Transcript
Narrator
No matter how much you push the envelope, it will always be stationary.
Ah, no. Wait, hang on. I mean no matter how much you push the envelope, it will always be stationery.
Ever made this mistake?
Well, believe me, you’re certainly not alone.
Despite the difference between the words stationary and stationery, the spelling of the words are easily misunderstood.
If you don’t already know the difference, it’s this. The stationery refers to writing materials, while stationary means not moving.
Now, if you find it hard to remember the difference between the two, just try asking yourself the following question.
What you call a shop where you buy pens, correction fluid and envelopes? Yeah, a stationer. Therefore, they all take the same spelling–
stationery, -er.
Here’s a great solution for remembering this rule.
For stationery, think E for envelope. And for stationary, it’s -ar for car.
Two of the most commonly confused words in the English language are ‘stationary‘ and ‘stationery‘.
It may come as a surprise that they are separate words, but they are different – ‘stationary’ and ‘stationery’ mean entirely different things, even though they happen to be spelled in a very similar way.
So what’s the difference? And, more importantly, how do you make sure you’ll remember the difference when you’ve long since clicked away from this blog post? Watch this 60-second video to learn how.
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