Common English Blunders

“Backward” vs. “Backwards”

Adjectives, Adverbs, Common English Blunders, Versus

I often see or hear “backwards” where “backward” is required.

Problem:
These two words are not always interchangeable.

Explanation:
The word “backward” may be used as an adjective or as an adverb.

The word “backwards” may be used only as an adverb in standard English.

These rules give us these examples of valid and invalid usage:

  • “He took a backward approach.” — valid as adjective
  • “He drove ten feet backward.” — valid as adverb
  • “He took a backwards approach.” — invalid as adjective!
  • “He drove ten feet backwards.” — valid as adverb

Solution:
Use “backward” for everything. This obviates the need to remember that “backwards” may be used only as an adverb.

“Acronym” vs. “Initialism”

Abbreviations, Common English Blunders, Devolution toward Simpler, Versus

Many people use “acronym” when they should use “initialism” instead.

Problem:
These two words refer to different types of abbreviations.

Explanation:
An “initialism” is formed from the initial letters in the words of a name, with each letter individually spoken.

HIV — from “Human Immunodeficiency Virus” — and NPR — from “National Public Radio” — are examples of initialisms.

An “acronym” is formed from parts of the words in a name and is pronounced as a single word. The parts can be:

  • initial letters (e.g., AIDS from “Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome”);
  • initial syllables (e.g., Interpol from “International police”); or,
  • arbitrary parts (e.g., amphetamine from “Alpha-methyl-phenethylamine”).

In case you’re wondering, a “truncation” is the name of the third major type of abbreviation (e.g., Minn. from “Minnesota”).

I believe that the tendency to refer to initialisms as acronyms can be traced to ignorance and to my “Devolution toward Simpler” hypothesis. Many acronyms are constructed with the initial letters in the words of a name, just as all initialisms are constructed, so there’s a natural confusion about these abbreviation terms. Beyond this, though, it’s simpler to say “acronym” than it is to say “initialism”.

Solution:
Use “acronym” when you say the abbreviation as a single word; use “initialism” when you say the individual letters of the abbreviation.

“Unchartered territory”

Adjectives, Common English Blunders, Devolution toward Simpler, Euphemisms

I heard a Fox television sports commentator say this last evening during Super Bowl XLII.

Problem:
This phrase does not contain the correct adjective for the euphemism.

Explanation:
“Unchartered territory” would refer to territory that has not been chartered.

The definition of the adjective “chartered” is related to an arrangement of leased, exclusive, temporary transportation for a group of travelers.

Given that one charters transportation, not territory, “unchartered territory” makes no sense.

In contrast, given that one can map — or chart — territory, the correct adjective for the euphemism is “uncharted”. That is, “uncharted territory” is the euphemism that was mangled by the sports commentator.

For fun, I searched Google — with the quotation marks included in the search box — for “unchartered territory” and “uncharted territory” and got about 59,600 and 734,000 matches, respectively. That tells me that Web authors have written the euphemism correctly by a ratio of 12.3:1, which is good, but not excellent.

I believe that the spoken use of “unchartered” instead of “uncharted” in the euphemism is consistent with my “Devolution toward Simpler” hypothesis. It is simpler to pronounce the “ered” sound than to pronounce the “ed” sound.

Solution:
“Uncharted territory”