The Amateur Etymologist

Shift vs Move

I remember editing an academic book on the development of Malaysian and Singaporean English. One of the words that the writer had discussed was the use of the word shift. Here in Singapore, we tend to say things like:

I've shifted house.
I'm shifting.

The better word to use in these cases is move. I've moved house. I'm moving. Move does carry the meaning of changing your place of residence. To say that I'm shifting house, sounds as if you're moving the entire house to a new location.

Strictly speaking, shift does carry some of the same definition as move but it's a poor choice of word. When you're talking about changing the place where you stay, it's better to use move.

Whilst vs While, Midst vs Mid

A friend asked if there was a different between whilst and while. I told her they were essentially the same word. Whilst is chiefly British in usage but it's also old-fashioned. If you feel the urge to use whilst, just swap it for while and it will sound a lot better. For example: "Whilst he was working, the phone rang" can be rewritten as "While he was working, the phone rang." You can therefore safely swap every instance of whilst with while.

The same is not true for midst and mid. Midst is a noun and mid is an adjective. Midst is a noun that means the central point or the condition of being surrounded. Mid is an adjective that means being the part that is in the middle. In the midst of storm, the rescue party arrived. It doesn't work with mid: In the mid of the storm... Similarly, we can say in mid ocean but we can't say in midst ocean.

I hope that clears it up.

Solecism

Someone asked me what a solecism was. I've used it several times on the blog. While, a solecism is simply an incorrect or ungrammatical combination of words. It's also a mistake of grammar that people think is correct because they see it or use it so often but it is actually incorrect.  "Please revert" is probably my most hated solecism.

Prefer… to vs Prefer... over

I saw a Primary school worksheet the other day and it was explaining how to use the word prefer. The example it had read:

I like oranges. I like pears more than oranges.

This can be combined to form: I prefer oranges to pears.

I was surprised. Prefer means "to like better or best". Since I like oranges better, the correct sentence should read:

I prefer pears to oranges.

So if I like tennis better than badminton, I prefer tennis to badminton.

Note also the pairing of prefer and to in the examples. This is what most English teachers recommend. However, a lot of people are now pairing prefer and over.

I prefer tennis over badminton.

This pairing of prefer with over is fairly well established now. I daresay though, that it's an expression of American English. Here's an easy way to compare the usage: take a look at the search results from the New York Times vs The Times of London for the phrase prefer over.

Bring vs Take

I was sending my kid to school today and I noticed a banner strung up on the fence. It read:

Calling all Dads! Time to bring your children to school.

It was a sweet message asking dads to more involved with their children but the sentence is grammatically incorrect. It's the word bring. Many people confuse the usage of bring and take. Is there a difference? Of course there is. It's all based on where the speaker is.

If you're at home and you want your children to come back home, you have to bring them home. Bring means you make something come to your location.

On the other hand, if I need to get my children to school, I have to take them there. Take means you move something from your location to another place. So for the banner I saw, the correct wording should have been:

Calling all Dads! Time to take your children to school.

Remember, the right word to use is in relation to where the speaker is. People will bring things to you or you can take it to them. I can ask someone to bring me something: Can you bring me a cup of water? But if I'm getting the water, I will take it to the person who asked for it. Get it?

Here's a handy tip that might help you: when you take something over there, remember take and there both start with the letter t.