Stare or stare means to look at someone or something intensely, with a fixed gaze--
His mother told him that it was rude to stare.
Don't stare! It makes me nervous.
Stares is the third person singular ( he, she, it ) form of stare--
He stares when he is thinking about something.
I don't like the way she stares at me.
Stare may also be a noun ( thing or idea )--
She mocked him with an insolent stare.
His stare got everyone's attention.
Stair or stair ( rhymes with stare ) is an old-fashioned word for stairs, meaning the steps from one floor of a building to another, or any one step of the set--
"Yesterday upon the stair, I met a man who wasn't there..."
We should get some stair treads for the steps.
Stairs means a set of steps that go from one floor or level to another--
Be careful on the stairs.
He fell down the stairs and broke his leg.
Now that you know that, you can say--
"He always stares when she comes down the stairs."
"What is making you stare? Is there something on the stair?"
Note--"upstairs" means on the floor above--
Don't play ball upstairs. It's too noisy.
Where is he? He's upstairs.
"Up the stairs" means walking up the steps to the second floor, or the floor above--
Don't run up the stairs. You'll fall.
"Downstairs" means on the floor below--
I wish the people downstairs would be quiet.
Mom went downstairs a minute ago.
"Down the stairs" means walking down the steps to a lower floor or level--
Walk down the stairs slowly, or you might fall.
Note # 2-- to "stare down" means to stare at someone until he sees your point of view--
They made fun of him, but he was determined to stare them down.
Note # 3--a "staircase" is a set of steps --
Don't leave your toys on the staircase.
Words that sound the same when we speak may actually be two different words--which matters when we write them down. Spellcheck cannot help with this--it will show each word and the writer has to choose--to disambiguate them, if you will. I intend to update this daily, with another set of words it is possible to confuse, beginning with the simplest and most important. Questions and comments are welcome.
Showing posts with label down the stairs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label down the stairs. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
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