Guide to Grammar and Style -- U
From the Guide to Grammar and Style by Jack Lynch.
Comments are welcome.
Underscores.
See Italics.
Unique means "one
of a kind." There are no degrees of uniqueness: something is
unique, or it is not. If you want a word that admits degrees,
use special or unusual.
Usage is a guide on
how to use something properly; use is actually using it.
Thus the use of a semicolon is to separate clauses, while
its usage is the list of rules on exactly how it has to be
used. Someone who knows the use of a word understands how
it fits in a sentence; someone who knows the usage has
studied the grammatical rules and semantic relations. Each time
you use something, that's one use (the noun), not one
usage. You usually mean use rather than
usage.
Use is almost always better, whether pronounced
yooz as a verb or yoos as a noun. Don't longwordify what would otherwise be clear.