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Imply or infer?
The words imply and infer are worth adding to your repertoire as their formal and academic tone and meaning lend academic style to your writing. Unfortunately, they are quite close…
Raise or rise?
These two verbs are used extensively in academic writing. They are closely related and while the concept of increasing is similar, they are used in different ways that can be…
capitulate, recapitulate
Capitulate and recapitulate are etymologically rooted in the Medieval Latin capitulatus, past participle of capitulare ‘to distinguish by heads or chapters,’ from Late Latin capitulum ‘chapter’ (diminutive of caput ‘head’).…
militate, mitigate
I recently made the mistake of writing “mitigate against” instead of “militate against”: this is a propitiatory post. Consolation is to be found in being in good company, as William…
use, utilize, employ
The three verbs use, utilize (or “utilise” in many British English spelling conventions) and employ overlap significantly in usage. They cannot, however, always be substituted one for the other. Definitions…