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These adjectives are sometimes confused because their meanings overlap. Both words can be used to mean “continuing without interruption”: living in a continual state of fear, enjoying a continuous state of peace. But continual usually refers to something that recurs or is interrupted periodically: the continual pounding of the surf, the continual banging of the [...]
The verb contact is a classic example of a verb that was made from a noun and of a new usage that was initially frowned upon. The noun meaning “the state or condition of touching” was introduced in 1626 by Francis Bacon. Some 200 years later it spawned a verb meaning “to bring or place [...]
If you follow the traditional rule, you say that the whole comprises the parts and that the parts compose the whole. Thus you would say The Union comprises fifty states and Fifty states compose (or constitute or make up) the Union. While writers often maintain this distinction, comprise is increasingly used in place of compose, [...]
He complimented her on the way her sweater complemented her hair. Complement and compliment, though quite distinct in meaning, are sometimes confused because they are pronounced the same. As a noun, complement means “something that completes or brings to perfection” (The antique silver was a complement to the beautifully set table); used as a verb [...]
Compare usually takes the preposition to when it refers to the activity of describing the resemblances between unlike things: He compared her to a summer day. Scientists sometimes compare the human brain to a computer. It takes with when it refers to the act of examining two like things in order to discern their similarities [...]
If you think too much about it, you might conclude that certain is an absolute term like unanimous or paramount and cannot be modified. Something is either certain or it is not, you might say. There can be no in-between. But before you say much more, you may find yourself using certain in combination with [...]
Can you center on something and around it at the same time? Traditionally, the verb center has been used with the prepositions on, upon, in, or at, but some language critics have denounced its use with around as illogical or physically impossible. Still, the fact that many writers persist in using this phrase in sentences [...]
That sportscar went careering down the road. Or did it careen? Careen comes to us via Middle French from the Latin word carina, which meant “the keel of a ship.” The original sense of the English verb was nautical and referred to the way a ship would lean to one side when sailing in windy [...]
When touring the capital, why not visit the capitol? Capital and capitol are terms that are often confused, mainly because they refer to things that are in some ways related. The term for a town or city that serves as a seat of government is spelled capital. The term for the building in which a [...]
When do you use bring and when do you use take? It depends on your point of view. We use bring to indicate motion toward the place of speaking or the place from which the action is regarded. Thus you normally take checks to the bank and bring home cash, although from the banker’s perspective [...]