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Free rein 🏇
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Oftentimes when we’re clearing up confusion about a group of homophones, we need to cover each word in the group. That’s not the case with today’s group of same-sounding words with different meanings: We’re tackling reign and rein, which, of course, both sound like “rain” (the word, not the actual weather event). And while you rarely see “rain” confused with “reign” or “rein,” it's tricky to remember the difference between the latter two of these homophones. One reason is probably that they both have to do with control. When used as a verb, “reign” means to exercise sovereign rule or be the predominant force. It can also be a noun, meaning a royal authority or the time that such an authority rules. As a noun, “rein” is the strap you use to control an animal (typically a horse). It can also be used as a verb: She reined in her horse. To add to the confusion, “take the reins” and “hold the reins” mean to take control and wield power, respectively. So yes, it is correct to say that a monarch takes the reins at the start of her reign 🤷♀️ “Reins” is correct in these idioms because they originate from horse management. Similarly, the phrase is free rein, as it also comes from horseback riding, meaning the reins on a horse are held loosely so that the horse can move around as it pleases. If you’re feeling confident after today’s lesson, take a stab at our commonly confused words quiz. Hit reply to let us know how you did. ❤ 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.
Last week's quiz question might have seemed confusing because of the lesson that preceded it about subject-verb agreement, but most of you got it right. "Neither" usually takes singular verbs, and even though "of the options" is right next to the verb, it doesn't affect the verb since it's a prepositional phrase. What writing challenges trip you up? Remember that we're happy to tackle them in this newsletter. Submit your questions here. In the meantime, here's this week's quiz: The boss said...
Most of the time, subject-verb agreement comes naturally. We don't second-guess the verbs we use in a sentence such as, "I am going to the park, and she is going to meet me there." But every now and then, as with our "couple" example from a few weeks ago, it gets tricky. You showed in last week's quiz that you're clear on the rule that you need to use "either" with "or" and "neither" with "nor." (Neither "either...nor" nor "neither...or" is correct.) But the subject-verb agreement tripped you...
We're continuing our series on either and neither this week, and you did well on the first quiz: Even though you might hear people use "either side" here, remember "either" means one or the other. You might have a tree on each side, but once you're using the plural "trees," you're probably talking about both sides. All right, like we said last week, we were easing you in with that question. There are some trickier questions when it comes to "either" and "neither." Let's try this one... Which...