In terms of spelling, meaning, and word class, ‘loose’ and ‘lose’ have different orientations. As a result, they can be difficult to handle. They are like ‘choose’ and ‘chose’ as well as ‘lie’ and ‘lay’. Handling them carelessly will invoke errors, especially the lie, lay, laid, and lain ‘gang’.
‘Loose’ and ‘lose’ should not be mixed up. Where you want to say you don’t want to lose something, you shouldn’t say you don’t want to loose it. Where you mean something is loose, ‘lose’ becomes odd. The confusing nature of the words is part of the reason they recur in major exams like the WASSCE, NECO, and UTME. Here is a typical question in the exams:
Dorcas is waiting for the girl that will help her … her hair.
losing B. loose C. lose D. loss
Very simple? Well, I hope you are right. I will return to the question shortly.
