Editorial Inspirations

My boyfriend and I had only been dating for two months when I was scheduled to leave for a three-week study abroad program with my college. The night before I was scheduled to leave, he and I went to see The Family Man at the movie theater. In the movie, the main character sees how his life would have been different if he had not gone on a trip to another country for a job opportunity. Because he decided to go on the business trip, the main character did not marry his girlfriend nor have children, but remained a lonely bachelor and work-aholic.

The next day, my mother, grandmother, and boyfriend drove me to the airport. I cried and said that I did not want to go on the trip—all I could think about was the movie. The study-abroad program that I had been looking forward to for six months no longer seemed important. At the airport, I saw all the other students lined up to check-in their luggage. I refused to get out of the vehicle.

During the month that I should have been in another country, I had a car accident that left me unharmed, but was close to taking my life. I was driving down a little country road, unbeknownst to me this road was icy. When I turned the steering wheel, my car did not obey. My front wheels slid into the ditch and my car continued to slide along the road. The passenger side of my car collided with an electric pole. My car swung around and snapped the electric pole. It would have landed on my car, crushing me, except that it became caught in telephone wires and hung two feet above my car.

My boyfriend came to pick me up and then took me to the hospital the next day to be examined for injuries and retrieve medication for my back spasms. During this time of recovery and loss of independence without a car, my boyfriend cared for my emotional and physical pains.

If I had gone on the study-abroad trip, these events would never have happened and we might never have grown so close. We could have separated in life as the main character in the movie. My boyfriend, who is now my husband, has become my best friend, and I am glad that I chose to be with him.

As there are choices with everything in life, there are also choices in the type of dictionary you own. There are two types of dictionaries that each serves a separate purpose and audience, though few readers know that they are being served differently.

Originally, dictionaries were prescriptive. They focus on the correct usage of the English language, not including nonstandard variants or slang words. The prescriptive dictionaries show the proper usage and accepted spelling of words, suggesting that there are better and worse approaches to using the English language.

Though the prescriptive dictionary gives definite right and wrong answers, most dictionaries today are descriptive.

Descriptive dictionaries describe the English language as it is currently being used. They include all commonly used words, even if they are nonstandard. Some such words are ain’t and irregardless.

A descriptive dictionary would include entries for these words, specifying not only that they are currently substandard but also their definitions when used. A descriptive dictionary keeps the possibility open that substandard words may one day become accepted. Whereas, a prescriptive dictionary would not include entries for substandard words.

Even though most dictionaries are now descriptive, there are levels of the descriptiveness. In choosing a dictionary to work with, be sure you choose one based on your needs. What are your expectations of your dictionary?

Verbs denoting action often require objects to complete the thought and the meaning. These verbs are called transitive verbs. The objects, like the subjects of the verbs, are usually nouns and pronouns.

To find the direct object, first find the subject and the verb. Use these in a question ending with whom or what.

Example

The sales associate sold her a movie.

Question: The sales associate sold what?

Direct Object: movie, Indirect Object: her

Try It!

What are the subjects of the verbs? Then, What are the direct objects and indirect objects?

1. Developing countries are facing many difficulties.
2. The flock of wheeling birds descended to the tree branch.
3. The fire gobbled up some of the most expensive and valuable real estate on Main Street.
4. Parts of the wreckage may never be found since the car went over the bridge into the ocean.
5. Smith’s manner has given her statements the force of commands.