Advanced English, for beginners.

[Midnight Blue]

Loose vs Lose

The words loose and lose are mixed up in writing; for some reason, many people write loose when they really mean lose. But there's no reason to lose your mind worrying about this, just lose the extra o!

Loose

Loose is an adjective, the opposite of tight or contained.

My shoes are loose
I have a loose tooth
There's a dog running loose in the street

Lose

Lose is a verb that means to suffer the loss of, to miss.

I win! You lose!
Don't lose your keys
I never lose bets

The Bottom Line

Simple carelessness leads people to write loose when they mean lose. Just remember that lose has one o, and loose has two. Start with loose, lose an o, and what do you get? Lose!

A great and poignant contribution. Thank you, Rdavies.

(I like to capitalize names/avatars, out of respect and politeness, when responding.)


Hell, I had completely forgotten about this thread. Thanks.

I find myself laughing. At least I sometimes do something constructive when drinking.

Besides, if one maintains correct spelling and grammar (not to mention, logic), then people really cannot tell how much one (meaning, me) has been drinking....


Anyway (not, Anyways), I just realized that my bracketed paragraph explaining singular/plural ellipses, is not grammatically correct; I mean, it is factually true, but to make perfect understandable sense, I think that the paragraph requires that I either add the word "it", somewhere, and/or subtract the word "and", from somewhere else....

I will leave this up for a day or two (my work schedule is varied and unpredictable), in case anyone wants to take a stab at it, before offering a correction.


In the meantime, I will attempt to use the words loose/lose in a sentence, while keeping with the above-started "Irishmen" theme:


When young Irishmen come home after drinking, and happen to find some new loose young Women there, they may all, suddenly lose their virginity.


Slainte !


And, Ka' Pla !

[1argoholic]

One thing I hate more than politics is school. Hated it up until my three years at Humber in the early 80's. Now I hate it again.

[Midnight Blue]

One thing I hate more than politics is school. Hated it up until my three years at Humber in the early 80's. Now I hate it again.

Just think of this as Advanced Humour 102. The English language part is a collateral option.


Ka' Pla !