CTS logo
hazy blue Catskill Mountains in distance

A Thought…

I simply can’t resist a cat, particularly a purring one. They are the cleanest, cunningest, and most intelligent things I know, outside of the girl you love, of course.

   — Abroad with Mark Twain

This vs That

Posted on 2017-Apr-09 at 10:29:16 by Phil
Last update on 2022-Jul-05 at 10:15:00 by Phil

Something that always irritates me is seeing people use the wrong form of two-word expressions/words, particularly those which are a verb (action) plus a direction such as “up” or “out”. If it’s a verb, it’s two words; if it’s a noun, it’s one. Some examples:

  • back up verb to store away a copy for safekeeping: “Are you going to back up your computer today?”
  • backup noun that saved copy: “Are you going to need to restore your last backup of the system?”
  • build up verb strengthen or create or enlarge: “Don’t pour that melted fat down the drain — it will build up deposits in the pipes!”
  • buildup noun something accreted or deposited into place over time: “The buildup of plaque in his arteries gave him a heart attack.”
  • call up verb to contact or summon: “The President will call up the reservists.”
  • callup noun the act of calling up people: “The callup took two weeks after the draft was reinstated.”
  • clean up verb to make clean or remove corruption: “I need to clean up this mess!”
  • cleanup noun the act of cleaning up something: “You’re going to have to do a cleanup after your system was hacked!”
  • fill up verb to add something to a container: “Did you remember to fill up the gas tank?”
  • fillup noun the act of filling a container: “I got a free drinking glass with my fillup today!” (Yes, they used to not only pump the gas for you, but give you a token of their appreciation, too!)
  • look up verb to search for: “I need to look up her telephone number.”
  • lookup noun the result of looking for something: “Did the log lookup find anything interesting?”
  • set up verb to arrange or set out: “Have you set up the test yet?”
  • setup noun something set in place and ready: “What did the setup of this run cost?”
  • put down verb to demean or criticize: “You shouldn’t put down your friends, on a whim!”
  • putdown noun the act of putting down someone: “Don Rickles was the master of the putdown, even of his best friends.”
  • shut down verb to turn off or cease operations: “You don’t shut down your computer with the On-Off switch!”
  • shutdown noun the act of shutting down something: “I don’t think the shutdown of your PC went well.”
  • call out verb to name, enumerate, or publicly shame: “You should call out Jim on this actions, if he does it again!”
  • callout noun an act of calling out, pointing to, or enumerating: “Does the callout point to the right footnote?”
  • check out verb to make payment in a store and complete the transaction: “My shopping cart is full; let me check out before I come to dinner.” Also to inspect or size up someone or something, or get something out of a library.
  • checkout noun an act finishing a shopping transaction: “I think something went wrong with the checkout — I didn’t get a confirmation email.”
  • clean out verb to clear out or clean up something, such as “The robbers cleaned out the safe” or “I need to clean out this refrigerator before the new life forms become sentient”.
  • cleanout noun an access to clean out a pipe or similar, especially wastewater and sewage pipes: The Headless Body of Agnew in Futurama has a sewer cleanout capping his neck.”
  • lay out verb to design or organize and put in order: “I lay out my clothes for the next day before going to bed.”
  • layout noun a design or organized state: “Has the circuit layout been checked over?”
  • shoot out verb to hit something with a projectile: “Watch me shoot out that streetlight over there!”
  • shootout noun an act of exchanging gunfire or other unpleasantries: “The three criminals were killed in a shootout with the police.”
  • shout out verb to very publicly name or point out, usually in a friendly manner: “I’d like to shout out a greeting to my best friend!”
  • shoutout noun an act of shouting out or publicly pointing to: “I gave a big shoutout to you on TV!”
  • left over verb phrase to remain after something else is done. “The remainder is the integer value left over after the integer division process.”
  • leftover noun that which remains after something is done. “What’s for dinner? Leftovers!

Posted on 2023-Jun-08 at 14:45:00 by Phil

Orignally published in Inc. magazine as 32 Incorrectly Used Words That Can Make You Look Bad, by Jeff Haden. The original seems to be offline, but is still available from elsewhere (https://kspress.com/news/2014/05/14/writer-points-out-traps-to-avoid). I’ve added a few notes of my own in [square brackets] — Phil.

