Ethan Prater

Sometimes the plea for better grammar isn’t just pedantry, but rather a desire for clearer, more efficient communication. (At least that’s how I’ll justify this post to you, my three readers.)

It seems obvious to me that “written” (committed to paper) and “oral” (spoken) are just two more distinct forms of “verbal” (using words). Yet in the workplace I frequently hear the more general “verbal” confusingly used as a synonym for the more precise “oral.”

Statements like, “We have a verbal [agreement],” are seemingly meant to indicate that a potential client or employee agreed to something on the telephone, and that the only step remaining is to sign a paper contract.

But aren’t all business agreements verbal (made in words)? Isn’t the only meaningful difference whether they’re spoken (oral) or on paper (written)? It seems needlessly imprecise (and therefore unclear and inefficient) to confuse verbal with oral!

Rather than consult the Trusty Tubes of the Interweb for their participants’ thoughts on this question, I went to the English style and usage guides my own bookshelf.

Turns out that while my angst over this confusing usage is widely shared, different pundits suggest handling it in different ways. Here’s a summary of what I found.

I started with what’s usually the best – Fowler’s Guide to English Usage. This excerpt is from the third and most recent edition by R.W. Burchfield. Unfortunately he’s uncharacteristically verbose and wishy-washy. But he does point out that this “misuse” of verbal to mean oral is quite longstanding.

verbal. This common adj. has several established senses including:

1 Of the nature of a verb (verbal noun).

2 Concerned with or involving words only rather than things or realities (Opposition between these two modes of speaking is rather verbal than real–B. Jowett, 1875).

3 Consisting or composed of words (the verbal wit and high-flown extravaganza of thought and phrase which Euphues had made fashionable–J.R. Green, 1874).

4 Expressed or conveyed by speech instead of writing: oral (The archbishop believed that a verbal agreement was all which would be demanded of him–J. A. Froude, 1877).

All four senses have a long history of recorded use (1, 3, 16c.- ; 2, 17c,- ; 4, late 16c.-), but since the late 19c. some usage commentators have drawn attention to the possibly ambiguity of sense 4, and have expressed a preference for oral in such contexts. Perhaps the best policy for the present is to restrict verbal in sense 4 to a few fixed phrases (e.g. verbal agreement, contract, evidence); but use oral in most other circumstances when a formal distinction is contextually called for between a spoken and a written statement. It is worth noting that the oral tradition believed to have preceded the writing down of ancient poetry (Greek, Old English, etc.) is always so called, never the verbal tradition, verbal composition, etc.

Burchfield, R.W. ed. The New Fowler’s Modern English Usage. 3rd ed. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1996. 820-821. Print.

My two news-oriented style guides (from the Associated Press and U.S. News & World Report) are nicely brief and to the point:

oral, verbal, written Use oral to refer to spoken words: He gave an oral promise.

Use written to refer to words committed to paper: We had a written agreement.

Use verbal to compare words with some other form of communication: His tears revealed the sentiments that his poor verbal skills could not express.

Goldstein, Norm, ed. The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law. Fully Revised and Updated with a New Internet Guide and Glossary. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Publishing, 2000. 183. Print.

oral/verbal. Oral refers to what is spoken; verbal refers to what is conveyed in words, either written or spoken.

Grover, Robert O., ed. U.S. News & World Report Stylebook: A Usage Guide for Writers and Editors. 9th ed. Washington, DC: U.S. News & World Report LP, 2001. 166. Print.

However, if we have to acknowledge that using “verbal” to mean “oral” is indeed long-established practice, may we at least approach it the way that Theodore Bernstein so elegantly suggests in The Careful Writer?

ORAL VS. VERBAL Although it is true that verbal means in the form of words, and has even taken over the specialized meaning of in the form of spoken words, it cannot be denied that much would be gained in the cause of precision if writers would use oral when they mean spoken words and written when they mean words committed to paper. Verbal might well be confined to those situations in which it is desired to distinguish communication by words from other forms of communication like gestures, smoke signals, and the light that shines from lovers’ eyes. To speak of a verbal agreement may leave some doubt whether the agreement was made in conversation or signed in a lawyer’s office. Confronted with a choice between a word that can mean two things and another that can mean only one, are we not making better use of the tools of language if we select the precise word?

Bernstein, Theodore M. The Careful Writer: A Modern Guide to English Usage. New York, NY: Atheneum, 1980. 319. Print.

