Have you ever heard any of these statements? “Ain’t isn’t a real word.” “Irregardless isn’t a real word.” “Snuck isn’t a real word.” The problem with statements like these is that they’re wrong. You see, my approach to English language is that English is in flux, always evolving. For centuries, words that once meant one thing… Continue reading Why “isn’t a real word” is something you should stop saying
Category: Writing
Difference between since and for
I don’t see it as often as other (as my friend Sarah Townsend calls them) “confusables”, but “since” and “for” sometimes are used interchangeably. Except they aren’t interchangeable.
What do I call a month anniversary?
Lovebirds and newlyweds are desperate to celebrate their first anniversary, but waiting an entire year to do so seems daunting. As such, it has become common practice to commemorate monthly milestones as they wait for the clock to slowly tick by. So their first month of the relationship or marriage ends up becoming their “one… Continue reading What do I call a month anniversary?
Difference between business and busyness
Have you ever come across the word “busyness” and thought that it looked wrong? Actually, “busyness” is a real word. In fact, it’s been around for over three centuries. At least. One of the earliest written examples of the word is found in a 1782 letter written by Edward Gibbon, the English historian, writer, and politician: I… Continue reading Difference between business and busyness
Don’t use “don’t”
The words we choose have a huge impact on whether those who receive our message interpret it in the same way we intend it. Many words have synonyms, some of which sound better, more closely mean what we’re trying to say, or are clearer. Related to that, sometimes what we think are synonymous messages aren’t;… Continue reading Don’t use “don’t”
Difference between elicit and illicit
Two words that are commonly confused are elicit and illicit. Here’s the difference. Elicit To elicit something is to draw it out. For example, “Your negativity will elicit negativity from others.” Illicit Illicit, on the other hand, means illegal, as in “illicit drugs” One easy way to remember the difference is that “illegal” and “illicit” both… Continue reading Difference between elicit and illicit
What is the proper noun of happy?
While recently reviewing the keywords people use that bring them to my site, I came across this question: what is the proper noun of happy To answer my initial interpretation of the question, the only noun form of “happy” I know of is “happiness”. I guess, by default, happiness is the proper noun of happy.
Is the singular “they” grammatically correct?
If you hang out with anyone who’s a grammar snob, you’ve probably heard them correct someone using “they” as a singular pronoun. I was actually doing some research on this usage recently, and I discovered some interesting tidbits.
Difference between diffuse and defuse
While I was editing a client project the other day, I came across the word “defuse”, and I realized that it could be easy for people to confuse “diffuse” and “defuse”. Here’s the difference:
Pasteries: is that a real word?
The other day, I encountered a word I had never seen before: Pasteries I quickly checked Google and saw that it actually had over 300,000 search results!