Miscellaneous Entries.
solo. The plural is solos — preferably not *soli.
soluble; solvable. Soluble is usually applied to dissolvable substances, whereas solvable is usually applied to problems. But soluble is also sometimes used in reference to problems; this usage is acceptable, though not preferred.
somber; sombre. The first is American English, the second British English.
somebody; someone. The words are equally good; euphony should govern the choice. Someone is often better by that standard. Each is a singular noun that, for purposes of concord, is the antecedent of a singular pronoun. *Some body and *some one as two words are obsolete spellings.
*someplace for somewhere is out of place in formal prose. But its acceptable as a casualism in speech.
somersault; *somerset; *summersault. Somersault is the standard spelling — preferred not only over the two listed, but also over *somersaut, *somersalt, *summerset, and other odd variations.
*Invariably inferior forms.
Quotation of the Day: “Today British and American spellings diverge in some respects in consequence of the different lexicographical traditions handed down by Johnson and his revisers Todd and Latham in England, and by Noah Webster in the New World.” Simeon Potter, Modern Linguistics 48-49 (2d ed. 1967).
