Grammatical mistakes and word misusage (speaking of which — is that a word? MS Word says it is…) are all around us. I always have my eyes and ears open for what those in the parenting community might call a “teaching moment.”
I hadn’t thought of these particular words being confused until I heard them mis-used twice in one week. So, here we go…
Collaborate and Corroborate.
They sound very similar, are spelled practically the same except for those pesky three letters and, to make matters worse, their meanings are actually similar in that they both imply people doing something together.
“Collaborate” means to work together, or to work collectively. If we break this word down into its parts, we can see why.
Col – collective, co – together
Labor – work
Santa Claus collaborates with his elves and eight reindeer to deliver all the toys on Christmas Eve.
Corroborate, on the other hand, means to verify, support or confirm. Its root is derived from the Latin “roborare,” which means to strengthen.
Will you corroborate my story of seeing Santa on the rooftop?
Mnemonic Devices
It’s those Ls and Rs that make all the difference in these two words. But if we remember labor = work, it’s easy enough to remember that “collaborate” means to work together. I also like to think of those two Ls as parallel lines, working together. After all, you need two lines to be parallel to each other.
The word “corroborate” uses Rs. The lower case Rs may look like little people, nodding their heads in agreement. Also, the word “right” begins with an R. When you corroborate someone’s story, you are, in essence, saying they are “right.”
A Challenge For You
Here’s a fun challenge you can play while those cookies for Santa bake in the oven. Come up with a sentence using both words, collaborate and corroborate. (Or any forms of those words.
Merry Christmas – and happy holidays — from all of us at FWJ!
