CONTENTS FEATURE: Analyze neologisms before circulating them GRAMMAR COACH: Fielding your questions FINDER'S FEE: Recommend a friend—and earn up to $500 FEATURE: Analyze neologisms before contributing to their spread      Neologisms—new words, usages and expressions—thrive and circulate in the workplace like flu viruses. A consultant uses an unfamiliar term emphatically in a meeting, then someone else nods approvingly and echoes it. Before long you see it in an e-mail message. Without realizing it, you become infected. Within a day or two, you slip the new term into a phone conversation. You're now a carrier, contributing to the spread of new terminology and the further congestion of the English language.      One measure of the fluidity of the language is the tally of new words added to successive editions of dictionaries. The 2006 copyright edition of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary contains almost 100 words listed for the first time. But that total represents only those words that the dictionary's usage panel recognizes as widespread. That may not take into account newly emerging words, new meanings that people wring out of existing words, or colloquial phrases and expressions.      Some new words and phrases are witty and respond well to the need for a term to explain a new concept or technology. Many are nonsensical, however, either because they are etymologically unsound, illogical, unnecessary because they replicate the meaning of an existent word—or they simply sound silly.      Before assimilating a new word or phrase into your speech or writing, first analyze whether its construction is rational. One way to do that is to consider its antithesis—a word or concept opposite in meaning.      For example, business executives may downplay poor performance by classifying it as "negative growth." To test the legitimacy of that phrase, recast it in its inverse form: "positive shrinkage." Absurd, right? So is "negative growth."      "Negative profit" is another oxymoronic camouflage term. It's accounting shorthand to express the notion of the profit column dipping into negative numbers—in which case it's a deficit, not a profit. Of course, someone seeking a tax dodge might be inclined to call that a "positive loss."      In the next breath, executives may refer to "mission-critical" tasks. Is that paramilitary term bona fide or bombastic? Flip it upside-down to find out: mission-unimportant tasks. You'd simply say "unimportant tasks," right? Correspondingly, they're "critical tasks" or "essential tasks." In this context, the word "mission" is superfluous.      Gerald told Rebecca, "Even though the company is in North Platte, I office in Omaha." When Gerald is not at the office, he's driving on the roads. Does he "car" to work? He does not "office"; he works in one.      Seeking a donation from the owner of a staffing agency, Ralph introduced himself as the "general manager of a nonprofit." Would the business owner call herself the president of a "profit"? The word "nonprofit" should be used as an adjective modifying a noun; Ralph is the general manager of a nonprofit agency.      In an attempt to be more persuasive in written requests, some people engage in a bit of linguistic arm-twisting with the closing line "thanking you in advance." That's mighty presumptuous. It says, in effect, "There—I've already thanked you, so now you're obligated to fulfill my request." Would they write "thanking you after the fact" to acknowledge work completed? No—just plain "thank you" would suffice. Instead of offering "thanks in advance," simply saying "I would appreciate your assistance" would sound more sincere and far less manipulative.      A film festival that recognized the contributions of "independent women directors" made no mention of "independent men directors"—probably because doing so would have sounded ludicrous. The words "men" and "women" are nouns. In these cases, their adjectival forms should be used: independent female and male directors.      "Provisions of the ordinance will sunset next year," an elected official wrote to her constituents. When the regulation was first created, it did not "sunrise." It was enacted. "Sunrise, sunset" is a wonderfully wistful song, but those words are mishandled by legislators desperately seeking colorful metaphors. They should be left as they are—nouns, not verbs. The provision will expire. It will elapse. It will become void. Any one of those statements conveys the idea well.      Some people who maintain journals and news commentaries on the Internet appear too busy to use words without running them through a trash compactor first. What else would explain the metamorphosis of the term "web log" into "blog," in which the last letter of the first word is spliced onto the second word, as the remaining letters are cast off? The same scheme would turn "fund raiser" into "draiser," "stock report" into "kreport," "net income" into "tincome," "work load" into "kload" or "sales tax" into "stax." That's cute for preschoolers but too juvenile for any adults who want to be taken seriously.      You know that frequent hand washing is advisable to ward off influenza and other diseases. If you're likewise vigilant with your speech and writing, perhaps you can help suppress the spread of these and other illogical neologisms. GRAMMAR COACH: Fielding your questions 1. Deirdre R. wrote:      "My husband and I are having a dilemma. Is the following grammatically correct? 'The theme of our technique class will be 'how to feel so wonderful to your partner that they'll want to dance with you forever!'" The grammar coach replies:      As you suspect, your title contains a grammatical conflict. The plural pronoun "they" disagrees in number with its singular antecedent "your partner." Because it's the title of a program, you likely would prefer to avoid an awkward "him or her" reference to dancing partners.      A change in wording can help. Consider these possibilities: "How to appear so graceful that your partner will want to dance with you forever" or "Charming your partner to keep dancing with you forever" or "The secret steps to enchant your dance partner forever."      The object is to avoid the pronoun "their" in reference to the singular noun "partner." 2. Richard R. wrote:      "I'd like to see a simple, understandable explanation, with examples, of the difference between 'active' and 'passive' styles of writing. I graduated H.S. in 1954 and college in '58. (Throughout) my whole career in the military and government, I've always been called out for 'passive' writing." The grammar coach replies:      The distinction between active and passive voice involves the relationship between the verb and the subject of a sentence.      When you use an active verb in a sentence, the subject generates the action. In the example, "Tom Wilson pushed company sales figures over the million-dollar mark today," the subject, Tom Wilson, performed the action: pushed company sales figures over the million-dollar mark.      In contrast, the subject of a passive-voice verb simply receives action. In the sentence, "Company sales figures were pushed into the millions today," Tom Wilson gets no credit for all his hard work.      "Judy signed the check" is an active-voice sentence, in which "Judy" is the subject and "check" is the object of the verb "signed."      "The check was signed by Judy" is a passive-voice sentence, in which "check" is the subject, and "Judy" has become the object of the verb "was signed."      One signal of a passive-voice construction is introduction of a form of the verb "to be" (including "is," "are," "being," "been," "was" or "were."), as in sentences that begin with "there is" or "there are." Such sentences often are nonsensical in a literal sense. Consider "there are seven students absent today." No, if they were "there," they wouldn't be absent. Convert it to active voice with a little rearrangement: "Seven students are absent today."      Here are more examples of passive-voice constructions: "It is hoped that this measure will serve to compensate for sales tax revenues that were lower than anticipated." The reader is left to wonder: Who hopes? Who miscalculated sales tax projections? "Charlie should be reprimanded." This sentence doesn't indicate who should reprimand Charlie. "The proposal is undergoing review." By whom?      Many government and legal documents deliberately adopt the passive style to mask the individual or organization responsible for a decision or action.      The stronger and more direct active voice clarifies and enlivens writing.      Verbs in both active and the passive voice may appear in a single sentence. However, the combination can result in awkward construction, especially in compound sentences, as shown by these examples: Clumsy: "Betty Conway typed (active) the report, and the cover letter was written (passive) by her also." Better: "Betty Conway wrote the cover letter and typed the report." (active) Clumsy: "The Wearwithall Company designed (active) an unusual jacket, which was marketed (passive) by the company." Better: "The Wearwithall Company designed and marketed an unusual jacket." (active)      You'll notice that reconstruction of these sentences to avoid passive constructions eliminated a few words. That's a beneficial byproduct of writing in the active voice.      Are you perplexed by some aspect of grammar or word usage? Don't be shy! Ask the "grammar coach" at EditPros and we'll try to help—at no charge, just for the sport of it. 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