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Evaluatable vs evaluable
J Chron Dis Vol. 38, No. 7, p. 617, 1985 Printed in Great Britain
OOZI-9681/85$3.00 + 0.00
Pergamon Press Ltd
Letter to the Editors EVALUATABLE
VS EVALUABLE
FOR SOME time I’ve argued that the term “Evaluatable” more appropriately describes the process of deciding whether data are to be included in efficacy analyses than the term “Evaluable”. Neither word is found in modern dictionaires. The root word for the former term is “evaluate”. The root word for the latter term would have to be “evalue”. Evalue is not to be found in modern dictionaries nor in any of the older ones in which I’ve looked. However, evaluate is found. Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary (1981) [l] gives “to determine the significance or worth of. by careful appraisal and study” as a definition of evaluate. I think this is what we intend to imply when we say a case is “efficacy evaluatable” (not evaluable). I would appreciate your efforts in appealing to readers of The Journal of Chronic Disease to adopt this term.
KARL
E.
PEACE
Smith Kline & French Laboratories Philadelphia REFERENCE I.
Webster’s New Collegiate
Dictionary
Springfield,
Mass: G. & C. Merriam
Co.,
1981
Ediiors’ Note--“Et~aluabk” is listed on p. 883 of the Second Ediiion, Unabridged, of Webster’s New International Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam Co., Springfield, Mass. 1935. Has the shorter term become accepted by modern users but not by lexicographers?
617
OOZI-9681/85$3.00 + 0.00
Pergamon Press Ltd
Letter to the Editors EVALUATABLE
VS EVALUABLE
FOR SOME time I’ve argued that the term “Evaluatable” more appropriately describes the process of deciding whether data are to be included in efficacy analyses than the term “Evaluable”. Neither word is found in modern dictionaires. The root word for the former term is “evaluate”. The root word for the latter term would have to be “evalue”. Evalue is not to be found in modern dictionaries nor in any of the older ones in which I’ve looked. However, evaluate is found. Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary (1981) [l] gives “to determine the significance or worth of. by careful appraisal and study” as a definition of evaluate. I think this is what we intend to imply when we say a case is “efficacy evaluatable” (not evaluable). I would appreciate your efforts in appealing to readers of The Journal of Chronic Disease to adopt this term.
KARL
E.
PEACE
Smith Kline & French Laboratories Philadelphia REFERENCE I.
Webster’s New Collegiate
Dictionary
Springfield,
Mass: G. & C. Merriam
Co.,
1981
Ediiors’ Note--“Et~aluabk” is listed on p. 883 of the Second Ediiion, Unabridged, of Webster’s New International Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam Co., Springfield, Mass. 1935. Has the shorter term become accepted by modern users but not by lexicographers?
617