Ugly Words

A thought for today on ugly words, from Henry Watson Fowler:

Whether we are to say forecast or forecasted in the past tense & participle depends on whether we regard the verb or the noun as the original from which the other is formed; … The verb is in fact recorded 150 years earlier than the noun, & we may therefore thankfully rid ourselves of the ugly forecasted; it may be hoped that we should do so even if history were against us, but this time it is kind. [Fowler, 1926]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *