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Completed or Finished

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rolandlytle
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"Complete" or "Finished"?


I have often had difficulty defining the difference between complete and finished. I mother sent me a little E-mail quip.


During a recent linguistic conference, held in London the question was asked to make that very distinction. The question from audience was this: "Some say there is no difference between 'complete' and 'finished.' Please explain the difference in a way that is easy to understand."

The response: "When you marry the right woman, you are 'complete.' If you marry the wrong woman, you are 'finished.' And, if the right one catches you with the wrong one, you are 'completely finished.'"

His answer received a five minute standing ovation.


Thought you might all enjoy this.
You can't get there from here, because when you get there you're still here and here is now there.
akatsuki_dragon
Active Ink Slinger
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I got to say that is pretty damn funny and very educational!!!
Her courage was her crown and she wore it like a queen -Atticus
Unknown User
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I would say completed relates to a task where there is a quantifiable goal. Finished is more about an end point of a process or activity.

For example: I completed the test in 12 minutes.

Jake's firm completed the building in under a year.

Compare with the below examples:

I've finished the book that I was working on.

Laura finished her dinner and went out to play.


D x
Unknown User
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Quote by Rumple_deWriter
DX, many thanks for that clear, concise, not to mention, cogent post. For me, it really was a helpful response.



Ah, thank you! Always happy to help

D x
Unknown User
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Quote by Rumple_deWriter
Picking up on DX's 'finished v completed' post, here are a couple more combos that can confuse some writers.

Further v farther
principle v principal

Anybody want to take a shot?



Farther v further is interesting.

I find farther is underused as it's probably either misunderstood or is considered to be high register and people use the more 'common' further instead. It feels safe and in almost all uses further is correct.

Strictly speaking, farther relates to distance, as in 'I now have farther to walk, since I moved jobs.' Further relates to concepts, as is 'I would like to take your argument further and see how it can be applied in other contexts.'

As a moderator on another site I can't remember the last time I saw the word farther. As far as I know and from my memory of looking at this in uni, the words are interchangeable.

The graph below shows how the relative frequencies of the two words have changed historically.



Farther may also be underused owing to it being homophonous with father and this jangles in people's heads?

I would need to do some research to say a lot more about this.


Principle v principal is a different barrel of fish. These are just words with different meanings that people confuse. I suppose they have the same Latin root.

I have a little mnemonic for remembering the difference. 'I began with first principles, but principally the Principal was my pal.'

Danny x
Survivor
Primus Omnium
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My simple mnemonic for further and farther is to remember farther is "far" and further is "furthermore", or also. So, far and more.
Unknown User
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It's a pretty funny explanation. I need to remember it to define if some work is finished or complete.