A word is used "correctly" when the average hearer will be affected by it in the way intended. This is a psychological, not a literary, definition of "correctness". The literary definition would substitute, for the average hearer, a person of high education living a long time ago; the purpose of this definition is to make it difficult to speak or write correctly.


My Philosophical Development (ed. Psychology Press, 1995) - ISBN: 9780415136013

Bertrand Russell Quotes

A word is used correctly when the average hearer will be affected by it in the way intended. This is a psychological, not a literary, definition of...

A word is used correctly when the average hearer will be affected by it in the way intended. This is a psychological, not a literary, definition of...

A word is used correctly when the average hearer will be affected by it in the way intended. This is a psychological, not a literary, definition of...

A word is used correctly when the average hearer will be affected by it in the way intended. This is a psychological, not a literary, definition of...