former / latter Some people insist that you should use the phrases the former and the latter only to refer to the first of two things and the second of two things, respectively: “But Flynn preceded Casey, as did also Jimmy Blake, and the former was a lulu and the latter was a fake” (Ernest Lawrence Thayer). It is easy to find violations of this rule in the works of good writers, but since former and latter are comparatives, many readers feel uneasy when the words are used in enumerations of more than two things, just as they would feel uneasy. | former latter Some people insist that you should use the phrases the former and the latter only to refer to the first of two things and the second of two things respectively But Flynn preceded Casey as did also Jimmy Blake and the former was a lulu and the latter was a fake Ernest Lawrence Thayer . It is easy to find violations of this rule in the works of good writers but since former and latter are comparatives many readers feel uneasy when the words are used in enumerations of more than two things just as they would feel uneasy over the similar incorrect use of a comparative in a sentence such as Her boys are 7 9 and 13 only the younger was born in California fortuitous fortunate The word fortuitous is unfortunate since people argue about what it can and cannot mean. In its oldest sense fortuitous means happening by accident or chance. Thus a fortuitous meeting may have either fortunate or unfortunate consequences. Many people insist that this is all fortuitous can mean. But people for decades have used the word in reference to happy accidents as in The company s third-quarter profits were enhanced as the result of a fortuitous drop in the cost of RAM chips. This use may have arisen because fortuitous resembles both fortunate and felicitous. Whatever its origin the use is well established in the writing of reputable authors. The additional use of fortuitous to mean lucky or fortunate is more controversial as in He came to the Giants in June as the result of a fortuitous trade that sent two players to the Reds. This use dates back at least to the 1920s but people still widely regard it as incorrect and you may want to avoid it founder flounder People often confuse the verbs founder and flounder. Founder comes from a Latin word meaning bottom as in foundation and originally referred to knocking enemies down people now use it also to mean to fail utterly collapse The business started well but foundered. Flounder means to move clumsily thrash about and hence to .
