List of English Words With Disputed Usage - T

T

• than – Than is the subject of a longstanding dispute as to its status as a preposition or conjunction; see than. For the disputed construction different than, see Different.

• they – Prescriptivists regard this as a plural pronoun that uses a third person plural verb conjugation (see below: "they show"), but the word is now commonly used, especially in speech and informal writing, as a non-gender-specific third-person singular pronoun (which modern English otherwise lacks). Alternatives include "he or she" and generic "he". Some writers argue that generic "he" is generic (as the name implies) and thus includes both sexes. Others find it sexist or too old-fashioned. The pronouns "you" or "one" can be used in some sentences.
  • Disputed usage: A person is rude if they show no respect for their hosts.
  • Undisputed usage: One is rude if one shows no respect for one's hosts.
  • Undisputed usage: It is rude not to show respect for hosts.

• thusly – Thusly (AHD4 suggests) was originally coined by educated writers to make fun of uneducated persons trying to sound genteel. Thusly, however, diffused into popular usage. Some people accept it as an adverb in its own right, while others believe thus should be used in all cases. The word "thusly" appears with no associated usage notes in M-W; COD11 tags it as "informal", with the entry thus tagged as "literary or formal". CHAMBERS does not list the word at all, and it is unknown in British usage.