----------------------------------------------------------------- THE BETTER WRITING SKILLS NEWSLETTER, October 2007 By Tim North of Scribe Consulting (http://www.scribe.com.au) http://www.BetterWritingSkills.com ----------------------------------------------------------------- Welcome to the October 2007 Better Writing Skills newsletter. IN THIS ISSUE 1. "If I WAS ..." or "If I WERE ..."? 2. "Farther" or "further"? 3. Is the standard of English declining? 4. Just for fun Your comments and questions are always welcome. Just send e-mail to: info@BetterWritingSkills.com Cheers, Tim North Perth, Western Australia ----------------------------------------------------------------- 1. "If I WAS ..." or "If I WERE ..."? ----------------------------------------------------------------- My first correspondent this month, Paul, queried a sentence from last month's newsletter in which I wrote "If I WAS to choose ...". Paul wondered if I should, instead, have written "If I WERE to choose ...". Traditional usage requires you to make a rather subtle distinction when choosing between these two forms. Tradition has it that you should write "If I WERE ..." when discussing something you know to be untrue. For instance: If I were taller, I'd have a better view. (You know that you're not taller.) If I were richer, I'd quit this job. (You know that you're not richer.) This usage is known by a rather technical name: "the subjunctive mood". Sentences that don't involve an untrue assumption are prefaced with "If I WAS ...". For example: If I was rude yesterday, I'm sorry. (You accept that you may have been rude.) If I was to choose, I'd prefer the red one. (You accept that you may make such a choice in the future.) I'm comfortable saying that this is one of those subtle distinctions that is rapidly disappearing from contemporary English. To quote from the "American Heritage Book of Practical English" (1996): In practice, of course, many people ignore the rules. In fact, over the last 200 years even well-respected writers have tended to use the indicative "was" where the traditional rule would require the subjunctive "were". A willingness to forgo this traditional distinction isn't new. More than 50 years ago, English playwright Somerset Maugham noted rather bluntly: The subjunctive mood is in its death throes, and the best thing to do is to put it out of its misery as soon as possible. In short, I think that you can use "If I WAS ..." in both cases these days, and few people will notice or care. Of course, if you like the traditional distinction and wish to use it that's perfectly okay too. Hope this helps. -- (c) 2007 Tim North: http://www.BetterWritingSkills.com ----------------------------------------------------------------- 2. "Farther" or "further"? ----------------------------------------------------------------- A few times in recent months, I've mentioned that the traditional distinction between the words "farther" and "further" is disappearing from contemporary English. A few readers have written in and asked me to explain how these words differ. Well, in traditional usage, "farther" means a greater distance, while "further" means a greater amount of time or effort. For example: It's only a little farther. (distance) How much farther is it? (distance) Let's consider this further. (time/effort) Further study is required. (time/effort) In the contemporary speech that I'm exposed to, "farther" has almost disappeared. I rarely if ever use the word as it sounds (to me) rather old fashioned. Let's do a bit of Googling to see if people on the web are maintaining this traditional distinction: "farther to go" 47,800 occurrences (24%) "further to go" 154,000 occurrences (76%) We see that the traditionally correct usage is being used less than a quarter of the time on the web. Most web writers seem content to use "further" in all circumstances. What are your thoughts on this distinction? Do you (or the people around you) distinguish between "farther" and "further"? -- (c) 2007 Tim North: http://www.BetterWritingSkills.com ----------------------------------------------------------------- Do you know someone who'd like this newsletter? ----------------------------------------------------------------- Do you have a friend or colleague who'd find the Better Writing Skills newsletter interesting? If so, please feel free to send a copy of this issue to them. Alternatively, please tell them they can browse back issues here: http://www.BetterWritingSkills.com/newsletter.html Thanks for helping to make this newsletter so successful! ----------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Is the standard of English declining? ----------------------------------------------------------------- The first two articles in this month's newsletter have shared a theme. They've both described a traditional usage that is falling into decline. Is this indicative of a problem? Should we be decrying declining standards of English? I think not. Language evolves. That's natural and desirable. If a distinction isn't useful enough to be remembered and used by most users then we can expect it to disappear over time. A couple of points should be made, though. First: Although I use Google to analyse contemporary usage, I must note that the web is not representative of all uses of English. For a start, it tells us only how a certain subset of English speaking people use WRITTEN English. It's quite possible that SPOKEN English is used differently. Nonetheless, the web is a large and valid language sample that's easy to measure. Second: I'm not suggesting that all change is good change. In response to an earlier article that I wrote in 2005, a correspondent, Ron, noted: Even if we accept that language evolves, that doesn't mean that it always evolves in a positive manner or that we have no control or influence over this evolution. Accepting such a premise is akin to saying that industrial pollution is just part of mankind's evolutionary process and, therefore, should not be resisted. I take Ron's point, but I don't think things are quite as bad as that analogy implies. I think that one of the major influences operating on English at the moment is a move towards simplification. This is motivated in large part by the fact that within a few years more people will speak English as a second language than speak it natively. This move towards simplification is slowly eliminating subtle (and arguably unnecessary) differences like who/whom and farther/further. As a broad influence, I think that simplification is ultimately a desirable aim. Let's face it, in its 1,500 year history English has acquired a great deal of ambiguity, contradiction, complexity and unnecessary subtlety. It's time we had a bit of a spring clean. I do agree with Ron that not all change is good change. Don't get me started about SMS text. :-) On balance, though, I think that most language change within English over the centuries has been beneficial. After all, from its humble beginnings on a smallish group of islands 1,500 years ago, it's grown to be the second most spoken language on Earth. (Chinese is first by a long way.) I think that the success of English is due, in large part, to its ability to change rapidly to suit new uses and new users. Hope this helps. -- (c) 2007 Tim North: http://www.BetterWritingSkills.com ----------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Just for fun ----------------------------------------------------------------- This month have a look at Microsoft's collection of templates for Microsoft Office. You'll find hundreds of useful document templates that could save you a great deal of time: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates Enjoy. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Would you like more help with your writing? ----------------------------------------------------------------- On my Better Writing Skills web site, you'll find my range of jargon-free, downloadable e-books that will help you to become a better writer. 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