Don’t stink up your writing: Breathe vs. breath

Ever see words so mixed up that you wanted to pinch your nose shut? That happens with me whenever I see these two words confused.

“Breathe” is to inhale and exhale, as in “We must breathe oxygen to stay alive.”

“Breath” is a solitary moment of inhaling or exhaling or the actual air that is inhaled/exhaled, as in “He stopped to catch his breath” or “His breath stunk like garlic.”

In short, you may not want to breathe someone’s breath.

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My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past decade, I’ve helped more than 300 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the 7 Minutes a Day… writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.