While I like to think I know a little about business writing, I often fall into a few word traps. For example, “who” and “whom.” I rarely use “whom” when I should. Even when spell check suggests “whom,” I think it sounds pretentious. So I don’t use it. [Don’t forget variants such as whoever and whomever.]

And I’m sure some people then think, “What a bozo.”

And that’s a problem, because just as one misspelled word can get a résumé tossed onto the “nope” pile, one wrong word can negatively impact your entire message.

Fair or unfair, it happens.

So let’s make sure it doesn’t.

Adverse and averse

Adverse means harmful or unfavorable: “Adverse market conditions caused the IPO to be poorly subscribed.” Averse refers to feelings of dislike or opposition: “I was averse to paying $18 a share for a company that generates no revenue.”

But you can feel free to have an aversion to adverse conditions.

Affect and effect

Verbs first. Affect means to influence: “Impatient investors affected our roll-out date.” Effect means to accomplish something: “The board effected a sweeping policy change.” How you use effect or affect can be tricky. For example, a board can affect changes by influencing them, or can effect changes by implementing them. Use effect if you’re making it happen, and affect if you’re having an impact on something someone else is trying to make happen.

As for nouns, effect is almost always correct: “Once he was fired he was given 20 minutes to gather his personal effects.” Affect refers to an emotional state, so unless you’re a psychologist, you probably should not be using it.

Compliment and complement

Compliment is to say something nice. Complement is to add to, enhance, improve, complete, or bring close to perfection. So, I can compliment your staff and their service, but if you have no current openings you have a full complement of staff. And your new app may complement your website.

For which I may decide to compliment you.

Criteria and criterion

“We made the decision based on one overriding criteria” sounds pretty impressive but is wrong.

Remember: one criterion, two or more criteria [criteria is simply the plural of criterion!], although you could always use “reason” or “factors” and not worry about getting it wrong.

Discreet and discrete

Discreet means careful, cautious, showing good judgment: “We made discreet inquiries to determine whether the founder was interested in selling her company.”

Discrete means individual, separate, or distinct: “We analyzed data from a number of discrete market segments to determine overall pricing levels.” And if you get confused, remember you don’t use discreetion to work through sensitive issues; you exercise discretion.

Elicit and illicit

Elicit means to draw out or coax. Think of elicit as the mildest form of extract or, even worse, extort. So if one lucky survey respondent will win a trip to the Bahamas, the prize is designed to elicit responses.

Illicit means illegal or unlawful. I suppose you could “illicit” a response at gunpoint … but you best not.

Farther and further

Farther involves a physical distance: “Florida is farther from New York than Tennessee.” Further involves a figurative distance [including time]: “We can take our business plan no further.” So, as we say in the South, “I don’t trust you any farther than I can throw you.” Or, “I ain’t gonna trust you no further.”

(Seriously. I’ve uttered both of those sentences. More than once.)

Imply and infer

The speaker or writer implies. The listener or reader infers. Imply means to suggest, while infer means to deduce (whether correctly or not). So, I might imply you’re going to receive a raise. You might [in turn] infer that a pay increase is imminent. (But not eminent, unless the raise will be prominent and distinguished.)

Insure and ensure

This one’s easy. Insure refers to insurance [monetary payout to recoup a loss]. Ensure means to make sure. So if you promise an order will ship on time, ensure it actually happens. Unless, of course, you plan to arrange for compensation if the package is damaged or lost— then feel free to insure away.

Number and amount

I goof these up all the time. Use number when you can count what you refer to [i.e., it comes in discrete, integral amounts]: “The number of subscribers who opted out increased last month.” Amount refers to a [non-integral] quantity of something that can’t be counted [but can be measured]: “The amount of alcohol consumed at our last company picnic was staggering.” [see also Less vs Fewer.]

Of course it can still be confusing: “I can’t believe the number of beers I drank” is correct, but so is “I can’t believe the amount of beer I drank.” The difference is I can count beers [bottles, cans, glasses, etc.], but beer [a mass quantity], especially if I was way too drunk to keep track, is an uncountable total—so amount is the correct usage.

