Is it loose or lose? And other top proofreading spots.

🔎 Today’s top #proofreading spots from an adventure Bildungsroman. Including loose vs lose, amongst others…

❌ All hell broke lose ➡ loose ✔

❌ a eighth ➡ an eighth ✔

❌ hypthesis ➡ hypothesis ✔

🔎 A lot of people make the lose/loose error, but it’s usually the other way round. I think it’s because of the ‘oo’ in the word. If you look at the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) symbols for lose vs loose – /luːz/ vs /luːs/ – you can see where the confusion arises. ‘L’ and one ‘O’ is pronounced identically to ‘L’ and two ‘Os’. But whether it’s one ‘O’ or two determines how we pronounce the final two letters of the word. (And they’re identical – helpful! 😅)

🤔 So, how to remember?

👞 Your shoe’s laces are loose.
🤬 Did you lose your temper?

➰I just think the word ‘loose’ is kind of loose as it is. The Os just there, dangling around, being all fat and lacking in form. That’s how I’ve always thought about it anyway! 😆

If that’s not much help, Grammar Girl offers this one: as loose as a goose. (Where’s my goose emoji? A duck will have to do!) 🦆 Remember loose rhymes with goose and you’ll pick the right option for your requirements.