when unsure of a word, I find it helps to put it into a sentence, as in: PP is as empathic as a housebrick vs PP is as empathetic as a housebrick See the difference?
Empathic. Empathetic is illiterate, but unfortunately creeping into the lexicon, so is probably already considered idiomatic.
https://www.grammarly.com/blog/empathetic/ Empathetic vs. Empathic The words empathetic and empathic mean the same thing. Empathic is the older word, but not by muchit was first used in 1909, while the first recorded of use of empathetic is from 1932. Both words are derived from empathy, and you can use them interchangeably. In scientific writing, empathic is more common. Its also the term that people associate with New Age teaching and theories because it reminds them of empath, a word that hasnt yet made it into the major English dictionaries.
Hmmm. Well, I don't like it! I don't have a reference to hand, but I'm pretty sure that journalism teaches "empathic" as the correct word in formal writing. My son's Grade 4 teacher crossed out "empathic" and wrote in "empathetic" in one of his sentences - I wanted to have a few choice words! All this from someone who says "haitch" for h.
Grammar: haitch or aitch? So, is the letter H/h pronounced "haitch" or "aitch"? How do you spell it? Let's start with a little unpacking. First, you won't find 'haitch' in the dictionary, only the correct spelling aitch. The name of the letter comes from Old French ache of the 1500s and first spelt so in English, when it was related to the Old English word ache, from æce. At this time it was pronounced "ache" or "aitch". Then what occurred in the 1800s was that a peculiar thing happened, or should I say, 'appened. Men and women put on airs and began imitating the French practice of dropping the h- from the front of words, such as 'otel. 'orse, 'ouse, and 'ello 'arry! The English gentry called these bounders (19th-century slang) aitch-dropping types, who dropped their aitches. Out of this wholesale lopping off of the normally aspirated aitches from words a la French came the (wh)ole mess of an hotel, an historic, an house corruption. And, thanks to all of this linguistic meddling came the inevitable backlash, the reinforcement of h-otel, h-orse, h-ouse, h-ello and H-arry. As a result, aitch gained an h through folk etymology and many people made it h-aitch in both spelling and pronunciation. So, if you want to be correct, make it aitch in sound and spelling but please be correct and make it 'a hotel' and 'a historic' while you are at it. grammar haitch or aitch
That's not as bad as when I ask patients having a barium swallow what their symptoms are and hear "something feels like it's stuck in my froat"
Interesting insight, I wasn't interested in English at school but now find the evolution of language fascinating
Rubbish! https://www.dailywritingtips.com/do-you-orient-yourself-or-orientate-yourself/ This is a common source of disagreement. Both orient and orientate are verbs meaning to align or position yourself; to work out where you are within a particular situation or environment. The origin of both words is the same : the Latin word oriens meaning rising and east, because of the rising sun. Orient as a noun means the countries of the East, especially those of east Asia. Strictly speaking, then, to orient/orientate yourself means to align yourself to the east, although the verb now has the general sense of to position yourself. In the UK, it is more common for people to say orientate whereas in the US, orient is more common. Writers in both countries sometimes bemoan the usage of the alternative word. In fact, both words are acceptable according to the dictionaries. The Oxford English Dictionary and the Merriam-Webster Dictionary list orient and orientate as verbs meaning the same thing. Which one you choose to use really just comes down to local preference. To a UK reader, orient may well sound non-standard, whereas orientate may sound clumsy to a US reader. Other parts of the world will have their own preferences. The key thing to remember is that both forms of the verb are generally acceptable. As an aside, the opposite of Orient (the noun) is Occident : the countries of the West. There is, however, no equivalent verb. You can neither occident nor occidentate yourself. The closest verb is occidentalize, meaning to conform to western ideas or customs.
What on earth would the oxford dictionary know. https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/orientate Definition of orientate in English: orientate VERB British another term for orient Example sentences Mosquitoes and many other insects bask in flowers, orientating their bodies to absorb solar radiation. With the advent of the government's new programme, the ruling elite is now orientating itself towards just such a confrontation. Their teacher told Amelia that the Year 10 students were actually very good at orientating themselves in the city and although they won't admit it, they could use the public transport system really well. In this opening instalment the star guide shows users how to orientate themselves in the night sky and identify some of the more obvious constellations and stars. When the sundial is positioned so that both hour scales tell the same time it is orientated to the meridian and the time is revealed. The symbols are used, when necessary, as compasses - a clean, clever way of orientating the reader. These are the basic stuff of any such text and a number of books orientated to soil and plant processes cover them. Made of billinga, a robust African hardwood, the walkways guide and orientate visitors around the site. On the other hand, solar heat gain is minimised by orientating the house with the long axis running east-west. In practice, the amount of open sky in view can be minimized by orientating openings toward buildings and trees, increasing plan area or lowering edges of the enclosure. The resulting colour stripes help to orientate visitors and to define routes and zones within the park, using communication as link between topography and function. Cholesterol is known to thicken phosphocholine bilayers by orientating the lipids in a more perpendicular fashion to the bilayer plane. The chrome shroud has the mounting holes for the fans on both sides, allowing you to orientate the inlet and outlet ports as needed as well as of course being able to use 4 fans in a push-pull configuration. You're orientating yourself around football. Could they be picking up magnetic signals to orientate themselves? It is our memories that locate us, orientate us, and tell us in what direction we are hastening. They are arranged and orientated to allow own-door access as well as open deck and corridor access. The building is orientated towards the north, as dictated by the topography, with the main entrances to the east and west. Nevertheless, during inauguration festivities, some first-time visitors to the Concert Hall had difficulty orientating themselves through these interstitial zones. Visas can take time, as can learning the Cyrillic alphabet - essential for orientating yourself in town. Origin Mid 19th century: probably a back-formation from orientation. Pronunciation orientate/ˈɔːrɪənteɪt//ˈɒrɪənteɪt/
