“Ma’am, shall I put your books on this shelf?” said Jane. “It’s been in unuse for years.”
“Certainly,” said Mrs. Roshan, “but you mean ‘disuse’; ‘unuse’ is not a word.”
“How about, ‘This shelf has been unused for years’?”
The teacher shook her head. “Anything unused has never been used. “Since the shelf was once occupied, it is a disused shelf.”
“I’m grateful you convinced me to stay back after school, Ma’am,” said Janet. “I shall never be disinterested in English again.”
“Uninterested,” said Mrs Roshan. “To be ‘disinterested’ is to have no selfish interest. As for ‘convinced’, keep it for a sentence such as, ‘I was convinced of the truth.’ Here, ‘persuaded’ will do.”
“I probably use several words wrongly every day,” said Janet. “I must improve if I am to emulate you by becoming a great teacher some day.”
Mrs. Roshan smiled. “I’m about to correct you again. ‘Emulate’ is frequently used instead of ‘imitate’---as you intended it---but it means to copy in a competitive way. Now, don’t call this a ‘very unique’ session. ‘Unique’ is an absolute like ‘perfect, and therefore we should also avoid ‘quite unique’ and ‘rather unique’. Similarly, if something is a must, it is ‘essential’, not ‘extremely essential’.”
“Fascinating. Ma’am,” said Janet. “Any other commonly misused words?”
“Give me a sentence with ‘befriend’,”said Mrs.Roshan.
“I hope to befriend that lonely girl,” said Janet.
“Excellent,” said Mrs. Roshan. “The one who befriends is a benefactor. We might ‘befriend’ a stray dog, but the poor creature would ‘make friends with us’.”
“I’ll never grasp all this, Ma’am’, groaned Janet. “How aggravating!”
“The use of ‘aggravate’ in the sense of ‘annoy’ or ‘irritate’ is widespread. Strictly speaking, however, it means ‘make worse’ as in, ‘Why aggravate the situation?’ Thanks for your help,” added Mrs. Roshan, as Janet prepared to leave. “By the way,” she laughed, “as you were arranging my books, were any misplaced or displaced?”
