For some reason, when a noun is preceded by the indefinite article “a”, people like to delete the space between them and turn them into adverbs or prepositions, for example. It’s a mistake seen frequently with “a part”, but also with other combinations. The most common example of the space elimination trend is “a lot”, but deleting that space doesn’t actually create a new word.
The same problem doesn’t seem to exist with nouns preceded by the indefinite article “an”.
“Fell” is also a noun, a verb, and the past tense of the verb “to fall”, but that is not what gets mixed up here.
To do something in one fell swoop means to do it all at once. One action can accomplish an entire task. The noun swoop dates from the 1540s, and represents the action that a bird takes when pouncing on its prey. One fell swoop—one deadly pounce—meant that the prey was caught in one shot. No need for further attempts.
Abdicating is an action that a person chooses to do, and that person is very likely an adult. It is not an action that is done to you. So if you see a sentence that says that the boy was abdicated, it is a safe bet that abducted was meant.
If you say “We are invisible!” when you mean “We are invincible!” your audience will be confused. Or laugh at you. Or both.
It’s always nice to be correct, but sometimes it is important to avoid confusion and unwanted consequences. “I can’t love you anymore” does not mean the same thing as “I can’t love you any more”. (If you are saying that verbally rather than in writing, you might want to use different words to express your feelings.)
Remember that “any more” as two words relates to quantity, and “anymore” as one word relates to time.
“Any more” (as two words) is used in the same way in negative statements as “some more” (also two words, but seldom confused as one) is used in positive statements. Example: I want some more cake.
“Any more” always comes before a noun, although sometimes the noun is understood without being stated. Example: Would you like more cake? Yes, but I don’t need any more. It is understood from the question that what you don’t need any more of is cake.
“Anymore” always relates to a verb, indicating there is something that you don’t do any longer. Example: I’m on a diet, so I don’t eat cake anymore.
If you can substitute the words any longer, without changing the meaning, use one word. If you still aren’t sure which to use, use two words, because some people (primarily British) still accept the two-word version as correct for both meanings.
Those who have been following me for a while might recognize this muddle. I’ve shared it before, but I thought it would be worth sharing again since I see this mistake so often. You might say that it’s an everyday occurrence.
Here’s a trick to help you figure out which spelling you need. Complement, which means to complete, has the same first six letters as complete. Knowing that I should say nice things to people more often will help me remember that compliment has an i.
Here are a couple tips to help you know when you need the apostrophe. “Its” will be followed by a noun, though there might be a descriptive adjective (or several) before it. “It’s” might be followed by just an adjective. (e.g. It’s yellow.) But if “it’s” is followed by a noun, with or without a descriptive adjective, there will almost certainly be an article (a, an, the) or a possessive adjective before the noun. “It’s” might even be followed by “its”. For example: Why is there a bowl on the floor? It’s its usual location. It’s the dog’s food dish.
“Its” should never have an apostrophe after the s.
Autocorrect does not know the difference between “it’s” and “its”, so don’t trust it to choose for you.
The word “bear” can mean several different things depending on context. Conversely, “bare” really only means that there is nothing extra added.
The expression “bear with me” is asking for patience. The expression “bare with me” is asking for a whole lot more, and I always suggest that you want to be careful about when you use that one.
