Break and its various forms are found in a number of idioms and expressions. Here is an extensive but likely incomplete list of such usages. 1. All hell break(s) loose: chaos ensues 2. Break bad: defy authority 3. Break bread: to dine together, thus symbolizing peace and cooperation 4. Break a code: figure out a … Read more
What’s the difference between reciprocation and reciprocity? The distinction is fine but useful. Both reciprocation and reciprocity mean “an act of return or requiting”; when one reciprocates, one responds to an action or a gesture by doing the same thing or something equivalent in form or value. These words stem from the Latin term reciprocus; … Read more
Watching a rerun of Castle (U.S. television police drama), I was startled to hear a character use the expression “counting coup.” TV script writers rarely throw in literary or historical allusions. I was pleased to hear it, but disappointed to hear the character pronounce the p in coup. English has borrowed coup from the French … Read more
How long can you go on writing without using of? You’ll quickly find that it’s an invaluable word, but writers often take it for granted, and its repeated use is a sure sign of prolixity. Of is a preposition, a word positioned before its object: In “a stroke of luck,” for example, of is the … Read more
Here are several questions from DailyWritingTips.com readers about use of prepositions, and my responses. 1. I was always taught, “Never use a preposition to end a sentence.” For example, “I want to go with” should be “I also want to go,” or “Use the dustbin to throw the rubbish in” should be “Throw the rubbish … Read more
When we launched Daily Writing Tips back in 2007, our goal was a simple one: to help people improve their writing skills. Over 2,000 articles later, we believe we have achieved that goal. Today, we are launching a new section called Daily Writing Tips Pro. Our plan is to provide more features and tools for … Read more
No doubt about it, the pronoun whom is in its death throes. If you need a refresher, here’s the difference: Who is the subject form of the pronoun, so it’s the doer of an action, as in “That’s the man who climbed Everest.” (subject of “climbed”). Whom is the object form of the pronoun, so … Read more
What’s the difference between testimony and testimonial? The former word refers to formal presentation of facts, while the latter, while denoting the same meaning, has a more qualitative connotation in which opinion (and perhaps deception) is expressed as well. Testimony means “the statement of a witness” and is used generally used only in a legal … Read more
Thanks to the tendency of the English language to borrow freely from various languages, we often end up with two or more similar words — often, one derived from Latin and one or more taken from one of its daughter languages (French, usually) — that develop distinct meanings. Here are five sets of such words. … Read more
Many expressions include the word first, often referring to beginnings or initial experiences. Here is a list of idiomatic phrases featuring the word, and their meanings. 1. First aid: medical care for minor injuries such as mild abrasions, cuts, bruises, and burns 2. First among equals: the sentiment that a leader is merely the premier … Read more
Here are several questions from DailyWritingTips.com readers about suffixes, followed by my responses. 1. Why is cheese-like written as two words, when doglike and catlike are written as single words? I often come across other words that are joined to like with hyphens. Usually, words that end with a vowel are attached to suffixes such … Read more
Blasphemy: A law to protect an All-Powerful, supernatural Deity from getting it’s feelings hurt. As you might expect, this quip by Ricky Gervais stirred strong responses when it was posted on Facebook. Some commenters were amused by it, but others most definitely were not. What caught my attention was not the heated religious discussion that … Read more