Compliment or complement?

Below is a transcript of the video.

“Compliment” with an “i” or “complement” with an “e”.

Which should you use, and when?

Before we dive into the answer, if you’re new here I’m Dr Clare Lynch of the Doris and Bertie Writing School and I’m on a mission to help you become a better, more confident writer.

So let’s take a look at the difference between “compliment” with an “i” and “complement” with an “e”.

COMPLEMENT

The first thing to say is that both words come from the same Latin original word, “complere”, meaning to complete.

But only “complement” with an “e” really maintains that same sense of completion.

You use this spelling to describe something that completes something else — and in doing so enhances it.

For example:

A green jacket would complement the outfit.

In other words, a green jacket would complete and enhance the outfit.

Or

Billy’s editing skills complement Alice’s creative skills and vice versa.

In other words, Billy and Alice each provide skills that are, perhaps, lacking in the other - and so provide a more complete or well-rounded package of skills.

We could also use the related adjective here, as in:

Billy and Alice have complementary skills.

So one way to remember this meaning of complement. Is to remember that both “complement” and “complete” contain two “e”s.

COMPLIMENT

“Compliment” with an “i” doesn’t quite have the same sense of “completion”. Instead, it means something like to flatter or to praise. For example:

Jess complimented me on my outfit.

Or

I complimented the team on their performance.

One way to remember the spelling of this “compliment” is to connect that “i” in the middle with the “i” in praise. You can also think of that “I” as reflecting the fact that  “I give a compliment”.

Oh, and by the way, the related adjective “complimentary” can have two very different senses.

The first contains this same idea of praise, as in:

She was very complimentary about my work.

But the other meaning of complimentary refers to something you’d normally pay for but which is now “free” or “without charge” as in:

I’ve been given complimentary tickets for tonight’s show.

Or

The meal comes with a complimentary glass of wine.

One way to remember this spelling is to think about why you may have been given those free tickets or free glass of wine.

It’s probably because the theatre or the restaurant is hoping to win your praise!

So, did you find that explanation useful?

Have you ever confused  “compliment” with an “i” and “complement” with an “e”?

Let me know in the comments!

In the meantime, I’m Dr Clare Lynch of the Doris and Bertie Writing School.

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For more writing advice, enrol in my online course, Writing With Confidence, available at the Doris and Bertie Writing School.

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