Category: Word Tip of the Day

If you mean “change”, say so.

Use “near” or “next to”.

Prefer “so” or “therefore”.

In the ordinary British usage of today “dependant” is a noun meaning “a person who depends on another for support, etc.”. “Dependent” is an adjective meaning relying on or subject to something else. Dependants are dependent on the person whose dependants they are.

Use “get” or “buy” or “win” according to which you mean.

Prefer “tell” or “inform”. “To acquaint oneself” is to “find out”, and “to be acquainted with something” is to “know” it. “Acquaint” is a starchy word.

You can replace “according to our records” by “our records show”, and it is simpler and more direct to do so.

Do not use this expression where “grant”, “allow”, “agree”, or “consent” will do. To “accede to someone’s demands” may imply a yielding of one’s own wishes in giving consent, but that is not what most writers of officialese mean by it.