I hope you find my writing and business tips and observations useful. My business and blog are dedicated to helping businesses communicate clearly and reach their potential.
Read, subscribe to my newsletter, enjoy!Tash
How tolerant are you?
The definition of tolerant is to be accepting of things and perhaps able to endure unpleasant things. However, to be not tolerant can be expressed two ways depending on the specific lack of tolerance being discussed.
Intolerant: Not accepting, allowing or enduring something/someone to exist without interfering, complaining or hindering.
A racist person is intolerant of other races living in their country.
Intolerable: A situation that can’t be endured or continued.
After time a worker may find it intolerable to work 100 hour weeks and be criticised by their boss.
Think of the two words like this: He is not able to tolerate a situation but the ant chooses to be intolerant.
To complement a compliment…
Did you know that compliment is not the same as complement? They actually have quite different meanings so using the wrong word can make a reasonable sentence into nonsense!
compliment – expression of praise, greeting, positive comments
She complimented the floral arrangement on the table.
complement – to complete or make a whole
The new couch complements the room nicely.
Can you see how complete complementary things are as a reminder for which spelling to use?
A principled principal?
Another pair of words that I frequently see misused is principle and principal…
Principle – a belief or moral that governs behaviour and decisions; a fundamental truth
On principle, John refused to watch the parade.
Principal – first or leading rank (e.g. a School Principal); initial sum of money before interest and fees
As Principal of the local school, Mary was well respected by the parents.
The most common uses of these words are often confused and used incorrectly. The easiest way to remember which is which is to think of your pal being a principal.
The better part of discretion?
Here is a pair of words that sound exactly the same but have quite different meanings – yet I’m not sure any people realise there are two words instead of one with different uses.
discrete – distinct, separate, individual, referring to numbers
It was a series of discrete performances across the country.
discreet – tactful, subtle, unobtrusive
Her boss was very discreet about her illness.
To help remember which word is which, see how the t separates the es in discrete.
Monday meanings…
There are pairs of words that are frequently misused. However much they sound the same, using the wrong word can totally change the meaning of your sentence.
And you can’t rely on your spell checker to find these errors for you.
A good, old fashioned dictionary is the best way to make sure you are using the correct word in any situation. If you don’t have a dictionary at home, and the old school one probably doesn’t count, I would strongly suggest you get one so you can avoid unnecessary errors in your writing.
As I still see many of these words used incorrectly, I am going to show the different meanings as a blog category – and I’ll post one every Monday.
Please let me know if there are any particular words you aren’t sure of and I’ll include them, too.
there, their or they’re?
With one exception*, my writing articles and blog entries assume some basic knowledge – if you are writing for business purposes, I assume you know the obvious rules of capital letters to start sentences, common spelling rules and the idea of paragraphs.
So I have never written about there/their/they’re – until now!
I have seen these words misused a number of times recently, and getting an email today from someone who calls herself a writer with the sentence “Their are some great news items ” was the last straw for me! (How can they own ‘are some great news’?)
If this is obvious to you, I apologise! If it isn’t, I hope this helps and I apologise for not helping you sooner!
There, they’re or their?
All 3 words sound exactly the same, but have totally different meanings and uses. Using the wrong word can make a sentence very confusing or just make the writer look silly – neither is what you want in your business (or other!) writing.
They’re is short for they are – so it is used as “They’re running late today”
There is not here – so it is used as “We will go there tomorrow”
Their shows they own something – it is used as “John and Betty will bring their car, too”
Imagine the following sentence with the wrong there/they’re/their spellings…
“They’re bringing their own car so we will meet them there.”
Use your words wisely!
* the exception is this article on basic grammar rules which I wrote to help a trainer with a communications module he was teaching.
Copyright or copywrite?
Writing is always ‘writing’, yet it is amazing how many times I get asked to do some ‘copyrighting’ or asked ‘who owns the copywrite?’ So here’s a quick explanation of these common terms…
copyright – protection of materials (e.g. articles, books, songs, photos, designs) by giving only the owner the right to copy the materials
copywrite – the act of writing text for a brochure, article, website, ad, etc (copy being a common term for the text in these items)
So I own the copyright of entries in this blog and I can call myself a professional copywriter.
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