Precede and proceed

Precede means to come before. Proceed means to begin or continue. Where it gets confusing is when an “ing” comes into play. “The proceeding announcement was brought to you by…” sounds fine, but preceding is correct since the announcement came before.

If it helps, think precedence: Anything that takes precedence is more important and therefore comes first.

Principal and principle

A principle is a fundamental: “We’ve created a culture where we all share certain principles.” Principal means primary or of first importance: “Our startup’s principal is located in NYC.” (Sometimes you’ll also see the plural, principals, used to refer to executives or (relatively) co-equals at the top of a particular food chain.)

Principal can also refer to the most important item in a particular set: “Our principal account makes up 60 percent of our gross revenues.”

Principal can also refer to money, normally a sum that was borrowed, but can be extended to refer to the [total] amount you owe—hence principal and interest.

If you’re referring to laws, rules, guidelines, ethics, etc., use principle. If you’re referring to the CEO or the president (or the individual in charge of the high school), use principal. And now for those dreaded apostrophes.

It’s and its

It’s is the contraction of it is. That means it’s doesn’t own anything. If your dog is neutered (the way we make a dog, however much against his or her will, gender neutral), you don’t say, “It’s collar is blue.” You say, “Its collar is blue.” Here’s an easy test to apply. Whenever you use an apostrophe, un-contract the word to see how it sounds. In this case, turn it’s into it is: “It’s sunny” becomes “It is sunny.” Sounds good to me.

They’re and their [and there]

Same with these: They’re is the contraction for they are. Again, the apostrophe doesn’t own anything. “We’re going to their house, and I sure hope they’re home.” [There, meaning “at some specified place,” shouldn’t confuse anyone, but for some reason it does.]

Who’s and whose

Whose password hasn’t been changed in six months?” is correct. “Who is (the noncontracted version of who’s) password hasn’t been changed in six months?” sounds silly.

You’re and your [and yore]

One more. You’re is the contraction of you are. Your means you own it; the apostrophe in you’re doesn’t own anything. For a long time a local nonprofit had a huge sign that said “You’re Community Place.”

Hmm. “You Are Community Place”?

Probably not.

[Finally, there’s yore, such as in “days of yore”, which sometimes gets substituted for (or vice-versa) your or you’re.]


Posted on 2023-Jun-08 at 17:06:00 by Phil

Orignally published in Inc. magazine by Jeff Haden (https://www.themuse.com/advice/37-commonly-misused-words-that-can-make-you-look-bad). I’ve added a few notes in [square brackets] — Phil.

Where writing is concerned I’m far from perfect. One example: I always struggle with who and whom. (Sometimes I’ll even rewrite a sentence just so I don’t have to worry about the correct usage.)

And that’s a real problem; just as one misspelled word can get your résumé tossed onto the reject pile, one misused word can negatively impact your entire message.

Fair or unfair, it happens all the time — so let’s make sure it doesn’t happen to you.

My post 32 Incorrectly Used Words That Can Make You Look Bad [see previous post] resulted in readers offering a number of other examples of misused words; some of them appear below (thanks!):

Advise and advice

Aside from the two words being pronounced differently (the s in advise sounds like a z), advise is a verb while advice is a noun. Advice is what you give (whether or not the recipient is interested in that gift is a different issue altogether) when you advise someone.

So, “Thank you for the advise is incorrect, while “I advise you not to bore me with your advice in the future” is correct, if pretentious.

If you run into trouble, just say each word out loud and you’ll instantly know which makes sense; there’s no way you’d ever say, “I advice you to…”

Ultimate and penultimate

Recently I received a pitch from a PR professional that read, “(Acme Industries) provides the penultimate value-added services for discerning professionals.”

As Inigo would say, “I do not think it means what you think it means.”

Ultimate means the best, or final, or last. Penultimate means the last but one, or second to last. (Or, as a Monty Python-inspired Michelangelo would say, “the Penultimate Supper!”)

But penultimate doesn’t mean second-best. Plus, I don’t think my PR friend meant to say her client offered second-class services. (I think she just thought the word sounded cool.)

