My eureka moment #2 – virus vs violence / 私のユーリカモーメント２-virus と violence

Fear + less           fearless = brave; having no fear; not afraid

Top + less            topless = wearing no top or shirt or any clothing on their upper body

Time + less          timeless = classic; unchanging    

Spot + less           spotless = clean; having no spot of dirt

Seed + less          seedless = seeds have been removed

Sleep + less         sleepless = having no sleep

The English language is ever-changing so don’t be afraid to create your own words with -less which are meaningful to you. Here’s a word I have been using recently. I don’t know whether it is used by others as I’ve never heard other English speakers use it before. It’s not in the dictionary too but this word makes sense to me. I have been make-upless because I am wearing a mask almost all day anyway. I found that there’s no point in putting on make-up as it is just wiped off by the mask. I have been make-upless and true enough, I have been loving the make-upless life. Can you guess what I meant by make-upless?

For this week’s eureka moment, I found that almost all of my students are mixing up the words ‘virus’ and ‘violence.’ This got me questioning why? Those two are totally different words in spelling and in meaning, but why are my students still mixing them up? And I realized that this all goes down to the pronunciation.

For a Japanese speaker, there are indeed some similarities between the two words.

As you can see, the only disparity are the sounds ‘ラス’  and ‘レンス.’ What I’d suggest is to take care pronouncing the last syllable for either of them so as to make less mistakes using the words.

Try reading the following sentences and put a stress on the  ‘ラス’  and ‘レンス’ sounds.