If almost any millennial hears the word “someBODY…” blaring from a speaker, they can finish the first line of Smash Mouth’s 1999 hit song “All Star”: “Somebody once told me the world is gonna roll me / I ain’t the sharpest tool in the shed.” But what would happen to the song if it started with “someone” instead of “somebody”? The two words have virtually the same meaning and are often used interchangeably. However, “All Star” would not be the same if you changed that first word.

“Someone” is considered the more formal of the two, so it’s preferred in legal and academic writing. This may be one of those language rules you’ve followed without noticing, but give it a try now. The use of “one” as a pronoun is very formal: “One may find that using ‘someone’ is more appropriate in professional settings.”

“Someone” and “somebody” are indefinite pronouns, meaning they refer to a nonspecific or unidentified person. Both should be written as single words — the two-word variants “some one” and “some body” went out of style around the early 19th century. Other indefinite pronouns include “anyone”/”anybody” and “everyone”/”everybody.” As with “someone,” the words “anyone” and “everyone” are also preferred in formal writing.

While “someone” is more formal, “somebody” can be more important. Comedian Lily Tomlin said, “I always wanted to be somebody, but now I realize I should have been more specific.” Here, the use of “somebody” is more specific — it’s used as a noun instead of as an indefinite pronoun. Tomlin was joking that she may have become famous, but she should have specified the type of fame, and her quote illustrates when we might want to choose “somebody” over “someone.” This slight grammatical shift drastically changes the meaning of the word. Instead of an unnamed person, now “somebody” refers to a person of particular importance, fame, or power. 

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Samantha Abernethy

Freelance Writer

Samantha Abernethy is a freelancer in Chicago. When she isn't staring at a laptop, you can find her sniffing out the best coffee with her greyhound Ruby, or chasing her kids around the nearest library.

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It’s not uncommon for English words to be confused or misused. But as literary heavyweight Mark Twain explained, choosing the right word is crucial: “The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter — it’s the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.” The meanings of “sympathy” and “empathy” fit Twain’s metaphor similarly. In both cases, the latter term carries more weight.

Both “sympathy” and “empathy” refer to a response to someone else’s emotional state, but the ways of relating are different. “Sympathy” means you’re concerned for someone, while “empathy” means being concerned with them. It involves actively sharing in someone’s emotions. However, the dictionary definitions of the two are similar.

According to Merriam-Webster, “sympathy” has several definitions, but the one causing confusion with empathy is this: “The act or capacity of entering into or sharing the feelings or interests of another.” The definition of “empathy” is similar, albeit kicked up a notch: “The action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another.” The key difference between the two is the vicarious nature of “empathy.” However, this nuanced relationship is understandably confusing and has been for centuries.

“Sympathy” is the older of the duo. It appeared in English in the late 16th century, derived from the Greek “sympatheia,” meaning “fellow-feeling” or “community of feeling.” The roots of “sympathy” (syn and pathos) aptly mean “together feeling.” Between the 16th and 20th centuries, “sympathy” meant what “empathy” means today, but was ultimately replaced by its lexical competitor, “empathy.”

The term “empathy” emerged in the early 20th century, modeled after the German term Einfühlung (from ein, for “in,” and Fühlung, meaning “feeling”). It was created by German philosopher Rudolf Lotze as a translation of the Greek term empatheia, meaning “passion” or “state of emotion.” The roots em and pathos mean “in feeling.” At first, “empathy” was used in a scholarly fashion in fields such as philosophy and psychology, and while it still retains those technical uses, it also has evolved. By the mid-20th century, it replaced “sympathy” as the ultimate display of commiseration and compassion.

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Rachel Gresh

Freelance Writer

Rachel is a Washington, D.C.-based freelance writer. When she's not writing, you can find her wandering through a museum, exploring a new city, or advocating the importance of the Oxford comma.

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“Which” and “that” are a lot like identical twins, in that they’re pretty easy to mix up at first glance. But just like identical twins have unique traits that set them apart, so do these similar yet distinct terms. One reason we mix up “which” and “that” so often is the words were used interchangeably until the 1700s, and old habits die hard. But under today’s grammatical guidelines, there’s an appropriate context for “which,” and separate occasions for “that.”

Both “which” and “that” are relative pronouns, meaning they can refer to any related or previously mentioned nouns. But to understand how they differ, it’s useful to define the concepts of restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses. A restrictive clause adds essential information to a sentence: “The album that came out after her child was born changed her musical style.” In this example, the restrictive clause of “that came out after her child was born” is crucial to the meaning of this sentence. 

A nonrestrictive clause, however, works as a conversational aside, adding nonessential information: “The band’s first album, which was my favorite, had great backup singers.” It might be nice to know that you like an album, but the point of this sentence is the prowess of the backup singers, so the clause within the commas is considered nonrestrictive. As these examples show, it’s appropriate to use “that” in restrictive clauses, and “which” in nonrestrictive clauses.

Nonrestrictive clauses often appear at the end of sentences, not just in the middle like in our example above. For example, “David Bowie’s album Young Americans had famous backup singers, which included Luther Vandross.” Here’s our memory tip: If you need a comma, you’re probably dealing with a nonrestrictive clause, meaning “which” is almost always the correct choice. Commas set off info that, when removed, doesn’t impact the sentence’s clarity or meaning. If you don’t need a comma, use “that.” 

“That” has a variety of usages “which” cannot serve. It can act as a definite article referring to a specific noun (“That is my favorite album”), as a conjunction to connect two clauses (“I didn’t know that it was their first time performing together”), or as an adverb to add context before an adjective or verb (“I don’t want to spend that much money on concert tickets”). This makes “that” more versatile than “which.”

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Bennett Kleinman

Staff Writer

Bennett Kleinman is a New York City-based staff writer for Optimism. He is also a freelance comedy writer, devoted New York Yankees and New Jersey Devils fan, and thinks plain seltzer is the best drink ever invented.

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