Lesson Two
This mistake I see in about 89-98.9% of fanfiction stories. Yeah: it’s that common.
But it’s so easy to slip-up: loose looks like loooooooze because of the long-‘O’, so readers think it’s only appropriate that it fits, ‘I win, you loose.’
Sorry, Sally. That ain’t the correct answer.
According to Dictionary.Com, loose can be an adjective, an adverb, an idiom or a verb. Basically, it means free from restraints, apart, baggy, detached, disconnected, slack, unclasped, not caged, wobbly, relaxed, etc. It can describe a lot of things; for instance, every time I tie my hair with the blue band, it comes loose. This means my hair becomes lax and not tight because the band is too slack. Or how about daily life? I always have to tighten the screws on the garage doorknob because they’re always wobbly; or when my dog was a puppy, she never stayed in her cage; she always broke loose and took off running around the yard (a nightmare, really).
Ex.: I like my pajama pants to fit loose; I find baggy to be quite comfortable. (Adjective)
Ex. 2: “She’s got a few screws loose, that woman,” said Baird. “She’s crazier than Michael Jackson.” (Adjective)
Ex. 3: I didn’t want to get a headache, so I loosely tied a band around my hair. It keeps my head from being pinched or too tight. (Adverb, ends in -ly)
Ex. 4: Laura leaned in to hear Myra’s whispered, “When she tells him that kid isn’t his, all hell will break loose.” Myra threw back her flute and gulped the rest of the champagne. “Ross is gonna go ape****.” (Idiom)
Ex. 5: “Loosen the reins some,” her father informed. “’Cause if that horse chokes, I am not buying you another one.”
Lose means to fail to keep, misplace, be defeated, etc. This is also where LOST and LOSS comes from.
Anyone seen the TV show Lost (I haven’t)? It’s not called Lost because they’re unclasped or baggy or slack or wobbly (and they certainly aren’t relaxed!); it’s called Lost because that’s what they are: LOST. Their plane crashed in the middle of nowhere and they have nothing to do but create sinister plots. That’s why it’s called Lost and not Loosed, if you hadn’t known. Lose can also mean to be defeated, conquered, beaten, overcome, crushed, trounced or to misplace, mislay, drop. Of course, people normally think of sports: “The Titans lost to the Seahawks,” or “Manchester United lost David Beckham (I dunno what he played for, I’m American!),” or, “My friend lost his mother,” or “Mel Gibson loses his mind — see page three for details (or so Us Weekly says)!” Lose essentially means to be without, be it a win (lose a game) or an object (lose a life).
Ex.: “If we lose to Blake,” Coach Reinhardt wiped the spit from his mouth with a crazy glint in his eye, “NONE of you will make the team next year! If we yield to them, you can all kiss your scholarships goodbye!”
Ex. 2: “You seen Hermione’s scarf, Harry?” Ron asked as he got on all fours and ducked his head under the bed. “It’s around here somewhere; it better be, or Hermione’ll have my Chocoballs! It’s her favorite one!”
“Did you lose it?” Harry idly asked.
“No, no, I haven’t lost it,” Ron quickly spluttered out a mouthful of dust. “I’ve just … mislaid it.”
Harry threw him a wry look. “You lost it, didn’t you?”
Ron paled, his expression fearful. “She’s going to kill me, isn’t she?”
“Kiss your Chocoballs goodbye, Ron.”
Loose and Lose. Think of it this way: too many O’s means it’s not tight enough (loose), and one O means you’ve lost (lose). That doesn’t help, does it?
Ah … never mind. ^^
