ADD WEIGHT or GAIN WEIGHT?

 • Gomez has really added weight, you need to see him.

The word ‘weight' as used in the sentence above is a noun which means ‘how heavy somebody or something is’. In this sense, the verb to use isn’t ‘added’,  so when rewritten, we say: 

• Gomez has really gained weight, you need to see him.

Meanwhile, ‘weight’ can take ‘add' when it means importance or influence. E.g.

The presence of your professor will add weight to your presentation. 

Campaign Against Social Injustice is beginning to add weight to the call against child molestation. 

Take note of the following:

put on weight

carry weight

lose weight 

watch your weight 

#      add weight 

lend weight to, etc 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

AT THE OUTSKIRTS or ON THE OUTSKIRTS?

 • We live at the outskirts of Lagos.  The noun ‘outskirts’ ( the parts of a city or town that are furthest from the centre) takes the preposition ‘on'. So when rewritten, we have :  • We live on the outskirts of Lagos. Below are some examples of words that also take the preposition ‘on' : on the premises, on the team, on the panel, on the committee, on a whim, etc. 
Read more

'Charge for' or 'Charge with'?

 • The old man was charged for stealing a phone.  When the verb charge is used to mean ‘to accuse somebody formally of a crime…’’, then it takes the preposition with. Meanwhile, when charge means ‘to ask an amount of money for goods or a service’’, then the preposition to use is for.  E.g. The grocer charged five hundred naira for a bag of beans.  To say it right, the above sentence will be:  The old man was charged with stealing a phone. 
Read more

BILLIARDS ARE or BIILIARDS IS?

 • I enjoy playing billiards, especially because they are played between two players.  The noun ‘billiards' is a singular non-count noun. It should be noted that the ‘s' in it is only part of its spelling. Therefore,  it should be treated as a singular noun. The adjective of ‘billiards’ is billiard: a billiard table, a billiard stick, etc. Examples of nouns in this category include checkers, fives, draughts, etc. When corrected, we have:  • I enjoy playing billiards, especially because it is played between two players. 
Read more