Today we continue the confusing words series with M and N words Check these out:
Mantel/Mantle: Mantel is the frame around your fireplace. Mantle refers to something that covers or cloaks.
- We always hang our Christmas stockings on the mantel. He appeared under the mantle of night.
Many/Much: Many is used for plurals and things that can be counted. Much is used for things that cannot be counted.
- I have many items arriving from Amazon. There is too much pepper in the mac and cheese!
May be/Maybe: May be is the same as might be. Maybe means possibly.
- She may be visiting next week. Maybe she will visit next week.
May/Might: May implies permission or probability. Might implies probability as well. The words are very close in meaning – and often interchangeable when they imply possibility/probability. However, it is accepted that may is used when something is more likely to occur than when might is used.
- Yes, you may pet the dog. I may visit next week. I might visit next week.
- Here is another use of might: I wish you wouldn’t have gone skydiving; you might have gotten hurt or worse!
Meat/Meet/Mete: Meat is what you eat (unless you are a vegetarian, pescatarian, etc.). Meet is when you greet. And mete, the least common of the group, means to distribute or dole out.
- I love meat and potatoes. I will meet you at eleven. She meted out the beef stew in equal portions to all the students.
Moot/Mute: Often misused, moot is not worth discussion or pointless. Mute is the inability to speak.
- That is a moot point (not mute). The little boy was mute and used hand signals.
More important/More importantly: More important is a phrase used in comparison. More importantly is usually used in transition.
- Doing your best is more important than winning. More importantly, a good attitude is essential in competition.
News, mathematics, physics, and other such words: These words are singular even though they appear to be plural. They take a singular verb.
- The news is good. Mathematics is my favorite subject. Physics confuses me.
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2021 will be better.
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‘Moot’ actually means something that IS worthy of discussion. The word moot comes from Germanic via Old English mōt and means ‘assembly or meeting’ and mōtian ‘to converse’. It is the root of ‘meet.’
A ‘moot point’ is a topic where different people have different views. “It’s a moot point whether you should have told the principal what you think of him.”
The Moot Place was where the elders would moot (or meet) to discuss business and was the beginning of parliaments.
Thanks for the additional information. I have not heard moot point used in quite that way in this country.
I suspect it’s one of those terms whose meaning is evolving. Like, for instance, ‘awful’ which once meant ‘inspiring awe’.