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Fazed and confused
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Are you fazed by the phases of the moon? What about the phases of life? What about use of the term “unphased”? As you’ve probably guessed, today we’re discussing the difference between the homophones faze and phase. We mostly use “phase” as a noun, as you see it used in the sentences above. But it's also a verb, as in, “The company plans to phase out use of fossil fuels.” “Faze,” meanwhile, is a verb that means to disconcert or daunt. We don't use it as much as we use “phase,” though. So when some people write about being daunted by something, they'll misuse “phase” when they mean to write “faze.” You'll also see “unphased” when it should be “unfazed.” “Faze vs. phase” is just one of the many commonly confused word pairs we cover in our style guide. Before we go, we have something new to share with you: We get so much positive feedback about this newsletter that we want more people to know about it. That's where you come in. Now, you can earn a reward for getting your friends and fellow word nerds to subscribe. See below for your unique referral link to share. Thank you in advance! Questions? You know what to do: Hit reply and let us know. ❤ Team Stylebot
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Hone your writing skills and never use "hone in" again. Get writing tips, have fun with words and learn something new in a one-minute read each week by signing up for Stylebot’s newsletter.
One fun thing about writing is that it's both rule-based and flexible. So sometimes, there are no wrong answers. Such is the case with last week's quiz, when we asked you about the plural of octopus. Your choices were octopi (the plural that assumes a Latin origin of the word), octopodes (the proper plural for a word of Greek origin) and octopuses (the English way to pluralize it). Most of you picked "octopi," and exactly zero people chose "octopodes": No one got it wrong, and even if someone...
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