Vice versa is a Latin phrase that we use in English as an adverb meaning “conversely” or “the other way around.”
The literal translation is “the position having been reversed,” and that is still what it means. For example, “Girls perform better in some subjects than boys, and vice versa” means that boys also perform better than girls in some subjects.
Vice versa in a sentence examplesYou can complete Part One and then Part Two, or vice versa.
I miss spending time with my family, and vice versa.
All squares are rectangles, but not vice versa.
The big question with a cream tea is jam first, then clotted cream, or vice versa?
Although vice versa comes from Latin, it has been used in English for so long that it does not need italics, much like “ad nauseam” and “mea culpa.” It does not take a hyphen, and there is a common misspelling “vice a versa,” which is always incorrect.
Misnomer means an incorrect, unsuitable, or misleading use of a name or label. Misnomer is a noun, and it can also refer to the incorrect designation or name itself.
Misnomer in a sentence exampleA “Dutch oven” is a bit of a misnomer, as it is neither Dutch nor an oven!
Calling it “Priority Boarding” was a misnomer, as everyone got on the same bus after we went through the boarding gate.
There are so many get-out clauses and restrictions that it is a misnomer to call this a “guarantee.”
In legal documents, such as contracts, it is especially important to make sure everything is correctly named. There are ways of correcting any misnomer in a document, and if the misnaming is deliberate, then an offense might have been committed.
The past tense of the verblead meaning “to be ahead” or “to take someone somewhere” is led (e.g., “The teacher led her students into the examination center”).
Led is also the past participle of lead (e.g., “The party had led the opinion polls from start to finish”).
Ring is an irregular verb used to describe the act of making something (e.g., a bell) produce a ringing sound or the act of making a call on a phone (e.g., “Steph said she would ring her friends tomorrow”). The simple past of ring is “rang,” and the past participle, used to form perfect tenses and the passive voice, is “rung.”
Ring is also a verb with a different meaning, used to describe encircling something (e.g., “to ring a bird’s leg”). This meaning of the verb has a different past tense and past participle: “ringed.”
Beat is an irregular verb, so its past participle and simple past forms are different from each other.
Beat is the simple past form of “beat.” It’s exactly the same as the simple present tense form. The simple past is used when describing an event or action that took place in the past.
Beaten is the past participle of the verb. Past participles are used to make the passive voice and perfect tenses.
Examples: Beat in a sentence
Examples: Beaten in a sentence
Emily beat her sister at tennis.
The school team has beaten every team they have played.
I know you beat me last time, but this time is different!
Few can be a noun, determiner, indefinite pronoun, or adjective meaning “not many.” It is used when we want to talk about the quantity of countable nouns without being specific about their number (e.g., “few people”).
There is no specific number that few refers to, and in fact the actual number can vary significantly; “few people in the US” will probably be a larger number than “few members of my class.”
Few in a sentence examplesVery few people know what it’s like to walk on the moon.
A few of my classmates meet up every year for a reunion.
There are few pleasures better in life than the smell of fresh-mown grass.
We have a few tips for your trip to Lisbon.
NoteAlthough it is used widely in everyday writing and speech, in academic writing it is likely that few will be too imprecise.
Side effects were reported by few of those in the experimental group.
Side effects were reported by three of those in the experimental group.
In these instances, it’s best to rewrite your sentence to ensure your meaning is clear.
As well as is a common phrase that means “in addition to.” It functions as either a preposition or a conjunction and is used to join two parts of a sentence together. Typically, as well as adds emphasis to the part of the sentence that precedes it. Some synonyms for as well as are “plus,” “besides,” and “along with.”
As well as exampleDieting for weight loss requires planning as well as self-discipline.
As well as being beautiful to look at, the guitar played like a dream.
The manifesto went into the proposed tax changes, as well as explaining how they would be paid for.
The placebo effect refers to a phenomenon whereby patients experience an improvement in their physical ailment after taking a non-treatment, called a placebo.
The treatment contains no active ingredients, meaning that any improvement experienced by the patient is caused by their expectation or belief that the “treatment” is doing them some good.
Placebo effect exampleAs a life-long sufferer from back pain, you are invited to take part in a double-blind trial of a new treatment. It is a preventative treatment, and you take one pill three times per day, as instructed, and record your pain levels in a journal. At the end of the month-long trial, your journal shows that the medication appears to be having a positive effect, as there is a clear improvement in the levels of chronic pain.
When you report your findings to the researchers, you (and they) discover that your treatment was, in fact, nothing more than a sugar pill rather than the new drug. The improvement you perceived was due to the placebo effect.
In double-blind medical trials, where the experimental design includes both control and treatment groups, the placebo effect is often seen in the control group.
Bear with me is a way of asking someone to be patient with you. It can stand on its own, if the reason for patience is already known. More typically it will be followed by a subordinating conjunction (e.g., “while” or “as”) introducing the reason you are asking for patience.
Bear with me in a sentence exampleBear with me; I’m just dealing with a customer.
I see the problem with your account; can you bear with me while I see if I can fix it?
We have had hundreds of applications, so please bear with us as we work through them.
Eponymous is an adjective that describes a thing or person (e.g., a creator, inventor, discoverer, or founder) after which something is named. It can also describe the actual thing that has been named after that something or someone.
In the literary world, works that are named after their main character or protagonist can be described as eponymous (e.g., Huckleberry Finn).
Eponymous in a sentence examplesSilas Marner is the eponymous hero of George Eliot’s brooding masterpiece.
In light of Bob Dylan’s renown as a songwriter, it is interesting that his eponymous first album included only one original composition.
The Elizabethan era in English history coincides with the reign of the eponymous Queen Elizabeth I.
The Doppler effect is named after the eponymous physicist who first explained it, Charles Doppler.
