Welcome to the very first Language Ninja column of the summer! Let’s pour ourselves a frozen peach iced tea, relax by the pool, and start tacklin’ some rules of grammar and syntax!

Q: Is “close proximity” redundant?

A: A bit, yes. Of course, that doesn’t mean that the Ninja won’t go on and on at length about the subject.

If you’ve read the Ninja’s April column, you might remember her discourse on the phrase “very unique.” “Close proximity” is a similar linguistic phenomenon. The word proximity itself means “the state of nearness,” so in theory, it shouldn’t need the addition of the word “close.” Nevertheless, although proximity does imply something or someone being close by, there aren’t any inherent parameters with regard to degrees of closeness. If a person sitting next to you is in proximity to you, isn’t the person sitting in your lap in close proximity? And should that person be arrested?

Okay, here’s where the Ninja starts getting fussy.

The entire phrase has come to mean exactly what can be communicated by using either half of it alone, and no one really makes a distinction as to the actual level of closeness. One almost never hears the word proximity without it being preceded by close. The Ninja gets the impression that the utterers of the phrase close proximity think that the word proximity just means “somewhere in the vicinity – possibly in the building. Definitely not close.” And although the Ninja is fairly relaxed about grammar rules, she tends to draw the line when words or phrases are actively misunderstood and misused. The Ninja’s not gonna lie – sometimes there’s violence.

But the Ninja will go easy on the users of close proximity, because it has entered into the lexicon as almost a single word, and it’s just a waste of breath always having to explain the rightness of using proximity as a stand alone descriptor. Also, the inclusion of a modifier helps to imply that the speaker is indicating a particular degree of proximity (although some might argue that it just adds unnecessary words). Understandably, the phrase close proximity does have a satisfying mouthfeel; it makes even the least erudite amongst us seem almost like Oscar Wilde. “Rickywayne, don’t you get in such close proximity to Jaylene while she’s watching ‘The Bachelorette’ unless you wanna get bit.”

Q: What is the final word on gender nonspecific pronouns? Using “they” seems clunky.

A: Agreed, but the noncommittal “he/she” and “his/her” are even clunkier (and frowned upon by the almighty AP Style Manual). Exclusively saying “he” seems antediluvian, and exclusively saying “she” seems like the writer is deliberately inserting social commentary.

Without wandering too deeply into the thorny terrain of gender politics, the Ninja will merely concede that “they” has become perfectly appropriate; unnecessary pluralization of a singular subject or object aside. So, the sentence: “Ain’t no doctor gonna tell me not to eat no more pork belly; they’re just gonna have to give me a home-model defibrillator and shut up,” is acceptable – at least in terms of the use of they.

Q: What is the difference between much and many? How should the two be used?

Ah – the other side of the “less” and “fewer” coins. “Many” (adjective/noun) is used for large numbers of individual items (units) that can be counted; “much” (adjective/adverb) is used for a large amount of an uncountable mass.

Basically, for anything that you can pluralize, you’d use “many.” For anything that either isn’t or can’t be pluralized, the term is “much.”

However, when it comes to common usage, the rules get malleable. There are occasionally examples of objects that can be described plural fashion, but aren’t. You would naturally describe a person with a thick head of hair as having “so much hair,” even though hair does exist in individual strands. It just doesn’t seem as flattering to say that the person has “so many hairs.”

But negotiating tricky vernacular roads like that are all a part of speaking and enjoying a language. Or so the Ninja keeps telling herself.

Holly Troupe is a professional web content writer and an amateur everything else. She spends her days writing, eating, and looking for ways to incorporate the term “perfidy” into the urban vernacular.