November 7, 2014 =========
☆ complement　　補足する
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I love this word, it’s funny to see how many people use it in the wrong way – even native speakers. Often on the web, you can see people writing blogs or even talking about their products and instead of saying that “X complements Y” they say “X compliments Y”… in other words, instead of saying that “X makes Y even better” they are saying that “Y said something nice to X”. A very different meaning, right??
It’s true, the two words do sound similar, and the spelling is almost identical, but they are very different. When you come across this kind of word, it’s a good idea to try and think of a funny thing to help you remember it.
For today’s word, for example, you can see that “compliment” has an “i” in it… so you could say, “I compliment you” to help you remember that praising someone takes “i” not “e”.
Or for “complement” you could think that it is like “complete” so “X and Y together” makes them complete. They complement each other, and complete each other. Another idea, there are two “e”s in complement… so, yes! The two “e”s complement each other.
I hope those ideas help. If not, try to think of your own because of course, your own idea will always stick in your mind more.
Bye,
Chris