DRM - Daniel’s Random Mutterings

[Warning: Bad language and Grammar Nazi rant coming up]

Pet Peeves In Grammar, #34: Not knowing the difference between “to allow” and “to allow for“.

Guilty party: Rita Mulcahy, in: PMP Exam Prep, fifth edition.
This book is full of sentences such as this one: “Using one-time estimates also allows for a quick calculation and proof that you understand those concepts.” No, it bloody well does not! It allows quick calculations, it does not allow for them. There’s a sentence like this on almost every page. This absolutely drives me up the wall!

If I allow something, then I permit it; it is part of the functionality, or at least I do not prevent it from happening. The word processor application allows changing the page layout. If I allow for something, then I make provisions for a certain event occurring and I take this into account. If I go for a long walk, I should allow for some rain.

Granted — when you buy a book by an American author, you should allow for some linguistic incompetency (’He looked out he window.’ WTF?). But bloody hell! This is the fifth edition of this book. Don’t you people have proofreaders in the States?

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