More commonly confused words

Healthful/ healthy

Healthful is an adjective meaning something leading to good health. Healthy is also an adjective, referring to someone or something that already experiences good health. So, a person who is ill may try to eat healthful foods to get better. The word ending ful can mean full of or characterized by or able to or tending towards, among other meanings. In the case of healthful, the letters ful refer to whatever is tending towards health. Here are some other familiar words ending with the letters ful:

awful

bashful

beautiful

blissful

boastful

bountiful

cheerful

colorful

deceitful

delightful

disdainful

disgraceful

distasteful

doubtful

dreadful

effortful

eventful

faithful

fanciful

fateful

fearful

flavorful

forceful

frightful

fruitful

gainful

graceful

grateful

hateful

helpful

hopeful

hurtful

insightful

masterful

meaningful

merciful

mindful

mistrustful

peaceful

pipeful

regretful

remorseful

resentful

resourceful

respectful

rueful

shameful

skillful

sorrowful

soulful

stressful

successful

suspenseful

tactful

tasteful

thoughtful

truthful

uneventful

unfaithful

ungrateful

unhelpful

unsuccessful

wasteful

watchful

wonderful

youthful

zestful

To remember the subtle difference between these two words, we can remind ourselves that we want things that are full of health, or healthful, in order to be healthy. Here are some usage examples:

• Swiss sensations: An award-winning chef offers heavenly, yet healthful culinary creations at a leading Hua Hin hotel.
• Since people at a Thai seaside resort seem to prefer seafood, the majority of fare on the menu is made up of healthful fish dishes, but the chef has also added veal, beef and lamb items.
• Christian Dannhart, a spokesman for a group that promotes the healthful effects of alternating hot and cold showers, says, “That is often enough to improve circulation and the supply of oxygen.”
• “Thai food is healthful anyway,” says executive chef Gael Lardiere. “We’ve simply eliminated the coconut and other kinds of fat, just to show people that you can eat healthy and still feel full at the end of the meal.”
• If you’re not looking for healthful food, you can enjoy a full range of Thai dishes that feature coconut milk, such as the tom kha gai sai kalum plee (Bt260) – chicken and cabbage soup with coconut milk.
• Participants said HIAs must be accepted as a tool for sustaining healthful public policies, enabling a social and physical environment that promoted a positive lifestyle and offered policy options people can access.
• There, she gains new energy from a healthful, self-sufficient lifestyle, which includes growing her own food and cooking her own meals.
• Beautiful, fit and always fashionable, Kalamare is among of the throng of celebrities known for clean and healthful lifestyles.
• With five cookbooks published on healthful cooking, Green wants to help change people’s lives.
• Healthy fun for kids in need.
• Following up on a pledge made last year to get kids eating better and staying active, Herbalife Thailand recently treated the 200 youngsters under the care of the Baan Nokkamin Foundation to a day of peppy games and healthy food.
• “This initiative aims to provide good nutrition for the children and make them aware of the importance of a healthy diet and an active lifestyle,” general manager Suphot Rittipichaiwat said.
• Eating right for a healthy skin.
• New campaign highlights qualities of ‘healthy’ 100Plus.
• As well, 100Plus will introduce a new logo, “The Healthy Choice”, developed by the Institute of Nutrition at Mahidol University on its packaging as well as in advertisements.
• A sound economy starts with healthy girls. Healthy girls are better equipped for education and work. Healthy young women have healthy pregnancies and are better able to be good mothers.
• Building a healthy rhetoric in China-US ties.

Concurrent / consecutive

The adjective concurrent refers to things happening at the same time. It can also refer to things that agree with one another. The word’s meaning derives from a Latin term meaning to run together. The adjective consecutive means to follow without interruption, one after another. Its original meaning in Latin was to follow closely. To keep these two words apart, we can think of the word current, which is part of the word concurrent. Current events are those which are happening now. Concurrent events are those which all happen at once, rather than at different times. A way to keep the meaning of the word consecutive clear is to tell ourselves a little story about a conference  of business people, during which one executive after another made a speech. At this event, there were consecutive executives speaking. Did the consecutive executives speak continuously? No, they stopped for coffee breaks, lunches, and other interruptions. Some usage examples:

• Last month was the hottest June in modern history, marking the 14th consecutive month that global heat records have been broken, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Tuesday.
• Property tycoon Anant Asavabhokhin retained his ranking as the richest businessman in Thailand this year for the seventh consecutive year, with a combined asset value of Bt15.9 billion, according to the 2009 annual billionaire survey by Money & Banking Magazine.
• Thailand battled their way through to the last-16 of Fifa Futsal World Cup for second consecutive time with a scrappy 2-1 win over Egypt in their final Group B match in Colombia.
• Consumer confidence increased for the second consecutive month in November, to the highest level in 11 months, thanks to a positive outlook on economic growth into next year and stable politics, according to the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce.
• Trend Micro Incorporated has announced that its Trend Micro Deep Discovery Inspector has been recognized for the third consecutive year as a recommended breach detection system by NSS Labs.
• Banpu wins Third consecutive DJSI membership.
• An appropriate policy would help Thailand take advantage of this trend and concurrently address the ageing issue.
• Concurrently, they should consider capacity-building schemes for the workers and be reminded of the poor electricity supply and the poor conditions of ports and roads, he said.
• The event is held concurrently with the Four Tribes Annual Cultural Festival with ethnic Lao, Khmer, Kui and Yoe groupings each showcasing their unique culture.
• It helps cool the company’s headquarter even when midday temperatures in Bangkok exceed 40 degrees Celsius, and concurrently saves electricity bills and the environment.

(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.)