Grammar Gripes: Pesky Pairs

By Natalie Zellat Dyen
Published News and Views, the newsletter of the Society for Technical Communications Philadelphia Metro Chapter

Brad and Angelina? Britney and Kevin? Inquiring minds want to know. Or is it "enquiring" minds? Inquire and enquire form one of those pesky word pairs. Can you use these two words interchangeably or does each have a distinct meaning? According to Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, inquire and enquire are synonymous.

Insure, ensure

Similarly, insure and ensure are interchangeable in most contexts. You should use insure when you mean "protect against loss"; otherwise, there's no differene between the two. I suspect that people use the en-prefixed variant to sound more cultured. Perhaps it makes one feel a little less guilty about picking up the National Enquirer instead of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Imply, infer

I don't mean to imply that I'm a literary snob, but you might infer that from the previous paragraph. Which brings us to another troublesome duo. Imply means "to suggest or to say indirectly." Infer means "to deduce or conclude from facts" Both words were used correctly earlier in this paragraph, but are used incorrectly in the following sentence: "Are you inferring that I'm a liar?"

Less, fewer

One pair that is misused unmercifully, particularly in the media, is less and fewer. Fewer people use fewer, while more use less. Both words are used for comparison with something larger. Fewer applies to number ("we have fewer coins"), while less applies to quantity ("we have less money"). Every time some pseudodontist in a TV ad tells me I'll have less cavities if I brush with a particular toothpaste, I want to wash his mouth out with soap.

Comprise, compose

I always stumble over these two. Comprise means "to contain, knclude, or consist of." A whole comprises its parts, as in "The U.S. comprises 50 states." Compose means "to make up or constitute." Parts compose the whole, as in "The U.S. is composed of 50 states." Unfortunately, the phrase "is comprised of" has been so commonly misused as a synonym for "is made up of" that many consider it standard usage. Whenever I'm tempted to do the same, I'm visited by the spirit of Miss Raycroft, my 10th grade English teacher, who smaks my wrist with her virtual ruler.

Effect, affect

Even the most effective writers may hesitate before choosing between effect and affect. Affect, used as a noun or adjective, denotes feeling or emotion. ("He has the affective depth of a Brillo pad") Effect, as a noun or adjective, denotes results ("She is an effective speaker and her words have a profound effect on the audience.")

It's the verb form that causes the most confusion. To affect means "to have an influence on." ("Her actions will affect the lives of men in the organization.") To effect means to bring about, cause, result in." You effect changes. ("She will effect big changes in the organization if she fires all the men.")

Other favorite pairs

Other troublesome twosomes are compliment (flattery)/complement (complete); beside (next to)/besides (moreover); farther (physical distance)/further (figurative distance); and discreet (prudent)/discrete (separate).

The flammables

One of my favorite twosomes is actually a threesome: flammable, inflammable, and nonflammable. Which of these adjectives describes a harmless substance and which describes a combustible one? Flammable and inflammable are synonyms meaning "easily set on fire," while nonflammable is just that--not flammable. The confusion lies with the prefix in, which often means "not." Of course, as Gearge Carlin says, if your car is on a collision course with a truck marked "inflammable liquid," you last thoughts on this earth will probably be "Hmm. INflammable. Is that the same as flammable?"

Local yokels

I'd like to end with two words that are often misued in the Philadelphia area: youse and yiz. When in doubt, just remember that youse is the second person singular, and yiz is the second person plural. You'll never be mistaken for a tourist.

Natalie Zellat Dyen
nat.dyen@verizon.net