Q: Is it acceptable to use "due to" for "because of"? — Helen Finnie, San Jose, California

A: To be honest, "due to" is in deep doo-doo with some fussy grammarians. They say "due to" should be used only as an adjective in the sense of "attributable to." In their view, the sentence "The cancellation of school was due to snow" is correct because "due" means "attributable."

But they condemn the sentence "School was canceled due to snow" because, in this case, "due to" is being used as a compound preposition with "snow" as its object. In such instances, these purists insist that we replace "due to" with "because of" or "owing to," e.g., "because of snow" or "owing to snow."

Under their rules, all those amusing sentences, such as "Today's meeting of the Anti-apathy Club is canceled due to lack of interest" would be canceled.

Because no one, including me, can untangle all this hair-splitting, I recommend using "due to" freely to mean "because" or "owing to." The frail hand of esoteric pedantry shall not restrain the burly shoulder of common sense. Just "due" it!

Q: When I talk about "this Saturday," I mean the upcoming Saturday, and "next Saturday" is one week after "this Saturday." My wife insists that both "this" and "next" refer to the upcoming Saturday. Can you tell me which one of us is correct? — Hank Herre. via email

A: Yes. But to find out which one, you'll have to wait until next Saturday. Just kidding.

While pretty much everyone agrees that "this Saturday" refers to the upcoming Saturday, the problem stems from the ambiguity of "next," which has two different meanings: "immediately adjacent," e.g., "he's next to me," or "happening after something else," e.g., "we'll do that next (after we've done this)."

This can lead to wacky, "Who's on first?" dialogues, such as,

"We're going next Saturday, right?"

"No, it's this Saturday."

"That's what I said — next Saturday."

Compounding the confusion are regional differences. In southern England, "next Saturday" generally means "this coming Saturday." So, if a Londoner says he'll meet you at the pub next Saturday, he means this Saturday. But in Scotland, northern England, and most parts of the U.S., "next" denotes days of the following ("next") week.

To avoid arguments with your spouse, I recommend using airtight phrases such as "the Saturday after this coming one," "nine days from now," "Saturday, Nov. 18" and "Yes, dear."

Rob Kyff, a teacher and writer in West Hartford, Connecticut, invites your language sightings. His book, "Mark My Words," is available for $9.99 on Amazon.com. Send your reports of misuse and abuse, as well as examples of good writing, via email to WordGuy@aol.com or by regular mail to Rob Kyff, Creators Syndicate, 737 3rd Street, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254.

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