Versus

“Intent” vs. “Intention”

Adjectives, Nouns, Versus

Something I saw made me investigate these two words.

Problem:
These two words are not quite synonyms but are sometimes used as synonyms.

Explanation:
“Intent” is both a noun and an adjective. “Intention” is only a noun.

“Intent” as an adjective means earnest, steadfast, focused, or concentrated.

“Intent” as a noun is sometimes used as a synonym for “intention”; however, the former is stronger than the latter.

“Intent” as a noun means deliberateness. “Intention” means anticipated outcome.

Solution:
Use “intention” when talking about actions that one proposes to take. Use “intent” when talking about aim or purpose or when you need the adjective.

“Androgenous” vs. “Androgynous”

Adjectives, Versus

I have seen “androgenous” tagged by text-related software as spelled incorrectly.

Problem:
“Androgenous” is a real word but is not a synonym of “androgynous” even though they often sound alike.

Explanation:
Firefox and OpenOffice.org Writer are examples of a software application that puts a red underline beneath the adjective “androgenous” when one uses the default dictionary that accompanies the application.

“Androgenous” is a real adjective. It means tending to produce male offspring. It comprises the parts “andro” (male) and “genous” (producing).

“Androgynous” is the adjective with which more people seem to be familiar. It means having male and female characteristics. It comprise the parts “andro” (male) and “gyn” (female) and “ous” (possessing).

So a person can be androgenous (with an “e”), androgynous (with a “y”), androgenous (with an “e”) and androgynous (with a “y”), or none of these.

Solution:
Use “androgenous” with an “e” when you want to indicate that an animal tends to produce male offspring. Use “androgynous” with a “y” when you want to describe someone who has both male and female characteristics.

“I’m worried about him singing with the choir.”

Possessives, Pronouns, Versus

I heard this on a BET television program.

Problem:
Many wonder whether “him” or “his” is correct in sentences such as this one.

Explanation:
The present participial phrase “singing with the choir” acts as an adjective to modify “him” in “I’m worried about him singing with the choir.” To prove this, we can remove the participial phrase and retain the sense of the sentence: “I’m worried about him.”

In contrast, if we replace “him” with “his” in the sentence, then “singing with the choir” may not be removed. That is, “I’m worried about his.” makes no sense; the possessive pronoun “his” requires the gerund phrase “singing with the choir” or another object.

Summarizing,

  • “him” makes “singing with the choir” act as a present participial phrase;
  • “his” makes “singing with the choir” act as a gerund phrase.

In other words, “him” and “his” are equally correct but have different effects.

Putting this summary in non-grammatical terms, we get the solution.

Solution:
Use “him” when you want to focus the attention on the person. Use “his” when you want to focus the attention on the action performed by the person.