Monthly Archives: November 2015

A Pause for Thanks

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Hello everyone!

I’ll be resuming the Which Word? series next time, but with Thanksgiving being tomorrow, I wanted to take a moment today to reflect on thankfulness.

There seems to be a growing trend in the USA where we move straight from Halloween to Christmas. It’s long since been the case that stores start carrying Christmas items as early as August, but I’ve noticed that in the past few years, more and more signs of Christmas have started emerging on November 1. This year in particular, I saw many declarations of “The Christmas season has arrived!” the day after Halloween. And while I certainly understand the desire to jump into what is one of my personal favorite times of year, it makes me a bit sad to think of how that sort of leaves Thanksgiving by the wayside. We end up jumping from candy and costumes to presents and carols without leaving any space for gratitude in between.

And we have so much to be thankful for. Any of us with a safe place to sleep tonight can be thankful for that, particularly in light of the recent terrorist attacks across the world and the thousands of refugees currently without a home. Any of us with a job that allows us to meet our basic needs of food, clothing, and shelter can be thankful for that. Any of us with families or friends to share in our joys and divide our sorrows can be thankful for that. Any of us with generally good health can be thankful for that. Any of us able to indulge in leisure activities, travel, and the latest electronic gadgets can be thankful for that. Any of us who live somewhere with the freedom to practice any religion we choose; to speak our minds; to vote; to associate with any political party we choose; to protest peacefully without fear for our lives; to be tried by a fair court for any crimes of which we are accused; to marry whomever we choose; to receive an education regardless of our race, socioeconomic status, or gender; to work at any job we choose; and to own property–we can be thankful for that.

I hope that you will join me in taking a moment to pause tomorrow to give thanks for all the blessings in your life. We all have something to be thankful for.

Until next time!

Which Word?: Spelling Stumbles

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Hello all!

I’m back with another Which Word? segment, and today I’ll be discussing a few words groups that are confusing not because the meanings are closely related but because it’s hard to know which one is spelled which way!

Up first is one of my personal favorites: desert and dessert. We know one of them means an arid section of land and one of them refers to something sugary and delicious, but it can be tough to remember which is which. The trick I was taught to remember is one that makes me smile every time: Just ask yourself, which item would you rather have more of? More arid land or more delicious treat? The one you (probably) want more of gets more s‘s. Thus, desert is the arid land and dessert is the treat.

Next is a grouping that plagues even the best of writers: their, there, and they’re. While all three words sound exactly the same, their spellings and meanings are all different. Their is an indication of possession (their dog, not your dog); there is an indication of place (their dog went over there, while your dog stayed here); and they’re is a contraction of they are (their dog went over there where they’re standing, while your dog stayed here where you’re standing). I am sorry to say that I don’t have any handy tricks for you for remembering this one perfectly, but if you can remember the sentence about the dog and which spelling goes where in that sentence, you’ll have a good shot at figuring it out. And if all else fails, try testing for the contraction first, since it’s the only one with an apostrophe. If you can replace the word in your sentence with they are, then you’re looking for they’re. If not, at least you have a 50/50 shot between the other two!

And speaking of two, that brings me to our final grouping for today: to, too, and two. Once again, we have three words here that all sound the same but have different spellings and definitions. Generally speaking, most people have no problems with to. In fact, the issue I run across is that a lot of people use to all the time, even when the proper word is either too or two. Too is an indicator of something being more than what is possible or wanted (my boss was asking too much of me), while two is the spelling of the number 2. The trick I’d suggest using to remember which of these to use in which case is to run through three quick steps: (1) Ask yourself if it’s a number. If so, use two. (2) Ask yourself if you’re trying to indicate overabundance. If so, use too (easy to remember because is has more o‘s that to…to indicate more!). (3) If you’ve answered questions (1) and (2) in the negative, use to.

I hope that helps clear up some very common confusing word groups. The simplest things can make the biggest difference, and using these words appropriately in your writing will set you above the pack in no small way!

Until next time!

 

Which Word?: Among vs. Between

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Hello everyone!

I’m back with another tricky word pair. Today we’re going to unlock the mystery of when to use among and when to use between, two words that have essentially the same function and meaning–which is what makes them so confusing!

We know that both words are prepositions used to indicate something that is in, through, shared, or held in common with something else (or multiple something elses). For example, She couldn’t decide between the two choices and Tom, Dick, and Harry shared the pizza among themselves. But how do you know when to use among and when to use between?

Great news! There is an incredibly simple answer: When there are only two somethings, use between; when there are more than two somethings, use among. So, we say She couldn’t decide between the two choices because there are only two choices, and we say Tom, Dick, and Harry shared the pizza among themselves because there are more than two people sharing. This rule applies no matter the somethings we’re talking about. And how can you remember that? What helps me is that the twe in between looks a lot like the number two, so I use the preposition with the two(e) in it for two somethings and the other one for everything else!

I hope you find this tip helpful, and that no lingering confusion over this word pair comes between you and your writing! Until next time!

Which Word?: Further vs. Farther

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Hello all!

It’s time for us to conquer another confusing word pair. This week’s culprit is further and farther. Most everyone is stymied when it comes to figuring out which of these words to use when, probably because their definitions and usage are almost identical. Both are used to indicate distance from something, whether physical or metaphorical, so most of us wind up using them more or less interchangeably. But there’s a simple trick to knowing which one is actually correct in which case!

In cases where you’re talking about a physical distance that can be measured, use farther. In all other cases, use further. So, The store is two miles farther down the road but The setback put him further from his dream than he’d ever been. Even better than this simple rule is the simple way to remember it: “far” indicates a distance (e.g., How far did he run?), so farther goes with physical distances.

And that’s all there is to it! I hope this little trick will help resolve the further vs. farther quandary for you for good.

Until next time!