Yes. What he said. Bergen and Cornelia Evans, scions of the $64,000 Question game show in the ’50s, seem to agree in their Dictionary of Contemporary American Usage:

oral and verbal are not synonymous, though verbal is misused for oral quite often, perhaps by persons encouraged to take as precedent the very special case of verbal agreement, which means oral agreement, agreement in speech only. Actually oral means uttered by the mouth, spoken (He teaches oral interpretation of literature), as opposed to what is conveyed in writing. Though verbal is used for oral in verbal agreement, it normally applies to the words, spoken or written, in which thought or feeling is conveyed. When we refer to a verbal account of an event, we mean an account conveyed in words instead of one conveyed by gestures, pictures, or other means. Thus verbal is the more inclusive term, emphasizing words themselves as distinguished from ideas, emotions, actions, images.

Evans, Bergen, and Cornelia Evans. A Dictionary of Contemporary American Usage. New York, NY: Random House, Inc., 1957. 341. Print.

Bryan Garner gets a touch more prescriptive in his similarly-titled Dictionary of Modern American Usage:

verbal = (1) of, relating to, or expressed in words, whether written or oral; or (2) of, relating to, or expressed through the spoken word; oral. Many regard sense 2 as a SLIPSHOD EXTENSION. In fact, given the primary sense, the movie producer Samuel Goldwyn wasn’t really very ironic when he remarked, “A verbal contract isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on.” After all, a written contract is verbal. The phrase requires oral.

The error is especially acute when verbal is opposed to written — e.g.: “Take care with words, verbal [read oral] and written.” Sydney Omarr, “Horoscope,” Wash. Post, 22 June 1997, at F2. Take care indeed!

Garner, Bryan A. A Dictionary of Modern American Usage. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1998. 676. Print.

As do Wilson Follett and Jacques Barzun in the also similarly-titled Modern American Usage:

verbal means relating to words without specifying whether the words are spoken or written. Consequently, the common phrase verbal agreement to mean one that is not written down is a misnomer. The proper term is oral agreement–oral meaning by [word of] mouth. To capture and preserve the distinction, this or oral exam and verbal aptitude test.

Follett, Wilson and Jacques Barzun. Modern American Usage: a Guide. New York: Hill & Wang, 1966. 341. Print.

Bill Bryson, the most recent commenter, errs on the permissive side in Bryson’s Dictionary of Troublesome Words:

oral, verbal. “The 1960 understanding  … was a verbal understanding that was never written down” (New York Times). Because oral can apply only to the spoken word, it would have been a better choice here. Verbal, which can describe both spoken and written words, is more usefully employed to distinguish between words and gestures or between words and substance. In the example above, however, neither word is necessary. It would be enough to say, “The 1960 understanding was never written down.”

Bryson, Bill. Bryson’s Dictionary of Troublesome Words. New York: Broadway Books, 2002. 153. Print.

While the surprisingly lame Oxford Companion to the English Language avoids the issue almost entirely:

VERBAL [15c: from Latin verbalis to do with words]. (1) Relating to words or consisting of words, often in contrast to something else: verbal ability; a verbal protest, as opposed to a protest in writing; a verbal distinction, as opposed to a distinction in reality. [...]

McArthur, Tom, ed. The Oxford Companion to the English Language. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1992. 1085. Print.

What does that muddle even mean? Sigh.

But I saved the best for last: the “real” Fowler’s English Usage, the 1965 second edition by Ernest Gowers (buy this book right now if you don’t own it – only Strunk & White is essential in the same way). While his isn’t quite the answer I expected when going to the shelf, given the historical precedent for using “verbal” to mean “oral,” Gowers suggests a reasonable approach in the warmest possible way:

verbal. The object of the provision was to apply it to all contracts, whether in writing or verbal. / The British Embassy have made both written and verbal protests to the Soviet Foreign Office. The primary meaning of verbal is consisting of words. Written contracts and protests consist of words no less than spoken ones, and we have for more than 300 years another adjective–oral–with which to distinguish the spoken word from the written. To give verbal that narrower sense was therefore both quite unnecessary and also a possible cause of ambiguity unless it is expressly contrasted with the written word, as in the above examples. But its use with this meaning is very common; the OED recognizes it without any deprecatory comment, and gives examples from the 16th c. The COD however calls it “loose”, and the supersession of oral is not yet so complete that those whose care for the niceties of language leads them to prefer it need fear a charge of pedantry.

Fowler, H.W. A Dictionary of Modern English Usage. Ed. Sir Ernest Gowers. 2nd ed. New York, NY: Oxford UP, 1965. 674. Print.

Just like Scotch whisky takes two forms, blended and malt, verbal expression takes two forms, written and oral. So skip your “verbal” contracts – be clear and efficient with “oral.” Nothing pedantic about it!