Apart or A Part? Learn Their Meanings and Their Correct Use

A part and apart are often confused, especially by non-native speakers of English. Apart is mostly used as an adverb, denoting a separation between two or more things. A part (two words) means “a fraction of a whole,” or in theatre, “an actor’s role.” Apart from is a frequently used preposition.

Although the two expressions are identical in spelling but for a space, they have two different origins. Apart came to English from the Latin words ad, meaning “to,” and pars, meaning “a side.” Part, on the other hand, is derived from partem, the Latin word meaning “a piece, division, or share.” Isn’t it amazing how a word that is all about separation came to be so similar to a phrase that has to do with being integral to a unified whole?

Here’s a tip: The difference between apart and a part is that apart implies a separation between things (they are away from one another), and a part denotes that a thing is a share of another, bigger thing (there’s togetherness going on).

When to Use “Apart”

Use apart adverbially to show how two things are separated physically, figuratively, or in time. Carefully avoid using a part when this is your intended meaning.

My parents had my sister and me two years a part.

My parents had my sister and me two years apart.

Michelle and her husband don’t like to be a part for more than an hour or two.

Michelle and her husband don’t like to be apart for more than an hour or two.

My sister and I used to live close to one another, but now we live miles a part.

My sister and I used to live close to one another, but now we live miles apart.

It can also be used to mean “to render in parts or pieces.”

The manager meant to bring his staff closer together with the “trust fall” exercise, but instead he tore them apart.

I sewed the hem too short on this dress, so I’m going to take it apart.

Apart from can be used as a preposition meaning “besides” or “except for.”

Apart from all the work I did keeping the rental house clean, it was a very enjoyable holiday.

Apart can also be used as an adjective in the sense of separate or isolated.

My taste in books and Samantha’s are worlds apart.

When to Use “A Part”

A part is two words: a is an article and part is a noun synonymous with piece. A part is frequently seen in the company of the preposition of.

Our neighbor Lucy has always felt like a part of our family.

May I have a part of your steak?

After a year or so, Mary began to feel like a part of her community.

Keep in mind that the article a might not be essential to your sentence. These three sentences, for example, are identical in meaning to the three above, and are equally correct.

Our neighbor Lucy has always felt like part of our family.

May I have part of your steak?

After a year or so, Mary began to feel like part of her community.

Of course, part can also refer to a piece of something in the sense of component.

I’d like to fix my bike, but I have to buy a part for it.

Last, a part can refer to an actor’s role in a play, musical, or film.

Did you audition for a part in the school play?

Tips to Remember “A Part” and “Apart”

Apart has to do with being or rendering separate.

A part is something that is a piece of something else that is considered whole or together.

10 Words Brits Use That Americans No Longer Do

A quick example of the bleeding obvious: people speak differently in the UK and the US. If you’re an American fan of British TV shows—the originals, not the American remakes—you’re probably very aware that once in a while, the characters will utter a word that you won’t hear on the streets of your hometown.

But you may be surprised to know that some of the words we consider distinctly British today were once fairly common in the United States. Read on:

1 Tetchy, adjective Someone who is tetchy is someone with a bad temper:

You can’t even talk with him these days; he’s just too tetchy.

2 Amongst, preposition While amongst is less favored than among in British English, it’s rarely seen at all in American English.

There’s a grammar pedant amongst us, and I intend to find out who he is.

3 Marvelous, adjective Sure, you can use amazing instead, but marvelous sounds so much more . . . marvelous:

We had a marvelous time during that holiday retreat.

4 Fortnight, noun Something that happens once every fortnight is something that happens every two weeks:

We try to get together for a family meal once a fortnight.

5 Cheers, exclamation In British English, cheers isn’t something you’d say when it’s time to have a drink. It’s a casual way to say “thank you”:

Cheers Thom, I really needed that paper today.

6 Rubbish, noun, adjective You know this one, it has the same meaning as garbage. Plus, rubbish can be used as an adjective when you want to say that something is really bad:

I bought a new keyboard today, but it’s rubbish so I’ll give it to my brother.

7 Blimey, exclamation If you ever get tired of saying “wow,” you might make an effort to bring blimey back:

Blimey, that escalated quickly!

8 Hoover, noun A hoover is a device that uses suction to clean surfaces—a vacuum cleaner:

The hoover broke because it’s not supposed to be used to clean up spilled water.

