| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. |
A Practical and Authoritative Guide to Contemporary English. 1996.
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3. Word Choice: New Uses, Common Confusion, and Constraints
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| § 26. alternative |
| two or more alternatives. You may find yourself in a situation with no alternative, with only one alternative, or with more than one alternative, but can you ever have more than two alternatives? Some traditionalists hold that alternative should be used only in situations where the number of choices involved is exactly two because of the word’s historical relation to Latin alter, “the other of two.” The Usage Panel is evenly divided on the issue, with 49 percent accepting the sentence Of the three alternatives, the first is the least distasteful. | 1 |
| The complexity of this situation arises from the multiplicity of senses that alternative has. It can mean “a choice or a situation that requires a choice between two things,” as in The only alternative to continuing down the river was to give up and hike out of the gorge. From this it is a short leap in meaning to “one of a number of things from which only one can be chosen,” and here is where we may be forced to choose from several alternatives. | 2 |
| alternative used as an adjective. As an adjective, alternative can mean “allowing or requiring a choice between two or more things,” as in We wrote an alternative statement in case the first was rejected by the board. It may also refer to a variant or substitute in cases where no choice is involved, as in We will do our best to secure alternative employment for employees displaced by the closing of the factory. In its latest usage, alternative indicates things that are outside established traditions or institutions, as in the alternative press or alternative rock. | 3 |
| Remember not to confuse alternative with alternate. Correct usage requires The class will meet on alternate (not alternative) Tuesdays. | 4 |
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| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. Copyright © 1996 by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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