Separately: not together

The idea

Use discuss separately for individual treatment and pay separately when each person pays their own share. The adjective is separate: separate bills.

Examples

• Please pack the two glasses separately.
• They arrived separately but left together.
• We discussed each proposal separately.
• Can we pay separately?
• The results are listed separately for each group.
• She washed the white shirts separately.

Watch out

Separately does not by itself say whether events happen at different times or in different places.

Try it yourself

1. Choose the expression for individual payment. Each person pays their own share: we pay ___. (separately / together)

   Show answer or example answer

   separately

   Separately says each person pays their own share.

2. Choose the adverb describing the discussion. We discussed the proposals ___. (separately / separate)

   Show answer or example answer

   separately

   The adverb separately describes how the proposals were discussed.

3. Decide what separate arrivals tell us. They arrived separately. Does this sentence specify their arrival times? (no / yes)

   Show answer or example answer

   no

   Separate arrivals do not by themselves establish the times.

Use it today

Describe two things you handle separately and explain why.