9 Bespoke, adjective Before things were custom-made, they were bespoke, especially if they were suits:

A bespoke suit is expensive, but it’s a good investment if you want to look professional.

10 Chap, noun Chap is an informal way of referring to a male person, sort of like “dude”:

See that chap wearing a yellow bow-tie? That’s my biology professor.

What are your favorite British words?

Theater and Theatre—How Is It Spelled?

Whether you use the spelling theatre or theater will depend on where you hail from. In American English, the spelling is theater; in Britain and the rest of the English-speaking world, theatre is used. The spelling you choose—theater vs. theatre—should align with your audience’s preference.

Why Are There Different Spellings: “Theatre” vs. “Theater”?

Theater has roots in both Greek and Latin and came to English through the Old French word theatre. Theatre and similar words ending in -re were sometimes spelled with the -er until the 1660s, when the French-borrowed -re spellings came to be preferred; before that, both spellings were considered equally correct. Chaucer, for example, spelled it theatre. Shakespeare, on the other hand, spelled it theater. Today, theatre is considered the correct spelling in Britain and in most English-speaking countries other than the United States.

In the eighteenth century, following the American Revolutionary War, Noah Webster sought to create a standard literacy curriculum specifically for his fledgling nation. Not only did he succeed at replacing British textbooks with new American versions, but he also published his own meticulously researched dictionary, notable for its reformed spellings. The separation of British and American spellings, and in some ways, punctuation, had begun.

Webster was the man who took the u out of colour and turned musick into music. He preferred spellings that were simpler and closely modeled pronunciation, which was why theatre became theater and similar words, like centre, became center. Most of the newly respelled -er words caught on in the United States, especially in the last century or so.

When to Use “Theatre”

Choose the spelling theatre whenever your audience will likely be predominantly using British English or its local variant. Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, and South Africa, for example, all use the spelling theatre. American English and British English do have remarkable differences, don’t they?

There are notable exceptions, however. Take the New York theater scene. We refer to the Broadway Theater District, yet many of the most frequented Broadway theaters actually have theatre spelled out on their marquees:

Broadway Theatre Winter Garden Theatre Majestic Theatre Richard Rogers Theatre Palace Theatre

And of course, there is Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., which is famous for being the site of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination.

Across the pond, things are much simpler.

Do you have theatre tickets for any of this season’s West End shows?

When to Use “Theater”

If your audience speaks American English, use theater. Theater is also the most predominant spelling on the internet, statistically speaking, if that is your determining factor.

Did you know that, in addition to his Wild West exploits, Buffalo Bill had a theater career?

Manuel is interested in trying his luck in the musical theater scene.

Cinema or Movie Theater?

Brits and Americans don’t just spell differently; some of the vernacular is different as well. Brits talk about going to the cinema or catching a film. An older British expression for going to see a film is going to the pictures. Americans speak of the movies as a slang abbreviation for motion pictures. While in British English, a building called a theatre is for only plays and musicals, American English also has movie theaters. Canadians have a blended approach to the place where they view blockbusters: they call them (and spell them) movie theatres.

Do you want to go to the cinema tonight, or do you want to stay in? (British English)

We plan to catch a film with our neighbors on Saturday. (British English)

I remember the days when we went to the pictures every Friday evening. (British English)

Please don’t make me go to the movie theater on Main Street. They put too much butter on their popcorn. (American English)

She refused to go to the movies with my cousin Albert. (American English)

Whether you spell it theater or theatre, or you refer to films, movies, or the cinema, it is unlikely that your readers will be confused by whichever word you choose.

7 Helpful Tips on How to Write A Memorable Personal Essay

Everyone has a story to tell and a message to share. The challenge lies in getting that story and message out of your head and into print in a way that resonates with your audience.

Starting somewhere in the late 2000s, a certain type of personal essay experienced a popularity boom. These essays were ultra-personal and confessional in nature, often in a TMI sort of way. Their headlines were clickable, not to mention shareable, for their shock value alone.