Also, keep in mind that using ultimate is fraught with hyperbolic peril. Are you—or is what you provide—really the absolute best imaginable? That’s a tough standard to meet.

Well and good

Anyone who has children uses good more often than he or she should. Since kids pretty quickly learn what good means, “You did good, honey” is much more convenient and meaningful than “You did well, honey.”

But that doesn’t mean good is the correct word choice.

Good is an adjective that describes something; if you did a good job, then you do good work. Well is an adverb that describes how something was done; you can do your job well.

Where it gets tricky is when you describe, say, your health or emotional state. “I don’t feel well” is grammatically correct, even though many people (including me) often say, “I don’t feel too good.” On the other hand, “I don’t feel good about how he treated me” is correct; no one says, “I don’t feel well about how I’m treated.”

[N.B.: when talking about feeling poorly, an American may say, “I feel sick,” which in British English means, “I feel like I’m about to vomit.” A Brit would say, “I feel ill.” Just be aware of the difference in terminology across the Pond!]

Confused? If you’re praising an employee and referring to the outcome, say, “You did a good job.” If you’re referring to how the employee performed say, “You did incredibly well.”

And while you’re at it, stop saying good to your kids and use great instead, because no one — especially a kid — ever receives too much praise.

If and whether

If and whether are often interchangeable. If a yes/no condition is involved, then feel free to use either: “I wonder whether Jim will finish the project on time” or “I wonder if Jim will finish the project on time.” (Whether sounds a little more formal in this case, so consider your audience and how you wish to be perceived.)

What’s trickier is when a condition is not involved. “Let me know whether Marcia needs a projector for the meeting” isn’t conditional, because you want to be informed either way. “Let me know if Marcia needs a projector for the meeting” is conditional, because you only want to be told if she needs one. [This still sounds pretty ambiguous to me… it’s not clear what the intent is, as if and whether seem to be used pretty much interchangeably.]

And always use if when you introduce a condition. “If you hit your monthly target, I’ll increase your bonus” is correct; the condition is hitting the target and the bonus is the result. “Whether you are able to hit your monthly target is totally up to you” does not introduce a condition (unless you want the employee to infer that your thinly veiled threat is a condition of ongoing employment).

[Perhaps adding “or not” to “whether” would always clarify whether or not the speaker was expecting a reply?]

Stationary and stationery

You write on stationery. You get business stationery, such as letterhead and envelopes, printed.

But that box of envelopes is not stationary unless it’s not moving — and even then it’s still stationery. [Of course, if you’re flying really fast you may be pushing the envelope… I’ll show myself out now.]

Award and reward

An award is a prize. Musicians win Grammy Awards. Car companies win J.D. Power awards. Employees win Employee of the Month awards. Think of an award as the result of a contest or competition.

A reward is something given in return for effort, achievement, hard work, merit, etc. A sales commission is a reward. A bonus is a reward. A free trip for landing the most new customers is a reward.

Be happy when your employees win industry or civic awards, and reward them for the hard work and sacrifices they make to help your business grow.

Sympathy and empathy

Sympathy is acknowledging another person’s feelings. “I am sorry for your loss” means you understand the other person is grieving and want to recognize that fact.

Empathy is having the ability to put yourself in the other person’s shoes and relate to how the person feels, at least in part because you’ve experienced those feelings yourself.

The difference is huge. Sympathy is passive; empathy is active. (Here’s a short video by Brené Brown that does a great job of describing the difference — and how empathy fuels connection while sympathy drives disconnection.)

Know the difference between sympathy and empathy, live the difference, and you’ll make a bigger difference in other people’s lives.

Criterion and criteria

A criterion is a principle or standard. If you have more than one criterion, those are referred to as criteria.

But if you want to be safe and you only have one issue to consider, just say standard or rule or benchmark. Then use criteria for all the times there are multiple specifications or multiple criterion (OK, standards) involved.

Mute and moot

Think of mute like the button on your remote; it means unspoken or unable to speak. In the U.S., moot refers to something that is of no practical importance; a moot point is one that could be hypothetical or even (gasp!) academic. In British English, moot can also mean debatable or open to debate. [how about “moot court”?]

So if you were planning an IPO, but your sales have plummeted, the idea of going public could be moot. And if you decide not to talk about it anymore, you will have gone mute on the subject.

