Words to Write By Part 8
The Words to Write By series is a quick reference to help explain the differences between commonly misused words. In this installment of Words to Write By, I’ll review taking vs. taken, quiet vs. quite vs. quit, advise vs. advice, and regardless vs. irregardless.
Taking vs. taken: I’m going to explain this without using terms like past participle, present participle, or simple past tense. I find that those terms can make things more confusing than necessary. Taking and taken are both forms of the word take. Taking is the form of the word that is happening now. The baby is taking a nap. While taken is often used with had, has, or have and happened in the past. Cecile no longer works here, she has taken a job with another company. Taken can also mean to be captivated or caught up by the influence of something. Elle was quite taken by Phil’s charms. Or, Susie has taken ill. Or, Contact Leon if anyone else is taken prisoner. Took, on the other hand, does not use has, had, or have, but also refers to something that happened in the past. Sarah took the roast out of the oven.
Quiet vs. quite vs. quit: Quiet refers to lack of sound. I need peace and quiet so I can concentrate on this math problem. Quite means wholly or completely. I wasn’t quite done eating that slice of pie. And quit means to stop or discontinue. If you don’t quit making all that noise, you’ll have to leave.
Advise vs. advice: In advise, the s makes a z sound. It means to give someone a recommendation or opinion. I’d advise you not to discuss this case with anyone. While advice is the recommendation or opinion. I’d like some advice on how to handle this problem.
Regardless vs. irregardless: This is a simple one, once you know that only one of these is actually a word. Regardless is the correct word, meaning without concern for advice, warning, circumstances, etc. Irregardless is widely used, but not an actual word. It may have come about by combining regardless and irrespective, which means to not taking something into account or regardless of.
Look for future installments of “Words to Write By.” You can find links to the rest of the series below.
Part 1: Peak vs. peek vs. pique, further vs. farther, blonde vs. blond, and gray vs. grey.
Part 2: Alleged, hung vs. hanged, a vs. the, and bring vs. take.
Part 3: Who’s vs. whose, whet vs. wet, compliment vs. complement, fazed vs. phased.
Part 4: Fiancé vs. fiancée, insure vs. ensure, alright vs. all right, and simultaneous vs. contemporaneous.
Part 5: Use vs. utilized, bear vs. bare, shuttered vs. shuddered, and breath vs. breathe.
Part 6: Maya vs. Mayan, hole vs. whole, libel vs. slander, patients vs. patience.
Part 7: A vs. an, cite vs. site vs. sight, i.e. vs. e.g., and that vs. who.
Irregardless is one of those funny words where it’s like “I don’t think that means what you think it means”. Because the ir prefix should make the word mean the opposite. Like the difference between reversible and irreversible. So, irregardless should be whatever the opposite of regardless is. 😀
It’s kind of interesting that it is still not acknowledged as a word. The use of it goes clear back to the late 1700s, by some accounts, but didn’t become more commonly used until the early 1900s. A word is created by assigning meaning to a group of letters and having other people understand that meaning. There would be a redundance in having two close spellings to mean the same thing though. But Merriam-Webster added athleisure to the dictionary a few years ago, so I don’t think the standards are all that high. 🤣 Perhaps I’m the only person who has an objection to that word.
It’s still hugely debated, but most agree the word to use is regardless. There is an interesting article supporting the word by a Merriam-Webster lexicographer, but the author points out that it has a slightly different meaning than how most people use it. The article says that irregardless is an emphatic form of regardless meant to shut down an argument. https://www.businessinsider.com/irregardless-real-word-regardless-kory-stamper-education-dictionary-mean-girls-lexicon-merriam-webster-2017-6
The article still agrees that irregardless is not part of standard English though, and especially in formal settings, regardless should be used.
“There would be a redundance in having two close spellings to mean the same thing though.” That is true.
“The article says that irregardless is an emphatic form of regardless meant to shut down an argument.” I love this! It’s like as soon as you say “Irregardless!” that’s the end of the argument. No one can get past that point. 😆
And I agree about athleisure. To me, it looks like the misspelling of “at leisure”. Or like someone started to spell the word “atheist” and got distracted. 😀
🤣🤣 Finally, a plausible explanation of how athleisure came about.
Maybe all this time people have been using irregardless correctly, but the other people in the conversation didn’t realize that was the end of the conversation. It’s the checkmate of all conversations.
Some good selections here, Mandie!
Thank you! 😃
Great selections… some of them are mistakes that are easy to make, especially if English is your second language, others might be easier not to make I think…
Irregardless of what quiet people say, using the wrong word (or form of a word) has taken the South by storm–hell, we’ve even raised it to an art form. Just the other day, I heard some say, “I got an ideal!” They said it with such enthusiasm for a moment I thought they meant “idea.” However, upon further investigation, I saw no shining light bulb over their head.
I thought about advising them of the correct usage of the English language, but quit thinking that way after realizing how big and burly an illiterate I was dealing with.
Personally, I quite taken with you advice and will be taking it to heart in future tomes.
Haha Thanks for the comment, Russell. I find that the more I learn about the English language, the more difficult it is to communicate with people. People tend to be lazy speakers. I’ll get caught up in trying to figure out what word they meant to use, because the word they chose was not right, and I’ll miss the next part of the conversation. Or they’ll leave out the subject of their sentence and not circle back around to that until ten minutes later. At which point I feel relief about finally knowing what they’re talking about.