The English language is changing

In 2010, language researcher David Graddol predicts there will be 2 billion people on the planet speaking English, of whom only 350 million will be native speakers. So how the English language develops over the next 100 years will largely depend on what non-native speakers do with the language.

When Latin colonised the world centuries ago, it dissolved over time into a number of different languages. Thanks to written texts and the global media, that is unlikely to happen today. But English as we know it is changing.

Already, non-native speakers are stripping out parts of English that cause misunderstandings. In the process, they are making the language more consistent. Some of the changes that are already occurring or seem likely to occur are:

• The past tense of irregular verbs — apart from ones we use all the time such as to have and to be — will become more regular (e.g. wed is changing to wedded).
• Some mass nouns may become count nouns (informations, furnitures, staffs).
• The third person singular is the only verb form to take an –s so this may drop off (she runs will become she run).

Listening and watching the language, I see changes such as:

• Brevity is a fading word — young people don't understand what it means.
• Less is often used instead of fewer.
• Myself is frequently used when me would be more correct (e.g. Please contact myself).
• More than and over are used interchangeably.
• Whom seems to be vanishing.

Some of these changes I care about and others I think aren't worth worrying about. What do you think? And what changes are you observing? Email mary@themfactor.com.au

Source: Michael Erard, ‘English as she will be spoke’, New Scientist, 29 March 2008 (http://michaelerard.com)

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Oft-confused words

I am constantly amazed at how intelligent people confuse familiar words, such as 'their', 'they're' and 'there'. But then I remind myself that I can never work out whether 'bimonthly' means twice a month or every two months and I am never sure whether a note accompanying a document should be a 'compliment' slip or a 'complement' slip?

So here's a few commonly confused words.

compliment = to praise, a formal expression of civility or respect (e.g. compliments of the season) complement = to complete, go with (e.g. pepper and salt complement each other)

Both 'compliment/s' and 'complement/s' slips exist in Google, but I think, using the second meaning of 'compliment', I'll choose 'compliments' slip in future.

there = in that place
they're = short for 'they are'their = belonging to them

flammable = able to be set aflame
inflammable = able to be set aflame, easily excited or disturbed

According to the Macquarie Dictionary traditionally 'inflammable' meant likely to burn easily, but to avoid a false analogy with other words such as 'inactive' in which the 'in' means 'not', 'flammable' was adopted as the standard warning in labelling goods. The opposite is 'nonflammable'.

affect = influence (verb)
effect = result (noun); occasionally used as a verb meaning 'to bring about a result'.

dependent = relying on
dependant = someone who is reliant on financial or other support (e.g. a child)

bimonthly = occurring every two months or occurring twice a month. How confusing! I suggest you use clearer terms, such as 'fortnightly', 'every two months' or 'twice a month'.

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