Grammar Moses: An old friend gets the final word

A good friend - one whom I've neither seen in person nor spoken with on the phone - has died.

Jamie Daniel, 95, of Geneva was a regular contributor to this column from its inception two years ago, and we've had plenty of email conversations that never made it into this space.

One develops good pen pals in this business, and she was a great one.

Jamie was as sharp as a tack, observant, tireless and funny. She made recommendations, offered encouragement and provided plenty of fodder for this column.

We published a story about her well-lived life on Thursday.

Jamie last wrote to me on April 10. I sent her a reply but never heard back.

In her honor, I'll start with her last two missives:

"Good morning. My pet peeve when I was in high school was my boyfriend's writing 'all right.' I don't see that anymore, so I guess I succeeded, for once, in eradicating an irritation."

I didn't get a chance to learn whether the irritation to which she referred was the misspelling or her boyfriend.

I'm sorry to say so, Jamie, but you didn't eradicate "all right" for all mankind. I see it often. To recap:

• "All right" is two words. Always.

• "All ready," as in "I'm all ready to go," is two words.

• "Already," as in "I already covered this topic in 2015, Jamie," is one word.

If you want to quibble with Jamie's inserting an apostrophe in "boyfriend's," you can stop right there. She meant to indicate her boyfriend's possession of his misspelling, just as I did with her "inserting."

Now, for Jamie's penultimate email to me:

"Hi, I just read a message with this admonition: 'Don't waist any time!' I think it's a first. It was on a form letter telling me to enter a drawing for some contest and, as I was deleting it, the 'waist' popped out.

Jamie had a knack for finding homophones. "Waste" is the appropriate word.

Rest in peace, Jamie.

Re-evaluate spelling

What is the old rule? If a prefix ends with the letter that starts the word proper, you hyphenate.

Think "co-op" versus "coop." I distinctly remember getting this wrong 45 years ago during a fifth-grade spelling bee. Judging by the clucking of tongues, I apparently was the only person in the room not to know about the hyphen.

I don't suffer embarrassment well, so that rule stuck with me like a brand on a dogie.

I imagine I've always depressed the hyphen key with another foot-pound of force to make up for my youthful gaffe.

So it's with a measure of anxiety lately that I've noticed references to "re-elections" and "re-examinations" in print.

Had the rule changed or been forgotten? It really depends on whom you ask.

Grammarian Bryan Garner in "Garner's Modern American Usage" avers that re-emerge, re-enact, reinforce, re-enter and reestablish - all once hyphenated - are no longer.

The Oxford English Dictionary, however, hyphenates re-elect, re-eligible, re-emerge, re-emphasize, re-enact, re-engineer, re-enter, re-establish and re-examine.

My Webster's New World Dictionary (alas, printed before dictionaries were digitized for the web) generally eschews the hyphen in its first preference but includes it in its second for many of these re- words. Cop out much?

And The Associated Press Stylebook, which as a newspaper editor I hold as the industry standard, affirms the rule still exists. It notes that unlike the Webster's New World College Dictionary words including re-elect, re-election, re-emerge, re-employ, re-enact, re-engage, re-enlist, re-enter, re-equip, re-establish and re-examine should be hyphenated.

I am loath to make a recommendation here, other than to suggest you be consistent. For me, I'll remain in my bubble and stick with the AP.

Write carefully!

• Jim Baumann is vice president/managing editor of the Daily Herald. Write him at jbaumann@dailyherald.com. Put Grammar Moses in the subject line. You also can friend or follow Jim at facebook.com/baumannjim.