8-1-03 Compliment/Complement

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" background="042d05a3.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>Big Ring Media Team, Inc.</B></FONT><B>    </B><B> |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Big Ring Media Team, Inc."><B>home</B></A></div> <bR> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFCC66" TEXT="#080000" background="043d2123.jpg"> <div> Click on this link to return to <A HREF="id39.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Word Watch by Date">Word Watch by Date</A>.</div> <div> Click on this link to go to <A HREF="id40.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Word Watch by Subject">Word Watch by Subject</A>.</div> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 width="100%" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>8-1-03 Compliment/Complement</I></div> <div> Wow. In the past year or so, we've been overwhelmed with sloppy usage. Here's our latest concern: <I>compliment </I>and <I>complement</I>.</div> <div> As a noun, <I>compliment</I> (with an "i") is an expression of praise or admiration: Dave gave Sue a compliment when he said, "You are really good at building rapport with clients." As a verb, it is the act of offering such an expression: Dave complimented Sue on her ability to build rapport with clients.</div> <div> As a noun, <I>complement </I>(with an "e") is something that completes or makes perfect: His fedora was a complement to his double-breasted suit. As a verb, it is the act of achieving that completion or perfection: His fedora complemented his double-breasted suit.</div> <div> <I>Compliment </I>and <I>complement </I>comprise yet another pair of tricky words under the category of homophones. Homophones are words that sound alike, but are spelled differently and have different meanings. Spell check won't catch them, and grammar check is not completely reliable.</div> <div> Mastering these two words will complement your writing skills and will lead to compliments from your peers.</div> </td> </tr></table></body>