Gianna wrote:

Nick Gardner wrote:
In the Radio Times for today, the synopsis for Robin Hood has ". . .
Knighton Hall is razed to the ground . . ."

Nothing wrong with that as far as I can see.

The only thing I can find wrong with that is that they have spelt 'rased'
with a 'z'.


That being the favoured and current spelling in the OED, which quotes
'razed to the ground' as an example of usage.
http://dictionary.oed.com/


My Chambers dictionary (admittedly 30 years old) has the meaning "to lay
level with the ground", similar to the example you give below, which would
translate "raze to the ground" as "lay level with the ground to the
ground".

I suppose that "raze to the ground" was used in speech to distinguish it
from "raised", but it's not necessary in print.



In the last decade or so it has become more common to use the 's' instead
of the 'z' in words such as rased (both are correct) to distinguish
British English from American English, the latter always use 'z'.

'rase' in this context appears to have fallen into disuse a couple of
hundred years ago.
"5. To demolish, to level with the ground; to RAZE. Now rare. Also with
up." (same source)



--
Graham P Davis
Bracknell, Berks., UK
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