Commonly misused/misspelled words and phrases (Part 50)

Here are some more frequently misused phrases:

Five times smaller vs. one-fifth as large

Wrong: Our R&D budget this year is five times smaller than it was a decade ago.
Right: Our R&D budget this year is a fifth of what it was a decade ago.

While a budget can increase by five times (500% of $1,000 is $5,000), the converse is not true. A budget can’t shrink by 500% because a reduction of 100% takes the budget to zero. (If you lose 100% of your money, you’re broke, right?) On the other hand, reducing it to one-fifth, means an 80% reduction, to 20% of what it used to be.

Five times larger vs. five time as large

Right: Our R&D budget this year is five times larger than it was a decade ago.
Right: Our R&D budget this year is five times as large as it was a decade ago.

There is a fine, but critical, distinction here. Five times as large means $1,000 has grown to $5,000. However, five times larger means the budget has grown by an additional five times—in other words, another $5,000 on top of the original $1,000, or $6,000.

More next time.

Mark.