Grammar Moses: No-calorie tricks and treats

On All Hallow's Eve eve, I offer you tricks and treats.

And they'll all be bite-sized (and likely stale). If you were hoping for a regulation Snickers bar from me, try the next house.

Where? What?

"TV news often headlines things similar to 'Man shot in River North,'" writes Carl Skrabacz. "In this case, I looked over my body and couldn't find a River North."

Well, Carl, I've been lucky enough for my tee shot to hit a dogleg every three or four rounds, even if it's the next fairway over.

Ambish?

"I have been thinking about the difference between ambition and aspiration, which I think I understand now," writes Margaret. "So, if you have aspirations, you aspire. Is there a verb that means you have ambitions?"

Ha! You thought you had me there, Margaret. But one can ambition. It's synonymous with "covet."

The past tense, "ambitioned," was 20 times as popular in books at the start of the Civil War as it is today, however, so your riddle is probably safe in polite company.

More or less

"Over the last couple of years, I have been getting more and more frustrated with people slowly degrading our language's proper grammar," writes Arnie Weller.

He has two complaints: using "more" instead of adding the suffix "er" to common adjectives such as dry, cool and rich.

His second complaint is converting verbs into nouns and nouns into verbs: "That's a big ask!" someone might say.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Language changes. It's a human construct and humans manipulate it to suit their needs and wants. That's how new words come into play. It's how verbs such as "ambition" fall by the boards.

You're free to keep using the tools you were given as a child. And you're free to adapt. The choice is yours. As a newspaper editor and grammar columnist, I have a foot firmly planted in both worlds.

Now tell me, why did you write "more and more" when one "more" would have sufficed?

Hurt

Barry Beaugureau sent me a photo of a meal ticket. It read: "Please send this Thanksgiving Meal Ticket, along with your gift of the same amount, in the envelope provided right away. If we receive more than enough for food, we will use the gift to provide other essential services for hurting people in our community."

Neither Barry nor I plan to attend this Thanksgiving feast if the purpose of it is to injure people in the community.

The mind reels at what those services might be.

If I've said it once ...

Bill Saylor writes: "This redundancy was from the Sports section of the Daily Herald in an article about a girls basketball game: 'Four-year starters have helped restore the luster back in the program."

That's right, Bill. To restore is to bring back, so the "back" in our story is redundant.

Close the loop

"One thing that annoys me is the lack of a second comma after an apposition. For example: 'Queen Elizabeth, the longest reigning monarch in history died today,'" writes Brad Davis.

I've written about this common problem, though I didn't use the word "apposition."

I have no opposition to appositions, mind you. I just didn't know what they were called.

The point here is that appositions - little descriptive phrases that parallel the subject - should be wrapped in commas so you know when the phrase ends. In Brad's example, there should be a comma after "history."

Thank you for the tasty nugget, Brad. I hope I get a few more before my trick-or-treating is done.

Write carefully!

• Jim Baumann is vice president/executive editor of the Daily Herald. You can buy Jim's book, "Grammar Moses: A humorous guide to grammar and usage," at grammarmosesthebook.com. Write him at jbaumann@dailyherald.com and put "Grammar Moses" in the subject line. You also can friend or follow Jim at facebook.com/baumannjim.