&gt; English seems to quickly adopt grammatically&#x2F;syntactically&#x2F;semantically incorrect phrases that become popular<p>If either of the uses of &quot;begs the question&quot; is more grammatically&#x2F;syntactically&#x2F;semantically incorrect, its the <i>original</i> transitive use, which is an abomination of failed translation into English, through Latin, of a straightforward Greek description which entirely fails to capture the meaning of the original and was an abuse of the English language at the time it was created. Its only claim to any kind of correctness is its history of use through which a clear understanding has developed <i>despite</i> its problems.<p>Of course, the newer, transitive use <i>also</i> has a solid (though shorter) history of use, is clearly understood, and, moreover, is <i>structurally distinct</i> from the transitive use, so it doesn&#x27;t create any ambiguity or confusion with that use.