Re: Advocate for

From	Hibou <vpaereru-unmonitored@yahoo.com.invalid>
Newsgroups	alt.usage.english, alt.english.usage
Subject	Re: Advocate for
Date	2026-05-14 11:54 +0100
Message-ID	<n6lnuuFba1eU1@mid.individual.net> (permalink)
References	<usca0l5skr0jtv2kh3r8chg9glvgi2rtra@4ax.com> <n6lireFali9U1@mid.individual.net>

Cross-posted to 2 groups.

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Le 14/05/2026 à 10:27, occam a écrit :
> On 14/05/2026 04:35, Steve Hayes wrote:
>>
>> I've been seeing "asvocate for" with increasing frequency recently.
>>
>> Almost invariably, in editing, I delete the "for", regarding it as an
>> instance of preposition bloat.
>>
>> But it's becoming so common that I'm wondering if it is a new
>> standard, like "proven" instead of "proved".
>>
>> Comments?


<https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=advocate+this%2Cadvocate+for+this%3Aeng_gb%2Cadvocate+for+this%3Aeng_us&year_start=1800&year_end=2022&corpus=en-GB&smoothing=3>

In modern English, it's 'preposition bloat'.

> I'm going to play the devil's advocate here for a moment. It seems to me
> you can advocate 'against' something e.g. slavery, global warming,  as
> well as 'for' something.  Do you have much dealings with the devil these
>   days?


My trusty old Collins defines 'to advocate' as "to support or recommend 
publicly; plead for or speak in favour of." It would seem, then, that 
one cannot advocate against something. One would have 'to oppose' it.

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Advocate for Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> - 2026-05-14 04:35 +0200
  Re: Advocate for liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid (Liz Tuddenham) - 2026-05-14 08:45 +0100
    Re: Advocate for Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> - 2026-05-15 04:56 +0200
      Re: Advocate for liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid (Liz Tuddenham) - 2026-05-15 08:40 +0100
        Re: Advocate for Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> - 2026-05-16 08:08 +0200
      Re: Advocate for richard@cogsci.ed.ac.uk (Richard Tobin) - 2026-05-15 13:01 +0000
      Re: Advocate for The True Melissa <thetruemelissa@gmail.com> - 2026-05-15 15:54 -0400
    Re: Advocate for JNugent <JNugent73@mail.com> - 2026-05-16 14:56 +0100
  Re: Advocate for occam <occam@nowhere.nix> - 2026-05-14 11:27 +0200
    Re: Advocate for Hibou <vpaereru-unmonitored@yahoo.com.invalid> - 2026-05-14 11:54 +0100
      Re: Advocate for Hibou <vpaereru-unmonitored@yahoo.com.invalid> - 2026-05-14 12:00 +0100
        Re: Advocate for Pluted Pup <plutedpup@outlook.com> - 2026-05-15 00:02 -0700
      Re: Advocate for occam <occam@nowhere.nix> - 2026-05-14 17:51 +0200
        Re: Advocate for Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> - 2026-05-15 05:02 +0200
          Re: Advocate for occam <occam@nowhere.nix> - 2026-05-15 12:32 +0200
        Re: Advocate for Hibou <vpaereru-unmonitored@yahoo.com.invalid> - 2026-05-16 06:34 +0100
          Re: Advocate for Charles Hope <clh@candehope.me.uk> - 2026-05-16 10:00 +0000
            Re: Advocate for Hibou <vpaereru-unmonitored@yahoo.com.invalid> - 2026-05-16 11:41 +0100
      Re: Advocate for Snidely <snidely.too@gmail.com> - 2026-05-14 12:02 -0700
        Re: Advocate for occam <occam@nowhere.nix> - 2026-05-15 12:40 +0200
          Re: Advocate for Hibou <vpaereru-unmonitored@yahoo.com.invalid> - 2026-05-15 15:05 +0100
            Re: Advocate for Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> - 2026-05-16 07:22 +0200
              Re: Advocate for Hibou <vpaereru-unmonitored@yahoo.com.invalid> - 2026-05-16 06:55 +0100
                Re: Advocate for Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> - 2026-05-16 13:39 +0200
          Re: Advocate for Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> - 2026-05-16 07:18 +0200
    Re: Advocate for richard@cogsci.ed.ac.uk (Richard Tobin) - 2026-05-14 19:06 +0000

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