Words matter. We've heard this phrase a lot lately. Words matter for many important reasons, not the least of which is that choosing a specific word can make or break your thought. If the wrong word is used, the entire meaning of your sentence can change. You may mean to say xxxx and wind up saying yyyy, Case in point. I might say that my friend is mystical when, in fact, I mean that my friend is mysterious. Both words share the same root but they mean different things and, therefore, their meaning can change the entire context of the sentence.
Another pair of words that share a common root but mean slightly different things is recurring and reoccurring. They both mean that an event happens more than once but they have different meanings when it comes to their frequency. Let's start off by looking at the verb recur which means something that happens "regularly and repeatedly." It is a predictable event. Your rent or mortgage payment is a recurring bill. You know it is due on the same date each month. The word recurs is more common of the two. Reoccur means that an event happens more than once, but not necessarily more often. Example; My toothache reoccurred last night so it is time I see the dentist. If the reoccurring event does repeat more than once, the repetitions may be unpredictable. Natural disasters are reoccurring events while medical symptoms of a chronic disease may recur, efforts can be made to ensure that damage to a joint does not reoccur.
Here are a few common examples that might help you remember the difference.
1. The lead actor in your favorite TV series has a recurring role.
2. After the bank crisis of 2008, financial institutions created new systems so that the crisis would not reoccur.
3. The reoccurring flood conditions forced some residents to move farther inland.
4. You might have to adjust your lifestyle to deal with the recurring symptoms of arthritis.
5. In the US, presidential elections recur every four years and sometimes the same issues from the previous election will reoccur in the next.
Using the right word is something that we should all strive to do. It makes us sound smart (which we are) and helps us to convey the correct meaning behind our thought.
I wish you a very happy new week and I invite you all back here tomorrow for a look at how galaxies interact. It's fascinating stuff, I promise you!
So, until we meet up again, I wish you
PEACE.
Another pair of words that share a common root but mean slightly different things is recurring and reoccurring. They both mean that an event happens more than once but they have different meanings when it comes to their frequency. Let's start off by looking at the verb recur which means something that happens "regularly and repeatedly." It is a predictable event. Your rent or mortgage payment is a recurring bill. You know it is due on the same date each month. The word recurs is more common of the two. Reoccur means that an event happens more than once, but not necessarily more often. Example; My toothache reoccurred last night so it is time I see the dentist. If the reoccurring event does repeat more than once, the repetitions may be unpredictable. Natural disasters are reoccurring events while medical symptoms of a chronic disease may recur, efforts can be made to ensure that damage to a joint does not reoccur.
Here are a few common examples that might help you remember the difference.
1. The lead actor in your favorite TV series has a recurring role.
2. After the bank crisis of 2008, financial institutions created new systems so that the crisis would not reoccur.
3. The reoccurring flood conditions forced some residents to move farther inland.
4. You might have to adjust your lifestyle to deal with the recurring symptoms of arthritis.
5. In the US, presidential elections recur every four years and sometimes the same issues from the previous election will reoccur in the next.
Using the right word is something that we should all strive to do. It makes us sound smart (which we are) and helps us to convey the correct meaning behind our thought.
I wish you a very happy new week and I invite you all back here tomorrow for a look at how galaxies interact. It's fascinating stuff, I promise you!
So, until we meet up again, I wish you
PEACE.
Bussing, Kimberly Anne. "Reoccurring vs. Recurring: How to Choose the Right Word." ThoughtCo, Aug. 16, 2018, thoughtco.com/reoccurring-vs-recurring-4173179.
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