{"id":976,"date":"2013-06-15T12:38:21","date_gmt":"2013-06-15T18:38:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/?p=976"},"modified":"2020-11-25T10:25:34","modified_gmt":"2020-11-25T16:25:34","slug":"basically-why-your-cohort-isnt-your-buddy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/definitions\/basically-why-your-cohort-isnt-your-buddy\/","title":{"rendered":"Basically, Why Your Cohort Isn\u2019t Your Buddy"},"content":{"rendered":"

I received an e-mail from a fellow fussbudget deploring basically<\/em>. He considers it meaningless and useless, and if you think about it, he has a point. Say any sentence with it and without it, and basically there\u2019s no change in meaning (see?).<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most basic use of basically<\/em> is as a promise to cut the nonsense and get down to business: \u201cThis plan is basically unworkable.\u201d Fundamentally, essentially,<\/em> and the bottom line is<\/em>…are similar expressions.<\/p>\n

Some people use basically<\/em> as a sort of curtain-raiser, to give their remarks a smooth opening, like \u201cI\u2019d just like to say…\u201d The trouble starts when it\u2019s overused, and becomes a verbal crutch, alongside \u201cum,\u201d \u201clike,\u201d and \u201cy\u2019know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sometimes basically<\/em> can reflect a goal or a wish, like theoretically<\/em> or in an ideal world<\/em>. \u201cBasically, I\u2019m trying to work out four times a week.\u201d Other times, we use it to temper our statements so that they don\u2019t seem aggressive or bombastic. \u201cI just basically feel that the country\u2019s headed in the wrong direction.\u201d We don\u2019t want to come off as overbearing, and this use of basically<\/em> is a way of backing off a bit, conveying what the user hopes is some measure of humility and humanity.<\/p>\n

So, yes, basically<\/em> is extraneous\u2014but at least it\u2019s innocuous if used sparingly. The question my correspondent raised is if it ever adds anything meaningful to a sentence. A whole lot of smart, articulate people use it; you really do hear it everywhere. It must fill some arcane need.<\/p>\n

Maybe it\u2019s because on its best day, basically<\/em> can be used in all the senses discussed above: \u201cI\u2019d just generally like to say in all humility that essentially, in an ideal world, the bottom line is…\u201d If you can express all that in one word, go ahead and use it.<\/p>\n

As for me, though, here\u2019s a sentence I have no problem with: Basically, avoid using basically<\/em>.<\/p>\n

On to this week\u2019s nominees for the Hall of Shame:
\nCohort<\/strong> Your friend is a crony, confidant, or collaborator, but not a cohort. In ancient Rome, a cohort<\/em> was a division of 300-600 soldiers. So careful speakers and writers avoid cohort<\/em> when referring to one person. Your cohort<\/em> is not your comrade, ally, teammate, or assistant. It\u2019s a whole group, gang, team, posse: \u201cA cohort of laborers went on strike.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nauseous<\/strong> Once upon a time, if you said \u201cI\u2019m nauseous,\u201d it meant you were disgusting. Yes, it\u2019s true, nauseous<\/em> and nauseating<\/em> once were synonymous. Years of carelessness shifted the focus of the adjective from the cause of the nausea to the person affected. Still, word nerds get a secret chuckle from hearing an obnoxious person say he was \u201cnauseous\u201d last night.<\/p>\n

Blond, blonde<\/strong> A blonde<\/em> is a woman with blond hair. Note the different spellings. The e<\/em> at the end applies exclusively to women, except when the word\u2019s an adjective. According to the Associated Press Stylebook, both men and women have blond<\/em> hair\u2014no e<\/em> in either case. (For the record, a man is a blond<\/em>.)<\/p>\n

Prone, supine<\/strong> \u201cThe victim was found lying prone, her eyes gazing sightlessly at a full moon.\u201d Sorry, but this is a maneuver only the swivel-headed girl from The Exorcist<\/em> could pull off, because when you\u2019re prone<\/em>, you\u2019re lying on your stomach. Make that supine<\/em>, which means \u201clying on one\u2019s back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indicated that<\/strong> \u201cA full 72 percent of respondents indicated that they have a room in their home devoted to entertainment.\u201d Indicated? How, by charades? Smoke signals? Some writers will do anything to avoid said<\/em>. Don\u2019t fuss up your writing with indicated, stated, asserted, uttered, averred,<\/em> etc. I\u2019m obviously not vetoing words like replied, added, declared, explained,<\/em> which have valid shades of meaning. But when reporting simple speech, just go generic with sweet little ol\u2019 said<\/em>, over and over again. No one will notice and no one will mind.<\/p>\n

This grammar tip was contributed by veteran copy editor and word nerd Tom Stern.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I received an e-mail from a fellow fussbudget deploring basically. He considers it meaningless and useless, and if you think about it, he has a point. Say any sentence with it and without it, and basically there\u2019s no change in meaning (see?). Perhaps the most basic use of basically is as a promise to cut […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,10,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adjectives-adverbs","category-definitions","category-effective-writing"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/976"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/976\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}