proper usage

Pre-College Topics High School Life
1

<p>in my most recent essay i wrote.
“He changes his mind myriad times.”
my teacher corrected this to be
“He changes his mind a myriad of times”
i believe my usage is also correct.</p>

<p>In English, the term “myriad” is most commonly used to refer to a large number of an unspecified size. In this way “myriad” can be used as either a noun or an adjective. Thus both “there are myriad people outside” and “there is a myriad of people outside” are correct. (wiki)</p>

<p>i go to a high reputable prep school, and was surprised at the correction.
correct me if i am wrong but i believe my form is acceptable?</p>

<p>also
Merriam-Webster notes, “Recent criticism of the use of myriad as a noun, both in the plural form myriads and in the phrase a myriad of, seems to reflect a mistaken belief that the word was originally and is still properly only an adjective… however, the noun is in fact the older form, dating to the 16th century. The noun myriad has appeared in the works of such writers as Milton (plural myriads) and Thoreau (a myriad of), and it continues to occur frequently in reputable English. There is no reason to avoid it.”[1]</p>

2

<p>NEWS UPDATE: It’s not important. No one cares.</p>

3

<p>Both are wrong… you don’t combine “myriad” with “times”. And why use myriad when “endless” or “many” is much better? You look too much like a tryhard :(</p>

4

<p>Myriad is just as bad as using plethora. <em>shudder</em></p>

5

<p>Hmm I typically utilize the Google check for cases like these.</p>

<p>Enter both phrases in quotes. And simple results will tell you which one is used properly.</p>

<p>“myriad times” - 32,800 hits. </p>

<p>“myriad of times”-2,620,000 hits.</p>

<p>Clearly the latter is more favored, so I deem it “proper usage”. Although as mentioned above neither of them seem to be standard in typical prose. The former was used in Urban dictionary, and the latter in Anathema song lyrics.</p>