Do I Forego? Or Forgo?

Kathy Kemp's column in Sunday's The Birmingham News taught me a word usage distinction I'd never thought about before.

Kathy was congratulating Dr. Regina Benjamin who won a MacArthur Fellowship "genius grant" recently. Kathy wrote:

The South Alabama family practitioner, who regularly forgoes a salary in order to serve uninsured patients in tiny Bayou La Batre,....

I don't use the word "forgo/ forgoes" very often, but the last time I did, I probably spelled it wrong because there is another word "forego" that is similar.

After reading Kathy's wonderful column, I did a little checking and will share my answers with you. For the record, in case you ever need to use either of these words:

FORGO (forgoes, forgoing) means to do without or abstain from.

I try to forgo dessert. Dr. Benjamin forgoes her salary so the clinic can survive.

FOREGO (foregoes, foregone) means to go before or precede.

In a good budget, saving foregoes spending. It is a foregone conclusion that it will rain today.

Dr. Benjamin plans to forgo personal use of the $500,000 grant money she will receive, too. She will use it to help complete the new Bayou La Batre Rural Health Clinic Building. This is a woman who truly deserves our admiration. The philosophy that foregoes everything she does is quite simple: "It's nice to be needed," she says.

If you'd like to know more about this remarkable person, just GOOGLE her name for all kinds of information.