O oasis (singular) oases (plural) See FOREIGN PLURALS. obedience (not -ance) obedient (not -ant) occasion occasional (not -ss-) occasionally occasional + ly occur occurred, occurring, occurrence See ADDING ENDINGS (iv). o’clock Take care with the punctuation of this contraction. The apostrophe represents the omission of four letters: o’clock = of the clock Do not write: o’Clock, O’Clock or o,clock. of or off? These exemplar sentences may help: He is the youngest OF four children. (pronounced ov) Jump OFF the bus. (rhymes with cough) Avoid the clumsy construction:  Jump off of the bus.  Jump off the bus. official or officious? OFFICIAL = authorised, formal an OFFICIAL visit an OFFICIAL invitation OFFICIOUS = fussy, self-important, interfering an OFFICIOUS secretary an OFFICIOUS waiter 127 often (not offen) omission omit omitted, omitting See ADDING ENDINGS (iv). one This can be a useful impersonal pronoun: ONE never knows. However, it can be difficult to keep up in alongsentence: ONE never knows if ONE’S husband is likely to approve of ONE’S choice but that is a risk ONE has to take. Use ‘one’ sparingly and beware the risk of pomposity. only The position of ‘only’ in a sentence is crucial to meaning. See AMBIGUITY (ii). onnist Wrong spelling. See HONEST. onto or on to? There are circumstances when the words must always be written separately. We will consider these first. " Always write the words separately if ‘to’ is part of an infinitive (e.g. to eat, to speak, to be, to watch, etc.): She drove ON TO test the brakes. As a matter of interest you can double-check the ‘separateness’ of the two words by separating them further: She drove ON because she wanted TO test the breaks. " Always write the words separately when ‘to’ means ‘towards’: We cycled ON TO Oxford. 128 OFTEN  Once again, the two words can be further separated: We cycled ON the few remaining miles TO Oxford. " It is permissible to write ‘onto’ or ‘on to’ when you mean ‘to a position on’: The acrobat jumped ONTO the trapeze. The acrobat jumped ON TO the trapeze. It should be borne in mind, however, that many careful writers dislike ‘onto’ and always use ‘on to’. ‘Onto’ is more common in American English but with the cautions expressed above. ophthalmologist (not opth-) opinion (not oppinion) opposite oral See AURAL OR ORAL?. organise/organize Both spellings are correct. original originally original + ly ought ‘Ought’ is always followed by an infinitive (to visit, to read, to do, etc). We OUGHT to write our thank-you letters. Thenegativeformis‘oughtnot’ We OUGHT NOT to hand our work in late. The forms ‘didn’t ought’ and ‘hadn’t ought’ are always wrong. OUGHT 129  You didn’t ought to say this.  He OUGHT NOT to say this.  He hadn’t ought to have hit her.  He OUGHT NOT to have hit her. ours There are eight possessive pronouns: mine, thine, his, hers, its, ours, yours, theirs. They never need an apostrophe: This house is OURS. outfit outfitted, outfitting, outfitter (exception to 2-1-1 rule). See ADDING ENDINGS (iv). out of Avoid using ‘of’ unnecessarily:  He threw it OUT OF the window.  He threw it OUT the window. outrageous (not outragous) See SOFT C AND SOFT G. over- Take care when adding this prefix to a word already beginning with r You will have -rr-: overreact overripe overrule, etc. overreact over + react ovum (singular) ova (plural) See FOREIGN PLURALS. owing to See DUE TO/OWING TO. 130 OURS P packed  We took a pack lunch with us.  We took a PACKED lunch with us. paid (exception to the -y rule; not payed) See ADDING ENDINGS (iii). paiment Wrong spelling. See PAYMENT. pajamas American spelling. See PYJAMAS. palate, palette, pallet PALATE = the top part of the inside of your mouth PALETTE = a small board with a hole for the thumb which an artist uses when mixing paints PALLET = a platform used to lift and to carry goods panic panicked, panicking, panicky See SOFT C AND SOFT G. paparazzo (singular) paparazzi (plural) See FOREIGN PLURALS. paraffin paragraphing There is no mystery about paragraphing although many students find it difficult to know when to end one paragraph and begin another. A paragraph develops a particular point that is relevant to the overall subject. If you wish to write a letter or an essay that develops five or six points, then each point will have its own paragraph and you will add two more, one by way of an introductory paragraph and another at the end as a conclusion. There are no rules about how long a paragraph should be. Some paragraphs,  131 often the introduction or the conclusion, may be a single sentence; other paragraphs may be a page or more long. Too many short paragraphs in succession can be very jerky; too many very long ones can look forbidding. It is best to mix long and short paragraphs, if you can. You may also find that a paragraph which is becoming very long (a page or more) will benefit from being subdivided. The topic of the paragraph may be more sensibly developed as two or three subsidiary points. Clear paragraphing is not possible without clear thinking. Think of what you want to say before you begin to write. List the topics or points you want to make in a sensible order. Then develop each one in turn in a separate paragraph. A paragraph usually contains within it one sentence which sums up its topic. Sometimes the paragraph will begin with this sentence (called a topic sentence) and the rest of the paragraph will elaborate or illustrate the point made. Sometimes the topic sentence occurs during the paragraph. It can be effective, from time to time, to build up to the topic sentence as the last sentence in a paragraph. Careful writers will try to move smoothly from one paragraph to the next, using link words or phrases such as: on the other hand; however; in conclusion. In handwriting and in typing, it is usual to mark the beginning of a paragraph either by indenting it by 2cm or so, or by leaving a clear line between paragraphs. The only disadvantage of the latter method is that it is not always clear, when a sentence begins on a new page, whether a new paragraph is also intended. 132 PARAGRAPHING . expressed above. ophthalmologist (not opth-) opinion (not oppinion) opposite oral See AURAL OR ORAL?. organise/organize Both spellings are correct. original originally original + ly ought ‘Ought’ is always followed by. introduction or the conclusion, may be a single sentence; other paragraphs may be a page or more long. Too many short paragraphs in succession can be very jerky; too many very long ones can look forbidding off of the bus.  Jump off the bus. official or officious? OFFICIAL = authorised, formal an OFFICIAL visit an OFFICIAL invitation OFFICIOUS = fussy, self-important, interfering an OFFICIOUS secretary an