A Practical and Authoritative Guide to Contemporary English. 1996.
Page 75
While a bit more tolerant of this legislative usage, the nays on the Usage Panel still have it. Sixty-four percent reject the example sentence cited above.
1
coauthor
The verb coauthor is well established in reference to scientific and scholarly publications, where it serves a useful purpose since the people listed as authors of such works routinely include research collaborators who have played no part in the actual writing of the text but who are nonetheless entitled to credit for the published results. For more on this, see
author under Science Terms.
2
awhile / a while
People often confuse the adverb awhile with the noun phrase a while. This is hardly surprising because they sound the same and the noun phrase can function like an adverb. In many cases both forms are acceptable. You can say It took a while to get down the hill, where a while functions like other noun phrases such as an hour or a long time. You can also say It took awhile to get down the hill, where awhile functions like the adverb phrase quite long or the comparative adverb longer.
3
You may want to be careful using a while after prepositions, where traditional grammar calls for a noun as object. Thus you should write I’ll stay for a while, but not I’ll stay for awhile. Without the preposition, either form is acceptable: I’ll stay a while or I’ll stay awhile.
4
backward / backwards
You can spell the adverb backward or backwards. The forms are interchangeable: stepped backward, a mirror facing backwards. But in Standard English the adjective has no -s: a backward view.
5
bad / badly
bad as adverb
Bad is often used as an adverb in sentences such as The house was shaken up pretty bad or We need water bad. This usage is common in informal speech but is widely regarded as unacceptable in formal writing. In an earlier survey, 92 percent of the Usage Panel rejected the sentence His tooth ached so bad he could not sleep.
6
want badly
The use of badly with want was once considered incorrect but is now entirely acceptable. So don’t feel bad if you find yourself wanting to go to the beach badly.
7
feel badly
If you say I feel bad, people may think you have a cold, or they may just as likely think your spirits need a lift. But what if you say I feel badly? Will you get sympathy, censure, or an aspirin? The adverb badly is often used after verbs such as feel, as in I felt badly about the whole affair. In fact, this usage bears analogy to the use of other adverbs with feel, such as strongly in We feel strongly about this issue. Many people like to restrict feel badly to refer to emotional distress and let feel bad cover physical ailments. There is nothing wrong with maintaining this distinction, but don’t expect everyone else to share this view. It’s another useful distinction that is often ignored. Be sure that readers will understand feel badly from its context.
8
badly meaning “unwell”
In some regions people use badly to mean “unwell,” as in He was looking badly after the accident. Poorly is also used in this way. You
