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Triangle Grammar Guide
Longtime N&O journalist Pam Nelson writes about language use and misuse and answers questions about grammar and style. Readers can weigh in on what annoys them, too. Think of this as your online grammar class. Send e-mail to Pam at pam.nelson@newsobserver.com.
AP Stylebook changes for 2008 (second post)
Submitted by Pam_Nelson on 07/11/2008 - 05:52
Among the new entries in the Associated Press Stylebook for 2008 is one on "myriad." The AP says that "myriad" is an adjective and is not followed by "of." The dictionary that AP uses, though, gives the noun use of "myriad" first.
"Myriad" means an indefinitely large number; it is a synonym of "innumerable." Bryan A. Garner writes in A Dictionary of Modern American Usage that "myriad is more concise as an adjective than as a noun." Fowler's Modern English Usage points out that the word comes from Greek for "ten thousand." Almost no one adheres to that old meaning for "myriad."
Here is a post on The Mavens' Word of the Day about myriad as a noun. The American Book of English Usage also points out the long history of myriad as a noun. Merriam-Webster online also recognizes myriad as a noun.
As for me, I will use "myriad" as an adjective. I'd rather not fight about it.
About the blogger
Pam Nelson began her career as a writer in 1976 and has worked in various editing jobs at The News & Observer since 1987. She has won awards for her headline writing and has taught college classes in copy editing and seminars in grammar and usage. Want to post a comment?
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Comments
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"Myriad"... both a noun and an adjective.
Wed, 11/04/2009 - 09:44 — Iftikhar"Myriad" means an indefinitely large number; it is a synonym of "innumerable." Myriad is more concise as an adjective than as a noun. I decided to look it up first. What I found (at thefreedictionary.com) was ancient history, deriving as it does from a Greek word that functioned as both a noun and an adjective, albeit it different contexts. customer call center | call center employment | call center careers | Thin Digital Cameras
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myriad
Thu, 07/31/2008 - 10:31 — baldezarI was about to write to thank you for holding the line on using myriad only as an adjective, thinking that the history of use as a noun is probably a history of misuse. But I decided to look it up first.
What I found (at thefreedictionary.com) was ancient history, deriving as it does from a Greek word that functioned as both a noun and an adjective, albeit it different contexts.
So now I feel somewhat pedantic (no typo for an excuse), with much less history on my (our) side. At least I can point to Mr. Coleridge.
I suppose I must grudgingly give in to the noun users, whether I ever become one or not. What really gripes me is people who use it without knowledge of the usage history, people like me, I guess.
Anyway, at least I have the most recent history with me.
AP Stylebook
Fri, 07/11/2008 - 08:42 — Anonymous (not verified)So when are the AP Style Kommissars going to get around to proscribing the practice of referring to recently arrested illegal alien Jose Manuel Morales Chavez as a "Raleigh man"?