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User:Coder Dan/Bad English

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"different than"

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There's no such thing as "different than". The word "than" is used in comparisons, which are asymmetric: If A is bigger than B, then B is smaller than A. If A is older than B, then B is younger than A. You can think of comparisons as "vertical" differences: If A is higher than B, then B is lower than A.

Difference is contrast, not comparison. It's symmetric: If A is different from B, then B is also different from A. You can think of difference as "horizontal": It's like distance. If two things are different, it's like they're far away from each other, at least in some metaphorical sense. Different things are different from each other.

"as such"

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You can think of the word "such" as an approximate synonym of "that". "As such", then, means something like "as that", where "that" refers to a description that defines members of some group that a person or thing belongs to, or some kind of job or function that the person or thing fulfills. The difference is that "such" may refer to a kind of thing, whereas "that" always refers to a specific, individual thing.

For example, the President of the United States is the Commander In Chief of the US armed forces, and as such, he is authorized to direct US military actions. "As such" in this sentence means "as Commander In Chief".

A good translation of "as such" is "in that capacity". The phrase does not mean "because of that" or "for that reason", despite widespread misuse in that sense.

Malformed conjunctions and disjunctions

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Introductory adjective phrase

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An introductory adjective phrase is a phrase that appears before a clause and describes the subject of the clause. The phrase provides some explanation of how or why the sentence is true.

  • "A tall man, Long John Silver was able to touch the sky."
  • "A shiny yellow metal, gold has dazzled people for centuries."

Misuse

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Many editors seem to take a monkey-see-monkey-do approach to editing articles. For some reason, important information that should be in the first sentence of a lede or other paragraph is often moved to an introductory adjective phrase in the second sentence.

Disagreement with subject

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An adjective phrase at the beginning of a sentence modifies the subject of the sentence, not something tangentially related to it.

Introductory adjective phrase applies to something in previous sentence

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The second sentence in each of these examples is incoherent when read alone. The introductory adjective phrase typically applies to the subject of the previous sentence, and the reader is expected to figure that out intuitively. This pattern is very common in the first two sentences of article ledes.

Statement about the subject. Description of the subject, ... ... statement about something else.
The 24 Hours of Le Mans is the world's oldest sports car race. Commonly known as the Grand Prix of Endurance and Efficiency, ... ... race teams have to balance speed against the cars ability to run for 24 Hours.
[the passenger] became very drunk. After harrassing other passengers and crew members, ... ... the pilot had to sit on him to restrain him..
Kia introduced a new [front grille for their cars]. Known as the Tiger Nose, ... ... [the man who designed it] indicated he wanted "a powerful visual signal."
axial forces ... force the clutch plates to close. Once closed, ... ... the output shaft is locked.
Shinto is a religion originating from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion, ... ... its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion.

Trailing relative clause is separated from the thing it modifies

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A relative clause modifies a noun (word or phrase). It's supposed to follow the noun immediately.

Pretentious or pseudosophisticated misuse of expressions

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These expressions (first column) should be avoided where not specifically applicable. They provide no extra information and can be confusing.

Bad (sometimes) Better Comments
"subsequent(ly)" "later" or "following"
"while" "and"
"as well as" "and"
"amid" "during" or "because of"
"not A nor B" either "not A or B" or "neither A nor B" double negative
"garner" "receive" borrowed from the entertainment industry

Miscellaneous

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