Although the confessional shock essay’s star seems to be fading, the personal essay itself is still standing strong. Essay collections by late greats like James Baldwin (The First Next Time) and David Foster Wallace (Consider the Lobster) still top Amazon’s Best Sellers in essays. Jenny Lawson (aka The Bloggess) launched a career with her darkly funny and self-effacing essays about her health and mental illness challenges (Let’s Pretend This Never Happened). Celebrities like Mindy Kaling (Why Not Me?) and Tina Fey (Bossypants) blended personal essays into memoir-esque collections that became best sellers. We head for the nearest bookseller when essay titans like David Sedaris or Anne Lamott have a new release.

We’re thirsty for real stories and musings from people who are able to share their foibles, lessons, and truths in a way we can relate to. Here are seven tips to help you craft a personal essay that will connect with readers.

1 Understand what a personal essay is.

Ask three different experts what a personal essay is and you’ll likely get three different answers. Are they structured? Must they address a certain type of subject? Here’s a definition we like:

A personal essay is a short work of autobiographical nonfiction characterized by a sense of intimacy and a conversational manner. Also called a personal statement.

A type of creative nonfiction, the personal essay is ‘all over the map,’ according to Annie Dillard. ‘There’s nothing you can’t do with it. No subject matter is forbidden, no structure is prescribed. You get to make up your own form every time.’

—Richard Nordquist for ThoughtCo.

Personal essays relate the author’s intimate thoughts and experiences to universal truths. They aren’t simply a retelling of events, though—that falls more in the realm of memoir or autobiography. They conclude with the author having learned, changed, or grown in some way and often present some truth or insight that challenges the reader to draw their own conclusions.

2 Find a compelling topic.

The best essay topics are often deeply relatable. Although the story itself is unique to the author’s experience, there’s some universal truth that speaks to us from just below the surface. Topics like facing a fear, falling in love, overcoming an obstacle, discovering something new, or making a difficult choice tackle feelings and events that happen in everyone’s life.

Here’s a tip: Need a little help? Here’s a list of personal essay topics that might spark an idea.

3 Start with a strong hook.

As with any type of writing, it’s essential to draw the reader in from the very first paragraph, or even the first sentence. Here are a few examples.

Aside from Peter, who supposedly guards the gates of heaven and is a pivotal figure in any number of jokes, the only saint who’s ever remotely interested me is Francis of Assisi, who was friends with the animals.

—David Sedaris, “Untamed”

When I was young, my family didn’t go on outings to the circus or trips to Disneyland. We couldn’t afford them. Instead, we stayed in our small rural West Texas town, and my parents took us to cemeteries.

—Jenny Lawson, “Amelia and Me”

I underwent, during the summer that I became fourteen, a prolonged religious crisis.

—James Baldwin, “Letter from a Region in My Mind”

Alone, we are doomed. By the same token, we’ve learned that people are impossible, even the ones we love most—especially the ones we love most.

—Anne Lamott, “Blessings: After Catastrophe, A Community Unites”

Your hook and opening paragraph should establish the topic of your essay (or at least allude to it) and set the scene and tone.

4 Create an outline.

All it takes to understand the importance of an outline is listening to someone who struggled to tell a personal story. Often, the story will seem to have no real point. The switchbacks where the teller says “But wait, I have to tell you about this part, first!” are maddening and disruptive. An outline will help you organize your thoughts before committing them to text.

Consider your opening hook and the statement it makes, then map out the sequence of events or main points that support it. Just like a good fictional story, your essay should have rising action. Raise the stakes with each paragraph until you reach a climax or turning point. Plan to add a conclusion that will evoke an emotional response in your reader.

5 Narrow your focus.

Don’t try to write to a general topic. Your essay may well be about sexism, but you need to illustrate it through the lens of a defining incident that’s deeply personal to you. What did your experiences teach you about sexism? What does it mean to you as an individual?

6 Show, don’t tell.

Close your eyes. Think of the scene you’re about to write down. What were you experiencing with your five senses? How did you feel?

Your challenge is to evoke those senses and feelings without flatly stating them. Don’t say “I felt cold.” Say “I exhaled and my breath turned to vapor that hung in the air. I shivered and pulled the blanket tight around my shoulders in a vain attempt to trap my body heat.” Your description should help the reader experience the cold with you. Stephen King describes it as making the reader “prickle with recognition.”

7 Craft a thought-provoking conclusion.

Your essay should end with your own reflection and analysis. What did you learn? How have the events and thoughts you described changed your life or your understanding of life? It’s not enough to say “And that’s what happened.” You have to describe how whatever happened shaped you.

