Lawyers should possess semantic exactitude\u2014we should appreciate subtle distinctions between words or expressions that look, seem, or sound similar.<\/p>\n
In this issue, we explain the differences between: alphabet<\/em> versus letter<\/em><\/strong> ambiguous<\/em> versus vague<\/em><\/strong> Vague<\/em> means abstract; difficult or impossible to pin down. To use vague<\/em>, you need not proffer or even contemplate a specific interpretation or several specific interpretations. The meaning is just not clear.<\/p>\n amount<\/em>, number<\/em>, and quantity<\/em><\/strong> anyone<\/em> versus any one<\/em><\/strong> awesome<\/em> and awful<\/em><\/strong> bath<\/em> and bathe<\/em><\/strong> been <\/em>and being<\/em> (auxiliary verbs)<\/strong> borrow<\/em> and lend<\/em><\/strong> breath<\/em> and breathe<\/em><\/strong> Breathe<\/em> means \u201cto take air into your lungs and send it out again through your nose or mouth.\u201d (Oxford Advanced Learner\u2019s Dictionary<\/em>)<\/p>\n Britain<\/em>, England<\/em>, Great Britain<\/em>, and United Kingdom<\/em><\/strong> England<\/em> is the part of Britain we\u2019re most familiar with. <\/p>\n Great Britain<\/em> is what the British call their island. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s great. I think Nigeria is great. <\/p>\n United Kingdom<\/em> is short for United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland<\/em>. So United Kingdom<\/em> contains four<\/em> countries: England, Scotland, Wales, and<\/em><\/strong><\/em> Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n What a complicated geography lesson!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Lawyers should possess semantic exactitude\u2014we should appreciate subtle distinctions between words or expressions that look, seem, or sound similar. In this issue, we explain the differences between: \u2022 alphabet and letter \u2022 ambiguous and vague \u2022 amount, number, and quantity \u2022 anyone and any one \u2022 awesome and awful \u2022 bath and bathe \u2022 been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1566,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[174],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-march-2015-edition"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/writehouseng.com\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/writehouseng.com\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/writehouseng.com\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writehouseng.com\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writehouseng.com\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/writehouseng.com\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5162\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writehouseng.com\/w\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/writehouseng.com\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writehouseng.com\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writehouseng.com\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\u2022\talphabet<\/em> and letter<\/em>
\n\u2022\tambiguous<\/em> and vague<\/em>
\n\u2022\tamount<\/em>, number<\/em>, and quantity<\/em>
\n\u2022\tanyone<\/em> and any one<\/em>
\n\u2022\tawesome<\/em> and awful<\/em>
\n\u2022\tbath<\/em> and bathe<\/em>
\n\u2022\tbeen<\/em> and being<\/em>
\n\u2022\tborrow<\/em> and lend<\/em>
\n\u2022\tbreath <\/em>and breathe<\/em>
\n\u2022\tBritain<\/em>, England<\/em>, Great Britain<\/em>, and United Kingdom<\/em><\/p>\n
\nAlphabet<\/em> refers to the entire system of letters of a language. Alphabet means \u201cthe letters of a language arranged in their usual order.\u201d (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). Alphabet<\/em> is the set of letters. A<\/em>, B<\/em>, and C<\/em>are not alphabets; they are letters. A letter<\/em> is a unit of the alphabet. <\/p>\n
\nAmbiguous<\/em> means susceptible of two different meanings. To use ambiguous<\/em>, you must have in the mind the two possible interpretations. <\/p>\n
\nUse amount<\/em> only with uncountable or mass nouns: amount of water, amount of food, amount of work<\/em>. Never use amount with countable nouns: never say or write amount of people, amount of books, amount of phones.<\/em> Say number of people, number or quantity of books, number or quantity of phones<\/em>. Never say quantity of people<\/em>.<\/p>\n
\nAnyone<\/em> always refers to a human being, but any one<\/em> can refer to inanimate objects or abstract ideas. Say you have several cars and I want to borrow one. I should say, \u201cMay I borrow any one<\/em> of your cars?\u201d not \u201cMay I borrow anyone<\/em> of your cars?\u201d Of course in speech, they sound alike. But when you write, remember: anyone<\/em> always refers to a human being.<\/p>\n
\nAwesome<\/em> is positive; awful<\/em> is negative. Awesome<\/em> is good; awful<\/em> is bad.
\nAlthough your dictionary may include a negative nuance in defining awesome, in usage awesome<\/em> is positive. Your listeners or readers won\u2019t read a negative connotation into awesome<\/em>. God is awesome<\/em>. Rolls Royce is awesome<\/em>. Awesome<\/em> means \u2018amazing, astounding, awe-inspiring, great, splendid.\u2019
\nAwful<\/em> means \u2018very bad or unpleasant.\u2019<\/p>\n
\nBath<\/em> is the noun, bathe<\/em> the verb. A bath<\/em> could mean a bathtub or similar container in which we wash ourselves, or an act or instance of washing oneself or another. You take a bath. You go into the bath.
\nTo bathe<\/em> is to wash oneself or another, or to wash a part of the body. You bathe. You bathe the baby. You bathe the wound.<\/p>\n
\nBeen<\/em> is past; being<\/em> is present. Been<\/em> is not merely past\u2014it is typically completed past. When your client returns from the police station after an unpleasant visit, she has been interrogated. When your client is at the police station answering difficult questions and her husband calls you for an update, you report that she is being<\/em> interrogated.<\/p>\n
\nThe giver of a loan lends<\/em>; the receiver borrows<\/em>. Borrow <\/em>me your pen is bad English. Say, lend<\/em> me your pen. <\/p>\n
\nBreath<\/em> is the noun; breathe<\/em> the verb. Breath<\/em> is an act or instance of taking air into the lungs, or the air so taken, or an amount of air that enters the lungs at one time.<\/p>\n
\nBritain<\/em> is an island comprising three countries: England, Scotland, and Wales. When you get a British visa, you can enter any of these three countries.<\/p>\n