Introduction
The language English itself comes from a family of various other languages that were combined to form one language which is recognized worldwide today. Old English developed from the West Germanic language. And ever since the language has developed into what we know today of the language. The English language is known and spoken worldwide for its extreme flexibility. The world knows of American English and British English. Both of which consist of the most spoken forms of English. We also know that American English just likes to remove the u's from certain words but the rest of it is much similar to the English spoken by the British. English is, undoubtedly, the most spoken language in the world, and is spoken in several countries, maybe not as the national language but as a language that makes communication easier.
William Shakespeare is the most renowned author because we know much about the English spoken in medieval Britain and it is because of his works that we know how English evolved as a subject and a language. While taking the reference through his books, we can find out the different words that were used in the old times and how and in what sense did they change. This was a great knowledge to have because as we already know, or maybe not, many words in modern English are a blessing of Shakespeare.
Every country where English is spoken has its very own roots in the language. It may vary from the one that we speak but that does not mean that the language they speak is incorrect. And that is to say, a lot because the English language is spoken in almost every country in the world. A possible reason for such a large number of people speaking English, in particular, could be because of colonialism in the old days. We know that it was the European countries and eventually it was the British people who had most of the colonies all over the world and their mother tongue is English thus it comes as no surprise that we find all of the world speaking English because of its general community.
We know that the English language keeps growing as we hear every year that the oxford dictionary adds new words to it every fairs’sWe are not just talking about one or two words here, we are talking about several words possibly hundreds of words at a time. The English language keeps growing with time and new inspiring words from any other language. Deja vu is a French word but we all know that it is more commonly used in the English language.
Prefixes and suffixes are one of the main reasons for the language to be grown. The prefix is a word that is added before the original word and suffixes are the letters added to the back of a word. The English language is greatly influenced by the Greek language and Latin and old Norse and French and Italian and Arabic and Sanskrit. These are some of the oldest languages spoken in the world at that time and thus these languages have greatly influenced the English that we speak today. Karma is a concept even in the west but it originated in the Indian subcontinent with the Sanskrit language. The meaning of karma means deed and as popular as the word is in India, we might notice that it is just as commonly used by other countries for the same purpose that we have here.
What are Homophones?
Words that have the same sound but are spelt differently and have different meanings are known as homophones. We all must have had that one English teacher in our schools who knew almost everything about English and it was from her that we heard about homophones.
Let us talk about how he rubbed his eye while I watched. It is not creepy because I was already talking to him. But eye and I have a similar pronunciation which means that it is a set of two words that are pronounced the same but have different meanings and spellings. The eye is the sense organ and I am the reference to myself. Also, we can talk about bare, which means unclothed and bear, the animal, or bear, which means to carry. He was bare from the waist above. There was a bear at the zoo. We have to bear the consequences of our actions. These are the three examples of the three words respectively.
What are Homographs?
Words that are spelt the same but are different. She was a fair and fair person. With this one sentence, we see the two ‘fair’s and we must know that the two of them have completely different meanings. Now the first fair is supposed to mean her appearance, her skin colour. And the second fair is supposed to mean wise or just.
What are Homonyms?
It is either the homophones or homographs or perhaps both. She had to bear an injury because of her bear. The use of two bears here is completely different. They are the same words, spelt the same but have very different meanings. The first bear is supposed to be the endurance of her the person concerned. And the second bear is the animal. Both have the very same spelling but are meant differently.