Just as a good lead hooks readers and draws them along for the ride, a good conclusion releases them from your essay’s thrall with a frisson of pleasure, agreement, passion or some other sense of completion. Circling back to your lead in your conclusion is one way to give readers that full-circle sense. Try to restate your thesis in a way that reflects the journey the essay has taken.

—Tom Bentley for Writer’s Digest

There is so much outside the false cloister of private experience; and when you write, you do the work of connecting that terrible privacy to everything beyond it.

—Leslie Jamison for Publishers Weekly

5 Essays Every Student Needs to Know How to Write

An essay is a brief composition on a specific topic. The most common essay types are analytical, argumentative, critical, expository, and narrative.

Students write essays. You knew that already. But do you know what kinds of essays students write? Here are the basics of how to write five different types of essays.

Analytical Essays

To analyze means to examine carefully or critically. You might analyze a piece of literature, an event, or even a work of art. To do so, you may compare the similarities or contrast the differences of two things. For this reason, analytical essays are sometimes called compare-and-contrast essays.

How To Write an Analytical Essay

Introduce your subject in the first paragraph and raise the issue that you will discuss with a thesis statement. Present your information, including your personal response to the subject. Conclude by explaining the relationship between the information you presented and the subject.

Argumentative Essays

To argue is to attempt to prove a theory or opinion. In an argumentative essay, you will defend your opinion against other viewpoints with the aim of showing why it is correct. (In a persuasive essay, you present your opinion with the aim of influencing others to adopt it.)

How to Write an Argumentative Essay

State your opinion or position on an issue. Present supporting evidence and research. Concentrate on defending your claim and refuting opposing viewpoints. Consider your audience as you write. What arguments would be strongest for them?

Critical Essays

To critique is to evaluate someone’s work. You might identify the strengths and weaknesses of a book, a film, or a work of art. Or you might discuss the methods the person used to create the work.

How to Write a Critical Essay

Begin by providing a short summary of the work. Give a brief analysis of what it means, including what the author was trying to accomplish. Then, comment about how successful the work was in attaining that objective.

Expository Essays

Expository is an adjective related to the verb expound. To expound means to explain or to set forth in detail. In this type of essay, you provide information about an idea or a theme. You can also explain your personal response to a work in this type of writing, but you are not trying to convince the reader to agree with that opinion.

How to Write an Expository Essay

Make a thesis statement introducing your subject. Explain the main points, supporting them with facts and reasoning. Give examples, but be concise. As with any type of essay, make sure you choose information that will appeal to your audience. Conclude with a short overview.

Narrative Essays

A narrative essay tells a short story. For example, you might relate a personal experience. You might also write a report on a book. The purpose of the essays may be to inform, entertain, or reflect. According to the Glendale Community College website, “narratives provide human interest, spark our curiosity, and draw us close to the storyteller.”

How to Write a Narrative Essay

Though it is not a requirement, writers often write narrative essays in the first person. Select an event (from your own life or from a book) that is worthy of interest. Include all the elements of a good story: characters, plot, setting, conflict, and resolution. Use vivid language that engages the reader.

Students write essays. Now you know what kinds of essays they write: analytical, argumentative, critical, expository, and narrative. Would you like to see some examples? You can find sample papers on the websites of many university writing departments.

Is Using “As Soon As Possible” Rude?

Your co-worker just sent you a message on Slack:

Bossy McBosserpants

I need the report as soon as possible

What runs through your head? Along with potential anxiety about a looming deadline (looks like you’re eating lunch at your desk again) you may feel annoyance. After all, that demand sounded pretty darn pushy.

via GIPHY

Requests that include “as soon as possible” (or the ubiquitous acronym ASAP) can come across as rude. In fact, Forbes named emails with ASAP in the subject header among the five rudest. The acronym got its start in 1955 as U.S. Army slang, which may be why we sometimes associate it with the mental image of a drill sergeant barking orders.

Whether we view ASAP as rude or demanding depends on intangible factors like the context in which it’s used and your relationship with the person you’re communicating with. Here are a few pros and cons.

