Monday Muddle: area, aria
Category: Monday Muddle
Monday Muddle: our, are
While we’re on the topic of possessive adjectives….
Monday Muddle: you’re, your
If you say “you’re welcome”, you are usually acknowledging someone’s thanks. If you say “your welcome”, you are indicating that the welcome belongs to someone or was given by someone. For example: Your welcome of us was heartwarming.
Monday Muddle: woman, women
In honour of International Women’s Day, I thought it would be good to sort out the confusion between woman and women. If this little memory trick helps, please feel free to use it. The letter A is the first letter of the alphabet—letter number ONE. So if you are talking about only one woman, use an A. The letter E comes later in the alphabet, so more than one. E also looks like a backwards 3 which is also more than one. If you are talking about multiple women, use an E.
Monday Muddle: forth, fourth
In preparation for National Grammar Day, I thought it would be good to address the muddle of forth and fourth. March fourth was chosen as National Grammar Day because it is the only date that is also a complete sentence—if you make a minor adjustment to the spelling.
Monday Muddle: duck, duct
Duck Tape is now a brand name of adhesive, plastic-coated, fabric tape, but it was originally the generic name of strips of duck material. The original was not adhesive, but was useful in applications from shoemaking to preventing the corrosion of steel. Neither the original nor the current is suitable for using on heating ductwork.
Duct tape is now the more common, generic name of adhesive, plastic-coated, fabric tape. It also is not suitable for use on heating ductwork.
If you need tape to seal your heating ducts, be sure that it specifies that it is made for that purpose. It will be more like foil than cloth tape.
If you are interested in making clothing from duct tape, as mentioned in last week’s Muddle, and you are a senior in high school in the United States or Canada (with some regional restrictions), check out the Duck brand contest. Each year they provide scholarships to the creators of the best prom dress and best tux. If you are interested in knowing more about it or seeing winners from previous years, you can do that here: https://www.duckbrand.com/stuck-at-prom
(I am in no way affiliated with Duck Tape.)
Monday Muddle: cloth, cloths, clothe, clothes
If you’ve never seen clothes made of duct tape, I encourage you to do a search for them in your favourite browser.
Monday Muddle: cite, sight, site
Monday Muddle: than, then
“I would rather have the cookie than the cake” does not mean the same as “I would rather have the cookie then the cake”.
Monday Muddle: marinade, marinate
Last week we saw that a space can make the difference between a noun and a verb. This week a single letter makes the difference. The more-frequent use of marinade as a verb in the last decade has led some dictionaries to accept it as an alternative, but it is still unacceptable to many. My recommendation, for the sake of clarity and to avoid harsh judgement from language purists, is to use marinate as the verb. Marinate has been in use as a verb since the 1640s.
