That You Will Be Awarded Is Most Concerning

When the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation says it is “informing health reform,” what does that mean?

Don't you usually inform someone about something?

A U.S. senator says his colleague's experience and wisdom will “inform the debate” on the war in Afghanistan. Inform the debate ... of what?

Our official dictionary says inform can mean “to give form to, to give character to; be the formative principle of,” which seems presumptuous in those cases above. To use inform in that sense is clearly an editorial judgment (or a boast!), which ought to be avoided unless support for such subjective language is provided or obvious.

The dictionary says a “rare” usage of the word means “to form or shape. ...” So a politician could, technically, shape the congressional debate on war.

For some reason, the dictionary buries what seems a more common usage: “to give knowledge of something to ...” ... to somebody, we must assume: "Please, inform the runners of the starting time."

Mose has a similar concern about concerning as it's used in this sentence from the Associated Press.

Utah Republican Party Chairman Dave Hansen says it's not what the president wants to tell the schoolchildren that is concerning, it's that he is doing it Tuesday, a day before his joint address to Congress about health care reform.

The denotative meaning of concerning takes form as a preposition: “relating to or having to do with; in regard to; about. ...” As in, We need to talk with you concerning the use of concerning.

Maybe people create the participle (-ing) from the verb use of concern, as in “to cause to feel uneasy or anxious. ...” That strange use concerns me, but that does not make it concerning.

But not even the noun usage (“matter of interest or importance to one; worry; anxiety”) could justify concerning as a predicate adjective.

Another evolution of language that must be stopped is the use of award as an intransitive verb, as when Chrysler bragged that its 300 model was the “most awarded” new car in America.

As a verb, award is a transitive verb, requiring an object: The Chrysler 300 was awarded to the company's top salesman.

At the MTV's Video Music Awards, Beyoncé was honored, but she wasn't awarded.