The Pros of Using ASAP

• It’s a handy code for people you work with frequently. ASAP can be a communication shortcut when it’s known that all parties have the same definition. If both the requester and the “requestee” understand that ASAP means “whenever you get around to it,” for instance, there’s less chance for misunderstandings.
• With the right context, it’s a good way to convey urgency. ASAP can serve as a motivator. It works well in titles when you want to show that something can happen quickly (and that quickly is a good thing). E.g., Here’s how to lose 10 pounds ASAP!

The Cons of Using ASAP

• It does nothing to help the recipient prioritize. Does your request need to be tended to by the end of the day, the end of the week, or whenever the recipient gets a little spare time? “As soon as possible” doesn’t convey any sort of time frame.
• It sounds harsh. “Get those supply requisitions to me ASAP, private! That’s an order!” Do you really want to come across as though you’re asking the person on the receiving end to drop whatever they’re doing and work on your problem?
• When overused, it becomes meaningless. When everything needs to be delivered ASAP, nothing is. In fact, ASAP can signify a lack of planning—you don’t really know when you need your request attended to, so you’re leaving it for someone else (namely, the person you made the request of) to sort out.
• It’s easily misinterpreted. Let’s say you used “as soon as possible” to express that you needed something from a colleague as soon as they could get around to it. If your colleague interpreted your request as an immediate need, he might have set aside other important tasks to tend to it. He’s likely to feel frustrated when he learns that the need wasn’t top priority.

Alternatives to ASAP

There are a few other ways to express need without resorting to the gruffness or ambiguity of “as soon as possible”. Consider these alternatives:

• As soon as possible, or _____. Use this to say that something’s urgent, but can wait until a specific deadline if necessary. “As soon as possible, or no later than end-of-day Friday.”
• Promptly. This one can serve as a nudge by suggesting the recipient has been less than prompt. (Be careful, though. It may come across as passive aggressive.)
• At your earliest convenience. You need it, but you’re willing to wait until the other person has a chance to tend to it.
• Whenever you’re able. Use this soft approach when you really don’t care when your request is tended to.

The best alternative: be specific

When you weigh the pros and cons, there are few good reasons to ask for anything ASAP, and some compelling reasons not to. The best alternative is a simple one—be specific. By taking the time to figure out your priorities, you’ll be helping your colleagues plan their own.

Let’s compare:

Bossy McBosserpants

I need the report as soon as possible

Vs.

Helpful McHelpfulson

Our team’s goal is to finish this project by the end of the month. Could you get the report to me by noon tomorrow?

Which request would you rather receive?

Gerund

Can you spot the gerund in the sentence “Learning about gerunds is fun”? No, the answer isn’t gerunds. It’s learning.

What Is a Gerund, Anyway?

To understand gerunds, (pronounced JER-undz, by the way) it helps to understand the difference between a word’s grammatical form and its grammatical function in a sentence.

Take the word dancing. Dancing is the present participle of the verb to dance. When used with is or are, it becomes a verb in the present continuous tense:

Gordon is dancing up a storm.

In the sentence above, dancing is a present participle (form) and it’s acting as a verb (function). But there is another way you can use the word dancing.

Dancing is all Gordon can think about.

Dancing looks just like it did before. But in this sentence, the word dancing is not acting like a verb. It’s acting like a noun. In fact, Dancing is the subject of this sentence. It still looks like a present participle (form), but in this sentence, it is filling in for a noun (function).

When a present participle is used as a noun, it’s called a gerund.

What Are Gerunds For?

Gerunds are marvelously flexible. They allow you to talk about an action in an abstract way. And because they act like nouns, you can use them anywhere that a noun would normally go in a sentence.

A gerund can be used as a subject:

Dancing makes Gordon happy.

A direct object:

Gordon loves dancing.

A complement:

Gordon’s main interest in life is dancing.

Or the object of a preposition:

Gordon got those muscular calves from dancing.

In some sentences, a gerund can also take the place of an infinitive.

To dance is Gordon’s only ambition. Dancing is Gordon’s only ambition.

Gordon loves to dance. Gordon loves dancing.

If you wanted to, you could replace dancing with a regular noun like root beer in any of these sentences. Root beer makes Gordon happy. Gordon loves root beer. Gordon’s main interest in life is root beer. Gordon got those muscular calves from root beer. The sentences still work grammatically, even if they are a little nonsensical and make Gordon sound like he needs to get out more.

And that’s all you need to know about gerunds! Didn’t we tell you learning about them would be fun?