If you've mowed the lawn this summer, you've cut swaths of grass. If you injured yourself while doing it (and we hope you didn't!), you might use a swathe in your recovery.

So, apply this logic to last week's quiz, and the answer becomes clear: The storm pummeled large swaths of the state.

But it looks like most of you didn't need that help:

In American English, "swath" describes a broad strip (usually of land), while "swathe" is a strip of cloth. And that brings us to the little hint in the text of last week's newsletter: "Before we wrap up..."

"Swathe" is what you use to describe a wrap, and some of you told us that subtle reminder made the quiz easier 🙂

We haven't wrapped up our use of "wrap" yet; its homophone is part of a commonly confused phrase.

Remember, all our quiz questions come from Stylebot's data-informed style guide. That means all our style guide entries address editing questions from people who have used Stylebot over the years. Have a question you want answered? Let us know here.

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