{"id":5705,"date":"2021-12-29T06:00:48","date_gmt":"2021-12-29T12:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/?p=5705"},"modified":"2021-12-09T10:39:31","modified_gmt":"2021-12-09T16:39:31","slug":"curb-or-kerb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/spelling\/curb-or-kerb\/","title":{"rendered":"Curb<\/em> or Kerb<\/em>: Which Spelling Is Correct?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Most of us know that we’re not supposed to drive or park on a street curb<\/em>. We might also head to the fridge or the pantry to curb<\/em> our appetite. But what should we do if we come across a kerb<\/em>\u2014in writing or in real life?<\/p>\n

Today we’ll look at the words curb<\/em> and kerb,<\/em> including what they mean and how they are used.<\/p>\n

The Meaning of the Word Curb<\/em><\/h2>\n

Curb<\/em> has two different meanings, and most speakers of American English will likely be familiar with each one.<\/p>\n

As a noun, a curb<\/em> is a raised barrier that sits between road and pavement. You would see it in a sentence such as:<\/p>\n

I failed my driving test because I ran into a curb<\/u> during a right turn.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That’s easy enough. As a verb (action word), curb<\/em> means to keep something under control. You might see it in a sentence such as:<\/p>\n

To curb<\/u> her daughter’s increasing spending, Samantha reduced her allowance.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The implication here is that a new allowance amount was needed to better keep spending under control. That brings us to our next minor point, which is that curb<\/em> can sometimes be used as a noun in a similar limiting sense.<\/p>\n

Example<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Jerry wanted to put a curb<\/u> on the authority of his assistant manager.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Although this is relatively uncommon, it is valid. Whether used as a noun or verb, the word curb<\/em> involves either the action of limiting something or a physical barrier that limits movement in a literal (street curb) or figurative (interpersonal curb) way.<\/p>\n

Our next question now concerns what to do with another word closely related to curb.<\/em><\/p>\n

What Is a Kerb<\/em>?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

You aren’t likely to come across the word very often in the U.S.<\/a>, but you may sometimes see kerb<\/em> in communications from the United Kingdom<\/a>, where it is the preferred spelling of the same word we use (curb<\/em>) to describe an edge between pavement and road.<\/p>\n

Kerb <\/em>and curb <\/em>are pronounced the same way on either side of the pond as well. So if you’re in the U.S. and you happen to see a notice that says Don’t park on the kerb<\/em>, you’ll still know exactly how to comply.<\/p>\n

If you hear someone with a British accent tell you not to park on the kerb, <\/em>you will likely satisfy the request with little thought to the spelling<\/a> the speaker had in mind.<\/p>\n

Come Back for Plenty More Grammar Tips and Articles<\/h2>\n

We hope you found this article helpful. We post additional articles on grammar each week! If you like, you can also ask a question or suggest a future topic in the comments below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Most of us know that we’re not supposed to drive or park on a street curb. We might also head to the fridge or the pantry to curb our appetite. But what should we do if we come across a kerb\u2014in writing or in real life? Today we’ll look at the words curb and kerb, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spelling"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5705"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5705"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5705\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5706,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5705\/revisions\/5706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}