Word Confusion: Forth versus Fourth

Posted September 20, 2018 by Kathy Davie in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

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On the Fourth, you should go forth with the family to picnics and fireworks and lots of fun.

And if you’re going fourth on the forth, it’s a misspelling, ’cause you may be fourth in line, but that forth had better be the Firth of Forth, as that’s the only noun that’s a forth.

Of course, you may be fourth to go forth, in which case, that’s fine.

This Word Confusion pair is a homophone — spelt different with different meanings but they sound the same.

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Exploring Later . . .

You may want to explore “First versus Firstly” for the proper formatting of fourth. It could be useful to also have a look at “For vs Fore vs Four” and “Forte versus Forty“.

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Word Confusions . . .

. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.

If you found this post on “Forth versus Fourth” interesting, consider subscribing to KD Did It, if you’d like to track this post for future updates.

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Forth	Fourth
Image from page 311 of Greek Athletic Sports and Festivals, 1910, courtesy of Internet Archive Book Images and has no known copyright restrictions, via Flickr. — There are three of ’em going forth to win that race.	Colourful Four by Takashi(aes256), <https://visualhunt.com/author/672437>, is under the CC BY-SA 2.0 license, via VisualHunt. — That fourth one looks like he’s being scolded by the other three.
Part of Grammar:
Adverb; Proper noun; Preposition	Ordinal
Forward Adverb: [Literary; formal] Out from a starting point and forward or into view Onward in time, in order, degree, or in a series Out, as from concealment or inaction Into view or consideration So as to be known or revealed Away, as from a place or country And so on Et cetera Proper noun: A river in central Scotland, rising on Ben Lomond and flowing eastwards through Stirling into the North Sea Preposition: [Archaic] Out of Forth from	Number four in a list, 4th Adjective: Next after the third Being the ordinal number for four Being one of four equal parts of something [Automotive] Of, relating to, or operating at the gear transmission ratio at which the drive shaft speed is greater than that of third gear for a given engine crankshaft speed, but not so great as that of fifth gear, if such exists Adverb: [fourthly] Used to introduce a fourth point or reason After the third person, position, event, etc. Noun: A fourth part [Music] An interval spanning four consecutive notes in a diatonic scale, in particular [Also perfect fourth] An interval of two tones and a semitone, e.g., C to F [Music] The note which is higher by a fourth than the tonic of a diatonic scale or root of a chord [Automotive] Fourth gear [US holiday; uses initial capital letter; usually preceded by the] Independence Day
Examples:
Adverb: We rose at dawn and sallied forth. The plants will bush out, putting forth fresh shoots. From that day forth, he gave me endless friendship. “And so on and so forth,” the lawyer intoned. At considerable risk to himself, John came forth to confess. Go forth, and conquer. The author’s true point comes forth midway through the book. They wrote a paper setting forth their grievances. Journey forth and see the world, my son. It’s a rough relationship, going back and forth when each of you is living on a different coast. We tossed the ball back and forth for awhile. Proper noun: There was a shipping forecast area covering Scottish coastal waters roughly from Berwick in the south to Aberdeen in the north, including the Firth of Forth of a storm coming in. Preposition: And so she came forth from Abraham and saved the land. “Steal forth thy father’s house to-morrow night . . .” (Shakespeare). “And he that loosed them forth their brazen caves . . .” (Shakespeare).	Adjective: The early part of the fourth century was shaped by Constantine the Great, the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. No, you need to be in fourth position for those notes. He took the corner at the end of the road in fourth. I’m in fourth grade. Adverb: . . . third, visit popular attractions during lunch; fourth, stay late. Fourth, you must pay the rent on the first of the month. Noun: There were three bedrooms, with potential for a fourth. Nearly three-fourths of that money is now gone. He is fourth in the succession. Magic Bleeds is fourth in the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews. He came in fourth. We might find tonic chords with (unresolved) added sixths, but hardly ever with added fourths. A perfect fourth replaced the major third in a suspended chord. She downshifted from fifth to fourth as we started up the hill. What are you doing for the Fourth of July?
Derivatives:
Adjective: forthcoming, forthright Adverb: forthright, forthrightly, forthwith Noun: forthcomingness, forthrightness	Adjective: fourth-class Adverb: fourthly
History of the Word:
Old English, of Germanic origin and related to the Dutch voort and the German fort, from an Indo-European root shared by fore-.	Before 950: Old English fēowertha; Middle English fourthe.

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C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!

Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.

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