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1) Sustained growth in consumer spending and heightened health awareness augur well for the health and wellness beverage industry in China.

Is the above sentence grammatically correct ? The word processor indicated a mistake in using "augur", "augurs" seemed to be the right word to use.

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1 Answers1

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In my experience, 'Augur' is not a common word in American English. But, based on its definition, the sentence is grammatical and makes sense. However, I would advise using a more common word/expression than "augur well"—perhaps "bode well."

Sustained growth in consumer spending and heightened health awareness bode well for the health and wellness beverage industry in China.

Obfuskater
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  • bode, plural: Growth...and awareness, two different things. But I doubt bode is more 'common' than 'augur'. – StoneyB on hiatus Jul 28 '14 at 15:54
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    If one were to integrate the NGrams of these terms to determine the total volume of usage over time of each term, 'augur' would clearly win. A Google NGram confirms, though, that there has been a higher incidence of the word 'bode' than 'augur' since 1989. – Obfuskater Jul 28 '14 at 16:18
  • However, 'augurs' (singular) has now recovered against 'bodes'! Digging a little deeper, AmE prefers 'bode/s', BrE prefers 'augur/s'. But as of 2008 the differences (max 1.4:1) are not, I think, significant. – StoneyB on hiatus Jul 28 '14 at 17:25
  • I see. I'm speaking from an American English standpoint--the obvious source of my bias towards bode. I've never heard 'augur' used before like this. If I heard it in conversation, I'd think you were talking about an 'auger' as in a drilling device. – Obfuskater Jul 28 '14 at 17:39
  • COCA (American English) versus BNC (British English) –  Jul 28 '14 at 18:18