrian-born American film director.premises is always plural when referring to property.There is nosuch thing as a business premise.prepositions.The lingering belief that sentences should not end withprepositions is entirely without foundation.prerogative.An exclusive right.Prescelly Mountains, Wales.prescribe, proscribe.Prescribe means to set down as a rule or guide.Proscribe means to denounce or prohibit.If you get bronchitis,your doctor may prescribe antibiotics and proscribe smoking.present, presently.Like current and currently, these two often appearneedlessly in sentences, as here:  A new factory, which ispresently under construction in Manchester, will add to capac-ity. The sentence says as much without presently as with it.Presidents Day.Note apos.Third Monday of February.presumptive, presumptuous.The first is sometimes used when thesecond is intended.Presumptuous means impudent and inclinedto take liberties, or to act in a manner that is excessively bold and276 pretension, but pretentious / principal, principleforthright.Presumptive means giving grounds to presume and isprimarily a technical term.The wrong use is seen here:  Sheconsidered the question with the equanimity of someone whohas long been immune to presumptive prying (Sunday Tele-graph).pretension, but pretentious.prevalent, prevalence.prevaricate, procrastinate.Occasionally confused.Prevaricate meansto speak or act evasively, to stray from the truth.Procrastinatemeans to put off doing.prevent often appears incorrectly in sentences such as this:  Theytried to prevent him leaving. It should be either  They tried toprevent his leaving or  They tried to prevent him from leaving.See gerunds (2).preventive, preventative. One way to ease their difficulties, they de-cided, was to practice preventative medicine (Economist).Pre-ventative is not incorrect, but preventive is shorter.Pribilof Islands, Alaska.PricewaterhouseCoopers.Accountancy company. Pride goes before a fall is wrong.The quotation, from Proverbs, is Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before afall.prima facie. At first sight, on the face of it.primeval.Not -evil.primogeniture.The practice by which an entire inheritance passes tothe firstborn male child.primus inter pares.(Lat.)  First among equals.Princes Street, Edinburgh, Scotland.Princes Town, Trinidad.principal, principle.Principle means fundamental and is usually ap-plied to fundamental beliefs or truths ( It s not the money, it sthe principle ) or to fundamental understandings ( They havepristine / Prokofiev, Sergei 277ýÿsigned an agreement in principle ).It is always a noun.Princi-pal can be a noun meaning chief or of first importance ( He isthe school s principal ) or an adjective with the same meaning( The principal reason for my going. ).pristine does not mean spotless.It means original or primeval or ina state virtually unchanged from the original.privilege.prix fixe.(Fr.) Fixed price; pl.prix fixes.Prix Goncourt.Preeminent French literary award.p.r.n.Short for pro re nata (Lat.),  as necessary. Used by doctors onprescriptions to indicate that a drug should be administered asnecessary and not on a fixed schedule.proboscis.An animal s trunk, long snout, or feeding tube; pl.pro-boscises.proceed, but procedure.procrastinate, prevaricate [ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ]