Alanna Madden
April 24, 2020
Grammar Tips
Separate is one of the most common misspelled words in the English language. Between separate and seperate, the correct word to use is separate. “Seperate” is not an English word.
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No matter how literate you are, there are certain spelling errors we continuously struggle with, such as separate vs. seperate. We’d love to tell you that there’s a difference between the two terms, but the truth is that seperate is simply a common misspelling of the word separate.
The English language uses the word separate for many different circumstances, whether it’s written as a noun, adjective, verb, or adverb. We use separate in terms like separately, separation, and separateness, or for phrases like separate the wheat from the chaff or separation of church and state in the United States. Regardless of how we write it, seperate is not the correct spelling of separate.
One of the reasons separate is easily misspelled is because English speakers often write the word as it’s pronounced: sep-er-ate. English dictionaries break down separate’s three syllables as “sep-a-rate,” where the letter “a” after “sept-” is pronounced as “-er-” or barely pronounced at all.
To overcome this common misspelling and pronunciation error, we can use a mnemonic to help us remember to use the letter “a” instead of the letter “e”:
“There’s a rat in separate.”
Remember: There’s a-rat in sep-a-rat-e. Not e-rat in sep-e-rat-e.
The word separate is used as a verb, adjective, and noun to describe detachment, individuality, alienation, segregation, and more. We began using the word separate in the English language as a verb and adjective around the 15th century.
The use of separate began as a Middle English word and derived from the Latin word separatus. The Latin term separatus consists of the past participle of separare, which uses se- for “apart” and parare for “preparation.” We can also see these roots in English words like secede and pare.
As a verb, the word separate is flexible in how it describes actions or objects in the past, present, and future tense. We use separate for the present tense and separated for simple past tense and as the past participle. For past and future perfect continuous, we use separating.
When describing the word separate, we can define the infinitive to separate as an intransitive or transitive verb. As a transitive verb, the word separate defines six different actions:
If we use the word separate as an intransitive verb, we use it in four ways:
Break up, cleave, detach, disassociate, disconnect, disjoint, dissociate, divide, divorce, part, ramify, sever, split, sunder, uncouple, unlink.
Connect, join, link, unify, unite.
We use the word separate as an adjective to describe:
Autonomous, different, independent, individual, respective, sovereign, unique.
Connected, one, same, together, united.
As a noun, we use the word separate for two different definitions:
The word separation is a noun that describes the process of separating and the condition of being isolated or disconnected. For example,
“Young children often experience separation anxiety.”
Breakup, cleavage, detachment, division, estrangement, fractionalization, scission, severance, split.
We can use our understanding of separate as an adjective to use the noun separateness, which is the state of detachment, seclusion, individuality, alienation, etc.
“The separateness of modernity began with industrialism.”
Aloneness, individualism, isolation, seclusion, segregation, singleness, singularity, solitude.
The word separately is an adverb, which means it’s a word that qualifies another adjective, noun, verb, or phrase to describe a condition of being (see FAQ for more on adverbs). We use separately as an adverb in sentences to express the separation of sentence objects. For example,
“Your shipments will arrive separately.”
Apart, disjointly, individually, one by one, one at a time, singly, severally.
Learning how to use separate as an adjective, noun, and a verb is pretty straight forward, but there are also instances where we can use the word separate within English phrases too. Let’s break down the different ways we can use separate with a few example sentences along the way.
As most of you know, an adjective is a word that describes a sentence object. So in the case of separate, we are describing something as different from a whole, as a distinct and individual part, or many objects that are unconnected or physically isolated. For example,
“Globalism and globalization are two separate issues.”
“We teach architecture and engineering on separate campuses.”
The trick to using separate as an adjective is to make sure that we use it descriptively as opposed to an action. For the first example, the main action occurs with the word “are” of the verb “to be.” With its adjective meaning, the word separate describes the two issues as existing apart from each other.
The same explanation applies to the second example sentence, but instead of “to be,” we use the verb “to teach.” In this case, the disciplines are taught in different locations.
Let’s take a look at a few more example sentences using separate as an adjective:
“The parents sleep in separate rooms.”
“We can break up the candy into separate parts.”
“We must go our separate ways.”
The most common way to use separate as a noun is to describe individual garments worn with several different outfits. For instance, if you possess a gray shirt that looks good with jeans, sweatpants, or dress pants, your gray shirt is called a separate.
“Every wardrobe needs a little black dress to wear as a separate or a statement outfit in itself.”
“It’s best to buy clothes as separates instead of garments that have one appropriate setting.”
We also use separate as a noun in place of the word “offprint,” although its use in English is limited to specific instances. For instance, an offprint is an article that is printed apart from a complete publication, such a magazine. So the chances of most English speakers using the word separate in this instance are fairly low.
When used as a verb, we can write the word separate as either separate, separated, or separating. But how we use any infinitive verb depends on the past, present, and future tense, and how we pair verbs with subject pronouns.
In the present tense, we use the word separate with all subject pronouns. But if we’re using the plural present tense with the pronouns he, she, or it, be sure to add the letter s at the end, as in separates.
For example,
I/you: You separate the laundry well.
He/she/it: She separates the laundry by color.
We/they: We separate the laundry by the material.
We can use any pronoun with separate in the future tense, but make sure to use the word “will” after the pronoun and before the word separate.
For example,
I/you: Later tonight, I will separate the estate.
He/she/it: She will separate from her boyfriend.
We/they: They will separate later.
Since it’s a command or request, the imperative mood of the verb separate occurs as “let’s separate.”
For example,
Let’s separate later on.
The past participle of separate is separated and used grammatically as an adjective.
For example,
I/you: I separated my shoulder.
He/she/it: It separated.
We/they: We separated incomes.
As with the past participle, the perfect participle of separate is used as an adjective as separated. But instead of using separated on its own, the perfect participle requires the use of “having” before separated. The key here is to use separated with a pre-existing condition before describing a situation that exists in the present.
For example,
I/you: Having separated before, I do not know where he lives now.
He/she/it: Having separated bank accounts, she was unaware of the charges.
We/they: Having separated paths, we no longer stay in touch.
We use separated for the simple past tense to describe something that happened or existed before the present.
For example,
I/you: I separated from the group at 5 p.m.
He/she/it: She separated the pantry.
We/they: They separated their income.
When using separated in the present perfect, we must pair the pronouns I, you, we, or they with have and she, he, or it with has.
For example,
I/you: You have separated the keys.
He/she/it: He has separated the New York Times from the Washington Post.
We/they: They have separated their shoes.
When it comes to the future perfect tense, we use the word separated after the phrase “will have” or “will not have” to describe a future event that will occur before a different time.
For example,
I/you: I will not have separated my assets by then.
He/she/it: It will have separated by noon.
We/they: We will have separated before then.
Writing verbs in the present participle is what gives the “-ing” at the end of the verb. For the sake of example, it’s easier to show this tense in the form of a question, but it’s not necessary to use it as such.
For example,
I/you: Are you separating the fruit?
He/she/it: Is he separating produce?
We/they: Are they separating vegetables?
When using the form separating in present continuous, be sure your message indicates that the act of separating is a continuous process. In addition, be sure to use “am” with I, “are” with you, we, or they, and “is” with he, she, or it.
For example,
I: I am separating the socks.
You: You are separating from her?
He/she/it: She is separating the dinner check.
We/they: They are separating for good.
The present perfect continuous tense pairs the two auxiliary words “have been,” with the present participle, separating. To use this tense, keep in mind that “have” is in the present tense but “be” is a past participle.
For example,
I/you: I have been separating all day.
He/she/it: He has been separating time slots.
We/they: We have been separating tickets.
We use the past perfect continuous tense to describe a past action that occurred before another past action began. To achieve is, we use two past tense auxiliary terms “had been” in front of separating.
For example,
I/you: You had been separating.
He/she/it: He had been separating.
We/they: They had been separating.
The future perfect continuous tense describes a future action that has already begun and will continue for an indefinite amount of time. To illustrate this, we use “will have been” in front of separating in a sentence.
For example,
I/you: I will have been separating.
He/she/it: It will have been separating.
We/they: They will have been separating.
According to the Cambridge Dictionary, British English and American English use the same spelling for separate. British English speakers do, however, place more emphasis on the “-er-” pronunciation than Americans, who normally pronounce the word with a silent “a.”
Adverbs help provide descriptive context, such as how, where, when, how much, or how often. Other common adverbs include: carefully, easily, outside, already, fairly, and normally.
Between separate vs. seperate, do you know which one is correct? Test your grammar know-how with the following multiple-choice questions:
Answers
