What is the difference between certain words?

[Rainyhawaii]

I have some sets of words I can't find a difference between after looking the words up. Some of them may just be variants of spelling, whereas others are two completely different words. This originally came up because of simple misspellings, inadequate grammar, and the like. But here some of them are:

Eachother verses each other: I know that the first one isn't proper grammar and all, but those two sound like completely different things to me. The first one I read it as (for example) 'Those two loved eachother.' Where as the other one I read it as 'They looked around at each other person in the room.'
I know the first one isn't 'right' and I don't use it like that because it's improper grammar, but I still see that difference. Should a distinction be made between those two or am I crazy. (Probably crazy, I can see it now.)


Arrogance verses conceited: I looked up the definition of both of those and they seem to say the same thing in different ways.
Conceited: "Having an excessively favourable opinion of one's abilities, appearance" ~ Dictionary.com
Arrogance: "Offensive display of superiority or self-importance; overbearing pride." ~ Dictionary.com
Where is the difference between the two?

Frail verses fragile: These seem to say nearly the same thing.
Frail: "Easily broken or destroyed; fragile." ~ Dictionary.com
Fragile: "Easily broken, shattered, or damaged; delicate; brittle; frail" ~ Dictionary.com

Who verses whom: I know that 'whom' is the objective case of 'who', but I still can't tell when to use it. I was told that if the answer uses the word 'him' (for example) then the question would be phrased with 'whom'. However, if the answer does use the word 'him' (for example) then couldn't you just rephrase the answer so it doesn't need to making the question not need to?

[ennison]

If you say "to who" you sound like a blinking owl! "Frail" I would be inclined to use of a person but "fragile" of an object. "Arrogance" is stronger than "conceit". I'd say that with most synonyms in English there is a sequence of weak/mild/ strong. This coupled with the huge range of vocabulary gives the language a huge flexibility. I'm sure other languages possess a similar quality even some with a smaller vocabulary but it is a notable feature of English which to be truthful is not a particularly mellifluous tongue. So it must make use of its strengths where it finds them.

[E.A Rumfield]

'They looked around at each other person in the room.' Well that doesn't any sense at all.

Versus-to compare or perform against
Verse has come to mean a stanza in poetry or lyrics among other things

There are a lot of words that are spelled the same but have different meanings like wound-a physical injury and wound-to bring under tension.

[hillwalker]

You seem to be confused.

'eachother' - there's no such word in the English language so I don't understand your query

'each other' and 'one another' are interchangeable - 'Those two love each other.' is fine, as is 'Those two love one another'. 'They looked around at each other person ?? in the room.' is grammatical nonsense.

'arrogance' versus 'conceit' - both mean the same. So? I don't understand why you think each word has to have an unique meaning. Have you ever heard of the grammatical term 'simile'?

'frail' versus 'fragile' - again ^^ Try reading a thesaurus - it's full of similes.

'who' is used in sentences like 'Who's talking to you?' (He's talking to me) or 'The man who shares my flat is a killer.' (He is a killer.)
'whom' is used in sentences like 'To whom were you talking?' (I'm talking to him) or 'The man with whom I share a flat is a killer.' (I share a flat with him. . .)
who and whom are not interchangeable.

H

[Volya]

You seem to be confused.

'eachother' - there's no such word in the English language so I don't understand your query

'each other' and 'one another' are interchangeable - 'Those two love each other.' is fine, as is 'Those two love one another'. 'They looked around at each other person ?? in the room.' is grammatical nonsense.

'arrogance' versus 'conceit' - both mean the same. So? I don't understand why you think each word has to have an unique meaning. Have you ever heard of the grammatical term 'simile'?

'frail' versus 'fragile' - again ^^ Try reading a thesaurus - it's full of similes.

'who' is used in sentences like 'Who's talking to you?' (He's talking to me) or 'The man who shares my flat is a killer.' (He is a killer.)
'whom' is used in sentences like 'To whom were you talking?' (I'm talking to him) or 'The man with whom I share a flat is a killer.' (I share a flat with him. . .)
who and whom are not interchangeable.

H

Simile? You mean 'synonym', right?

[hillwalker]

yeh - you got me there.

H

[Rainyhawaii]

You seem to be confused.

'eachother' - there's no such word in the English language so I don't understand your query

'each other' and 'one another' are interchangeable - 'Those two love each other.' is fine, as is 'Those two love one another'. 'They looked around at each other person ?? in the room.' is grammatical nonsense.

'arrogance' versus 'conceit' - both mean the same. So? I don't understand why you think each word has to have an unique meaning. Have you ever heard of the grammatical term 'simile'?

'frail' versus 'fragile' - again ^^ Try reading a thesaurus - it's full of similes.

'who' is used in sentences like 'Who's talking to you?' (He's talking to me) or 'The man who shares my flat is a killer.' (He is a killer.)
'whom' is used in sentences like 'To whom were you talking?' (I'm talking to him) or 'The man with whom I share a flat is a killer.' (I share a flat with him. . .)
who and whom are not interchangeable.

H

I know eachother is not a real word and that it is two separate words. But when I read it, I read them differently. I read 'eachother' as one 'another' and 'each other' as 'every other'. I know it's not correct per say... (I don't know what else to say as it's just something I have to get over...)

And I think you mean synonym not simile. And synonym does not mean the same it means similar.

I have figured out the difference between 'arrogance' and 'conceit'. (Arrogance meaning thinking you're better than other people and conceit just being naive confidence.)

I do not think synonyms are the 'same'. They are similar. So while they are interchangeable, they are still slightly different.

And for the 'who' versus 'whom' why would you bother to use whom, if you could just rephrase it to whom? And is there a case (that you know of) where you can't rephrase it from whom?

[synodbio]

Hi everyone, i really appreciate this thread where the important and basic grammer and words usage are described and made a clear differentiation. Thanks for your work and sharing it.

[ACm Stha]

Love this Thread coz helped me a lot :)

[cafolini]

yeh - you got me there.

H

LOL. Give up before the entanglement starts. It's good practice.