Special Or Especial #WYHO

When do you use ‘special’ (‘specially’) and when do you use ‘especial’ (‘especially’)? I sometimes get confused. So I thought I’d share my bit of research on this with you today.

Special or Especial

1. especially and specially

Especially and specially can often both be used with the same meaning.

  It was not (e)specially hot that morning.

2. especially meaning ‘above all’

Especially is often used to mean ‘above all’

                                         We read a lot of books, especially on the weekends.
                                         The neighbour’s dog is very noisy, especially when they have visitors.
                                         I love all kinds of animals, especially dogs.

Especially follows a subject:

All my family like reading. My brother, especially, buys a lot of books. (Not: Especially my brother….)

3. especially before prepositions and conjunctions

Especially is preferred before prepositions and conjunctions.

 We go swimming quite a lot, especially in summer.
 I drink a lot of tea, especially when I’m writing.

4. specially with past participles

Specially is used with a past participle to mean ‘for a particular purpose’.

This bag was specially made for me.
The letter was specially written for his birthday.

5. especial and special

The adjective especial is rare. We normally use special.

She took special care of his mother.

Last weekend we launched – Write Your Heart Out On The Weekend – #WYHO. It replaced our #100WordsonSaturday. We will provide you at least 4 prompts every Saturday and invite you to write on as many as you like over the weekend. Add your links to the linky in our post and enjoy the other posts linked in here too.

Prompts:

1. What 3 lessons did you learn from the person you admire very much and if you have incorporated this in your life, share your story with us.
2. Remember, Elizabeth Gilbert’s bestselling book ‘Eat, Pray, Love’? In case you haven’t read it, it tells the story of a woman who follows her heart to find what gives her happiness. Do you think that you too could leave your present life and go off to follow your heart. If so, where would it take you and what would you be looking for?
3. Do you agree with this quote from Carolyn Wells : “Circumstances alter faces.” ?
4. Use these 6 words – alas, awake, dreadful, company, typical, lasting – creatively in your post. Underline the 6 words for us to see how you crafted your post.

The ‘rules’:

1. Write your post/s based on the prompt/s, linking into this post of ours.
2. Add your link to the linky below. The linky will be open until end of day – Monday, 5th October.
3. Visit and share the posts of at least two blogs linked before yours.