Valid and Validity
Hi, everyone

In American English, is it too uncommon to use the words “valid” and “validity”?

Example: Would you say “Is this promotion/sale still ON, VALID or GOOD?” Which one would you choose? And do you say “This coupon is GOOD or VALID for every McDonald’s store”?

What about “validity”? Can you say things like “The period/term of validity of the insurance is pretty short” or “ return travel must be within the validity of the contract"?

Thank you!!

Question

Valid and Validity
Hi, everyone

In American English, is it too uncommon to use the words “valid” and “validity”?

Example: Would you say  “Is this promotion/sale still ON, VALID or GOOD?” Which one would you choose? And do you say “This coupon is GOOD or VALID for every McDonald’s store”?

What about “validity”? Can you say things like “The period/term of validity of the insurance is pretty short” or “ return travel must be within the validity of the contract"?

Thank you!!

Answer

Hi! In American English, valid is somewhat common to use, but validity is less commonly used. In your second example, it would sound more natural to say "the valid term of the insurance is pretty short."

Answer

In your first example, I would choose ON or GOOD. Valid still makes sense, but we tend to use that more for a coupon or a license in this context (ie “your driver’s license is not valid”). In the next example, both VALID and GOOD would work well.

Validity is not commonly used in every day speech. I almost only hear it when talking about research or science. For example: “I question the validity of the study.”

Answers · 3

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