Chapter 2 Word Choice
95
centers "around"/centers on, try "and"/try to
Oh what fun it is to grade book reviews.
Mrs. B occasionally misses her days of teaching high school English.
The Books-a-million BookPage.com magazine provides
entertainment for her.
Mrs. B circles "centers around" with her red pencil in this sentence:
"The Millionaires (by Brad Meltzer) centers around Oliver, a
rising young associate at a swank private bank in New York ..."
What the reviewer should have said is "centers ON."
To center "around" something is physically impossible.
The writer might have chosen "REVOLVES around," if she had been
determined to use "around."
v
Our discussion CENTERED ON the lead for the 6:00.
v
A storm of controversy REVOLVED AROUND where to set up
the live shot.
Another line from the review bothers Mrs. B:
"...Meltzer remembers thinking, 'I have one year and I can either
watch a lot of television, or I can try and write a novel.'"
"Try and" gets a red circle around it.
The phrase should be "try TO."
v
TRY TO see if you can come up with a series idea by tomorrow.
Wordsmiths, like book reviewers and like you, need to use the
language properly.
So sayeth Mrs. B, anyway.
