Prices and Prizes

Prices and Prizes Prices and Prizes Prices and Prizes By Mark Nichol It may not surprise you that price and prize are cognates, but two other common words pertaining to value, and additional words derived from them, share their common ancestor. Price and prize stem from the Latin noun pretium, meaning â€Å"prize† or â€Å"reward,† or â€Å"value† or â€Å"worth.† Price is both a verb meaning â€Å"set value† and a noun meaning â€Å"value† (including a reference to something challenging or unpleasant that is nevertheless necessary as a condition of achieving a desired result). The adjective pricey means â€Å"expensive,† while priceless means not â€Å"without a price† but â€Å"valued beyond price† and refers to an object or an experience worth so much to a person or people in general because of aesthetic considerations or an emotional attachment that no monetary value can be assigned to it. To overprice is to place excessive value on something for sale, while to be priced out of a commodity is to be unable to afford it. A price tag is a piece of paper or other material attached to a product that indicates its monetary value. Something offered for half-price will be sold for half of its marked value. â€Å"Prix fixe,† adopted directly from French and meaning â€Å"fixed price,† describes a set meal offered by a restaurant at a specific cost, as opposed to multiple dishes available, according to a displayed menu, for various prices. To prize is to ascribe value, and a prize is something given in recognition of an achievement. As an adjective, prize means â€Å"worthy of a prize,† and prizeworthy itself is also an adjective. A prizefight is a professional boxing match, and a participant of such an event is a prizefighter, though these terms have largely been superseded by â€Å"boxing match† and boxer. The Latin forebear pretium was altered to precium, and being aware of this form makes it easier to connect precious, meaning â€Å"of great worth† (and often pertaining to aesthetic or emotional worth, as in ascribing value to time, rather than monetary value), to price and prize. Precious also has the sense of â€Å"esteemed,† in describing a cherished friend, though it also has a pejorative sense of â€Å"affected,† or â€Å"overly refined in manner.† The adjectival form is preciously, and the quality of being precious is preciousness. Praise, too, is derived from pretium by way of precium. That word, meaning â€Å"celebrate† or â€Å"commend,† or as a noun â€Å"commendation† or â€Å"worship† (or, less often, â€Å"merit† or â€Å"value†), is also the root of appraise, meaning â€Å"set a value on,† and the noun form appraisal. A praiseworthy act is one that merits commendation. To appreciate is to esteem or value, or to be conscious of, and an act of doing so is one of appreciation; the adjective appreciable means â€Å"able to be measured or perceived.† Depreciate, by contrast, means â€Å"lower in esteem or value†; in a taxation context, it refers to deducting a portion of the original cost of something as its value decreases with age and use. The verb deprecate, meaning â€Å"belittle,† â€Å"play down,† or â€Å"disapprove of,† is unrelated. (Its root word pertains to prayer; originally, to deprecate was to avert something undesired by praying.) 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 Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Addressing A Letter to Two People34 Writing Tips That Will Make You a Better WriterWhen Is a Question Not a Question?

7 Writing Warm Ups for More Productive Writing

7 Writing Warm Ups for More Productive Writing Wonder how to stimulate and encourage your brain to simply dive into the writing process? A few warm-up activities will help to get your words and ideas flowing. Why is it important to warm up? The answer is quite predictable: to avoid the writers block and start writing right away. You would be surprised at how much writing will come from you once youre warmed up. Youll easily banish all distractions and get down to putting the words on paper. Here are a few proven ways to make you think and force your brains into action. 1. Describe Whats Going On Outside Your Window It is the easiest writing warm up ever! You just to have look out your window and write down your observations. Try not just to focus on people, buildings and weather, think what else is there. Do you see something unusual? Consider the peoples emotions and imagine what they may be talking about. Try to be specific to make sure that your description takes no more than 5 sentences. Its just a short warm up that shouldnt last more than 15 minutes. 2. Write Imaginary Definitions of Unknown Words Take a dictionary and open it on a random page. Find a word you are not sure how to define. Then create an imaginary definition for it. Play with words and youll discover new ways of saying old things. Be inspired and your imagination will help you produce the most vivid descriptions. Repeat this exercise for several times until you feel that your brain is warmed up enough to proceed with your main task. 3. Describe Your First Experience Describe your first. Your first day of school, first kitten, first job, first car, first yoga class, first date, it doesnt matter – all will make excellent stories. The first time of doing something is always an exciting experience, so youll easily find the right words to describe it and avoid that situation of staring at a blank sheet of paper. Concentrate on your emotions and start developing them in full – get the creative juices flowing! 4. Pretend Youre a Travel Writer Find a world map and blindly put your finger somewhere. Then pretend you are a travel writer and tell about the weird experience in that particular country. What happened? How did you behave in that unusual situation? How did you solve the problem? You may include anyone and anything you want into your story – locals, taxi drivers, bartenders, random people. Youll get a killer piece of content, just take some inspiration and put your pen to paper. 5. Create a Half-Page Monologue Creating monologues is a great way to warm up, so get in the habit of writing them. Take a newspaper or go to google news, find an interesting headline, then decide on a character who comes from that headline and write a short monologue for that character. Be specific, it is just a warm up and you dont have to create a long piece of writing. A half-page monologue will be more than enough to get your brain into the writing mode. 6. Write a Letter to Your Future Self Writing a letter can be a really wonderful experience. There are no restrictions on how old you should be – one year, five years or 10 years from now. What would you say? What kind of person would you be? What goals would you want to have achieved? Think about your place in life, your achievements or fails. First of all, identify the period of time to write about and start writing. Dont pay much attention to the letter format as its just a quick warm up. 7. Consider a Free Writing Session Give yourself a time limit and go. Dont stop, just get the words on a page. Write about everything that comes to your mind. Dont give your brain a moment to stop or evaluate your ideas, set a timer for 10 or 15 minutes and write without interruption. Free writing is not the time for editing or judging, you need to keep your pen moving. You will see that a free writing session is beneficial for more productive writing.