Challenge 06/JT
or, Pen Gets Pedantic
A Just Technical challenge, because being of Irregular Habit myself, I forgot to post the new challenge at the weekend as I should have done. This one should, I think, be relatively do-able, and useful, although possibly not that interesting.
There are quite a few words which are regularly used incorrectly and seeing them makes me want to run amok with an axe. Your task this month is to write a short scene, even a paragraph, demonstrating the correct uses of as many of these words as you can manage.
For example:
Justin's curiosity was piqued by the faint sounds, and he peeked through the window. He was startled to see how JC's nipples peaked under Chris's tongue.
Peaked, piqued and peeked, and not a fit of pique in sight, unless Justin threw one because he was jealous.
If you want some more examples of abused words or to read my self-indulgent rants-cum-explanations of a few, there are plenty under the cut, and you are invited to contribute more in comments. Are there any that you read frequently? Any that you regularly get wrong?
lose verb - to mislay, to suffer loss, to undergo defeat; loose adjective - opposite of tight.
Lose some weight, and your trousers will be loose.
You can use 'loose' as a verb, it means to set free, to let fly (eg to loose an arrow), but how often do you want to say that?
breath is the noun, breathe is the verb. To say 'I cannot breath' when you mean 'I cannot breathe' is like saying 'I cannot cake' when you mean 'I cannot cook'.
One would think that the word discreet no longer existed, because people are apparently being discrete instead. No. It won't do. 'discrete' = in separate units. 'discreet' = careful, tactful, unobtrusive, avoiding embarrassment or scandal (etc). So saying 'he was discrete', while true (in that human beings are not an amalgamated mass, but separate units), does not actually convey the idea that 'he was trying to keep things from becoming public'.
horde = noun, hoard = verb or noun
horde = a lot of people. Hordes of Backstreet fans flooded the streets of Rio.
hoard = supply, large collection (usually treasure) *Not* people!
to hoard = to store, to collect, to save Justin, as a dragon, has a hoard of sneakers. The dragon hoarded the sneakers and refused to let anyone touch them.
bare = naked. I don't believe 'bare' means anything else; although you can (if you are careful) use it as a verb, in which case it means 'to make naked', although not necessarily literally, eg I bared my soul to you and all I got was this lousy bill for psychoanalysis.
bear can be a large, hairy animal; it can mean 'carry' (eg Greeks bearing gifts), or 'yield' (the holly bears a berry), it can be 'stand, endure' (I cannot bear it), it can be 'hold on, be patient' (bear with me while I explain). In short, unless you mean 'naked', then say 'bear', not 'bare'.
btw Past of 'bear' = bore, borne Nick bore AJ's teasing with commendable patience. Kevin was impressed by how well Nick had borne AJ's teasing. Past tense of 'to bare' = bared, Lance bared his soul to Joey
affect effect Ahaha. In essence, 'affect' is the verb and 'effect' is the noun. You affect something = you have an effect upon it; an effect on an object = what is apparent when something has affected the object.
This is, regrettably, somewhat complicated by the fact that 'affect' can be a noun and 'effect' can be a verb. You may effect a change - ie, you carry out a change. You cannot, however, effect an object directly - you effect a transformation upon an object. 'AJ watched as the revelation effected an extraordinary change on Nick's features'. It's a little bit pompous - you could say 'The news affected Nick. AJ could see it in his face.' But you cannot say 'The revelation effected Nick's features' because the language doesn't work that way - you have to say 'The revelation affected Nick's features'. Or, you know, something better than that.
'Affect' as a noun is defined as 'the conscious subjective aspect of an emotion considered apart from bodily changes.' Personally, I'm staying well away from that one.
rain, rein, reign
Rain is easy, it's that wet stuff that falls out of the sky.
Rein/reign confusion is everywhere and drives me insane with rage is quite infuriating understandable. It has, ahem, free rein. It wanders, loose on the literary landscape, without check.
It's horse imagery. Remember that reins allow the rider to control the horse. To give 'free rein' is to allow the horse to do as it likes. To 'rein in' is to put close control on the horse. If you're talking about giving control to someone, or taking it back from someone, 'rein' is the word.
Reign. A period of rulership - eg, the reign of King John. To reign = to rule. That's it. "Free reign" does not, actually, make sense. So stop it, right now! Augh!
tenet tenant Oh, look them up. I have to go out.
Usual deal, post your entry with the challenge number and your name, and put it under a cut. I suspect an exercise like this leads rather to snark than to seriousness, but let's see what you can do!
