N
NAMES
NEGATIVE ADVERBS
A negative adverb is used to create a negative meaning without using words like no, not, neither, nor, or never.
Negative adverbs include barely, hardly, little, nowhere, rarely, scarcely, and seldom.
Example: He seldom reads anymore.
Example: He hardly talks since the stroke.
NEGATIVE FORMATIONS
Just as not all plurals are made by adding s to a word, not all negatives are made by adding un- as a prefix.
There are many other ways to create negatives. Table 2.20 presents a list of common negative formation techniques.
Table 2.20 Common Negative Formation Techniques and Examples
NEGATIVE PRONOUNS
Negative pronouns are used in negative noun phrases: no one, nobody, neither, none, and nothing.
NEITHER, EITHER
NEOLOGISM
Neologism is a process where new words come into the English language from various sources, such as mass media, technology, other languages, and even slang.
Example: CD, PC, Internet, superhighway, shareware, going posta
NEVER
Never means never; it does not refer to a limited period of time.
Incorrect: We never saw your dog since yesterday.
Correct: We have not seen your dog since yesterday.
Correct: We never saw your dog. What breed was he?
NOMINAL ADJECTIVES
Nominal adjectives act as both nouns and adjectives, and they are used to denote a class of people or things. They are preceded by a determiner (the) and can be modified by adjectives.
Example: the poor, the hungry, the sick, the blind
Nominal adjectives are also words that describe concepts.
Example: the opposite, the contrary, the good
Nominal adjectives reference certain nationalities.
Example: the French, the British, the Japanese
Comparative and superlative forms can be nominal adjectives.
Example: the greatest of these, the elder of the two
NOMINATIVE ABSOLUTES
Nominative absolutes are a phrase consisting of a noun or pronoun, a participle, and any related modifiers. Nominative absolutes are also called absolute phrases.
Absolute phrases modify an entire sentence. They often appear as parenthetical elements that are set apart from the rest of the sentence by a pair of commas or by a dash or a pair of dashes.
Example: The workday nearly finished [nominative absolute], the programmers slowly began shutting down their PCs for the day.
Example: The authors signed autographs through the lunch hour, their pens scribbling madly.
Example: Having been top performers for their entire careers, the sales team was not surprised by the honors they received.
Noun phrases can also exist as absolute phrases.
Example: Then there was my college friend Mike—the party animal [noun phrase]—now a respected member of the legal profession.
NOMINATIVE CASE
NOMINATIVE POSSESSIVE
Nominative possessives are pronouns like mine, yours, ours, and theirs.
Example: Mine is a better dog than yours.
NONCOUNT NOUNS
NONDEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSE
A nondefining relative clause provides additional information about a noun or noun phrase. Nondefining relative clauses are separated from the rest of the sentence by commas.
Example: My psychologist brother, who lives in Nashville [nondefining relative clause], is coming into town for the holidays.
Who and whose are used to refer to people.
Which and whose are used to refer to things.
That can’t be used in a nondefining relative clause.
NONFINITE VERBS
Unlike finite verbs, nonfinite verbs have no tense, person, or singular and plural forms. Nonfinite verbs are called verbals.
There are three types of verbals:
Infinitives are the to form of the verb.
Example: to walk, to talk, to see, to jump
Participles act as adjectives or as the main verbs in a verb phrase.
Example: He put on a pair of running [participle acting as an adjective] shoes.
Example: He knew he would have to run [verb phrase] to catch the bus. [verb phrase.
Gerunds are the -ing form of the verb and are used as nouns.
Example: Walking [gerund serving as a noun] is great for your health.
A clause needs a finite verb to serve as a predicate; therefore, nonfinite verbs can’t serve as predicates.
NONINHERENT ADJECTIVES
See Inherent and Noninherent Adjectives.
NONRESTRICTIVE CLAUSES
Nonrestrictive clauses do not provide any essential information to a sentence and can be removed without changing the meaning of the sentence. They are often set apart from the rest of the sentence by a comma or pair of commas (if in the middle of the sentence).
Example: Doctor Early, who lives in the same neighborhood as my friends Bill and Kathy [nonrestrictive clause], is my mother’s doctor.
