Lose or loose, confusion over spelling

JackyB

Oh, I see lots have already explained it - and far more succinctly too!

Don’t worry. Repetition is a great learning tool 😆

Oh, I see lots have already explained it - and far more succinctly too!

Charleygirl5

A lot depends on where and when people are taught. I can spell, and mental arithmetic is second nature to me, but nothing beyond that for the latter. I was educated in Scotland during the late 40s and early 50s, and it was hammered into us, literally. Are children taught times tables now?

One word flummoxes me, and that is practise/pracice. Any bright suggestions please?

@#£%&

charlygirl5

I haven't read further to see if anyone has answered thjs so far, but it is easy to remember if you compare it to advice/advise.

Advice and practice, spelt with a "c" and pronounced with a voiceless "s" (ssss) are the nouns. You give advice, or hear it or take it. But you can't "advice" someone.

The verbs are advise and practise. Both spelt with an "s". Unfortunately the "s" in practise is pronounced the same as for the noun. BUT if you refer in your head back to "advise" with the "zzz" sound, you can remind yourself that the verb practise is spelt with an "s".

Verb:

I practise the piano every day.
She became proficient at several conjuring tricks by practising regularly.
The pharmacist advises customers on suitable medication.

Noun:

I didn't have time for piano practice on Christmas day.
I was late for hockey practice last Tuesday.
Practice makes perfect.
The practice of kissing under the mistletoe originated centuries ago.
When I was expecting my first baby I was confused by all the contradictory advice people gave me.

Of course, if you're American, you don't have to differentiate. They use the "practice" version for verb and noun.

And there’s me thinking that the point of Gransnet was to encourage discussion.
Silly me! I forgot about people who don’t agree with this and think that the posts should only be complimentary.
However, I have no intention of hurting or belittling anyone and I really resent your implication that I do.

Crosstitchfan
I’m just wondering if you realise how snobbish you sound, some people didn’t have a good education through no fault of their own, caring for a parent, being kept off school to do household chores etc, and that’s not even taking into consideration dyslexia or any other issues.
Personally I couldn’t care less how people spell, I would never ridicule them, I care more about how a person treats others and how kind their heart is.
I sincerely hope you and some other comments haven’t put people off posting a problem they need help with because they didn’t get top marks in spelling

Sadly I think spellcheckers etc are to blame! When I was at school we didn't have mobile phones in our bags or constantly in our hands and a lot of emphasis was put on spelling and punctuation! We needed to be able to speak and form sentences ... not so much these days.

It is hard because you normally pronounce single o as not or with the e as note. 2 oos is oo as in moo - or ought to be. Teaching English spelling is a bit of a nightmare......

Plunger
Seen in a local market 'Sprouts on the stork'.

Love it! 🤗🤗
That explains where all the baby sprouts come from.

RosieandherMaw

No confusion really. In the case of lose/loose , different words (and pronunciations)

Lose , dying when you re talking about loss or death. (Looz)
Loose means released, unrestricted or free - let loose the dogs of war, or I have no loose change. (Looss)
The context dictates which word is right.
However, when a person is talking about their own bereavement we just have to let it go because to point it out would be crass in the circumstances.
( Dieing simply doesn’t exist.)

I have started to become confused about lose and loose. I don’t why - I am sure I used to know the difference. Is it because of the pronunciation of lose? I didn’t understand Rosie’s explanation, but found this useful (from Google):
Easy way to remember
Lose rhymes with "choose" (one 'o') and means an action of losing.
Loose rhymes with "moose" (two 'o's) and describes something not tight.

Lose is a verb, but gives us lost, which can also be an adjective (eg a lost dog).
Loose is generally an adjective but can also be a verb (eg I loosened the leash).
Ha - I think I just invented a way to remember the difference ‘I loosened the leash and the dog was lost’.

Yes, obviously it should be stalk.

Plunger

Seen in a local market 'Sprouts on the stork'.

😻 Love it 😁

hollysteers

Recently seen on FB comments “Manor from heaven” 😳

Wouldn’t we all like one of those, especially if it had a butler as well.

It is the grocer's apostrophe that makes me cringe!

Especially for those who should know better, typos in newspapers, and even in books these days.

I am a schoolreader and my 10-year-olds are quite bemused when they spot something in a book. This is not a misprint, or even an Americanism, but often the use of the wrong word (bare with me)

For practise and practice, think of advise and advice. He advises - his advice is good, ie. practise is the verb and practice is the noun.

Magenta8

Being dyslexic goodness nose how many words I spell incorrectly without realising. I must get right up the pedants' knowses every time I post.

As long as your meaning is clear, not sure why it matters

Thanks for pointing out spelling mistakes.
Intriguing the words causing confusion.

A confusion I often see is between "stool" and "stall", as in "Footstall for sale".
One of my particular bugbears is using "there's" (a contraction of "there is") followed by a plural noun. e.g. "There's thousands of fans here today" instead of "there are".
Convenience, laziness or doesn't it matter?

I am known as a "grammar nazi" so it's mortifying to be pulled up on my own spelling or grammar but we all occasionally make mistakes.

Even as a young child I can remember being appalled when the teacher asked us to give her a sentence containing "are" and one of my classmates said something along the lines of
"Are Gran and Grandad took us to the park".

I was working as a TA in Year 3 when the "Literacy hour" was introduced. One of the early lessons I had to teach involved matching picture cards to words containing various digraphs: ll, sh, th etc. One little boy held up his picture of a doll and said 'I can't do this one 'cos I haven't got a "W"!'
Some of the children took great delight in being able to tell you what a "split digraph" etc was but on the whole I think personally that that over-complicates things for children who are already struggling. Teaching the correct way to use words by myriad examples is more important than the correct terminology (other than basic "Noun", "Verb", "Adjective", "Adverb" etc).

Recently seen on FB comments “Manor from heaven” 😳

DrWatson In general, the standard of education has fallen off a cliff in the last 30 or 40 years, with some lousy English (see just about any F'book debate?!), and the History & Geography levels have also gone down the drane.
Did you mean 'drain'?

I wonder why there are such different judgements made about the ability to spell and use grammar correctly and the ability to use mathematics? Those with mathematical difficulties or shortcomings are rarely accused of being uneducated etc etc and some even sport their ineptitude as a badge of honour.

And what’s all this ‘stop with’ business, when just ‘stop’ would be fine?
(Yes, I know it’s yet another import from across the pond….)

J52

It might help to think that ‘lost’ has one ‘o’ as does ‘lose’

‘Loose’ has two ‘o’s making loose like a waistband.

‘Their’ has an ‘I’ in it and often refers to people, like I am.

Great tools.

Nanny27

kjmpde

I get confused with spelling so I try to find a different word to suit the phrase

on the same thread - look at people who get confused over hanging. I was always told that a person is hung and a picture is hanged

This is interesting because I have always used those words the other way round. A person is hanged whereas a picture is hung.
Am I wrong?

To me it’s the person who is hanged, too. I still remember being told by my father, who was a stickler for correctness in both speech and writing.

lazydays

I’m educated and have always been good at English subjects not so good on the numeric subjects but for the life of me and it’s been a long one! Thankfully!
I have started getting stuck on words when typing.
Of course I know the difference between words like no and know etc but I look back at my texting and the incorrect version is there.
I’ve always been a sticker for these basic words however lately I am stuck on when to use worse or worst any advice.

Worse is the comparative form and worst the superlative form of the adjective bad.
His driving is worse than hers.
He is the worst driver of all the people I know.

I’m educated and have always been good at English subjects not so good on the numeric subjects but for the life of me and it’s been a long one! Thankfully!
I have started getting stuck on words when typing.
Of course I know the difference between words like no and know etc but I look back at my texting and the incorrect version is there.
I’ve always been a sticker for these basic words however lately I am stuck on when to use worse or worst any advice.

Good grammar is the difference between knowing your sh1t, and knowing you're sh1t