Usage Notes

Usage is how people actually use words, and it is where most arguments about English begin. These notes explain the common sticking points and which old rules can be relaxed.

Fewer or less

The traditional guidance is fewer for things you can count (fewer books, fewer people) and less for amounts (less water, less time). Fixed phrases such as “less than ten miles” or “25 words or less” are long established and widely accepted. In formal writing, follow the traditional guidance for plain plurals.

Affect or effect

Most of the time, affect is the verb (the weather affected our plans) and effect is the noun (the weather had an effect). The exceptions: effect as a verb means to bring about (to effect change), and affect as a noun is a term in psychology.

Its or it’s

It’s always means “it is” or “it has”. Its is possessive, like his and her, and never takes an apostrophe: the dog wagged its tail.

Who or whom

Who is the subject and whom the object: who called? To whom did you write? In everyday speech who is now common in both places. Whom still sounds natural straight after a preposition and in formal writing.

Singular “they”

Using they for one person whose gender is unknown or not relevant goes back to at least the 14th century and appears in writers from Chaucer to Austen. Most major style guides now accept it, including for people who use they as their pronoun.

Rules you can relax

• Ending a sentence with a preposition. The objection came from comparisons with Latin in the 17th and 18th centuries. “Who are you talking to?” is natural, correct English.
• Splitting infinitives. “To boldly go” is fine. Moving the adverb can make a sentence clumsier or change its meaning.
• Starting a sentence with “and” or “but”. Writers have done it for centuries. It is a matter of style, not grammar.

Words often confused

Pair	Quick guide
complement / compliment	A complement completes something; a compliment is praise.
discreet / discrete	Discreet means tactful; discrete means separate.
principal / principle	A principal is the main one or the head of a school; a principle is a rule or belief.
stationary / stationery	Stationary means not moving; stationery is paper and pens (“e” for envelope).
comprise / compose	The whole comprises the parts; the parts compose the whole. “Comprised of” is common but criticised in formal writing.

“Literally”

Using literally as an intensifier (“I literally died laughing”) annoys many readers, but it is not new: examples go back to the 18th century. In careful writing, keep it for things that are actually true.

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