Words of the Week! Elusive, Illusive, Allusive Richmond Writing

Words of the Week! Elusive, Illusive, Allusive Richmond Writing This week we have a pair of homonyms, illusive and elusive, that students confuse. OED links are given. At a colleagues suggestion I added a quasi-literary term that we rarely encounter, allusive. The mnemonic for getting them sorted out is not too difficult, so well have a go at it now. If something is illusive, think of an illusion. It only seems real. It deceives you, as in His quest a quick fortune led him toward many illusive investments, all of which collapsed. Elusive is something that eludes us, so While he invested a lot of money, good returns on his investments remained elusive. I well recall my first highway travel as a child. I kept warning my father of water ahead on the road. These were illusions, mirages. All such are illusive. Writers may know, and use, literary allusions. Something that is allusive alludes to something else, literary or ordinary, as in The states early and difficult frontier history left so many allusive place names: Last Chance, Broken Promise, Dead Man, Murder Creek. Since all three words sound nearly alike when spoken, its best to try the mnemonics given, before writing anything down. Please nominate a word or metaphor useful in academic writing by e-mailing me (jessid -at- richmond -dot- edu) or leaving a comment below. See all of our Metaphors of the Month  here  and Words of the Week  here. Image courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.