Disputed and Shifting Usage
Words whose senses or grammatical roles are contested or in transition, each with a ruling on its standing in edited prose.
- ain’t
- alibi
- anniversary for months
- anyways
- ask as noun
- author as verb
- awful / awesome
- back-formations
- contact as verb
- crescendo
- critique as verb
- currently / presently
- decimate
- DM as verb
- done meaning “finished”
- enormity / enormousness
- enthuse / enthused
- epitome
- exponential: literal and figurative meanings
- factoid
- fulsome
- gift as verb
- homograph / homophone / homonym
- ilk
- impact as verb
- incentivize
- interface as verb
- intrigue: meaning and pronunciation
- ironic
- kind of / kinda
- like as quotative
- literally
- momentarily
- nonplussed
- quite
- reach out
- sort of / sorta
- supererogatory
- transpire
Also covers disputed and shifting usage
- all right / alright
- amuse / bemuse
- beg the question
- compose / comprise / comprised of
- could care less / couldn’t care less
- data / datum / data point
- dilemma
- disinterested / uninterested
- dive / dived / dove
- generic he / singular they
- hanged / hung
- hopefully
- irregardless
- media / medium
- nauseated / nauseous
- none is / none are
- preposition at end of sentence
- shall / will
- snuck / sneaked
- split infinitive
- that / which in relative clauses
- try and / try to
- who / whom
- whose for things