Behalf / Behalves

August 23rd, 2012 by admin

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Posted in August 2012, columns | 7 comments

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7 comments on this post.

  1. brig:

    February 24th, 2013 at 3:44 pm

    Hello!

    Thank you for your thorough explanation. I especially appreciate that you’ve delved into the etymology.

    However, I believe that you have made an error toward the end, regarding “in” vs. “on” behalf. I think you have switched the prepositions, meaning that “on one’s behalf” connotes representation and “in one’s behalf” connotes benefit for another party.

    I agree with The Grammarphobia Blog, which I found very helpful but without the etymological background that you included. The following is a quote:

    “Here’s an example: ‘The Red Cross was given a donation, on behalf my family, to be used in behalf of Haitian relief.’

    But that old distinction is going by the wayside (if it isn’t gone already).

    In Britain, the sole, all-purpose version is ‘on behalf of.’ Both the ‘on’ and the ‘in’ versions are still used in the US, but most Americans now use them interchangeably, ignoring the traditional difference.

    This is according to The New Fowler’s Modern English Usage (3d ed.), Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage, The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (4th ed.), and Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (11th ed.).”

    yours in specificity,

    brig

  2. Muz Musgrove:

    July 22nd, 2015 at 9:58 am

    Oh dear. An enquirer asks a perfectly reasonable question and answered, not by someone trying to help, but by an out and out nobhead who wants to illustrate how clever he is !

    I’m 68 and have NEVER been inclined to make such comment !

    Muz

  3. Muz Musgrove:

    July 22nd, 2015 at 10:13 am

    Forgive me…. I referred to “one” nobhead.
    I’ve now read the first comment.
    I now amend my comment to ‘two’ nobheads”

    Knowledge is one thing. The inability to share it is sad beyond belief.

    Let’s hope to heaven that they’re not schoolteachers. Their pupils will prefer to open a vein than subject themselves to education of that ilk

    Muz….SE England.

  4. Mrs Star*:

    May 2nd, 2016 at 8:37 pm

    F.A.O. Muz Musgrove:
    For a 68 year old, I would have hoped that you would show a modicum of intelligence and acceptance of other people’s differences, rather than being
    a) extremely judgemental, and,
    b) extremely rude and derogatory!!
    Allow people their Passions!!
    And if you can’t manage to offer “Constructive Criticism,” only Abusive Language, then I suggest that you stick to watching the Telly, or whatever other non invasive activities you enjoy!
    Also, you wrote that you were 68, and have NEVER been inclined to make such a comment, but yet, you seem perfectly fine about using Slanderous Language like “nobhead!!” Unbelievable!!
    In some cultures, the more “mature” someone is, the more “wisdom” they have! Hmm!

  5. Steve MacLean:

    December 10th, 2017 at 9:55 am

    I think nobhead should be spelled, “knobhead” or “knob-head”. :-) Also, I think Behalf’s plural is behalfs, like beliefs … instead of believes.

  6. Kim Ward:

    September 14th, 2020 at 4:47 pm

    Thank you for your work on our behalf.

  7. Joseph Hutchinson:

    December 11th, 2020 at 5:21 am

    Thank you Steve

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