a / an In modern written English, we use a before a word beginning with a consonant sound, however it may be spelled (a frog, a university, a euphemism). We use an before a word beginning with a vowel sound (an orange, an hour). At one time, an was an acceptable alternative before words beginning with a consonant sound but spelled with a vowel (an one, an united appeal), but this usage is now entirely obsolete An was also once a common variant before words beginning with h in which the first syllable was unstressed; thus 18th-century authors wrote either a historical or an historical, but a history, not an history. This usage made sense in that people often did not pronounce the initial h in words such as historical and heroic, but by the late 19th century, educated speakers were usually giving their initial h’s a huff, and the practice of writing an began to die out. Nowadays it survives primarily before the word historical. You may also come across it in the phrases an hysterectomy or an hereditary trait. These usages are acceptable in formal writing. able The construction able to takes an infinitive to show the subject’s ability to accomplish an action: We were able to finish the project thanks to a grant from a large corporation. The new submarine is able to dive twice as fast as the older model. Some people think able to should be avoided with passive constructions involving forms of the verb be: The problem was able to be solved by using a new method. Since the problem has no ability to accomplish an action, this reasoning goes, it is not able to do anything; therefore able to should not be used. In such cases, you can usually substitute can or could: The problem could be solved by using a new method. Keep in mind, however, that passive constructions using the verb get ascribe a more active role to their subjects, and here you can use able to: He was able to get himself accepted by a top law school about The preposition about is traditionally used to refer to the relation between a narrative and its subject: a book about Cezanne, a movie about the Boston Massacre. Lately people have extended this use beyond narratives to refer to the relation between various kinds of nouns and the things they entail or make manifest: The party was mostly about showing off their new offices. You don’t understand what the women’s movement is about. This usage probably originates with the familiar expression That’s what it’s all about, but remains controversial. Fifty-nine percent of the Usage Panel rejected this use of about in the example A designer teapot isn’t about making tea; it is about letting people know that you have a hundred dollars to spend on a teapot not about to When followed by an infinitive, about to means “presently going to, on the verge of,” as in I’m about to go downtown. The construction not about to may be simply the negative of this, especially in response to questions: I’m not about to go downtown. I’m about to go to the park. But in most instances not about to expresses intention or determination, as in We are not about to negotiate with terrorists. A majority of the Usage Panel considers this usage acceptable in speech but not in formal writing above The use of above as an adjective or noun in referring to a preceding text is most common in business and legal writing. In general writing, its use as an adjective (the above figures) was accepted by a majority of the Usage Panel in an earlier survey, but its use as a noun (read the above) was accepted by only a minority access The verb access has become standard in reference to computers, as in This program makes it considerably easier to access files on another disk. In recent years, people have begun to extend access to nontechnical contexts, giving it the broader meaning “to obtain goods, especially by technological means.” But this sense has yet to gain acceptability with the Usage Panel. Eighty-two percent reject the use of access in the sentence You can access your cash at any of 300 automatic tellers throughout the area accompany A traditional rule states that the preposition to use when accompany occurs in passive constructions should be by in the case of persons and with in the case of everything else. Thus you should say The candidate was accompanied by six burly bodyguards, but The salmon was accompanied with a delicious salad. However, by is quite commonly used in sentences of the second type, and the usage is grammatically defensible. The phrase introduced with by normally represents the subject of a related active sentence. You can see this by converting the sentence The salmon was accompanied by a delicious watercress salad to its active counterpart A delicious salad accompanied the salmon acquiesce in / acquiesce to When acquiesce takes a preposition, it is usually used with in: No government acquiesces in its own overthrow. The preposition to is less common, but also acceptable: She acquiesced to her parents’ wishes. Acquiesced with is obsolete act / action The words act and action both mean “a deed” and “the process of doing.” However, other senses of act, such as “a decision made by a legislative body,” and of action, such as “habitual or vigorous activity,” show that act tends to refer to a deed while action tends to refer to the process of doing. Thus people commit sex acts every day, but never sex actions. If they are seen, they are caught in the act, but not in the action. By the same token, they may want a piece of the action, but not of the act. As you can see, the demands of meaning or idiom often require one word or the other. But in cases where either can be used, either is acceptable: My act (or action) was premature admission / admittance Some people insist that admittance should be used only to refer to achieving physical access to a place (He was denied admittance to the courtroom) and that admission should be used to refer to achieving entry to a group or institution (her admission to the club, China’s admission to the United Nations). There is no harm in observing this distinction, but don’t be surprised if you see others ignoring it, for many people do. Admission is much more common in the sense “a fee paid for the right of entry”: The admission to the movie was five dollars adopted / adoptive Children are adopted by parents, and we normally refer to an adopted child and to adoptive parents. By extension, adoptive can also refer to families and homes. When describing places, you can use either adopted or adoptive: She enjoys living in her adopted country. San Francisco is their adoptive city. advance / advancement When used as a noun, advance indicates forward movement (the advance of the army) or progress or improvement (an advance in molecular biology).Advancement is usually used figuratively to indicate promotion or movement beyond an established norm: career advancement. Unlike advance, advancement often implies the existence of an agent or outside force. Thus the advance of science means simply the progress of science, whereas the advancement of science implies progress resulting from the action of an agent or force: The purpose of the legislation was the advancement of science adverse / averse Who isn’t averse to getting adverse reactions to their ideas? Averse normally refers to people and means “having a feeling of distaste or aversion,” as in As an investor I’m averse to risk-taking. People sometimes mistakenly slip in adverse for averse in these constructions with to. But adverse normally does not refer to people, rather to things that are antagonistic or contrary to someone’s interests. Thus we say We’re working under very adverse (not averse) circumstances and All the adverse (not averse) criticism frayed the new mayor’s nerves advise The use of advise in the sense of “inform, notify” was found acceptable by a majority of the Usage Panel in an earlier survey, but many members prefer that this usage be restricted to business correspondence and legal contexts. Thus a sentence like The suspects were advised of their rights is perfectly acceptable, but one like You’d better advise your friends that the date of the picnic has been changed may come off as pretentious