Proofreading Service - Pain in the English
Proofreading Service - Pain in the English

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Proofreading Service - Pain in the English
Proofreading Service - Pain in the English

Your Pain Is Our Pleasure

24-Hour Proofreading Service—We proofread your Google Docs or Microsoft Word files. We hate grammatical errors with a passion. Learn More

equivalency

I’m reviewing a New Zealand scientific report which uses the word ‘equivalency’. This sounds to me like an Americanisation of the word ‘equivalence’, both being nouns but with the redundancy of an additional syllable in ‘equivalency’.

As we use British English (despite word processing software trying to force American English upon us) I’m inclined to use ‘equivalence’.  What do you think?

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I think 'equivalency' is mostly used in America. Even the ngram view of 'equivalence' and 'equivalency' makes it clear that the use of the former is widely prevalent. There is no specific reason to add 'equivalency' to the existing 'equivalence'.

K. Satyanarayana Rao Jul-21-2017

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I think 'equivalency' is mostly used in America. Even the ngram view of 'equivalence' and 'equivalency' makes it clear that the use of the former is widely prevalent. There is no specific reason to add 'equivalency' to the existing 'equivalence'.

K. Satyanarayana Rao Jul-21-2017

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Personally I would compare it to much and many, like much money, or how many carrots

connor Dec-12-2017

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In Canada and the US, "equivalency" may seem more familiar than "equivalence" because it appears in the name of the certificate that people may earn instead of a high school diploma. The General Equivalency Diploma is often referred to by its initialism, GED.

Both "equivalency" and "equivalence" are nouns so the terms are, so to speak, equivalent (or equal).

I admit that I'm not an expert on New Zealand English, but I don't see any reason to change the author's original wording.

pmoraga Dec-21-2017

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