621 - ‘Council’ or ‘Counsel’? Direct and Indirect Quotations. Oxymorons.

Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

Mignon Fogarty, Inc.

Society & Culture, Education

4.5 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 17 May 2018

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

People have been confusing "council" and "counsel" since the 16th century. Sometimes you put single words such as "yes" and "no" in quotation marks, and sometimes you don't. We investigate three weird oxymorons: "bridegroom," "spendthrift," and "fail-safe." FOLLOW ALONG ON THE WEBSITE 'Council' or 'Counsel'? http://bit.ly/council-counsel Direct and Indirect Quotations: http://bit.ly/direct-quotation Oxymorons: http://bit.ly/odd-oxymorons FOLLOW GRAMMAR GIRL Twitter: http://twitter.com/grammargirl Facebook: http://facebook.com/grammargirl Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/realgrammargirl Instagram: http://instagram.com/thegrammargirl LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/grammar-girl SPONSORS http://magoosh.com (use the promo code GRAMMAR) http://casper.com/savings (expires May 29) http://stitcherpremium.com/grammar GRAMMAR POP iOS GAME Optimized for iPad: http://bit.ly/GrammarPopiPad For iPad and iPhone: http://bit.ly/GrammarPop GRAMMAR GIRL BOOKS http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-girl-book-page

Transcript

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0:00.0	[♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪
0:04.6	Grammar Girl here, I'm Minion Foggedy.
0:07.0	This week I have a quick and dirty tip to help you remember the difference between the two spellings of the word council.
0:13.2	Another quick and dirty tip about when you put single words, like yes and no, in quotation marks,
0:20.2	in a meaty middle about oxymorons.
0:23.2	Let's get started with council.
0:25.2	[♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪
0:27.4	Both council, C-I-L and council, S-E-L,
0:32.0	ultimately go back to the same Latin word, concilium.
0:36.0	An etymology online says people have been confusing these two words ever since the 16th century.
0:43.5	Council, C-I-L, is a noun that describes a group of decision makers.
0:49.6	The council took months to reach a decision about who should be held accountable for the confetti incident.
0:56.1	Council, S-E-L, is a verb that means to give advice, and it's also a noun describing the advice received as a result of counseling.
1:05.8	For example, a lawyer gives legal counsel or legal advice.
1:10.0	Here's an example of council as a verb.
1:13.0	Squiggly hoped the nutritionist wouldn't counsel him to give up chocolate.
1:18.0	Here's a quick and dirty tip.
1:20.1	Think of the S-E-L on the end of council the verb, as similar to cell, S-E-L-L, another verb, an action.
1:29.9	Sales people may try to counsel you so they can sell you a certain product.
1:35.3	And there's a short quiz on these two words on the transcript of this segment at quickandirtytips.com if you want to test your knowledge.
1:41.9	Just search the site for either spelling of council.
1:45.1	[♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪
	...

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