BEST GUIDE TO WRITING STYLE

R
rack and ruin racked by doubt racket radical radiographer radius raft railway range is meaningless verbiage not wracked rather than racquet in tennis means going to the roots and so it indicates a fundamental rethink; avoid as an alternative to extremist or other political label takes X-ray pictures and a radiologist interprets them plural radii is a flotation device, avoid in reference to a raft of measures not railroad when discussing a conglomerate corporation, it is pretty meaningless to say its activities range from employment agency to ball-bearing manufacture, as that is not a comprehensible range on any continuum; it makes more sense to say its businesses include range of figures ranks rapt rarefied ravage ravish Ray-Ban razed re means to lay waste means to rape or carry off (which was also one of the original meanings of rape) is a trade name does not need qualification - it means levelled to the ground insert hyphen when followed by e or u (when not pronounced yu) eg re-examine; but not when followed by a, i, o, u (pronounced yu) or a consonant, eg reiterate, reconsider, reopen, rearm; BUT re-read, and to avoid confusion re-form, re-create, re-cover, re-sign rebut recession record Red Cross redundant words references means to provide counter-proofs and hence implies disproof of the original statement and not merely an argument against or a reply; it therefore implies backing for the author of the rebuttal; see also entry for refute, which has a similar meaning in finance means low economic activity in a country; defined by some economists and some government statistics authorities as two consecutive declines in quarterly gross domestic product figures as in highest, biggest etc, do not require qualification: it is unnecessary to say a new record, or all-time record as both are pleonastic the central organising body is the International Committee of the Red Cross and that is how it should be first mentioned see the entry for superfluities to other parts of text should not specify above or below which is meaningless on anything but a scroll; specify chapter, section or page, preferably both. References to other publications should specify publisher, not just town of publication and date of first issue unless there is good reason for mentioning a later edition. refute regalia register office regrettable reinvent himself religion a meaningless cliche and also suggests the person was invented in the first place; avoid it, and explain just what was done Islam abaya full-body overgarment worn by some Muslim women to cover all but their face, feet and hands burka one-piece head-to-toe covering for Muslim women, with a headband to hold it in place and a cloth mesh to cover the face but allow vision chador full-length cloak for Muslim women that covers the head and body but leaves the face visible, worn over a loosefitting blouse and trousers, open in front and held together by the wearer means to disprove, demonstrate falsity or error by argument or fact and so implies which side is right; it does not therefore mean reply to or deny which can also be indicated by contest; see also entry for rebut refers to the insignia of royalty and therefore royal regalia is pleonastic not registry office see the entry for numbers for military see entry under titles means entranced or wholly attentive; wrapped is encased or folded

Copyright 2012- BecketsBest- Best Guide to Writing Style

hijab scarf for Muslim women to cover hair but leave the face open; some styles also cover neck and shoulders niqab Muslim womans full head and face covering that leaves only the eyes open sharia a system of Muslim religious law, so talk of religious law is tautology Christianity basilica a church with a long single construction, ie not cruciform cathedral large church of a diocese and seat of the bishop Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Mormons sect religious group that has broken off from a larger one cult a faith group far from the religious mainstream, implying a charismatic leader and possibly extreme views. Use very carefully evangelical Protestants who stress personal conversion (born again) and the authority of the Bible evangelism spreading the Gospel see also the entry for titles remains to be seen repellant repetition reported speech writing that the results of something remain to be seen is an unacceptable confession of ignorance; if you do not know but feel called on to discuss the point, say the outcome is uncertain or unpredictable, and preferably specify why is the noun, repellent the adjective see the entry for elegant variation statements in the present tense transfer into the past tense: I paint in oils becomes she said she painted in oils; from the past tense it becomes had; there are exceptions to such changes in tense when the statement, although in the present tense, obviously implies a continuing activity thus it would be foolish to say Mrs Thatcher said she was a Conservative, because it implied she might no longer was one by now resister respective/respectively restaurateur reticent reveille Revelation revert Richter scale last book of the New Testament, not Revelations never add the word back is largely incomprehensible to the average reader, especially as it is an exponential rarther than linear scale so 8.3 is fifty times as intense as 7.3 and comparisons are therefore wholly opaque, so some other form of explanation of the degree of devastation is needed to make the quake real; it is in any case no longer used by seimologists who refer only to the magnitude or force of the earthquake ricochet The Rime of the Ancient Marriner riveted rococo Rollerblade Rolls-Royce is a trademark (note hyphen for both cars and aero-engines) the companies invariably complain if the name is used as synonym for the best; it is therefore less trouble to avoid the legal correspondence by avoiding phrases like Leica is the Rolls-Royce of cameras rottweiler rough-shod rounding round robin routeing row Royal Welch Fusiliers Rumania run see entry for number document (esp. embodying a complaint or request) signed by many persons, freq. in alphabetical order to indicate that responsibility is shared; it is therefore not a message sent by one person to several people for sending along a route; routing for putting to flight avoid as alternative to argument or dispute also Welch Regiment, BUT Welsh Guards rather than Romania for office, use stand instead lower case initial not rhyme is a person, resistor is electrical at the end of a list looks pompous or lawyerly, and does not help the reader; just be sure of producing the two lists congruently runs restaurants (note, no n) means reserved, disinclined to speak freely; given to silence, and therefore is not a sysnonym for reluctant

Copyright 2012- BecketsBest- Best Guide to Writing Style