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Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Words I Use Incorrectly

There’s great joy to be gleaned from using and understanding words with precision. For the linguistically inclined, it can be the pleasure of reading and writing. It can also be an obsession. Recently, for example, a man named Bryan Henderson made headlines for editing thousands of Wikipedia pages to eradicate the phrase “comprised of” in favor of “composed of.” Of course, even amongst avid readers, there are a handful of words that often are confused and misused. So we've rounded up some of these tricky word pairs and their definitions, adding sentences to help you remember the distinctions. Join in the fun by commenting with your own mnemonic sentences that include these words. Twins - Female twins posing in hats. Image ID: 1685125 eminent v. imminent eminent: adj. famous and respected within a particular sphere or present to a notable degree imminent: adj. about to happen She was an eminent author, winning prestigious awards and accolades. At the moment, what she was most anticipating was not the National Book Award ceremony, however; it was the imminent arrival of her breakfast burrito. substantive v. substantial substantive: adj. having a firm basis in reality and so important, meaningful, or considerable substantial: adj. of considerable importance, size, or worth My point is substantive, derived from thorough research, and it is this: Your substantial chocolate stash takes up an entire drawer, so you should be willing to share. censure v. censor censure: v. express severe disapproval of (someone or something) censor: v. examine (a book, film, etc.) officially and suppress unacceptable parts of it They wanted to censor the film, removing the sex scenes. So we censured the decision in a scathing op-ed article called, "Give the People What They Want!" indeterminate v. indeterminable indeterminate: adj. not exactly known, established, or defined indeterminable: adj. not able to be definitely ascertained, calculated, or identified The goodie bag's contents were indeterminate until we opened it. There we found a coupon worth "a gajillion hugs," a number of hugs that was indeterminable. denote v. connote denote: v. signify the literal meaning connote: v. (of a word) imply or suggest (an idea or feeling) in addition to the literal or primary meaning According to the dictionary, the word denotes strength. Unfortunately, when he used the word to describe my perfume, it seemed to carry a negative connotation, especially once he began coughing. elude v. allude elude: v. escape from or avoid (a danger, enemy, or pursuer), typically in a skilful or cunning way; fail to be attained by (someone) allude: v. suggest or call attention to indirectly; hint at He eluded the trip to see the horror movie by playing sick, but the following day, when his friends alluded to the scene when the zombie attacks, he actually felt ill. ambiguous v. ambivalent ambiguous: adj. open to more than one interpretation; not having one obvious meaning ambivalent: adj. having mixed feelings or contradictory ideas about something or someone She was ambivalent about the date because he was funny but also hogged the popcorn during the movie, which would give anyone mixed feelings. When he sent her an ambiguous text message that she couldn't decipher, she decided she preferred watching Downton Abbey to dating.