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Improving writing one writer at a time

Tip #140: Be practical with practicable

7/27/2017

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In the last post we highlighted the differences between nor and or to exemplify how precision in language can produce more effective writing.  In this post we stay on that same train by looking at another pair of words that many less effective writers often interchage erroneously --- practical and practicable.

Practical and practicable are both adjectives with related meanings, so from a structural viewpoint, they often could be used interchangeably.  But the differences in their definitions make one word more appropriate for a given context than the other.

Practical is used to describe something concerned with practice rather than theory or something that is likely to be effective in real circumstances or someone who is realistic in approach.  On the other hand, practicable means able to be done or put into practice successfully.  These meanings are very much related but also significantly different.  The more effective writer will consider those differences when selecting between practical and practicable.

For example, we could say


The investigation report concludes with a practical proposal for preventing future failures.

This sentence says that the proposal is based in practice rather than theory.  That implies that the proposal is actually doable, but that meaning is in the connotation (or associated meaning) of practical and not the denotation (or direct meaning).  A writer who wants to communicate that meaning directly through denotation should use practicable, as in this sentence:

The investigation report concludes with a practicable proposal for preventing future failures.

Using practicable means that the proposal is doable.  The proposal could be based in practice or theory; practicable does not distinguish there the way that practical does.

Be practical with practicable.  Precision of language can provide that extra level of professionalism which will reflect back on you and your brand in the minds of your audience.  So give proper attention to precision in your language when you write.  That in turn will yield a more effective presentation of you and your brand.
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Tip #139: Agree with the nearer subject with nor/or

7/13/2017

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Recently we’ve been addressing the importance of precision of language in technical writing because it can make the difference between less effective and more effective presentations.  Two posts ago we examined the differences between personal and personnel.  Then in the last post we highlighted the distinctions between capital and capitol.  In this post we will consider nor and or.

Most writers understand that nor always follows neither, and or always follows either.  But some get confused when confronted with subject-verb agreement, especially if one element of the neither/either construction is singular and the other is plural.  If both elements are either singular or plural, no confusion exists.  It’s when one element is one and the other the other that the question gets raised.

For instance, consider this example sentence:


Either the welding material or the welding procedure was changed.

Most writers don’t have any issues here.  Both material and procedure are singular, so the verb to be is conjugated with a singular form.  But what if there is really more than one welding material (which is common in real life) but only one welding procedure (also common in real life) for a particular application?

The number adopted by the verb conjugation should match the number of the closer subject element.  Thus, we could have either of the following sentences:

Either the welding materials or the welding procedure was changed.

Either the welding procedure or the welding materials were changed.

Both of these sentences are correct.  Notice that the first sentence has the subject procedure closer to the verb; procedure is singular, so the verb is singular (was).  But the second sentence has the subject materials closer to the verb; materials is plural, so the verb is plural (were).  The same rule applies to neither/nor as it does to either/or.

So when using nor/or, agree your verb with the nearer subject.  Precision of language provides that attention to detail which will not only present your message more effectively but also better represent both you and your brand in the minds of your audience.
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    Author

    Howdy!  I'm Lance, Managing Editor of words by kurt.  I'm also an engineer and an educator.  With degrees in both engineering and English, I've been providing writing-related services since 1997, and I want to help my fellow engineers become better writers.  That's why in 2014 I started providing free writing tips via this blog.  Enjoy!

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