Certain sets of words in the English language tend to confuse writers. I have found the following to be among them:
PRINCIPAL / PRINCIPLE
The word principal, which can serve as either a noun or an adjective, contains the idea of the main, or most important, one. In America, the head administrator of a school is often called the principal.
When I was in elementary school, they told us that the principal was our pal. This was an effort on the teachers’ part to try to help us remember that the spelling of principal, as relates to a school principal, ends in pal. And in my case, it worked.
But principal has other meanings unrelated to school. An actor who has a speaking part in a movie is considered to be a principal in that movie. You may also speak of the principals of a business firm.
Furthermore, the word can also be used as an adjective, as in the principal reason I have called this meeting or the principal ingredient in this cake, which have to do with the main reason or ingredient.
The word principle, on the other hand, can mean a fundamental truth, as in physics, or a governing law of conduct as relates to morality.
The principal point I want to make is that our school principal is a man of principle and, on principle, would never support a textbook that would argue against known scientific principles.
© 2016 Ann Henry. All Rights Reserved.