Showing posts with label rase. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rase. Show all posts

Monday, September 3, 2012

raise, rays, raze

Raise or raise means to lift up or make higher--
We will need some help to raise the deck, now that it's assembled.
Raise your hand if you know the answer.
They raise the flag every morning.
He wants a raise in salary, but is afraid to ask his boss.
Raise also means to cultivate ( crops ), to breed  ( farm animals ), and to bring up ( children )--
We could raise some radishes in the back yard.
He wants to raise rabbits for their fur, but she doesn't like the idea.
She read a book about how to raise children, but it wasn't very realistic.

Rays or rays ( rhymes with raise ) is the plural ( more than one ) of "ray", meaning a beam of light or something shaped like it--
They awoke when the rays of the morning sun made a pattern on the wall.
He painted a pattern of rays on one wall, in bright colors.

Raze or raze ( also rhymes with raise ) means to level to rubble, as when wrecking a building--
They are going to raze this building to make a parking lot.
The developer bought this entire block and plans to raze it.

Now that you know that, you can say--
" After they raze that tall building, the rays of the sun may reach our roof, and make it easier to raise vegetables in the garden."

Note--"rase" ( rhymes with raise ) is an old-fashioned spelling of "raze".
Note # 2--"ray" is also a kind of fish, so more than one of these fish would be "rays"--
We saw rays in the aquarium.
Note # 3--"Ray" is man's given name, so "Ray's" ( rhymes with raise ) is the possessive ( belonging to ) form--
Is that Ray's car?