Category Archives: Language use

Today we’re going to be a little bit cheeky, again, like we were when we were immoral … or was it amoral?  There’s been a lot of sad news this week and it’s nice to kick back and break the rules every now and again.  Oh, well, who am I kidding: it’s nearly midnight, I’ve worked a long day and then realised I didn’t have a Troublesome Pair to publish when one was due, so here I am, conforming to my own laws, let alone everyone else’s!  Without further ado, then: unlawful, illegal or illicit?

Something is illegal when it is actually against the law, for example selling drugs, going around killing people, that sort of thing. Sorry, I don’t mean to be flippant: like I said, it’s been a long day.  So illegal: against the law.

An unlawful action is also against the law … but it’s against the law – or, more properly, rules – within a specific context, rather than the actual laws of the land.  So if you’re watching Strictly Come Dancing, and the dancers perform a lift when the lady’s feet aren’t meant to leave the floor, that’s unlawful.  But not illegal.

An illicit action is more commonly used nowadays to describe something that is forbidden by custom or society – you can have an illicit love affair, or sneak an illicit cigarette when you say you’ve given up.

“Their illicit love affair turned illegal when she punished him for the unlawful act of not wearing white on the court at Wimbledon by libelling him in the papers.”

You can find more troublesome pairs here and the index to them all so far is here.

Here’s another one from Gill’s epic list, although I am over half way through this now, so please keep your suggestions coming! And I’m thinking of starting a new series of single words that often get used incorrectly, rather than being mixed up with another word.

These two, illegible and eligible, mean very different things, but their spellings and sounds are similar enough to cause confusion and mix-ups.

Illegible means not clear enough to be read – it usually seems to apply to handwriting, although it can be applied to anything that can be read. You do sometimes come across it being used to describe a particularly tortured or peculiar font. So “the doctor’s handwriting was illegible and no one knew what drugs to give me”; “Llama Font is really cute, but the results are pretty illegible”.

Something (or someone) is eligible if they fulfil or satisfy the appropriate conditions: “only those with an appropriate qualification are eligible to apply for this position”; “an eligible bachelor”.

Putting the two together: “The bachelor was eligible no longer to the neat handwriting obsessed bride, when his illegible handwriting was revealed”.

You can find more troublesome pairs here, and here’s the index to them all!

An old chestnut here, and one that a few people have been badgering me to write about – this one’s for you, though, Linda B, since you’ve asked me to do it several times (because it bothers you, not because you don’t know the difference yourself, I hasten to add)

I think this one’s particularly difficult to grasp and remember because it is so often wrong – I think I really do see these two used incorrectly more often than I see them used correctly, which of course means it’s difficult to remember the correct way when you’re being bombarded with incorrect examples. Well, “bombarded” might be overdoing it, but there are lots of examples out there.

A compliment is an expression of praise or admiration, and to compliment someone is to praise or congratulate someone: “She complimented me on my new hat and I collected more compliments as I walked through the park”, “‘I love your dress’ – ‘Oh, this old thing? It’s nothing’ – ‘can’t you take a compliment?'”

A complement is a thing that contributes beneficial features or adds to something, and to complement is to contribute those extra features to it: “My writing skills are complemented by her marketing know-how”, “The green of the shoes complements the brown of the dress”.

Now, here’s the one people do really mix up …

Complimentary means expressing praise or admiration, as you would expect, given the definition and examples above. “Everyone was very complimentary about my hat”. But it also means free, without charge: “Please help yourself to the complimentary nuts on the bar.” I think this is how things get mixed up, because it seems like free things should be differentiated from things that are nice, so people think they need to go for the other spelling. But you don’t. Complimentary means supplied or given free of charge. Think of it this way: compliments are free!

Complementary, just to round things off, means combining with something else to make  a complete whole or enhance each other. “Complementary colours” are those which look nice together in a design or outfit. It is used in the phrase “complementary medicine”, of course, too, which might make it easier to remember: complementary medicine complements or adds to conventional medicine to make a whole range of treatments you can choose from. So complementary medicine complements traditional medicine (it doesn’t tell it it looks great, it just supplements it and makes a better whole), and free things are complimentary.

You can find more troublesome pairs here, and here’s the index to them all!

Conserve and preserve, our pair for today, are an interesting twosome. And yes, I’m working my way through the massive list presented to me by that other interesting twosome, Gill and John. Thanks for all the inspiration!  Anyway, you’d think that these would have specific meanings when applied to, for example, rare documents, precious items that need protecting, or ancient monuments. But in fact their specific meanings in these contexts are already encapsulated neatly into their basic, general definitions.

To conserve something is to protect it from harm or destruction or prevent it being wastefully overused.  So we conserve water when we put a brick in our toilet cistern, and when we conserve a book or a building, we take steps to protect it – usually reversible steps nowadays, where someone coming along later can see what’s been done and reverse the process if they need to.  This is the concept behind those glass link sections you see when an old house has a new extension added to it, or when pages of a rare manuscript are patched with a carefully inert material.

However to preserve something is to maintain in its original or existing state.  No additions, however reversible. No patching. A crumbling book might be digitally photographed then kept in the dark in an acid-free box or maintained on view but in a case containing an inert gas. A house must stay the same, without patching or repairs (although sometimes like-for-like repairing is permitted, using the same materials and techniques as were originally used).  Of course, it’s often difficult to know what something’s original stage actually was, whether it’s a palimpsest or a house that’s been updated over the ages – which is why “existing state” is included in the definition.

You can find more troublesome pairs here.

It’s Troublesome Pairs time again, and this is a trio, of course. But they’re linked together and I have seen all three of them inextricably mixed up and confused. So, here goes …

To insure is to arrange for compensation in the event of damage to or loss of something.  So our classic car or house insurance offers compensation if something happens to that car or house – within certain parameters and constraints of the contract.  Interestingly (special bonus definition, here!) assurance is insurance under whose terms a payment is guaranteed.  So a bit more assured than plain insurance.

To ensure is to make certain that something will  happen.  So you don’t insure that you’ll bring the steam-cleaner to someone’s house at a certain time, you ensure you’ll do it.

And to assure is to tell someone something positively, and to make certain it will happen. To me, assuring has the connotation of expressing that you will make sure something happens, where ensuring just means you do it. I suppose this means that if you reassure someone, you have to have talked about the thing you’re reassuring them about already!

“I can assure you that I will ensure delivery of the steam-cleaner to your house on Tuesday. If you break it, don’t worry – it’s insured.”

You can find more troublesome pairs here.

Welcome to a new troublesome pair. I wonder when I’ll run out of these! I’ve had a load of suggestions to work through recently, but if you have a favourite you’d like me to write about, and it’s not already in the index, do let me know!

Older and elder are a pair of words that are quite similar, but, like other pairs, I have a preference for using particular ones in particular contexts, and I’ll share those!

Older means, oddly enough, of a greater age than something else.  “John, at 34, is older than Matthew, who’s 32”.

Elder is slightly different – it means of a greater age than a set of people it’s being contrasted with. So “John is the elder sibling”. I prefer this usage, although of course you could use “older”.

As has been pointed out, I need to mention that elder/eldest refers to “of two” and “of more than two” respectively; the same with older/oldest.  “John is the oldest sibling, but the older of my 2 boys”.

So, no huge distinction, but one can be found and enjoyed!

You can find more troublesome pairs here.

Another interesting one, with one common usage and one not-so-common, but still the ability to be confused. And they actually have fairly opposite meanings, so you don’t want to be going around confusing them!

To prescribe is, of course, firstly to issue a medical prescription – “the doctor prescribed me a new sleeping pill to reduce my nightmares about grammar mistakes”, but the definition that causes confusion is the one that means “recommend with authority”.  I think it’s a bit stronger than that, actually.  For example, in my English Language studies, we often talked about reference books being descriptive (describing what language was doing, including changes, including those that people might not like – new uses or coinings, the dreaded text-speak, etc.*) or prescriptive (describing what language SHOULD be doing and laying down the law about it (like I do in these posts … but more so). So that implies a slightly stronger meaning than simply recommending with authority.

Having gone on about prescribing, the other one is fairly simple. To proscribe is to condemn or forbid. So your Mum might proscribe the wearing of mini-skirts, or a company might proscribe inter-colleague relationships.

One letter, opposite meanings!

* of course, the dreaded text-speak didn’t actually exist yet back in the Dark Ages when I was a student. But you get the idea. It was probably L33T Speak** that people were getting upset about)

** ask a techie who’s around 40.

You can find more troublesome pairs here.

Today we have an entertainment-themed trio; perhaps in celebration of the launch of Strictly Come Dancing 2011 (Libro doesn’t watch much telly these days: Libro always watches Strictly!). This one was suggested by Friend Of Libro, Gill – one of her holiday list. I thought I had this down but as usual, I looked it up and was a little surprised. Anyway, I’m going to give the official definitions but say which ones I’d use when – I think that’s fair enough!

An interval is defined firstly as an intervening time or space, a pause or a break.  Then, more specifically, it’s a period of time separating parts of a theatrical or musical performance. You know, the bit where you queue for the loo or a drink and then rush back to your seat.

An intermission – well that’s the same – a pause or break, or in our entertainment context, an interval between parts of a play or film.

An interlude is again defined as an intervening period of time and, in regards to entertainment, a pause between the acts of a play.  But it’s also a piece of music played between other pieces (or, indeed, between the verses of a hymn) and this is how I’d use this one – after all, we’ve already got two words for the gap in a play or musical performance.  So let’s keep interlude for that nice bit of music or short ballet piece acting as a little amusement to clear the musical or balletic tastebuds; a kind of sorbet on legs.  The other definition of an interlude is a temporary amusement or diversion, and while interludes of this kind are often romantic, I think my little flight of fancy above probably conforms to this definition too!

You can find more troublesome pairs here.

This one was inspired by a client whose daughter was having a bit of trouble with the explanations she was being given at school. As he wasn’t sure how best to explain it, he came to the person he’s used to outsourcing writing stuff to: me. I was rather touched, actually – and I’m always happy to help where I can!

People do mix up bought and brought, and I presume it’s because they sound similar (see would have and would of) as they mean quite different things and come from quite different origins. These origins are the best way to tell them apart, actually

Bought and brought are both past tense words – so they’re used to write about things you’ve done in the past, before now.

Brought is the past tense of BRING. You might bring your Dad to the disco (and wish you hadn’t!) or bring an apple to school. If you did that yesterday, you brought your Dad to the disco, left him there, and then you ran away. You brought an apple to school this morning, and you might bring another one to school tomorrow.

Bought goes with BUY. You might buy a pair of shoes with sequins on today. Yesterday, you bought a pair with glitter on. Maybe your Dad bought your apple at the supermarket.

So if you spent money on something, you bought it. If you took it somewhere, you brought it along with you.

“Last week, I bought a bag of apples. I brought one of the apples with me to school every day that week.” – and it works just the same with other ways of writing about the past: “Last week, I bought a bag of apples. I have brought one of the apples with me to school every day this week” ; “I have bought a bag of apples every week for years”.

You can find more troublesome pairs here.

This is one that I see being confused all the time; it’s not too difficult to distinguish the two, although I’d love to know if anyone has a special little rule they use to do so. In both, stuff keeps on happening, but the time the stuff spends happening is either broken or unbroken. So …

Continual – constantly or frequently occurring.  “There are continual alarms throughout the day – it drives us mad” – but the alarms stop and start

Continuous – without interruption, unbroken. “A continuous alarm indicates a bomb threat and all areas must be evacuated.”

The most frequent confusion is when things are being discussed that do go on and on, stretching back into the past and forward into the future, like safety procedure updates or quality improvement.  I’d be inclined to use continual for this, as by their very nature, they’re likely to stop and start, and are indeed stopped and started by human endeavour, rather than rolling on automatically and seamlessly forever.

You can find more troublesome pairs here.