Peak and peek [and pique]

A peak is the highest point; climbers try to reach the peak of Mount Everest. Peek means quick glance, as in giving major customers a sneak peek at a new product before it’s officially unveiled, which hopefully helps sales peak at an unimaginable height.

Occasionally a marketer will try to “peak your interest” or “peek your interest,” but in that case the right word is pique, which means “to excite.” (Pique can also mean “to upset,” [as in a fit of pique] but hopefully that’s not what marketers intend.)

Aggressive and enthusiastic

Aggressive is a very popular business adjective: aggressive sales force, aggressive revenue projections, aggressive product rollout. But unfortunately, aggressive means ready to attack, or pursuing aims forcefully, possibly unduly so.

So do you really want an “aggressive” sales force?

Of course, most people have seen aggressive used that way for so long they don’t think of it negatively; to them it just means hard-charging, results-oriented, driven, etc., none of which are bad things.

But some people may not see it that way. So consider using words like enthusiastic, eager, committed, dedicated, or even (although it pains me to say it) passionate.

Then and than

Then refers in some way to time. “Let’s close this deal, and then we’ll celebrate!” Since the celebration comes after the sale, then is correct.

Then is also often used with if. Think in terms of if-then [programming] statements: “If we don’t get to the office on time, then we won’t be able to close the deal today.”

Than involves a comparison. “Landing Customer A will result in higher revenue than landing Customer B,” or “Our sales team is more committed to building customer relationships than the competition is.”

Evoke and invoke

To evoke is to call to mind; an unusual smell might evoke a long-lost memory [think Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past]. To invoke is to call upon some thing: help, aid, or maybe a higher power.

So hopefully all your branding and messaging efforts evoke specific emotions in potential customers. But if they don’t, you might consider invoking the gods of commerce to aid you in your quest for profitability.

Or something like that.

Continuously and continually

Both words come from the root continue, but they mean very different things. Continuously means never ending. Hopefully your efforts to develop your employees are continuous, because you never want to stop improving their skills and their future.

Continual means whatever you’re referring to [has] stops and starts. You might have frequent disagreements with your co-founder, but unless those discussions never end (which is unlikely, even though it might feel otherwise), then those disagreements are continual.

That’s why you should focus on continuous improvement but only plan to have continual meetings with your accountant: The former should never, ever stop, and the other (mercifully) should.

Systemic and systematic

If you’re in doubt, systematic is almost always the right word to use. Systematic means arranged or carried out according to a plan, method, or system. That’s why you can take a systematic approach to continuous improvement, or do a systematic evaluation of customer revenue or a systematic assessment of market conditions.

Systemic means belonging to or affecting the system as a whole. Poor morale could be systemic to your organization. Or bias against employee diversity could be systemic. [Systemic often means that the problem is baked right into the system itself, in its structure or makeup, rather than being some cosmetic thing.]

So if your organization is facing a pervasive problem, take a systematic approach to dealing with it — that’s probably the only way you’ll overcome it.

Impact and affect

Many people (including until recently me) use impact when they should use affect. Impact doesn’t mean to influence; impact means to strike, collide, or pack firmly. [You can have an impact on something, when you affect it.]

Affect means to influence: “Impatient investors affected our rollout date.”

And to make it more confusing, effect means to accomplish something: “The board effected a sweeping policy change.”

How you correctly use effect or affect can be tricky. For example, a board can affect changes by influencing them and can effect changes by directly implementing them. Bottom line, use effect if you’re making it happen, and affect if you’re having an impact on something that someone else is trying to make happen.

As for nouns, effect is almost always correct: “Employee morale has had a negative effect on productivity.” Affect refers to an emotional state, so unless you’re a psychologist, you probably have little reason to use it.

So stop saying you’ll “impact sales” or “impact the bottom line.” Use affect [or better yet, positively affect].

(And feel free to remind me when I screw that up, because I feel sure I’ll backslide.)

Between and among

Use between when you name separate and individual items. “The team will decide between Mary, Marcia, and Steve when we fill the open customer service position.” Mary, Marcia, and Steve are separate and distinct, so between is correct.

