Commentator Julie is correct: a car does not use breaks to stop, it uses brakes.
Unless you read that cars have brakes, your spellchecker and your habits will not help you.
A related and embarrassing misspelling is breach for breech. Breeches, the noun, was the old word for pants. (Personally, I suspect they were called breeches because they broke or separated into two legs.) The breech is also where a gun breaks into two parts for loading. Breech today refers to that part of the body upon which one sits; in a breech delivery, that part of the baby's anatomy appears first.
On the other hand, breach is a break, violation, or gap; there can be a breach of trust. And breach can be a verb: They will not breach the contract. (The past tense is breached.)
Unfortunately, breach is often confused with broach. To broach is to open or break into. One can broach a subject or broach a keg of liquid. From this word we may have gotten the woman's pin-held jewelry, the brooch: it pierced or broke into the dress.
Yes, friends, good proofreading requires a dictionary. And a dictionary can bring out the sleuth in anyone.
No comments:
Post a Comment