Some people find word usage easy. They
remember the difference between affect and effect, regardless and irregardless (the latter is not a word), and
how to conjugate the verb lay. Others occasionally need a refresher course.
Today we are looking at lose and loose. What's the difference between
the two?
Lose is the opposite of win or gain. It
means that you had something at one point,
and now you don't, for better or worse. The conjugation of the verb to lose is lose, lost, have lost. For example, I've
lost fourteen pounds! That's a good thing to lose. On the other hand, our team
lost the semifinals. Not so good.
Loose often refers to clothing or something
that is baggy. He was wearing a loose fitting shirt. Sometimes, it's used in
the pejorative to refer to a woman who sleeps around. She was a loose woman. A
very sexist way of thinking, which I hope is on its way out. We hope that
people will lose that kind of attitude!
In general, the way to remember this one is
that lose is a verb and loose is an
adjective. There is only one way to conjugate loose unless you want to say
loosely.
No comments:
Post a Comment