#AmWriting – Page 4 – LC Plaunt, M.Ed.

These terms are basically opposites of each other. One means not together; the other indicates that it goes together with at least one additional part. If you are including either term in love notes to your sweetheart, you are going to want to get it right.

Memory Tip: The term without a space–where the letters are all together–is the one that means not together.

Monday Muddle: absence, absenteeism

LC February 7, 2022 Monday Muddle

Monday Muddle: absence: (noun) the state of being away from somewhere; the period of time spent away; a lack of something absenteeism: (noun) the habit of being away without good reason from somewhere you are regularly obligated to be (work, school); the rate or frequency of habitual absence

Monday Muddle: bowl, bowel

LC January 31, 2022 Monday Muddle2 Comments

Monday Muddle: bowl: (noun) a round vessel for holding food or liquid; a stadium used for sporting events or concerts bowel: (noun) the tube through which digested food passes out of the body

The Super Bowl--an annual championship football game--is played in early February. Football fans traditionally have parties to watch the game together, and there is an abundance of party foods to enjoy. Sometimes people will even have a cake decorated like a football or a football field. If you decide to have a cake decorated with the words Super Bowl, it will be more appetizing if you spell Super Bowl correctly.

Monday Muddle: muster, mustard

LC January 24, 2022 Monday Muddle

Monday Muddle: muster: (verb) assemble (usually military troops) for inspection or for preparation for battle; (noun) assembly of troops for inspection or for a military exercise Part of the expression "to pass muster". mustard: (noun) condiment made from seeds of the mustard plant; mustard plant NOT part of the expression "to pass muster".

pass muster: (verb phrase) to pass inspection; to meet a standard; to measure up pass mustard: (verb phrase--but not a common expression) to share a condiment

Monday Muddle: have, of

LC January 17, 2022 Monday Muddle

Monday Muddle: have: (verb) to own, possess, or hold; used as an auxiliary verb when forming compound tenses of verbs Used in: would have, could have, should have of: (preposition) expresses a relationship between a part and the whole; expresses origin; expresses a change in measurement or scale NOT used in: would have, could have, should have

Monday Muddle: essential, quintessential

LC January 10, 2022 Monday Muddle

Monday Muddle: essential: (adjective) absolutely necessary; vital; imperative; extremely important; (noun) something that is absolutely necessary, vital, imperative, or extremely important quintessential: (adjective) definitive; exemplary; representing a typical, or the best, example of something

Monday Muddle: two, too, to

LC January 3, 2022 Monday Muddle2 Comments

Happy New Year! I wish you clear writing and all good things in 2022! Please, if over the course of the year you have occasion to write out twenty twenty-two in words, make sure that you spell “two” correctly. Nobody wants twenty twenty too!

Monday Muddle: two: (noun)(adjective) one more than one; the second in a series too: (adverb) also; very, excessively to: (preposition) indicates direction, position, or purpose

Monday Muddle: plumb, plum

LC December 27, 2021 Monday Muddle

How many of you had plum pudding for Christmas? Was it plum plum pudding? It probably wasn’t plumb plum pudding.

Monday Muddle: plum: (noun) a fruit; the tree that grows the fruit; (adjective) ideal; highly desirable; a reddish-purple colour plumb: (adjective) to be perfectly vertical; to be perpendicular to the base; (noun) commonly referred to as a plumb bob; a weight (traditionally lead) on a piece of string; (verb) to measure the depth of a body of water; to test or adjust the verticality of a structure The verb to plumb can also mean to connect to a plumbing system, or to work as a plumber.

Tag: #AmWriting

Monday Muddle: lose, loose

Monday Muddle: peel, peal

Monday Muddle: apart, a part