Mea Culpa: sympathy for Ukrainians displaced by rubble

Questions of language and style in last week’s Independent, reviewed by John Rentoul

Satellite imaging showing the aftermath of the bombing of the Drama Theatre in Mariupol (Maxar Technologies)

In one of many articles about the war, we said there had been “an upsurge in sympathy for the plight of displaced Ukrainians”. Mick O’Hare wrote to ask if “surge” would not suffice. Or even just “an increase”? I think “surge” conveys a bit more oomph than a dull “increase”, but he is right that we didn’t need the “up”.

One word or two? I prefer “under way” as two words. That is our usual style, but this week we lapsed a few times. We said “pilot projects are already underway”; “Rishi Sunak has confirmed that a review is underway”; “Vega Room has become a vital part of the humanitarian effort underway in Lviv”; and “one of the most successful efforts to protect Ukraine’s contemporary art is underway in the western city of Ivano-Frankivsk”.

Thanks to Philip Nalpanis for bringing this up. It is a preference, as the rules on whether familiar combinations should be one word or two are arbitrary. I mentioned “any time” last week, which the Oxford dictionary has as two words while rather sulkily recording that it is often written as one: “also anytime”. Another (and even I would not suggest “an other”) is “any more”. On that I am losing the battle. The archive search tells me we used “anymore” 13 times last week and “any more” only 10 times.