More words that are easy to confuse.

Lightning/ lightening

Lightning is a noun referring to the sudden flow of electricity between two electrically charged objects during a storm. Lightning may be communicated between electrically charged areas of a cloud, between one cloud and another, or between a cloud and the ground. Lightening is a verb meaning to lighten or brighten. Since both words derive from the terms light and lighten, the origins will not help us to remember the correct spelling for each one. Words ending with the letters ing take a verb and change it into a noun, describing what happens as a result of the verb. One possible way to recall the different spellings lightning and lightening would be to recall that no other common words end with the letters tning. Lightning is the only one, and it is the one having to do with charges of electricity. By contrast, many familiar words end with the letters tening, for example:

Whitening

Softening

Hastening

Fattening

Listening

Neatening

Fastening

Threatening

Frightening

Unfastening

If we associate the word lightening with these other words, then we may remember its correct spelling. Some usage examples:

• Lightening the Load of Student Loan Debt.
• You might also want to try creams containing lightening agents such as retinol, hydroquinone, green tea, Vitamin C and soy to brighten up the dark circles.
• The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) yesterday warned teenagers and young people about substandard lightening cosmetics, which are increasingly popular due to low prices and their easy availability from the Internet and beauty salons.
• Fine Arts Department chief Sahawat Naenna yesterday inspected Wat Arun in Bangkok, following the recent decapitation of a statue of a demon in the compound by a lightning strike, before scaffolds were set up to allow repairs to the statue today.
• He kicks the pad held by the trainer with lightning force, his expression focused and severe.
• He said it felt like being struck by lightning when he was informed that he was no longer needed on the show “Saranae.”

i.e. / e.g.

One of the challenges of writing Thai English for academic purposes, whether for theses or academic papers, is to keep things simple. It is an understandable temptation to try to seem as elegant and sophisticated as possible when writing, and to some ajarns and students, that means fancy abbreviations such as i.e. and e.g. Unfortunately, such abbreviations are often used in the wrong way in Thai English, and that does not make a good impression. One of the reasons the abbreviations are used wrongly is that writers of Thai English usually do not know what the abbreviations are short for. This is because the words being abbreviated are in the Latin language. A basic rule for keeping things clear is that no one who is not absolutely sure of English should try to insert foreign language terms in a term paper, thesis, or academic research report. That way, many errors may be avoided. For those who insist on using e.g. and i.e., the first step would be knowing what they mean. The abbreviation e.g. is short for the Latin term exempli gratia, meaning for example. There is nothing wrong with using the words for example. Indeed, they are perfectly good words, so why bother to use e.g.?  One correct example of how to use the abbreviation e.g. would be:

The Thammasat University Libraries offer many databases, e.g. MIT CogNet; National Geographic Virtual Library; Nature Reviews Drug Discovery; and Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology.

Note that the reason the above is correct is that the words for example may easily be replaced for the abbreviation e.g.

The Thammasat University Libraries offer many databases, for example MIT CogNet; National Geographic Virtual Library; Nature Reviews Drug Discovery; and Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology.

Readers will notice that the above sentence using for example is just as good as the one with e.g., and probably clearer in meaning. The abbreviation i.e. means something quite different, because it abbreviates different Latin words, yet its meaning is often confused with e.g., even by native speakers of English. The abbreviation i.e. is short for the Latin term id est, meaning in other words or that is. The abbreviation i.e. is correctly used before something in a sentence that further explains or defines a statement that has gone before. A correct use of the term i.e. would be the following:

Thai students often have trouble getting to classes on time during the rainy season, i.e. from July to October when the weather is dominated by the southwest monsoon and rainfall in most of Thailand is at its heaviest.

Note that the same statement as the above may also be written this way:

Thai students often have trouble getting to classes on time during the rainy season, that is, from July to October when the weather is dominated by the southwest monsoon and rainfall in most of Thailand is at its heaviest.

It may also be written the following way:

Thai students often have trouble getting to classes on time during the rainy season from July to October when the weather is dominated by the southwest monsoon and rainfall in most of Thailand is at its heaviest.

Or it may be written:

Thai students often have trouble getting to classes on time during the rainy season, or from July to October when the weather is dominated by the southwest monsoon and rainfall in most of Thailand is at its heaviest.

So i.e. is not really essential to most sentences, and if there is any risk of using it the wrong way and confusing it with e.g., it is probably wiser to leave it out altogether. Another frequent mistake in Thai English is to leave out the full stops which are needed because these are abbreviations. Spelling e.g. and i.e. as eg and ie is incorrect. Here are some more usage examples:

• Although export to neighboring countries (e.g. Cambodia, Myanmar, and Laos) grew, it was not strong enough to compensate for declining domestic sales as price competition became fiercer, thus depressing 3Q15 gross margin to 43.1%.
• The clauses generally restrict a former employee from engaging in activities competing with the former employer’s business (e.g. working for the former employer’s competitor) for a certain period after the employment ends (unless consent from the former employer is obtained).
• The Commerce Ministry will meet with Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry on Wednesday to assess the projected output of crops and fruits (e.g. durians, mangoes, longans and rambutans).
• Looking back in the past three months, spread of olefins has widened the most among peers by more than US$100/ton to above US$800/ton, both for commodity grade plastic (making up around 40% of PTTGC’s products and 10% of IRPC’s products), e.g. HDPE and LDPE, and specialty plastic (around 30% of IRPC’s products), e.g. PP and PS; this has directly benefited PTTGC and IRPC.
• Pad Thai should only be cooked for a for a short time, i.e. from 5 to 7 minutes on the fire.
• Students prepared far too much the night before, i.e. twelve hours, and were exhausted on the day of the exam.

(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons).