Impede and Impinge

Impede and Impinge Impede and Impinge Impede and Impinge By Maeve Maddox A reader questions the use of the preposition on after impede in a newspaper headline: I don’t think â€Å"on† is needed or correct [in this headline]: â€Å"Washington’s weeklong power outage impeding on Thanksgiving.† I’d love to hear your thoughts. The reader is correct. Impede does not take a preposition. Here are examples of correct usage: Flamingo Road  construction will impede  traffic through 2016 Natural selection, key to evolution, also  can impede  formation of new species. Do emotions  impede  logic or do emotions contribute to being rational? Five Negative Thoughts that  Impede  Weight Loss In each example, impede is a transitive verb followed by a direct object. Impede combines the Latin negative prefix im- with the Latin word for foot. The meaning of Latin impedire is â€Å"to shackle the feet.† The English transitive verb impede means, â€Å"to retard in progress or action by putting obstacles in the way; to obstruct; to hinder; to stand in the way of.† The person who wrote â€Å"Washington’s weeklong power outage impeding on Thanksgiving† may have been reaching for impinging. Latin impingere means â€Å"to push, strike, drive [something] at or into something else. A common meaning of the English verb impinge is â€Å"to encroach or infringe on or upon.† When that’s the meaning, impinge is followed by the preposition on (or upon): But at what point does  my  freedom to act  impinge on  your freedom? I don’t care what they do in their private lives just as long as they  dont impinge on my rights.   Is it acceptable to  impinge on  certain civil liberties for  the sake of national security? Is it possible to set up quiet areas without  impinging on playground  space? Dido Sued for Impinging on an Astronaut’s Persona The noise from next door was impinging upon my  concentration. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Apply to, Apply for, and Apply with"Owing to" vs "Due to"3 Types of Essays Are Models for Professional Writing Forms