Aw, darn it. Another one lost. Safire On Language was always worth reading. Still is; he has shuffled off his mortal coil but he left us stacks and stacks of very well-arranged words, which you should read.
(Another fellow whose work you should read -- and you can still send him a fan letter, too -- is James J. Kilpatrick, whose column The Writer's Art was perhaps the best single reason to read a newspaper; and if there was Safire column in the same edition, oooo, two reasons!)
Among my few very small claims to fame is that Kilpatrick published an example from a letter I wrote to him. Sadly, it seems to have had no effect on the incorrect usage of "may" when "might" is called for. But that's assuredly a Quixotic crusade, and I scarcely mention it any longer.
ReplyDelete