Whether you are a student or not, it’s time to step your communication skills up a notch. This is “Words You Should Know: the Back-to-School Edition.” Six questions from six school subjects to challenge your word usage skills.
Are you ready for this?
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Bring it on. See what I’m saying here? I’m inviting you to deliver a challenge my way, and I’m ready for it. Today, that challenge just happens to be the usage of “bring” vs. “take.”
If you need to deliver a book to your neighbor’s, should you “take it next-door” or “bring it next-door”? There is a right answer, whether you’re aware of it or not.
If I were a rich man… If I were a boy… Whether you want to start this “if I was” vs. “if I were” conversation with Fiddler on the Roof or Beyoncé, it’s a conversation we need to have.
Let’s talk unreal conditionals and the subjunctive mood. Actually, no, let’s not. That doesn’t sound very exciting.
Let’s talk music and musicians who get grammar. More exciting? Almost. But bear with me.
Oh, I see you, letter E, making your big difference between these two words. The question is, does everyone else see you too?
When I stumble upon a writing blog or a Twitter post, where someone is talking about the “heroin” of their novel, I just want to chime in. Not because I’m an editor. No, I’m sure it’s not a typo. I’m sure that wordsmith just feels like writing is such a drug, an addition, something for better or worse you just can’t shake, something that gets into your blood stream and makes you buzz sometimes, makes you giddy and exhilarated, something that makes you hallucinate and hear voices of characters when reality tells you they just aren’t there…
Discussions of “Rights” are sometimes tricky. Discussions of “Rites” are often equally complicated. Discussions of why I capitalized both of those words might be intimidating. But discussing the differences between “rights” and “rites” shouldn’t be a matter that mystifies us.
What does the ever-popular #wip stand for? Or maybe I should ask, what does it stand for to you?
This is a tricky answer, because it depends on when in the past two hundred years you’re curious about, which side of the Atlantic you’re on, or if you’re in the manufacturing or finance industries.
Yes, these responses matter.
A sole is a type of fish that discreetly hides in the sand of the ocean floor, but it isn’t the origin of either of these phrases.
Your fingers might have the “sole” vs. “soul” debate as they dance across the keyboard, aiming for the correct spelling, but, really, it comes down to that little word “of.”
Foodies can be a fascinating and feisty bunch. Don’t get them started on the layers of flavor in their last bite or the barm on their craft beer, and for the love of your taste buds, please don’t slip up in your usage of “marinade” vs. “marinate” when you’re sharing your own recipe (or pictures of it) with this oftentimes punctilious crowd.
Of course, correct word usage shouldn’t only be for the connoisseurs among us. Yes, even you with your love of peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwiches can get this spelling correct.
Nothing makes you feel less like a graduate than failing your first real-world spelling test. Do you know the difference between “alumnus,” “alumna,” “alumnae” & “alumni”?
When people start talking Latin origins and uncommon spelling forms, tension begins to build in some secret place where childhood spelling bee angst hides. When we start adding word gender form into the conversation, there’s a tendency for hands to be tossed into the air. But sometimes, there are moments for tossing up graduation caps rather than hands. And in these cases, you need to make sure you’re prepared.
Sometimes pressing send on an important communication can feel like a gamble. When you misspell a word that spellcheck doesn’t catch—like applying to be a “manger” rather than a “manager” (ouch!)—it can really hurt the cause. Typos can sometimes sneak into our writing when you aren’t looking (or when you forget to proof yourself), and here’s one more you need to make sure to get right to make those big emails slightly less of a “gamble,” “gambol,” or otherwise.
If you’re walking into a Vegas hotel, maybe you’re getting ready to gamble. If you’re gamboling through the door of that hotel, that’s something quite different.