swat (= to swing at [something] with a slapping movement) is the standard spelling. *”Swot” is a variant.

sweetbrier, denoting a type of European rose, is so spelled — not *”sweetbriar.”

swivel, vb., makes “swiveled” and “swiveling” in American English, “swivelled” and “swivelling” in British English.

*sworn affidavit is a common redundancy.

syllabus. The plural is “syllabuses” or “syllabi.” American teachers are fond, perhaps overfond, of the Latin plural. Ernest Gowers wrote that “the plural ‘-buses’ is now more used than ‘-bi’” (Modern English Usage 610 [2d ed. 1973]). He was right: in American English, “syllabuses” outstrips “-bi” by a 2-to-1 ratio. (In legal writing, oddly, the ratio is 10 to 1 the other way: “syllabi” over “-buses.”) Language-Change Index — “syllabuses” as plural of “syllabus”: Stage 5.

sylvan (= of, relating to, or living in the woods) is the standard spelling. *”Silvan” is a variant.

*Invariably inferior forms.

For information about the Language-Change Index click here.

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Quotation of the Day: “The introduction is so explicit a means of helping the reader to approach the task of reading the exposition that composing it is relatively simple compared with the task, often requiring much skill, of handling masses of detail in the body of the document.” J. Raleigh Nelson, Writing the Technical Report 26 (1st ed. 1940).

“Supposable” = capable of being supposed; presumable. E.g.: “He learns more about himself and the supposable dimension of man’s future.” Dick Richmond, “A Sequel to ‘The Celestine Prophecy,’” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 16 May 1996, at G7.

“Suppositious” and “supposititious” sometimes cause confusion. Although some modern dictionaries list these as variants, some differentiation is both possible and desirable. “Suppositious” should be used to mean “hypothetical; theoretical; assumed.” E.g.: “House Speaker Thomas Foley . . . said: ‘I never answer questions like that. They are what are called suppositious questions.’” Michael Karnish, “Clinton Receives a High Court List,” Boston Globe, 16 Apr. 1994, at 1.

“Supposititious” should be confined to its usual sense, “illegitimate; spurious; counterfeit.” E.g.: “This supposititious mortal mind, not God, is the parent of all oppression and abuse, individual and collective.” “The Circle of Love,” Christian Science Monitor, 11 Sept. 1996, at 17.

Sometimes “suppositious” appears to be misused for its longer sibling — e.g.: “Lo finally has her baby by the side of a stream, with Elaine assisting. (The tidily achieved birth is the script’s one suppositious [read 'supposititious'] touch.)” Stanley Kauffman, “Manny and Lo,” New Republic, 12 Aug. 1996, at 26.

“Suppositional” = conjectural, hypothetical. It has much the same sense as “suppositious,” and is perhaps generally the clearer word. And it’s a little more common — e.g.: “Most of the play takes place in a tent, where Hale and Montresor argue their opposing world views, hopes and passions — a highly suppositional but dramatically irresistible approach, Ford admitted.” Paul Hodgins, “Short Memory an Asset for ‘Nathan Hale,’” Orange County Register, 3 Nov. 1995, at 29.

*”Suppositive” is a needless variant of “supposititious” and “suppositional.”

*Invariably inferior forms.

For information about the Language-Change Index click here.

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Quotation of the Day: “A writer, if he is to be reasonably honest, must express sentiments repugnant to a good many people.” Richard Neuberger, “I Run for Office” (1947), in Think Before You Write 30, 33 (William G. Leary & James Steel Smith eds., 1951).

supplicant; *suppliant.

“Supplicant” is the standard term meaning “one who earnestly beseeches; a humble petitioner” — e.g.:

o “Upstairs in a darkened room of the Edina home in which he was staying, Sakya Trizin, supreme head of one of Tibetan Buddhism’s four branches, received a constant stream of supplicants.” Kay Miller, “Buddhism from Tibet Pursues Energy of West,” Star Trib. (Minneapolis), 8 July 1995, at A1.

o “The ugly fact is that each of these senators, and every other member of Congress, owes his or her job in some measure to the ability to squeeze money out of those who come before Congress as supplicants.” “‘Investigate Clinton, Not Us,’ Is the Cry of the GOP,” USA Today, 4 Mar. 1997, at A12.

o “Yeltsin has been cut out of some crucial discussions and sometimes treated as a needy supplicant.” Cragg Hines, “Yeltsin Signs NATO Accord, Agrees to Redirect Missiles,” Houston Chron., 28 May 1997, at 1.

