Monthly Archives: July 2016

Which Word?: Elicit vs. Illicit

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Hello all!

It’s time to conquer another confusing word pair! Today we’re tackling elicit and illicit, two words that are often confused because they sound the same when they’re spoken. Their meanings, however, are vastly different, so it’s a good practice to check and make sure you’re using the correct word in each situation!

Elicit is a verb meaning “to draw out” something from someone. Usually, the something being drawn is intangible, spoken words, like an answer to a question or some sort of information. Illicit, on the other hand, is an adjective meaning “illegal.” So, I was unable to elicit any information from her about her illicit activities.

The big question now is, how do you keep these two straight? I’m sorry to say that I don’t have an easy trick for you for this pair. I can suggest a few ideas, like remembering that elicit is the verb because elicit and verb both have an e as their first vowel, or remembering that illicit means illegal because they both begin with ill. In the end, however, your best bet is probably to either look at the words and see if you notice something about them that will help you remember which is which, or just simply look them up when you’re going to use them. And while taking the time to look something up might feel inconvenient in the moment, the higher quality of writing you’ll wind up with as a result is definitely worth the effort!

Until next time!

Which Word?: Who vs. Whom

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Hello all!

I’m back with another word pair, and today’s culprits are responsible for tripping up nearly every writer at some point. It tends to be the case that we’re taught both words somewhere along the way–so we know that they mean the same thing but are supposed to be used in different situations–but we somehow never really learn when who is the appropriate choice and when whom is the appropriate choice. We scratch our heads trying to figure it out, and then ultimately give up and either just guess or choose to use who exclusively because it’s the safer choice.

So, how do you know when to use who and when to use whom?

The truth is that there’s actually a trick that makes the choice super simple. We don’t tend to have any problems knowing when to use he/she versus him/her, and who and whom follow the exact same rules. The trick is to simply substitute he/she or him/her into the sentence, which will tell you when to use who (in cases where he/she fits) and when to use whom (in cases where him/her fits). For example, Who/whom was playing music too loud? In this case, it works to say She was playing music too loud, so we know that the proper sentence is Who was playing music too loud? By contrast, in the sentence To who/whom does this CD belong?, we can substitute in him to answer The CD belongs to him. Thus, the proper choice in this case is To whom does this CD belong?

The reason this trick works is because, while they indicate the same idea and are both pronouns, who is the subject of the verb while whom is the object, same as he/she functions as the subject while him/her functions as the object. But if all you remember is the trick (and not why it works), you’ll be in good shape and able to use who and whom with the best of them!

Until next time!