Grammar Clinic

Meaning: Mournful; especially : exaggeratedly or affectedly mournful. Example: The story is lugubrious enough without including this dirgelike music to punish the audience.

Meaning: A nucleus or core group especially of trained personnel able to assume control and to train others; broadly : a group of people having some unifying relationship. Example: As Jon Gruden continues to build his coaching staff, his latest hire fits right in with the cadre of football minds with whom Gruden has had extensive experience.

Meaning: One that breaks open safes to steal Example: The cops grabbed him and another yegg for a Philadelphia store burglary.

Meaning: To denote surfaces in relief (as on a map) by shading with short lines drawn in the direction of slope. Example: Topographic surveys were done for the first time with compasses…. And mapmakers developed new methods for depicting terrain. One method, called hachuring, used lines to indicate the direction and steepness of a slope. 

Meaning: About, concerning. Example: Whatever the case, the undertaking was soon abandoned in disappointment and apparently with strong feelings anent the region itself.

Meaning: Well-suited to the medium of television; having an appearance and manner that are markedly attractive to television viewers. Example: The future looks promising for this charismatic and telegenic young politician.  

Meaning: To follow a winding or intricate course. Example: Instead of hooks or choruses, there were intensities, pulses, sung words that meandered and then dissolved into crystalline sound. They were barely songs. But they were enough. The listener got the impression that language was insufficient to express her highs and lows.

Meaning: Worthy of praise : commendable Example: Thanks to the laudable efforts of dozens of volunteers, the town’s carnival was an enjoyable event for everyone.  

Meaning: An author or editor of a dictionary. Example: Noah Webster believed that a lexicographer’s work was to document a language as it is used, without any judgment or subjective influence.

Meaning: That is to say : to wit, namely. Example: The organization’s charter clearly states that “any changes to the structure of the organization’s meetings must be unanimously approved by the executive board, scilicet, the chair and the board’s six other members.”