Chick Lit Tips & Tricks

Chicklit Tricks #22

Buy, By, and Bye

There's this line in a story I read some time ago. The story was full of surprises and it was written really well. The paragraph captured my heart till I get to the heartbreaking sentence. The writer wrote it in English.

The sentence goes like this; After all the trouble, I came bye to say goodnight. I know exactly what the writer meant and I took it as a typo, but still...

So, here are a few things we need to remember about buy, by, and bye.

According to our neighbor, Miriam Webster, buy refers to stuff that is purchased or things obtained by paying a certain amount.

Example:

I will buy the earrings I saw the other day.

Let me buy you a coffee.

Don't buy me anything, it is inappropriate.

There's another usage of the word buy. It is used when a person can or cannot accept the truth.

Example:

I don't buy his alibi, he was lying through his teeth.

Only a stupid person will buy such lies.

We'll go to the next one, by. identifying the agent performing an action, indicating the means of achieving something, telling a certain location whether it is near or far, the speed of something or someone, and it can also tell us who created what.

Example:

I came by to tell you of the good news.

Corona Virus cannot be contained by just merely isolating yourself, you need to get vaccinated.

Have you read the Harry Potter collection by J. K. Rowling?

Three were killed at that drive-by shooting that happened yesterday morning across the church.

Bye is being used as a shortcut to the word goodby, especially if we are leaving someone.

Example:

This will be my last lecture before I say bye to all.

Bye for now, I'll see you next week.

**Interesting note: 

This is a set of three homophones, but you could also possibly include the prefix "bi-." It means "two," as in "bipedal" (something that uses two legs), but it can also be an adjective as an abbreviation for "bisexual." So if you include "bi," then this can actually be a set of four homophones! (https://www.fluentu.com/blog/english/english-homophones/ by: Ryan Sitzman)

So many ways to think about how to use these words properly as long as remember the meaning of each.

Thank you so much for following my Chick Lit Tricks and Tips. This is Ms. J, your ChickLit Admin. See yah!

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End of Chicklit Trick #22: Buy, By & Bye

Admin Joni
07.30.21

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September 3, 2020