ALTERNATION (from

See also:

• LAT

Lat. alternare, to do by turns)  , strictly, the process of " alternating," i.e. of two things following one another regularly by turns, as night alternates with day . A somewhat different sense is attached to some usages of the derivatives . Thus, in American political representative bodies and in the case of company directors, a substitute is sometimes called an " alternate." An " alternative " is that which is offered as a choice of two things, the acceptance of the one implying the rejection of the other . It is incorrect to speak of more than two alternatives, though Mr Gladstone wrote in 1857 of a fourth (Oxf . Essays, 26) . When there is only one course open there is said to be no alternative .