Anterad, posteriad, laterad, mesad, etc.

By Michael J. Sharkey
Agriculture Canada, Ottawa, Ontario


It is often difficult to decide which preposition to use in conjunction with adjectives such as anterad, posteriad, etc. Does one use anterad of the leg,for example, or anterad to the leg? Theanswer is simple: these words do not take a preposition.

Ad is Latin for "to" and the preposition is already built into the word.

Anterad means "anterior to" and adding another "to" or "of" is simply redundant. So, "anterad the leg" is the correct usage.

One sees this mistake to adnauseum! (Joke)


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