![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mab_browne posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
fandom_grammarWelcome to this Fandom Grammar post on commonly confused words. We have a list of four for you today: alley; ally; allay; and alloy. Our fannish examples will come from NBC Hannibal. May I allay any potential concerns with a promise of no scary or gory references?
Definitions are sourced from my New Zealand Oxford Dictionary, and as usual when I research these posts I found out things that I didn't expect.
Alley is the word that you want when you go walking along a narrow street. In some areas it will also refer to the paths found in gardens and parks. This sense of a narrow way also has a sporting connection; tennis players may refer to either of the two side strips of a doubles court as the alley, and ten-pin bowlers go to a bowling alley, referring to the strip that the ball travels down. This word comes to us via Middle English, Old French and ultimately the Latin word for walk, ambulare, elided by time and use.
In some parts of the world, for example Australia and New Zealand, alley can also refer to a particularly prized marble, of the sort that children play with, and this usage may have originated from the word alabaster.
Before we move on to our next word, let’s talk about making plurals for words ending in ‘y’. English has a nicely straightforward rule for these words. If your word ends with a consonant plus ‘y’, then your word has the ‘ies’ plural form, for example: doggy/doggies, folly/follies, etc. If your word ends with a vowel plus a ‘y’, then you simply add an ‘s’. Hence, the plural of alley, as you will have seen in the example above, is alleys. This same rule also generally applies to verbs ending with these spelling forms.
For our next word, an ally is what you need in a sticky situation - someone who can help you, who has your back, is on your side. This is a word that can be as formal or informal as you need; countries seek allies, mob bosses want them, an ordinary worker may seek an ally in a friend or a union representative to deal with a difficult boss or co-worker. Just to be confusing, ally is occasionally an alternative spelling of alley, although using the alley spelling would give readers a clue ahead of any context. When you're using ally as a noun, the plural is of course allies, following the rules discussed above. Ally is also a verb, meaning to work together, to form an alliance in other words. Again this word comes out of a trail that leads back through Middle English, to Old French to the Latin word alligare, meaning bind.
Allay is a verb, meaning literally to diminish or relieve. What are being diminished or relieved are uncomfortable sensations, such as fear, suspicion, or pain. Allay follows the usual verb patterns: I allay, she allays, she allayed, etc. Allay comes to us from Old English.
Our last word is alloy. Alloy as a noun means a mixture of two metals such as bronze, which is a mix of copper and tin. An alloy can be an improvement, neutral, or have implications of debasing the original substance or creating something inferior via the mix. Alloy as a verb, unsurprisingly, relates to creating an alloy. It can also mean to moderate something. It has a similar history to ally, coming from the same root word.
So how do we remember which words are which? Perhaps, given that bronze is an historically important alloy, readers can remember that bronze and alloy both contain the letter ‘o’.
One can lay a fear or doubt to rest, just as one can allay it.
With ally and alley, I have some nifty mnemonics courtesy ofgreen_grrl:
Alleys intersect streets
Allies will defend you from lies and slander.
Definitions are sourced from my New Zealand Oxford Dictionary, and as usual when I research these posts I found out things that I didn't expect.
Alley is the word that you want when you go walking along a narrow street. In some areas it will also refer to the paths found in gardens and parks. This sense of a narrow way also has a sporting connection; tennis players may refer to either of the two side strips of a doubles court as the alley, and ten-pin bowlers go to a bowling alley, referring to the strip that the ball travels down. This word comes to us via Middle English, Old French and ultimately the Latin word for walk, ambulare, elided by time and use.
In some parts of the world, for example Australia and New Zealand, alley can also refer to a particularly prized marble, of the sort that children play with, and this usage may have originated from the word alabaster.
Staff of the BAU found themselves investigating anywhere: private homes, narrow alleys, the great outdoors. Horrible things had no limit to where they could happen and the sooner you dealt with that, the better.
One date night, Alanna took her wife to a bowling alley, and was amused and delighted to see how quickly Margot picked up some very watchable (and distracting) techniques.
Before we move on to our next word, let’s talk about making plurals for words ending in ‘y’. English has a nicely straightforward rule for these words. If your word ends with a consonant plus ‘y’, then your word has the ‘ies’ plural form, for example: doggy/doggies, folly/follies, etc. If your word ends with a vowel plus a ‘y’, then you simply add an ‘s’. Hence, the plural of alley, as you will have seen in the example above, is alleys. This same rule also generally applies to verbs ending with these spelling forms.
For our next word, an ally is what you need in a sticky situation - someone who can help you, who has your back, is on your side. This is a word that can be as formal or informal as you need; countries seek allies, mob bosses want them, an ordinary worker may seek an ally in a friend or a union representative to deal with a difficult boss or co-worker. Just to be confusing, ally is occasionally an alternative spelling of alley, although using the alley spelling would give readers a clue ahead of any context. When you're using ally as a noun, the plural is of course allies, following the rules discussed above. Ally is also a verb, meaning to work together, to form an alliance in other words. Again this word comes out of a trail that leads back through Middle English, to Old French to the Latin word alligare, meaning bind.
Bringing down the Red Dragon serial killer brought the most unlikely, and untrusting, allies together.
Will had allied himself with Jack, with all the tedious, unimaginative forces of the law, and Hannibal was a dangerous man to betray.
Allay is a verb, meaning literally to diminish or relieve. What are being diminished or relieved are uncomfortable sensations, such as fear, suspicion, or pain. Allay follows the usual verb patterns: I allay, she allays, she allayed, etc. Allay comes to us from Old English.
Will’s dogs were well-used to Hannibal, but he made sure to allay any uncertainties they might have had about his presence in their home without their master with his own special version of dog treats.
Our last word is alloy. Alloy as a noun means a mixture of two metals such as bronze, which is a mix of copper and tin. An alloy can be an improvement, neutral, or have implications of debasing the original substance or creating something inferior via the mix. Alloy as a verb, unsurprisingly, relates to creating an alloy. It can also mean to moderate something. It has a similar history to ally, coming from the same root word.
Carbon steel was a quite gloriously useful alloy, Hannibal thought, and took up his scalpel.
Hannibal’s affection for Will was not alloyed with any particular pity.
So how do we remember which words are which? Perhaps, given that bronze is an historically important alloy, readers can remember that bronze and alloy both contain the letter ‘o’.
One can lay a fear or doubt to rest, just as one can allay it.
With ally and alley, I have some nifty mnemonics courtesy of
green_grrl:Alleys intersect streets
Allies will defend you from lies and slander.
