word meanings

Words Worth – Confusing Word Meanings

Jeff

I am not a member of the grammar police and I am not particularly fond of their worker’s union (wink, wink). All kidding aside, I do like to think I know a fair amount about grammar and word usage, but I must confess, I have some weak areas. If you would like to try your skill at a grammar and word usage test, check out the link below. Fair warning, however, some of the word pairs have fairly nuanced meanings which are often overlooked in common usage.

Ahem! I did manage to earn a “Grammar Pro” ranking.

Here are a few from the quiz to give you a hint. You are on your honor not to look these up for the correct answer beforehand; you’re being watched!

Which of the following words would fit in the blank space?

“The weather just gets worse the ______________ west you go.”

A – farther B – further

Do you know the difference between infer and imply?

What is the difference between the abbreviations e.g. and i.e. is a bit more tricky.

Try your luck at the linked quiz below:

How Well Do You Know These Commonly Misused Words?

How well did you do?

 

JBRish.com originally published this post

See previous Words Worth entries HERE

Say What? The Penny Has Dropped!

Jeff

There is an expression,the penny has dropped, that I became aware of recently and I had no idea what it meant. I know the expression,dropping a dime on someone (see below), but this was new to me. As in interested wordsmith, I went to Google to retrieve the answer.

It refers to someone realizing the situation they are currently in after it possibly eluded them for some time. You can find out the derivation of the phrase by checking out the link from the Urban Dictionary. Phrase evolution is very interesting indeed!

Dropping the Dime on Someone – At one time a telephone call cost ten cents. Dropping a dime refers to tattling on someone or revealing information about someone via a telephone call. Of course it no longer has to be via a telephone call. The phrase is not in popular contemporary use, but it is found in detective novels from time-to-time.