23 MARCH 1951, Page 18

Although Not If

SIR,—Is it pedantic to protest at th , growing habit of writing "if " for " although " ? It is discouraging to see it appearing in your columns. "The hotels," I read, "if simple, were attractive and clean" ; and if they were not simple, were they unattractive and dirty ? Suppose 1 write "the hotels, if luxurious, are expensive." Does this mean "the hotels, although luxurious, are expensive" or "those hotels which arc luxurious are expensive " ? It is difficult to see how a construction which leads to such ambiguity can be justified.—Yours faithfully,

Walnut Cottage, Alveston, Stratfotd-on-Avon.

J. A. NELDER.