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Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Loan v Lend: Grammar Girl Episode

http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/loan-versus-lend.aspx
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1 comment:

E.L. Ripley said...

Hi, enjoyed reading your analysis, but have one question. On the one hand you acknowledge that "loan" as a verb may not be ideal, but has become accepted as an alternative to the traditional "lend," even for physical objects, at least in North America. But on the other hand you say that "loan" should never be used figuratively. I agree with the examples you cited in that case, but what about the following, which I've seen many times, and which I think falls under the figurative usage category: "Tools are not available for loan," versus the admittedly traditionally more grammatically correct "Tools are not available to lend?" I have also seen the simpler "No Tools Loaned" several times.

Perhaps the larger point is that I'm failing to fully understand your figurative distinction, as in one case when speaking about a particular physical object (and always money) it seems to be allowed at least in North America, however in another case when speaking about a class of objects you're stating it shouldn't be used?

Realize this is from one of your older posts, so hope you will see this comment and be able to address it. Thank you for your time.

February 28, 2021 at 1:24 PM

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