A Little Help No. 3

Welcome to the scenic route! I’m so happy to have you here. I’ve got another helpful word comparison for you today. I find it so embarrassing when I use the wrong word or spelling in my writing. And when I find it in another author’s writing, it can be a real disappointment if it pulls me out of the story. I’m hoping these posts are indeed helpful to you. I know they’ve been great reminders for me. Let’s get to it!

Clamor vs Clamber

Today’s words are interesting to me. They have very different definitions. Also, one can be used as either a noun or a verb. The other is strictly used as a verb.

Clamor

Clamor is basically noise, though there are several definitions to clarify the type of noise or situation. The definition is pretty simple. And once you understand the definition, the usage should be apparent, as well, even though this word can be used as either a noun or a verb.

• ex. noun - The clamor outside my window had me hurrying to see who was out there.

• ex. verb - The alarm clamored, shrieking its warning to all occupants.

Clamber

I think I just realized where the problem might come into play when writers confuse these two words. When I think of the word ‘climb’ and how it relates to the definition of this word, the confusion seems to be clear. We’ll get to the confusion part in a second.

First, the basic definition of clamber is ‘to climb awkwardly'.’ It’s probably the shortest definition I’ve looked up for this series. And if you think of the word ‘climb,’ the ‘b’ is silent.

This leads us to the confusing part. Some might think the ‘b’ in ‘clamber’ is silent. And apparently, it is acceptable, according to Webster’s online dictionary, to not pronounce the ‘b’. Personally, I’ve never heard it pronounced that way. I’ve always heard it pronounced ‘klam-ber’ and so I’ve always said it that way. It helps me to avoid mistaking the two, as well.

• ex. verb - Bill clambered up the rocky slope, finally making it after stumbling three times.

Conclusion

In the case of these two words, I think knowing and associating each word with its proper definition will help us avoid using the wrong one. I hope today’s post helped you, as much as it helped me. I have a pretty wide vocabulary, though it sometimes gets lost in the labyrinthine corners of my mind. (That’s pretty embarrassing, too, btw…)

I hope you’ll come back next Friday to check out the next installment of this series. Let’s all work together to improve both our writing and our vocabulary. Our readers are worth it!

Until next time…
Keep turning pages.