Predate doesn't have a hyphen, 'tis a perfectly good word in the
sense of
antedate. Ask the Oxford.
Predate as in "Sharks predate on small fish" is not a good word and
gets used by
people who think it's derived from the words "predator" or
"predation". Possibly
the same people who use "impact" as a verb. Sharks prey upon small
fish. Milk
bottles do not prey upon great tits.
Will now remove my editorial nitpicker's hat and try to remember
that the
English language is evolving, even if I don't like it.
Helen
<')/////==<
________________________________
From: brian fleming <>
To:
Sent: Fri, 26 August, 2011 17:19:17
Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] BBC News - Killer plant 'eats' great tit
at Somerset
nursery
On 26/08/2011 3:02 PM, John Leonard wrote:
predate = dating from before
predate = preying upon
Aren't the same word, they are separate words that happen to be spelt
the same. They are clearly distinguished by the stress
pre'date vs
'predate
John Leonard
I would use a hyphen.
I wonder if "Language Log" will pick up this discussion.
Brian Fleming
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