Verbs

“Invite” vs. “Invitation”

Common English Blunders, Devolution toward Simpler, Nouns, Verbs, Versus

I increasingly hear “invite” where “invitation” is required.

Problem:
The word “invite” is not a noun.

Explanation:
Sentences such as “I’ll send you an invite.” or “Could she send them an invite?” drive me crazy.

How lazy can one be?!

The word “invite” is a verb, not a noun.

We have a perfectly good noun for what is intended: “invitation”.

I believe that this growing tendency to use “invite” where “invitation” is required is consistent with my “Devolution toward Simpler” hypothesis.

It’s simpler to say or write the two-syllable “invite” than the four-syllable “invitation”.

Solution:
Use “invite” when you need a verb; use “invitation” when you need a noun.

“150,000 net video adds in first quarter”

Common English Blunders, Devolution toward Simpler, Nouns, Verbs

I saw this in a corporate announcement yesterday.

Problem:
The word “adds” is not a noun.

Explanation:
This phrase appeared in a sentence talking about how a company’s net increase in video customers was expected to be 150,000 in the first quarter of 2008.

Unfortunately, one could misread this as “150,000 net video ads in first quarter” — as in “150,000 net [Internet?] video advertisements in first quarter”.

In other words, one could misread “adds” as “ads” and believe that the writer was referring to advertisements.

More important than this possible misreading is the fact that “adds” is a verb, not a noun.

I believe that this growing tendency to use “adds” where “additions” is what is meant is consistent with my “Devolution toward Simpler” hypothesis.

It’s simpler to say or write the one-syllable “adds” than the three-syllable “additions”.

One could say the same thing about “installs” versus “installations”, about which I wrote last December.

Solution:
“150,000 net video [customer] additions in first quarter”

“Please … forward back to me …”

Adverbs, Verbs

Huh? I saw this in an email message.

Problems:
The adverb contradicts the verb in the sentence, and the implied object of the verb should be provided.

Explanation:
The sentence in the email message was along the lines of “Please review the document, identify any defects in the attached log, and forward [the log] back to me by 12 PM CT on 3/20/2008.”

The adverb “back” contradicts the verb “forward” in the sentence. The solution to this first problem is replace “forward back” with “return”.

I believe that the writer of the email message was thinking “return back” — because, as I’ve written earlier, so many people today erroneously follow the verb “return” with the redundant “back” — and then replaced “return” with “forward” to get “forward back”.

Replacing “forward back” with “return” is insufficient, though. What’s missing is the object of the verb “return”. The solution to this second problem is to put “the log” immediately after the verb “return” to get “return the log”.

Some might argue that “return it” instead of “return the log” would be sufficient, but others may rightfully argue that “it” could refer either to the earlier “the attached log” or to the even earlier “the document”, which could lead to confusion among some readers.

Solution:
“Please … return the log to me …”