NOTICES
Special notices highlight information that readers need to understand key points, avoid injuries or death, or prevent equipment damage when following procedures.
Five main types of notices are used in business writing:
1. Caution—to warn readers about damage to equipment, software, or problems with a particular outcome
2. Danger—to warn readers about possible fatal injuries to themselves or others
3. Note—to emphasize points, to serve as a reminder, or to point out minor problems
4. Warning—to warn readers about possible minor injuries
5. Tip—to help readers apply useful techniques or to point out benefits or capabilities
Consider the following tips when using notices:
Place notices within the text where they are needed.
Avoid all caps for special notices (except for DANGER).
Formatting for a special notice includes:
Type the word (Caution, Danger, Note, or Warning), followed by a colon.
Use bold font for the word Caution, Danger, Note, or Warning.
Use your regular text font for the body of the special notice.
Skip one space after the colon and begin typing the special notice.
Single-space the text within the special notice.
Skip one line above and below the special notice.
Align the special notice with the text to which it refers.
Use a numbered list for multiple special notices.
For special notices involving danger, enhance the formatting to include:
DANGER in all capital letters.
Setting the text of the special notice message in boldface.
Drawing a box around the danger message.
NOUN CASE
Noun case tells you the role of a noun in a sentence:
Subject
Example: The basketball player jumped very high.
Object
Example: She selected a paintbrush.
Possessive (usually requiring an apostrophe and the letter s or es)
Example: The policeman’s uniform was blue.
NOUN CLAUSE
A noun clause is a group of words that act like a noun in a sentence. A noun clause contains a subject and a verb.
Example: What she said about Alex was misunderstood.
NOUN PHRASE
A noun with several modifiers can act as a single noun in the form of a noun phrase. A phrase is a group of related words that does not include a subject and verb. If a subject and verb are present, the combination is a clause. A noun phrase includes a noun and its modifiers.
Example: college football team, extremely long hair, international bond fund, the tall dark man
The modifiers included in the noun phrase can be any of the following:
Adjectives
Example: tall dark ma.
Participial phrase
Example: the bushes bordering the edge of the sidewalk.
Infinitive phrase
Example: the first woman to fly around the world.
Example: the mistakes he had made the day before.
Prepositional phrase
Example: the trail next to the lake, over by the dam.
Usually all the words in a noun phrase are together; however, occasionally they can be broken up into what is called a discontinuous noun phrase.
Example: Several burglaries have been reported involving people who were gone for the weekend.
There is nothing wrong with a discontinuous noun phrase. It is sometimes useful for balancing a subject and predicate. Otherwise, the result can be a ten-word subject and a three-word verb.
A common problem to avoid is a long string of compound noun phrases. This often happens when the string also involves a group of compound nouns, such as student body, book cover, or meeting place. If you put together a long string of these phrases, the sentence can be very difficult to read.
Example: The office supply store’s computer section offered printer cartridges, inkjet printers, laser printers, desktop computers, laptop computers, hard drives, interface cards, and network routers.
An addressed person’s name or substitute name is called a vocative. Vocatives sometimes take the form of a noun phrase. A vocative is treated as a parenthetical element and is set apart from the rest of the sentence by a pair of commas, if it appears in the flow of a sentence. You do not need to add commas every time someone’s name is mentioned in a sentence. Commas are used only when the name refers to someone being addressed in the sentence.
Example: Lieutenant, get those men moving.
There are four types of vocatives:
Single names, with or without a title
Appellatives of endearment, such as darling, my dear, sweetheart, and sir
Nominal clauses
Example: Whoever is singing, stop it now.
NOUN PLURALS
Normally, you can form the plural of a noun by adding s.
Example: Wilson, Wilson.
When the noun already ends in s, add es.
Example: file, files; desk, desks; lens, lense.
These rules apply to proper names as well as to common nouns.
Example: Jones, Jonese.
Form the plural of a number by adding an s without an apostrophe.
Example: the 1990.
Avoid adding (s) to words so they can be interpreted as singular or plural.
Incorrect: Please keep your dog(s) on a leash.
NOUNS
Nouns name a person, place, or thing. Nouns tell you who or what. There are several different types of nouns:
Proper nouns name a specific person, place, or thing and are capitalized.
