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Loath vs. loathe
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Did you loath or loathe getting back into the swing of things after the holidays? If you're a longtime newsletter reader (and you have a sharp memory), you might recall that we covered this set of commonly confused words around this time last year. So which is it?
Inspired by some of our most popular newsletters, we're giving you the chance to test your skills using commonly confused words. Over the next few weeks, we'll feature one fill-in-the-blank question like the one you see above. We'll also share the previous week's correct answer. And as a bonus, we're covering a new set of commonly confused words this week: affect and effect. There are a few clever tricks people use to remember the difference between affect and effect. Some people find the reminder "a = action, e = end result" helpful. There's even an acronym: RAVEN, for "Remember that Affect is a Verb and Effect is a Noun." What tricks do you have up your sleeve? Hit reply and let us know. โค 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 Stylebotโs newsletter.
Have you ever had to alter a draft of your writing because you confused two homophones? It's easy to do online, but harder if you're using expensive stationery. And what about those instances where you didn't even realize you were using the wrong homophone? Knowing you've been doing it wrong for years can feel like a hangar-size mistake. Any idea where we're going with this? ๐ You might have spotted three sneaky homophones in the sentences above: alter, stationery and hangar. Each has a...
If you waited with bated breath last week for the Ides of March to pass, you can thank Shakespeare. We already told you that he gets the credit for the lasting power of the Ides of March as a bad omen. He's also responsible for keeping bait's homophone "bate" around in another enduring phrase. We don't use "bate" very much anymore, but it came about in the 1300s to mean "to diminish" (and yes, its origins are tied to a shorter version of "abate," which is still commonly used today)....
Today is Friday the 13th, the second one of the year. And if today's association with bad luck isn't enough for you, then look no further than Sunday's bad omen: the Ides of March. So what do we make of these two inauspicious days? The origins of Friday the 13th being unlucky are hard to pin down, though Christianity and Norse mythology regard 13 as an unlucky number of dinner guests, according to Encyclopaedia Britannica. Britannica also points to other biblical references that regard Friday...