advocate verb

1. In a letter written in 1798 Benjamin Franklin asked Noah Webster, the lexicographer of American English, to use his authority to 'reprobate' this word, which was then new in the meaning 'to recommend or plead in favour of', although the verb had been in use for at least a century and a half with the meaning 'to act as advocate'.

2. Fowler's view (1926) that 'unlike recommend, propose, urge, and other verbs, advocate is not idiomatically followed by a that-clause, but only by an ordinary noun or a verbal noun' has proved to be unsound. All three constructions are found and are acceptable: (noun)

He had been expelled by the National Executive for continuing to advocate a political alliance with Communists—George Brown, 1971

(verbal noun) I would advocate the keeping of animals at school—A. S. Neill, 1915

(that-clause) We would always advocate that people don't get involved in a new relationship early in recovery because it creates dependency—Sunday Star, 2007.

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