Macmillan Holdings, LLC. Grammar Girl, Grammar Girl's, QDnow, and Quick and Dirty Tips are all trademarks of Macmillan Holdings, LLC. Today's topic is further versus farther. Jeffrey DeMoss grammar Of course, there will always be a distinction between the spoken word and the written word. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/further-versus-farther.aspx?commentid=18275#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/further-versus-farther.aspx?commentid=18275#Comments Fri, 07 Aug 2009 03:17:38 GMT Jeffrey DeMoss grammar Mr. McCormack, your assault on the use of the term "sort of" is very much appreciated (I apologize for the use of the passive voice, but I find it more fluid sometimes; i.e., when I've had a few drinks). I can't think of a more lazy, unqualified qualifier. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/further-versus-farther.aspx?commentid=18274#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/further-versus-farther.aspx?commentid=18274#Comments Fri, 07 Aug 2009 03:11:11 GMT Jeffrey DeMoss grammar Mr. McCormack, your assault on the use of the term "sort of" is very much appreciated (I apologize for the use of the passive voice, but I find it more fluid sometimes; i.e., when I've had a few drinks). I can't think of a more lazy, unqualified qualifier. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/further-versus-farther.aspx?commentid=18273#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/further-versus-farther.aspx?commentid=18273#Comments Fri, 07 Aug 2009 03:09:50 GMT Brian grammar "This is so fun." may sound odd, but it doesn't seem strictly wrong (at least no moreso than "This is so wrong"). "Fun" in this context is an (entirely valid) adjective—as it is in "this is fun". In "this is so much fun" it is a noun. (One could argue that "so" is superfluous in either case.) http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/further-versus-farther.aspx?commentid=15967#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/further-versus-farther.aspx?commentid=15967#Comments Mon, 02 Mar 2009 20:51:59 GMT John from Lorain grammar Twey, you wrote in November, 2008, so you probably won't see this, but I'm going to write it anyway, for the benefit of others. You stated: "... I do take minor issue with this tendency to refer to a 'British accent' or 'British pronunciation.'" Well, sir or madam, I take MAJOR issue with the fact that, out of the blue, you began to speak of something called, "RP," without explaining what it was. No one on this entire Internet page (and possibly at this entire Internet site, composed of many pages) had ever mentioned "RP" before you did. Yet you did not have the courtesy to say what it was. I am almost sixty years of age (and fairly "well read"), but I had never heard of "RP" before you mentioned it. I had to run an Internet search to learn that it refers to "Received Pronunciation," which is defined as follows: "a form of pronunciation of the English language (specifically British English) which has long been perceived as uniquely prestigious amongst British accents [and which is spoken by about] two percent of Britons ... in its purest form". http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/further-versus-farther.aspx?commentid=15843#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/further-versus-farther.aspx?commentid=15843#Comments Sat, 21 Feb 2009 08:37:56 GMT robert grammar the words father and farther would never be confused in scotland. The english seem to add r's to words that don't have r's, this could be the cause of confusion. eg, lawr and order, americar etc. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/further-versus-farther.aspx?commentid=15468#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/further-versus-farther.aspx?commentid=15468#Comments Fri, 23 Jan 2009 19:06:35 GMT Twey grammar Good information, but I do take minor issue with this tendency to refer to a 'British accent' or 'British pronunciation'. 'British English' is a form that exists only in written English (and arguably not even there). Accents and dialects within England differ far more than RP and any American accent or dialect of which I'm aware, not to mention the really *vastly* dissimilar variants from other regions of the UK, such as Scottish English and Hiberno-English. For example, a lot of our more rural accents are in fact rhotic, which makes the distinction between 'farther' and 'father' very clear indeed. Please, people: if you mean RP, say RP. RP is by no means the definitive 'British accent' — in fact, very few people use it at all nowadays. It's merely a convenient standard. Equating 'RP' and 'British' is worse even than equating 'English' and 'British'. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/further-versus-farther.aspx?commentid=14575#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/further-versus-farther.aspx?commentid=14575#Comments Sun, 02 Nov 2008 12:08:12 GMT Steven McCormack grammar I am starting a campaign to rid the English language of the most absurdly employed and overused malapropism ever- "sort of". Usually pronounced "sorta", it seems this phrase/word is tossed into every sentence by anyone who quests on NPR and thinks this lends a bit of acceptance and interpersonal connectedness to his presentation. Even Grammar Girl, who was recently interviewed on Minnesota Public Radio, fell prey to this evil phrase/word. "Sorta" does not make a speaker sound acceptable, pithy or smart. Using this phrase/word makes you sound stupid, pompous, and lazy. There are so many other great phrases and words that can be used instead of "sorta". The world would be a better and more literate place if we would all stop using that nasty phrase/word. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/further-versus-farther.aspx?commentid=13193#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/further-versus-farther.aspx?commentid=13193#Comments Fri, 25 Jul 2008 16:54:57 GMT Brad Beck grammar Sorry, but I think the distinction you're making between the two words is arbitrary, a case of making a rule for the sake of making a rule. I think that Fowler was more correct when he said: "The fact is surely that hardly anyone uses the two words for different occasions; most people prefer one or the other for all purposes, & the preference of the majority is for further; the most that should be said is perhaps that farther is not common except where distance is in question." And, as the OED notes, the original comparative of "far" was "farrer", not "farther". http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/further-versus-farther.aspx?commentid=11842#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/further-versus-farther.aspx?commentid=11842#Comments Wed, 05 Mar 2008 19:57:12 GMT Rafa grammar I also heard tha "farther" is more used with distance in km and "further" with distance in time. Is this true? http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/further-versus-farther.aspx?commentid=9931#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/further-versus-farther.aspx?commentid=9931#Comments Wed, 07 Nov 2007 19:30:22 GMT Fri, 07 Aug 2009 03:17:38 GMT http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/further-versus-farther.aspx feedback@quickanddirtytips.com (Managing Editor) feedback@quickanddirtytips.com (Webmaster) en-us