Tuesday, March 3, 2020
Shore It Up
Shore It Up Shore It Up Shore It Up By Maeve Maddox Reading an advice article about the writing of historical fiction, I came across what I assume is an eggcorn for the idiom ââ¬Å"to shore up.â⬠eggcorn: the reshaping of a common word or expression in a way that makes sense to the speaker. The person writing the article drew an analogy between the construction of Machu Picchu and the research that underpins an effective historical novel: [The Incan builders] started at the base of the mountain, and built terraces all the way to the top to sure up the mountain. The writing instructor then compares this physical foundation work to the writing of a novel: Writing historical fiction is much like building Machu Picchu. You want your novel to stand the test of time and that means doing the historical research to ââ¬Å"sure it up.â⬠à Never until then had I come across the expression ââ¬Å"to sure upâ⬠in the context of stabilizing, strengthening, or reinforcing something. The conventional idiom is ââ¬Å"to shore up.â⬠As a verb, to shore or to shore up means to prop something up. For example, one might shore up a sagging gate to keep it from scraping the ground. A tunnel might be shored with concrete. The verb shore derives from a noun that referred to a piece of timber or iron that was set against a building or a ship to prevent it from falling while it was being worked on. In modern usage, anything can be used to shore something up. One might shore up a wall by packing earth along the bottom. The verb is used literally in the context of building, reinforcing, or repairing structures: Anticipating a storm, the villagers shored up the sea-wall. The first step is to remove the boards and inspect the post. If its also soft and rot-infested, youll have to shore up the roof temporarily and install a new post thats treated to resist rot. A Web search reveals a quantity of examples of ââ¬Å"sure upâ⬠in contexts that call for ââ¬Å"shore upâ⬠: PANTHERS ââ¬â Staying Hungry and Suring Up the Defense à The return of the big manà sures upà the middle of the offense. Prosecutors could use the videotaped interrogations toà sure up their argumentà that a confession was genuine. One of the ways toà sure upà your homeââ¬â¢sà foundationà is with Helical Piers installed. The use of ââ¬Å"sure upâ⬠for ââ¬Å"shore upâ⬠is still relatively rare. It flat-lines on the Ngram Viewer, and a Web search for the terms in quotation marks yields 4,670,000 results for ââ¬Å"shore upâ⬠compared to 365,000 for ââ¬Å"sure up.â⬠Here are examples of the idiom ââ¬Å"shore upâ⬠used correctly in a variety of contexts: How Bobby Wagnerââ¬â¢s speed shored up the Seahawksââ¬â¢ defense Prosecutors had asked for the phone and bank records in a last ditch attempt to find evidence to shore up their case.à The bulk of the Snyder increase did not go directly to the schools; it went to shore up the underfunded teachersââ¬â¢ pension fund.à The Federal Reserveââ¬â¢s trillion-dollar effort to shore up the U.S. economy is likely to come to an end in October [2014]. Use your analytic skills to understand [your criticââ¬â¢s] position and to shore up your confidence in your own approach. At first, I thought that all the examples of ââ¬Å"sure upâ⬠were incorrect versions of ââ¬Å"shore up,â⬠but Iââ¬â¢ve decided that a few are being used with the meaning ââ¬Å"to make sure.â⬠Here is an instance of the latter: Coal supply chain partners in the Hunter Valley have struck a long-awaited agreement to sure up coal producing contracts. The headline above the sentence holds the clue that ââ¬Å"shore upâ⬠is not intended: Historic agreement reached in long-running Hunter Valley coal chain dispute, providing certainty on contracts Bottom line: If what you mean is ââ¬Å"to strengthen,â⬠the idiom is ââ¬Å"to shore up.â⬠If what you mean is ââ¬Å"make sure,â⬠the idiom is ââ¬Å"to make sureâ⬠or ââ¬Å"to make certain.â⬠Here are some other words that may be used to express the idea of ââ¬Å"making sureâ⬠or ââ¬Å"making certainâ⬠of something: check confirm ensure assure verify Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Comma After i.e. and e.g.Confused Words #3: Lose, Loose, LossDealing With A Character's Internal Thoughts
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