Grammar Moses: Words of advice for you graduates

Welcome to graduation season, that time of year when thoughts turn to sleeping in, gap year activities and the improper use of intransitive verbs.

Had I been Prospect High School's valedictorian in 1980, that might have been the opening salvo of my speech.

It would have elicited as many head scratches then as it just did.

I'll let Eileen Neal of Inverness explain.

"I was hoping you would write about something I often hear that really makes me think of fingernails on a blackboard. It's when I hear folks say, 'I graduated college' or 'she will graduate high school soon.' Isn't the proper way, 'I graduated FROM college' or 'she will be graduating FROM high school soon'? Please clarify.

Eileen, I'm glad you asked.

I'll borrow from noted grammar/usage authority Bryan A. Garner in giving you a quick rundown on the history of the idiom that will show how Eileen is caught in the middle.

Once upon a time, in the 16th century, a school graduated a student or the student was graduated from a school. It was a transitive verb.

By the 1800s, it had become more common to use it as an intransitive verb: a student graduated from a school.

But by the time Elvis and the Beatles had entered the scene, the "from" began to disappear. Students started to simply graduate high school.

This usage is widespread today, but if you still think of "graduate" as a transitive verb, it doesn't make sense. How can one graduate a high school?

Language is malleable, and we can pound it and twist it into whatever shape we desire to make it fit our needs.

In 50 years, kids probably will simply "grad" school, and they'll titter at the quaintness of how we clung dearly to "graduate," let alone "graduate from."

For now, the preferred usage is "graduate from."

Now for some Latin

I wrote about this topic in November, but given today's graduation theme it bears repeating.

• An alumnus is a man who attended a school.

• An alumna is a woman who attended a school.

• More than one woman are alumnae.

• More than one man are alumni.

• And a combination of men and women also are alumni.

If you can't remember all of that, it's safe to abbreviate it and say you're an alum.

Contrary to popular opinion, you needn't graduate from a school to be an alumnus.

You say matriculate

I've heard more than one person self-importantly say he "matriculated" from such-and-such high school.

Clearly, they think "matriculate" is a synonym for "graduate."

They're getting ahead of themselves.

To matriculate is to enroll, not to graduate.

So, it's better to learn the definition of the word before matriculating at the college of your choice.

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.