A Just Technical challenge, because being of Irregular Habit myself, I forgot to post the new challenge at the weekend as I should have done. This one should, I think, be relatively do-able, and useful, although possibly not that interesting.
There are quite a few words which are regularly used incorrectly and seeing them makes me want to run amok with an axe. Your task this month is to write a short scene, even a paragraph, demonstrating the correct uses of as many of these words as you can manage.
For example:
Justin's curiosity was piqued by the faint sounds, and he peeked through the window. He was startled to see how JC's nipples peaked under Chris's tongue.
Peaked, piqued and peeked, and not a fit of pique in sight, unless Justin threw one because he was jealous.
If you want some more examples of abused words or to read my self-indulgent rants-cum-explanations of a few, there are plenty under the cut, and you are invited to contribute more in comments. Are there any that you read frequently? Any that you regularly get wrong?
lose verb - to mislay, to suffer loss, to undergo defeat; loose adjective - opposite of tight.
Lose some weight, and your trousers will be loose.
You can use 'loose' as a verb, it means to set free, to let fly (eg to loose an arrow), but how often do you want to say that?
breath is the noun, breathe is the verb. To say 'I cannot breath' when you mean 'I cannot breathe' is like saying 'I cannot cake' when you mean 'I cannot cook'.
One would think that the word discreet no longer existed, because people are apparently being discrete instead. No. It won't do. 'discrete' = in separate units. 'discreet' = careful, tactful, unobtrusive, avoiding embarrassment or scandal (etc). So saying 'he was discrete', while true (in that human beings are not an amalgamated mass, but separate units), does not actually convey the idea that 'he was trying to keep things from becoming public'.
horde = noun, hoard = verb or noun
horde = a lot of people. Hordes of Backstreet fans flooded the streets of Rio.
hoard = supply, large collection (usually treasure) *Not* people!
to hoard = to store, to collect, to save Justin, as a dragon, has a hoard of sneakers. The dragon hoarded the sneakers and refused to let anyone touch them.
bare = naked. I don't believe 'bare' means anything else; although you can (if you are careful) use it as a verb, in which case it means 'to make naked', although not necessarily literally, eg I bared my soul to you and all I got was this lousy bill for psychoanalysis.
bear can be a large, hairy animal; it can mean 'carry' (eg Greeks bearing gifts), or 'yield' (the holly bears a berry), it can be 'stand, endure' (I cannot bear it), it can be 'hold on, be patient' (bear with me while I explain). In short, unless you mean 'naked', then say 'bear', not 'bare'.
btw Past of 'bear' = bore, borne Nick bore AJ's teasing with commendable patience. Kevin was impressed by how well Nick had borne AJ's teasing. Past tense of 'to bare' = bared, Lance bared his soul to Joey
affect effect Ahaha. In essence, 'affect' is the verb and 'effect' is the noun. You affect something = you have an effect upon it; an effect on an object = what is apparent when something has affected the object.
This is, regrettably, somewhat complicated by the fact that 'affect' can be a noun and 'effect' can be a verb. You may effect a change - ie, you carry out a change. You cannot, however, effect an object directly - you effect a transformation upon an object. 'AJ watched as the revelation effected an extraordinary change on Nick's features'. It's a little bit pompous - you could say 'The news affected Nick. AJ could see it in his face.' But you cannot say 'The revelation effected Nick's features' because the language doesn't work that way - you have to say 'The revelation affected Nick's features'. Or, you know, something better than that.
'Affect' as a noun is defined as 'the conscious subjective aspect of an emotion considered apart from bodily changes.' Personally, I'm staying well away from that one.
rain, rein, reign
Rain is easy, it's that wet stuff that falls out of the sky.
Rein/reign confusion is everywhere and drives me insane with rage is quite infuriating understandable. It has, ahem, free rein. It wanders, loose on the literary landscape, without check.
It's horse imagery. Remember that reins allow the rider to control the horse. To give 'free rein' is to allow the horse to do as it likes. To 'rein in' is to put close control on the horse. If you're talking about giving control to someone, or taking it back from someone, 'rein' is the word.
Reign. A period of rulership - eg, the reign of King John. To reign = to rule. That's it. "Free reign" does not, actually, make sense. So stop it, right now! Augh!
tenet tenant Oh, look them up. I have to go out.
Usual deal, post your entry with the challenge number and your name, and put it under a cut. I suspect an exercise like this leads rather to snark than to seriousness, but let's see what you can do!