Originally Posted By: JanetM
The one that really bothers me is the current use of the verb to grow. e.g. a plant grows - that's fine; a business grows - that's fine; but I am going to grow this business - that sounds terrible to my ears.


Really? Why? "I am going to grow this business" may be overly optimistic or boastful, but it's not grammatically dodgy is it?

I can't remember a time when it wasn't used that way. The OED defines it as both an intransitive and a transitive verb. There's nothing strange about it having an object.
"v.t. produce (plants, fruit, wool, etc) by cultivation, bring forth, let (beard etc.), develop..." - quite appropriate to use for a business I would have thought?

Last edited by The Pook; 04/22/2008 11:07 PM.