Author: Kirk

“Preventative” vs. “Preventive”

Adjectives, Nouns, Versus

I often hear these words used interchangeably.

Problem:
It was not clear — at least not to me, anyway — which word is correct.

Explanation:
The word “preventive” as an adjective means serving to hinder or prevent.

The word “preventive” as a noun means a preventive measure or agent.

The word “preventive” dates back to 1630-1640.

The word “preventative” is noted by some dictionaries as being a synonym of the word “preventive” — whether as an adjective or as a noun.

However, at least one dictionary — Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary — says that “preventative” is incorrectly used instead of “preventive”.

Solution:
Given these facts, use “preventive” instead of “preventative” — as either an adjective or a noun.

“A permit had been attained.”

Common English Blunders, Verbs

I heard this yesterday during a television program.

Problem:
The speaker used the wrong verb.

Explanation:
I was watching an episode of “Forensic Files” on the truTV channel.

Someone by the name of Randy Scott, identified as Lead Investigator, was discussing a crime.

Mr. Scott said, “A permit had been attained.”

The verb “attain” — spelled A-T-T-A-I-N — means to accomplish, achieve, or reach as an objective, as in “He attained success on the racing circuit at the age of 25.”

Mr. Scott should have used the verb “obtain” — spelled O-B-T-A-I-N — instead because this verb means to acquire, procure, or get.

Unfortunately, there is not a simple way to search the Internet for mistaken use of “attain” as a substitute for “obtain”; otherwise, I would put some statistics from Google here.

This is not the first time that I saw or heard the mistaken use of these two verbs as synonyms, and I believe that it is a relatively common English blunder.

The confusion between “attain” and “obtain” provides yet another example of the value of knowing the roots of words in the English language.

The verb “attain” comes from the prefix A-T, which means toward or near, and T-A-I-N, which comes from the Latin verb “tangere”, which means to touch.

The verb “obtain” comes from the prefix O-B, which has many meanings including to and on, and T-A-I-N, which comes from the Latin verb “tenere”, which means to hold.

In other words, the T-A-I-N in “attain” the T-A-I-N in “obtain” are from different Latin verbs, so “attain” and “obtain” are NOT synonyms.

Solution:
“A permit had been obtained.”

Ampersand vs. “And”

Conjunctions, Versus

I sometimes see an ampersand used where the word “and” is required.

Problem:
These two conjunctions are not quite synonyms.

Explanation:
Wikipedia has an excellent overview of the ampersand.

As Wikipedia notes, “The word ampersand is a corruption of the phrase ‘and per se and’, meaning ‘and [the symbol which] by itself [is] and‘.”

The ampersand symbol — & — comes from a ligature of the letters “e” and “t” in the Latin word et, which means “and”.

Although the rise in popularity of SMS text messaging — with its 140-characters-per-message limit — has spurred the increasing use of the one-character “&” as a substitute for the three-character “and”, it is NOT appropriate to use the ampersand absolutely everywhere as a substitute for “and”.

Here is a summary of where the ampersand is appropriate:

  • In the name of a business (e.g., “Smith & Jones”);
  • When addressing an envelope to a couple (e.g., “Dr. & Mrs. Johnson”);
  • In book and movie titles (e.g., “Harry & Tonto”);
  • When giving credit for close collaboration on a screenplay (e.g., “William Benson & Mary Gallagher”);
  • When citing sources in text, per the APA style guide (e.g., “(Watson & Crick, 1955)”).

An ampersand is also used in many computer languages.

Otherwise, an ampersand should NOT be used as a substitute for the conjunction “and”.

Solution:
Reserve the use of the ampersand (&) as a substitute for the conjunction “and” in business names, movie and book titles, names of couples on envelopes, and some other special situations.