Hello all!

I’m fortunate enough to have just returned from a trip across the pond, to that wonderful place where fries are “chips,” chips are “crisps,” the bathroom is the “loo,” and cars drive down the opposite side of the road. Reading museum brochures, restaurant menus, and street signs reminded me of just how different British and American English can be. Vocabulary differences aside, there are some distinct differences in spelling (color vs. colour, recognize vs. recognise, and center vs. centre) that can throw quite a few people in both nations when we read something written in the other nation’s style.

So how did two countries that share the same language wind up spelling so many words differently, especially when the US was originally populated with Brits? The credit goes largely to one man: Noah Webster, originator of Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, America’s first dictionary. Not only did he want to distinguish American English as a different dialect than British English, but he was also bothered by how many words in British English were spelled differently than they sounded. His dictionary formalized the spellings he preferred, and we in the US have been using them ever since.

So which words are correct? Both, of course–but I suggest using the conventions of whichever country you’re writing for. That will keep your readers from any potential confusion…and you might wind up learning another language in the process, for as George Bernard Shaw said, “The United States and Great Britain are two countries separated by a common language.”

Until next time!

Hello everyone!

I’m back with another word pair. Today’s confusing duo is wreck and wreak, which are undeniably easy to mix up due to the fact that they are spelled so similarly and mean almost exactly the same thing. Although wreck can also be a noun, both wreck and wreak are verbs indicating destruction. There is a subtle difference between the two in that wreck means to damage while wreak means to cause damage, but they effectively suggest the same outcome.

So, you must be wondering, what is the difference? The difference is that wreck stands on its own, while wreak is immediately followed by a noun (most often havoc). We can say The storm wrecked the ship but not The storm wreaked the ship. If we want to use wreak, we have to say The storm wreaked havoc on the ship. Likewise, it doesn’t work to say The storm wrecked havoc on the ship. The other difference, of course, is in pronunciation: Wreak is pronounced like reek, while wreck is pronounced like rec (as in the first part of recreation).

It’s just one letter, and a very subtle distinction in meaning, but choosing the proper word can make a world of difference in your writing!

Until next time!

Hello all!

It’s that time again! Today’s tricky word pair is then and than. These two have a tendency to trip people up because their spellings are so similar, which winds up leading many writers out there to use one or the other exclusively, regardless of the sentence situation. In fact, my theory is that a whole lot of people don’t realize there actually are two words. But after reading this, you will no longer fall into that category of authors!

Then can be an adverb, a noun, or an adjective depending on how it is used. As an adverb, it presents a sequence of events: She cleaned the counter, then the sink. As a noun, it refers to a period of time: Things were better back then. And as an adjective, it describes the former state of something: The then-leader of the writing group forgot the difference between “then” and “than,” much to everybody’s chagrin. By contrast, than is only ever a conjunction, used to set up a comparison: I like the French restaurant much better than the Italian one.

The real trick to remembering when to use then and when to use than is to simply remember that both words exist. Then, use than when you’re setting up a comparison and use then the rest of the time. And then you’ll find your writing much clearer than before!

Until next time!