Sir: A word that needs to be rescued and revived is the adjective "important." Most speakers, and some writers, use the adverb "importantly" where it should not be used. If we could just persuade them to forget there is such a word as "importantly" and use "important" instead, they would be right 99 times out of a hundred. - Lorraine S.Answer: Right! It's funny how fads come and go. Misuse of "importantly" was a hot item for a time, but now it's fading - or at least we can hope so.
The Harper Dictionary of Contemporary Usage asked its panel a few years ago to comment on the sentence, "The truth is evident; more importantly, it will prevail," and a significant minority actually said it was all right. But most pointed out what was wrong.
As one panelist noted, "No one would write: `Truth will prevail importantly.' The adverb has the wrong connotation." Clearly, what is needed is the adjective "important," and the elliptical phrase understood is, "What is more im-por-tant. . . ."
ODD DESIRE of the week, reported by W.W.:
"Not long ago a gentleman advertised in the personals of our newspaper for a lady `who likes to watch the sun go down on horseback.' Wouldn't that be something to see?"