Revised as of
6 July 2023
This word confusion is one of those, ahem, confusing ones. *Grin*
Okay, okay, I’m being serious, for a minute. It’s exactly what it says below. If your character is exclaiming about how amazing something is, how ever did you do this!, it’s a sure bet that the ever is intensifying the how and they are two separate words.
Slamming the two separate words together, however, takes this in the opposite direction, creating a contradiction.
| If we explore the phrase I used above: | |
| How ever did you do this!
Oh wow, you are so incredible. I can’t believe you were able to do this. |
However did you do this . . .
I can’t believe you screwed this up so badly, in whatever way you managed to destroy this, well, I just don’t know. |
| How ever did you manage to climb that mountain?
Wow, I’m so impressed with your stamina. |
. . . however you managed to climb that mountain.
I don’t know if you used ropes or helicopters . . . |
Word Confusions . . .
. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.
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| How Ever | However |
|---|---|
African Wild Dogs by Charles Tilford is under the CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 license, via Flickr. — How ever will you separate these dogs? |
Boney’s Broken Bridge, 12 June 1809, is a hand-colored print by Thomas Rowlandson in the public domain and courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, via Wikimedia Commons. — Boney’s plan was to cross that bridge, however it collapsed. |
| Part of Grammar: | |
| Intensifier adverb | Adverb; Conjunction |
| Ever is used to intensify an adverb and is always separated from that adverb with a space or words | Adverb: Introduces a statement that contrasts with or seems to contradict something that has been said previously In whatever way Regardless of how To whatever extent No matter how Conjunction: [Archaic] Notwithstanding that
|
| Examples: | |
| How in the world did you ever manage to separate those dogs?
How ever did you get away with that? How ever did they build that! How ever did you do that? |
Adverb: However you look at it . . . He was hesitant to take the risk, however small. It had started to rain; however, the ball game continued. The book is expensive; however, it’s worth it. The first part was easy; the second, however, took hours. Conjunction: “Howe’er thou art a fiend, / a woman’s shape doth shield thee.” – Shakespeare Arrange your hours however you like. |
C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!
Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.
Resources for How Ever versus However
Apple Dictionary.com
The Free Dictionary: however
Pinterest Photo Credits
FMSC Staff Trip 2011 – Ethiopian Kids by Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. Ironman, <https://visualhunt.com/f2/photo/235272788/4a3eef8f99/>, by mawkroy, <https://visualhunt.com/author/ff99a1>, is under the CC BY-ND 2.0 license, via VisualHunt.
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