Use among when there are three or more items but they are not named separately. “The team will decide among a number of candidates when we fill the open customer service position.” Who are the candidates? You haven’t named them separately, so among is correct.

And we’re assuming there are more than two candidates; otherwise you’d say between. If there are two candidates you could say, “I just can’t decide between them.”

Everyday and every day

Every day means, yep, every day — each and every day. If you ate a bagel for breakfast each day this week, you had a bagel every day. [Not a bagel everyday.]

Everyday means commonplace or normal. Decide to wear your “everyday shoes” and that means you’ve chosen to wear the shoes you normally wear. That doesn’t mean you have to wear them every single day; it just means wearing them is a common occurrence.

Along and a long

Along means moving in a constant direction or a line, or in the company of others, while a long means of great distance or duration. You wouldn’t stand in “along line,” but you might stand in a long line for a long time, along with a number of other people. [Note that the British call it a queue rather than the American line.]

A couple more examples: a while and awhile, and any way and anyway.

If you’re in doubt, read what you write out loud. It’s unlikely you’ll think, “Is there anyway you can help me?” sounds right.


Posted on 2023-Jun-08 at 17:42:00 by Phil

In general, if you’re not sure whether or not to use an apostrophe (in what is usually a contraction), try expanding the contraction: “who’s keys are these” becomes “who is keys are these?” (clearly wrong, use whose instead).

The other great usage of apostrophes is to indicate possession — does it make any sense to say that something owns something else? For example, I saw a sign “kazoo’s for sale” and I couldn’t help but ask, “what belonging to a kazoo is for sale?”

Of course, it never fails that the possessive of “it” is “its”, without an apostrophe! Except for that one common case, it’s hard to think of any possessive that shouldn’t end with “’s”. And conversely, it’s hard to think of any plural that should end with “’s”, except possibly for some initialisms (e.g., “TV’s” as the plural of “TV” is at least permissible).


Less vs Fewer

Posted on 2023-Jun-08 at 18:26:00 by Phil

It is understandable, though incorrect, that people talk about less of something when they should be saying fewer of something. After all, you use “more” to talk about a larger quantity of anything, so why not say “less” to talk about a smaller quantity? Unfortunately, it’s one of those infuriating English language rules that says it’s not always so!

So when do you use “less” and when must you use “fewer”? “Fewer” refers to countable, discrete items, i.e., something that comes only in integer amounts (1, 2, 3,…). They’re something that can’t be split up. That the average family has 1.7 children doesn’t mean that somewhere you’ll find a family with one whole child with a sibling split down the middle; it’s an abstract statistical or numerical thing. Any given family may have zero children, one child, or two or more children. Children are discrete, countable entities; if my neighbor has a lower count of children than my family does, they have fewer children, not less children.

On the other hand, “less” must be used for anything measured in “mass quantities”. These amounts are not discrete counts, but infinitely divisible quantities, such as gallons or kilograms. You can say “a little less beer” or “a lot less beer”, but not “fewer beer”.

Now, keep in mind that some things can be difficult to choose the form to be used. What’s the difference between, “My head hurts — I should have drunk fewer beers last night,” and “My head hurts — I should have drunk less beer last night.”? In the first case (fewer), you’re talking in discrete units, such as glasses, cups, pints, steins, bottles, cans, etc. of beer — something you can count; thus you use “fewer”. In the second case (less), you’re talking about mass quantities, say, fluid ounces or liters, of beer. As these units can be further subdivided as far as you want, “less” is the proper term.

And yes, that sign hanging over one of the checkout queues at your local supermarket, “Express: 20 items or less” is wrong — it should be “Express: 20 items or fewer”.

 

All content © copyright 2005 – 2025 by Catskill Technology Services, LLC.
All rights reserved.
Note that Third Party software (whether Open Source or proprietary) on this site remains under the copyright and license of its owners. Catskill Technology Services, LLC does not claim copyright over such software.

 

This page is https://www.catskilltech.com/utils/show.php?link=this-vs-that

Search Quotations database.

Last updated Sat, 28 Dec 2024 at 11:29 PM

Valid HTML 5

Tue, 11 Feb 2025 at 1:32 AM EST