How to use “worth” | Common Mistakes in Business English

In the above examples, “worth” is a preposition. It is followed by the –ing form of a verb (which is technically a gerund – an –ing form which ... CommonMistakesinBusinessEnglish activewritingguidefornon-nativespeakers Skiptocontent ←Whether(ornot) Thedifferencebetween“inpossessionof”and“inthepossession of”→ Howtouse “worth” PostedonSeptember18,2019bybarnabyharward WRONG Itmightnotwork,butIthinkthatinourcurrentcircumstancesitisworthtotry. Usingthestructure“worthtodosomething”isaverycommonmistake.ItisALWAYSWRONG. RIGHT Itmightnotwork,butIthinkthatinourcurrentcircumstancesitisworthtrying. Otherexamples: WRONG Inordertostrengthenourpositioninthecase,itisworthtoconsiderincludingsomeoftheclaimspresentedinthememorandumof25August. RIGHT Inordertostrengthenourpositioninthecase,itisworthconsideringincludingsomeoftheclaimspresentedinthememorandumof25August. WRONG Aswedonotknowhowthesituationmightchange,itisworthtoanticipateseveralpossiblescenarios. RIGHT Aswedonotknowhowthesituationmightchange,itisworthanticipatingseveralpossiblescenarios.   Intheaboveexamples,“worth”isapreposition.Itisfollowedbythe–ingformofaverb(whichistechnicallyagerund–an–ingformwhichbehavesgrammaticallylikeanoun).“Worth”canalsobefollowedbyanoun/nounphrase: Theirproposalissimplynotworthconsideration. Wetookmygrandmother’sweddingringtothejewellersandtheysaidit’sworth$4000. Mazuriaisabeautifulplace.IfyougotoPoland,it’swellworthavisit. Myassistantisworthherweightingold.Whenshegoesonmaternityleave,Idon’tknowhowI’llreplaceher.   “Worth”canalsobeanounmeaning“value”. Accordingtoourestimates,thereisstillseveralmilliondollars-worthofoilleftintheground. Hernetworthisover$100million. TheshareshaveaworthofEUR10,000.   Thedifferencebetween“worth”and“worthy” Ihavealsoseensimilarmistakeslikethis: WRONG Itmightnotwork,butIthinkthatinourcurrentcircumstancesitisworthytotry. RIGHT Itmightnotwork,butIthinkthatinourcurrentcircumstancesitisworthtrying. Althoughthewords“worth”and“worthy”arecloselyconnected,theyareuseddifferently.Forexample,thefollowingsentencesmeanthesamething,butasyoucansee,thegrammarfollowingthewords“worth”andworthy”isdifferent: Thatideaissimplynotworthdiscussing. Thatideaissimplynotworthyofdiscussion. “Worthy”isanadjectivethatmeans“havingvalue”.Commoncollocationsare“aworthycause”,“aworthysuccessor”,“worthyofacclaim”,“worthyofpraise”.     Sharethis:FacebookLinkedInLikethis:LikeLoading... Related ThisentrywaspostedinUncategorizedandtaggedAdjectives,Nouns,Prepositions.Bookmarkthepermalink. ←Whether(ornot) Thedifferencebetween“inpossessionof”and“inthepossession of”→ LeaveaReplyCancelreply Enteryourcommenthere... Fillinyourdetailsbeloworclickanicontologin: Email(required)(Addressnevermadepublic) Name(required) Website YouarecommentingusingyourWordPress.comaccount. ( Log Out /  Change ) YouarecommentingusingyourTwitteraccount. ( Log Out /  Change ) YouarecommentingusingyourFacebookaccount. ( Log Out /  Change ) Cancel Connectingto%s Notifymeofnewcommentsviaemail.Notifymeofnewpostsviaemail. Δ Searchfor: abbreviations Adjectives Adverbs Articles British/USEnglish bulletpoints Clearandconcisewriting Commas Compoundnouns Conditionals Conjunctions Countableanduncountablenouns Gerunds Idioms Modalverbs Negation Noungroups nounphrases Nouns Numbers Participleclauses Passivevoice Phrasalverbs politeexpressions Possession Prepositions Punctuation Quantifiers Relativeclauses Singularorplural Timeexpressions Usefuleverydayphrases verbphrases Verbs Verbtenses Weightsandmeasures Wordorder writinglists RecentPosts Whatisparallelstructureandwhydoesit matter? Thedifferencebetween“born”and “borne” “Decideto”,“decideon”and“makea decision” “Tolie”and“to lay” Howtousethephrase“anumber of…” Links BBCEnglish DavidCrystal Englishlanguageandusage EULETA GrammarGirl Grammarphobia Multilinguals PerfectEnglishGrammar RealGrammar TerminologyofCivilLaw CommonMistakesinBusinessEnglish BlogatWordPress.com. Follow Following CommonMistakesinBusinessEnglish Join251otherfollowers Signmeup AlreadyhaveaWordPress.comaccount?Loginnow. CommonMistakesinBusinessEnglish Customize Follow Following Signup Login Copyshortlink Reportthiscontent ViewpostinReader Managesubscriptions Collapsethisbar %dbloggerslikethis: