| Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993. |
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| certificated, certified, licensed (adjs.) |
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| Certificated is a Standard word; the occasional purist objection must be based on unfamiliarity. The verb license (that is, “to provide someone or something with a license”) has given us the Standard participial adjective licensed (He’s a licensed driver). To assert formally in writing that someone or something meets a standard or test you administer or enforce is to say that that person or thing is licensed or certified. Precisely the same conditions have long obtained with to certificate and hence with certificated. The Scarecrow was wise, and Dorothy, the Lion, and the Tin Man certified it, but he insisted on being certificated as well, so the Wizard of Oz gave him a diploma. Either word will serve: certified stresses status; certificated reports its literal documentation. | 1 |
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| | | The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. Copyright © 1993 Columbia University Press. |
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