Human Skills and Better Communication
These exchanges probably sound very familiar :
Sam: Are you sure you want to go?
Jo: Yep. Totally… 110%
Mal: Is this a really committed relationship?
Toni: Absolutely… 5,000%
A mathematical impossibility – in both cases.
It’s also a valid language concern.
Let’s talk about monster words. Can you think of some monstrously long words?
Apart from the name of ‘that Welsh town that’s almost impossible to pronounce’ (Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch), which has 58 letters, you’ll probably think of antidisestablishmentarianism (28 letters).
Continue reading “Monster Words”
How many times have you read, or heard in films, the phrase ‘The prodigal son returns’?
Not only is it a little tired and predictable, people tend to use it wrongly.
Continue reading “Prodigal? No Way”
Rain, reign or rein? People often make mistakes when choosing between homophones (words that sound the same but have different spelling and different meanings). I see errors in the use of ‘reign’, ‘rein’ (and, occasionally, ‘rain’) almost every week.
Here’s how to sort them out.
Continue reading “Rain, Reign Or Rein?”
‘Thus’ or ‘therefore’? There is endless confusion about these two words.
But be warned: the confusion is made even worse by faulty (read, ‘plain wrong’) advice offered on several so-called ‘language learning’ sites.
The difference between the two words is quite straightforward.
Continue reading “Thus Or Therefore?”
Loathe or loath? People often confuse these words. They have similar origins and both are related to negative feelings but they mean quite different things.
Usually, the reason for errors is not knowing whether to put in the ‘e’.
Continue reading “Loathe Or Loath?”
‘Appraise’ or ‘apprise’? Are you confident about which you should use?
As an editor, I frequently correct errors in the use of these similar sounding words. Sometimes, predictive text is to blame; the tools don’t always know the difference and often seem to prefer ‘appraise’…
Continue reading “Appraise Or Apprise?”
If you were to ask one hundred people for the definition of ‘trite’, I predict a large percentage would say it means ‘silly’, ‘superficial’, ‘inconsequential’, ‘trivial’ or something similar. That’s not what it means, though.
We can use one or more of those words to describe something which also happens to be trite, but the words aren’t directly related. None of the words is a synonym of ‘trite’.
Continue reading “Trite: Just Tired And Worn Out”
When it comes to absolute adjectives, either it is or it isn’t.
You’ve probably heard statements like ‘That’s a fairly unique design’ or ‘He has a very unique style’. The problem is that ‘unique’ is what we call an absolute adjective. Something is either unique (the only one of its kind) or it isn’t; there are no degrees of uniqueness.
Continue reading “Absolute Adjectives; No Argument”
Most of us know there are two major approaches we can take to descriptive writing: writing literally and writing figuratively.
When using expressions, especially in spoken language, we use a mixture of literal and figurative language all the time – usually without even thinking about it.
Continue reading “Take It Literally, Literally”