calls for/predicts: The Weekend Edition—Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Friday–Sunday, July 11–13, 2014

calls for/predicts

Glendower: I can call spirits from the vasty deep.
Hotspur: Why, so can I, or so can any man;
         But will they come when you do call for them?
—Shakespeare: Henry IV, Part 1

Newspeople constantly joke that the weather service is to blame for the weather, so we shouldn’t be surprised when they tell us that the forecast “calls for” rain when what they mean is that it “predicts” rain. Remember, wherever you live, the weather is uncalled for.

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The Week’s End Extra from the Archives: “One of those usage guidelines that refuse(s) to be pinned down . . . ” (May 10, 2013).

Paul Brians’ latest blog post calls for recognition of a verb form that has snuck into the language.