swat (= to swing at [something] with a slapping movement) is the standard spelling. *”Swot” is a variant.
sweetbrier, denoting a type of European rose, is so spelled — not *”sweetbriar.”
swivel, vb., makes “swiveled” and “swiveling” in American English, “swivelled” and “swivelling” in British English.
*sworn affidavit is a common redundancy.
syllabus. The plural is “syllabuses” or “syllabi.” American teachers are fond, perhaps overfond, of the Latin plural. Ernest Gowers wrote that “the plural ‘-buses’ is now more used than ‘-bi'” (Modern English Usage 610 [2d ed. 1973]). He was right: in American English, “syllabuses” outstrips “-bi” by a 2-to-1 ratio. (In legal writing, oddly, the ratio is 10 to 1 the other way: “syllabi” over “-buses.”) Language-Change Index — “syllabuses” as plural of “syllabus”: Stage 5.
sylvan (= of, relating to, or living in the woods) is the standard spelling. *”Silvan” is a variant.
*Invariably inferior forms.
For information about the Language-Change Index click
here.
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Quotation of the Day: “The introduction is so explicit a means of helping the reader to approach the task of reading the exposition that composing it is relatively simple compared with the task, often requiring much skill, of handling masses of detail in the body of the document.” J. Raleigh Nelson, Writing the Technical Report 26 (1st ed. 1940).