Paul Turner
Nov 24, 2023

From the Far Side of Diction

“1 in every 3 high school seniors aren’t that enthusiastic about science.”

Change this sentence to:

One in every 3 high school seniors isn’t enthusiastic about science.

There are three changes —

  • 1 becomes One
  • aren’t becomes isn’t
  • drop the adverb “that”

Merriam-Webster reminds us that the word enthusiasm derives from an Ancient Greek word that means “person inspired by a god”.

See: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/enthusiastic