Word of the Day: Purposely
I don’t like this word. I’m not saying that it’s wrong in any grammatical sense, because, 1) lots of people use it, and 2) it’s tacky to declare words to be “wrong”. But it’s an awkward and graceless word. Here’s why:
Schoolchildren learn that adverbs end in -ly. You can create adverbs in English by tacking -ly onto various words, such as “slow” to “slowly” or “hopeless” to “hopelessly”.
It’s a very flexible system, but it does have its limits. One of those limits is that -ly creates an adverb only when attached to an adjective. If you attach it to a noun, then the -ly produces an adjective, as in “manly” and “womanly”.
And that’s the problem with “purposely”: It’s a noun plus -ly that pretends to be an adverb rather than an adjective. I can’t think of any other word like that in English.
Maybe “purposely” would be more palatable if we had no other way to describe an action as being full of purpose. But that’s not the case. We have the far more graceful word “purposefully”, which follows the rules: It starts with a noun (purpose), adds -ful to turn that noun into an adjective (purposeful), and then adds -ly to turn the adjective into an adverb (purposefully).
Others disagree. Bryan Garner, on whose usage guide I often rely, presents both words as acceptable, and even claims to see a difference between them, with “purposely” meaning “intentionally” and “purposefully” referring more to a specific goal.
I just don’t see it. If you want to say “intentionally”, then use that word. Intent and purpose are related, but they’re distinct ideas, especially for lawyers, e.g.: The defendant intended to strike the match, but in doing so it was not his purpose to cause the explosion. “Intent” refers to immediate actions, while “purpose” refers to consequences of our actions that occur farther in the future. It’s a shame that people use “purposely” to blur the distinction.