Satisfy Your Cravings

On the way home from work today, I saw this sign: "Satisfy your creamy chocolatey crave" and because of the glaring mistake, I had to blog about it right away.

The mistake is in the word crave. The sign, which was on the tarpaulin banner of a sweets stand, obviously wanted to say that the product the store was selling was creamy and chocolatey enough to satisfy anyone's chocolate desires. However, to use the word crave in this manner is incorrect.

The confusion probably lies in the definition of the word crave. The word crave is a verb which means to desire something intensely--i.e., "I crave for ice cream when I'm stressed." Since it's a verb, it cannot be used as a noun, which is what the sign requires. The noun form is craving, a word which means a feeling of intense desire for something. The sign should have then read, "satisfy your creamy chocolatey craving."

Now, the verb to crave can also take the -ing form: "I'm craving for ice cream right now." Do not confuse the noun with the verb form. If you're using the word as a verb, remember, you must be talking about an action. In the sentence "I'm craving for ice cream," the action is the desire or the want for ice cream that the speaker is feeling. If you're using the noun, you are giving a name for an intense desire (chocolatey craving, intense desire for chocolate).

I hope this was clear. I wasn't supposed to post today as I'm still sick but I just had to write something in response to that sign. It's only 7pm but I feel so bad, I'm already craving sleep.

Good night and don't get sick!