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URL: https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/therefor-therefore.1939033/

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therefor therefore

OhMan

Member
English, AUS
I am used to spelling it without the e but all the damn spell-checkers keep telling me to add the e!

Please help, why can't we all just use the same English language damn-it! Why does there have to be variants?
The form without a final “E” is an archaic bit of legal terminology meaning “for.” The word most people want is “therefore.”
Here.
Your solution is to stop using either therefor or therefore. Substitute "viz.," and watch the spell-checker go zonkers.
I am used to spelling it without the e but all the damn spell-checkers keep telling me to add the e!

Please help, why can't we all just use the same English language damn-it! Why do [not "does"] there have to be variants?

There are two different words, with two different meanings; check your dictionary. Your spell-checker clearly knows only one of them, and that would be the more common one; it's spelled with an "e". If you are using the other one a great deal, you are likely a lawyer or a lawmaker or both.

If it is your wordprocessor's or e-mail client's spell-checker, you have the ability to add words to its lexicon, including uncommon words that are not built in and that you use frequently.

If the checker belongs to somebody else's website, there's not much you can do about it.
I think historically "therefore" and "therefor" are the same word, if one looks at the meaning. I also agree that "therefore" is the preferred, possibly the correct, version even in cases where "therefor" is used like this:
...
"on receipt of the goods the buyer shall effect immediate payment therefore"
...
although that certainly does not follow the usual pattern: thereby, therein, thereafter, etc.
I think historically "therefore" and "therefor" are the same word, if one looks at the meaning. I also agree that "therefore" is the preferred, possibly the correct, version even in cases where "therefor" is used like this:
...
"on receipt of the goods the buyer shall effect immediate payment therefore"
...
although that certainly does not follow the usual pattern: thereby, therein, thereafter, etc.
Mmm .. I wouldn't say that was "the preferred, possibly the correct, version", boozer. Faced with your sentence, I'd definitely correct the "therefore" to "therefor".

That said, I could probably count on the fingers of one hand the number of times in my life I've used "therefor", whereas I use "therefore" quite a lot. I'm sure you're right that historically they were the same word; now, however, they're quite distinct.

PS Actually, thinking about it, I even pronounce the two words differently - therefor with the stress on the second syllable, therefore with the stress on the first....
Last edited:
I know, Loob. But people write "therefore" indiscriminately. That's why I said "possibly the correct" one.
thereby = by that.
therewith = with that.
thereunto = unto that.
therefor = for that.

therefore = for that reason / to that end.
Many thanks kind contributors!
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