622 - Is a Troop One Person or a Group? Repetition

Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

Mignon Fogarty, Inc.

Society & Culture, Education

4.5 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 24 May 2018

⏱️ 14 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Is a troop one person or a group, and what's up with obviously repetitive phrases such as "It is what it is"? FOLLOW ALONG ON THE WEBSITE Troops: http://bit.ly/troop-troops Repetition: http://bit.ly/drink-drink 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://babbel.com/GG (use the promo code GG) http://stitcherpremium.com/grammar (use the promo code GRAMMAR) 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	Grimmer Girl here, I'm Minion Fogarty.
0:07.3	This week I have a meeting middle by Neil Whitman about why the word troops can refer to the
0:12.1	number of individuals or the number of groups.
0:16.0	And it tipped it from Edwin Battistella about repetitive phrases such as, it is what it
0:21.3	is.
0:22.3	A lot of people have written to me about phrases like that over the years.
0:26.2	But one quick announcement before we get to troops.
0:29.0	If you'd like an ad-free version of this podcast and a monthly bonus episode, we're now
0:34.2	doing that through Stitcher Premium.
0:36.8	Get a free trial at StitcherPremium.com slash Grimmer and use the offer code grammar.
0:42.4	And now onto the show.
0:46.4	Memorial Day is next week when we in the US honor members of the military who've died in
0:51.8	the line of duty.
0:53.4	So in today's episode, I'll answer a question some readers have had about the word troops.
0:59.0	Alicia writes, I have a question about the use of the word troops to mean individual soldiers.
1:05.7	For the longest time when I heard a phrase like, the president is asking Congress to send
1:11.2	10,000 more troops, I thought the speaker meant that 10,000 troops of soldiers were being
1:16.9	sent.
1:18.3	Then in my mind, I would try to calculate how many individual soldiers that would actually
1:23.0	mean.
1:24.4	Eventually, I realized that the word troop is being used to mean individual soldiers.
1:30.0	And I wonder why we don't just say soldiers.
	...

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