Example: Jim, Alice, Canada.
Nouns of address are words used as someone’s name.
Example: Judge, Colonel, Mo.
Common nouns do not name a specific person, place, or thing.
Example: candy, wool, tre.
Countable nouns are used for counting.
Example: ten dollars, two dozen, fifty state.
Mass nouns refer to things that cannot be counted.
Example: air, wate.
Collective nouns are used to name groups of people or things.
Example: class, fans, tea.
Abstract nouns name intangible things.
Example: hope, love, peace, wa.
Compound nouns are composed of groups of words. See Compound Nouns.
Gerunds are formed from a verb by adding -ing. See Gerunds.
NOUNS OF ADDRESS
NUMBER ABBREVIATIONS
See Abbreviations for Numbers.
NUMBERED LIST
A numbered list is an indented vertical list that is numbered. Numbered lists are useful for sequential steps in a procedure. Use these guidelines when creating a numbered list:
Introduce the list with a lead-in sentence.
Type the number followed by a period.
Use sentence-style capitalization.
Indent additional lines under the text rather than under the number.
Use regular line spacing for the list.
Indent the list items three to five spaces.
Punctuate the list items if they are complete sentences.
Avoid numbered lists with more than eight to ten items.
Break long lists into smaller ones if necessary.
Omit articles (a, an, the) from the beginning of list items.
NUMBERS OR WORDS
Generally, numbers under 10 are spelled out, and numbers 10 and over are shown in figures. The only variation to this rule is when writing about a person’s age. Then it is more accepted to write out ages. The more formal the text, the greater is the tendency to express the number in words.
Printed Text and Prose Text
In printed text, a number used for comparison with other numbers in the same section should be in numerical form.
Example: An excavation of 500 feet can be finished as rapidly as 200 feet if the right equipment is used.
At the Beginning of a Sentence
A number appearing at the beginning of a sentence, if it can be expressed in one or two words, should be spelled out.
Correct: Sixteen new cars were delivered.
Correct: Thirty or forty bushels were needed.
Incorrect: 2,746,892 copies were purchased.
Correct: They purchased 2,746,892 copies.
Legal Documents
In legal documents and in papers that transfer land title, numbers are written in both words and figures to prevent misunderstanding.
Example: West thirty (30) feet of Lot Nine (9) in Block Four (4)
Round Numbers
Approximate round numbers are spelled out.
Example: The station is about fifty blocks away.
Example: He found nearly two thousand dollars.
Sets of Numbers
To differentiate two sets of numbers occurring in the same sentence, use words for one and figures for the other.
Example: Three of the men drove 2,000 miles each; four drove 3,000 miles each; and only one drove the complete 5,000 miles.
If the sentence cannot be rewritten, use a comma or dash to separate the numbers.
Example: During the year 1992, 20 million people visited the park.
Example: We received 1,213—113 of which we couldn’t use.
Large Numbers
If large numbers can be written in one or two words, do so.
Example: four hundred, five million, two billion
Use the short form for writing numbers over a thousand not pertaining to money.
Example: fourteen hundred [not one thousand four hundred.
Large, even amounts may combine figures and words.
Example: production of 37 million paper clips, a budget of $146 billio.
If a number or the word several precedes hundred, thousand, million, billion, and so on, the singular form is used. After many, the plural form and of are used.
Example: six hundred pages, several million years, many hundreds of page.
Separating Digits
All numbers above 999 are written with commas to separate every group of three digits, counting from the units place.
Example: 1,001, 123,000, 1,436,93.
Exceptions: Commas are omitted in long decimal fractions, page numbers, addresses, telephone numbers, room numbers, and form numbers.
Example: 0.10356, page 3487, 1467 Wilshire Boulevard, 201-555-9088, Room 2630, Form 2317-.
Commas are also omitted in four-digit year numbers, but they are added for years with five or more digits.
Example: The company began in 1992.
Example: The pottery shards were dated at about 14,000 B.C.
Example: This science fiction novel takes place in the year 27,345 A.D.
Patent numbers are written with commas.
Example: Patent No. 3,436,98.
Serial and policy numbers are written without commas.
Example: Motor Number 245889954, Policy Number 89456.