“Select Items Storewide”

Adjectives, Common English Blunders, Devolution toward Simpler, Verbs

I saw this in a “Blue Moon Sale, 20-60% Off” television advertisement for Ikea.

Problem:
There is a verb where an adjective should be.

Explanation:
The word “Select” is a verb, so “Select Items Storewide” implies that one may select items throughout the Ikea store for a 20-60% discount.

Imagine a shopper complaining to the Federal Trade Commission that Ikea is not honoring its “Select Items Storewide” offer. The shopper could reasonably complain that the offer tells television viewers that they may select items throughout the store for the 20-60% discount.

The writer of the television advertisement should have used the “Selected” as an adjective in front of the noun “Items” because “Selected Items Storewide” implies that NOT ALL items throughout the Ikea store qualify for the the 20-60% discount and that Ikea has selected only certain items for the discount.

I believe that the growing tendency in American English to use “select” as an adjective is consistent with my “Devolution toward Simpler” hypothesis: it’s simpler to say “select” (and it sounds “more sophisticated”) than to say “selected”, even though the latter is necessary when one is modifying a noun.

Solution:
“Selected Items Storewide”