Wishing You Well

Wishing You Well Wishing You Well Wishing You Well By Maeve Maddox A reader has written to express her astonishment at the following usage in an office memo: Please come to the Open House to give [so-and-so] your well-wishes in person. Where, wonders the reader, did the person who wrote the memo get the expression â€Å"well-wishes†? Thought I, â€Å"Where indeed?† My first move was to do a Web search to see how common this use of well-wishes might be. First I searched â€Å"well wishes† in quotations. Results: about 1,290,000. I found numerous examples on entertainment and sports sites: Seinfeld cast sends well-wishes to terminally ill fan Reese Witherspoon Sends Well Wishes to Newlywed Sofia Veragara NFL Players send prayers, well-wishes to Rams receiver Stedman Bailey after shooting Rutgers coach Kyle Flood sends well-wishes to Minnesotas Jerry Kill No surprise there, I thought. People who write about sports and entertainment are not always models of standard usage. Let’s see if I can find examples in sources noted for more formal usage: The London Telegraph: Jubilee concert goers send well wishes to Prince Philip A Vancouver hospital: Send  well wishes  by email to your friend or family member staying in one of our hospitals below. The Wall Street Journal: Firms across the world have begun the time-honored tradition of sending well wishes and gifts to their investors. The New York Times:   Entering an election year with the well wishes of both parties, Mr. Ryan will not be pushing legislation simply to send a message of ardent conservatism. Hmm. This, I saw, was a case for my two dictionaries. Merriam-Webster Unabridged well-wish noun: a good or kindly wish Oxford English Dictionary well wish noun: An instance of wishing well to someone or something; an expression of this, a good wish. The earliest OED citation is dated 1595. The most recent is from a biography of Lincoln published in 2009: â€Å"His return was not greeted with the well wishes of the press and public with which he had left for Washington.† No doubt about it, the forms well wishes and well-wishes are regarded as standard British and American usage. Although- in defense of the reader’s feelings and my own- the OED notes that well wishes is â€Å"now less common than best or good wishes.† Further, a comparison search of â€Å"well wishes† and â€Å"good wishes† on the Ngram Viewer shows well wishes hugging the bottom of the graph. Bottom line: Although well-wishes sounds nonstandard to me and I won’t use it, I cannot criticize its use in the memos or headlines of others. Oddly enough, â€Å"well wishes† strikes me as unidiomatic, but â€Å"get well wishes† does not. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:English Grammar 101: All You Need to KnowOn Behalf Of vs. In Behalf Of15 Names and Descriptions of Effects

Italian Prepositions Tra and Fra

Italian Prepositions Tra and Fra The book is BETWEEN the couch and the wall. There’s a big difference BETWEEN say something and doing something. BETWEEN all of the girls, Giulia is the nicest. In English, the best definition for the prepositions â€Å"tra† and â€Å"fra† is â€Å"between,† but it can also be understood as â€Å"among.† Luckily, these two prepositions are simple to use in comparison to their counterparts, like â€Å"di,† â€Å"da,† or â€Å"in.† Here are some usages along with examples. How to Use â€Å"Tra† and â€Å"Fra† Between two objects Il libro à ¨ tra il divano e il muro. - The book is between the couch and the wall.un ponte tra una riva e laltra del fiume -a bridge between one bank and the other of the rivertra due monti si stende una vallata - between two mountains lies a valleyuna casa tra gli alberi - a house amidst the trees FUN FACT: The popular proverb â€Å"Actions speak louder than words,† can be loosely translated as, â€Å"Tra il dire e il fare c’à ¨ di mezzo il mare,† which literally means, â€Å"Between saying and doing there’s an ocean.† Movement to a place or particular location Torna tra noi. - Come back between us.Un raggio di luce passava tra le imposte socchiuse. - a beam of light passed through the half-closed shutters. Distance Tra due chilometri cà ¨ un benzinaio. - Within two kilometers, there’s a gas station. Time Arriver tra due ore. - She’ll arrive in two hours.Sono libero tra le otto e le nove. - I’m free between eight and nine oclock.Tra una cosa e un’altra abbiamo fatto tardi! - This and that and we’re late! Connection or relationship una discussione tra amici - a discussion between friendsSi consultarono tra loro. - They conferred amongst themselves. Companionship or alliance Ama stare fra gli altri. - He loves to be among others. To highlight one part or person Sei il migliore tra i miei amici. - You’re the best among my friends.Alcuni tra i presenti protestarono. - Some of those present protested.Fra tutte le ragazze, Giulia à ¨ la pià ¹ simpatica. - Between all of the girls, Giulia is the nicest. Tips In some sentences, the phrase tra tutti means throughout, overall: tra tutti saranno un centinaio - overall there will be a hundred.In certain expressions, the preposition tra (fra) has a causal value. For example, Fra la casa e i bambini non ho mai il tempo di uscire - Between the house and the children, I never have time to get out. The Difference Between â€Å"Tra† and â€Å"Fra† There’s no difference in meaning between the two forms. Which one you choose to use is governed by sound; It’s much preferred to say fra travi and tra frati to avoid groups of identical sounds (other examples include tra fratelli and fra tre anni). Even so, tra is the more common form. Tip: If â€Å"tra† precedes personal pronouns, its often followed by the preposition: tra di noi.