Idioms and Word Choice
You have a fairly good chance of seeing a few Writing
section items that test proper use of vocabulary, or usage.
For example, what’s wrong with the following sentence?
The film had a powerful affect
on me. |
Affect is not the word you need; effect is
correct. Affect as a noun means “emotion” or “mood”; effect as
a noun means “an outcome or result.” Affect as
a verb means “to influence,” whereas effect as
a verb means “to cause to occur.” A different example: noisome means
“offensive smelling,” not noisy.
There are many tricky pairs and triads in English. Whether
you’ll be faced with any particular one on the SAT is hard to predict.
The best preparation is to sharpen your vocabulary. If
you have some spare time, log on to
www.sparknotes.com/ultimatestyle and
check out our book
SparkNotes Ultimate Style for
a comprehensive list of commonly misused words.
Idioms are inherited quirks of language that
we absorb without question but cause nonnative speakers endless
trouble.
Here’s an idiom we’ve all used:
Look at this grammatically. A pronoun that refers only
to humans, me, is replacing a pronoun that refers
only to inanimate objects, it.
Many idioms are meant to be taken figuratively. If you
tell someone “I’m going to give you a piece of my mind,” most likely
you will walk away from the conversation with your brain intact.
Idioms have no rhyme or reason to them: you simply have to know
their meaning. Listing all possible idioms you might see on the
SAT would take up the rest of this book and is a pretty low-yield
investment strategy, since you won’t see more than a couple of questions
at most.
One particular type of idiom is more limited and more
likely to be tested. The particular meaning of certain words requires
the use of a particular preposition:
- Incorrect
She prefers skiing over snowboarding.
- Correct
She prefers skiing to snowboarding.
- Incorrect
I don’t have a favorable opinion toward Beethoven’s
music.
- Correct
I don’t have a favorable opinion of Beethoven’s music.
Sometimes a word can be combined legitimately with more
than one preposition, but the meaning will then shift. Knowing which
preposition triggers which meaning is crucial to good usage:
My remark was meant as a
joke.
You, my friend, are meant for greatness. |
Meant as shows intent; meant
for indicates a destination. A complete and relatively
short list of such “prepositional idioms” can also be found in SparkNotes Ultimate
Style.
Double Negatives
Finally, let’s consider double negatives.
When we want to negate something, we use no or not:
I allow no talking
in my class.
I don’t allow any talking in my class. |
For reasons of redundancy and idiomatic preference, we
don’t use no and not in the same
sentences:
I don’t allow no talking
in my class. |
Words other than no and not can
indicate negation. Here’s a list of those words with their positive
counterparts (which are not necessarily their antonyms).
Don’t use a negative word with not or no.
| Negative Word |
Positive Counterpart |
Examples |
| never |
ever |
- Incorrect
I don’t never eat meat.
- Correct
I never eat meat.
- Correct
I don’t ever eat meat.
|
| none |
any |
- Incorrect
I don’t want none.
- Correct
I want none.
- Correct
I don’t want any.
|
| neither |
either |
- Incorrect
I don’t want neither of those two puppies.
- Correct
I want neither of those two puppies.
- Correct
I don’t want either of those two puppies.
|
| nor |
or |
- Incorrect
I don’t want the puppy nor the kitten.
- Correct
I want neither the puppy nor the kitten.
- Correct
I don’t want the puppy or the kitten.
|
| nothing |
anything |
- Incorrect
I don’t want nothing from you.
- Correct
I want nothing from you.
- Correct
I don’t want anything from you.
|
| no one |
anyone |
- Incorrect
I can’t help no one.
- Correct
I can help no one.
- Correct
I can’t help anyone.
|
| nobody |
anybody |
- Incorrect
I don’t know nobody here.
- Correct
I know nobody here.
- Correct
I don’t know anybody here.
|
| nowhere |
anywhere |
- Incorrect
I can’t go nowhere with this cast on my leg.
- Correct
I can go nowhere with this cast on my leg.
- Correct
I can’t go anywhere with this cast on my leg.
|
Three other words are often involved in double negatives: hardly, scarcely,
and barely.
I can’t hardly wait to get
a new car. (Two negatives—can’t and hardly) |
Believe it or not, this is not grammatically incorrect,
but it has fallen out of favor. The preferred versions are:
I can hardly wait to get a
new car. (One negative—hardly)
I can’t wait to get a new car. (One negative—can’t) |