Writerly Question

[rhienelleth]

We all have those words, right? Little foibles? Its vs. it's or there, their, and they're?

One of my betas pointed out one of mine this morning, and I was honestly completely baffled that this has been in my writing for so, so long with me inexplicably unaware: breath vs. breathe.

I actually have a vague memory of using "breathe" once upon a time, and being told it was the English spelling, not the American, and why was I using it? At which point, I apparently eradicated it from usage and have only used "breath" since.

But it seems that was the incorrect thing to do, and breath is used when "Anna took a breath." While breathe is used "Anna loved to breathe in the fresh air."

So, what say all the writers on my f-list?

Also, what's your word use achilles heel?

Also, thank God for find and replace.

ETA: So, amidst all of the correct uses of breath, breathed, breathing, breathless, breathable, and breathes, I found eleven places where "breath" needed to be "breathe".

Comments

[ogre-san.livejournal.com]

I'll occasionally misuse "its" and "it's" even though I KNOW to the depth of my being what the difference is.

I think my main achilles heel is a tendency to leave words out rather than to misuse them.

[rhienelleth.livejournal.com]

Its and it's are EVIL. I, too, still catch misuse of these in my own writing from time to time, even though this rule is tattooed upon my soul.

[gelliaclodiana]

"Breath" is a noun and "breathe" is a verb. I think. Like "bath" and "bathe," except that one doesn't use the verb "bathe" much.

I regularly misuse "it's" and "its," but my real bugbear is that when writing by hand I will on occasion write phonetically -- "shure" for "sure" and that kind of thing.

[rhienelleth.livejournal.com]

*sigh*

*resists urge to bang head on keyboard*

In 516 double spaced pages, "breath" appears 93 times. This includes correct uses such as the noun "breath" as well as the past and present tense uses "breathed" and "breathing", but oy, what a pain to go through every. single. one.

[rhienelleth.livejournal.com]

....and also such words as "breathless" and "breathable".

[frenchroast.livejournal.com]

My problem is trying to remember the proper English spelling instead of the French. And vice versa when I'm writing in French. It's worst when I'm reading a French book or in the months after I come back from staying abroad in France. Apartment and address almost always get me; I want to spell them appartement and adresse.

[csinman.livejournal.com]

Here's another one, hehe...

It's eradicated, not irradicated! :)

[rhienelleth.livejournal.com]

Hmm, wonder why spellcheck didn't catch that? I had iradicated first, knew that was wrong, but couldn't remember the proper spelling. When I added the extra "r", it still looked wrong, but spellcheck said yes....

[csinman.livejournal.com]

Spellcheck must be a gardener! hehe

To "irradicate" is to root deeply; to "eradicate" is to to remove or destroy.

(Do you find it as hilarious as I do that in Firefox, "spellcheck" is underlined in red?)

[rhienelleth.livejournal.com]

Aha, so there ARE two versions - I did not know. Not much of a gardener. :D

(Do you find it as hilarious as I do that in Firefox, "spellcheck" is underlined in red?)

Yes, yes I do. Now that is a perfect example of irony. :-/

[shadawyn.livejournal.com]

I mixed up use of toward/towards (even though I don't usually have verb-noun agreement problems) for a long time until the editor boyfriend was editing something I wrote and pointed it out.

[csinman.livejournal.com]

Those are both acceptable uses; neither is incorrect. I'm curious what he thinks the "correct usage" is?

[aka-paloma.livejournal.com]

I was curious about that as well so I checked my Concise OED and it states that "towards" is chiefly American.

[csinman.livejournal.com]

Yes! Every resource I could find agreed that adding "s" is a more British spelling, but they're still interchangeable. Unlike colour and color, you'll probably find that many American books on your shelves contain "towards."

[shadawyn.livejournal.com]

I believe he said that it should be "she can toward it" rather than "she ran toward(s) it."

[csinman.livejournal.com]

Well, tell him he's full of it. Hahaha!

If he needs more, there are these as well...

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_difference_between_'toward'_and_'towards'
http://dictionary.reference.com/help/faq/language/d49.html
http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/between-versus-among.aspx
http://www.englishrules.com/writing/2005/toward-or-towards.php

[shadawyn.livejournal.com]

Well, that explains why it was never brought up before in critiques.

To be fair, he may have been biased by the style guide for the publishing company he is an editor for :D

[csinman.livejournal.com]

That's true! Good call.