“Supposedly” vs. “Supposably”

Adverbs, Common English Blunders, Devolution toward Simpler, Versus

I hear “supposably” with increasing frequency when “supposedly” is the correct adverb.

Problem:
The adverbs “supposedly” and “supposably” are not synonyms.

Explanation:
The adverb “supposedly” means reputed or believed to be the case; purportedly.

The adverb “supposably” should be used only in the context of capable of being supposed, and this adverb is valid only in American English.

In a sense, most people who use “supposably” are lucky in that it is a “real word” (in American English). But these same people misuse “supposably” as a synonym for “supposedly” (which it is not!).

As I mentioned several days ago, here is an unorthodox but still fairly reliable method to determine which of “supposedly” or “supposably” is more likely to be the correct form: search Google separately for each of “supposedly” and “supposably”; the one with the dominant number of hits or matches is very likely the correct form (unless the language has fallen apart on the Web!).

For example, I just searched Google for “supposedly” and got about 2,770,000 matches; I searched for “supposably” and got about 66,200 matches. This nearly 42:1 dominance of “supposedly” over “supposably” is a very good indicator that “supposedly” is the correct form — at least, in most situations.

I believe that the misuse of “supposably” as a synonym for “supposedly” — especially in speech — is consistent with my “Devolution toward Simpler” hypothesis. It’s simpler to say “supposably” than to say “supposedly” because the first adverb’s ending is simpler to say than is the second adverb’s ending.

Solution:
Use “supposedly” when “purportedly” makes sense as a replacement adverb; use “supposably” only with an American English-speaking audience and only when the intended meaning is “capable of being supposed”.

“Thanks so much for sharing Jim.”

Commas, Common English Blunders

I saw this in an email message.

Problem:
A comma is missing.

Explanation:
Without the comma, this sentence is structured such that the writer is thanking the reader for sharing Jim.

What the writer wanted to do was thank Jim for sharing (the information contained elsewhere in the email message).

Commas provide the pauses that let readers “hear” where writers are taking breaks in speech.

The writer of the sentence in the email message was pausing before saying in her mind the name Jim, but she failed to put in her sentence a comma that would indicate the location of that pause.

Solution:
“Thanks so much for sharing, Jim.”

“Gender” vs. “Sex”

Common English Blunders, Nouns, Versus

I often hear or read “gender” where “sex” is the appropriate noun.

Problem:
“Gender” and “sex” are not synonyms.

Explanation:
The noun “gender” is a grammatical term that traditionally has been used to refer to categories of pronouns and nouns (masculine, feminine, and neuter).

The noun “sex” refers to the division of living things into the male and female state. Given that “sex” has become overloaded to refer to the act, it seems that a prudishness has developed about using a perfectly good noun — “sex” — to refer to the division of living things.

Sorry, but a person doesn’t have a gender; a person has a sex. Ditto for cats and dogs and other living things.

Solution:
Use “sex” when referring to people and other living things. Reserve the use of “gender” to refer to the kind of a pronoun or noun.