Make Your Editor Cry: Add vs. Ad
Add conventionally functions as an abbreviation of the word addition. Otherwise, by itself, add is a verb meaning either to calculate the total of multiple elements (addition), or to expand or increase with an addition.
Ad functions as an abbreviation for the word advertisement. The word has born a few other senses in its history, but these rarely or never used these days.
Examples:
Incorrect:
Why don’t you ad some wood to the fire.
Nike’s stock fell by 2.5% after the Colin Kaepernick add
aired in 2018, forcing Nike to take a knee.
Correct:
Why don’t you add some wood to the fire.
Nike’s stock fell by 2.5% after the Colin Kaepernick ad
aired in 2018, forcing Nike to take a knee.
Gregg Bridgeman is the Editor-in-Chief at Olivia Kimbrell Press. He is husband to best-selling Christian author Hallee Bridgeman and parent to three. He continues to proudly serve in the US Armed Forces and has done so in either an active or reserve capacity for more than twenty years as an airborne and air assault qualified paratrooper, earning a Bronze Star for his service. Most importantly, he was ordained in October of 2001 after surrendering his life to Christ decades earlier.