*”Suppliant” is a needless variant because it occurs much less frequently and because it less closely matches the corresponding verb, ‘supplicate.’

*Invariably inferior forms.

For information about the Language-Change Index click here.

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Quotation of the Day: “Speakers may be divided into three groups: the Assured, the Anxious and the Indifferent. It is the members of the second group, the Anxious, who are prone to commit the most grievous offences against elementary syntactic function in their excessive solicitude for correctness, whereas the Indifferent are more liable to indulge in condonable misdemeanors.” Simeon Potter, Modern Linguistics 165 (2d ed. 1967).

susceptible – properly sounded /suh-SEP-tuh-buhl/ — is sometimes mispronounced, even by educated speakers, /suhk-SEP-tuh-buhl/.

suspendable; *suspendible. The latter is a needless variant. Though *"suspendible" is the only form listed in Webster’s Third New International Dictionary and the Oxford English Dictionary, “suspendable” is eight times as common.

swab (= [1] a mop; or [2] a cotton wad or cloth used for cleaning) is the standard spelling. *"Swob" is a variant.

swale (= a depression in the land) is sometimes misspelled *"swail" — e.g.: “Mickelson . . . played it safe at 13 and banked his tee shot off the right fringe. ‘It caught the right swail [read "swale"] and caught the bottom of the cup,’ Mickelson said.” Melanie Hauser, “TPC Leaves Players Amazed at High Scores,” Houston Post, 25 Mar. 1995, at B5. Language-Change Index — “swale” misspelled *"swail": Stage 1.

swap (= to exchange) is the standard spelling. *"Swop" is a variant.

*Invariably inferior forms.

For information about the Language-Change Index click here.

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Quotation of the Day: “No one cares whether you read fast or slow, well or ill, but as soon as you put pen to paper, somebody may be puzzled, angry, bored, or ecstatic; and if the occasion permits, your reader is almost sure to exclaim about the schools not doing their duty.” Jacques Barzun, How to Write and Be Read, Contexts for Composition 184 (1969).

Today: Four More.

“Never Use ‘between’ with More than Two Objects”: “When Miss Thistlebottom taught you in grammar school that ‘between’ applies only to two things and ‘among’ to more than two, she was for the most part correct. ‘Between’ essentially does apply to only two, but sometimes the ‘two’ relationship is present when more than two elements are involved. For example, it would be proper to say that ‘The President was trying to start negotiations between Israel, Egypt, Syria and Jordan’ if what was contemplated was not a round-table conference but separate talks involving Israel and each of the other three nations.” Theodore M. Bernstein, Dos, Don’ts & Maybes of English Usage 29 (1977). See GMAU, “between (A).”

“Never Use the First-Person Pronouns ‘I’ and ‘me’”: “If you want to write like a professional just about the first thing you have to do is get used to the first person singular. Just plunge in and write ‘I’ whenever ‘I’ seems to be the word that is called for. Never mind the superstitious notion that it’s immodest to do so. It just isn’t so.” Rudolf Flesch, A New Way to Better English 49 (1958). See GMAU, “First Person.”

“Never Use Contractions”: “Your style will obviously be warmer and truer to your personality if you use contractions like ‘I’ll’ and ‘won’t’ when they fit comfortably into what you’re writing. ‘I’ll be glad to see them if they don’t get mad’ is less stiff than ‘I will be glad to see them if they do not get mad.’ There’s no rule against such informality — trust your ear and your instincts.” William Zinsser, On Writing Well 117 (3d ed. 1985). See GMAU, “Contractions (A).”

“Never Use ‘you’ in Referring to Your Reader”: “Keep a running conversation with your reader. Use the second-person pronoun whenever you can. Translate everything into ‘you’ language. ‘This applies to citizens over 65′ = ‘if you’re over 65, this applies to you.’ ‘It must be remembered that’ = ‘you must remember.’ ‘Many people don’t realize’ = ‘perhaps you don’t realize.’ Always write directly to ‘you,’ the person you’re trying to reach with your written message. Don’t write in mental isolation; reach out to your reader.” Rudolf Flesch, How to Be Brief: An Index to Simple Writing 114 (1962).

For information about the Language-Change Index click here.

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Quotation of the Day: “Most of us have learned many things about language from others, but generally the wrong things. More likely than not we have acquired ideas and beliefs that do not have facts to back them.” Ronald Wardhaugh, Proper English: Myths and Misunderstandings About Language viii (1999).