Make Your Point > Archived Issues > REND

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connect today's word to others: Let's add rend to a mental treasure box of tiny, mighty verbs. That treasure box also holds bilk, cede, flit, gird, lilt, mar, nix, raze, sate, tamp, and vie. Try to organize all those verbs into three piles: actions that are helpful, hurtful, and neutral. I'll get you started: let's put bilk in the hurtful pile. make your point with... "REND" To rend something is to rip it or yank it, using a lot of force. Pronunciation: REND (rhymes with "bend") Part of speech: Transitive verb. (Like "eat," "try," and "want," all transitive verbs do something to an object. You eat a banana, try a game, and want a new phone. Likewise, you rend something.) Other forms: You can use "rend" as a countable noun: it means "a tear, a rip, a split." The other verb forms are "rent" and "rending." Think of how you say "lend" for the present and "lent" for the past, but not "lended," as in "today you lend it; yesterday you lent it." You use the same pattern for "rend:" you say "rend" for the present and "rent" for the past, but not "rended," as in "today you rend it; yesterday you rent it." "Rended" is a word, though--it's an adjective that means "torn or split:" "these rended leaves," "that rended fabric," "those rended lives." "Rending" is an adjective that means either "causing heartache, as if it's ripping your heart apart," or "loud, like something being ripped apart." And something done rendingly is done in an emotionally touching or heartbreaking way. How to use it: "Rend" is a serious, dramatic word that suggests pain, anger, violence, and/or suddenness. To be literal, talk about rending a piece of cloth, food, land, etc. You can talk about rending something from something else ("he rent the tie from his neck"), or rending something off something else ("the storm rent the door off its hinges"), or rending something away ("even if they hold tight to them, we'll rend the papers away"), or rending something apart ("it's a love so strong that it can't be rent apart"). Here's a phrase you'll see every now and again: "to rend your garments over something," meaning to overreact with anger or sadness. "It's just spilled paint; we don't need to rend our garments over it." And because we so often talk about rending garments, we can use that as a metaphor, too. Here's an example from the Wall Street Journal: "Populists fanning irrational fears risk rending Europe's economic fabric." How else can we use "rend" abstractly?  We can talk about rending someone's heart, rending a relationship, rending a country, rending someone from his faith, rending someone's opinion from her, rending a memory from your mind, and so on.  Or we can be especially dramatic and talk about a noise that rends the night, a word or phrase or sentence that rends the air, a choice that rends the shackles you had worn, a mistake that rends your life apart, etc. And you can use the passive voice to talk about one thing rent by another thing: a heart rent by troubles, a country rent by faction. examples: No amount of time can rend that beautiful image from my mind. In his speech he slammed slacktivism, reminding everyone how useless it is to get on Facebook and rend our garments over the news. study it now: Look away from the screen to explain the definition in your own words. You’ll know you understand what "rend" means when you can explain it without saying "tear" or "split." try it out: Fill in the blank: "_____ isn't just beautiful but rendingly beautiful." Example: "The way Lindsey Stirling performs, the way her heart seems to vibrate from her violin, isn't just beautiful but rendingly beautiful." before you review: Spend at least 20 seconds occupying your mind with the game below. Then try the review questions. Don’t go straight to the review now—let your working memory empty out first. This month, we're playing with some beautifully worded passages from the Bible as we recall words we've studied before. From our previous issue: "The f_____ ground of the poor would yield much food, but it is swept away through injustice." (English Standard Version, Proverbs, chapter 13, verse 23.) What's the missing word? It means "unused, even though it could be useful or it could develop." Answer: fallow. Try this today: "And when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and knew him not, they lifted up their voice, and wept; and they rent every one his ______, and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven." (King James Version, Job, chapter 2, verse 12.) What's the missing word? Here, it's used literally, and it means "a garment like a cloak." But it can also mean "a leadership role" or "a role of responsibility."  review today's word: 1. A close opposite of REND is A. BAR. B. MEND. C. PLANT. 2. Rending his name tag from his vest, he _____. A. repositioned it just as gingerly B. silently placed it with the same care onto his dresser C. stormed out and never returned, not even to collect his last paycheck Answers are below. a final word: Make Your Point is crafted with love and brought to you each weekday morning by Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From Liesl's blog:    36 ways to study words.    Why we forget words, & how to remember them.    How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes. Answers to review questions: 1. B 2. C