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Complement and compliment can be used as either nouns or verbs. On Wikipedia, the word compliment is defined as “An expression of praise, congratulation or encouragement”. It is not to be confused with complement which means “to complete, to bring to perfection, to make whole” (source: Wiktionary.org). Notice how the following two sentences are different: … Continue reading
Have you ever revisited one of your own blog posts and even though you know that you read it through several times before posting it, you find a mistake – only a teeny-weeny one, but a mistake nevertheless? Alternatively, it may get pointed out by ‘Mr Smug’. So, apart from the obvious things like using spellchecker or going back … Continue reading
I had to revisit one of my previous notes today: Note 237 – Do you lay or lie on the settee? to check the past tense of the word lay which is laid and NOT layed, for example, ‘I laid the information out concisely’. I felt like it was an important point to note that there is no … Continue reading
After reading the following quote in my franklinplanner.com daily planning pages, I had to look up the word exigencies (which is the plural of exigency): “If difficulties arise, we must put forth new exertion and proportion our efforts to the exigencies of the times” ~ George Washington Wiktionary defines exigencies as “the demands or requirements of a situation”. … Continue reading
I would always have said that the main difference between the spellings centre and center is that the former is British English and the latter is American English; however, I have learnt today that there are some variations to this rule. Difference Between.net explains that countries such as Canada and India “have adopted the British system of spelling” and therefore spell it … Continue reading
“Is this a case of regional variation taking over?” said a work colleague when reading the following paragraph in the Metro newspaper: “A child can now be at greater risk sat in their bedroom on their computer than outside the school gates.” (Source: London Metro, 31 Jan 2012. Article: More at risk online than outside) … Continue reading
Image by Intiaz Rahim via Flickr I don’t know why I hesitate before writing the word occasionally (there – I did it again!). The correct spelling has just not stuck in all these years; if I could just remember that it’s got two ‘c’s, I would know that one ‘s’ followed. On research, this isn’t one that’s been blogged about much, … Continue reading
According to Wikipedia, mnemonics are “any learning technique that aids memory” and I think they are wonderful things if you can remember them! A school friend (back in the ’80s) gave me a tip on how to spell the word necessary and I can honestly say that I have recited the following phrase in my head almost every time I have … Continue reading
Dos-à-dos is French for ‘back-to-back’. Although I seem to remember this as a dance step from my younger days, I wasn’t entirely sure of the spelling – I probably would have said that it was spelled do-si-do or something similar. According to Wikipedia, dosado (a corrupted spelling of dos-à-dos) is a basic dance move, that can also be known as do-sa-do, do-si-do or … Continue reading
If someone asked me to think of a long word, I’d probably say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious; however, I’ve only heard it used in a song in the Mary Poppins film so I don’t know if that counts. I think it’s about time I learnt another one. Time for some research… Wikipedia say that the longest word in most English … Continue reading
My Writing Notebook 