#2 X
2. John Heimlich, an economist for the Air Transport Association, a
Washington-based industry trade group, said the airlines could try to use stock options to convince the government to offer longer-term loans or better interest rates.
Convince is the wrong word. Persuade is the correct word. You must be
persuaded to do something.
Further discussion:
"Check closely the two verbs in those first sentences I just wrote (persuade and convince). Language purists will tell you that you have to be "persuaded" to do something, and you have to be "convinced" of something.
"Those two words turned out to be the key to scoring a perfect 10 on the quiz we published last Saturday in the paper and online on ajc.com. Out of all those entries only one reader, XXXXXX, a former copy editor for the Journal-Constitution, got all the answers correct. And XXX disqualified himself because of his past employment here at the paper and his appreciation for his former boss, YYYYYYYYY, the AJC's copy desk chief who helped design the test."
Further, from The American Heritage Dictionary:
"Usage Note: According to a traditional rule, one persuades someone to act but convinces someone of the truth of a statement or proposition: By convincing me that no good could come of staying, he persuaded me to leave. If the distinction is accepted, then convince should not be used with an infinitive: He persuaded (not convinced) me to go. In a 1981 survey, 61 percent of the Usage Panel rejected the use of convince with an infinitive. But the tide of sentiment against the construction appears to be turning. In a 1996 survey 74 percent accepted it in the sentence I tried to convince him to chip in a few dollars, but he refused. Even in passive constructions, a majority of the Panel accepted convince with an infinitive. Fifty-two percent accepted the sentence After listening to the teacher's report, the committee was convinced to go ahead with the new reading program. Persuade, on the other hand, is perfectly acceptable when used with an infinitive or a that clause in both active and passive constructions. An overwheming majority of Panelists in the 1996 survey accepted the following sentences: After a long discussion with her lawyer, she was persuaded to drop the lawsuit. The President persuaded his advisors that military action was necessary. Thus, it seems likely that advocates of the traditional rule governing persuade and convince will find fewer and fewer allies in their camp.