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| | Language Corner: Reverend |
 | | An actress's obituary said she had once played "the conflicted daughter of a Bible-wielding reverend." Maybe the writer and editor were having fun; if so, the signals weren't clear. |
 | | "Reverend," as a noun meaning a member of the clergy, is colloquial at best, and used with a straight face borders on the illiterate. |
 | | made by the reverend." But the word is an adjective, an honorific that properly takes "the" "the Reverend John Smith," or more usually in journalism, "the Rev." Common nouns for such people include priest, rabbi, minister, preacher, clergyman or clergywoman, imam, pastor, and so on. |
| www.cjr.org /tools/lc/reverend.asp (167 words) |
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