Take stump. It is a cricket equipment and has some specific connotation to the sport, yet it is used colloquially to indicate how vexing the English language can be.
Language has one purpose. To communicate. Whether to the present audience or to one in the future. It manifests itself in the form of pictures (going back in time) to audio signals (sent into space). Most commonly it is the written format that we exchange information in.
Here are some common word pairs in written form, where even the pros find themselves in a quandary. This does not address the pronunciation aspect of words which I can write about in a separate blog.
Grammar could take up a book unto itself.
Not that I propound to be an expert at any of the above but as I have said before: my blog my rules.
Speaking of using words that confuse us -
Use or Usage
Advice or Advise
Principal or Principle
Antivenom or Antivenin
In spite or Inspite
Watch or Clock
Stay or Live
Climate or Weather
It is hard to understand the axioms from the idioms in this language whether you are native born speaker or not.. regional nuances further confuse the heck out of a person wanting to speak it right.
This argument has been made about all languages but given English is widely spoken across multiple regions of the world it gets the most criticized.
Language has one purpose. To communicate. Whether to the present audience or to one in the future. It manifests itself in the form of pictures (going back in time) to audio signals (sent into space). Most commonly it is the written format that we exchange information in.
Here are some common word pairs in written form, where even the pros find themselves in a quandary. This does not address the pronunciation aspect of words which I can write about in a separate blog.
Grammar could take up a book unto itself.
Not that I propound to be an expert at any of the above but as I have said before: my blog my rules.
Speaking of using words that confuse us -
Use or Usage
Advice or Advise
Principal or Principle
Antivenom or Antivenin
In spite or Inspite
Watch or Clock
Stay or Live
Climate or Weather
It is hard to understand the axioms from the idioms in this language whether you are native born speaker or not.. regional nuances further confuse the heck out of a person wanting to speak it right.
This argument has been made about all languages but given English is widely spoken across multiple regions of the world it gets the most criticized.
Comments
Post a Comment