Verbs

“They’ll reciprocate back for you.”

Adverbs, Common English Blunders, Self-negation, Verbs

I heard someone say this in an interview the other day.

Problem:
The adverb “back” in “reciprocate back” is redundant.

Explanation:
I heard an Internet-marketing guru make the statement “They’ll reciprocate back for you.” in an audio file recorded as part of an interview series sponsored by Brad Callen, the maker of Keyword Elite.

The verb “reciprocate” when used without an object usually means to make a return, so the meaning of “reciprocate back” would be to make a return back.

Because the “re” in “return” means back, one could argue that someone who “reciprocates back” would never make a return (e.g., for something given).

For fun, I searched Google for the expression “reciprocate back” (with the quotation marks, to avoid variations) and got about 7,920 matches, which is relatively low.

I continue to believe that the growing tendency, at least in American English, to add the adverb “back” after many “re” verbs reflects a growing ignorance about the meanings of the roots of English words.

Solution:
“They’ll reciprocate for you.”

“… inspections that were never finalled …”

Adjectives, Nouns, Verbs

I saw this yesterday in a letter.

Problem:
The word “final” is not a verb.

Explanation:
The letter came from the City of Houston Code Enforcement Division.

The full sentence was “Also, you may have outstanding inspections that were never finalled on this project as listed below.”

The problem with this sentence is that “final” is a noun or an adjective, but never a verb.

So one cannot “final a project”, and therefore one cannot use “final” as a verb in passive voice, either.

It is ironic that the next sentence in the letter contained the correct verb.

For fun, I searched Google for “finalled” (with the quotation marks, to avoid matches for such phrases as “final LED”) and got about 6,230 matches.

This indicates that very people are making the mistake made by in the form letter from the City of Houston Code Enforcement Division.

Solution:
“… inspections that were never finalized …”

“They are wanting a response by January 31st.”

Hypercorrection, Tenses, Verbs

I heard someone say this yesterday during a conference call.

Problem:
The continuous inflection of the present tense is unnecessary in this statement.

Explanation:
The label “present continuous” refers to a continuous inflection of the present tense.

The phrase “are wanting” is an example of the “present continuous” form of the verb “want”.

As explained at Wikipedia, the “present continuous” form is prevalently used in English to express current action but is rare or absent in other Indo-European languages.

There are at least two hypotheses about why American English speakers often choose the “present continuous” form of a verb over the “present simple” form:

  • One hypothesis is that saying something like “They are wanting …” sounds more educated to the speaker than saying simply “They want …”. One might even label this as a linguistic hypercorrection.
  • Another hypothesis is that using the “present continuous” form instead of the “present simple” form effectively softens the impact on the listener or reader.

No matter which hypothesis you prefer, the “present continuous” form is often unnecessary and tends to interfere with clear, direct communication.

Solution:
“They want a response by January 31st.”