H. W. Fowler

As a tribute to the late, great authority on English usage, I’m here to help with any queries regarding grammar, vocabulary or style.

[H. W. Fowler @HWFowler]

RT @David_CAA: I would just like to mention again that it is ‘would have’, not ‘would of’.

[H. W. Fowler @HWFowler]

@Labourcat Predestination is a kind of theological determinism, whereas predistribution is this: http://t.co/JEiC0TO4

[H. W. Fowler @HWFowler]

@jakewillson (Though ‘program’ occurs in Brit.En. up to early C20th—due to retention of Gr. morphology, despite Fr. etymology prevailing.)

[H. W. Fowler @HWFowler]

@jakewillson In current English usage, British ‘programme’ and US ‘program’—except in computing, where the latter is always used.

[ਜੀਵਨ ਰਾਏ🔻🇵🇸 @jeevanrai]

I gag every time I see/hear someone use ‘myself’ instead of ‘me’. It’s corny as well as incorrect. Please folks: reflexive use only.

[H. W. Fowler @HWFowler]

‘Myself’ is a reflexive pronoun. One should only use it is the object when the subject is ‘I’. Otherwise, one should stick with ‘me’.

[H. W. Fowler @HWFowler]

@jeevanrai Don’t split hairs which aren’t there to be split. This is completely ridiculous, not to mention rather tragic.

[H. W. Fowler @HWFowler]

@jeevanrai Please stop talking to yourself on Twitter, it’s stupid and embarrassing.

[H. W. Fowler @HWFowler]

@jeevanrai You were right the first time. ‘Unadvisable’ predates ‘inadvisable’ by a couple of centuries.

[H. W. Fowler @HWFowler]

In British and Oxford English, it is spelt ‘doughnut’, as opposed to the American ‘donut’.

[H. W. Fowler @HWFowler]

Write 2½, 2.5, or ‘two and a half’ (N.B. hyphens are unnecessary in the last case); #never write ‘2 and a half’, which just looks vulgar.

[ਜੀਵਨ ਰਾਏ🔻🇵🇸 @jeevanrai]

(Yes, I’m taking capitalised proper verb form for Facebook ‘Liking’. It’s the only really succinct way I can think of differentiating.)

[H. W. Fowler @HWFowler]

You, @jeevanrai, have been committing crimes against spelling on Facebook. Hang your head in shame, sir.

[The OED @OED]

Discover the elusive origin of 'OK' by Allan Metcalf http://t.co/lOWoIMPF

[H. W. Fowler @HWFowler]

For those who are unsure, ‘fewer’ is to be used for anything countable; ‘less’ for all else. E.g. less wheat, or fewer grains of wheat.

[H. W. Fowler @HWFowler]

RT “@dan_hutton: Received an email from Facebook this morning saying ‘less’ when it should have said ‘fewer’. I was not impressed.”

[H. W. Fowler @HWFowler]

@OxfordWords Would ‘converse’—rather than ‘opposite’—not better describe the relationship between uxurious & maritorious? Just a thought :)

[The OED @OED]

The first OED record of the word ‘apprentice’ is from William Langland’s Piers Plowman, 1362: “Apparayleden him as a prentis”

[H. W. Fowler @HWFowler]

About 1975 or just before. [#OED, ed.3] » RT “@Neilwigg: When did ‘transition’ become a verb?”