Difference Between thru and through in Tabular Form
| Properties | Through | Thru |
| Meaning | In through one side and out through the other side is the general meaning of through. However, it also means to continue in time towards the completion of something. | Informal spelling of through is known as thru. |
| Usage | An old English word thrush is of Germanic origin and is related to Dutch, door and Derman, durch. | An American English word for the formal word through. It is a short form of the original word. |
| Derivation | A preposition, an adverb or an adjective. | The same as through but in an extremely informal way. |
| When to use | In a standard setting. | In an informal setting. |
| Examples | She jumped through her window. | You jumped thru the window. |
Difference Between thru and through in Points
- Through means when we talk about something going from one side and out from the other, a period. It is the standard form of the word which is commonly used in the English language. We know that the word through is used in several contexts and thus the word is extremely used and practised while speaking or writing the English language. The word has many meanings of its own as it depends as to which context are we talking this. Oh, he is through in life, here it means that the said person has proved to be a failure. It is not the most appropriate thing to say which is to be noted. The kids ran through the entire room, where we are talking about how all the kids kept going throughout the length of the place. Through the knowledge I acquired, I can say that the word here was used in the context of inspection. Thru on the other hand is an American English short form of the word through. We must realise that over the years as ‘texting’ among friends became common, there were many short forms of several words derived. Thru comes under the same category and is used in such settings. It is to note that thru is just a short word derived from through which has the same meaning.
- Through is a formal and a more basic term which should be used in formal or in a general setting when we talk about such. Through is a word that has been used over the ages and as a word which describes several things at a time. Through is a more formal word than thru. It is common knowledge that through is a more general and more understood term than thru as it is known worldwide. While thru is used in American English while talking about informal settings. Through is formal and informal. Thru is completely informal. Through is the word known worldwide and is used more often while writing certain things. While thru is most commonly known in America and is used while texting up with our friends and in very informal settings where we do not have to worry about impressions. Hopefully, we are through with this topic and point!
- Through is either a preposition, an adjective or an adverb. As an adjective, the meaning of through would be finished or completed or done. As an adverb, through might be used for moving backwards and forward, completely, up to and including or towards the end. As a preposition through means from one end to the other. These are the most common forms in which through is used. Thru may be used in a similar fashion and for the same things but in a very informal setting. You cannot tell your boss that you were at a drive-thru while texting him about you being late. You would probably send him a message telling him that you are at a drive-through getting food. But while texting our very own friends we tend to write drive-thru or maybe we might as well just tell them that we would be sneaking thru the window. Both the words mean the same but in a completely different context. “I had been thru your cupboard before as well Daphnie.” “I have gone through the files boss.” The difference between the two is clear right there and it is easily understood how we use the two of them.
- The word through has been derived from the old English, which as we have studied earlier in the article is a non-complex mixture of several other languages. In old English, the word was used as thurh which was a preposition and an adverb of its own and had its roots in the Germanic language. It also relates to the Dutch word door and the German word durch. And eventually, with the other changes to the English language, the word thrush came to be spelt as through over all the years and all the corrections. Thru on the other hand is a recently discovered informal word for through. Like while texting our friends we often are like “gtg” which is understood to be got to go. In the same context, we see that through is a lengthy word so we use thru which is much simpler while chatting. Like U is for you. Or Ur is for you. But the origin of thru was in American English and is acceptable in American English speech.
- “I have been through tough times.” It is when you send this message to your therapist that they are someone whom you are not so familiar with. Thus, through is an appropriate word for such a setting. “I will send you a message later thru telegram.” In this scenario, however, we know that you are telling your friend that you would send a message to them on telegram so the use of thru seems appropriate. “The way you jumped thru your window was very attractive Shaaron.” although complimenting your friend for almost breaking their bones while jumping through a window is not the most appropriate thing, we must know that the setting here is completely appropriate to use thru. Or maybe the sentence would be more appropriate if we use it like, “the way u jumped thru ur window was so attractive Shaaron.” while for a more formal setting or while writing a letter to our beloveds we cannot use such terms. Imagine reading a letter from the past where they wrote u and ur and thru. It would be hilarious and also a little unnerving. The letters of the past were already so eventful with their thou, thouest and such other words. “I hope there are not any weird spiders in Australia as I have heard through the internet, grandma.” This is what you would use while writing to your grandma in a letter while talking to her about her vacations. Through would be the most satisfactory word to be used for informal and formal written letters.
References
- https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/through
- https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/thru
- https://www.grammarly.com/blog/through-thru/
