- By Jim Evans
- Entertainment
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Smart Talk SMART TALK By Laconia Crisp, N.P.
GIVEAWAY: Mrs. Shirley Markem Lowe is angry. Readers of this column point to usage misdemeanors such as, “I have a lot of clothes to giveaway,” and, “Set up for the bazaar will start at 9:00,” as evidence of the decline of public education.
Well, that’s never written by her students, by golly. Her seniors at D.B. Wesson High School learn the logic of compounding.
They know that a freebie is a giveaway, but old clothes are to give away. You even say them differently, first as a single word, then as two. We’ll set up for the bazaar, and we might call the event the setup.
The car might break down, and we’d call it a breakdown. Mrs. Lowe’s students might show off, and she’d call them showoffs.
She wisely avoids forming a rule from this, because English is such a minefield. It may look as if the compound, or single word, is the noun (thing), and the two-word form is the verb (action), but Mrs. Lowe advises simply using one’s ear and common sense.
After all, there’s an important difference between a black bird, which could be a duck, and a blackbird. You can see water fall, but that’s not necessarily a waterfall. And neither item in these pairs is a verb.
Shirley Markem Lowe gives extra credit for more examples, and her students develop sharp ears and become nuisances to their careless peers.
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