Some rules in the English language are easy enough to understand. You should be able to discern the difference between “two” and “too” quite easily, but there are other scenarios that aren’t so clear-cut. One such scenario is choosing between “titled” and “entitled” when referring to the title of a work.
I’ve heard both variations being used and, to be honest, I wasn’t entirely sure which was correct when I first set out to write this blog post. As such, I did some research online to see what other grammar “enthusiasts” had to say on the matter.
Consider the following sentence:
John and Michael’s book entitled/titled Make Money Online was published in 2010.
What word would you use in that instance? Titled or entitled? Some people will tell you that only titled would be correct in this situation, because entitled refers to having the rights to something. You are entitled to your own opinion, but a book is titled something.
However, upon further research, it seems there exists a difference between British English and American English. With British English (and, by extension, Canadian English), “entitled” would be acceptable, because it refers to “giving a title to something.” In this way, both “John entitled his book…” and “The book entitled…” would be acceptable. In American English, titled is preferred.
It’s possible that using entitled instead of titled could come off sounding pretentious or, in the eyes of some writers, it could come off as simply incorrect. It comes down to your personal writing style but one way you could avoid this issue altogether is to use an alternative term. Perhaps you could say the book is “called” something instead.
The English language is inherently dynamic and ever-changing. What may be acceptable to one person may not be acceptable to another. That’s why, if you can, it may be best to avoid some of these grammar problems altogether and choose a structure that is more universally accepted by all.
In this case I would use a Thesaurus to get alternate meanings to get a better feel for the words. It would also give me a multitude of words to use in it’s place.
No doubt English is one of the most backward languages. Great explanation on the difference. Like Ray said a thesaurus can help out a lot, The in Microsoft word is pretty good.
Funny, I thought I had this one figured out but it seems both are acceptable. Kind of confusing but understandable.
another good one is effect vs. affect. I always get those mixed up.
Then you’ll want to read this post. 😉
I was telling my friend the other day about how British English might need to be updated in some areas. Particular when it came to presence of vowels in words that don’t use it. For example, we pronounce color but British English spells it as colour. The u vowel is not pronounced so it shouldn’t be written either.
You could argue the same for a lot of words, like the doubling of consonants (telling) or extra letters that aren’t sounded (might), or even the extra “u” in American English words too (pronounce).
I believe all languages have words that have letters in them that are not needed. The thing about English and other languages that bugs me is that there are many words that multiple meanings based on how you use them. Then there is messed up words that sound a like that are spelled different and mean completely different things in different context…. knead – need – kneed
Hi Michael,
I’m not sure that your argument here is correct. As you say, some English dictionaries say that “entitle” can be used for giving a title to something, but that’s the verb form. I am not sure it is safe to extend from that to saying that it’s a standard usage in the adjective form.
So the OED says you could say “Sarah entitled her excellent book ‘My Poems'” but not “Sarah’s book, entitled ‘My Poems’, is excellent”.
http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/entitle
At least that’s taking the prescriptive view of language. I would say in practice the latter is far more common in the UK, and as a changing language may become an accepted use of the word. I, however, avoid it, because titled is definitely correct, and I don’t think the adjectival use of entitled to mean titled in there yet.
That’s usually my take on grammar. If there is any ambiguity, stick with what you *know* is deemed correct. Thanks for the input.