The Penguin Dictionary of American English Usage and Style_2

As a practical guide to correct grammar and word choice, The Penguin Dictionary of American English Usage and Style makes an excellent addition to the reference shelf of any high school or college student, and those who write professionally will get plenty of use out of it as well. Words are arranged alphabetically, and thorough cross-referencing makes it fairly easy to track down specific answers, from the plural of “rhinoceros” to when “due to” is an acceptable phrase.
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The Penguin Dictionary of American English Usage and Style_2 38 belly the other: “The ‘night float’ began in Was he really so deep in thought or just most New York State hospitals as a gru- amused by the thought? eling rite of passage ended.” Begun In a similar book, another author re- would be right. (Commas or dashes calls a visit to an oil company’s camp in should precede it and follow “passage” the Sahara during a choking dust storm. to set off the explanatory matter. By the way, “night float” was a thirty-six-hour The Europeans working there asked shift for new doctors.) whether we would like showers and then some lunch. Such questions were BELLY. See STOMACH. almost bemusing after weeks in the desert. BEMUSE, BEMUSED. Some writ- ers confuse “bemuse” with amuse. The Later he describes the privation after meanings of the two words are not at all weeks of desert travel and adds: similar now, although they once were. The -muse part of each can be traced to Then there is a town; and the abun- the Medieval Latin word for snout, dance of everything is almost bemus- musum. ing. Bemuse (verb, transitive) means (1) to daze or muddle someone, or (2) to cause “Bemusing” fits neither context. Amus- one to muse or be deep in thought. It ing fits each. may take the form of bemused (past In the excerpt below, from a financial tense and past participle) and bemusing newspaper, the meaning is not clear. (present participle). Examples: “He blamed the alcohol for bemusing his “You can’t find anyone to bribe head.” / “Bemused by his equations, the here,” says a bemused American de- professor paid no heed to the bell.” veloper, Joseph T——, who is negoti- Amuse (verb, transitive) now means ating to build a hotel on the Red Sea to entertain or appeal to one’s sense of and apartment blocks in Asmara. humor. At one time it meant to beguile or bemuse. The context gives no reason why the de- An autobiography describes a gen- veloper should be stupefied or en- eral’s reaction to a barroom brawl. grossed. Was he amused, confused, surprised—or what? Gunfighter must have noticed that BESIDE and BESIDES. See Confus- several of his officers sported shiners, bruises, and puffed lips. He said noth- ing pairs. ing. But I detected on his seamed face BESIDES and AS WELL AS. See a bemused smile. AS, 5. Could it have been “an amused smile”? BEST. See AS BEST; BETTER and Another book of recollections tells of a motor trip in Africa. To get fuel to BEST (etc.). cross the Sahara, the author willingly de- BETTER and BEST, WORSE and toured for several days. WORST. The rule is simple, though I thought, bemused, of the times in often disregarded in conversations and my pre-Africa life I had fumed and by ring announcers who say “May the ranted over late planes and traffic best man win”: When the merits of two jams. things are compared, one thing is better between 39 and one is worse (unless they are equal among Canada, Mexico, and the United in merit). Only when there are three or States,” all three are meeting together. more items for comparison can one be Similarly, one may have many pieces the best and another the worst. Thus of cheese to sandwich between many these sentences, uttered by a political slices of bread. The bread slices are con- candidate and by a senator (who used to sidered as pairs. The same sandwich be a journalist) are wrong: principle permits “He paused between sentences” and “Commercials are Which of the two candidates for your broadcast between innings.” (But see 2, nomination is best qualified to be below.) president of the United States? Between can refer to the combined possession of two people or other enti- The policies of the president are the ties. “John and I had fifty dollars be- best of the two [sets of policies]. tween us.” Use among when speaking of three or more. ...