Notes from the newsroom on grammar, usage and style. (Some frequently asked questions are here.)

Colleagues have taken note of several words or phrases that seem to be cropping up everywhere all at once.

Our goal here is not to ban words. But be aware that sometimes, the fresh turn of phrase that just popped into your head occurred to you so readily because you’ve already seen it a dozen times this week.

So, for example, Ken Paul points out that in the week of May 13, we spoke of Mark Zuckerberg’s signature hoodie (twice), Vermont’s signature greenness, Colonel Qaddafi’s signature green, Somali pirates’ signature fiberglass skiffs and Washington’s signature dance genre (go-go).

We said that a 1994 playoff-winning goal was Stephane Matteau’s signature moment, that participating in Brown v. Board of Education was a lawyer’s signature accomplishment and that Willets Point would be one of the signature developments of the Bloomberg administration.

We said capture-the-flag games were the signature event at Mary and Bobby Kennedy’s forested estate. A review mentioned the Leakey team’s signature discoveries. We wrote of the signature evidence of early phase C.T.E., of the Paper Bag Players’ signature oversize props and costumes of cardboard and paper, of a golf course’s signature par-3 hole and of a restaurant’s signature sushi rolls. We said candles of a woman’s signature scent would make a nifty gift. We hailed one pitcher’s signature changeup and another’s signature sinker. We spoke of a Lexus sedan’s signature “spindle grille.’’

In many of these instances, Ken notes, using a different qualifier — familiar, characteristic, usual, unusual, proud, favorite, feared, beloved — or using none at all might have been refreshing.

More Words We Love Too Much

You may have found that litany of “signature” uses surprising. But how surprising? “Eye-popping,” perhaps? Or even “jaw-dropping”?

If so, you’d be right at home in our pages, where, Gina Kolata points out, the “eye-popping” and the “jaw-dropping” have become almost humdrum. We used “eye-popping” 128 times in the past year and “jaw-dropping” 74 times. At that rate, these expressions of shock and amazement risk wearing thin very quickly.

Another colleague has raised a concern that I’ve touched on in the past — an overreliance on the slippery adverb “arguably,” which we’ve used almost 500 times in the past year. Aside from overuse, “arguably” suffers from vagueness. It can give the impression that a writer wants to make an assertion but also wants to leave enough wiggle room to avoid being held to it. So, for example, this recent sentence, to choose an example almost at random:

The propensity of banks in the United States to turn loans into securities that can be sold to investors arguably helped create the subprime mortgage crisis.

If we’re confident in the analytical point, we can just make it. If it’s disputable, we can attribute it or otherwise note the uncertainty. But let’s be more judicious with “arguably.”

In a Word

This week’s grab bag of grammar, style and other missteps, compiled with help from colleagues and readers.

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The disappointing auction was less a reflection of lack of interest in Iraq’s energy sector than of the tough terms demanded by the government, the location of some of the fields in dangerous and remote regions of the country, and the fact that many of the blocks up for bid were for natural gas, which is less attractive to foreign companies than oil.

This sentence is long, complex and not quite parallel. Rephrase.

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In the context of a memorial, for example, the 17-foot, two-ton crossbeam where Mass was held every day during the cleanup is a sacred relic, an icon that vibrates with emotional and ideological resonance.

The Times’s stylebook says this:

Masses are not held and do not take place; they may be offered, celebrated, said or sung.

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Not long after joining “S.N.L.” in the fall of 2005, Mr. Samberg and his frequent collaborators Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer (who as a trio comprise the comedic hip-hop group the Lonely Island) delivered their first hit viral video for the show …

The whole comprises the parts; the parts do not comprise the whole. Here, we could say “make up.”

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The cab driver also died in the three-vehicle crash on the Long Island Expressway. The drivers of the other vehicles, a private sanitation truck and a sports car were not hurt.

Cabdriver is one word, according to the stylebook. Also, we needed another comma, after “sports car.”

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It was a Jewish ceremony with Hindu and Episcopalian elements performed by Rabbi James Ponet, the Jewish chaplain at Yale.

The stylebook calls for “Episcopal” as the adjective.

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[Caption] A passenger makes an enquiry at an Air India counter at the airport in Ahmedabad, Gujarat in this May 11, 2012, file photo. Air India cancelled at least 20 international flights due to a strike by pilots.

Several points here: First, our style is “inquiry.” There should be a comma after Gujarat, and only one L in “canceled.” And make it “because of” instead of “due to.”

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[Caption] A job fair in New York, N.Y., on Tuesday.

We don’t need to specify the state in a reference to our hometown.

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Amazon is one of many companies that pay Facebook to generate these automated ads when a user clicks to “like” their brands or references them in some other way.

Avoid this jargony use of “reference” as a verb. “Refers to” would work here.

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That said, intercity rail passengers in Europe have also frequently complained about wireless service there, which suggests the technical issues of providing a reliable wireless network on a train is not unique to Amtrak.

Agreement problem. Make it “are.”

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Mitt Romney, who would be the first Republican presidential nominee since World War II not to have served in the military, warned on Monday against putting America “on the pathway of Europe” by reducing the size of the military to pay for social programs.

Not quite. That was Thomas E. Dewey, right out of the gate in the first election after the war, running against Truman in 1948. Beware superlatives and claims of distinction: first, last, only, tallest, longest, shortest, etc. They are a frequent source of corrections.

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A native of a distinctly pre-Fairway Red Hook, Brooklyn, Mr. Spanakos and his identical twin, Nick, were beaten up a lot as children, “mostly by the Italians,” Pete Spanakos told me.

The appositive construction doesn’t work; the singular “a native” doesn’t align with “Mr. Spanakos and his identical twin.”

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Part of the reason she created the blog is “because I just wanted to write for people who got my references,” she said.

Even in setting up a quotation, “reason … because” is redundant. Rephrase.

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So, after years of ice, pain medicine, massage and sleeping in long-sleeved shirts to keep my left arm warm and safe, the team doctor said I had only one option left — to stick something in it.

A dangler — unless it was the team doctor who slept in long-sleeve shirts to keep Bobby Ojeda’s left arm warm and safe.

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Over the years, she acquired nearly a dozen, both for herself and Mr. Ebeling.

Not parallel. Delete “both” or make it “for both herself and Mr. Ebeling.”

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Russia’s openness to the Yemen model, skeptics said, is motivated less by a desire to remove Mr. Assad than to forestall American-led military action.

Not parallel. Rephrase.

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After Deadline examines questions of grammar, usage and style encountered by writers and editors of The Times. It is adapted from a weekly newsroom critique overseen by Philip B. Corbett, the associate managing editor for standards, who is also in charge of The Times’s style manual.