Unlocking the Mystery of 'Ever Words' and Latin Abbreviations. Juna.

Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

Mignon Fogarty, Inc.

Society & Culture, Education

4.5 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 27 June 2023

⏱️ 13 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

934. Ever wondered why "whyever" isn't as popular as "wherever," "however," or "whenever"? Join me as we delve into the world of "-ever" words and their curious usage. We explore the relationship between words like "forever" and "never," and reveal how the "-ever" suffix can intensify meaning. Plus, find out why watching British TV might lead you to use "whyever." But that's not all. This week, we tackle a burning listener question: how do you pronounce Latin abbreviations like "et al."? Should you say the abbreviation or the full phrase? And what about other common Latin abbreviations such as "ibid" and "circa"? Tune in to learn the ins and outs of these tricky linguistic tidbits, and impress your friends with your newfound pronunciation prowess!

Transcript

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0:00.0	Why ever would we use the word, why ever?
0:07.0	Grammar girl here, I'm in Yonfogarty and you can think of me as your friendly guide
0:13.5	to the English language.
0:15.4	We talk about writing, history, rules, and other cool stuff.
0:19.2	This week we look at the fascinating ever words and how to pronounce the Latin abbreviations
0:25.0	such as at all.
0:30.6	Here's a listener question.
0:33.3	Hello, grammar girl.
0:34.6	My name is Will.
0:35.6	I'm a relatively new listener from Seattle.
0:37.6	Love your work.
0:39.3	And I have a question about a particular word you said in your episode about killer
0:43.9	bunnies in medieval manuscripts.
0:46.6	You said the phrase, why ever they were drawn.
0:50.2	Now this got me thinking about the six W's of storytelling that we all learn, who,
0:55.4	what, when, where, why, and how.
0:59.2	Five of these words are often combined with ever to form compound words, whoever,
1:04.4	whatever, whenever, wherever, and however.
1:08.4	But the sixth word of this form, why ever, is not common.
1:12.7	In fact, I can't remember ever hearing or reading it before that episode of your podcast,
1:18.4	even though it's a very useful word.
1:21.0	So my questions to you are, have you always used the word, why ever?
	...

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